Bluesky intro: A newly revealed diary describes Trump wandering from television ratings to unproven treatments as a deadly national emergency intensified—until one exhausted official reportedly seized control of the meeting. #DonaldTrump #AnthonyFauci #COVID19
Behind the closed doors of the White House, as the United States confronted a rapidly expanding public-health emergency, one senior official reportedly reached a disturbing conclusion: President Donald Trump could not be relied upon to keep the discussion focused.
Newly disclosed diary entries attributed to Dr. Anthony Fauci offer an intimate and deeply critical account of Trump’s behavior during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The entries, reported by The Washington Post after their release by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, describe meetings in which Fauci believed the president became increasingly distracted, agitated and disconnected from the grim data confronting his administration.
At one crucial gathering, Fauci wrote that he effectively took control.
The story begins with a far calmer encounter.
On Jan. 29, 2020, Trump entered the White House Situation Room and immediately recognized Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Anthony, you are really a famous guy,” Trump reportedly told him.
Fauci recorded that the president remained for approximately 20 minutes and directed most of his questions toward the scientist. According to the diary, other officials appeared surprised by the deference Trump initially showed him.
That relationship would not remain cordial for long.
By late March, COVID-19 was spreading rapidly across the country. Hospitals were bracing for waves of critically ill patients, businesses were closing and Americans were desperate for clear information from their government.
Inside the administration, however, Fauci’s notes depict a president repeatedly wandering away from the urgent subject before him.
Following a March 27 press conference, Fauci wrote that Trump had squandered an opportunity to concentrate on an economic relief package. Instead, according to Fauci, the president launched into complaints about previous administrations.
The following day brought an even more alarming encounter.
Fauci described the discussion as “disturbingly rambling,” writing that Trump moved between television ratings, influenza, hydroxychloroquine and other subjects while officials attempted to keep him focused.
Hydroxychloroquine had become a major source of controversy. Trump repeatedly promoted the drug as a potential COVID treatment despite uncertainty over its safety and effectiveness against the disease. Fauci, meanwhile, emphasized the need for controlled scientific evidence.
During the meeting, Fauci wrote, Trump repeatedly deferred to him—leaving the scientist to guide the discussion with help from Vice President Mike Pence.
The situation became especially serious when officials addressed public messaging about restrictions. Fauci said he had to push through Trump’s distractions and insist that the president clearly tell Americans the measure under discussion was not a quarantine.
It was a revealing moment.
The nation required disciplined communication from its highest office. A single careless word could cause panic, confuse governors, disrupt markets or send millions of Americans searching for answers.
Yet Fauci’s account describes him struggling to keep the president from wandering away from the central message.
The diary entries grew darker as the year progressed.
By August, Fauci portrayed Trump as increasingly frustrated and unwilling to accept evidence contradicting his preferred narrative. The president continued insisting that rising case totals were simply the result of increased testing.
But Fauci noted that other indicators were also worsening—including test-positivity rates, hospitalizations and daily deaths.
After one August encounter, Fauci wrote that Trump appeared “desperate” and still failed to comprehend the nature of the pandemic. Days later, he recorded that the president was behaving “even more erratically.”
Those are Fauci’s personal observations, not an independent diagnosis. Diaries capture the perspective of their author and should be understood in that context. They cannot, on their own, establish Trump’s mental or medical condition.
What they can provide is a contemporaneous record of how one of America’s most important public-health officials experienced the administration’s response.
Fauci was not writing years later with the benefit of hindsight. The entries were reportedly created while the crisis unfolded, as officials confronted incomplete information and life-or-death decisions.
Their disclosure is also politically complicated.
Paul has long been one of Fauci’s most aggressive critics, repeatedly clashing with him over the pandemic response and federal health policy. Yet the material he released may strengthen a very different argument: that Fauci was working inside an administration whose leader appeared unwilling to remain focused on the scale of the emergency.
The image emerging from the diary is stark.
Outside the White House, Americans waited for direction while hospitals filled and fear spread. Inside, according to Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious-disease official was not merely advising the president.
He was trying to keep the meeting—and perhaps the message to the country—from falling apart.
