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Monday, March 30, 2020

A Single Gesture Behind Trump Fuels an Online Conspiracy Theory


At a White House briefing on the coronavirus March 20, President Donald Trump called the State Department the “Deep State Department.” Behind him, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, dropped his head and rubbed his forehead.

Some thought Fauci was slighting the president, leading to a vitriolic online reaction. On Twitter and Facebook, a post that falsely claimed he was part of a secret cabal who opposed Trump was soon shared thousands of times, reaching roughly 1.5 million people.

A week later, Fauci — the administration’s most outspoken advocate of emergency measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak — has become the target of an online conspiracy theory that he is mobilizing to undermine the president. Read More
Sadly one segment of the US population would prefer to believe a conspiracy theory that for political reasons health experts are exaggerating the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic than face up to the fact that Coronavirus represents a major health threat to the United States. By not taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, they are endangering themselves, their families, and their communities. Right now the only way to slow the spread of the virus and to save lives is to implement the simple public health measures that President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force have recommended. They are the best that we can do at the present time.

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