Science means learning and adapting, in the case of COVID it had to be done at a lightning pace. Fauci and the medical community all changed their course when they learned it was airborne.
Republicans on the other hand have used this same trope you are parroting, hard line ideology that does not bend whether it's false or not. This is why you guys have such a hard time with something as dynamic as a virus or climate change, instead of adapting to changes you all simply bitch about those who have.
The things I am talking about are NOT things that were known at the the time but later amended. I have zero problem with that. You work with the best information you have at the time.
Fauci personally admitted he “flip flopped” on masking because he wanted to preserve the limited supplies for first responders. I totally agree with prioritizing masks to hospitals. What I think was wrong, was misleading the public that masks would not be helpful to try to achieve that goal. Ethically wrong and wrong because it breeds mistrust between factions of the public, the government, and the medical/scientific community.
And as we saw, once that trust is broken, then nothing is trusted.
Given that at the time the initial guidance was given, COVID was only just starting to affect the US, hysteria was not in full effect, had Fauci/the government been upfront and honest- we have limited supplies of masks, the supply chains are tight, we need the reserve masks for healthcare workers so they are safe and can continue working, please donate any masks to your local hospital, etc- I think most of the public would have understood that and rallied behind the effort.
Fauci coordinating with others to shut down legitimate scientific inquiry into the lab leak hypothesis or any legitimate scientists who reasonably questioned current policies or suggested differing ones is
completely antithetical to the scientific method you allude to. For almost a year and half anyone, including legitimate scientists who raised the possibly of anything other than a natural origin were ostracized, particularly by the media. It wasn’t until May 2021 Biden announced that our intelligence suggested both natural and lab origin were possible that suddenly it was no longer a conspiracy theory. This should not have been a surprise.
This censorship of scientific discourse as far as I have witnessed is seen as a big mistake among scientists and doctors I know. This should not (and cannot) be defended. It is not a political issue.
What I care about and the “Republicans” you mention are two very different things. My concern in regard to this critique is primarily that Fauci was involved in shutting down legitimate scientific discourse, which is a tragedy for science. The republicans are far more concerned with seeking out Fauci’s allegedly nefarious motivations for his actions (ie protecting his research field and associated funding to completely character assassinate him andu blame him for all the policies they disagree with (many of which were legitimately warranted either at the time or even with 20/20 hindsight).
I think the political sphere has this symptom of borderline personality disorder called “splitting”- where people see others as either all good or all bad. One who is good is held in the highest possible esteem, incapable of wrongdoing or critique. One who is bad is seen as the worst person on earth and everything they do is wrong. The perception of who is good/bad can change, sometimes rapidly, but there’s never really any middle ground.
Take for example James Comey, depending on what stage of the Clinton investigation he was in, he was either the hero of the left or the right. Elon Musk was a hero of the left for promoting EV’s and environmentalism, now THE a hero of the right for sharing and espousing many of their political goals.
Then you have people like Andrew Cuomo and Michael Avanatti who the left wing media effectively praised like a deities, that is until their true colors were revealed as truly despicable people. Trump is the epitome of ridiculous praise and admiration on much of the right.
People on right hate Fauci because he was antithetical to their beliefs around COVID policies. The left loves him because he was antithetical to Trump and represented their beliefs on policy, and followed him without question. The right for the most part sadly put their guidance in people like Trump, Mike Lindell, and Tucker Carlson. That’s not to compare Fauci’s credentials to these clowns, rather the relationships with their political faction.
Perhaps there’s a reality where people are human and can do both good things and bad things. No one is completely perfect. 99.999% of people are not completely evil. Everyone makes bad decisions, often quite regularly. No one should ever be regarded with the absolute, infallible esteem that is so common today.
Unlike many on the right, I believe Fauci genuinely thought he was working in the best interest of the public. Obviously the facts that knowledge develops over time with a novel disease and a pandemic of this scale has never been dealt with in modern times must be recognized. I’m merely saying he made some poor decisions with regrettable, not-insignificant consequences.