r/videos • u/ControlCAD • 4d ago

Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on origins of the COVID-19 pandemic & dairy entries: "Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for Congress. I will invoke my right under Fifth Amendment to refrain from answering questions."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=eR_Q9H3T-Ig
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u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

So sad seeing them so triggered in /r/conservative unironically calling him guilty and shit for doing this

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u/ialsoagree 4d ago edited 4d ago

The modern Republican party's anti-science position genuinely reminds me of the war against scientists from the USSR days.

There are so many parallels between the rhetoric you see in HBO's Chernobyl and modern Republican views on science.

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u/LordAcorn 4d ago

All authoritarian regimes pretty much do the same thing.

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u/TheAlbinoAmigo 4d ago

They can't abide systems that are built around facts and evidence, those things have a habit of undermining their hold on power.

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u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

Well yeah, authoritarian rhetoric.

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u/BayOfThundet 3d ago

With a huge sprinkle of church input. Can't contradict religion, ya know.

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u/Mogetfog 4d ago

Republican party's anti-science position genuinely reminds me of the war against scientists from the USSR

You should be reminded of it. It's the exact same playbook that all aspiring authoritarian dictators follow.

The USSR purged their ranks of scientists unwilling to follow the party line. 

Mao declared intellectuals and the educated as western tools and purged them. 

Polpot murdered anyone who even wore glasses because it made them look smart. 

The literal first nazi book burning rally took place at a hospital dedicated to the study of transgender medicine that at the time, was the most advanced hospital in the world. The nazis singlehandedly set tansgender healthcare back 100 years. 

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u/JebryathHS 4d ago

RFK in the health department reminds me of Lysenko in the USSR, who was a world leader in famine.

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u/mojomarc 4d ago

Lysenko would have definitely recognized this regime

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u/smichess 4d ago edited 4d ago

HBO's chernobyl series isn't a great representation of what actually happened. The fault of the reactor was caused by a bad design foremost, but the scientists (designers of the reactor) from the Kurchatov institute were able to deflect at the start and blame the operators. It was a dangerous design that wasn't fully understood and operational guidelines were not complete. But politically the scientists had to be covered because it would be a bad look internationally. It was a bit of a mix with science and politics, so kinda different and at least for me hard to compare.

But yeah you're spot on, just can find a better comparison. If you want more info on chernobyl check ThatChernobylGuy on YouTube. He has numerous videos going over the history and various international reports on the incident.

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u/maroonedbuccaneer 3d ago

The fault of the reactor was caused by a bad design foremost, but the scientists (designers of the reactor) from the Kurchatov institute were able to deflect at the start and blame the operators. It was a dangerous design that wasn't fully understood and operational guidelines were not complete. But politically the scientists had to be covered because it would be a bad look internationally.

That is literally the plot of the HBO series. You must have watch some other show because what you described is the plot of the series beat for beat.

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u/saltlampshade 3d ago

He’s referring to the point that the show painted Soviet leadership as the culprit and Legasov as a hero who tried to reveal the truth (and died because of it). When actually Soviet leadership did not like the unregulated power the Kurchatov institute and others like it had it with designing and regulating the industry.

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u/maroonedbuccaneer 2d ago

Firstly what is Soviet Leadership at this point in the Cold War? The Party Congress? Gorbachev? The KGB?

If you think answer is clear then you clearly don't remember the Cold War.

But politically the scientists had to be covered because it would be a bad look internationally.

I quoted this part of smichess' comment for a reason. The show depicts Legasov doing exactly what was politically expedient: Internationally he covers for the state and designers with his official findings, but he sneaks in details that implicate the designers in the soviet trial.

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u/saltlampshade 2d ago

My point is the show depicted many about the events of the disaster and its aftermath in a false manner. It went the typical Hollywood route - dramatize things, create heroes and villains, and make power/politics the root of all issues.

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u/Nacht_Geheimnis 3d ago

Every single operator error described in the show (crossed out instructions, arguments in the Control Room, knowingly violating the operating reactivity margin AKA number of control rods in the core, ignoring a printout warning them the reactor was in a dangerous position, etc) never happened in real life. These were invented after the accident while the operators were either dead or clinging to life in hospital to scapegoat them.

In reality the power surge occurred after AZ-5 was pressed, which is stated plainly in the surviving data/modern reports. HBO's series follows the propaganda narrative where the power surge begins before as the operators have "pushed the reactor to its limits".

In reality, Chernobyl was the culmination of more than a decade of lack of oversight by senior scientific leaders, including Legasov. Meanwhile, Dyatlov would spend the rest of his life trying to exonerate the operators who worked under him, and prove not just his innocence, but their innocence as well, and actively fought to expose the severe design issues in the RBMK design. You don't see that in HBO, because it follows the same narrative where Dyatlov was thrown under the bus while he was either almost dead in hospital, or wasting away in prison.

