I have always been astonished about the Fauci fixation. His role was to provide advice and medical advice is not based on absolute certainty. At first the advise was masks were not needed (this was based on what is most common - and for a new disease, they knew little) then masks were needed. And keeping apart.
Should kids be kept apart too? Well who knew but the best guess was yes. So schools closed - across the world.
Did China hide information? Yes. Is this a surprise.
And the vaccines emerged and the disease began to be controlled.
Should have been a triumph but not for conservatives. All so sad.
My understanding is that schools were a major vector in the Spanish Flu spreading and that was the only other pandemic experts had to go on. That seems reasonable of you're trying to save lives and have no other solid information to go on. Trying to figure out what weren't wrong so we can have a better response next time would be great but the monday morning quarterbacking as political retribution is gross.
Well schools are vectors of disease each flu season so sure. In and case agree beating up someone for not knowing as much as we know now is terrible. And next pandemic - if a new disease or new variant we will be guessing all over.
We were going co-op preschool with one of our kids when the pandemic started and just knowing how that would have gone with fairly compliant children and a low adult to child ratio (all parents) would have went... I can't imagine what that would have been like in the public school system.
The irony too is that some of Fauci's greatest medical and administrative triumphs occurred during Republican presidential administrations (PEPFAR during Bush 42 and COVID during Trump). That and Operation Warp Speed was arguably one of the few good things to transpire from the first Trump administration. You would think that these would be selling points, but we're not dealing with sane people here.
I think that the logic of the MAGA cult is to view everything as a conspiracy against them, conspiracies need scapegoats, and the inherent (and stupid) contradictions of the supposed COVID conspiracies are primarily about protecting Trump's and their own egos from a clear conclusion: fascist authoritarians are horrible at managing crises.
I can clearly remember how astonished and repulsed I was at the time about how angry people I knew were that they couldn't walk on their favorite beach for like two weeks. While the corpses were piling up in the streets of NY and doctors and nurses were sweating bullets about catching the thing. Sensed that we were in for a huge societal rupture.
The complete memory holing of the whole pandemic is shocking. I used to say that the only comfort I took from how badly trump mismanaged covid was that if not for that, he would have been re-elected. Who knew we'd be stupid enough to give it another go 4 years later.
Agreed. Operation Warp Speed was the single positive achievement of Trump 1.0, and he still managed to fuck that up. I think Obama's election started the crack-up, and COVID completed the job. I think we're now living in two superimposed countries, and I don't see how it ends peacefully with the current government in DC.
I know he couldn't do it but it would have been hilarious if Fauci had told Rand Paul, "Okay, you got me. I created the Covid virus in my evil mad scientist lair."
Despite my very low expectations, it continues to amaze me how cruel, racist, inept, dangerous, and destructive the Trump administration can be. Everything Trump does causes more people to suffer and die. He can even destroy the treasures of Washington, DC, including the White House, the Kennedy Center, and the Reflecting Pool. Now, he is about to destroy the world's energy supply, economy, and the entire Middle East.
It seems that Ambassador Huckabee may get his wish, as Trump seems intent on bringing about the rapture.
Off the subject and random today. The apparent dem candidates for POTUS are ok but less than attractive or exciting and are all politicians. Throwing an attractive, intelligent, well-known name out there: JON STEWART!!
Colbert is less snarky and more sincere in his delivery of satire than Stewart is. Colbert is more subtle but just as pointed without the "look at me" affect that Stewart exhibits.
I like Jon Stewart but suspect that his highest and best use is as a TV personality rather than a president. It's going to take someone with advanced skills in running a government to oversee the massive reforms that will be needed. This isn't something you can learn on the fly, e.g., the rise of Trump was arguably partly a product of beginner's mistakes made by Obama.
The Republicans have just given us lots of evidence that the skills needed to be a celebrity aren't fully transferable to being an effective political leader. Shouldn't we learn from their mistakes rather than copying them?
Thanks for the reminder about the plight of Haitians and how to help.
Republicans’ treatment of Dr. Fauci is outrageous and disgusting. We were lucky to have had him at the dawn of a deadly, global, once in a hundred years brand new disease, with his lifetime of experience in virology, instead of being stuck with the advice of an ophthalmologist and a guy who eats roadkill.
