After teasing it was a while ago, ABC’s The View finally had Dr. Anthony Fauci on the show to help him hawk his new book. The much-reviled public health official received copious amounts of praise from the liberal ladies and no questions about how the policies he pushed harmed a generation of children and infringed on individual liberties. Instead, he got a platform to lash out at those who opposed him, calling them “bastards.”
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg led off the questioning, teeing him up to attack those looking to hold abusive government bureaucrats to account. “You say empathy has always guided you as a physician and a public servant but there's also a Latin phrase that has consistently come up for you…” she said.
Recalling his high school education, Fauci took a swipe at his critics: “And one of the things that they mentioned to us when things got down and you felt that the world was caving in on you was illegitimi non carborundum which means ‘don't let the bastards wear you down.’”
Goldberg swooped for Fauci, stumbling over her words as she bestowed her greatest honor unto him… waving her dreadlocks at him (pictured above):
GOLDBERG: Well, you know – you – look -- You are probably one of the classiest people I've ever watched move around in Washington, D.C.
[Applause]
FAUCI: Thank you.
GOLDBERG: So and -- you know – it’s – I can’t – I just want to raise my dreads to you.
Things took a dark turn when staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) reiterated that she blamed former President Trump for the deaths of her in-laws who were killed by the virus from China. She asked Fauci to go off on Trump for refusing to wear a mask:
We remember those pandemic briefings. I remember the injection of bleach, perhaps, the hydroxychloroquine, dangerous recommendations. You were disturbed, I read, by his refusal to wear the mask. What was this time like for you having to contradict the president of the United States? And what should everyone know about how he handled the crisis, because I blame him for my in-laws' death.
Fauci lamented that Trump “missed an opportunity” to “use the bully pulpit of the presidency” to get his “millions and millions of followers who are very loyal to him” to obey the masking mandates. “All he had to do was say ‘The CDC is recommending masks we know it's going to save lives, do it.’ And he missed an opportunity,” he huffed.
Faux-conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin claimed she once tried to convince Trump to wear a mask by telling him he “looked cool” in it.
They refused to press Fauci on how closing schools hurt the educational and social development of millions of children, but they did allow him to end the three-segment long interview by suggesting the real problem during the pandemic was that people who were not obeying government bureaucrats.
“The thing that really was an impediment during the last one was the profound degree of divisiveness, where we had a common enemy, which was the virus, and we were fighting with each other in this country. We’ve to put that aside,” he decried.
During the pandemic, The View cast was all for lockdowns but made excuses for why they should be allowed to go to the swanky White House Correspondents Dinner. They were also a big source of misinformation about the virus and fear mongered. There was also the time they decried the president of the United States getting cutting-edge treatment when he contracted it. And it wasn’t until this year that they seemed to admit that COVID didn’t originate in America.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
June 20, 2024
11:16:57 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: You say empathy has always guided you as a physician and a public servant but there's also a Latin phrase that has consistently come up for you and I'd love you to share it and tell everybody what it means.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: Well, when I was getting my education in high school, Latin and Greek was an important part of our classical training. It was actually at Regis High School a few blocks from here, it was a Jesuit school. And one of the things that they mentioned to us when things got down and you felt that the world was caving in on you was illegitimi non carborundum which means “don't let the bastards wear you down.”
[Laughter]
And boy does that hold true.
GOLDBERG: Well, you know – you – look -- You are probably one of the classiest people I've ever watched move around in Washington, D.C.
[Applause]
FAUCI: Thank you.
GOLDBERG: So and -- you know – it’s – I can’t – I just want to raise my dreads to you.
[Laughter]
But I don't want to take up too much time.
(…)
11:21:45 a.m. Eastern
SUNNY HOSTIN: My husband lost both parents; two doctors within three days of each other.
FAUCI: I’m sorry.
HOSITN: From the pandemic. Thank you. We remember those pandemic briefings. I remember the injection of bleach, perhaps, the hydroxychloroquine, dangerous recommendations. You were disturbed, I read, by his refusal to wear the mask. What was this time like for you having to contradict the president of the United States? And what should everyone know about how he handled the crisis, because I blame him for my in-laws' death.
FAUCI: Well, you know, the people who became angry with me among his staff, people like Peter Navarro –
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Who’s currently in jail, but go on.
FAUCI: -- and Mark Meadows
[Laughter]
-and others thought I was doing that because I had some sort of antipathy to the president, which I did not.
And I just – It was very painful for me. I have a great deal of respect for the presidency of the United States of America. I’ve served seven presidents. So, it wasn't like, ‘Isn't this cool? I'm contradicting the president.” It was very, very painful but I had to do it.
With regard to the masks, the thing that was a problem, is that when the CDC came out and made the recommendation that when you’re indoors we should wearing masks; that was when the infections were going like that [gestures and upward angle]. And when he got up and said ‘Well, it's recommendation, but I'm not going to do it. I choose not to do it.’ I consider that a missed opportunity to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to get people to do things that was for their own safety.
You know, he has millions and millions of followers who are very loyal to him. All he had to do was say ‘the CDC is recommending masks we know it's going to save lives, do it.’ And he missed an opportunity.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I remember telling him he looked cool in the masks because I thought that might appeal to him, and he might be like, ‘Okay, fine. I’ll wear it.’ It didn’t work though
FAUCI: I remember. Nice try, Alyssa.
(…)
11:39:39 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: Thank you for everything you did. Because –
[Applause]
JOY BEHAR: That was one of the worst times for people. Just awful and the way they died was horrible, too, it was not an easy death. But you know, you call yourself a cautious optimist. I'm wondering, what keeps you up now?
FAUCI: Well, there are two things. There are health things that keep me up because I still think we need to be better prepared for the inevitability of another pandemic. If you look at history, pandemics go before recorded history, 1918 pandemic flu, all of the things and now we've experienced one of the worth. It may happen a year from now or it may happen 50 years from now but we have to be prepared for it.
BEHAR: Are we?
FAUCI: Well, you know, in some respects we are scientifically; from a public health standpoint we have a ways to go and we have to do better. The thing that really was an impediment during the last one was the profound degree of divisiveness, were we had a common enemy, which was the virus, and we were fighting with each other in this country. We’ve to put that aside
(…)
