Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) — who also happens to be a doctor — is not a big fan of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
But he went one step further in his criticism last week when he said the top U.S. immunologist spouts “noble lies.”
In an interview on Fox News, host Laura Ingraham asked Paul, “Senator, you have been one of the few lawmakers to directly call out Dr. Fauci’s lies. Are people afraid to question him? And if so, why?”
“Well, it’s the science — and people are afraid of, you know, scientists, and he’s put on a pedestal,” the Kentucky Republican said. “But you have to remember that his lies are noble lies, Laura. He’s not telling you this because he’s a mean man. He’s telling you this because he feels sorry for you because you don’t understand, and Americans aren’t smart enough to make informed decisions. So, he fashions himself some sort of Greek philosopher. He tells you these noble lies.”
Paul also took aim at Fauci, an immunologist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who served on former President Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force and is now President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19, and his ever-changing stance on masks.
Back in March 2020, Fauci said “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.” “When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is,” the doctor said on CBS News.
Fauci later said Americans should wear masks, citing estimates that 40% or more of those infected were asymptomatic but could still spread the virus.
“We were not aware that 40% to 45% of people were asymptomatic, nor were we aware that a substantial proportion of people who get infected get infected from people who are without symptoms. That makes it overwhelmingly important for everyone to wear a mask,” Fauci said in September, noting that “the data now are very, very clear.”
Most recently, Fauci said maybe Americans should wear two masks, saying, “if you use common sense and say, until we get the data, if a physical barrier with one mask works, it makes common sense that two layers or three layers — and you should have a double layer mask in one mask anyway — but if you want to put an extra mask on, there’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “We can’t formally recommend it because we don’t have the science behind it. But I would not hesitate to tell someone if they want to wear two masks.”
Said Paul: “So, at first, he told you that all the masks don’t work. But he told you that because he wanted to protect the N-95 masks, which actually in a health setting do work. But then, later on, he said, all masks do work. But that’s also a lie also because really only the N-95 masks work.”
“It’s a compilation of lies,” Paul said of Fauci. “But they’re all done to protect you because he doesn’t think you’re smart enough to make any of these decisions on your own.”