Tony's Diary Package — page 902

I briefed the POTUS in the Oval Office today. As usual he was a little bit late. We were supposed to have a briefing at 11:30 and it was not until after 12 that we started the briefing. The briefing was with the usual group including me, Jeff, Natalie, Vivek, Rochelle, and marcella. The President was alone and not with the vice president . We briefed him on the status of the outbreak , on the booster situation, and I briefed him on the recent data of the successful trial of Molnupiravir as an antiviral agent . Recent data showed a 50% decrease in the likelihood of hospitalization and death compared to placebo. However, during the discussion the president began to philosophize a little bit about the stress that is on the country . He refers specifically to a conversation that he had with Xi Jinping, President of China. Xi told him in a 45 minute conversation that he felt that democracies throughout the world are failing and given the need to have rapid decisions about important items, a form of dictatorship works much more efficiently the democracy. He referred to the dysfunction in the United states Congress as a perfect example of this. President Biden and his discussion with us emphasized the importance of preserving democratic principles but did bemoan the fact that we do really have a dysfunctional situation in this country and trying to get things done in an expeditious manner. Biden showed during the discussion his empathy, his kindness, that is deep feeling about the importance of democracy. It was a very interesting discussion. Oct. 15, 2021 Had a very nice zoom conversation with Raj Panjebi. He is the new director of the president's malaria initiative (PMI). He set up a zoom call with me, Lee Hall, and several of his staff. He wanted to strengthen the relationship between NIAID and PMI based on the historically great interactions that we've had over the years. He went out of his way to recognize that I played an important role in the creation of the PMI. I promised Raj that I would work closely with him and the PMI to maximize the interaction and collaboration among us. My staff wants me to lay low a little bit as we approach the Senate HELP hearing on November 4 since there certainly will be a lot of fireworks with Rand Paul and others. I am going to be on a few of the Sunday shows again this weekend and then after that I think I will be very selective in the TV shows that I go on . The reason for this is that no matter what I say the far right will absolutely distort it and make it into something political. It is striking that literally every single day I am criticized and attacked on social media, Fox News, and the tweeting of the far right including by people like senator Paul. The latest that trump is doing is putting signs up that fouchy stole Christmas. This is based on a question that Margaret Brennan asked me on Face the Nation a couple of weeks ago about whether I could predict what the outbreak would be as we get into the winter I merely said that we really can't predict it will depend on how many people get vaccinated. That got translated by the far right in that I was stealing Christmas from them. Truly unbelievable nonsense PRESS: Interview with NBC Health (print); Oct.17, 2021