Hi- I wish you would stop making cheap shots a link to "X". While I understand the Bulwark still relies on that site, it's annoying that when I try to increase the size it auto sends me to that site. Can't you just do screen shots and note the source? Or better yet use a different source if it's media and not just a quote? Sorry. It's been a frustration for a while now. Supporting Elon Musk at any level is shameful.
Upvote a million times. If I can’t read a full tweet right there on the page I do without that bit of knowledge for the day and bear the risk of being incompletely informed.
Thank you Susan! I complained about this months ago, specifically when Andrew asked people to follow him on X. While I understand why people at The Bulwark need to keep X accounts to follow others on X, they don't need followers to do that. I said the same exact thing you did - please post screen shots and not links. Maybe it's some sort of journalistic integrity issue - proof that you are posting an accurate quote. Nevertheless, I hate giving Elon even one single click.
Just wondering how DeSantis plans to deal with the looming crisis in care for our elderly here in Florida. Can they really deport all of our Haitian caregivers? Republicans obviously don’t care about seniors. They sure delighted in giving Fauci a verbal beating.
DeSantis won't deal with it himself. He will say its a problem only Congress can solve and there is nothing he, or state government, can do to change the situation.
A lot will depend on his ability to use the issue in campaign for President. It is unlikely that Rubio or Vance (his chief rivals) will distance themselves from the President on the TPS policy. Since he unlikely to get Trump's support in the run for 2028 he can say he generally supports Trump's immigration policies but he would not have chosen this particular policy himself.
DeSantis is going to have to thread the needle around a lot of MAGA issues like that as he pursues his delusion that he could be President of the United States.
God, another lack luster, uninspiring campaign from the wooden "charm" of DeSantis. What did we do to deserve that. But it would be interesting to watch JD and Ron out do each other in riz-lessness.
They can and they will deport all the healthcare workers. And they won't say a word about it.
Florida is as weird to me as Texas. Talk to Floridians and Texans and they'll tell you they're the only sane states in the country. "Don't be bringing your ideas here. We're just fine the way we are."
I don't know how a place like The Villages can function without all kinds of immigrant labor. No one living there has a job! But they vote in Sadam Hussein numbers for Trump and DeSantis. They want this stuff. They want more of it. Doesn't make sense to me, but they seem to be super-happy with the status quo.
DeSantis is a term limited lame duck, so he's gone in a few months. He's really phoning in most of the parts of governing towards the end, except the stuff that is personally important to him or provides a pathway to enrich himself or friends or curry future favor.
Good riddance, but I'm sure his entire attitude towards public policy in Florida in 2027 and beyond is that it's someone else's problem now.
Thanks for the information for how to donate to support the Haitian immigrants in Springfield. I would love to just air drop the triad of Trump/Miller/Mullen into Port au Prince and see how they fare.
Hey Tom Steyer- you want to affect positive change? Howze about you pony up for the Haitian community in Springfield? While you’re at it- grab your girl Jane Fonda and join the protests. Thank you Jim for your reporting and the links for us to donate.
When atrocities and civil rights violations become normal under the state, peaceful protests must become the countervailing norm.
MLK understood that nonviolent demonstrations were powerful in the face of evil. It sets up a stark contrast between those doing the harming and those protesting. And when people see the difference, they get awoken to how awful the atrocities have become.
It’s depressing that we need to fight these battles in 2026, but these are the times that we live in so fight them we must.
Thank you to Jim for his reporting from Ohio. It spurred me to make a donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank.
Bill wrote: "CNN finds Americans saying by a margin of 50 percent to 30 percent that enforcement actions by ICE are making cities less safe rather than more safe. Quinnipiac has 37 percent of voters approving of the way ICE is doing its job, while 60 percent disapprove." First, thank you for not using the words "just" and "only" when reciting the low approval numbers since they tend to obscure what these numbers infer. To wit: "37 percent of voters *approving* of the way ICE is doing its job ..." (emphasis added). Almost two in five people approve of the murders, the lack of due process, the cruelty. Shameful.
