Dr. Anthony Fauci called for Jesse Watters, co-host of Fox News Channel's opinion show The Five, to be fired over comments he made about Fauci, a top White House COVID-19 adviser, at a conservative conference.

Watters talked about ambushing Fauci with a question about U.S.-funded research at a Chinese lab, saying that would be a kill shot, ostensibly for Fauci's reputation, but continuing the sniper metaphor in reference to a public official who has received actual death threats. Watters was providing advice on how to capture a "viral moment" of confrontation with Fauci, who Watters has criticized for his advice on pandemic safety.

Fauci, being interviewed on CNN following Watters' Dec. 20 appearance at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, said all he has done has been to promote health safety and that Watters' comments were awful and probably would go unpunished by his media outlet, though he said he thought Watters should be "fired on the spot."
Fox News signaled that was not likely to happen. 

"Based on watching the full clip and reading the entire transcript, it’s more than clear that Jesse Watters was using a metaphor for asking hard-hitting questions to Dr. Fauci about gain-of-function research and his words have been twisted completely out of context," Fox News said in a statement. 

During The Five's Tuesday broadcast, Watters continued to criticize Fauci and the president's response to COVID-19. ■

President Trump lashed out at the mainstream media and even Dr. Anthony Fauci on Twitter over the weekend (he re-tweeted a call for Fauci's firing) after the New York Times reported the President had been warned about the potential pandemic but was slow to act. 

The President has repeatedly said he knew about the virus early on, that his Administration's response has been great, and that testing and medical equipment/supplies are readily available, despite numerous reports to the contrary. 

In a series of tweets and re-tweets, the President took aim at the Times... 

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the mainstream media in general... 

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a CBS story about an overwhelmed nurse...

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Fox News's Chris Wallace...

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And even the head of infectious diseases for the CDC, Dr. Fauci, while at the same time praising his, arguably, current favorite media outlet, OANN (It's top headline at press time was "Governors Praise Trump Admin. For Coronavirus Outbreak Efforts")...

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For complete coverage of the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, go here.

Thanks to his calming screen presence at White House coronavirus press briefings and appearances on cable and broadcast TV, Dr. Anthony Fauci is an online rock star. 

That is according to an analysis by strategic communications firm Rational 360. 

The company points out that according to its analysis, Dr. Fauci was mentioned fewer than 25 times per day online on average. Since media coverage of the doctor started increasing at the end of February with increased coverage of the pandemic, that average has skyrocketed to over 30,000 mentions a day. 

Even though the doctor does not have a twitter account, according to Rational 360, his online mentions have pushed past celebrities with large Twitter followings including Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, Ellen DeGeneres and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Rational 360 said it had combed through more than 300 million U.S.-based online posts about the coronavirus between its discovery Dec. 1st and 4 p.m. on March 31.

Saying it wants to prevent the dangerous spread of a different kind of contagion--misinformation--MoveOn is calling for an end to network coverage of President Trump's daily coronavirus briefings. 

According to the group it had almost reached its goal of 200,000 signatures (186,400 at press time) on a petition calling for Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and NPR to stop covering the briefings. 

The Move On Political Action petition, launched by MoveOn member Julie Rochman, accuses the President of using the daily news exposure to essentially campaign for a second term while at the same time spreading "damaging misinformation." 

Various news outlets have postulated that the briefings are arguably taking the place of the mass rallies of supporters the President has been speaking to throughout his presidency and that he is no longer able to attend.

One downside would be the loss of the daily Dr. Fauci fix. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, has become something of a folk hero for his straight talk and calm demeanor in the crisis, a balance to the President's sometimes hyperbolic rhetoric and periodic attacks on the media asking him questions or challenging his view of the Administration's response to the crisis. 

His face has begun appearing on everything from doughnuts (above) to socks.