PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (at left) meeting with coronavirus task force in the late spring, Dr. Anthony Fauci is in center (Shutterstock).

President Donald Trump on Monday referred to infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and other medical advisers as “idiots” during a conference call.

“People are tired of hearing Fauci and all those idiots,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb. But there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him.  But Fauci’s a disaster.”

Fauci replied that if the president really did not trust science, he would not have gone to Walter Reed Hospital for treatment after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

In other election-related news:

• The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that upheld the extension of the deadline for mail-in absentee ballots in Pennyslvania. The court split 4-4 with Chief Justice John Roberts joining three liberal justices to support the extension.
• Real Clear Politics.com’s average of recent presidential polls shows Democrat Joe Biden with a 51.3 percent to 42.4 edge over the president. Reuters.com has Biden with 51 percent support to Trump’s 41 percent. FiveThirtyEight.com’s average has the Democrat with 52.5 percent support and the Republican with 41.8 percent.

The News:  Stocks tumble, Russians charged

Another blue Monday for Wall Street. All three major stock indexes took a stumble. The Dow was down 410.89 points, while the S&P 500 declined by 56.89 points and Nasdaq by 192.67. •  The United Nations Children’s Fundannounced on Monday it will stockpile about 520 million syringes by the end of the year, planning for a coronavirus vaccine in 2021. •  A new rule that would have ended eligibility for food stamps for 700,000 people has been struck down by a federal judge. The overturned rule would have set a time limit on a state’s ability to extend the benefit for more than three months. • Six Russian military officers have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for making cyberattacks against computer systems in France, South Korea and the U.S. They are part of the same unit that sought to interfere in the U.S. presidential election 2016. •  Democrats and Republican lawmakers are racing to try to hammer together a coronavirus relief stimulus bill before the Tuesday deadline set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democrats are pushing for a $2.2 trillion package and the GOP proposal is at $1.9 trillion.

Weather:  Fall finally arrives in the OC

It took a while, but autumn has finally arrived in West Orange County. Monday’s overnight high should be around 62 after a day with a high of 78 or so. On Tuesday, both the high temp of 78 and the overnight low of 62 should repeat. According to the National Weather Service, Wednesday’s high will dip a bit to 77 (overnight low of 62, again). Thursday will see a high of 75 (low of 60). Cloudy most days in the morning, gradually clearing in the afternoon.  The weather should be cooler along the coast with Tuesday’s high in Huntington Beach at 71, decreasing to 70 the rest of the week.

Sports This Week: Dodgers take on the Rays

As you certainly know, the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled off an historic rally in the National League Championship Series last week and will face off against the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays. The seven-game series will start on Tuesday at 5:09 p.m., with Fox doing the broadcasting. Clayton Kershaw will start for LA, while Tyler Glasnow will go for Tampa Bay. The second game will be on Wednesday at 5:08 p.m.