Remember when Dr. Anthony Fauci boldly and unabashedly proclaimed, “I represent science”? It sounded pretty insane at the time. Probably because it was. Not to mention incredibly pompous and obnoxious.
Well, apparently in the many months that followed, Fauci has had sort of a change of heart when it comes to the extent of his authority. According to a new interview in The New York Times Magazine, Fauci thinks that the reports of his role in the federal government’s COVID response have been greatly exaggerated:
"Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did. I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the C.D.C.’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that." – Anthony Faucihttps://t.co/guInGCmw6J
— Alexander Russo (@alexanderrusso) April 25, 2023
Fauci: I certainly think things could have been done differently — and better — on both sides. I mean, anybody who thinks that what we or anybody else did was perfect is not looking at reality. Nothing was done perfectly. But what I can say is that, at least to my perception, the emphasis strictly on the science and public health — that is what public-health people should do. I’m not an economist. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not an economic organization. The surgeon general is not an economist. So we looked at it from a purely public-health standpoint. It was for other people to make broader assessments — people whose positions include but aren’t exclusively about public health. Those people have to make the decisions about the balance between the potential negative consequences of something versus the benefits of something.
Certainly there could have been a better understanding of why people were emphasizing the economy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. The C.D.C. was the organization that made those recommendations. I happened to be perceived as the personification of the recommendations. But show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did. I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the C.D.C.’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that. But I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or the other.
Look who suddenly doesn’t want any credit. https://t.co/uZBA9hTtOJ
— neontaster 🚡 (@neontaster) April 25, 2023
Oh come now, Dr. Fauci. No need to be modest!
Fauci in October 2020 on the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic: “I recommended to the President [Trump] that we shut the country down.”pic.twitter.com/B6CeXPbPcA https://t.co/ZnZCPFAMOg
— Jerry Dunleavy 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) April 25, 2023
And Trump graciously gave Fauci credit for influencing his decisions with regard to COVID. And when Joe Biden took office, Fauci was more than happy to continue to accept credit for the federal government’s COVID policies — and go after anyone who didn’t sufficiently respect his authoritah.
lol "I *AM* THE SCIENCE!"
— Allen Harris (@crash_matrix) April 25, 2023
“Attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science.”
I AM SCIENCE but also why are you listening to little old me. Fauci is a liar. His recommendations came from the Biden White House such as when he said (in Feb 2021!!!) the stimulus needed to pass before schools could open. https://t.co/Z4p4Ru3je1
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) April 25, 2023
Yep.
"PEOPLE made a decision?"
— Tanya Berlaga (@TBerlaga) April 25, 2023
Some people did something.
I never had authority to close schools. I just said the children will die if you open them. https://t.co/lsIuu8LNMv
— Holden (@Holden114) April 25, 2023
Totally different things, you see.
The highest-ranking expert in public health policy claims to not know how public health policy works https://t.co/o1Skvjoo3V
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) April 25, 2023
CDC recommendations were *explicitly* used *in court* as a justification for shutting down schools, churches, for college vaccine mandates
They still are
You cannot then say "oh, it was all down-the-line decision making, I had nothing to do with it"
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) April 25, 2023
No, you can’t. But Fauci is trying to say that anyway.
"Sure I said some things, it's not MY fault people took it seriously"
— Mike Morrison 🦬 (@MikeKMorrison) April 25, 2023
That's like the real-life version of that line from Animal House. pic.twitter.com/UGFqGaWhbf
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) April 25, 2023
Oh man, it really is.
I'm pretty sure he's just mocking us at this point.
— Nathanial Bork, PhD🏴☠️ @RutgersU @ColostateU (@BorkNathanial) April 25, 2023
That’s what I was thinking.
— Anastasia 🇺🇸 (@AnastasiaLine) April 25, 2023
At best, he’s gaslighting us.
This m f
— JCraig425 (@JCraig425) April 25, 2023
That MF.
Trying to hold down my morning breakfast. This is neck and neck with Justin Trudeau claiming that he never forced anyone to be vaccinated.
— David B. Affler (@OffRampSeeker) April 25, 2023
The fact that all of these people, Fauci, Weingarten, Trudeau, are lying about their role and trying to rewrite what actually happened is a positive. So long as we don’t let them. Don’t count on our ridiculous media. YOU keep speaking the truth. https://t.co/DQJ5mFAHM4
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) April 25, 2023
We sure as hell can’t count on The Science™ to be honest with us.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional text and tweets.
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Related:
NY Times does a journalistic stretch for the ages to help save Dr. Fauci’s desired narrative
2021 video shows Fauci saying red staters ‘don’t like being told what to do’ & ‘we gotta break that’
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