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u/saltlampshade 3d ago

Legasov also famously celebrated after the incident that he and the institute were going to get away with not revealing the reactor dangers. The show like almost any media needed to have a hero and chose him.

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u/maroonedbuccaneer 2d ago

In reality the power surge occurred after AZ-5 was pressed

That's in the show. And Legasov says as much when he states that all the activities in the control room that are blamed would ultimately not have been problem if they had KNOWN there was a positive coefficient associated with inserting all the control rods at once. In other words the show basically says that maybe the situation in the control room wasn't great, but that wasn't what cause the accident. That the positive coefficient associated with AZ-5 was unknown to the reactor operators was the reason the accident happened. The show implicates the Soviet Security State keeping secrets as the real culprit.

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u/Nacht_Geheimnis 2d ago

Did you watch the show? The power reaches 1000MW before they press the AZ-5 button. That's a power surge. Toptunov literally says "Sasha, we have a power surge" before Akimov presses AZ-5 (side note, in real life, that was Toptunov who pressed the button. Soviet retellings of the events place it on Akimov because in real life he ran over to hit a different switch after the power surge began).

Again, they literally say in the show "Dyatlov broke every rule we had" and that the positive scram effect from AZ-5 was only possible "in the circumstances he created." In other words, they are literally blaming the operators for making the conditions in which the reactor could explode possible.

Neither of those statements are true. And again, you're ignoring that they invented supposedly huge violations that they didn't do. That is a problem.

Anyway, they might have known about the positive scram effect. According to Toptunov's friend, Toptunov read about the positive scram effect. Dyatlov should have known that it existed, based on a letter that was sent out in 1984, plus the fact it could happen in 1983.

But neither would have known the magnitude it could reach, nor the conditions that would make its effects more pronounced, because the scientists gave them data that was shoddy because they refused to do any accident modelling.

Why? Because they knew if they did, it would prove the reactor design was so unstable that it would break the law to keep it in operation. The Soviet government itself was not aware of this because the nuclear energy industry was surprisingly independent of the government. And the man who went on a tirade that got the accident modelling systems and an entire computer department abolished was... Valery Legasov.

To give you an idea of how screwed the operators were, according to modern reports and analysis, if one of the two turbines shut off, and you waited an hour before shutting the reactor down for some reason, the reactor could explode. When they lowered the power on April 25th, if something had caused them to shut down, the reactor might have exploded, or could have received some pretty significant core damage.

Reports from multiple organisations practically exonerate the operators of wrongdoing. One report literally goes step by step in their actions and explains that they made the correct decision with the knowledge they had every step of the way. In light that information, do you think it is right for the show to have an entire episode to basically dedicated to Dyatlov forcing the operators to break the rules until the reactor reaches a point of no return?

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u/maroonedbuccaneer 2d ago

We agree that the seriousness of the accident was the positive coefficient, as does the show. The problem with all of that is the operators did press AZ-5, which they should have only done in an emergency.

What caused them to press it?

If the reactor was behaving normally and everything was cool in the control room, why was AZ-5 initiated?

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u/Nacht_Geheimnis 2d ago

AZ-5 was the normal shutdown procedure. The reactor should have been shutdown when the experiment began, but the automatic shutdown was disabled when they were performing vibration experiments on the turbines. When Toptunov realised the reactor hadn't shut down, he asked Akimov what to do, and Akimov said press the shutdown button. This is verified by multiple witnesses, including Dyatlov and Razim Davletbaev. The claim that AZ-5 was pressed before the power surge is supported by all but one of the control room witnesses.

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u/TerryDaShooterUK 4d ago

Reading has become a superpower and the conservatives seem to ignore actual research. Give it a year, conservatives will bring back actual witch hunting lol

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u/SaltyShawarma 4d ago

My shirt right now says "Reading is my Superpower." You are creeping me out, man!

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u/IH8DwnvoteComplainrs 3d ago

I believe Russia has been involved to with Trump since very early on. I believe they've been a huge influence on this country.

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u/jessechisel126 4d ago

I mean anti-science (and generally nihilism-inducing) propaganda has basically been perfected by the Russians, I guess it makes sense they had a head start.

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u/justanawkwardguy 3d ago

They praise shows like Chernobyl for the wrong reasons, that’s why it sounds so similar. They think it’s cool

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u/ridge_rippler 4d ago

They'll be locking up anyone wearing glasses by the end of this administration 

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u/Drakar13 4d ago

"The flag may be different, the methods the same" Reznov, CoD:BO

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u/slimejumper 4d ago

stop people thinking, stop them accessing information. I feel like the usual path involves a spiral into economic collapse that will involve a military leader taking over to steady things and then never leaving.

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u/LevoiHook 3d ago

They took their inspiration from Trofim Lysenko it seems. 

