Last week, Sen. Rand Paul and National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases Director Anthony Fauci went at it again. This time, the issue was whether or not the nation’s top doctor had allowed funding for gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Paul believes that his sources, including Fauci’s private emails published by Buzzfeed in June, support the idea that Fauci approved the funding. The doctor denies it. The Republican senator reminded Fauci that lying to Congress was a crime. Fauci was unmoved. “If anyone is lying here, senator,” he responded, “it is you.”
I wouldn’t bet on that.
When Paul has challenged Fauci in recent months, it played out as follows: Paul says X. Fauci denies X. Social media and left-leaning pundits excoriate Paul for even bringing up X. Then, eventually, everyone agrees with Paul on X. We have seen this scenario play out at least twice.
In March, Paul told Fauci during a Senate hearing that vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks, according to his scientific sources. Fauci insisted that masks were still needed, even for those who were vaccinated. Paul called it “theater.” Fauci said it was not theater. By May, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks. Fauci agreed.
True, things change over time, especially during a pandemic. But for Fauci to behave in March as if Paul was being irresponsible or reckless on mask policy looks foolish in hindsight.
Later in May, Paul asked Fauci if the origins of the global COVID-19 pandemic could be found in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That is to say, the Chinese lab where U.S. funding for gain-of-function research had occurred. Fauci denied this, and many dismissed Paul as promoting a conspiracy theory.
Today, the lab leak theory is no longer considered conspiratorial. Indeed, it is viewed across the political and media spectrum as a serious possibility.
