Knowles: When I'm telling you wear a mask,
keep social distancing, avoid crowds, wash your hands,
do things outdoors more than indoors,
there's nothing political about that.
That's a public health message that we know works.
Dr. Fauci demonstrated his grip on church and state
last March when he told everyone to stop wearing masks.
Do you remember this?
Because I have the quote.
I don't want to be taken off of YouTube.
I have the quote here from Dr. Fauci.
He says, "There's no reason to be walking
around with a mask.
When you're in the middle of an outbreak,
wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better.
It might even block a droplet,
but it is not providing the perfect protection
that people think it is."
[audience laughter]
But Dr. Fauci did not just leave it there.
He didn't just say that the masks were ineffective.
He actually went further.
"There are unintended consequences.
People keep fiddling with the mask
and they keep touching their face."
According Dr. Fauci, not only did the masks not help,
they actually actively harmed the public health.
Then a few weeks later, everything changed.
Do you remember this?
Dr. Fauci decided that not only are masks effective
at slowing the spread, actually they are essential.
He insisted on quote, universal wearing of masks.
So what changed?
Was it the science that changed?
The science?
No, it was not the science.
Even Dr. Fauci admitted that. He said, all right,
one more time.
"Back then there was the critical issue to save masks
for the people who really needed them
because it was felt,"
it was felt, not I felt.
"It was felt by some that there was shortage of masks."
In other words, Dr. Fauci believed
that the masks would protect people,
but he considered some people
more deserving of the masks than other people.
So he lied to the public
and told them that the masks would not protect anybody
so that there would be more masks leftover
for his fellow public health workers.
The decision, as he admitted his own words,
was not primarily scientific.
The decision was primarily political,
but Dr. Fauci couldn't quite admit that.
During an interview on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah,
you missed it? So did everybody else.
Dr. Fauci was asked about this flip
and he said, I'm not going to do the Fauci voice.
Anyway, I'll get a sore throat if I keep doing it.
All right, one more time.
He says, [audience laughter]
He says, "For goodness sakes,
I've never had a political ideology that I've made public.
I'm really just talking to you about public health.
When I'm telling you wear a mask,
keep social distancing, avoid crowds, wash your hands,
do things outdoors more than indoors,
there's nothing political about that.
That's a public health message that we know works."
Now, I will give Dr. Fauci the benefit of the doubt
and I will chalk this ridiculous statement up to ignorance,
but he actually claimed that his decision to reorder the way
that 330 million people live, work, relax, travel,
walk out the front door,
that his decision to mandate how people
would open their businesses
or not open their businesses was not political.
Shut down the economy, curtail constitutional rights,
close churches, but don't close marijuana dispensaries,
those are essential.
All of that was not political according to Dr. Fauci,
because Dr. Fauci didn't care about politics you see,
he just cares about what works.