Anthony Fauci must go

How many passes does Anthony Fauci get? How many times must he be categorically wrong before people stop ogling his every facial expression and treating him as some sort of minor deity?

Let me state unequivocally that enough is enough and it’s time for him to step aside.

​He won’t, of course. He’ll sit for magazine covers, attend sporting events the rest of us don’t get to go to, perhaps take CBS up on their offer to appear on Dancing with the Stars or sign a multi-year cable news contract. As COVID-19 tears through the country, and more importantly, through the parts of the country like California where elected officials worship Fauci like a sun-god, he continues his tour of the television studios. He continues to mislead the public. It may not be out of malice. He may not be a shameless political hack or liar, as some in the further-right corners of Trumpworld make him out to be. But he is a doctor, and a doctor is only as good as the trust they earn from their patients with their words. Anthony Fauci’s words have been misleading and deceptive.

Sen. Marco Rubio caused an uproar over the weekend when he plainly stated two important facts — the first being that Dr Fauci discouraged the purchasing and wearing of protective masks back in March. Fauci told 60 Minutes on March 8 that ‘right now, people should not be walking, there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.’ When pressed by the host, who said ‘you’re sure of this? Because people are listening very closely,’ Fauci doubled down. ‘When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a bit better. It might even block a droplet. But it is not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.’ Fauci finished by saying ‘when you think masks you should think healthcare providers as needing them and people who are ill’.

This was not an offhand comment. This was a sober analysis from a medical professional considered the top expert in his field. Fauci of course backtracked on this stance, essentially saying the reason he wasn’t truthful was for the public good, to allow supplies to go to ‘the people, namely the healthcare workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in harm’s way, to take care of people who you know were infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected.’

News outlets like the New York Times and Gizmodo admonished Fauci for being untruthful over this.

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​As the vaccination process revved up, Fauci began to dip his toes into the subject of herd immunity among the general population. Fauci has said if 70 percent of the population were vaccinated, herd immunity could be reached. However last week, he admitted to that he was downplaying that number in an interview with the New York Times, and is now saying his herd immunity ‘estimate’ is 80 to 85 percent. His reason for not being truthful with these numbers at first was ‘partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks’.

Imagine a scenario, if you will, in which Dr Anthony Fauci is your personal physician, and he comes to you with news about your sickness. It could be pneumonia. It could be cancer. His first assessment is to inform you that you aren’t really that sick and this treatment won’t really do much for you. Then six months later, as you get sicker, he tells you to strenuously begin treating yourself with the very thing he said you did not need. Now imagine another scenario in which the good doctor tells you he was not being truthful with you because he tells you in his gut, you were not ready to hear the truth about how sick you were, but now that you are further along in your sickness and treatment, he can finally be honest with you about steps needed to mitigate your sickness. This would not be acceptable for you or your family. It should not be acceptable for the country as a whole. We shouldn’t live in a health-propaganda state.

​I’m willing to give President Joe Biden and his newly appointed team of professionals a chance to come in and manage the response to this virus. That is what the country chose and voted for. But like Deborah Birx before him, Fauci has proven himself untrustworthy. Let him retire or go fully embrace his media darlingdom. He seems more intent on pleasing than being honest with his patients. However, his patient this year has been the country, and he’s lied to us too many times.