On Tuesday, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson blasted top White House doctor Anthony Fauci, calling him a “filthy little demagogue” after his exchange with Senator Rand Paul during a Senate hearing earlier that day.
Carlson made his remarks during a monologue on his program “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Tucker Carlson on Dr. Fauci: "Ugh, he's such a filthy little demagogue. Filthy little demagogue. Doesn't answer the question, makes it all about him, solipsist that he is, and then he whips around and accuses Rand Paul of endangering his life." pic.twitter.com/8AWWLhMxNy
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) January 12, 2022
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Carlson Excoriates ‘Filthy Little Demagogue’ Fauci
Carlson said at the beginning of his monologue, “Turns out, Tony Fauci’s even more loathsome and complicit even than his toughest critics ever alleged.”
“Today, two Republican congressmen, James Comer and Jim Jordan, released emails that show Fauci was warned by scientists at the very beginning of the Corona pandemic this virus very likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Carlson said.
“That’s the same lab where a Fauci agency was funding gain-of-function research.”
Carlson cited a letter from House Oversight Committee Republicans which read, “On February 1, 2020, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Collins, and at least 11 other scientists convened a conference call to discuss Covid 19… It was on this conference call that Drs. Fauci & Collins were first warned that Covid 19 may have leaked from the WIV &, further, may have been intentionally genetically manipulated.”
That letter is here:
?BREAKING?
We’ve released never before seen emails showing Dr. Fauci may have concealed information about #COVID19 originating from the Wuhan lab & intentionally downplayed the lab leak theory. @RepJamesComer & @Jim_Jordan want Fauci under oath. Time for answers. 1/2? pic.twitter.com/p8aIBJ3nom
— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) January 11, 2022
“So that’s news,” Carlson insisted.
“By the way, that was a year before it became the common view of the origin of Covid,” Carlson added. “During that year, anyone who raised the question was denounced as a racist. Anti-Asian or something. But it turned out to be very likely true.”
Carlson then played video of the Paul and Fauci exchange, saying, “So today, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, asked Fauci about all this. Watch how Fauci responds.”
Paul asked Fauci on Tuesday, “Did scientists come to you privately and say, ‘No way this came from the lab’? Or was their initial impression, Dr. Gary and others that were involved, was their initial impression actually that it looked very suspicious for a virus that came from a lab.”
Fauci replied, “Senator, we are here at a committee to look at a virus now that’s killed almost 900,000 people, and the purpose of the committee was to try to get things out how we can help to get the American public, and you keep coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality.”
That response got under Carlson’s skin.
“He’s such a filthy little demagogue,” Carlson blared. “Filthy little demagogue. Doesn’t answer the question, makes it all about him, solipsist that he is, and then he whips around and accuses Rand Paul of endangering his life.”
“Fauci held up a page from Rand Paul’s website that read ‘Fire Tony Fauci.” Carlson noted. “Now, Fauci is the highest-paid federal employee and one of the longest-serving. He works for us, so we have a right not to want him to work for us anymore, that’s called democracy.”
Carlson added, “But according to Fauci, that’s illegitimate. He blamed Rand Paul’s webpage for alleged threats of violence against him. In other words, if you criticized me you’re trying to get me killed.”
.@RandPaul to Fauci: "[T]he idea that a government official like yourself would claim unilaterally to represent science and that any criticism of you would be considered a criticism of science itself is quite dangerous…It is cheap politics & it is reprehensible." pic.twitter.com/b6JCaaHQTR
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 11, 2022
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Carlson To Fauci: ‘So you’re not taking any responsibility for that?’
Carlson later continued, “Meanwhile, Fauci refused to take any responsibility for the lockdowns that he supported that wrecked the country in a lot of ways.”
The Fox News host then played the clip of Paul asking, “Do you think the lockdowns were good for our kids? Do you think we slowed down the death rate? More people have died now under President Biden than under President Trump. You are the one responsible. You are the architect. You are the lead architect for the response from the government and now 800,000 people have died. Do you think it’s a winning success what you’ve advocated for government?”
Fauci responded, “Senator, first of all, if you look at everything that I said, you accuse me of in a monolithic way telling people what they need to do. Everything that I’ve said has been in support of CDC guidelines: wear a mask; get boosted…”
Carlson snapped back, “Are you following the reasoning here? So the first time Rand Paul asks him a question Fauci says almost a million people have died, you can’t ask me that question. So then Rand Paul says yeah, almost a million people have died but you were making the rules.”
“So you’re not taking any responsibility for that?” a frustrated Carlson asked.