You know things are going well in your life when photographers are camped outside your house catching you hauling garbage bags to the curb. That's exactly where Anthony Fauci found himself on Thursday, just hours after the Senate voted 8 to 5 to hold him in contempt of Congress and refer his case to the Department of Justice. As USA Journal reported, his wife Christine Grady had her own unique response to the paparazzi moment. She rolled up to her car window and delivered a one finger salute to the photographer. Classy stuff.
Senator Rand Paul, who has basically made a second career out of going after Fauci, wasted absolutely zero time firing off what might be the greatest political comeback of the decade. Seven glorious words: "Is that how you plead the Fifth in sign language?" That's the kind of line comedy writers spend weeks workshopping, and Paul just tossed it off like a fastball down the middle.
Let's take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we? Back in 2022, during his final year working for the government, the New York Times published a fawning farewell profile noting that Fauci's home office walls were absolutely plastered with portraits of himself painted and drawn by adoring fans. One of those artistic contributors was singer Joan Baez, who Fauci described as a "pretty good friend." When people pointed out that covering your walls with pictures of your own face might be slightly narcissistic, he blamed the "far right" for calling him an egomaniac. He wasn't keeping the portraits because of vanity, he insisted. He simply couldn't disrespect his fans by tossing their artwork in the bin.
Fast forward to now, and the only thing he's tossing is actual garbage while cameras roll. His attorney dismissed the contempt vote as a "crude political stunt," which is a bold legal strategy when the DOJ referral is very much real.
Phil Magness summed up the situation perfectly: "For the first time ever in his life, Fauci doesn't like cameras." And honestly, that observation is chef's kiss. This is a guy who absolutely lived for the spotlight. Time magazine covers. Late night TV appearances. Journalists comparing him to a rock star. He soaked up every single second of it. Now those same cameras are capturing him looking miserable next to a recycling bin, and suddenly the spotlight has lost its charm.
Here's the part that really makes you appreciate the irony. Christine Grady works as a bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health. Her literal professional specialty is medical ethics. And she chose to express those finely tuned ethical sensibilities with one particular finger from her car window on a Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, the Florida state investigation remains active. Senate Republicans have his phone data. The contempt resolution passed. And the guy who spent four years on television proclaiming himself to be the physical embodiment of science apparently cannot bring himself to answer questions about any of it. Rand Paul's quip was rhetorical, but the accountability knocking on the Fauci front door is very much not.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
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