The Atlantic: Can you update us on your relationship with the president?

Fauci: Well, the scene has changed a bit. When we were having frequent press briefings, I had the opportunity to have a personal one-on-one to talk to the president. I haven't done that in a while. But a day does not go by that I am not in contact with Debbie Birx, with Bob Redfield, or Steve Hahn and others. My input to the president goes through the vice president. But clearly, the vice president—literally every day—is listening to what we have to say, there's no doubt about that.

The Atlantic: Do you know why it is that you don't talk to President Trump more often?

Fauci: No, I don‘t.

The Atlantic: Everyone who knows you has talked about the fact that you are indefatigably honest; that is your reputation, someone who always tells the truth. Can you tell us the truth about the federal response to the pandemic?

Fauci: When you look at the numbers, obviously, we’ve got to do better. We‘ve got to almost reset this and say, “Okay, let’s stop this nonsense.” We‘ve got to figure out, How can we get our control over this now, and, looking forward, how can we make sure that next month, we don’t have another example of California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona? So rather than these games people are playing, let's focus on that.

— from Fauci: ‘Bizarre’ White House Behavior Only Hurts the President, on the Atlantic site

BTW: We all know who the problem is. Let's stop that nonsense, too. If you judge us against other European countries, Trump's ineptitude is currently responsible for more than 3 million people being infected in the U.S., with north of 100,000 American deaths. Meaning Donald Trump has killed twice as many Americans as were killed in the Vietnam War.