January 23, 2021

Fauci Is Free and Telling It Like It Is

Just look at how happy he is!

Al Drago/ZUMA

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, who for nearly a year was forced to endure a close-up look at Donald Trump’s catastrophic coronavirus response, is finally free and barely containing his well-earned excitement over the arrival of the Biden administration, and with it, the return of science at the podium and his newfound freedom to share public health advice without restrictions.

But his biggest joy in all of this might be finally getting to appear on Rachel Maddow. Just look at how happy our nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases looked during a segment on Friday night.

Refreshed and relieved, Fauci also didn’t mince words about the Trump administration’s efforts to thwart basic tenants of transparency and bar him from certain media appearances, namely Maddow’s MSNBC show. “‘Why would you wanna go on Rachel Maddow’s show?'” Fauci said, recalling a conversation with the Trump White House. “Well, because I like her and she’s really good!” 

In the months ahead, as the country fights the pandemic and struggles to finally install a federal vaccination program, here’s to hoping we see more of Fauci unleashed.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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