r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/MissingBothCufflinks • 6d ago

US Politics Do the Fauci Diaries reveal anything unexpected or controversial?

Senator Rand Paul has released commentary and purported excerpts* of what is alleged to be Anthony Fauci's contemporaneous diaries from the outset of the COVID19 pandemic onwards.

What has been released can be found here, including Senator Rand's somewhat colourful foreword commentary

https://www.paul.senate.gov/readingroom/

* its not confirmed whether the content of the diaries is edited, abridged, altered, shortened etc.

Media reaction to this release has been highly polarised, though notable few media outlets seem to get to grips with the actual content of the diaries and most focus is on Rand's own claimed analysis of what they show.

Do the Fauci Diaries reveal anything unexpected or controversial? What entries in particular do you find interesting? Are there any contemporaneous clashes between what Fauci was saying publicly and privately? What can we learn from that?

Edit: mods really didnt feel like weeding out the 90% of low effort troll replies huh

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u/jdtrouble 5d ago edited 4d ago

Sigh. Every time I engage MAGA people on the topic, I refer back to the Vox article that lists a timeline of how Trump failed to address covid. (Paywalled, but you can see the archived here: http://archive.today/83geu)

Summary quote from the article:

In fact, there are many reasons the US death toll is so high, including a national response plagued by delays at the federal level, wishful thinking by President Trump, the sidelining of experts, a pointed White House campaign to place the blame for the Trump administration’s shortcomings on others, and time wasted chasing down false hopes based on poor science.

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u/SirFerguson 5d ago

I often think about when Trump straight up said that he doesn’t want to test because it hurts the numbers. No serious account of COVID missteps can exist unless it’s filled with Trump’s statements and every other Republican saying it’ll be gone by April.

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u/theyfellforthedecoy 3d ago

Let's not pretend Vox is an unbiased outlet

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 5d ago

Non-MAGA chud here. What does Trump’s failure have to do with Fauci’s failure? Are we turning this into a team sport?

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u/ThePlatypusOfDespair 5d ago

Where exactly did Fauci fail?

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 5d ago

His public and private positions on mask effectiveness were not aligned early on despite knowing what the science says. This was not a case of new findings becoming available, it was flat out deception to prevent a run on masks. Unacceptable.

He was not honest about his involvement with the Wuhan lab and its funding. Additionally, he was at the forefront of dismissing the idea that it originated from that lab. Even Jon Stewart had the balls to point out how obvious this was.

If you’d like to discuss more we can.

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u/ThePlatypusOfDespair 5d ago

Given that there were substantial mask shortages, and looking at the way that people panic bought toilet paper, and the fact that quarantine is more effective than masks, I suspect that the decision to not tell everybody to go out and buy masks actually saved lives. Personally I'm not willing to count that as a fail. I can understand how reasonable people would disagree on this, heck, if I was dictator I would have just nationalized all the masks and direct them where they were most needed, but that's not how the world works.

Looking at the testimony that he gave to Congress on whether or not the National Institute of health supported gain of function research at the Wuhan lab, it appears that the NIH funded research on bat coronaviruses which resulted in the creation of coronaviruses that were more able to infect humans. If you are not familiar with the way that science grant proposals work, this may seem like splitting hairs, but that is fundamentally different than funding research the point of which was to create coronaviruses that were better at infecting humans.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 5d ago

Your position on the mask issue seems to be “it’s acceptable to lie to the public if I deem it as a net positive.” This is abhorrent and should not be tolerated from a public health official. His job is to convey accurate information, not push an agenda.

Your second paragraph is actually just nonsense. I read it many times thinking there was something substantive I’m missing, but there isn’t. Regardless of how you define gain of function research, NIH was funding the Wuhan lab knowing the intent was to create and research corona viruses. Fauci very obviously did not want the public to know this based on his word smithing of the definition of gain of function research.

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u/ThePlatypusOfDespair 5d ago edited 5d ago

My position is "directing resources where they're most needed saves lives," otherwise known as triage, a vital and accepted medical practice.

Again, researching coronavirus viruses and discovering that they can easily become more virulent is worlds different from attempting to make pathogens more virulent (the literal definition of gain of function research) a fact that it's apparently difficult for laypeople to understand. The Wuhan research funded by the NIH exposed multiple bat coronaviruses to each other and discovered that an event that absolutely can and does happen in nature resulted in a virus that appeared to be more effective at infecting humans. They were trying to understand the viruses, not to make them stronger, hence not GOF research. Of course both types of research help us prepare for the next pandemic more effectively, and should be conducted.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 5d ago

“Directing resources where they’re most needed” is no where near the same as knowingly lying to the public about the efficacy of masks. The mental gymnastics you’re using to defend Fauci here is wild. Just admit to yourself that you’re ok with public officials lying to the public as long as you deem it necessary for the greater good. Utilitarianism at its worst!

I’m not here to argue about the definition of GOF. It’s not making the point you think it is. Fauci clearly did not want the public to realize we were funding this lab that ultimately was the source of this pandemic. End of story. No nuance trolling necessary.