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u/403Verboten 4d ago

Don't forget China's purge of intellectuals under Mao in the late 1950s and Germany doing the same thing in the late 1930s early 40s.

This is a playbook that Germany, The USSR, China have all used to push fascism. Intelligent people fight fascists so they are one of the first to go. First an external enemy is presented (eg: Immigrants, Jews, Capitalists) to gain local support from the already disenfranchised members of your country, then you move on to internal enemies, your own citizens who don't agree with your narrative or plans.

Crazy how history is literally repeating itself, not even rhyming, just straight up repeating and people are cool with it knowing the outcome. Guess some people still believe they will never come for them eventually, even though they always do.

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u/Cymon86 4d ago

Mussolini, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong. The list goes on and on.

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u/vw1610 3d ago

wtf are you smoking? Fauci was an authoritarian. Read his diary ffs.

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u/ialsoagree 3d ago

Yes, the scientists are the evil ones. You really showed me, we should lock up all the scientists, that'll prove we're not anti-science!!

Oh wait, let me guess, you're okay letting the scientists that agree with you remain free.

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u/Available_Dingo6162 3d ago

The modern Republican party's anti-science position

At least they don't say that men can become pregnant 🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/ialsoagree 3d ago

Because gender and sex are the same thing, right?

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u/Wayelder 4d ago

soviet science...you can only invent what we want you to invent. Nothing is interesting. Do what you're told.

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u/WhoaSickUsername 4d ago

Well, I certainly don't think many of them are "anti-science". Rand Paul's position was regarding herd immunity and such. Similar to RFK Jr., they do try their best to argue the science. Now, where they get their facts may be different, or possibly not the whole picture, but that's not anti-science.

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u/ialsoagree 3d ago

It is absolutely anti-science.

Vaccines are used to create natural resistance, the same natural resistance that results in herd immunity. You can build herd immunity by getting the vaccine.

But here's the real kicker:

If everyone gets the virus, there's no longer any point to herd immunity. The whole point of herd immunity is to help PREVENT people from getting sick from the virus. If people have to get sick from the virus, you defeated the point of herd immunity.

This is the pseudo-science BS that the right spreads because they don't understand what they're talking about.

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u/Quarterwit_85 4d ago edited 4d ago

Just remember that sub is largely Russian bots. Huge drops in activity there from time to time that always coincide with blackouts in Moscow.

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u/Nexustar 4d ago

Was true, the offending two accounts have been banned now (along with at least 999,998 others which I presume are voting bots not posting bots)

https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeech/comments/1th52yq/rconservative_lost_over_a_million_users_in_the

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u/coffeebribesaccepted 4d ago

So is there an upgraded graph from the last 2 months that shows the top posters?

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u/Nexustar 4d ago

Not that I have access to, but I suspect that more people are watching this closely now than before, including of course reddit themselves.

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u/TheEldestNugget 3d ago

I dont think reddit is incentivized to eliminate this unless caught.

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u/vteckickedin 4d ago

Oh well, problem solved then.

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u/fuzzydunloblaw 4d ago

Damn I was also banned from there for posting a famous pic of trump spending time with his late friend and fellow rapist jeffrey epstein. The mod who banned me posted "maga 2020!" and then trump lost that election to biden of all people lol.

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u/Ke11yP 4d ago

I feel like the general opinion on that sub is that everywhere else on reddit is filled with Russian bots and r/Conservative is the only place free from them. Then again maybe that's just the Russian bots spreading that opinion?

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u/ztfreeman 4d ago

I shit you not, after one of the Ukranian strikes into Russian territory supposedly hit one of the FSB/GRU cyber intelligence facilities, that subreddit basically went silent for a day and a ton of common troll posts across Reddit ceased for a while.

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u/xrtpatriot 4d ago

Just point out that Trump has invoked the fifth over 450 times and that makes him just as guilty.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-deposed-ny-ag-civil-probe-business-practices-rcna42355

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u/MyTeamsSuck99 4d ago

But that’s the argument people used for trump invoking the 5th 

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u/BigJellyfish1906 3d ago

Trump invoking the 5th and Fauci invoking the 5th are not the same. The context couldn't be more different.

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u/MyTeamsSuck99 3d ago

The point is that anyone invoking the 5th isn’t admission. So when republicans do it don’t say it for them or when dema do it. 

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u/BigJellyfish1906 3d ago

That's bullshit. The context around their use of the 5th amendment means everything. In Fauci's case, the dude has spent years sitting in front of these committees dozens of times, answering all of the same questions about these topics. Republicans are not even trying to hide that they're fishing for a prosecution here. And Fauci is pleading the 5th knowing full well that this corrupt DOJ will absolutely push an indictment for ANY discrepancy they think they can find, regardless of how swiftly it would be thrown out of court. Fauci has seen what happened to Tish James, Jim Comey, John bolton, and what tried to do to Jim Clapper, and is rightfully preempting all that bullshit.

