On the heels of disgraced Doctor Anthony Fauci’s announcement that he will be leaving his job as a government bureaucrat after forty years on the government dole, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow rewarded him with a fawning interview on her primetime show.
Maddow couldn’t contain herself. Before Fauci was even brought on, she melted with praise for Fauci. “Dr. Anthony Fauci is a singular figure in American history and in American public service. There has never been anyone else like him, and there never will be again” Maddow proclaimed.
She then went to a commercial break to presumably gain her composure. When Maddow returned, she introduced Fauci and eventually claimed “There are very few people who serve in government who, when you hear they're going to write a book, you think, oh, good, I'll probably learn something from that.”
Maddow, addressing Fauci added, “I feel like you're an exception to my cynicism on that, in part just because it's rare for one person to head up an important part of the government's capabilities over such a long period of time, over so many different challenges, through so many different presidencies.”
When asked why we used to be better at handling the basics in how to deal with these challenges” in dealing with national or worldwide pandemics, Fauci went into damage control to protect his image noting that “the things that we thought we knew in the beginning turned out as the months went by to not be the case, which really forced us to adapt and to change some of our policies and recommendations.”
Perhaps attempting to preempt the charges that he spent the COVID pandemic contradicting himself on everything from mask-wearing to vaccines, Fauci cried “that was interpreted by many as flip-flopping or not really knowing what's going on when it really was the evolution of the science.”
There have been a lot of theories and conspiracy theories and accusations and more or less wild claims about the origins of COVID in particular,” Maddow wailed in her attempt at serving as Fauci’s publicist. “It seems like that's when people on the political right really started getting their claws into you and targeting you personally during this pandemic,” Maddow insisted.
“What we're dealing with now is just a distortion of reality,” said lashing out. He then proceeded to whine about all the “conspiracy theories which don't make any sense.”
Maddow followed up by asking if Fauci has “any insight into what we ought to do as a country to deal with” the threats Fauci has gotten. She then proceeded to slime conservatives by claiming they think “anybody citing science or facts or objective reality or nuance is, by definition, the enemy.”
Fauci ended the segment by throwing a temper tantrum that people “could look at January 6 on TV, and you have some people who actually don't believe it happened. How could that possibly be?” Fauci kvetched, adding that “it's now spilling over in denial about public health principles.”
Maddow ended the interview by thanking Fauci “for a lifetime, so far of service.”
This softball interview with Tony Fauci was made possible by Olay, Prevagen & Sleep Number. Their information is linked so you can let them know about the biased news they fund.
To read the relevant transcript of this segment click “expand”:
MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show
August 22, 2022
9:21:37 p.m. EasternRACHEL MADDOW: It is worth appreciating as he announces that he is finally stepping down, that Dr. Anthony Fauci is a singular figure in American history and in American public service. There has never been anyone else like him, and there never will be again.
[...]
MADDOW: Today the doctor, the accomplished researcher who has helped lead our country through public health crises of all stripes, including the coronavirus pandemic, today he announced his retirement after 38 years as the nation's top infectious diseases doctor. Dr. Anthony Fauci said today he's stepping down by the end of this year, ending his decades-long career in public life. He says he's looking forward to his next chapter this coming December, but we don't yet know what that will be.
[...]
MADDOW: There are very few people who serve in government who, when you hear they're going to write a book, you think, oh, good, I'll probably learn something from that. No offense to all the public officials who I've had on here to talk about their various books over the years. I feel like you're an exception to my cynicism on that, in part just because it's rare for one person to head up an important part of the government's capabilities over such a long period of time, over so many different challenges, through so many different presidencies.
And so I want to read whatever you have to write about, and I want to hear whatever you have to say about that. But I just wonder if you can kind of just tell us in broad strokes if you feel like in your part of the government, in public health and dealing with infectious diseases, we've gotten better over time, we've been learning the lessons learned and evolving and getting better at this, or is this one of those situations in which our capacity has actually been eroding and in some ways we used to better resource these fights, we used to be better at handling the basics in how to deal with these challenges?
[...]
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: The things that we thought we knew in the beginning turned out as the months went by to not be the case, which really forced us to adapt and to change some of our policies and recommendations. That was interpreted by many as flip-flopping or not really knowing what's going on when it really was the evolution of the science. So one of the lessons that I hope we learn is that we've got to be prepared, we've got to be able to respond, but we've also got to be flexible.
[...]
MADDOW: There have been a lot of theories and conspiracy theories and accusations and more or less wild claims about the origins of COVID in particular. It seems like that's when people on the political right really started getting their claws into you and targeting you personally during this pandemic. I mean, as I said, sort of a visible and singular leader on infectious disease issues over all these years, you've faced sharp criticism before. It does feel a little different. There is a weird, obsessive, violent, ongoing demonization of you by the right that is hinged on COVID.
I just have to ask from your perspective if that kind of attention, that criticism feels qualitatively different to you than previous criticism, if it is coming from a different place, if it is indeed more dangerous than the kind of criticism you've had in the past?
FAUCI: Right. Rachel, it's -- it's phenomenally, 100 percent different. It's apples and elephants difference. It really, really is. Back in the day of HIV -- and you showed some of those clips, which were quite accurate. What we were doing in the federal government, what we were being too rigid and restrictive in a disease that needed a great deal of flexibility and input from the community, the AIDS activists that you saw on the clips that you showed.
When you examined what they were saying and what they were asking for, they were entirely correct. So they opened our eyes, my eyes particularly, which made me actually turn into one of them and an AIDS activist because we learned from them and we learned that we were being too rigid from a clinical trial standpoint and from a regulatory standpoint. And the FDA modernized their approach based on that too.
What we're dealing with now is just a distortion of reality, Rachel. I mean conspiracy theories which don't make any sense at all, pushing back on sound public health measures, you know, making it look like trying to save lives is encroaching on people's freedom. That's a big difference from the AIDS activists, who really had a good foundation for their objections.
MADDOW: Do you have any insight into what we ought to do as a country to deal with that? I mean, I feel like it's -- it's part of what's going on in the right, where, you know, you want to sort of separate the politics from reality, that you want the measure of truth to be what the ruler says is true, and so anybody citing science or facts or objective reality or nuance is, by definition, the enemy.
I mean, I feel like it is tied to politics in some ways. But even, you know, making observations like that doesn't necessarily give you a way to fix it, doesn't give you a way to fight it. Having been the target of this kind of really specific, really different attack, do you have insight into what we ought to do to protect public officials like yourself and to try to be more rational about this stuff as a country?
FAUCI: You know, Rachel, I wish I did have a positive, constructive answer for you, but I don't. I think you and I are talking about public health issues right now. But what has spilled over and really in many respects impeded a proper response to a public health challenge is something that we see that goes well beyond public health.
It's a complete distortion of reality. I mean, a world of where untruths have almost become normalized, how we can see something in front of our very eyes and deny it's happening. I mean, that's the environment we're living in. You could look at January 6 on TV, and you have some people who actually don't believe it happened. How could that possibly be? And it's now spilling over in denial about public health principles.
So I wish I had an answer, but I don't. I mean, I do have, as I've always been, someone who is cautiously optimistic and always feeling that we will be able to extract the good out of people, and there are the possibility that we'll see, as I say, the better angels in our society prevail. But what's going on out there now with the distortion of reality is very troublesome, and I don't have an answer for it right now. But it certainly is interfering with the proper approach to a public health challenge.
