Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, has come to a conclusion that others came to some time ago. Perhaps with the best intentions, Dr. Anthony Fauci has lied to the American people and no doubt lied to the president. The president, trusting the doctor’s credentials, believed him and, to fight the virus, crippled the US economy while racking up trillions in new debt. Not billions, trillions. The president acted in good faith. Fauci did not.

Because hey, if there is no deadly threat from a pandemic then pandemic doctors don’t get celebrity media status or high regard from the powers that be, now do they?

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Rubio: “Thanks to our news media’s monomaniacal obsession with President Trump, few have paid attention to an important interview that Dr. Anthony Fauci gave last week, in which he acknowledged that he selectively lied to the American public about the coronavirus and what was needed for our national recovery. The story is straightforward. For most of this year, Dr. Fauci and other scientists in our public health establishment have been telling Americans that about 60 to 70 percent of the nation would need a vaccine in order for us to reach herd immunity and make the coronavirus a non-issue. But, speaking with The New York Times, Dr. Fauci admitted that he believes the real number is in fact significantly higher — perhaps 75 to 90 percent — and he declined to be forthright because he felt the country wasn’t ready to hear it. Only now did he say that he feels he has the freedom to ‘nudge this up a bit’ without discouraging the nation.” So instead of the straight facts, Fauci now decides what we should hear. Oh good.

“I am sure that Dr. Fauci — the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — made the decision to mislead with nothing but good intentions. However, let’s be clear about what he was doing: lying to the American people in order to manipulate their behavior. The American people deserve the truth; they also deserve accountability. When elected representatives make decisions, they can be held responsible by the public. But when public health officials with decades of experience and leadership within our nation’s institutions short-circuit the political process and make these decisions themselves, they deny the American people that same opportunity — and to change course if desired.” If Fauci had told the truth all along, how many businesses would still be open? How many jobs would have been saved?

“The point here is not to stop trusting public health guidelines. Beating the coronavirus will mean coming together as a nation and continuing to make sacrifices to reduce its spread, as more and more Americans get vaccinated thanks to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed. But it does mean that placing blind faith in unelected celebrity scientists — elevated by a media that award Emmys to negligent politicians with their own grisly records —  has its limits, and we must not be afraid to call them out when they’re caught overstepping their legitimate authority. I do not question Dr. Fauci’s motives — I trust they are noble — but I am appalled by his arrogance. If he wants to lead the nation, he should run for office. Otherwise, he should give us an honest and transparent reading of the science, not polling data, and let the rest of us —policymakers and the American people who have elected them — do our jobs.”