Oh, and why hasn't Trump pitched Ivermectin as a cure for explosive diarrhea or told Cletus and Cleta to pour bleach into their gas tanks to make their ethanol last longer?
God bless the patriots in Springfield who have the courage to stand up and fight our child molester president. We should all join them in their fight against tyranny. Our depraved government needs to be burned down to the ground. The sooner the better.
I know this is shallow and crude, but: Rand Paul's hairdo! Alls I could think of was: You're so vain,I bet you think this song is about you. You're so vain you probably think this post is about you. Don't you. don't you.
And The Daily Beast tells the real story about Katie and Stephen Miller, and how often they spoke to Dr Fauci when she got Covid while pregnant. Fauci personally advised the couple, at their request.
I equate Trump's declining poll numbers on immigration with people's attitude about the meat industry. Most people enjoy eating meat, but they don't want to see or hear about the nasty business that leads to the hamburger or chicken breast on their plate. Likewise, I think a large portion of this country still wants a predominantly white country, but they don't want to see or hear about the nasty business that makes that outcome possible.
I don't know if it's a failure of the education system or our own intellectual laziness but after reading the measley could of paragraphs in my highschool history textbook about Operation Wetback (!?!), I don't know how anyone could have thought this made deportation would be anything other than a travesty and national embarrassment. We'll be living with this shame for decades.
Justin I don’t want to deny what you are saying I think it has always been true. What is really sad is that what those people do t want to see is what has made America America. There answers seems to be that is they erase the work of enslaved people and immigrants from the history books you end up with divinely ordained and before you know it you are on your way to theocracy.
The Fauci witch hunt is really about getting scientists to admit they can't "prove a negative". You can't really prove the virus didn't come from the Wuhan lab, but you can hypothesize that the virus came from animals in the Wuhan Market live animal areas, and the evidence overwhelmingly supports that hypothesis. We are still missing some evidence for a lot of reasons, most notably China's reluctance to be transparent.
The point is that you can't prove a negative. You can't prove vaccines DON'T cause autism, but you can dismiss the hypothesis that vaccines DO cause autism since there is no evidence found to support it. New evidence can always surface that might support a previously dismissed hypothesis, and then science will adjust accordingly. This happened with plate tectonics.
But it doesn't matter. Since scientists operate within the scientific method, and can only really prove hypothetical claims to be false and unsupported by evidence, through experimentation and observation, what is truth? This is an attack on knowledge and science, and we will all suffer as a result.
I agree! To a scientist, the words, “the evidence shows that….” are powerfully compelling, while statements about any *lack* of evidence mostly give context to the nature of experimentation.
But I do worry that to the conspiracy-minded, does the specific phrasing of “there is no evidence that shows…” sound like a taunt? As in, “we’ve hidden the ‘proof’ that you want to see so thoroughly that you’ll never find it”?
I think scientists should try to avoid talking about lacks of evidence and instead make the case for positive facts. As “here are the genetic changes we saw in the emergent COVID virus compared to earlier variants of coronaviruses, and here are 10, 20, or 50 examples of other naturally evolving viruses that have been documented.”
Trying to convince a skeptic about a lack of evidence is just making a case for nothing.
Thank you Jim for your reporting on Springfield. (This information, along with what is always provided in the Huddled Masses newsletters, is something I probably would never have come across without subscribing to The Bulwark.)
Still reading today's MS but had to express gratitude partway through.
I have always been astonished about the Fauci fixation. His role was to provide advice and medical advice is not based on absolute certainty. At first the advise was masks were not needed (this was based on what is most common - and for a new disease, they knew little) then masks were needed. And keeping apart.
Should kids be kept apart too? Well who knew but the best guess was yes. So schools closed - across the world.
Did China hide information? Yes. Is this a surprise.
And the vaccines emerged and the disease began to be controlled.
Should have been a triumph but not for conservatives. All so sad.
My understanding is that schools were a major vector in the Spanish Flu spreading and that was the only other pandemic experts had to go on. That seems reasonable of you're trying to save lives and have no other solid information to go on. Trying to figure out what weren't wrong so we can have a better response next time would be great but the monday morning quarterbacking as political retribution is gross.
