President Donald Trump usually doesn’t need any invitation to demonize and even push for criminal investigations of people he doesn’t like. But he’s been conspicuously absent from Republicans’ and MAGA’s crusade against Dr. Anthony Fauci.
One possible explanation: All of this is a bit awkward for the president.
Trump not only worked willingly alongside Fauci for months during the Covid pandemic, but also has said some pretty nice things about him. Trump even gave Fauci a presidential commendation on his way out of office in 2021 — after Fauci did many of the supposedly horrible things Republicans now accuse him of.
Republicans have increasingly accused Fauci, who repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment in Senate testimony Wednesday, of not just illegal behavior, but even crimes against humanity.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida on Wednesday referred to Fauci as “Dr. ‘Mengele’ Fauci” — referring to the infamous Nazi doctor who performed gruesome experiments on concentration-camp prisoners. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama claimed Fauci “killed or had something to do with killing nine million people,” drawing the Fox Business Network host interviewing him to note that this claim lacked proof.
