In dramatic literature, Doctor Faustus made a deal with Lucifer. In current events, Dr. Fauci is being pressured to make a deal with Donald Trump.
Anthony Fauci, 69, Brooklyn-born and Catholic-schooled (Regis Prep in Manhattan, Holy Cross outside of Boston), is America’s foremost authority on contagious diseases. Today Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was told by the White House not to give any interviews on the coronavirus unless he clears it with Mike Pence’s spokesperson first.
We feel badly for Fauci. He’s spent much of the past 10 years answering the same old questions about gluten-free beer and the ebola virus (honestly, I don’t know which is more of a scourge), and now he finally gets a topic that he can get his Purel-cleansed hands on, and the White House has put a muzzle on him.
Then again, Fauci is 69 years old, presumably quite financially comfortable, and he is a dedicated health professional. Why should he care about a veiled threat that Donald Trump would hold over him about transparency? I’m fired? Woo ha! Good luck containing a pandemic that may cost you the election.
It’s just the latest example of the White House attempting to control the message at the expense of the truth. Trump doesn’t want Americans to think too much about the coronavirus because he’s truly not worried about a pandemic; he’s worried about the stock market. And he cannot brag about the Dow Jones’ record highs if it is plummeting, and as long as Americans maintain a healthy level of, say, concern about the coronavirus, the market will continue to tank.
It’s funny. The market IS the truth here. If the big spenders who truly move the levers of the market trusted Trump, the economy/market would be fine. They don’t. Whatever they may be saying in public in support of Trump, they are speaking with their investment portfolios right now. That’s where the real talk exists.
The Dow is down 3,000 points this week. Donald Trump has promoted Mike Pence to be his coronavirus czar/designated disease scapegoat. And the American best equipped to inform us is being silenced. You can be anti-science right up until you need science to save your life, or that you have to come to terms with your willful ignorance.
Enjoy your CPAC, guys.