ROGER SIMON: Fauci and the Media Have Serious Blood on Their Hands Over COVID.

Donald Trump did many good things as president, but he didn’t always choose the best people to work with or for him. (Omarosa and “The Mooch”?)

If he wins a second term, he would be well-advised to bear in mind the old saw “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

But I don’t blame Trump for the man who was by far the worst government functionary during his administration and right up there among the worst in American history—Anthony Stephen Fauci.

Treated by the media like some combination of Jesus, Moses, and Hippocrates, this overpaid, lifetime bureaucrat was elevated to the level of soothsayer, every word from his mouth treated as if it were “settled science,” even though that concept could be seen as an oxymoron by anyone with a seventh grade education, and even though he contradicted himself so many times it would take an abacus, appropriately, to keep count.

Meanwhile, the same media excoriated Donald Trump for even suggesting the cheap and readily-available hydroxychloroquine might be useful in curing the disease long ago dubbed here at The Epoch Times, with more corroboration daily, the “CCP virus.” (I can say congratulations to ET—you were one of the few places to come to for real information—because I had nothing to do with this.)

Indeed, what has been called Trump Derangement Syndrome now seems too weak a term, considering the degree it dominated even medical science itself during a pandemic. We need something stronger. “Paranoid Trumpophrenia” perhaps.

Dr. Fauci became the spokesperson for those Trumpophrenics, seemingly adjusting his opinions according to their needs. Anyone who disagreed with His Majesty, no matter his or her bona fides, was ridiculed in the press and social media.

That anti-democratic institution Facebook that pervades our lives to a frightening extent would not even publish routine questioning of the provenance of the disease until just now. It had to have come from a wet market, in the original view of Mark Zuckerberg, not a Chinese government laboratory. Fauci did not contradict him.

The media, also with Fauci’s help, was so successful in their propaganda they cowed the two most important medical journals in the English language—The Journal of the American Academy of Medicine and the British Lancet—into claiming the commonly-used hydroxy was actually dangerous.

These esteemed journals eventually and sheepishly walked this back when actual evidence appeared and they were forced to agree that hydroxy, administered early, could be helpful in the cure. Shame on them.

The upshot of this prevarication that affected a large number of American and foreign medical institutions was that many died who could have been saved with early treatment. How many we will never know, but a substantial number.

The media were, in essence, something they always accused others of being—super spreaders.

So was Dr. Fauci.

Together they have blood on their hands.

Of course, something was being hidden in all this—something that was readily apparent over a year ago to anyone paying the slightest attention—and now is coming to light only after a Wall Street Journal article telling us three employees of the Wuhan virology lab had COVID-like symptoms in November 2019.

That something was the role of Communist China in obfuscating the source of the pandemic that, it is increasingly likely, was so-called “gain of function” research at the Wuhan lab to enable deadly viruses to be more communicable to humans.

Fauci had some role in all this at the lab that should be fully investigated and exposed. Whether it will be is another question.

Despite a superficially unified Senate asking for the intelligence from our agencies, it is not yet clear whether that intelligence on China and the pandemic will ever be revealed to the extent necessary.

Something quite nefarious militates against it that few admit in public. As uncomfortable as it is to say, a powerful and significant percentage of our governmental and business elites already assume, consciously or unconsciously, communist China will win the competition with the West and have already positioned themselves to cash in.

In a sense they want the communist oligarchs to, since it is more lucrative for both groups working together. (Wonder why Zuckerberg was so reluctant to question the source of the pandemic on Facebook? This should tell you.)

Earlier: Don’t let the media get away with U-turning on the lab leak theory. Or Dr Fauci.

UPDATE: ‘Follow The Science’ Crowd Finally Admits Their COVID-19 Censorship Was Political.

HISTORY: How the U.S. and NRA Assisted the Allied Effort in WWII. “The task before the War Production Board was epic. Not only did it have to re-arm and re-equip the 338,000 rescued soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, it was now committed to uniforming and arming a million and a half volunteers. At first, armbands and a few privately owned shotguns were all the country had to face the anticipated German onslaught. British firearm regulations in 1920 and 1937 had effectively disarmed the average citizen in the United Kingdom and left the nation dangerously ill-equipped and ill-prepared for the daunting task that lay ahead: basic survival.”

WE NEED DOMESTIC CHIPMAKERS: Report Shows U.S. Automakers Bearing Brunt of Chip Shortage in North America.

KIRA DAVIS: The Unbearable Whiteness (and Hypocrisy) of Critical Race Theory. “Blaming ‘whiteness’ is big business. It seems Slater is doing nothing but perpetuating her own guilt. She has nothing to lose by degrading her race (which she did not choose and cannot unchoose). It has cost her nothing while she complains about what systemic racism has cost Black America. She still has her job, her benefits, her power, her prestige and now she has a few pats on the back. She’s given nothing up.”

HOW ANTHONY FAUCI MADE HIMSELF THE FACE OF AMERICA’S INSTITUTIONAL DECAY.

Few events have accelerated Western institutional decay as the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s been Dr. Anthony Fauci’s foot on the gas.

As the pandemic sunsets on the United States, the nation stands far weaker, rocked by a public health emergency driving up debt and division amid a polarizing presidential election while political elites capitalized on the virus for ulterior ends. Legacy media got more irresponsible, big tech got more unfair, and half the population comfortably shut down their neighbors’ livelihoods in seeking an impossible life with zero risk, as if the virus had the potential to wipe out the human race.

At the center of this crisis stood National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Fauci, who became a prominent voice in the first days of the pandemic while serving in the Trump White House. Standing at the press lectern each day to appear on evening television, Fauci took on the appearance of the trusted hometown physician.

