For years, the propaganda press assured Americans that Anthony Fauci was an honest broker and beyond any criticism. Those who did criticize him were raked over the coals for being “deranged” and “dishonest.” Questions about Fauci’s role in the deadly pandemic amounted to disseminating “misinformation.”
But new diary entries from Fauci himself reveal that many of the so-called “journalists” reporting on Fauci were nothing more than highly paid propagandists. Fauci appears to have relished the tongue baths so much that he memorialized them in his diary, dutifully reporting which propagandists praised him, protected him, and apparently sought his approval.
(Sen. Rand Paul released the diaries ahead of Fauci’s slated appearance before Congress).
Take CBS News’ chief medical correspondent Jon LaPook, who apparently solicited help from Fauci about how to prepare for an interview and then mentioned Fauci several times during that interview, which apparently flattered Fauci enough that he noted it in his diary.
“Jon laPook was interviewed on CBS Morning News and mentioned me several times since he e-mail[ed] me over the weekend to prep him for his interview on Universal Flu vaccine and HIV vaccines.” LaPook, a supposed journalist, relied on Fauci to prepare him for television and then kept citing Fauci in his report while viewers had no idea that the government official had helped him shape the segment.
That dichotomy worked both ways, too. Take CNN’s Jake Tapper, who apparently was told by Fauci what questions to ask Brett Giroir, then a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force.
One entry shows Fauci admitting he gave Tapper “some questions to ask” Giroir. In other words, one government official was telling a “journalist” what questions to ask another government official.
Meanwhile NBC’s Chuck Todd was apparently running a media strategist company on the side, giving advice to Fauci as he faced mounting criticism. Fauci wrote that Todd helped advise him on whether or not to respond to criticism from Fox News and Tucker Carlson:
I had a really nice conversation with Chuck Todd this morning. He had texted me to ask what I thought of the interview yesterday. I told him that I thought it was absolutely terrific, but I wanted some advice from him. I asked him whether he thought that I should pull back from publicly defending myself against the slanderous attacks since that might call more attention to them. He completely agreed and said that Fox News and people like Tucker Carlson would use anything I say as the theme for their next show. Chuck is really an excellent journalist and although he must maintain his objectivity and reporting it is very clear that he is really being a friend in understanding the difficult position that I am in.
But in no sense of the word was Todd being “objective.” He was advising Fauci on how to handle criticism as if Fauci were beyond criticism, tacitly showing Todd and NBC News had no desire to get to the bottom of the Covid cover-up, or possible lab leak, or shutdowns pushed by Fauci that caused innumerable damages.
Tapper was also similarly worried about Fauci’s thoughts on an interview, allegedly calling Fauci to make sure “the interview did not cause me any problems.”
“Phone call with Jake Tapper. Jake wanted to make sure the interview did not cause me any problems,” the entry read. Notably, it is completely inconsistent with the principles of journalistic objectivity for “journalists” to call government officials to make sure they didn’t create “problems” for them during an interview since. By Fauci’s account, Tapper was merely pining for Fauci’s approval (as any good propagandist would want).
The professional fawning made sense though, because Fauci apparently had a steady friendship with multiple members of the propaganda press.
CNN’s Dana Bash allegedly texted Fauci “pointing out that Vanity Fair recently had a headline that said: Jim Jordan trips over his own a–hole trying to debate Anthony Fauci.” Tapper mocked Fox News’ Laura Ingraham for doing what he was supposed to be doing too: being critical and inquisitive about Fauci and Covid.
Tapper reportedly texted Fauci a sarcastic note about how it’s “Hard to beliee [sic] Paura [sic] Ingraham went to Dartmouth, isn’t it. All of us alumni are very proud.”
A few months later, Fauci apparently went over to Tapper’s house for dinner, noting in his diary that Tapper and his wife are a “terrific couple. Friendship building.” (Notably, Fauci wrote that Tapper “clearly believes that Trump is totally nuts” after another dinner with the Tappers.)
In other words, Tapper was privately trashing Fauci’s critics (who have been proven right), worrying about whether interviews hurt Fauci, and hosting him for dinner — all while CNN was pretending to be objective in its coverage.
Fauci also beamed at praise from George Stephanopoulos, writing in a July 28, 2020, entry that: “On GMA, George Stephanopoulos brought up that the POTUS has retweeted a tweet from a Breitbart based group that said I was misleading the American public and thsat [sic] I was a fraud. George asked me to respond and I blew it off saying that I do not tweet or even read tweets. After the interview, George texted me saying: ‘Thank you, Tony. So impressive.'”
NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell allegedly called Fauci on his cellphone to apologize for not booking him, according to a July 4, 2020, entry: “Andrea Mitchell called my cell very apologetic about not being able to have me on the show since they already booked a couple of governors who were giving exclusives to NBC. I mentioned to her my concern about them keeping me off the air. She was shocked and thought that when I did not come on after requests that it was because I did not want to go on a show.”
Fauci also saved a clip from Jimmy Kimmel’s TIME 100 entry celebrating Fauci.
Taken together, the messages show that the propaganda press writ large did not think that Fauci was a government official who deserved the same level of scrutiny they used on members of the Trump administration or any other Republican official but instead a friend who needed to be praised, protected, and helped.
Perhaps the most egregious example of how Fauci’s relationship with the propaganda press had severe effects is that he claimed he helped kill a Washington Post story about whether China pressured then World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus not to declare an international emergency.
“Call from Lena Sun (Washington Post) trying to verify (I said I knew nothing of this) that people in the USG were saying that the Chinese got to Tedros to convince him not to declare a PHEIC since it would harm their reputation. I told her that was nonsense and I probably stopped her from writing the story. She said since I am in all the important meetings that I would know.”
Fauci understood the influence he had, and apparently his simple refutation was enough to kill a story. Notably, the CIA later revealed that China pressured the WHO from declaring a global health emergency.
These entries help explain why the propaganda press fawned over Fauci and criticized anyone who didn’t as purveyors of “misinformation” or “deranged.” For this work, they received honorable mentions in Fauci’s diary at the cost of any legitimacy they may have had left.
