fwiw, end of last thread:

KGxvi

if you are an honest civil servant and want to do a good job, you have to play the word games that Fauci unfortunately has had to play. If you’re blunt and honest with the public, you’re forced out or otherwise sidelined because Trump can’t stand hearing that he is wrong. And if you’re forced out, then you’re replaced by someone incompetent and/or willing to lie for Trump (so either incompetent in fact or in practice), which is a net public negative.

today’s electoral-vote.com

The optics of firing Fauci would be very bad, but so too were the optics of pardoning Roger Stone, and that didn’t faze Trump one bit. The real problem is that Fauci is protected by laws meant to…wait for it…insulate civil servants from political pressure. If the President wanted to can the good doctor, then first he would have to find someone above Fauci in the HHS hierarchy to do it. Secretary Alex Azar probably wouldn’t play ball, and NIH Director Francis Collins definitely wouldn’t. And even if the President found his Robert Bork, there is a lengthy termination process, in which hearings would be held, and cause must be shown. Fauci has been at this long enough to know how to keep his nose clean, and to avoid giving cause. So, even if the process got to the hearing stage, it would end with egg on the President’s face, and would be front-page news for days (or weeks).

In other words, trying to fire Fauci is a dead end. Multiple dead ends, in fact. And so, all that’s left is to try to undermine and trivialize him. Given his vast experience, calm demeanor, support in the mainstream science community and media, and lack of personal agenda, it’s not likely to work with anyone beyond the base, and maybe the occasional game show host.

there’s a bit more here