OPINION:
Dr. Anthony Fauci was dragged before the Senate Homeland Security Committee to answer questions about COVID and explain the discrepancies between his public and private views of the virus — and the efficacy of the shots and the logic of the lockdowns — and when asked by Chairman Rand Paul to reference the folder on the table in front of him, said: “Under the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”
Later, the good senator from Ohio, Bernie Moreno, asked Fauci, in reference to the COVID policies that led to the arrests of innocent people and the persecution of free citizens, “Who the f—- do you think you were for doing that?” — only he said the word out loud, and loudly.
And that’s pretty much all you need to know.
As Paul noted, “Let the record reflect the witness refused to answer he has a folder in front of him based on his Fifth Amendment rights.”
For the entire three-hour hearing, Fauci, as Fauci does, and always did, and no doubt always will do, dodged valid questions, and in so doing, dodged uncomfortable truths, and once again, dodged accountability for his deceptions during COVID. Democrats (the couple who bothered to show), as Democrats do, and did, and will no doubt continue to do, made kissy sounds as they rushed to defend Fauci’s reputation. And Fauci’s band of uninvited lawyers — minus the one who was booted because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut — sat a safe and soothing distance nearby, providing the ex-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases a spiritual buffer against the forces of Republican truth-tellers who wanted first and foremost an apology for the millions who suffered, some by dying, at the hands of the guy who claimed himself to be science itself.
Will you apologize, Fauci?
“Under the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” he answered.
Tyrants don’t apologize.
Tyrants don’t acknowledge folders on tables in front of them.
They’ve better things to do — like repeating, “Under the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.” It’s fun to be a tyrant in America because James Madison, the one who drafted the Fifth Amendment, inadvertently handed liars and deceivers and tyrants the legal right to avoid answering any questions they decided were incriminating — including questions like this one, from Sen. Moreno: Do you know who wrote the Fifth Amendment, Mr. Fauci?
“Under the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” Fauci said.
Fauci wasn’t just flipping off Republicans.
He was extending his middle finger to an entire nation of American citizens who wanted an explanation of why their businesses were destroyed, why their childrens’ education was disrupted, why their church services were shut down, why their freedoms to travel were halted, why their private medical decisions were torn from them, why their jobs and ability to earn and provide for their own families were jeopardized, why their government leaders dictated one thing to the masses but did their own thing, hypocritically and arrogantly — like Gov. Gavin Newsom in California shutting down the state while he partied with his face-maskless friends at a fundraiser; like Fauci himself demanding every man, woman, child and baby wear a face mask, no, two face masks, because if one is good, two are better, in all places of public gathering, while he sat, face mask free, in the bleachers at a Washington baseball game.
The problem with Fauci, as his diary entries show, is that he is a lover of self.
His pride manifested during the COVID years when he declared himself to be science, and then went on media show after media show to tell how best the government ought to deal with COVID, and how best citizens ought to listen to his recommended guidance about COVID — all the while, pretending he had zilch, zero, zippy-doo-dah nothing to do with COVID policy. So when schools closed in most all the states and kids started falling behind and committing suicide — not Fauci’s fault, ‘cause he wasn’t a politician, he was a scientist. And when businesses folded and churches closed and citizens were arrested for the crime of walking in the open air without a face mask — again, not Fauci’s fault. I’m just a scientist, he said. I’m just giving my medical opinion about a virus, he said. I’ve nothing to do with policy, he said.
Meanwhile, all his so-called science went like this: Potentially — this could happen. Possibly — people could die. Maybe — the virus will spread. Conceivably — shutting down the entire nation, nay, the entire world, could keep people safe. His leftist friends in government ran with these potentials, these perhaps-es, these possibilities and used Fauci’s name and rank and medical background as justification to lock down all of America. His friends in corporate media helpfully found all the voices who supported Fauci’s recommendations and gave them airtime and online presence and news coverage, and equally helpfully silenced those who opposed the lockdowns, the forced face-masking, the forced COVID shots. His friends in Big Tech booted anyone who offered viewpoints, science and data that countered the Fauci narratives. From Fauci’s mouth came one fear-filled proclaimed potential, perhaps, possibility after another; sometimes, directive A in direct conflict with directive B, but no matter, no matter, they all worked toward locking down life. The word ’potential’ is a very powerful tool for a tyrant.
But don’t confuse ’potential’ with ’actual’ — or factual. That’s not science. That’s pseudoscience.
And Fauci during COVID wasn’t a scientist so much as a master of obfuscation.
His legacy will be the unyielding and arrogant face of America’s dark times of turmoil and tyranny. Fauci’s forever the guy so impressed with himself, and so fearful of accountability, he couldn’t even look at a folder and acknowledge its existence.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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