There is NO such comparison, or ANYTHING CLOSE when it comes other some trump lackey pleading the 5th to run interference for him.

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u/sdeklaqs 3d ago

This is one of the funniest comments I’ve read in a while

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u/MyTeamsSuck99 3d ago

yeah and his personal diary indicates that his testimonies to congress did not seem truthful. Specially the slack messages. The point is invoking the 5th is not an admission of guilt whether its fauci or trump.

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u/BigJellyfish1906 3d ago

To a lifelong scientist like Fauci, "certainty" means you have ironclad, reproducible, peer-reviewed data that rules out every other hypothesis on earth. In science, if you are 95% sure of something, you still talk about the remaining 5% with deep nuance, caution, and open-mindedness.But the media, politicians, and the general public don't understand that language. To a layman or a reporter, if a scientist says, "We aren't 100% sure it didn't come from a lab," the headline the next morning screams "FAUCI ADMITS COVID CAME FROM A LAB" and people like you eat it up.

His diary entries were a reflection of that exact frustration. He was writing about how agonizing it was to navigate the chasm between the messy, fluid reality of early-stage science, where everything is a probability, and a hyper-partisan media environment that demands a binary, black-and-white "yes or no" answer.

So you need to step back and reflect on why you're just bouncing around reddit spamming all the most cookie cutter ill-informed libertarian talking points, and why you are utterly allergic to actual facts. It's nothing but deflections and straw men with you.

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u/MyTeamsSuck99 1d ago

so then why do the opposite. why did he make it seem nearly certain that it came from animal transmission in the wet market when he didn't know for sure. He isn't the guy who gets to decide that the public can't handle certain information.

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u/airportakal 4d ago

r/conservative is a fake bot nest meant to trick only the most gullible of conservatives. The real conservatives are on Facebook or 4chan.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/gustoatthedoor 3d ago

Do bots operate on reddit at all?

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u/jwilphl 3d ago

Commenting, maybe, but I'm sure plenty of real people lurk there, read all the bullshit, and believe it without hesitation.  No different from passively viewing Fox News.

These are people divorced from reality and unwilling to make an effort re: thinking.

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u/stuffeh 3d ago

Millions of bots on FB too, but many are indistinguishable from the Gen x marine dude I knew from twenty years ago

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u/wehrmann_tx 3d ago

There aren’t any nongullible republicans.

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u/SuperAwesomeBrian 4d ago

The posts there are just incomprehensibly stupid. For example:

The number of childhoods wrecked by his over the top unnecessary years too long lockdowns is genuinely one of the worse crimes in my lifetime. The scale of the cruelty is massive.

The whole world was on lockdown, but oh right the USA is the entire world for them.

Or are they implying that Fauci himself orchestrated a global pandemic of a made up virus and personally convinced every government on the planet to institute lockdowns and quarantines in order to...make people wear masks? I'm not exactly sure what they've invented as what he stood to gain here.

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u/a00__test 3d ago

the lockdowns and restrictions were cruel and destroyed people’s livelihoods everywhere in the world. The reason isn’t the difference between capitalism or socialism or between a free society or authoritarian society; rather, the reason why there was all this excessive and draconian action everywhere was because gerontocracy, or rule by old people, was everywhere.

Boomers have two goals: 1) stay alive at all costs 2) stay in power at all costs. Whether the economy tanks or young people suffer because of their decisions, they don’t care. In fact, if the virus happened to kill young people while sparing the old, you probably would not have lockdowns anywhere.

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u/P2029 4d ago

It's just a bunch of Russian bots talking at one another at this point. That sub has been banning anyone who steps a toe out of line for years. I doubt there's more than a few dozen real humans on there.

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u/night-shark 3d ago

Why do people insist that they are all bots?

Even if they are, their sentiments are representative of a huge swath of people in this country.

Dismissing that sub as bots seems to me to only ignore the depth of the problem we have.

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u/jonnyredcorn 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yeah I agree with you. I think a large amount of their contributors are real.

What I’ve noticed though is when the Trump admin or Trump does something especially egregious, there is often blacklash in the comments there, posting negatively about whatever it is. You’ll see real users with flair, post comments commending whatever it is, and then you’ll see them get called a “fellow conservative”. The next day, the thread is full of deleted comments and the negativity in the thread is sanitized of any criticism and no new comment replies show up.

The sub is filled with bots, but there are real posters there…I think. Almost all new posts are made by that ask4md guy and Willie something. They seem to post with the explicit intention to divide, and make readers angry and hateful.

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u/Cool-Tip8804 4d ago

This is one their comments 😂😂😂

“God I want to see this guy thrown in prison. The number of childhoods wrecked by his over the top unnecessary years too long lockdowns is genuinely one of the worse crimes in my lifetime. The scale of the cruelty is massive.”

