This man, who calls himself the embodiment of science, seems to be full of that stuff too.
Ahead of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s public testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on COVID-19 on Monday, Republicans released a recording of a January meeting with the pandemic chief.
And it was really revelatory.
In it, he basically admitted that most of his prescriptions for the public, particularly mandating mask-wearing for children and six feet of social distancing as magic mitigation measures, are not actually supported by science.
The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who retires in December 2022 after decades as director, was asked how the 6-foot standard came about.
“You know, I don’t remember,” he said. “I just showed up.”
Asked if he recalled any studies supporting that, he replied, “I wasn’t aware of any that would actually be a very difficult study to do.”
Maybe someone just likes the number six.
Regarding the recall of data supporting masks for children Since she is only two years old, Fauci couldn’t say for sure.
“I may have done so, but I can’t remember specifically whether I did so,” he said.
“Have you done a cost-benefit analysis of the unintended consequences of having children wear masks and the protective effect it gives children?” committee staff asked him.
Fauci’s response: “To the best of my knowledge.”
So he was just spouting these things, but at the same time, he told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd in 2021 that the criticism of him was “really an attack on science, not just on Dr. Anthony Fauci.”
At Monday’s hearing, Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio got to the heart of our anger toward Fauci.
“Americans have been aggressively bullied, shamed and silenced for simply questioning or discussing issues like social distancing, masks, vaccines or the origins of COVID,” Wenstrup said.
The House committee grilled Fauci’s former senior adviser, Dr. David Mullens, about emails that showed he used a private email to dodge records requests and avoid transparency.
“What I learned from FOIA,” Mollens wrote. [Freedom of Information Act] I think we would all be safer if the woman told me how to delete emails after a FOIA, but before the search begins. Plus, I deleted most of those emails after I sent them. [personal] “gmail”
Fauci said of Morens, “I had no knowledge of his actions.”
Apparently there were some major things he “knew nothing about.”
During the first weeks of the pandemic, I respected and trusted Dr. Fauci because I saw him as embodying continuity, experience, and restraint. During these unprecedented times, I felt like he had a firm grip on the wheel.
But as two weeks to contain the spread turned into two years of shifting goals and inventing different standards until things returned to normal, it was clear that doctors were developing a God complex, and much of our media became like a prelate who kneels at every turn.
Many followers have found religious purpose in Dr. Fauci, treating masks and needles as symbols of virtue and reciting a central prayer: “Trust the science.”
Anyone who questioned or challenged was branded a disgraced heretic.
We were forced to organize our society around these arbitrary and rigid rules. Children’s test scores dropped, absenteeism and depression soared, and parents who advocated for schools to reopen were ostracized and called “granny killers.”
The six-foot law shaped how we think about everything from business to social gatherings, making human connection virtually impossible and creating a pandemic of loneliness. Some people lost their jobs because they refused to get vaccinated.
And of course, blame should also be placed on American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and many Democratic state governors, all of whom were staunch followers of Fauci.
Personally, I think a misstep or two could have been handled — COVID-19 is a new virus, and we were all learning in real time — but there was no humility or openness from Fauci and co., only restraint and control.
It’s ironic now, but Fauci actually told Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” in 2021: “If you undermine the science, you’re doing something very harmful to society long after I’m gone. And that’s what I’m worried about.”
He leaves in his wake a wave of American distrust in institutions — and a complete failure to understand his own role in destroying that trust.
