Dr Anthony Fauci has become the Republican boogeyman. It was predictable. In fact, I predicted it nearly one year ago when I said that he needed to take a step back from the spotlight. He was not the right man to be at the center of the nation’s public relations. Here’s why.
Dr Fauci is an immunologist. He’s a scientist. And here’s the thing about science—it changes. In fact, the whole purpose of science is to change science. It’s about discovery. What’s true today may not be true tomorrow due to research and breakthroughs. That’s the very foundation of science. It’s why his position on masks changed repeatedly over the past year. But in politics we call that lying and flip flopping.
In his recently released emails, Dr Fauci says that he feels uncomfortable in the limelight. That just doesn’t make any sense to me. Maybe he didn’t force himself to be the center of attention in the beginning of this crisis but he has certainly kept himself there at his own choosing. He throws out first pitches at baseball games. He does interview after interview after interview. He said he loved being played by Brad Pitt on SNL. And now we see that he’s writing a book to benefit financially off of this whole global crisis.
Fauci is a scientist. He isn’t a public policy expert. He isn’t a lawmaker. He isn’t a public relations spokesman. But he’s acted like all the above and now wonders why he’s the target of so much political heat. The short answer is it’s because he overstepped his position for personal gain and put himself in the line of fire.
I’m not here to argue the merits of the political attacks or the facts in his emails. They speak for themselves. And, I even won’t yell “I told you so.” I’m here to say that he deserves to be under fire. He’s a public relations disaster and he should have stuck to being a scientist behind the scenes.
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