Monday's Final Word

hotair.com

Well, I'd been waiting for this weekend; I thought that maybe we could click a tab ... 

Advertisement

Fauci’s increasingly hysterical approach to Covid fueled this adulatory coverage — which in turn fueled his vanity.  Vicious cycle.

Ed: Well put. This allowed the media to make Fauci into a saint and make Trump the villain in the pandemic, rather than China and the Fauci-led medical establishment that helped fund the gain-of-function research that created the pandemic. The media chose to build narratives rather than ask tough questions, because the answers to those tough questions would have pointed back to Fauci. 

===

Daily Mail: Anthony Fauci's personal diaries have been revealed showing how he delighted in his interactions with celebrities as America went through the death throes of the early COVID-19 pandemic. ...

His diaries have been published by longtime adversary and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

Paul accuses Fauci of revealing 'his love for the newfound fame COVID brought him' before publishing a paragraph the Senator says is of him 'fangirling' over explaining Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa to Barbra Streisand. 

Ed: This is the least objectionable revelation from Fauci's diaries. David wrote more this afternoon about the more substantive exposures from the former NIAID chief, including how his personal views contradicted his public arguments. Frankly, I would not begrudge someone a little fangirling over celebrity interactions, but ... Streisand? Or, er, Tapper?

===

Ed: Bear in mind that some states were still imposing restrictions on social gatherings, even in homes, in October 2020. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had a snitch line for people to report neighbors having dinner parties indoors, which operated until the summer of 2022. Fauci's declarations were a large part of what drove those measures. This also reflects on the media's approach to Trump and the pandemic at that time, too.

Advertisement

===

Fox News: ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN and MS NOW's on-air broadcasts ignored Fauci’s diary entries from the time they were released on Saturday afternoon through Monday at 9 a.m. ET when flagship morning shows had concluded, according to a search of transcripts using Grabien Media.  ...

CNN’s on-air blackout came despite anchor Jake Tapper appearing repeatedly throughout the private diary entries as Fauci documented phone calls, text exchanges and dinners at the Tappers' Washington home amid their growing friendship. 

Fauci wrote that Tapper privately checked to make sure a CNN interview hadn't caused problems with the White House. When The Atlantic's Peter Nicholas suggested Fauci had been "humiliated" over a canceled Tapper interview, Fauci fired back in his diary: "F--- you, Peter."

After Fauci's heated exchange with GOP Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan in April 2021, Fauci wrote that CNN's Dana Bash texted him, telling him he was "a better man" and relaying that fellow CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer had joked no one would have blamed Fauci if he had told Jordan to "go f--- yourself."

Ed: Yeah, I don't think "despite" is the correct word here. "Because of" fits better. The Protection Racket Media has lots of reasons to ignore the Fauci Diaries. None of them are GOOD reasons, but ... 

===

Ed: My friend Christine Rousselle's father passed away in 2020, and she could not properly mourn her father at the time. She still feels the pain of that forced disconnection. But hey, Fauci could rub elbows with celebs and media anchors, and Gavin Newsom could still have dinner parties at The French Laundry. How nice for the elites, eh?

Advertisement

===

Fox News: A surprising recurring theme throughout the diaries is Fauci's growing awareness of his own public profile during the most intense months of the pandemic, which ultimately claimed more than 7 million officially reported lives worldwide, including roughly 1.2 million in the United States.

On April 7, 2020, after recording the latest pandemic developments, Fauci wrote: "Press still hot and heavy about me. Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me."

By May 21, after recording the latest pandemic figures — nearly 98,000 global deaths and more than 27,000 U.S. deaths — and documenting the day's White House coronavirus task force meetings, Fauci wrote that his "national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable" and that it was "not hyperbole" to say he was "the most famous and talked about person in the country."

Ed: Does anyone really find this "surprising"? Fauci loved to get his face on TV, and participated in a particularly obsequious documentary that practically cast him as a saint. The media wanted to make Fauci a star, and Fauci was only too happy to oblige. 

===

Ed: Don't undersell the damage Weingarten has done in transforming American education into leftist indoctrination. John is well aware of that, and he's right that Fauci's damage has been more severe. 

===

Axios: President Trump told Axios on Monday that he decided to pause U.S. strikes on Iran in order to give negotiations another chance, but stressed that he could order a return to expanded military operations if diplomacy fails.

Why it matters: The current negotiations are focused on a new deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and relaunch talks on a comprehensive nuclear deal.

Advertisement

The talks are being conducted mainly between Iran and Oman. But Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt and Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are actively involved.

What he's saying: "We are in very deep talks with Iran. If they don't work out, we will go back to very strong military action," Trump said in the interview.

