--- title: Dr. Anthony Fauci Shows Washington How to Win With Facts description: Dr. Anthony Fauci has gained millions of Americans’ trust this year with his frank assessments of the coronavirus’ threat to the nation canonical: https://time.com/5870845/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-07-23T17:42:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:02:25.258Z article:section: Politics og:title: Dr. Anthony Fauci Shows Washington How to Win With Facts og:description: Dr. Anthony Fauci has gained millions of Americans’ trust this year with his frank assessments of the coronavirus’ threat to the nation og:url: https://time.com/5870845/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e2d1bfaa20c8e5/698a10a422fb85a95ae2b434/dr-Anthony-Fauci.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-HEARING-COVID og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dr. Anthony Fauci Shows Washington How to Win With Facts twitter:description: Dr. Anthony Fauci has gained millions of Americans’ trust this year with his frank assessments of the coronavirus’ threat to the nation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e2d1bfaa20c8e5/698a10a422fb85a95ae2b434/dr-Anthony-Fauci.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dr. Anthony Fauci Shows Washington How to Win With Facts ## Video: TIME100 Talks: Alice Park Interviews Dr. Anthony Fauci [Watch (HLS stream): TIME100 Talks: Alice Park Interviews Dr. Anthony Fauci](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qTJiQXXU.m3u8) (28:02)  _Published 2020-04-23. TIME hosts the first-ever TIME 100 Talks_  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 23, 2020 5:42 PM UTC  Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30, 2020. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30, 2020.Al Drago—AFP/Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 23, 2020 5:42 PM UTC In a city famous for studied misdirection, cynical spin and outright lies, there’s one man who has refused to play the typical Washington games. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has gained millions of Americans’ trust this year with his frank assessments of the coronavirus’ threat to the nation. But his boss, President Donald Trump, doesn’t love Fauci’s winning streak. From the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Fauci has been fairly transparent about the challenges his role comes with. He’s the nation’s top hand on infectious diseases, a post he has held since Ronald Reagan’s first term in the White House. From the early [days](https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-29/dr-anthony-fauci-coronavirus-aids) of HIV/AIDS to [SARS](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/08/health/fauci-coronavirus.html) and [Ebola](https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2017/06/anthony-fauci-on-americans-overblown-fear-of-pandemics/531510/), there has seldom been a global crisis summit where Fauci hasn’t had a reserved seat in the VIP box of government nerds. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the daily D.C. Brief newsletter._](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/politics?source=dc%5Farticle) At 79, he’s well past the Washington worry of needing this job so that he can get his next. He is notoriously honest and fastidiously apolitical. He doesn’t mind saying when the boss is wrong — regardless of party — but he never will give critics the zinger that makes it to the attack ad. [Polls](https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/15/media/poll-trump-fauci-reliable-sources/index.html) show people feel Fauci is twice as trustworthy as Trump, a man whose re-election bid is, at best, uncertain. Unsurprisingly, the tensions between Fauci, the White House and the President, who wants a return to normalcy as soon as possible before November, have become legend in recent months in Washington. White House aides last weekend [anonymously](https://www.cjr.org/the%5Fmedia%5Ftoday/trump%5Ffauci%5Fmistakes%5Fanonymous.php) circulated a [dossier](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/listen-to-fauci-even-if-trump-doesnt-it-could-be-the-difference-between-life-and-death/2020/07/13/b8aa3f2e-c514-11ea-8ffe-372be8d82298%5Fstory.html) on Fauci meant to discredit him that was as thin as the best filo dough. Top aides have re-upped [memes](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/fauci-scavino-cartoon-white-house.html) against him. The President’s trade czar even [published](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/15/peter-navarro-anti-fauci-op-ed-363912) an op-ed against him. Fauci recognizes the [paradox](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/i-m-going-keep-pushing-anthony-fauci-tries-make-white-house-listen-facts-pandemic) of his circumstances. In an interview published this week in The New York Times, Fauci openly [acknowledged](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/21/opinion/anthony-fauci-coronavirus.html) that he has a choice between telling the truth or staying in Trump’s good graces. “Would you want me to say something that’s directly contrary to what the President is doing? That’s not helpful. Then all of a sudden you don’t hear from me for a while,” he said. For his part, the President continues to [say](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/transcript-fox-news-sunday-interview-with-president-trump) he had a good relationship with Fauci before adding that the doctor made mistakes. From the [beginning](https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/politics/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus/index.html), Fauci has showed little interest in providing cover for the Trump Administration when it has fumbled. As the President suggested that sunshine and bleach could provide an elixir to the virus, Fauci stuck to the science and didn’t kowtow to his boss. While White House aides stammered and rationalized, Fauci just cited the science, saying it’s unlikely that coronavirus will ever be [eradicated](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/dr-anthony-fauci-warns-the-coronavirus-wont-ever-be-totally-eradicated.html). Fauci, who signed on as a fed in 1968, knows the ropes. He understands the political knife-fighting that stains the halls of bureaucratic cafeterias. (Well, back when we had cafeterias.) And he, quite simply, doesn’t care. All he can do is correct the record when asked. “I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down,” he told [Science magazine](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/i-m-going-keep-pushing-anthony-fauci-tries-make-white-house-listen-facts-pandemic) at the crisis’ start. On Thursday, Fauci is set to open the Washington Nationals’ season, albeit in an empty stadium and with little of the cheer that traditionally accompanies lobbyists’ favorite day to flex their corporate-box muscle. For those outside the Beltway, the crack of the bat signals a return to what passes for normal. Inside the Beltway, Fauci’s minute on the mound screams that in some places, meritocracy still matters. _A version of this article first appeared in The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletter%5Fopt-in?qs=3a19a0aa35903a2d9f214b74f69a37910b58de73cf3f2b89adc123fac024f0478c72f91010ae9d01f08f46c616068cab3e74726837cd2cce70dac3796e46c2b4) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5870845/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5870845/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus/"},"headline":"Dr. Anthony Fauci Shows Washington How to Win With Facts","datePublished":"2020-07-23T17:42:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:02:25.258Z","description":"Dr. Anthony Fauci has gained millions of Americans’ trust this year with his frank assessments of the coronavirus’ threat to the nation","url":"https://time.com/5870845/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus/","keywords":["The D.C. 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