NOW PLAYING
I have one more thing to say about Doctor Anthony Fauci, who testified before Congress yesterday and pleaded the Fifth on every single question put to him, thus thwarting the efforts of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and other Republicans to get answers about everything from the origins of covid to how the pandemic was handled.
After the hearing was finished, Paul expressed a desire to explore whether Fauci’s invocation of the Fifth Amendment was valid given that he had already received a blanket pardon from President Joe Biden.
Fauci pleaded the 5th Amendment 111 times. Here's more on what's next, and what I took from this: pic.twitter.com/kH7DVL23Bp
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) July 29, 2026
So there you have it. We will see how that goes. Now, while the Republican Party is treating Fauci like a criminal, the Democrats continue to treat him like a saint.
Harry Sisson tweeted that Fauci is an American hero.
Dr. Fauci is an American hero, by the way.
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) July 29, 2026
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hailed him as “a deeply caring physician, a brilliant scientist, an extraordinary public servant, a humanitarian, and a patriot — whose work has helped save tens of millions of lives. It is a shame to watch him be dragged in front of Congress in the name of bogus conspiracy theories.”
Dr. Fauci is a deeply caring physician, a brilliant scientist, an extraordinary public servant, a humanitarian, & a patriot—whose work has helped save tens of millions of lives. It is a shame to watch him be dragged in front of Congress in the name of bogus conspiracy theories.
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) July 29, 2026
For hopefully the last time, it is not a conspiracy theory to believe that covid originated from a lab and that Fauci steered the scientific community, the government, and the media to embrace the alternative theory that covid came from the wet market, because that was the explanation for which he did not bear direct responsibility.
In fact, I’m getting sick of repeating this over and over again, and you might be sick of hearing it. So as my parting shot against Doctor Fauci, I want to remind everyone that it’s not just covid origins — his guidance throughout the pandemic on how to mitigate it was just plain lousy.
Fauci is the figure who directed the federal government under Trump to lockdown vast swaths of the economy, to require social distancing and discourage public gatherings, and to mask up and even require masks in all sorts of settings where they were deeply inconvenient. But midway through the summer of 2020, something happened: Red states diverged from Fauci’s guidance, whereas blue states followed it militantly. We thus had a natural social experiment unfold — if Fauci’s guidance was so important to stop covid, then what we should have seen was markedly worse outcomes in red states during this time period.
Are you ready to have your mind blown? During this period, when red and blue states diverged wildly in terms of whether they listened to Fauci or not, there was very little difference in overall mortality.
Some states fared a little worse, some states a little bit better, but there was not extreme variance based on their fidelity to Fauci. It was only after vaccines that there did emerge a difference between red and blue states: Red states that did not vaccinate their elderly and at risk population fast enough did indeed have worse outcomes than blue states. For at risk Americans, the vaccines did make a difference.
You know what didn’t make a difference? Mask mandates. Social distancing. School closures. Lockdowns. States that took a pass on all of that were no worse off than states that followed Fauci’s commands.
And that is a huge indictment of our public health experts, and an indictment of the man who led them: Who whispered in the ears of two presidents, encouraging them to violate our liberties in dramatic ways. It was largely for nothing, and that is quite a lesson for us to learn.
Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.
Add as preferred source on Google TagsCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Opinions - Robby's Radar News
See All
Opinions - Robby's Radar CNN stunned at shock poll: voters trust GOP more on Iran War by Robby Soave, opinion contributor 2 days ago Opinions - Robby's Radar / 2 days ago 