Well schools are vectors of disease each flu season so sure. In and case agree beating up someone for not knowing as much as we know now is terrible. And next pandemic - if a new disease or new variant we will be guessing all over.
Plus how many grandparents who filled the role of affordable daycare did we want to kill?
Or teachers or staff and administration at the schools who then take it home to their own families and contacts.
We were going co-op preschool with one of our kids when the pandemic started and just knowing how that would have gone with fairly compliant children and a low adult to child ratio (all parents) would have went... I can't imagine what that would have been like in the public school system.
The irony too is that some of Fauci's greatest medical and administrative triumphs occurred during Republican presidential administrations (PEPFAR during Bush 42 and COVID during Trump). That and Operation Warp Speed was arguably one of the few good things to transpire from the first Trump administration. You would think that these would be selling points, but we're not dealing with sane people here.
I think that the logic of the MAGA cult is to view everything as a conspiracy against them, conspiracies need scapegoats, and the inherent (and stupid) contradictions of the supposed COVID conspiracies are primarily about protecting Trump's and their own egos from a clear conclusion: fascist authoritarians are horrible at managing crises.
He also played a huge role in turning around the response to AIDS during the Reagan administration.
I can clearly remember how astonished and repulsed I was at the time about how angry people I knew were that they couldn't walk on their favorite beach for like two weeks. While the corpses were piling up in the streets of NY and doctors and nurses were sweating bullets about catching the thing. Sensed that we were in for a huge societal rupture.
That's just it. Those refrigerated trucks outside hospitals weren't delivering ice cream.
The complete memory holing of the whole pandemic is shocking. I used to say that the only comfort I took from how badly trump mismanaged covid was that if not for that, he would have been re-elected. Who knew we'd be stupid enough to give it another go 4 years later.
I lost so much faith in humanity during the pandemic. To witness people just not giving a sh%t about thier fellow human beings was terrible.
Agreed. Operation Warp Speed was the single positive achievement of Trump 1.0, and he still managed to fuck that up. I think Obama's election started the crack-up, and COVID completed the job. I think we're now living in two superimposed countries, and I don't see how it ends peacefully with the current government in DC.
I know he couldn't do it but it would have been hilarious if Fauci had told Rand Paul, "Okay, you got me. I created the Covid virus in my evil mad scientist lair."
Despite my very low expectations, it continues to amaze me how cruel, racist, inept, dangerous, and destructive the Trump administration can be. Everything Trump does causes more people to suffer and die. He can even destroy the treasures of Washington, DC, including the White House, the Kennedy Center, and the Reflecting Pool. Now, he is about to destroy the world's energy supply, economy, and the entire Middle East.
It seems that Ambassador Huckabee may get his wish, as Trump seems intent on bringing about the rapture.
Off the subject and random today. The apparent dem candidates for POTUS are ok but less than attractive or exciting and are all politicians. Throwing an attractive, intelligent, well-known name out there: JON STEWART!!
Not sure why exactly, but I prefer Colbert for my celebrity satirist president.
Colbert is less snarky and more sincere in his delivery of satire than Stewart is. Colbert is more subtle but just as pointed without the "look at me" affect that Stewart exhibits.
I like Jon Stewart but suspect that his highest and best use is as a TV personality rather than a president. It's going to take someone with advanced skills in running a government to oversee the massive reforms that will be needed. This isn't something you can learn on the fly, e.g., the rise of Trump was arguably partly a product of beginner's mistakes made by Obama.
The Republicans have just given us lots of evidence that the skills needed to be a celebrity aren't fully transferable to being an effective political leader. Shouldn't we learn from their mistakes rather than copying them?
Out of curiosity, is the tarp still hanging over the Kennedy Center? Last I saw a week or so ago it was still there.
The tarp is still there. The question is what is behind the tarp? Trump's name was supposedly removed.
Thanks for the reminder about the plight of Haitians and how to help.
Republicans’ treatment of Dr. Fauci is outrageous and disgusting. We were lucky to have had him at the dawn of a deadly, global, once in a hundred years brand new disease, with his lifetime of experience in virology, instead of being stuck with the advice of an ophthalmologist and a guy who eats roadkill.
