Better in their words…

On Aug 22, 2022, Anthony Fauci announced he would be retiring by December of this year. Dr. Fauci was the head of NIAID for several important decades, where many great discoveries were made. His work during the George W. Bush years to help control HIV in Africa is truly worthy of praise and admiration. At the same time, his policy choices during the pandemic will ultimately define his legacy. Fauci was the architect of lockdowns; He supported school closure in 2020 (he criticized DeSantis for reopening), His stinging rhetoric against schools would keep them closed in blue districts for 18 months; He flip flopped on masks and herd immunity; He favored one size fits all booster policies and vaccine mandates; He played a role in many other major decisions. Ultimately, these actions will define his legacy far more than anything that came beforehand, simply because these decisions will affect more lives.

A few years ago, a small anecdote went viral, during the peak of Fauci-fandom, but I didn’t see commentators put their finger on the interesting bit. Instead, a colleague called me to point it out, a few days after the post. Pls read.

Luke Messac @LukeMessac

13 years ago, I emailed Dr. Fauci out of the blue to ask if I might interview him for my undergrad thesis. He invited me to his office, where he answered all my questions. When I sent him the thesis, HE READ THE WHOLE THING (see his overly effusive review below). Who does that?!

July 16th 2020

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The colleague said, with all due respect to Fauci, the letter contains several elements of narcissism. Fauci goes out of his way to mention that he didn’t just read 2 senior theses this year, they were theses from Harvard. He hasn’t just given a commencement address, he gives so many ‘commencement addresses’ that he likes to reuse themes. He makes a point to mention that he will be talking with the President again. The whole letter was unusual, infused with the excessive praise, which seemed both over-the-top and servile.

At the time, I didn’t think much of my colleagues comment, but as the years unfolded, I realized he was likely quite accurate. Fauci’s actions throughout the pandemic do displayed several elements of narcissism. He chose to hold onto his position as NIAID director for decades, perhaps because he liked the position’s power. News stories described him as a frequent guest at Washington insider parties. He certainly enjoys hearing himself on television, as he accepted countless invitations, perhaps hundreds or thousands.. And he agreed to more photoshoots than I can keep track of.

Narcisism is not always bad. It can help a politician have the confidence to take bold actions at trying times. But, for a scientist is is a dangerous trait. It leads one to motivated reasoning. It leads one to try to silence dissenting voices (as Fauci famously did.)

Ultimately, Fauci (aged 78-81) personally influenced the most devastating policy choices of the pandemic, mentioned above (lockdown, closure, vax mandates). In each of these instances, these choices were made far beyond evidence. A neutral scientist would have been more cautious— both for dismissing masking (in early March 2020) and for promoting it (in April 2020). A neutral scientist running NIAID would have commissioned a cluster RCT to answer the question; It takes a certain personality trait to lie (either the first or second time with respect to masks), and think that the public and media will forgive you, and you can continue to be spokesperson.

Some of Fauci’s quotes have not helped, “They’re really criticizing science because I represent science.” and “What I symbolize in an era of the normalization of untruths and lies and all the things you’re seeing going on in society, from January 6 to everything else that goes on, people are craving for consistency, for integrity, for truth.” January 6 was a terrible day in this nation’s history, but Dr. Fauci is not the symbol for truth. He has lied at least twice, per his own admission. Each one was big enough to be disqualifying.

Fauci still enjoys the position of darling of the media, including bizarre one sided pieces like this from Nature, but that will change. As time wears on, and the harms of his policy choices grow, public sentiment will shift. Many who agreed with him will forget their agreement, and all of us will remember the massive harms of school closure and lockdown. I suspect future bills will be passed for term limits at NIAID and other NIH agencies. Ultimately, Dr. Fauci remains a careful and charismatic politician, a scientist cursed by narcissism; so sure he was right, he would be unwilling to hear voices that tried to warn him, even as he led us all, off the cliff.