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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is far from dismayed by the news of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s resignation.
On the contrary, holding that Fauci “should have been gone long ago,” DeSantis told Fox News Tuesday that an investigation should be launched into the doctor’s “manifest failures” regarding Covid-19.
“He has not been honest about what he did in Wuhan with funding the gain of function research,” the governor noted, “and so I hope if Republicans take control that they will get to the bottom of everything, from the origins of Covid to all the manifest failures of the public health establishment, particularly Dr. Anthony Fauci.”
Fauci, who currently serves as both chief medical advisor to Joe Biden and the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), announced Monday that he would be stepping down from those roles in December.
From the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fauci has been at the forefront of the government’s response, with his guidance being heavily relied upon by those in positions of authority in hopes of “stopping the spread” of the virus.
But, according to DeSantis, that guidance — and Fauci’s “arrogance” — did more damage than good.
“He thinks people that disagree with him are somehow beneath him, but his policies were the driving force behind locking kids out of school in parts of this country for over a year, forcing them to wear masks for eight hours a day for two years,” the governor said. “He cost people jobs, he destroyed people’s businesses with his policies, and he was never willing to admit he was wrong when it was clear that those policies don’t work.”
DeSantis was not the only elected official to call for an investigation into the infectious disease official, however.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, another outspoken Fauci critic, tweeted Monday: “Fauci’s resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak.”
Paul has clashed with Fauci on numerous occasions, having challenged the doctor’s guidance on Covid at Senate hearings and previously promised to investigate him “to the fullest extent of the law.”
DeSantis, for his part, has been critical of Fauci in the past, as well.
Last November, when the governor was asked how other states could emulate Florida’s successful pandemic recovery, he responded, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose yours; a recovery is when Dr. Fauci loses his.”
That comment, resurrected by many of the governor’s fans on Tuesday, earned him applause not only from the crowd he was speaking to but also from those on social media.
As for its accuracy, with inflation still soaring to historic heights, many people will undoubtedly be counting down the months until they can be sure.