Hi- I wish you would stop making cheap shots a link to "X". While I understand the Bulwark still relies on that site, it's annoying that when I try to increase the size it auto sends me to that site. Can't you just do screen shots and note the source? Or better yet use a different source if it's media and not just a quote? Sorry. It's been a frustration for a while now. Supporting Elon Musk at any level is shameful.
Upvote a million times. If I can’t read a full tweet right there on the page I do without that bit of knowledge for the day and bear the risk of being incompletely informed.
Thank you Susan! I complained about this months ago, specifically when Andrew asked people to follow him on X. While I understand why people at The Bulwark need to keep X accounts to follow others on X, they don't need followers to do that. I said the same exact thing you did - please post screen shots and not links. Maybe it's some sort of journalistic integrity issue - proof that you are posting an accurate quote. Nevertheless, I hate giving Elon even one single click.
I disagree.
God bless Springfield.
And God bless Jim Swift for that report including links where those of us who can donate can.....
Just wondering how DeSantis plans to deal with the looming crisis in care for our elderly here in Florida. Can they really deport all of our Haitian caregivers? Republicans obviously don’t care about seniors. They sure delighted in giving Fauci a verbal beating.
Don't worry. Ron will find a way to blame Democrats/woke/DEI and all will be well!
DeSantis won't deal with it himself. He will say its a problem only Congress can solve and there is nothing he, or state government, can do to change the situation.
A lot will depend on his ability to use the issue in campaign for President. It is unlikely that Rubio or Vance (his chief rivals) will distance themselves from the President on the TPS policy. Since he unlikely to get Trump's support in the run for 2028 he can say he generally supports Trump's immigration policies but he would not have chosen this particular policy himself.
DeSantis is going to have to thread the needle around a lot of MAGA issues like that as he pursues his delusion that he could be President of the United States.
DeSantis is such a cluck!
God, another lack luster, uninspiring campaign from the wooden "charm" of DeSantis. What did we do to deserve that. But it would be interesting to watch JD and Ron out do each other in riz-lessness.
They can and they will deport all the healthcare workers. And they won't say a word about it.
Florida is as weird to me as Texas. Talk to Floridians and Texans and they'll tell you they're the only sane states in the country. "Don't be bringing your ideas here. We're just fine the way we are."
I don't know how a place like The Villages can function without all kinds of immigrant labor. No one living there has a job! But they vote in Sadam Hussein numbers for Trump and DeSantis. They want this stuff. They want more of it. Doesn't make sense to me, but they seem to be super-happy with the status quo.
DeSantis is a term limited lame duck, so he's gone in a few months. He's really phoning in most of the parts of governing towards the end, except the stuff that is personally important to him or provides a pathway to enrich himself or friends or curry future favor.
Good riddance, but I'm sure his entire attitude towards public policy in Florida in 2027 and beyond is that it's someone else's problem now.
Magats can't wait until their elderly parents shuffle off their mortal coils. They want that inheritance!
Thanks for the information for how to donate to support the Haitian immigrants in Springfield. I would love to just air drop the triad of Trump/Miller/Mullen into Port au Prince and see how they fare.
Hey Tom Steyer- you want to affect positive change? Howze about you pony up for the Haitian community in Springfield? While you’re at it- grab your girl Jane Fonda and join the protests. Thank you Jim for your reporting and the links for us to donate.
I know Tuberville's a moron, but is it possible he's also insane? He sounds very Q-anon.
He's playing to his constituency, a constituency that loves their coo-coo-coo cool aid.
Moron + Insane = You're hired by maga
Who needs experts when we have an autodidact genius like Tuberville?
When atrocities and civil rights violations become normal under the state, peaceful protests must become the countervailing norm.
MLK understood that nonviolent demonstrations were powerful in the face of evil. It sets up a stark contrast between those doing the harming and those protesting. And when people see the difference, they get awoken to how awful the atrocities have become.
It’s depressing that we need to fight these battles in 2026, but these are the times that we live in so fight them we must.
