White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro doubled down on maligning Dr. Anthony Fauci (while Donald Trump pretends to support him) and repeatedly referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as the “China virus.” Fox & Friends cohost Steve Doocy gave it a stamp of approval.

As you may know, Navarro wrote an editorial in USA Today earlier this month titled, “Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on,” and subtitled, “When you ask me whether I listen to his advice, my answer is only with skepticism and caution.”

That tells you almost everything you need to know about it, except for the note that’s now posted above Navarro’s comments and written by Editorial Page Director Bill Sternberg:

Navarro’s response echoed comments made to other news outlets in recent days. We felt it was newsworthy because it expanded on those comments, put an on-the-record name to the attacks on Fauci, and contradicted White House denials of an anti-Fauci campaign.

However, several of Navarro’s criticisms of Fauci — on the China travel restrictions, the risk from the coronavirus and falling mortality rates — were misleading or lacked context. As such, Navarro’s op-ed did not meet USA TODAY’s fact-checking standards.

Not surprisingly, none of the Trump lapdog-cohosts mentioned the column’s failings.

Navarro laughably said, “I think we’re all tired of this politicization of the China virus,” then boasted about what a great job Trump, “a president who knows how to get things done,” is doing in developing a vaccine. Of course, none of the toadies, including “not in the tank” for the Trump administration Ainsley Earhardt, noted the hypocrisy.

Later, cohost Brian Kilmeade asked Navarro, “Do you regret writing the editorial criticizing Dr. Fauci?”

Navarro laughed heartily for a few seconds and said, “The only thing I regret is Dr. Fauci’s pitch the other day.”

Perhaps remembering the official stance, Navarro added, “I always look forward and we’re all part of the team, and he actually tells people to wear the masks and my job is to get ‘em made."

When asked if he has spoken to Fauci since the editorial, Navarro said he had not. Cohost Steve Doocy asked, “What would you like to say to him?”

“Let’s fight this China virus and beat it together with the president,” Navarro replied.

Nobody objected to Navarro’s anti-Chinese slurs. Instead, Doocy smiled and said, “Alright, very good.”

Another thing no one mentioned is that while Fauci’s pitch may have been “a little too socially distanced,” as the New York Post put it, sales of the limited edition Topps baseball card that featured him broke company records.

Nor did anyone mention that Donald Trump has backed out of throwing the first pitch at a New York Yankees game, giving as an excuse his “strong focus" on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy.

You can watch Navarro attack Fauci below, from the July 27, 2020 Fox & Friends. Underneath, you can see Trump “strongly focused” on the pandemic and the economy.