First, Liz Cheney, now Anthony Fauci.
Chalk up one other sufferer of the probably hostile GOP takeover of Congress.
While Cheney acquired blasted in a 40-point election loss, Fauci — the general public face of the federal government’s botched battle towards COVID — is fleeing in December, weeks earlier than Republicans may very well be beginning their revenge tour in Washington.
It’s no coincidence that the great physician introduced his departure simply as Republican leaders started plotting to carry hearings into the federal government’s COVID response and the origins of the lethal virus.
Fauci was a lightning rod and a foil for the proper. He turned an emblem of the authoritarian method of the Biden administration towards COVID.
His quitting removes a significant political distraction earlier than the midterm elections and comes because the Biden administration seeks to revamp the harshly-criticized CDC.
Republicans are already making an attempt to lift cash off his resignation.
“Did you hear the news, my friend?” Gail Huff Brown, the spouse of former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown and now a congressional candidate in New Hampshire wrote to supporters. “After forcing mandates on Granite Staters and crippling our economy, Mr Bureaucrat is calling it quits. As your voice in Congress, I will make sure we protect our institutions from power-hungry bureaucrats like Dr. Fauch.”
Fauci could hope to blunt the influence of his tenure as COVID czar by leaving, but when he thinks he’ll escape Washington unscathed, he higher suppose once more.
“Retirement can’t shield Dr. Fauci from congressional oversight,” mentioned U.S. Rep. James Comer, the rating Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee who would probably lead any investigations subsequent 12 months.
Fauci says he’s quitting his position as chief medical adviser to President Biden to “pursue the next phase” of his profession, no matter which means.
But Republicans have already launched their very own probes into the origins of the coronavirus that wreaked havoc on the world.
“Fauci’s resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak,” tweeted Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has clashed publicly with Fauci and will develop into the chairman of the Senate Health Committee subsequent 12 months.
“Never has one arrogant bureaucrat destroyed more people’s lives,” tweeted Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
That appears somewhat harsh. Fauci was undoubtedly no politician and made many errors however he largely saved his mouth shut through the Trump period — standing there wanting pained whereas the previous president tried to downplay the virus — and took the brunt of criticism anyway for the pandemic response.
He will go down in historical past as a controversial determine however one who turned a cultural icon to many Democrats.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”