Thank you to Jim for his reporting from Ohio. It spurred me to make a donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank.
Bill wrote: "CNN finds Americans saying by a margin of 50 percent to 30 percent that enforcement actions by ICE are making cities less safe rather than more safe. Quinnipiac has 37 percent of voters approving of the way ICE is doing its job, while 60 percent disapprove." First, thank you for not using the words "just" and "only" when reciting the low approval numbers since they tend to obscure what these numbers infer. To wit: "37 percent of voters *approving* of the way ICE is doing its job ..." (emphasis added). Almost two in five people approve of the murders, the lack of due process, the cruelty. Shameful.
Oh, and why hasn't Trump pitched Ivermectin as a cure for explosive diarrhea or told Cletus and Cleta to pour bleach into their gas tanks to make their ethanol last longer?
Thank you, Ray!!
God bless the patriots in Springfield who have the courage to stand up and fight our child molester president. We should all join them in their fight against tyranny. Our depraved government needs to be burned down to the ground. The sooner the better.
Bill kristol and Andrew Egger, Jim Swift standing up with the facts for democracy, thanks
I know this is shallow and crude, but: Rand Paul's hairdo! Alls I could think of was: You're so vain,I bet you think this song is about you. You're so vain you probably think this post is about you. Don't you. don't you.
And The Daily Beast tells the real story about Katie and Stephen Miller, and how often they spoke to Dr Fauci when she got Covid while pregnant. Fauci personally advised the couple, at their request.
I equate Trump's declining poll numbers on immigration with people's attitude about the meat industry. Most people enjoy eating meat, but they don't want to see or hear about the nasty business that leads to the hamburger or chicken breast on their plate. Likewise, I think a large portion of this country still wants a predominantly white country, but they don't want to see or hear about the nasty business that makes that outcome possible.
I don't know if it's a failure of the education system or our own intellectual laziness but after reading the measley could of paragraphs in my highschool history textbook about Operation Wetback (!?!), I don't know how anyone could have thought this made deportation would be anything other than a travesty and national embarrassment. We'll be living with this shame for decades.
Justin I don’t want to deny what you are saying I think it has always been true. What is really sad is that what those people do t want to see is what has made America America. There answers seems to be that is they erase the work of enslaved people and immigrants from the history books you end up with divinely ordained and before you know it you are on your way to theocracy.
The Fauci witch hunt is really about getting scientists to admit they can't "prove a negative". You can't really prove the virus didn't come from the Wuhan lab, but you can hypothesize that the virus came from animals in the Wuhan Market live animal areas, and the evidence overwhelmingly supports that hypothesis. We are still missing some evidence for a lot of reasons, most notably China's reluctance to be transparent.
The point is that you can't prove a negative. You can't prove vaccines DON'T cause autism, but you can dismiss the hypothesis that vaccines DO cause autism since there is no evidence found to support it. New evidence can always surface that might support a previously dismissed hypothesis, and then science will adjust accordingly. This happened with plate tectonics.
But it doesn't matter. Since scientists operate within the scientific method, and can only really prove hypothetical claims to be false and unsupported by evidence, through experimentation and observation, what is truth? This is an attack on knowledge and science, and we will all suffer as a result.
I agree! To a scientist, the words, “the evidence shows that….” are powerfully compelling, while statements about any *lack* of evidence mostly give context to the nature of experimentation.
But I do worry that to the conspiracy-minded, does the specific phrasing of “there is no evidence that shows…” sound like a taunt? As in, “we’ve hidden the ‘proof’ that you want to see so thoroughly that you’ll never find it”?
I think scientists should try to avoid talking about lacks of evidence and instead make the case for positive facts. As “here are the genetic changes we saw in the emergent COVID virus compared to earlier variants of coronaviruses, and here are 10, 20, or 50 examples of other naturally evolving viruses that have been documented.”
Trying to convince a skeptic about a lack of evidence is just making a case for nothing.
Thank you Jim for your reporting on Springfield. (This information, along with what is always provided in the Huddled Masses newsletters, is something I probably would never have come across without subscribing to The Bulwark.)
Still reading today's MS but had to express gratitude partway through.