Trump says Fauci gets 'more airtime' than late Bob Hope, calls on him to 'make better decisions'

President Trump said Monday that he wants Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, to "make better decisions" regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

"Dr. Tony Fauci says we don't allow him to do television, and yet I saw him last night on @60Minutes and he seems to get more airtime than anybody since the late, great, Bob Hope," Trump tweeted. "All I ask of Tony is that he make better decisions. He said 'no masks & let China in.' Also, Bad arm!"

Trump recommended that Fauci stop wearing his Washington Nationals mask because "it is not up to the high standards that he should be exposing."

Trump also wrote that Fauci's Nationals mask reminds him that "Tony threw out perhaps the worst first pitch in the history of baseball."

Trump reportedly referred to Fauci as a "disaster" on a campaign conference call on Monday.

After landing in Arizona for a campaign event, Trump told reporters that he doesn't want to "hurt" Fauci.

"I think he's a nice guy," he said. "I don't want to hurt him. He's been there for about 350 years. I don't want to hurt him." 

The president and Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, have had a strained relationship since the start of the pandemic in March, disagreeing over several health-safety policies.