The Ongoing Attacks on Dr. Fauci Are a Curious Matter

Until a phone call last night, I was unaware that the ferocious censure of Dr. Anthony Fauci by the right-wing news media continues to this very moment.

Apparently, all this ill-will is based on the idea he got the science wrong, that he shouldn’t have closed the schools, and that he made several misrepresentations of factual matters.

That seems like a weird accusation against a man who:

• Has been studying immunology for more than half a century and has advised every American president since Ronald Reagan.

• Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush for his work on the AIDS relief program

• Was tasked with addressing COVID-19, a disease of a kind that humankind had never before encountered.

•  To most of the world, he appears to have done his best to minimize the damage to our population.

• Cooperated with senior scientists around the globe, given that the Unites States is only one of 208 nations on Earth.  As shown on this map, 168 countries closed or put restrictions on their schools. That’s 81%. Do you think Dr. Fauci called some guy in Belarus or Mongolia and told him what to do regarding his country’s schools?

Scientists who make important calls are doing their best under difficult circumstances and are subject to Monday morning quarterbacks from the anti-science community.

If I were to speculate, I’d say that Dr. Fauci’s only real sin was his failure to keep silent when Donald Trump was making wild, radically unscientific assertions about the disease and how it should be handled (shining ultraviolet light into the patient’s lungs, ingesting bleach, etc.)

This whole matter is a prime example of how an entire community can exist within our nation that’s based on a careful assemblage of disinformation.  If you turn on Fox News or, worse, Newsmax, you’ll see immediately that Dr. Fauci is only one of many dozens of objects of their vilification.

If you take a stand against Trump, whether it concerns some element of public policy, criminal prosecution, concerns for the environment, whatever (it doesn’t matter) be prepared to be torn into pieces by these sources of “news.”

This is why most Americans have such high levels of respect for people like Liz Cheney.  She warned the world that Trump is a criminal sociopath, and guess what: Trump wants her in jail.