NY Times profile on Dr. Fauci kicks right off with a 'super creepy' personal detail

Today is officially Dr. Anthony Fauci’s last day as the federal government’s highest-paid employee. Then it’ll be off to what is no doubt a cushy pension and possibly some other high-paying gigs with media outlets or perhaps a seat on the board of a Big Pharma company.

Fauci’s retirement means there will be an extra helping of adoring media profiles, and the New York Times’ offering is now out:

Saturday is Anthony Fauci's last day as a federal employee. The New York Times spoke to him at his home office in Washington about his career and plans for the future. He said he may be retiring, but he is not going away. https://t.co/xQSZD9bCnt pic.twitter.com/NxEUTBZJre

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 29, 2022

Would it surprise you to know that Fauci’s home office is adorned with pictures of himself? Of course not! The Times leads right off with that tidbit:

The very first sentence of this NYT profile: “The walls in Dr. Anthony S. Fauci’s home office are adorned with portraits of him, drawn and painted by some of his many fans.”https://t.co/e0IInGMg1T

— Jerry Christmas 🎅🏼🎄 (@JerryDunleavy) December 30, 2022

Fauci was reportedly hesitant to have those pictures in the Times’ photos because the “far-right” might pounce again:

The walls in Dr. Anthony S. Fauci’s home office are adorned with portraits of him, drawn and painted by some of his many fans. The most striking one is by the singer Joan Baez. The two of them, he said, “have become pretty good friends over the years.”

Dr. Fauci seemed a little uncomfortable with people knowing about the pictures. He said that previously, when they were captured on camera, the “far right” attacked him as an “egomaniac.” If someone goes to the trouble of sending him a portrait of himself, he said, he would “feel like I’m disrespecting them” if he discarded it.

It was a revealing glimpse into the psyche of America’s most loved and hated doctor as he wraps up more than half a century of government service at the National Institutes of Health.

“It’s nice that some people, you know, idolize me and put me up on a pedestal, but I don’t get impressed by that, I never have,” he says. “People may not understand that or believe it, but I focus like a laser beam on what my job is, and as I said before, and I mean that sincerely and my track record has proven it, my job and my mission is to serve and protect the health of the American public.”

Fauci is obviously among those who put him up on a pedestal.