It's become as boring as it is predictable: When Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia turns on her microphone during a hearing, it's time to say goodbye to decorum and hello to vulgar personal attacks.
The House Clown Princess had quite the forum Monday, when, as a member of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, she interrogated and insulted Dr. Anthony Fauci, 83, a top public health doctor. of the world, who directed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022 and led the country during the pandemic.
opinion columnist
Robin Abcarian
Apparently, the questioning, which was billed simply as “A Hearing with Anthony Fauci,” was the culmination of the committee's 15-month investigation into the origins of the virus and the public health response.
In reality, it was a forum for Republicans to continue their attacks on Fauci. As the committee's ranking Democratic member, Rep. Raúl Ruiz de Indio, put it at a press conference before the hearing, Republicans have used the committee to promote the “dangerous narrative that Dr. Fauci somehow funded the research that started the COVID-19 pandemic, lied about it, and orchestrated a campaign to cover it up.”
The truth, as we know, is that then-President Trump dithered, blathered, and boasted while Americans died. Who will ever forget the look of pain on the face of Dr. Deborah Birx, Trump's coronavirus response coordinator, as she watched Trump suggest we “hit the body” with a powerful light or disinfectant to kill the virus? Or the way Fauci got slapped in the face when Trump went on a tangent about the “Deep State Department” during one of his stupid daily briefings?
Monday's hearing was a colossal waste of time and energy. We are no closer to conclusively knowing the origin of COVID-19, or steps the government can take to strengthen data collection, improve future testing and contact tracing, or address racial and economic disparities. that were revealed in that terrible moment.
Instead, Republicans, desperate to smear Fauci, went to town. Greene took things to absurd extremes.
“You're not a doctor,” he fumed. “Are Mister. “Fauci,” he said, his voice full of disdain.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland asked for a point of order. “In terms of rules of decorum, can we deny that a doctor is a doctor simply because we don't want him to be one?”
Without waiting for a response from committee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), Greene continued: “Yes, because… that man doesn't deserve to have a license. In fact, he should be revoked and he should be in prison.”
Greene took a kitchen sink approach to his bullying. Holding up a photograph of two beagles lying on the ground with their heads covered by mesh, Greene scoffed: “As a dog lover, I want to tell you that what you signed is disgusting and evil. The type of science you represent, Mr. Fauci, is abhorrent and must stop.”
(The National Institutes of Health, which has funded research on beagles and has rigorous rules about their treatment, was not involved in the study Greene was interested in. The journal that initially promulgated that claim later retracted it.)
“What do dogs have to do with anything we're talking about today?” Fauci asked in frustration.
Amid the bluster, it's important to remember that during the pandemic, while President Trump and his sycophants were suggesting that Americans do silly things like inject themselves with bleach or swallow dewormers to get rid of COVID-19, Fauci was working to understand the new virus. and promote social rules designed to help prevent transmission.
Did he make mistakes or contradict himself? He did. In the early stages of the pandemic, Fauci suggested that people did not need to wear masks before backing down. As he testified, the six-foot rule for social distancing was not based on scientific studies, but it seemed to make sense.
The editor of the nonpartisan magazine New Atlantis noted in a 2022 New York Times essay that a little humility would have been more helpful to Fauci and the country. “There was nothing stopping Dr. Fauci in those chaotic first weeks from saying, 'Masks might help, but doctors and nurses need them more now,' or even just 'We're not sure yet,'” Ari Schulman wrote. “This would have been much closer to accurately representing scientific understanding and would have done wonders in case the answer changed later, as it surely would with many guidance items.”
Most of us are willing to give Fauci a little sweet spot for imperfections, but his embrace of masks, social distancing, and of course, vaccines when they became available made him a hate figure for those Americans who They don't like being told what to do. , especially by scientists. “Don't Fauci my Florida” became Gov. Ron DeSantis' ridiculous slogan, even as hospitalizations, new infections and deaths per capita skyrocketed in his state.
On Monday, Fauci testified that he and his family had been inundated with death threats, two of which were credible enough to have resulted in arrests. “'Credible death threats' means someone who was clearly on a path to kill me,” Fauci said at one point, his voice breaking.
One wonders why Fauci even volunteered to appear at Monday's hearing knowing what was in store for him from Republicans on the committee, who had promised to uncover his mishandling of the pandemic but accomplished nothing.
“You are an American hero,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, a Long Beach Democrat who lost his mother and stepfather to COVID-19, “and your team has done more to save lives than the 435 members of this team.” organism”.
Amen to that.
