During Thursday night’s presidential debate, President Donald Trump wandered into what seemed to be a vague argument with himself over his stance towards Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases. The commander in chief previously called Fauci “a disaster” and “an idiot,” but at the debate he said, “I’m not knocking him.”

Asked whose advice he takes into consideration in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump said, “I’m listening to all of them including Anthony. I get along very well with Anthony. But he did say don’t wear masks. He did say, as you know, this is not going to be a problem. I think he’s a Democrat. But that’s okay. He said this is not going to be a problem. We are not going to have a problem at all. When Joe says that I said Anthony Fauci said and others, many others — and I’m not knocking him. Nobody knew. Look, nobody knew what this thing was. Nobody knew where it was coming from, what it was. We’ve learned a lot. But Anthony said don’t wear masks. Now he wants to wear masks. Anthony also said if you look back, exact words, here’s his exact words, this is no problem. This is going to go away soon. So he’s allowed to make mistakes. He happens to be a good person.”