“So, this scenario is an existential risk to our state, but I made the judgment. Leaders take the bull by the horns and make decisions for themselves. They don’t outsource their leadership to fitness bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci,” he continued.
Fauci, who retired as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases last year, was a member of the White House coronavirus task force in the Trump administration, helping craft rules for Americans during the pandemic.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, left, and former President Donald Trump (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket Getty Images/File | Win McNamee/Getty Images/File)
The relationship between Trump and Fauci has become moot during the pandemic, with the former president suggesting before the 2020 election that he might fire Fauci. Trump called the fitness leader and his colleague, Dr. Deborah Birx, for her “bad policy decisions” in 2021.
“Based on their interviews, I felt it was time to communicate about Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, two self-promoters seeking to reinvent history to cover up their evil instincts and misguided recommendations, which thankfully I almost rescinded,” Trump said in 2021 after Fauci and Birx conducted interviews with CNN for a documentary that year.
“They made bad policy decisions that would have left our country open to China and others, closed to reopening our economy and years away from an approved vaccine — millions of lives at risk. “
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Trump rewarded Fauci and other members of Operation Warp Speed, who accelerated the progress and distribution of COVID vaccines, with a presidential compliment for their work in 2021.
When President Joe Biden took office, Fauci served as the president’s lead medical adviser until last year, when he retired.
Dr. Anthony Fauci (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File)
The governor has already shot Trump and Fauci for their leadership in the pandemic and said last month that he would have “fired” Fauci had he been president.
“Well, I think there are several things,” DeSantis told Piers Morgan last month, when asked about his differences with Trump. “The technique for COVID is different. I would have fired someone like Fauci. her panties, and I think it did a lot of damage. “
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DeSantis was invited to deliver the keynote address Saturday for the 2023 Utah Republican Party organizing convention. The Florida governor has not announced a formal presidential bid in 2024, but is expected to throw his hat into the ring, which would put him on a party with Trump and a handful of other Republicans for the nomination.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has not announced an official presidential bid in 2024, but is expected to throw his hat into the ring. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee/File)
“Utah is one of the best-governed states in the United States,” DeSantis told delegates in his speech. “Utah, like Florida, is freedom that works. Maybe Florida is the Utah of the Southeast. “
His speech focused on his works in Florida, the pandemic and his ongoing fight against Disney while criticizing the “awakening. “
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“This is what I call the ‘awake brain virus. ‘We will never do it with the crowd awake. Florida is where the awakening is going to die,” DeSantis said.
Although DeSantis has not yet announced a presidential race, several polls show that he is behind Trump, who has already announced his candidacy for next year’s elections. Trump shot DeSantis an appearance on the “Full Send” podcast last week, describing him as a “rocket crash man. “
Former President Donald Trump speaks on one occasion to deliver his 2024 presidential campaign. (Fox News/File)
“You have a guy from Florida, Ron DeSantis, who they’ve supported me with. It is 3 issues away. He’s got nothing, he’s not going to win. He’s going to lose, and I supported him,” Trump said.
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“He was politically dead. I supported it and stored it. I was wasting about 25, 30 numbers very shortly before the election. When I supported him, he went away like a rocket,” Trump continued. “I call it the rocket guy, however, now it’s the rocket guy who crashes. “