Mainstream media drag Rand Paul for fiery exchange with Fauci: ‘Insane, atrocious vitriol’
MSNBC’s Brzezinski calls Sen. Paul’s movement to fire Fauci 'downright sick'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Dr. Anthony Fauci went at it once again during Tuesday’s Senate hearing on Capitol Hill regarding COVID-19, and members of the mainstream media have stepped in to back the nation’s top doc.
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski called Paul’s movement to have Fauci fired "downright sick" and sympathized with how hard it must be to be Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"It’s hard not to get extremely upset to see this happening," she said. "We are trying to run a country and keep people safe and have the best scientists be given a platform to help Americans be safe. And this idiot is raising money off of defaming him."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}RAND PAUL AND ANTHONY FAUCI DEBACLE REFLECTS OUR OWN STATE OF DISARRAY
Brzezinski dug deeper into the "idiots" and "blowhards" on the right, expressing that their throwing of a "conspiracy theory party" is hard to watch.
MSNBC’s "The ReidOut" welcomed Housing Works medical director Dr. Lipi Roy, who slammed Paul for daring to challenge "lifetime public servant" Fauci with "insane, atrocious vitriol." The doctor also pointed out how Paul has failed to uphold the qualities of a former physician.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dr. Anthony Fauci and Senator Rand Paul speak during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. Photo by GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images | Photographer: Greg Nash/The Hill/Bloomberg via Getty Images
"I'm shocked that Rand Paul was a former physician because he does not exude any of the qualities that doctors and nurses possess," she said. "Empathy. Compassion. A penchant for science and data to drive healthcare policies."
Roy claimed that Paul’s questioning of a highly trained infectious disease doctor only makes health care professionals double down on COVID efforts and messaging.
"It seems like the rational folks are becoming the minority and we are not," she went on. "We just have to be really loud about it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN host Kate Bolduan tagged the exchange as "unhelpful hysterics and drama" after pulling away from the live hearing. Bolduan’s following guest, University of Alabama infectious diseases professor Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, considered Paul’s jab "political theater at its worst."
"The fact that… Sen. Paul is wasting time using really very high-caliber, accusatory words sort of says it all," she said. "Why are we even spending our time talking about this?"
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., questions Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Jan. 11, 2022 at Capitol Hill in Washington. (Photo by GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Fauci joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday night to address the feud, claiming that Sen. Paul’s "ad hominem" attacks distracted from the hearing’s constructive purpose.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"He’s raising money for his campaign by making me the villain," he said. "If you call me a murderer and say I’m responsible for ridiculous, preposterous, slanderous statements… it’s not me that’s making myself polarizing. It’s him."
In an interview with America’s Newsroom Wednesday, Paul stood by the fact that his campaign is raising money in an effort to remove Fauci from his post and described him as a "menace" and "part of the problem."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"He's made it very personal," he said.