Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, appeared to shrug off some of his harshest critics — even those who threatened him — in a trove of emails obtained by The Washington Post. At one point last April, he told his friend, top Chinese health official George Gao, that "all is well despite some crazy people in the world" after Gao expressed concern that Fauci was "being attacked." The Post also notes that the "emails do not show him directly criticizing Trump," despite their (to put it mildly) conflicting opinions on how to approach the COVID-19 pandemic. At times, it seems, Fauci was actually more uncomfortable with the public adoration he was receiving.
In one email exchange from March 2020, when Fauci was first emerging as a public figure and unwittingly accruing a sizable fan base, a colleague at the National Institutes of Health forwarded Fauci a Post article with the headline "Fauci socks, Fauci doughnuts, Fauci fan art: The coronavirus expert attracts a cult following." In his reply, Fauci called the attention "truly surrealistic." "Hopefully it all stops soon," he wrote, later adding in another note that "it is not at all pleasant, that is for sure." Read more at The Washington Post.