Throughout the pandemic, Americans have reacted on Twitter, Facebook, reddit (catch me regularly at r/lockdownskepticism) to Dr. Fauci’s hearings. Last month, he and Jim Jordan exchanged words. This is how I responded on the r/LockdownSkepticism thread. The video was linked from CNN:
Lets break the original headline down: "Fauci fires back at Rep. Jim Jordan during heated exchange" - obviously, you edited it. Psychologically, how CNN phrased this is subliminally influential. It makes Jordan look like the aggressor and Fauci look like he was defending/standing up for himself. So, CNN is assigning Fauci the underdog role while painting Jim Jordan as the schoolyard bully.
This is subliminally influential because: people already don't like Jim Jordan (honestly the stock dump should land him in jail), the narrative is that Republicans are anti-science covid deniers, and, most importantly, we root for the underdog.
CNN is intentionally muddying the waters so viewers focus more on Jordan and Fauci's credentials/standing, not the content of their speech (i.e "Fauci stands up to big bad Jim Jordan!!!"). So, whether the average viewer is cognizant of this or not, it's happening. Instead of the headline "Anthony Fauci and Jim Jordan Debate When to Completely Re Open" (which is actually honest) we now have a carefully crafted narrative that people are tuning in for instead of a debate between two public servants. This is not impartial. This is done on purpose.
I know we'd rather dismiss it as "fuck CNN!!! fake NEWS!!!!" and yes that's easy, but it's important to articulate why they make these editorial, pundit-heavy decisions. No pro-lockdowner, MSM consumer, NPC, etc. can accurately refute any of the points I just brought up. People who have been influenced don't know they've been influenced.
It’s pretty obvious to skeptics that Fauci has been propped up this entire time by the establishment media and the Biden admin to play FOIL, acting as Trump’s opposite. That’s the main reason why all of this started. He has the media and the Democrats on his side. To them, who he is matters much more than what he says; this is done intentionally, and is, without jumping the shark, dangerous for Democracy (stop me if you’ve heard that before).
The latest hearing involving Rand Paul went like this:
As you can see, it got pretty tense. But Rand Paul raises important questions. Lets not dismiss him for who he is and consider what he says. There are many important takeaways - Josh Rogin of the Washington Post does a great job at breaking that down in his Twitter thread. He also went on Joe Rogan to report on the connection between Fauci and the NIH:
Reason Sr. Editor Robby Soave also adds a critical quote from Nicholas Wade’s Medium Article.
That’s the journalistic side of things. It’s great reporting. I’d be irresponsible to not link that. But I’m not a journalist. I’m some asshole with a substack and a skeptical view of government whose clout on r/LockdownSkepticism has risen because of my breakdowns. There are many important takeaways here and I’m sure most of us have an opinion of what went down not only earlier but also during any one of Fauci’s 300+ media interviews during the past 15 months. So here’s my main takeaway:
Dr. Fauci is not a reliable witness. He is unfit to serve. His conflating statements do not clearly aid in any potential investigation due to his own conflicts of interest and career reputation.
Think about this for yourself: Why would somebody who is a top NIH official and NIAID Director, serving for 37 years, admit under oath (even partially) that the institutions he manages are at fault? Tactically, that’s the stupidest fucking thing you can do. So, it’s in Fauci’s best interest to play coy, deny, deny, deny, conflate all he can. Strategically, the way he answered questions absolves him of culpability (for now). We’ll see if that changes.
This is why science isn’t a monolith. Rand Paul mentioned about 200 scientists are skeptical regarding the origins of the coronavirus. I think it would be in the peoples’ best interest if we had a panel of these scientists and a panel of Fauci’s peers openly, publicly discuss gain of function research, funding, grants, the Wuhan Lab, etc. But I doubt that’ll even happen.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky also did herself absolutely no favors today either. Last week, the CDC copped some heat for their erroneous, out of touch guidelines for summer camp. Today, Walensky said she wouldn’t feel comfortable sending her kid to camp this year, citing shoddy data as the reason:
Her inability to assess risk, in my opinion, should absolve her from matters and guidelines surrounding the pandemic. She caved to the AFT and Randi Weingarten when making the CDC school re opening guidelines, hampering re openings - a priority for Biden. She warned of “impending doom” in March, crying on national TV, yet cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have declined since her emotionally charged plea. The summer camp and inconsistent vaccine message is the latest issue. However, I don’t think she steps down or is fired by the administration. They want this. All of it. I know, I know, a crazy claim to make - is it, though? Joe Biden has made wearing masks and getting vaccinated a “patriotic duty” (so much for not politicizing science there, eh), Andy Slavitt makes a mess of himself whenever he decides to get in front of a camera, and Fauci thinks we can maybe start to suggest to think about returning to some form of normalcy either this summer, sometime in the next few months, next year, or not at all. Do these people sound like honest actors to you? Now, I’m not suggesting there’s some grand conspiracy here. It’s simple:
Covid was the #1 issue, Trump didn’t “follow the science yadayadayadayada” - look, we heard it all last year, regardless of the truth. So you’re Biden. You’re just elected. What do you do? Double down on what got you elected - covid mania. You follow science! You take it seriously! You trust the experts! You wear masks! You lockdown!
This is who they are. Their covid myopia manifests itself as incoherent rambling at best, and pushing an agenda at worst. It’s the greatest intentional mismanagement since we tried to nation build in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has made every single problem - the economy, suicides, ODs, mental health, national stability, etc. much worse. But this is who they are. They can’t see the forest for the trees.
There’s some irony in the fact that, by these people making “taking Covid seriously” their identity, they’ve turned into what they’ve accused trumpers of being for the past year. For the past year we’ve heard that Trump voters are anti-science and are just prolonging the pandemic, not following the science, etc. well...now Biden’s camp is ignoring the science (wearing masks inside once fully vaccinated, acting like outdoor camps are dangerous, etc) and sticking to their Covid values even though vaccines have changed the situation. So basically, they’ve become what they’ve spent the last year hating.