What they’re saying about Dr. Fauci now: 10 quotes from across the political spectrum
During the COVID pandemic, was Dr. Anthony Fauci a lighthouse keeper ably guiding America through a dense fog, albeit by contingent directions and course corrections? Or was he a power-mad scientist cynically covering his tracks—heedless of the resulting population-level harms unfolding day by day—after helping start the crisis in the first place?
Of course, he’s the former to about half the country and the latter to the other half or so.
Which is to say that, to most Democrats and independent liberals, he’s a hero; to most Republicans and independent conservatives, a villain.
The polarization may have hit its zenith July 29 when Fauci faced the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The hearing will probably be best remembered for the 100-plus invocations of the Fifth Amendment made by the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and erstwhile Chief Medical Advisor to the President.
However, for close stakeholders in U.S. healthcare, the sparring expressions of support and detraction might—just might—serve as helpful fodder for preparation in advance of any future pandemic.
And that goes for what was said after the hearing as well as during. Here’s a broadly representative sampling.
The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason [Sen. Rand Paul] is calling me before his committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.’
Therefore … I will invoke my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions. Thank you.
— Anthony Fauci, MD, in his opening remarks on July 29
The decision to fund dangerous research in Wuhan, China, will likely go down in history as one of the worst public health decisions ever made.
I hope Dr. Fauci will come clean, admit that the risk of this dangerous research exceeded any possible benefit [and] pledge to help our government devise safeguards so a manmade epidemic never happens again.
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in opening the July 29 questioning of Fauci
Dr. Fauci is a deeply caring physician, a brilliant scientist, an extraordinary public servant, a humanitarian and a patriot.
[His] work has helped save tens of millions of lives. It is a shame to watch him be dragged in front of Congress in the name of bogus conspiracy theories.
Like his defenders, Fauci’s critics also occasionally engage in some hyperbole regarding his role in COVID-19.
While Fauci’s role in the funding of dangerous scientific research may be grounds for a criminal inquiry—it is a crime to lie to Congress—he can’t be imprisoned for merely giving bad advice to Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The government cannot prosecute people for recommending policies that don’t work out.
— Robbie Soave at Reason
Dr. Fauci is a complicated man who has been both elevated and reduced to a symbol.
His legacy after a decades-long career at the intersection of science and politics is now defined by incompatible, contested accounts of his pandemic-era impact. There is little hope of resolving that contest any time soon.
— Rachael Bedard, MD in The New York Times
Dr. Fauci is the man who ran the pandemic response in America. He was the face of it.
When you have been appointed, in effect, to lead a nation through a disaster you owe that nation a full and frequent accounting. To seem to dodge is unbecoming. He has already been given a sweeping presidential pardon by Joe Biden; in the time after and not covered by that pardon, he owes it to the public to speak truthfully.
— Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal
Sometimes news stories come down to a very simple right and wrong. And this is one of them.
Anthony Fauci is right, and every one of those Republican senators is very, very wrong.
— Lawrence O’Donnell at MS NOW
Fauci’s sin was not getting this wrong, mind you. It was trying to prevent the rest of us from getting it right.
Don’t blame him for bad politics. Don’t blame him for the virus or even the lockdowns. Blame Fauci for shading the truth, protecting his own ass at all times, stigmatizing those he disagreed with and basking in fame at champagne parties as others died alone, gasping for breath, only to be denied a proper funeral (like my own father).
— Andrew Sullivan at The Weekly Dish (on Substack)
Dr. Fauci is a scientist who acted like a scientist in a time of crisis, facing an unknown pathogen.
He proceeded with finding out what worked and what didn’t work. He was pleased and flattered to meet some celebrities he liked. He kept his head although he must have been frantic as people kept dying en masse, but he never showed it in order to allow us to keep our minds.
— MurielVieuxThePoet at Daily Kos
Fauci was incurious, arrogant and overconfident in his own abilities and knowledge.
He failed to keep up with basic discoveries and advances on COVID. Over time, particularly after the mRNA jabs were introduced, the cost of his unwillingness or inability to keep up with the science around COVID became greater and greater. … But because Fauci was telling the legacy media and the Biden White House what they wanted to hear, no one questioned whether he was doing his job properly.
— Alex Berenson at Unreported Truths (on Substack)
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.