On Thursday, CNN Newsroom hosts Jim Sciutto and Bianna Golodryga, political analyst Jackie Kucinich, and politics reporter Chris Cillizza took some fairly tame GOP campaign ads criticizing Dr. Fauci and declared that such attacks were "angry," "dangerous," "below the belt," and contribute to Fauci and his family's need for security.
Sciutto teed up the ads by declaring: "Dr. Anthony Fauci is not on any ballots for polls coming in November. That is not, however, stopping Republican midterm candidates from making him the focus of their campaign ads. Some of them angry."
After a montage of four ads that concluded with Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Jim Pillen preparing to fire a hunting rifle while declaring, "Biden is as lost as last year’s Easter egg and Fauci, don't get me started. I'm Jim Pillen. As governor, I'll keep Nebraska safe," Sciutto implied that Pillen was threatening violence towards Fauci, "With a gun." That was the most aggressively anti-Fauci of the ads Sciutto shared.
According to Sciutto, Pillen isn't alone in encouraging threats towards Fauci: "I mean, there’s a background here that I think is worth mentioning in the midst of this and that is that Dr. Fauci has been under personal threat for a number of months now requiring police protection and his family as well, his two daughters. Do these ads, Chris Cillizza potentially contribute to that?"
Cillizza agreed, "Sure. I mean, when you have things like #FireFauci and the guy has a gun, I know he's, it’s, he's going hunting but the, yes, of course, people make that connection and it’s, the thing that's so unfortunate, Jim, it's the latest example of how this pandemic has been brutally politicized in ways that affect people's lives."
For Cillizza, the only reason some people criticize Fauci is because of former President Trump:
Unfortunately, Republicans do this, Republican candidates do this because they have polling that tells them that the Republican base of the party is very anti-Fauci. Why are they very anti-Fauci? Well, I'll just throw one idea out there. Maybe it’s because Donald Trump spent, you know, the majority of the second half of his presidency vilifying a doctor who has run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for decades.
Fauci has never run the CDC but that aside, Golodryga then joined in to declare that the ads were "below the belt, most likely, right, dangerous, most definitely," and ask Kucinich: "As we are starting to see states, both red and blue, lifting their mask restrictions and opening up in ways that we didn't expect even just a few weeks ago, do you think these ads are, are even effective at this point given the midterms are months away?"
Kucinich thought that they were because they are primary ads and "where there has been a race among many of these candidates to be the closest to former-President Trump and that means a pull to the right."
By equating "fire Fauci" with violence, CNN is simply trying to eliminate any criticism of Fauci.
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Here is a transcript for the February 10 show:
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
2/10/2022
10:40 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: Dr. Anthony Fauci is not on any ballots for polls coming in November. That is not, however, stopping Republican midterm candidates from making him the focus of their campaign ads. Some of them angry. Here are just a few examples.
RAND PAUL: I'm Rand Paul. I know Mike Gibbons will join me in demanding that Fauci is immediately fired and removed from office.
MEHMET OZ: The big government medical establishment came after me because I dared to challenge Fauci.
JANE TIMKEN: No mask mandates, no vaccine mandates. Let's fire Fauci and take back our freedoms.
JIM PILLEN: Biden is as lost as last year’s Easter egg and Fauci, don't get me started. I'm Jim Pillen. As governor, I'll keep Nebraska safe.
SCIUTTO: With a gun. Joining us now to discuss Jackie Kucinich, a CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief of The Daily Beast, also Chris Cillizza, a CNN politics reporter and author of The Point newsletter. Good to have you both on. I mean, there’s a background here that I think is worth mentioning in the midst of this and that is that Dr. Fauci has been under personal threat for a number of months now requiring police protection and his family as well, his two daughters. Do these ads, Chris Cillizza potentially contribute to that?
CHRIS CILLIZZA: Sure. I mean, when you have things like #FireFauci and the guy has a gun, I know he’s, it’s, he's going hunting but the, yes, of course, people make that connection and it’s, the thing that's so unfortunate, Jim, it's the latest example of how this pandemic has been brutally politicized in ways that affect people's lives. Anthony Fauci is not a Joe Biden appointee. He's not a Barack Obama appointee. He's been serving presidents since Ronald Reagan, right? This, this was never a political position before. Unfortunately, Republicans do this, Republican candidates do this because they have polling that tells them that the Republican base of the party is very anti-Fauci. Why are they very anti-Fauci? Well, I'll just throw one idea out there. Maybe it’s because Donald Trump spent, you know, the majority of the second half of his presidency vilifying a doctor who has run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for decades. I don't think we can think that, that's not linked.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: So, Jackie, below the belt, most likely, right, dangerous, most definitely. But one could argue that these ads would be more effective if the midterms were a month or two away. As we are starting to see states, both red and blue, lifting their mask restrictions and opening up in ways that we didn't expect even just a few weeks ago, do you think these ads are, are even effective at this point given the midterms are months away?
JACKIE KUCINICH: I do because this isn't about November. This is about primaries that are much, much closer.
SCIUTTO: Yeah
KUCINICH: Particularly when you talk about candidates in Ohio and Pennsylvania where there has been a race among many of these candidates to be the closest to former-President Trump and that means a pull to the right and with Dr. Fauci, he really has become an avatar of sorts for the right of lockdown and government limitations that happened during COVID. And when you're talking about these states, again, like Ohio which is a red state, that is something that really activates the base which all of these candidates are trying to attract to their side in these crowded fields to, you know, replace retiring senators.
