Dr. Anthony Fauci entered the era of the Covid Pandemic as one of the most respected medical authorities in America. He had gained his fame (and fortune) for his handling of the HIV crisis of the 1970s. Other than that, he was an obscure bureaucrat as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.
Fauci and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul have been having a political feud for a long time. It hit a low point in the recent Senate hearings when Fauci came with a prearranged ad hominin attack on Paul – complete with props. It was one of the worst and most disrespectful attacks on a Senator by a witness in recent memory. Some think it was deserved, others think it was a breach of protocol by a very arrogant government worker. To each his own on that one.
Blaming Paul, Fauci recounted the arrest of a man who claimed he was coming to Washington to kill Fauci. That is definitely scary, but public figures get these threats from all sides on a regular basis. In fact, Fauci was playing the sympathy card against a senator who has been violently attacked and injured by a Trump hater – and Paul and their family were assaulted on a number of other occasions. Paul did not blame Fauci for those.
However, the pissing contest between Fauci and Paul is more of a distraction than an enlightenment. Fauci’s fall from the pedestal of universal public acclaim has more to do with his handling of the Covid crisis than the criticism of a single senator.
Fauci has blundered more than once. He has been seen to cover up past mistakes – hoping the public memory is short. One of his first pronouncements on Covid-19 was to assure the nation that the virus would not have a significant impact on the United States. As a chief medical advisor to Trump at the time, Fauci shares some blame for Trump’s initial optimistic statements. While the biased media regurgitates Trump’s mistaken statements, they never re-run the Fauci tapes.
In terms of masking, Fauci has been all over the map. I recall – and wrote up a commentary – about a television interview in which Fauci was asked if he would wear a mask. He acted indignant when he said, “Why would I wear a mask if I do not have any symptoms?”
In a later iteration, Fauci said that masks are ineffective in protecting a person from contracting the virus. Their only utility is to prevent an infected person from spreading the virus. CNN fact-checkers confirmed that Fauci did advise against wearing masks, but said it was only because of the shortage of masks. That was NOT Fauci’s explanation in the cited interview. CNN’s excuse was not consistent with a February 2020 email from Fauci saying that masks “were not really effective in keeping out the virus.” On July 1, 2020, National Public Radio reported on Fauci’s “mixed messaging on masks.”
At various times, Fauci advised people to wear masks when leaving the house and that it was safe to go without masks in the outdoors. He later recommended universal masking. Fauci has also vacillated on the issue of in-classroom learning.
Fauci has yet to explain his misrepresentation to Congress in which he said that his agency never funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan clinic where some believe Covid-19 originated. His parent organization, the NIH later admitted that such funding was provided. In fact, Fauci once discounted the possibility of the virus escaping from the clinic – later admitting that is it possible.
While Fauci is considered the go-to guy in all matters relating to Covid, he is often at odds with other national authorities. He is never asked to explain these inconsistencies. Consequently, he contributes to the growing confusion and frustration.
There have been unsubstantiated rumors – and I stress “unsubstantiated” – that Fauci and his wife have investments that profit from his medical opinions and actions. They are unsubstantiated because Fauci has not been transparent about his investments. When the subject was broached by Kansas Senator Roger Marshall in a recent hearing, Fauci said that his financial records are public for anyone to see – and called the Senator a “moron.”
Again, it appears that Fauci misrepresented (lied?) in his testimony. Several news organizations were unable to find the financial statements – in one case where some financial records were obtained, they were so highly redacted that the information was useless.
OpenTheBook.com – an organization that tracks public spending has been trying to obtain Fauci’s financial records. They are not readily available as Fauci claims and OpenTheBook stated that “we’ve sued Dr. Fauci and his agency for his contract (amendments, changes, modifications), conflict and financial disclosures, job description, and royalty payments.”
There have been questions – and criticisms – as to why Fauci should be the highest-paid person in the federal government – with a taxpayer-paid salary of more than $400,000. What many may not know is that his wife works for NIH – essentially doubling the Fauci household income.
There have been calls for Fauci’s resignation. They have fallen short for several reasons. Usually, they are associated with only one of Fauci’s controversial issues – a story with a shelf-life of a day or two. No one has effectively done a comprehensive job review on Fauci. In addition, Fauci is on the political team that receives cover from the news media.
If there was an honest deep dive into Fauci’s financial records — and a legitimate comprehensive job review — Fauci may or may or may not get fired – although a case can be made. If not terminated, he would certainly be taken down from the ivory tower upon which the Democrats and the media place him.
As just one citizen, my initially high admiration for Fauci has slowly eroded over time as more and more facts came to light – as more and more flip-flops occur. I have seen behind that kindly grandpa façade to find an arrogant establishmentarian bureaucrat. If it was within my power, I would fire Fauci for a number of reasons.
So, there ‘tis.