What conservatives see in the Fauci emails

Anthony Fauci.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images)

Dr. Anthony Fauci's emails, released through a Freedom of Information Act request, are a Rorschach test. To Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), they revealed the nation's top infectious expert — and his frequent sparring partner — to be a liar. "Told you," Paul said. "Can't wait to see the media try to spin the Fauci FOIA emails."

On cue, CNN tweeted, "Thousands of emails from and to Dr. Fauci reveal the weight that came from his role as a rare source of frank honesty within the Trump administration's COVID-19 task force." That's not how most conservatives view the email exchanges about masks or theories about the virus' origins. Where liberals see a beleaguered official, conservatives see in the emails private counsel that is more equivocal than Fauci's public pronouncements, when not diametrically opposed.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.