Comparing Fauci to Josef Mengele seems ill-advised

Cockburn always thought Thanksgiving was the holiday designated for sharing madcap political views that one day you’ll regret saying aloud. So kudos to Fox Nation’s Lara Logan for extending the tradition into advent, by offering a comparison between Anthony Fauci and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele on Monday’s edition of Fox News Primetime.

Logan, a former war correspondent, was invited on to discuss the Omicron variant. Presumably the logic behind the booking was that the variant emerged from her home country, South Africa. Here’s the expertise she chose to provide:

On Dr. Fauci, this is what people say to me. He doesn’t represent science to them, he represents Josef Mengele. Dr. Josef-the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews in the second world war and in the concentration camps.

Host Pete Hegseth and guest Will Cain stare unflappably into the camera as Logan continues:

And I am talking about, people all across the world are saying this, because, the response from Covid, what it has done to countries everywhere, what it has done to civil liberties, the suicide rates, the poverty, it has obliterated economies. The level of suffering that has been created because of this disease is now being seen in the cold light of day, i.e. the truth. And people see that there is no justification for what is being done. So as they’re being exposed and the control is slipping away, lo and behold, another variant surfaces, and nobody should be surprised by that, because there will be more variants until the end of time, and we will never be free of them.

Lara compares Dr. Fauci to Josef Mengele pic.twitter.com/Q9IGW6EFLF

— Acyn (@Acyn) November 30, 2021

Read in the cold light of day, the second half of Logan’s comments are fairly level-headed. In order to read them in the cold light of day, however, you have to get over the shell-shock of her citing unspecified “people” who claim Fauci is an avatar for the Auschwitz doctor colloquially referred to as the “Angel of Death.”

Cockburn is trying to imagine the conversation between Logan and these “people.” Did it actually happen? And if so, was Logan’s first reaction to ask “interesting comparison: do you mind if I repeat that on national television to an audience of millions?”

As is so often the case on the right, and so rarely on the left, the condemnation of Logan’s comments has been swift. “Exploiting the tragedy of people who became victims of criminal pseudo-medical experiments in Auschwitz in a debate about vaccines, pandemic and people who fight for saving human lives is shameful,” the Auschwitz Memorial tweeted. “It is disrespectful to victims & a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline.” The American Jewish Committee agreed, describing her remarks as “utterly shameful.”

Logan has yet to apologize for making the comparison; instead she’s doing what Cockburn’s nieces refer to as “posting through it,” by vigorously tweeting about Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

Cockburn awaits her next Fox appearance with bated breath…