Does the lead member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, possess psychic powers?
It certainly seems so to some conspiracy theorists, though to be very clear, there’s a perfectly logical explanation behind his apparent clairvoyance.
But what makes it seems otherwise is a set of seemingly highly prescient remarks he’d posited during a Georgetown University forum on pandemic preparedness that occurred in January of 2017, days before President Donald Trump took office.
Listen (disable your adblocker if the video doesn’t appear):
“Given, as you heard from the introduction, that I have been around for a while and have had the opportunity and the privilege and the pleasure of serving in five administrations, I thought I would bring that perspective to the topic today, the issue of pandemic preparedness,” he said.
“And if there’s one message that I want to leave with you today based on my experience … is that there is no question that there will be a challenge the coming administration in the arena of infectious diseases.”
A challenge pertaining to both “chronic infectious diseases” (think heart disease, lung cancer, etc.) and “a surprise outbreak.”
“[T]here will be a surprise outbreak.” he explicitly said. “And I hope by the end of my relatively short presentation, you’ll understand why the history of the last 32 years that I’ve been the director of the NIAID will tell the next administration that there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that they will be faced with the challenges that their predecessors were faced with.”
According to conspiracy theorists, it was as if he was able to see three years into the future. Either that or he was and still is a member of the so-called “deep state.”
Look at some of the conspiracy theorizings below:
PLANdemic 😡
— LydiaLydia (@LydiaLy84633994) April 4, 2020
Did the Left and China CONSPIRE and timed it in the year of the US presidential election? Investigate!
— Ormaap rioped (@ORioped) April 4, 2020
I think Fauci is a plant.
— Matt Collins (@mattcolliu1) April 4, 2020
Everyone is putting the pieces together and it isn’t going pretty for the deceivers
— Ken Holt (@KenHolt13) April 4, 2020
And how many people still think it’s a REAL Pandemic?
No stacks of bodies. No hospitals in chaos. Empty Hospital Ship.
Hospitals ALL over America are telling the truth though. They’re sick of; Democrats, Republicans and MSM forcing them to play along with the narrative.
— Bob Nichols; Independent, Gun Slinger for Life (@RobertL39618468) April 4, 2020
This outbreak has been very orchestrated. This was not organic
— onlio (@onlio6) April 4, 2020
Was that a prophecy? Or an insider knowledge of what they were cooking together!!! 😡😡😡😡@realDonaldTrump
— God is with Trump ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@MaryFass3) April 4, 2020
LOOKS LIKE A CONSPIRACY/COLLUSION AMONG FAUCI..GATES..BIRXS..AND CHINA…TO BRING DOWN THE U.S. ECONOMY AND PRES TRUMP…
— filampatriot (@filampatriot) April 4, 2020
Coup here, coup there, coup everywhere…
— East Clintwood (@PlanetPoppTart) April 4, 2020
Thank you for exposing this Chuck, people beware! Fauci has connections with The WHO, Bill Gates who also predicted the outbreak and the China bio-labs. Not a coincidence!
— Pauline Elizabeth (@Gdfamcntry) April 4, 2020
The latter tweet referenced Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who five years ago predicted that sometime “in the next few decades,” a pandemic would ravage the world and kill “over 10 million people” unless governments across the world mobilized early to prepare.
Of course, all this conspiracy theorizing is nonsense. Fauci (not to mention Gates) is neither a plant nor a member of the “deep state.” Nor was the global coronavirus pandemic planned by some covert group of “deep state” operatives.
And FYI, the facts prove it …
Fauci’s message was simple: As someone who’d been with the federal government for decades, he’d seen countless pandemics ravage the nation. And based on this experience, he was confident yet another one would appear during Trump’s tenure in office.
His assertion was backed by facts. The Obama administration experienced the H1N1, Zika and Ebola pandemics; the Bush administration experienced the SARS pandemic, and the Reagan administration experienced the AIDs crisis.
Almost every administration has had to contend with some sort of infectious disease threat, including that of former President Bill Clinton.
“The Clinton presidency saw not only the continued growth of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but also the appearance of West Nile virus in the U.S. for the first time, the first wave of H5N1 Influenza in Southeast Asia, and the growing problem of microbial resistance to antibiotics,” the Health Affairs Journal noted in 2017.
When NYC went through West Nile Virus my administration worked seamlessly with the Clinton administration.
With the first case in NY, it is good to see that Gov. Cuomo is working closely with the Trump administration.
Both showed great leadership by anticipating the crisis.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) March 2, 2020
Sadly, pandemics are ubiquitous to this world, and that’s an indisputable fact. But so are conspiracy theories, which have been ginning up undue fear and paranoia for millennia.
That said, this doesn’t necessarily let Fauci off the hook. Given his experience and expertise, why was the Trump administration caught so off guard by the coronavirus?
While it’s true the president personally took actions early in the process — such as limiting travel from China — the officials working in the back-end were slow to catch up. And this isn’t a Democrat talking point — it’s a Republican one.
After meeting with members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention early last month, Republican Rep. Mark Walker spoke of “a growing frustration among members as a whole to get more definitive answers” from the center regarding its coronavirus testing capabilities.
“We have a serious deficiency in being prepared for testing,” Sen. Lamar Alexander added. “South Korea, for example, is doing a better job. We not only need a better system for later. We need a better system for now, and we’re going to focus on that as rapidly as we can.”
Facts such as these have led some to argue that, given what Fauci had said in 2017, it’s his fault the CDC was seemingly caught unprepared.
Look:
If Fauci knew that why was his CDS so unprepared?
— Wayne Dunlap (@wdunlap) April 4, 2020
Well, if he knew about it in advance, and was able to tell the press about it he should have warned the President – instead of letting him be surprised by it!
Wonder how rewarding his “friends” are being since he was so good at letting them throw this surprise party for POTUS.
— MelodyAnon (@melody_grim) April 4, 2020
This is also wrong.
First, the CDC is separate from the NIAID.
Second, the reason the CDC and in fact the entire globe was caught by surprise was because of China’s lies. As the now-viral saying goes, China lied, people died.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- Bikers feel used after Harley-Davidson goes ‘totally woke’: ‘It’s branding suicide’ - August 10, 2024
- INSIDER: DeSantis reminds voters of Walz’s COVID transgressions, including ‘snitch hotline’ - August 10, 2024
- Gov. Shapiro brags about $1.1B increase in public ed. funding, bringing total to $11B - August 10, 2024
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!