Asked how long he's willing to give diplomacy, the president said: "Not much time. Either it goes fast or not at all."

Ed: I'd bet on "not at all." This is yet another stall attempt by the IRGC. Trump should have told them that the bombing would continue until the regime behaves according to the agreement. The interlocutors mentioned above have been entirely useless in dealing with the IRGC. 

===

Ed: An evergreen reminder of the quality of the opposition. And these are just the amusing examples.

===

Jim Geraghty at NRO: Then there’s Hong, the current frontrunner, who would become the first-ever socialist governor in American history if she wins in November.

She appeared on Hasan Piker’s podcast — background on him here — and declared she supports abolishing ICE, creating public (meaning government run) grocery stores, “a free Palestine,” and creating “a Scott Walker statue that people can go to, that are made by local artisans and craftsmen that people can slap up if they want to.” (If Wisconsin socialists want to spend time slapping a Scott Walker statue and breaking bones in their hands, I see room for bipartisan compromise.)

You may recall this newsletter noting earlier this month that Capital One was asking Hong, quite literally, what was in her wallet, and why it hadn’t been used to pay down the $29,344 debt she had accumulated since 2011. Much like with Rodriguez, it is hard to argue you will be a careful steward of the public’s finances when you are not a careful steward of your own finances.

Advertisement

Ed: Jim wonders whether Wisconsin is ready to elect the nation's first socialist governor. I would ask Democrats whether they're ready to lose a gubernatorial election by nominating a socialist. Trump won Wisconsin two years ago, so it's very easy to believe that Republicans could beat an outright socialist in November by nominating a responsible candidate. Current GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany looks pretty solid thus far. 

===

... (he’s previously floated PA Rep. Summer Lee primarying him): “I’m looking forward to it. … Tell me why I should stop.”

On a Zoom donor call, he argued victory would let him push the progressive movement forward: “You put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message.”

Ed: Funny, that's what people think of DSA candidates, too. If El-Sayed gets past Haley Stevens – and I think that's increasingly less likely, but still possible – then Mike Rogers will clean up in Michigan. Trump won there two years ago too, and Democrats are not going to win them back by going even more radical, let alone endorsing communists and anti-Semites. 

===

NY Times: The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for an executive order by President Trump that restricts voting by mail, setting up a legal showdown as the president pushes for more control over voting ahead of the midterm elections in November.

The administration filed the emergency application to the justices after a federal appeals court on Saturday blocked key parts of his executive order.

In the application, Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the lower court ruling “indefensible,” asserting that it imposed “serious irreparable harm on the federal government” and would bar federal agencies from implementing an executive order “promoting election integrity in the upcoming federal elections in November.”

Advertisement

The legal battle stems from an executive order signed by Mr. Trump in late March that had attempted to place limits on mail-in voting, including using federal oversight of the U.S. Postal Service to gain greater control over mail-in voting practices.

Ed: We'll see whether SCOTUS takes this up, but don't bet the farm on it. The EO is broad enough to cross into legislative territory. The federal government does not have a lot of authority to regulate elections, not even federal elections, which is one reason why Trump wants to get the SAVE America Act passed. 

===

Ed: Now It Can Be Told. 

===

Politico: Rep. Jeff Van Drew plans to hold hearings in the fall on New Jersey’s noncitizen voter fracas and is “absolutely exploring” the possibility of using Congress’s subpoena powers, he told POLITICO on Monday.

The South Jersey Republican, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight-focused subcommittee, said that his approach to any future investigation will depend on how much information Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration releases willingly. Van Drew sent Sherrill a letter last week with 12 questions on how 6,600 noncitizens ended up on New Jersey’s voter rolls and what steps the state intends to take moving forward. ...

Republicans in the New Jersey Legislature have called for a state-level committee with subpoena powers to investigate the issue, but legislative Democrats have indicated that they’ll wait for an independent review commissioned by Sherrill to be completed before taking any action themselves. The timeline for that review, which is being conducted by an outside firm, has not been made public.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has set a much faster schedule for its demands, insisting that the Sherrill administration turn over names, addresses and other records by Tuesday on the noncitizens accidentally added to the state’s voter rolls. Sherrill has not said whether she’ll obey the request, but she has not sounded especially receptive: “We are not in the practice of turning this kind of personally identifying data over to the federal government,” she said last week.

Advertisement

Ed: This is a much more fruitful strategy by both Van Drew and the White House. 

===

Ed: God bless Boy George, whose voice has much more power than I realized. So does this song. Pass it along. 

===

Saturday's lyric: "Thick As a Brick" by Jethro Tull.

Editor's Note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you're digging these Final Word posts and want to join the conversation in the comments—and support independent platforms—why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!