Kaylee McGhee White writes for the Washington Examiner about the current role of high-profile COVID scold Anthony Fauci.
In 2020, at least some conservatives defended coronavirus czar Dr. Anthony Fauci when he refused to speak negatively about former President Donald Trump. His job, they insisted, was not that of a partisan. But he has since abandoned this guise of political neutrality and with it any credibility he might have had left.
During an interview with CBS News’s Face the Nation this weekend, Fauci responded to Republicans who have called for his prosecution, and Sen. Ted Cruz in particular, saying they should be prosecuted instead for their supposed role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“I have to laugh at that,” said Fauci. “I should be prosecuted? What happened on Jan. 6, senator?”
First off, the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has nothing at all to do with the topic Fauci was avoiding talking about — his failure to address the coronavirus pandemic honestly or effectively. Fauci’s only goal in bringing up Jan. 6 was to divert from that with a baseless allegation. Fauci strutted right out of the world of health and medicine and science and into the world of politics.
It’s fair to argue Fauci has always been a politician — that he has merely stopped hiding it. Now, however, he doesn’t seem to care at all who knows his views on Cruz, Trump, Jan. 6, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and a whole range of other issues well outside his area of expertise. He might claim to be the representative of Science Itself, but he’s really just another pundit looking forward to the CNN contract that awaits him as soon as he retires — or, hopefully, is fired.
Predictably, Fauci spent the rest of the interview blaming everyone else for the politicization of the pandemic.
