Dr. Fauci to Retire: Farewell, Sweet Pandemic Prince

After three years as America’s Most Famous Doctor — and more than 50 years at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — the 81-year-old Anthony Fauci has his heart set on retirement. Not now, mind you — he still has a few more CNN and MSNBC panels in him. Just last week, he was on CNN’s New Day, warning that Americans “really should, in an indoor setting, a congregant setting, be wearing masks — it’s just the appropriate thing to do to protect yourself and your family, and those around you.” But according to a Monday Politico piece, “Anthony Fauci wants to put Covid’s politicization behind him,” and the good doctor is eyeing retirement at the end of Biden’s term:

What is there to say about Saint Anthony that hasn’t already been said in oozing puff pieces from star-struck journalists? How are we to express our deep and abiding gratitude better than the “Thank You Doctor Fauci — We Will Wash Our Hands” yard signs, the devotional Fauci candles, and the Fauci figurines (mask included, of course) touted by, among others, elected Democratic legislators? Skeptics will argue that the man who presented himself as the flesh-and-blood embodiment of science itself, and who regularly accused his critics of attacking The Science — “they’re really criticizing science because I represent science,” he told Face the Nation last November; “I’m going to be saving lives, and they’re going to be lying” — is not well-positioned to “repair the national bonds that the pandemic shredded.” But we know better. In Fauci we trust.

About the Author

Nate Hochman

Nate Hochman was a staff writer at National Review.

Featured Tags

After three years as America’s Most Famous Doctor — and more than 50 years at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — the 81-year-old Anthony Fauci has his heart set on retirement. Not now, mind you — he still has a few more CNN and MSNBC panels in him. Just last week, he was on CNN’s New Day, warning that Americans “really should, in an indoor setting, a congregant setting, be wearing masks — it’s just the appropriate thing to do to protect yourself and your family, and those around you.” But according to a Monday Politico piece, “Anthony Fauci wants to put Covid’s politicization behind him,” and the good doctor is eyeing retirement at the end of Biden’s term:

What is there to say about Saint Anthony that hasn’t already been said in oozing puff pieces from star-struck journalists? How are we to express our deep and abiding gratitude better than the “Thank You Doctor Fauci — We Will Wash Our Hands” yard signs, the devotional Fauci candles, and the Fauci figurines (mask included, of course) touted by, among others, elected Democratic legislators? Skeptics will argue that the man who presented himself as the flesh-and-blood embodiment of science itself, and who regularly accused his critics of attacking The Science — “they’re really criticizing science because I represent science,” he told Face the Nation last November; “I’m going to be saving lives, and they’re going to be lying” — is not well-positioned to “repair the national bonds that the pandemic shredded.” But we know better. In Fauci we trust.