Doctor Fauci’s Fabulous Fall from Fame

Dr. Anthony Fauci, longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been the face of the United States COVID-19 response. He has achieved godlike status within the media and celebrity smart set. His words are treated as gospel, to be accepted without question regarding all things COVID-19.

Although his fame began in the early days of HIV/AIDS epidemic, this past year he has become a media star, a Kardashian of the medical world. Revered as fabulous by the media, in the COVID era he has graced numerous magazine covers, was nominated as one of People magazine’s sexiest men alive, and was a constant guest on television news shows.

In the past few weeks, the bloom is off the rose thanks to a trove of his past emails released under a Freedom of Information request. It turns out that Fauci has been flip-flopping on a number of issues, either changing his opinion or saying one thing privately and the opposite publicly.

He adamantly denied that his institution funded “gain of function research” when in reality he approved grants to organizations that in turn funded such research. He parses words with the elegance of Bill Clinton explaining what the meaning of “is” is.

Fauci was certain that the virus originated naturally when in reality he was informed early in 2020 that of the virus, “some of the features (potentially) look engineered.” Could US taxpayers have funded the creation of COVID-19 and the past 15 months of misery?

Fauci was told early in the pandemic about the potential benefits of hydroxychloroquine but chose to castigate its use, joined by the media, simply because President Trump recommended it as a possible therapeutic. Fauci corresponded with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, collaborating on social media messaging, including censoring and deplatforming those with contrarian views.

Fauci downplayed masks privately while pushing them publicly, saying in February 2020, “Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection.” Yet publicly he went from recommending no masks to one, then two, then back to one, leaving everyone confused and many afraid to leave their homes without wearing two masks.

Even asymptomatic spread, the basis of business and school closures, social distancing, and masks, was Fauci’s public position while privately he thought otherwise, as a February 2020 email revealed, “most transmissions occur from someone who is symptomatic, not asymptomatic.”

Such asymptomatic spread was also the basis of mail-in voting, and we all know how that turned out. Was that too part of the big plan?

Fauci and the insiders knew the truth but chose not to be forthcoming and share it with the people. Instead, they used it as fear porn, hollering about ventilator and ICU bed shortages, leading some governors to send infected patients into nursing home killing fields. One might borrow a popular Democrat phrase from the Bush era, “Fauci lied, people died”.

We will learn more in the days ahead, confirming that Fauci’s public pronouncements were far different than what he privately believed and expressed. Imagine how the pandemic might have played out with more honesty from those authority figures leading the American response?

What about the next viral pandemic? Will the government have any credibility? According to Rasmussen Reports, 68% of likely US voters believe the Fauci Flu originated in a Chinese lab. One can infer that two-thirds of Americans don’t buy what the government is selling, the narrative from Fauci and others.

Also, from Rasmussen Reports, “Nearly two-thirds of voters (65%) believe political considerations have influenced Fauci's decisions and public statements about the COVID-19 pandemic, including 40% who think political considerations have had a lot of influence on him.”

From savior to scapegoat, Fauci will be the one left holding the bag, deservedly so, for the carnage that COVID-19 heaped on American schools, business, individuals, and families.

When the next virus comes calling, as in the first case of a new strain of Chinese bird flu, and if it’s far more lethal than COVID, will the public heed the words of the next generation of Fauci’s? Or is their credibility blown, like the boy who cried wolf?
Was this all about the virus or about politics, a presidential election, and preventing Donald Trump’s reelection? It’s not just Fauci’s fall from grace, but America’s fall. From a shining beacon of freedom and liberty to a thugocracy where lives and livelihoods are pawns in the pursuit of power.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. He is on sabbatical from social media.

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Views expressed in this column are those of the author, not those of Rasmussen Reports. Comments about this content should be directed to the author or syndicate.