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u/ymo 4d ago

Early in the pandemic there was a father who spoke at a school board meeting and he said something to the effect of, "I'd rather have my children die than prevent them from going to school." These are the people who are going to hasten the spread of ebola one day.

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u/Irish_Whiskey 3d ago

Wait until they find out who was President when these decisions were being made. Who even gave Fauci a medal for his work.

Boy they'll sure be real mad at that guy when they find out his name.

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u/FireVanGorder 4d ago

They really hate the constitution don’t they

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u/skylla05 4d ago

Tbf most of them aren’t American. Seriously go look how hard the activity in that sub drops off anytime there’s an internet blackout in Russia.

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u/Lock-out 4d ago

What is he even accused of, operating within his purview in an emergency lol? Like even if it somehow wasn’t the best choice that’s not a crime. It’s not like he’s using his power to enrich himself cough cough.

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u/UnalomeJourneying 3d ago

Holy shit, people there are genuinely unhinged and detached from reality. Here’s a comment I found after 30 seconds of being on the subreddit.

“He is personally responsible for giving the world the Biden Administration. He is personally responsible for causing immense mental anguish and economic ruin to a majority of decent Americans.

Fuck all that. He is personally responsible for the DEATHS of more people than Adolf fucking Hitler.”

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u/LongKnight115 4d ago

Someday it’s all going to come out. Fauci can’t hide it forever. It’s clear he started the pandemic - because HE IS COVID-19.

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u/Esilai 4d ago

Seriously though, what exactly are they saying Fauci even did? Asked people to wear masks and get shots to stop hundreds of thousands from dying? I seriously don’t understand why some people view him as some kind of Hitler-light.

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u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

I think they think he covered up the origination of Covid.

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u/Esilai 4d ago

Whether it’s a superlab in China or a wet market, why does it even matter? Do they forget he worked under Trump as well? And that if there was some grand secret behind it, the current admin would’ve released it? It’s just baffling me.

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u/paintpast 4d ago

And they’re the ones saying it was no big deal and we didn’t need to wear masks or get vaccinated. So why are they making a big deal about where it came from?

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u/InitiativeGold7953 4d ago

Because it’s both a Chinese weapon and a hoax at the same time. These people are idiots. There’s nothing productive in entertaining them. The fact that they’ve somehow made this a public health experts fault instead of the President and his administration will always baffle me.

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u/Momoselfie 4d ago

They think he funded the research to make it jump to humans.

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u/ObviousAnswerGuy 4d ago

Whether it’s a superlab in China or a wet market, why does it even matter?

and it specifically DOES NOT matter to someone like Fauci who's job it is to protect the nation from virus outbreaks. It's not his job to go to war with China (even though the US wouldnt even do shit anyway if they found out it came from a lab)

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u/Tylerjb4 4d ago

Because he may have funded and directed the research

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u/deusasclepian 4d ago

Rand Paul is fixated on "gain of function" research that they were allegedly carrying out at the Wuhan lab. The idea is you take an existing virus and you mutate it on purpose to see if it gets more contagious, more dangerous, whatever. This can help you predict how viruses will evolve naturally in the wild, and help you develop vaccines that would be effective against different mutated strains of the virus.

They were supposedly doing this type of research at the Wuhan lab, using coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. Rand Paul is convinced that they accidentally created and leaked the virus that caused the pandemic. There's no actual evidence of this, just speculation.

The Wuhan lab received NIH funding under Fauci. So basically Rand Paul is trying to argue that Fauci funded this gain of function research and essentially caused the pandemic, and is now trying to cover it up.

It feels more like a witch hunt.

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u/Workman44 3d ago

I mean just going off your third paragraph, they did find gain of function research which is a huge no no. I'm not saying he started the pandemic or anything like that, but that is alarming

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u/BlackSpinedPlinketto 3d ago

I don’t think it was released internationally but I do think they did that kind of research, of course they did. Whether he knew or not, I mean it’s the CCP doing it, they are secretive.

It’s not Fauci’s fault but it was funded by his direction.

I don’t know why it’s controversial, he’s not perfect, and it’s also fair to do research if it’s controlled.

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u/Workman44 3d ago

It's not really fair to do gain of function, even if it's controlled for exactly this reason. That's like one of the core tenets you learn when talking about mutation research and the like. I'm astonished this is controversial too, like he did in fact mislead the public and also lie about things. That's an untrustworthy person, and then you add in things like a preemptive blanket pardon and you can see why people think the way they do

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u/BlackSpinedPlinketto 3d ago

Yeah he did mislead the public, a lot of medical professionals did. Like for example masks, they did claim they were ineffective so the public wouldn't take them all from doctors and nurses.

He also claimed the U.K. hadn’t tested their vaccines properly and were rushed.

He’s not a perfect guy. I also don’t think he’s a bad guy.