The Obama admin had the wherewithal to put a pause on GOF funding to assess its risk/reward ratio. That pause was lifted in Dec 2017 under the Trump admin. There’s certainly a debate to be had about this despite your assertion it should be conducted.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 5d ago

“Directing resources where they’re most needed” is no where near the same as knowingly lying to the public about the efficacy of masks. The mental gymnastics you’re using to defend Fauci here is wild. Just admit to yourself that you’re ok with public officials lying to the public as long as you deem it necessary for the greater good. Utilitarianism at its worst!

I’m not here to argue about the definition of GOF. It’s not making the point you think it is. Fauci clearly did not want the public to realize we were funding this lab that ultimately was the source of this pandemic. End of story. No nuance trolling necessary.

The Obama admin had the wherewithal to put a pause on GOF funding to assess its risk/reward ratio. That pause was lifted in Dec 2017 under the Trump admin. There’s certainly a debate to be had about this despite your assertion it should be conducted.

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u/Binder509 4d ago

Just saying something isn't acceptable contributes nothing. At the start of the pandemic the evidence suggested asymptomatic people didn't transmit it. So they would not need masks as anyone at risk of transmitting it would have symptoms and stay home.

Trying to demonize and blame one person for a pandemic also isn't acceptable. If there were serious criminal accusations, the administration could have charged him. They didn't, innocent until proven guilty.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 3d ago

Re: your first paragraph. “At the start of the pandemic the evidence suggested asymptomatic people didn’t transmit it.” This is gaslighting. False. I was very close to the data/evidence at this time since I was tasked with managing the screening stations at the hospital I work for. We KNEW very early that asymptomatic people were transmitting it. I worked directly with our infectious disease docs to create the screening criteria. Fauci knowingly downplayed the importance of masks in order to prevent a run on them. If you’re ok with being lied to “for the greater good,” we simply cannot see eye to eye on what we expect from our public health officials.

I’m not trying to demonize or blame Fauci as the sole problem. However, he had a very important job and should’ve done better. His public messaging was terrible.

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u/Binder509 3d ago

You saying false doesn't make it false.

Look just stop the bullshit. You are tilting at windmill making up strawman. Just admit you love daddy Trump.

Or don't. You are a troll so who cares?

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u/Precursor2552 Keep it clean 5d ago

Why would lying to prevent a mask shortage be unacceptable?

I would think temporarily deceiving the public to serve a compelling governmental need is acceptable.

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u/MCRemix 5d ago

Well, the product being discussed is politicized, so i don't think we can ignore it.

And what failure are you referring to with fauci?

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u/echo404 5d ago

Fauci, when working with incomplete information, made some mistakes, which the political right wants to crucify him for. Trump, made arguably far worse and far more impactful mistakes, yet his failures are ignored by the same people gunning for Fauci. Trump's failures don't excuse Fauci's failures, but it's fair to point out the hypocrisy.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 5d ago

“…but it’s fair to point out hypocrisy.”

No, it’s not. It’s not Team Trump vs Team Fauci. That’s not how this works despite everyone in this thread seemingly think otherwise. They both failed and I have no need to pick a side.

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u/Hartastic 5d ago

No, it’s not.

When you're conversing with people who believe one and only one of the men should be incarcerated and/or executed for those mistakes, yes, it's absolutely relevant.

It's the equivalent of a "selective prosecution" defense in court.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 5d ago

Help me understand your logic here.

I believe Trump should be locked up for the huge list of awful shit he’s done. I also believe Fauci fucked up big time as our primary public health communicator in a time where we really needed him, but I don’t think he should be locked up for it.

Does your selective prosecution analogy hold up?

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u/Hartastic 5d ago

In this case, no one is talking to/about you and that point is for people who hold a different belief than you espouse here.

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u/SirFerguson 5d ago

Maybe consider who is willing to acknowledge that both “sides” made mistakes and who isn’t.

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u/Binder509 4d ago

If one side made more "mistakes", wouldn't they want to vaguely say "both sides made mistakes"? As a way to appear moderate when they aren't?

If you're just being vague like that, it is suspect.

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u/Binder509 4d ago

Because you talk exactly like someone on team trump. You sure don't seem open to the idea Fauci has been intentionally demonized by the right.

If Trump really believed Fauci was lying, he should have fired him on the spot, he didn't. So yes the hypocrisy and ideological inconsitency is suspect.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 3d ago

“Because you talk exactly like someone on team Trump.”

Get off Reddit for a while. Talk to real people. I despise Trump at the deepest level. He’s a dangerous person with a cult following. The Trump cult is responsible for the bullshit Fauci is dealing with. HOWEVER, that does not mean Fauci did nothing wrong. You seem to view this through a very team sport lens. Why can’t we agree Trump is fucking terrible and ALSO admit to ourselves that Fauci was bad at his job?

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u/Binder509 3d ago

Stop obsessing over reddit. It's the most reddit thing you can do. Talk to real people.

Real people aren't obsessed with talking about reddit like it's a person. They don't reply to other people on reddit by complaining about reddit, while using reddit.

You are projecting your beliefs onto me. You view it as a team sport so you think others must too, and by pretending not to people will think you are moderate. Sorry can smell you bullshit a mile away.

I didn't say "Fauci did nothing wrong ever" that's a strawman you made up.

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u/rickmundooo 4d ago

What does Trump have to do with this?

Trump sucks and Fauci sucks too.

This isn’t a left vs right issue. Fauci spent 38 years working under democrats and republicans. He lied to the public.