News/Commentary

Fuming Fauci does a poor job of pretending he’s not too bothered by Musk’s tweets

December 13, 2022 | | Print Article

Soon-to-be retired infectious disease guru Dr. Anthony Fauci sat down with CNN’s David Axelrod to discuss Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s attacks against him, insisting they aren’t worth reacting to and then hypocritically proceeding to slam Twitter as a “cesspool of interaction.”

(Video Credit: CNN)

“The Axe Files” segment with Fauci comes out Thursday but CNN cut a teaser showing the response from him and discussing with Axelrod just how upset he was over the attacks by Musk.

“So, speaking of Musk, what did you think about that tweet this morning?” Axelrod asked Fauci, referring to Musk’s tweet stating, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.”

“I don’t respond to him. I don’t pay any attention to him because that’s merely a distraction. And if you get drawn into that, and I have to be honest, that cesspool of interaction, it’s — there’s no value added to that, David. It doesn’t help anything,” Fauci replied, showing abject disgust for Musk.

On Monday night’s edition of CNN’s “OutFront,” anchor Erin Burnett discussed with Axelrod Fauci’s feelings about Musk and asked him to elaborate on his interview with him. Axelrod confirmed that Fauci had “pretty strong feelings” about being attacked on Twitter.

“So, David, when you talk to Dr. Fauci and he talks about that cesspool of interaction…” she began.

“Yeah,” Axelrod responded.

“…pretty remarkable comment referring to Twitter, what else did Fauci tell you in response to Musk?” she continued.

“Well, he clearly was eager, as he said, not to engage with Musk directly. But he did say, Erin, and it was really interesting, reflecting on his over half-century of work that this has been a half-century of extraordinary progress in science, in public health. But when it came to the political discourse, he said there’s been an erosion. And he lays a lot of it on social media,” Axelrod recounted.

“And, of course, he’s been in the middle of this. He’s been — he was targeted all throughout the pandemic for the decisions that he advised and the advice he was giving to policymakers about how he should proceed to deal with that pandemic, and to the point where he had significant security threats that required round-the-clock security, which he says in his podcast that is going to have to continue after he leaves his post at the end of this month,” he added.

“So, you know, he has pretty strong feelings about the erosion of our public discourse and the role social media has played in it,” Axelrod concluded.

Fauci is understandably testy considering he is staring down the throat of an investigation by House Republicans concerning his involvement in the pandemic. Everything from gain-of-function research, lockdowns, and mandates are on the table with conservatives vowing to hold him accountable.

Musk’s tweet on pronouns came after a meme he shared that depicted Fauci whispering in President Biden’s ear, “Just one more lockdown my king.”

 

Then Musk warned, “Now things get spicy.” He then dropped the pronouns tweet that Fauci is ticked over.

He might want to withhold some of that anger as it appears that Fauci will possibly get a starring role in the “Twitter Files.”

Musk also responded to former astronaut Scott Kelly, who tweeted, “.@elonmusk Elon, please don’t mock and promote hate toward already marginalized and at-risk-of-violence members of the #LGBTQ+ community. They are real people with real feelings. Furthermore, Dr Fauci is a dedicated public servant whose sole motivation was saving lives.”

The Twitter CEO replied, “I strongly disagree. Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone. As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome IMO.”

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