I didn't say much about the pandemic during the pandemic, even here in my hobby blog.
I don't believe I've even commented on the much discussed question, for example, of whether Dr. Fauci was a national deliverer or a fraud.
Now I can and will say though: he might have been both. But for purposes of narrowing the field a bit, let's discuss the respect in which he might have been a fraud.
Fauci did a good deal during the pandemic to persuade Americans that Covid-19 had its origin in China's wet markets -- places where fresh (newly dead) animals are sold for food in open air settings.
But the diaries help make it clear that he did not believe this to be the origin. He understood that the real origin of Covid-19 had a very likely tie to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab in Wuhan, China.
Comer and Jordan say, "Excerpts of emails we are making public today reveal that Dr. Fauci was warned of two things .... the potential that COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute ... and 2) the possibility that the virus was intentionally genetically manipuated."
Big, and a bad thing to have helped cover up, if that is in fact what Fauci did. I have no admiration for Messrs Comer and Jordan, but they may have stumbled onto a valuable point here.
Two questions. (1) Did Comer and Jordan make the excerpts of emails public and, if so, did the emails, despite being only excerpts, confirm their claims? One should otherwise assume that they are lying. (2) If Fauci did what they accuse him of, what might his motive have been?
ReplyDeleteHenry, Good questions. Actually, it was Rand Paul who made the material public, as chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. In the statement I quoted above, Comer and Jordan as members of the House Oversight Committee are riding on the Senator's coattails a bit when they use the pronoun "we.' At any rate, you can read the public material here: https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf One comment that warrants my observations above may be found at p. 13 of the pdf to which I just linked you (page 681 of the voluminous typed underlying document being excerpted here.) Look at the final paragraph of 13/681, part of a long entry made on January 31, 2020 by our diarist. The paragraph begins, "When I got back to my office, I got call from...." I found this bit very eye-opening. I'll address your second good question separately.
DeleteContinuing. What might Fauci's motive have been? You've known me for a few years, and you know I am not inclined to chase conspiratorial rabbit holes. Since my self-conversion out of anarcho-cap presumptions I am probably less inclined than I was. Let us presume the best of motives. Fauci seems to be a serious public servant He might have believed that bellicosity would harm the cause of viral containment. He may have worried that a US/China diplomatic showdown, or public pressure FOR such a showdown, would be a very bad thing and would detract from the effort to get people to wear masks, keep social distances, etc. So in the midst of the latter effort he may have participated in a cover-up of the truth about the involvement of the Wuhan Lab.
DeleteThe url in your first reply takes us to Rand Paul's website, but not to anything relevant to Fauci. It provides Paul's constituents with a phone number to receive help with any federal government agency. It doesn't mention that Paul and every other Republican member of Congress have allowed Trump to prevent agencies from carrying out their statutory missions.
DeleteHenry, That's bizarre. It appears something that was formerly at that URL (the URL itself after all contains the phrase "Tony's Diary,") has been taken down and you've been redirected. You might try this URL instead: https://www.paul.senate.gov/readingroom/ That is a menu of "reading room" items. -- if you scroll down a bit you'll find one dated July 25. You'll see a large rectangle with a smaller rectangle inside it (left bottom corner). Click on the smaller rectangle. It appears you can still reach the material from there. There you can follow my earlier instruction, page 13/681.
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