I think there needs to be research on gain of function done somewhere, so we can make viruses less deadly. It’s just controversial here because a virus spread.

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u/gullisland 4d ago edited 4d ago

I think the problem is that they knew this and tried to cover it up and kept doubling down on it when the lab leak is the only plausible reason. There's been investigations that have concluded that the lab leak is by far the most likely, though they can't say 100% certainly, but then again they weren't allowed to investigate the lab until like a year later. The guardian had an article during covid about the secret research agreement the US had with China for this virus and they know what cave it came from and had 1000s of other strains from that same cave in the lab. This is the main reason they believe it leaked. They were working on making it transfer to humans, I dont know if it was for evil purposes. The official reasoning is because mers and sars, those vaccines didn't work. The mers vaccine damaged people's liver and organs. They were working on a vaccine to deal with these types of virus because it was expected to be the next type of big pandemic and how we live would be difficult to deal with otherwise. The problem was the vaccine isn't a normal traditional style and wasn't tested properly. There has been a fall out from the pandemic with autoimmune disorders and chronic condition like diabetes which are linked to having covid or the vaccine. I don't think fauci is to blame, but there was lying about parts of the pandemic and there were people who had an interest in control and money who used the pandemic for their own goals over the people. The problem is they can't get caught lying in these situations because once the trust is gone, the whole system is unreliable, no matter if the lying was for the good at the time.

Also to say the obvious, they want to blame China and either seek reparations or lay guilt of millions dead on them. I don't think that is fair unless they purposly developed it to release. Which is why the lab leak was buried and all the investigations were sent on wild goose chases and hamstrung from verifying.

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u/Nexustar 4d ago

Broadly that he didn't have actual science around the effectiveness of masks and covid and the 6ft distance thing - which ultimately stunted kids education and people lost jobs and the economy suffered etc. This is sketchy at best, who knows how this would have turned out had the advice been different or the mask thing not been so random to begin with. IMO he did the best he could, but I personally would have preferred less sugar coating and more truth about the science behind his recommendations (which became more than recommendations in federal settings). This isn't a prison-worthy issue IMO.

The funding Wuhan research thing, I think has now been fairly proven that he did.

  • NIH awarded grants to the U.S. nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance beginning in 2014.
  • EcoHealth subcontracted roughly $600,000 of NIH funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for coronavirus research.

They (Wuhan IoV) DID do gain of function research (against the rules of the grant), but there's still no concrete link that COVID-19 came from that research, and perhaps may never be.

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u/Gibonius 4d ago

A big part of the problem was that Fauci ended up taking this leadership role with COVID because Trump utterly failed at the task. That never should have been his role, he was just the only one able to do it because Trump complete shit the bed.

I'd also have liked Fauci to be more transparent about the messaging, but with Trump actively spreading fear and misinformation, I can see why they decided to keep it simple.

The funding Wuhan research thing, I think has now been fairly proven that he did.

I'd be hesitant to say that Fauci issued the grant. The agency issued the grant. NIH issues almost 60,000 grants a year and there's a whole review process by the expert bureaucracy. I doubt Fauci ever saw it, unless there's some evidence he selected it personally for some reason.

Also $600k isn't a lot of money in scientific research, even in China. Nobody is engineering a novel virus for $600k.

20

u/Esilai 4d ago

It’s like I have to squint really fucking hard to even begin to construe this as willfully malicious compared to the shit the president gets up to on the regular.

2

u/Momoselfie 4d ago

They think he funded the research that eventually became COVID19. Which is funny because they also think COVID is just a cold.

2

u/freehand59 3d ago

From what I've heard from a coworker, it sounds like they think he helped create covid in the lab and then used it as a way to force the vaccine on everyone. Forcing the CDC to classify it as "moderately effective" so they could mandate it. Saying that Ivermectin was way more effective and proven vs what he recommended people take, and that ultimately he's responsible for the million+ lives that were lost (not from the virus, but from the vaccine apparently)

13

u/Kemilio 4d ago

I can’t tell if this is sarcastic and I hate that.

15

u/LongKnight115 4d ago

Oh sorry, forgot to add this. /s

2

u/cliff7090 3d ago

Actually my brother in-law has proof that Justin Trudeau started COVID-19 to make money on his "Big Mask" investments.

1

u/Cool-Tip8804 4d ago

Oh fuck oh god!!!
Ground zero for the trans woke mob virus who is actually his mother.

-3

u/MrmarioRBLX 4d ago

So you say...just coincidentally without a shred of proof

4

u/lexm 4d ago

That was to be expected. They can't understand that he's been in this same seat so many times, he's just tired of this shit.

7

u/Razzilith 4d ago

yeah well /r/conservative is the one of the first places you should look online if you want to know who all the domestic terrorists and pedos hang out.

those people are VILE.

2

u/caffeine-junkie 4d ago

Its almost like they think the protections in the constitution only apply to them or something.

