Why does MAGA America hate Dr Anthony Fauci so much?

What’s the story?

In the UK we had Chris Witty. In America, it was Anthony Fauci.

The memory of the Covid-19 pandemic may be one many people aren't keen to revisit, but that's what happened this week in Congress, where a Republican hearing was held to determine the source of the pandemic.

It has long been acknowledged that it emerged in Wuhan, China, passed from animals to humans, and it was Witty and Fauci who helped guide Britain and the US through the crisis, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

But MAGA Republicans have never been the type to let a conspiracy theory lie, and the hearing, where Fauci was grilled, attempted to prove it was created in a lab, and that he was in some way responsible for Covid deaths in America.

And they want the former head of the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) jailed.

The News Agents describe the hearing as little more than a "circus".

"MAGA Republicans in America absolutely hate, detest, and loathe Dr. Anthony Fauci," says Jon Sopel.

They have alleged that Fauci "funnelled" American money to Wuhan, and was therefore responsible for the global pandemic.

What happened in Congress?

The hearing was chaired by Rand Paul, who has long believed the Fauci conspiracy theories. MAGA fury was so intense, that he was granted a pre-emptive pardon by Joe Biden before he left office, knowing this day would come.

"But that pardon does not cover things that happen in the future," says Lewis Goodall.

Fauci refused to answer any questions – something he did to protect himself, but which MAGA and the American right immediately assumed was an admission of guilt.

"If he were to say something before Congress that could then be construed by the bad political actors in Congress or on that committee as perjury or contempt of Congress, then he could potentially be liable to legal action in the future, despite that pardon," Lewis adds.

Fauci read a statement, accusing Paul of having an "obsession" with him, calling his comments "slanderous" and that the hearing was held solely with the objective of seeing him behind bars.

The leaked Fauci diaries

Paul recently obtained, and published, Fauci's personal diaries written between 2019 and 2022, which showed little in the way of scandal relating to Covid-19.

"There is no smoking gun in the diaries," says Lewis.

"There are some serious points of policy that might have been at variance with stuff that he was saying at the time, but I think the problem is, in a country which is as polarised as America, which still, much like our own country, has not truly had a reckoning with or come to terms with Covid and all of the lost moments, is the trauma that is involved in that.

"Here was a guy who, frankly, if you were reading these diaries, at times appeared to be relishing and enjoying what he was experiencing."

He wrote about the celebrities who contacted him during his time as Donald Trump's chief medical advisor, and commented on flattering articles written about him in the US press.

"Fauci has given his life to public health, and I don't doubt the sincerity of the man at all," says Jon.

"I think he was trying to take the best medical advice possible and trying to move the administration to a point where it was doing what the scientists thought was best."

But in doing so, he occasionally contradicted and clashed with the erratic words of Trump on the pandemic, which set the MAGA machine against him from the very top.

Jon says the diaries showed Fauci as being as "vain and narcissistic" as Trump himself.

Why does MAGA America hate Fauci so much?

The News Agents say that Rand Paul's years-long vendetta against Fauci, and that of MAGA America, is not against the man himself, but what they see him as representing.

"Rand Paul came to believe that the medicalisation of the federal government at the time of COVID represented a barbaric, tyrannical overreach into everyday life of Americans, and so there is an ideological gulf between them," says Lewis.

"For so many on the American right, Fauci is emblematic of everything that they believe is wrong with the scientific, professional, expert class, which we have glimmers of in our own politics – but it is nothing so acute as it is in American politics.

"But this is clearly not just about ideology or politics. It is deeply, deeply personal between the two men."

Like Witty, Fauci became a well known face to Americans during the pandemic, and as well as loving the attention he received from celebrities at the time, became somewhat famous himself.

"If you become a celebrity, then almost by definition, your status as a scientist and public official start to be contested, because celebrities are always liked and disliked," Lewis says.

"There are very few celebrities who enjoy universal acclaim.

"Ultimately this is not really about Fauci at all. This is a bizarre attempt at a show trial, and an ongoing contestation in American politics about the role of institutions, political authority, and about expertise."

Lewis says Covid "shattered" three assumptions in American politics.

"These are that scientific expertise sits above politics, that public institutions will automatically be trusted, and that America can unite around a shared vision and version of events.

"That was largely true to an extent in the UK, but it certainly wasn't in the United States. Fauci has become a lightning rod for those debates and all of those three things."

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