After having watched Dr. Anthony Fauci's contemptible performance before a Senate committee last Wednesday in which Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) and committee Republicans tried in vain to pry answers from the retired bureaucrat about the origin of COVID-19, controversial gain-of-function research, and explosive — not to mention contradictory — entries in his personal diary, I forced myself earlier today to watch Paul's follow-up hearing in which the committee predictably voted along party lines (8-7 (including two nay votes by proxy)) to hold Fauci in contempt for pleading the Fifth and refusing to answer the committee's questions throughout last week's the session.
Silly us, right?
Did we really believe Fauci might finally explain the multitude of critical discrepancies between his COVID pronouncements and his own silly, self-glorifying diary entries — in which he embarrassingly (to most people, anyway) fangirled all over himself in hilarious fashion?
Hope, as they say, springs eternal. That is, except with respect to delivering justice — or not — to an arrogant little man who could be at least partially responsible for the deaths of more than 1.2 million Americans, who died with COVID-19 listed on their death certificates, during the pandemic and subsequent years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The exact cumulative total continues to change slightly as death records are finalized and updated.
I'm not fond of social media posts that end with melodramatic "READ THAT AGAIN" nonsense, but, yeah, picture yourself in Fauci's shoes — simply as a human being. If you thought you were potentially responsible —or perhaps you even knew it — could you sit arrogantly before Congress and the American people, and refuse to offer as much as an apology?
Me, neither.
Wouldn't your conscience and character lead you to try to reconcile why you did what you did, what you learned along the way, and what changes you made — or not — in response to realizing something was going terribly wrong? Again, me too.
Or, God forbid, the unthinkable:
What if you knew the risks from the outset, yet chose to ignore them — and continued to lie to Congress and the American people every step of the way? Could you live with that? I could not.
No words. OK, maybe a few: reprehensible, shameful, inexcusable — for (G-rated) example.
MORE FAUCI NONSENSE:
Breaking: Senate Committee Holds Fauci in Contempt of Congress
Bill Maher Demolishes Fauci With Just How 'Embarrassing' the Release of His Diary Is
Paul continues to make the case that since Fauci cannot be (federally) prosecuted for any conduct during the extended period covered by former President Joe Biden's sweeping pardon, the question of his legal exposure is effectively moot, as long as he testifies truthfully — as George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley wrote in a Thursday column.
Chairman Rand Paul deserves credit for framing this issue with precision, confining his final line of questioning to the pardon period and thereby putting the matter into sharp relief. The argument is credible and, for many, compelling: shielded from prosecution for anything he did during that window, Fauci has no legal exposure as long as he speaks truthfully.
Yet there sat Fauci last Wednesday, stoic and emotionless, as if he were a lifeless mannequin, devoid of remorse — or at the very least, incapable of caring about the well-being of anyone but himself.
Given that courts have generally adopted broad interpretations to protect the right to remain silent, Turley believes that Fauci likely has an edge in any legal challenge to his invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times during last week's hearing.
Despite what might ultimately be decided (or ruled) legally or constitutionally, Fauci's arrogant disregard for the pain suffered by untold millions of American people is "worthy" of nothing less than public scorn — public scorn, the likes of which we haven't yet seen in a scientific sense — until (or if) he attempts to make amends for his historic failures; both intentionally or unintentionally.
Turley put it his way:
If Fauci can remain silent, that silence will remain deafening for many in this country.
The right to do something does not make it the right thing to do. Fauci, in my view, was wrong to invoke the privilege against self-incrimination even if it was his right to do so. Millions of Americans lost loved ones during the pandemic, and the United States had one of the worst records in dealing with COVID-19 in terms of costs and deaths.
Fauci’s diaries exposed disturbing contradictions between what he previously stated publicly and what he actually believed. Americans have a right to know the truth, and Fauci was not saying a thing, invoking the privilege 111 times.
He will say nothing to the families who lost loved ones or the business owners ruined by now-debunked pandemic measures.
He will say nothing to the scientists who were canceled, blacklisted, and fired for opposing these policies. Those scientists did not get the bobbleheads and celebrity photos that Fauci celebrated in his diaries. As the mob hounded them, Fauci said nothing as he gushed about his own fame in his diary.
The Bottom Line:
Anthony Fauci became a national disgrace not simply because of the mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic; he repeatedly projected certainty where there was uncertainty, dismissed legitimate dissent, and later, arrogantly refused to account for his decisions.
To most conservatives, his shifting public guidance, support for prolonged mandates, handling of gain-of-function questions, invocation of the Fifth Amendment when questioned by Congress, and apparent lack of humility, or even an apology, symbolize an unelected bureaucracy that wielded enormous power with little accountability.
Whether history ultimately vindicates or condemns his decisions, millions of Americans believe Anthony Fauci owes the country candor, accountability, and a genuine acknowledgment of the profound consequences his recommendations had on their lives. And
almost worst of all, I'm not sure he cares; one way or another.
