CBS NEWS – A case can be made that no one over the past 20 months has been more involved and more visible in the battle against COVID-19 than Dr. Anthony Fauci.
More than 30 years ago, Fauci was being demonized by AIDS activists for not doing enough. These days the ranks of Fauci critics have multiplied.
But if anything in this age of COVID, the charge now is that Fauci has done too much.
Last month, Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn said, “This ‘demon doctor’ must never be allowed to escape justice.”
And Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson charged, “Here’s a guy who fully expected to spend his life giving prostate exams … and there he was declaring the ancient Christian calendar null and void.”
At home, in one of Washington’s comfortable bedroom communities, Dr. Fauci is buffered by a cluster of supportive yard signs.
“Sunday Morning” senior contributor Ted Koppel asked Fauci, “When you see the ‘Thank You Dr. Fauci’ signs, does that shelter you a little bit?”
“It does, it does,” he replied. “The fact that you know people really care about you and understand what you’re doing really deflects a lot of the crazy attacks that you get.”
But after nearly two years of COVID, three-quarters-of-a-million Americans killed by the pandemic and an unrelenting assault on his competence and honesty, does Fauci have any second thoughts about the past? And fresh thoughts about the next time?
Koppel asked if the pandemic situation could have been different if former President Trump had led in a different way.
“The answer to that is yes,” said Fauci. “But when you have leadership, you know, denying that something is as serious as it is, then you have a real problem. So, in that respect, it could have gone differently” … READ MORE.
