“We have in this country now, you know, close to 200,000 deaths. we have six million-plus infections,” Dr. Fauci replied. “You can’t look at that and say that’s terrific.” He continued by citing parts of the country that have done well, are doing well and encouragement of some places were numbers coming down. But he then shared concern about a still “very, very high” baseline of new daily infections.

Though he pointedly did not mention President Donald Trump by name, Fauci’s assessment that the national response to the pandemic as not being “terrific” contradicted the president’s self-assessment.

During a Michigan rally earlier this month, Trump said, “We’ve done a fantastic job. I think we’ve probably done the best job of any country, certainly of any major country anywhere in the world on the pandemic.” Audio from an on-the-record interview with Bob Woodward reveals President Trump giving himself an “A” on handling the pandemic. However, he gave his administration a “D” for public relations.