Tom Cotton Slammed After Suggesting That Dr. Fauci Is Not a "Public Health Professional"

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:43 pm

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) took to Twitter to criticize Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and referred to him as a “Democratic operative” and suggested he is not a “public health professional.”

“Tony Fauci is nothing more than a Democratic operative,” Cotton wrote on Twitter, adding: “If President Biden were serious about the pandemic, he’d fire Fauci and replace him with a public health professional.”

Tony Fauci is nothing more than a Democratic operative.

If President Biden were serious about the pandemic, he'd fire Fauci and replace him with a public health professional.

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 30, 2021

The problem with Cotton’s statements: Dr. Fauci is very much a public health professional, having served the American public health sector in various capacities for more than fifty years. Dr. Fauci has also been a medical advisor to every president since Ronald Reagan. His contributions to HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiency diseases are widely known and respected. And in addition to his capacity as the medical advisor to President Biden, Dr. Fauci is one of the lead members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team.

Suffice it to say that if there were anyone more qualified than Dr. Fauci, we would have found them already.

Cotton’s words did not go over well with the online community, who criticized him for backing Republican quackery and undermining public health.

https://twitter.com/CSBence/status/1465702224974127110

It’s Dr.Fauci. Have some respect for his expertise. Mr. Cotton

— longtimeago (@longtim97873862) November 30, 2021

GQP-speak

“Democratic Operative” = faithful public servant.

“Public health professional” = Jared Kushner

— Claude Lemieux 🌻 (@ClaudeLemieuxCA) November 30, 2021

Science is hard for you

— Daniel B Humanist with an attitude🇨🇦🌊 (@DJBhumanist) November 30, 2021

Tommy, I trust Dr. Fauci more than I trusted any person in the Trump administration. https://t.co/Q5KXBNvbzY

— David Mantione (@davidman212) November 30, 2021

You do realize he worked under "your guy" too right?! Also, we had many shortages under YOUR administration. I'm old enough to remember no toilet paper, hand sanitizer, masks for our doctors but cool story bro. I'm sure the 🤡 has a 🐶treat for you

— Cris A. 😊🌻🇪🇸🇺🇲 (@crisda25) November 30, 2021

Cotton has repeatedly pushed conspiracy theories about Covid-19’s origins; he once infamously claimed during a Fox News interview that the Covid-19 pandemic is a “deliberate” and “malevolent” attack by the Chinese government on the rest of the world. Given that none of his beliefs (or statements on Twitter) are backed by science, we’ll stick to Dr. Fauci on this one.