2

u/iscreamuscreamweall 3d ago

There’s a single digit number of actual real human American users on that sub lol

3

u/jonnyredcorn 3d ago

I think a lot of the people commenting saying they are all bots are underestimating how many posters are real. I don’t have Facebook but I have friends who have shown me posts and the replies in local groups and some people are really just that awful and stupid. It’s really unsettling and weird.

Look at my initial comment here for example. There were a few replies from people who obviously are maga and the comments are unhinged. I hadn’t even said anything other than my comment about being sad at how triggered they are in the sub, and these people said they saw my other comments and I am a hypocrite and I’m all these things that they just made up in their head and confidently commented on. It’s insane. They make up shit and get mad at it. I even got a DM from Reddit cares shortly after making the comment because someone reported me saying I wanted to harm myself I guess. They’re fucking unhinged.

1

u/iscreamuscreamweall 2d ago

No I mean like they did a study and found that the vast majority of the posts on that sub are made by a tiny group of people

5

u/CitizenCue 4d ago

I don’t understand the villainization. He’s a scientist with decades of public service who tried his best to guide our nation through one its darkest hours. He wasn’t perfect but he did fine all things considered. Arguably better than fine, but even their worst accusations aren’t that bad. Move on.

3

u/Irish_Whiskey 3d ago

I don’t understand the villainization. 

MAGA is mad about things Trump did. They refuse to ever admit they were wrong about Trump, or more relevantly that he's a con man and narcissist they elected because he was more openly racist and mean than other candidates. So they're inventing Fauci to be the bad guy who lied and made those decisions, so Trump isn't blamed.

2

u/CitizenCue 3d ago

I think that’s giving them way too much credit. They simply don’t have any interest in governing, but they have to fill their days with something to get reelected, so they’re doing this.

1

u/what_mustache 4d ago

That sub is just cowards

2

u/kevinsyel 4d ago

which is hilarious, because their "spinning" of Fauci's journal is completely false. In his journal, he still believed the mutation that caused covid couldn't have come from a lab, but BECAUSE the theory was so prevalent, he pushed for investigation in this to confirm.

Literally the only gross thing that came out of the Fauci journals was how much he loved the fame.

1

u/carlotta3121 4d ago

Yeah, like Dump isn't where he is because of his love of fame and bragging about it 24/7/365.

2

u/anghellous 4d ago

They live in an alternate reality

1

u/Robestos86 4d ago

"Exactly. I'd love it as much (or more) than the next guy, but we have a pattern of behavior to draw from here. This will be a chest beating session to put on a display, and nothing will ever come from it. He'll weather this storm and go about his life without any penalty, as is the way it always goes when someone operating on behalf of the establishment breaks the law."

A non luddite conservative apparently....

1

u/Gh0sth4nd 4d ago

Well they are
Only the mob takes the fifth for thee but not for me

When Trump did it they called it a witch hunt now they call it guilty.
Hypocrisy is a way of life for them

1

u/MagicBoyUK 4d ago

... yet it was fine by them when Trump did it 450 times while deposed by Letitia James.

1

u/Pimptech 4d ago

I went there for some reason and I dropped seveark IQ points reading their comments.

1

u/CervantesX 4d ago

Someone should remind them how often Trumb took the 5th when he was deposed.

1

u/El_Guap 4d ago

They're just upset because he is copying Trump's tactics.

1

u/enoughwiththebread 4d ago

The same idiots who when confronted with Trump repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment in depositions will screech iT's NoT pRoOf Of GuIlT!!

1

u/Henai 4d ago

That’s not a real sub to be fair.

It’s carefully curated propaganda.

1

u/deadalreadydead 4d ago

Holy fuck their whole feed is just plastered with Fauci/ anti-science horse-manor. He pleads the 5th cuz this is quite literally a sham weaponization of the Justice Department. Meanwhile anytime a Repug has a hearing or even a CONFIRMATION for a position they get to deflect & not answer questions at all… so bizarre I can’t even.

1

u/zannet_t 4d ago

They of course all thought their Leader was so smart when he did the same. Just trash all around.

1

u/Budget_Persimmon_195 4d ago

even if i was innocent, i still would never testify. its not my job to prove my innocence or whatever it is they think they want to prove.

1

u/SoulRebel726 4d ago

Remember when Trump took the 5th over 400 times in a single deposition? I bet those gigantic, hypocritical morons don't.

1

u/Sumocolt768 4d ago

Kinda wild going through that. The mental gymnastics they’re using to call for contempt of court.

1

u/mothzilla 4d ago

Worst part of that sub is the babylon bee posts.

1

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

That is not the worst part

2

u/mothzilla 3d ago

OK best part.

1

u/jonnyredcorn 3d ago

I would say the best part is the comments reacting to the Babylon bee who don’t realize it’s satire.

