Washington: US President Donald Trump questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci's high approval ratings during a White House briefing on Tuesday, and joked 'nobody likes me'.
"It can only be my personality, that's all," he said.
The President, in a marked shift from the more measured approach he's taken toward the virus in recent days, also used his tweets to amplify criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert.
Fauci has become an off-and-on target of Trump and some of his White House aides and outside allies, who disagreed with the doctor's early recommendation to shut down the economy as a way to slow the virus, which is surging again in parts of the country, mostly in the South and West.
Fauci said Tuesday that he'll deal with the attacks by keeping his head down and doing his job. He also backed the conclusions of the FDA and others about hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19.
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Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has become the government's most visible face in the battle against the virus, and polls show him as its most trusted authority as well. That's in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who gets low marks from the public after ceding much of the US response to the nation's governors, resulting in an inconsistent hodgepodge of restrictions and a resurgence of the disease in many states.
(Inputs from AP)