At 79 years old and five feet seven inches with grey hair and glasses, Fauci’s voice became a familiar sound imbued with decades of experience and credibility. His early eagerness to contradict a president with his own love for the camera also made Fauci an attractive figure to a hostile press excited at the opportunity to make him “America’s Doctor.”

Americans don’t trust their institutions like they used to, and one can hardly blame them after the prior 15 months. Their leaders failed them time and time again when the stakes were high.

Earlier: The suicide of expertise.

TYLER O’NEIL: Biden’s ATF Nominee Wants to Ban ‘Assault Weapons’ and His Definition Is Terrifyingly Broad.

IRONY CAN BE PRETTY IRONIC SOMETIMES: Atlanta Mayoral Candidate Who Voted to Defund Police Carjacked for His Mercedes in Broad Daylight. “Get ready though, because here comes the single best line of the report…Brown said he filed a report with the Atlanta Police Department.”

AMERICA IN 2021: “The pistol stabilizing brace has become so ubiquitous in American homes that the idea of banning them might look good on paper, but would be demonstrably impossible in execution.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Biden is surrendering to Iran.

The Trump administration took a totally different approach that started with viewing each piece of the Middle East puzzle – allies and adversaries alike – as it was, with clear eyes. This clarity empowered policy makers to take bold steps to support our friends and to deter our enemies.

Alarmists, including current Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warned that delivering on a decades-old promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem would set fire to a regional tinderbox. Many of the same detractors said taking Iranian terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani off the battlefield would spark a war.

In both cases, the opposite happened. Our potential partners, Arabs and Jews alike, saw that it was possible to break out of antiquated molds and approach old problems with new ideas – and would-be troublemakers realized there were real consequences to malign actions.

But rather than building on this foundation for stability, the Biden administration has inexplicably reverted to the failed, chaos-sowing policies of the past, especially when it comes to the Middle East’s leading patron of terror: Iran.

What’s worse is that supposed tough-guy Biden surrendered preemptively.

I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ONE MORE DAMN WORD FROM THE LEFT ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY: Biden Will Propose a $6 TRILLION Budget in 2022, Rising to $8.2 TRILLION By 2030.

THE ENEMY WITHIN: Contracts reveal US universities ‘must’ accept CCP’s ‘assessment’ on ‘teaching quality’ at Confucius Institutes. “Six university agreements contained language that gave the Chinese Communist Party a level of control over the curriculum taught within the Confucius Institute.”

It’s no surprise that certain American institutions are up for sale. The only shocker is just how cheaply they can be had.

FAUCI’S ON HIS 15th MINUTE OF FAME: Rand Paul Has Won Every Single Round Against Fauci.

Related: Trump On Lab-Leak Theory: ‘It Was Obvious To Smart People.’ There is no way the media can ever admit Trump may have been right about anything, ever, including this.

Earlier: Fauci’s Latest Covid-19 Flip-Flop May Be His Most Disturbing Yet: “He also dismissed the theory that COVID-19 was found in nature, brought to a lab, and then escaped. Fauci, arguably (though not justifiably) the most trusted person when it comes to COVID-19, set the tone for how theories about COVID-19’s origins would be treated. If you suggested it came from a lab or was man-made, you were laughed off as a kook. In retrospect, it seems like Fauci was trying to protect himself, as it turns out that his National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases may have funded ‘controversial ‘gain of function’ research where coronaviruses were made ‘more infectious in humans,’’ at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

I’M SO OLD, I CAN REMEMBER WHEN TNR WAS A RELATIVELY SANE PUBLICATION: The New Republic magazine says white veterans “wanted to be victims” and directly contributed to white supremacy in America.

Mister, they could use a man like Marty Peretz again.

A SHORT-TERM REMEDY AT BEST: Don’t count on caffeine to fight sleep deprivation, says study.

RADICAL CHIC: THE GERITOL YEARS. Dems Hosted Ex-Black Panther Implicated in Torture for Event Where Panelists Praised Cop Killers. Black Panthers accused of torture compared their movement to Black Lives Matter.

But did the Black Panthers take Visa and MasterCard? Eagle-eyed tweeter catches Black Lives Matter’s Marxist street cred taking a hilarious hit in George Floyd Square (pic).

Related: Black Lives Matter Founder Says U.S. Flag a ‘Symbol of Hate.’

LIVE AT 3:30PM EASTERN: ‘Five O’Clock Somewhere’ Live Chat with Kruiser, Preston, VodkaPundit.

SERVES HIM RIGHT. Another summer of California power outages poses threat to Newsom as he faces recall.

SCIENCE: EPA Ends Trump Transparency Rule.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Josh Hawley, Bernie Sanders team up to criticize proposed $10 billion bailout for Jeff Bezos-owned space company.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD IS NOT ASHAMED TO ADMIT ITS MISTAKES: The Babylon Bee Would Like To Apologize To Xi Jinping For Referring To Him As ‘President’ And Not ‘A Stuffed Honey-Loving Bear Who Lives In The Hundred Acre Wood.’

(Pro tip: Drop the Bee’s “apology” into a Chinese to English translation page.)

WHITMER HAS A COVID NURSING HOME SCANDAL OF HER OWN: Michigan nursing home death toll ‘could be double’ official count.

YOU CAN TELL WHO’S ON THE PAYROLL, OR AT LEAST WHO’S ON THE TEAM: Celebrities will lecture America, but apologize — like John Cena — to China.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS CURRENTLY BEING TREATED FOR EXHAUSTION: Biden’s ATF Nominee Wants to Ban ‘Assault Rifles’ and His Definition Is Terrifyingly Broad.

LOCKDOWN CONSEQUENCES: Mammography rates plummeted during pandemic.

Related: The rich and powerful thrived as the rest of us suffered in the year of lockdowns.