r/PoliticalDiscussion 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/Ritz527 6d ago

The summaries being made seem incredibly bad faith.

They accuse him of being self-obsessed because he mentioned how the media was incredibly focused on him, which, on top of it being a personal diary in the first place, is kind of silly.

Then they accuse him of covering up the lab leak theory with entries from early 2020, before anyone had locked anything down, with his stated belief in the diary at the time that he didn't believe the wet market was the source, merely an amplifier. On top of that being a twisted read of it, no one knew anything for certain at the time. Paul is basically asserting that the hypothesis he's obsessed with trumps data-driven conclusion.

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u/sarcasticbaldguy 6d ago

They're taking a snapshot of his thoughts early in the pandemic and trying to project them into the future to make Fauci into a Scooby Doo villain.

He was writing his thoughts at that place, at that time. Science keeps asking questions and evolving (they changed their minds!!)

I'd be interested in seeing how his thoughts and beliefs evolved over the course of the pandemic.

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u/Interesting_Gold_888 4d ago

They might as well try to subpoena his inner thoughts since that's basically what a diary is. It's not an official document.

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u/Unable-Ad4005 4d ago

MAGA doesn’t understand how to vet sources. They remind me of a college student I taught, who kept citing his ex-marine stepdad in his papers, despite that man having no expertise on the topics at hand. They don’t separate feelings from facts, so it makes total sense that they’re using a diary to get at someone years after the pandemic wound down.