By Dale Glading
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One of the hardest things in life to admit is that you don’t have all the answers, that you are basically clueless. Simply put, our pride gets in the way. Add a few letters after your name to signify your advanced degrees, and it gets even more difficult.
And yet, if there is one word that I would use to describe Dr. Anthony Fauci, it is exactly that: Clueless… with a capital “C”.
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You may remember the 1995 movie of the same name, starring Alicia Silverstone as the spoiled daughter of a high-powered attorney and his widow, who died during a liposuction procedure. Silverstone, as Cher Horowitz, is raised in a privileged and sheltered environment where affluence, fashion, and popularity trump personal integrity and social awareness.
The similarities between that “Beverly Hills bubble” and the Washington Beltway (otherwise known as “The Swamp”) are too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say that a resident of either location has no idea what life is like in the real world. You know, for the rest of us… the great unwashed of society.
Otherwise known as The Deplorables.
We are now learning that the CDC was aware of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as early as December 2019. And yet, in a Newsmax TV interview on January 21, 2020, Dr. Fauci said the following: “Obviously, you need to take it seriously and do the kind of things the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the Department of Homeland Security is doing. But this is not a major threat to the people of the United States, and this is not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about.”
Five days later, Dr. Fauci doubled down on his position, telling a New York radio show host that, “The American people should not be worried or frightened by this. It’s a very, very low risk to the United States, but it’s something we, as public health officials, need to take very seriously.”
Really, Dr. Fauci? You couldn’t have been more wrong had you tried.
Over the ensuing months, as coronavirus cases escalated and COVID-related deaths mounted, the good doctor started advocating such revolutionary scientific breakthroughs as washing your hands and maintaining proper social distancing. Next, he lobbied for widespread lockdowns, mandatory mask-wearing, and strict stay-at-home orders. Most recently, he channeled his inner Grinch and tried to cancel both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Guess what? Nothing has helped, at least not much. Despite – or maybe in part because of – the above measures, COVID cases continue to spike as new highs are recorded virtually every day.
To me, it all boils down to this: Dr. Fauci and his peers simply couldn’t bring themselves to say that they knew very little about COVID-19 and therefore, had no idea how to deal with it. They didn’t know where it came from, how it was contracted or transmitted, and how (or even if) it could be contained. A full year later, they are still arguing over optimal treatment plans and which therapeutics are the most effective.
The American people have endured 12 months of constantly moving goalposts while Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and others in the pseudo-scientific community – as well as liberal politicians from statehouses to city halls – threw as much against the wall as they could, frantically hoping that something… anything… would stick. Well, it didn’t. To date, the only things that have worked are a few common sense solutions and Operation Warp Speed – devised, engineered, and implemented under the direction of President Donald Trump.
At the end of Clueless, Cher has a bit of a revelation and attempts to lead a less vain and more purposeful life. I wonder when Dr. Fauci will have a similar coming of age?
As for Alicia Silverstone, she made headlines in 2012 for uploading a video of herself feeding chewed food to her son from her own mouth. A self-described animal rights and environmental activist, Silverstone has also written to Vladimir Putin asking him to make vegan meals available to all Russian prisoners.
Like I said before… clueless. In fact, if they ever make a sequel to the hit movie, I suggest that Silverstone step aside and allow Anthony Fauci to portray Cher Horowitz. After all, he loves living in a bubble – and wants to force us to live in one, too.
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Dale Glading is an ordained minister and former N.J. Republican candidate for Congress.
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