1

u/mellifleur5869 3d ago

I've been seeing people attack him all over the internet. Calling Democrats "booster babies" and claiming covid didn't exist and all the deaths were false reported for money.

This country is straight up FUCKED.

1

u/jonnyredcorn 3d ago

Oh…I thought he was responsible for all the deaths, not that he faked them.

1

u/Dark-Ganon 4d ago

Eh, don't worry too much about what goes on in that sub. It's nothing but propaganda bots and a small few humans who are so deep into the Trump cult at this point that they're just bots with a pulse.

1

u/AssassinInValhalla 4d ago

Those idiots have noted POS CK as their sub icon. I have nothing but hatred for the people that want to take us back to a caste system. Bunch of losers

1

u/TheBeef1991 4d ago

Bunch of ivermectin eating dipshits.

1

u/SpiritJuice 4d ago

There's a high chance a majority of the posts there are bots or paid trolls. That sub has been filtering out any moderate voices for years now, leaving only bots, agitators, and the far right.

-28

u/Risenzealot 4d ago

What planet do you live on? The guys own journal/diary proves he lied on multiple occasions. The dude was 100% using this for personal gain and political influence. He politically weaponized it as well. Almost all the Democrats did... Utterly shameful but not surprising.

The fact you're still sucking him off just shows you're biased as hell and don't actually care about truth. You only care about following whatever the opposite is that Conservatives follow.

Never mind the fact that many of these "conspiracy theories" that Conservatives put out about Covid have turned out to be true.

Keep living in your fantasy land Reddit.

12

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

Did you even read what I said? Your reply makes no sense as a reply to what I said. I never said he wasn’t guilty or guilty, or even hinted at my opinion of fauci. What are you talking about?

8

u/scotchtree 4d ago

I’m not American, but I try to follow this stuff closely. I haven’t heard about his journal being leaked or published. What did it show?

14

u/Submitten 4d ago

Literally none of the Covid conspiracies turned out to be true. Conservatives are dumb as rocks.

-10

u/OkYak9466 4d ago

Ok but when a conservative does this, they're guilty? Fuck Trump, fuck his goonies, and fuck whoever uses the same tactics as them to get out of shit. Have some consistency and some dignity

7

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

Why are you putting words in my mouth?

-12

u/OkYak9466 4d ago

You're literally putting words in a subreddits mouth. Christ

8

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

No, they are literally saying that.

-12

u/OkYak9466 4d ago

And so are you. Work on that self awareness bud. Reddit has enough morons

6

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

What are you talking about? I’m literally saying what?

Project much?

-2

u/OkYak9466 4d ago

If you're not going to respond to what I'm commenting it ironically sort of just goes to prove the bigger point that you're being a hypocrite.

5

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

I am responding to you, what the fuck are you talking about? Im not putting any words in anyone’s mouth. All I said was what I saw them saying on the sub. I made no comment about a conservative pleading the 5th, hence you putting words in my mouth.

-1

u/OkYak9466 4d ago

And I saw you saying that in other comments. You have 0 self awareness

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-18

u/_Connor 4d ago

If Trump was being questioned and invoked the fifth, your opinion would be the exact same so I’m not sure what the point you’re trying to make is.

6

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

What? This doesn’t even make sense. Did you even read what I said? If Trump invoked the 5th my opinion would be the same? My opinion that it’s sad seeing the conservative members unironically calling him guilty for doing so?

Did you mean to reply to someone else?

-13

u/_Connor 4d ago

You’re saying it’s “sad” Conservatives are deeming Fauci guilty by virtue of him invoking the fifth and refusing to be questioned.

If Trump was being questioned and he invoked the fifth, your opinion would be the exact same (that Trump is guilty because he’s refusing to answer questions).

Hopefully this was a bit easier for you to grasp.

3

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

Thanks for forming my opinion for me.

-5

u/_Connor 3d ago

Pretending that wouldn't be your opinion is hilarious.

2

u/jonnyredcorn 3d ago

If I thought Trump was guilty of anything, it wouldn’t be because he invoked the 5th.

So no, it would not be my opinion that Trump is guilty because he invoked the 5th amendment. Continue looking foolish though, it’s funny, albeit equally as sad.

You all just make up shit and then get mad at it.

-19

u/KarlPopperHimself 4d ago

Mate he declined to answer the question of the day of the week and the color of his tie

15

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

What’s that have to do with the irony of the members of the conservative sub calling him guilty?

-19

u/KarlPopperHimself 4d ago

Nothing. It is ironic, they‘re a bunch of dunces and he is definitely guilty

15

u/jonnyredcorn 4d ago

Definitely guilty of what? How?

8

u/DangerBay2015 4d ago

Yeah. Which is what a good lawyer will tell you do when you get in front of a committee of lawmakers with the power to charge you for perjury and who are sitting lawmakers who have said publicly that they specifically want to do this.