Despite pledging not to comment, Dr. Anthony Fauci has replied to Elon Musk’s latest tirade.
What did Musk have to say?
Musk sparked a blaze of controversy over the weekend after he simultaneously slammed gender pronouns and Dr. Fauci.
“Prosecute/Fauci are my pronouns,” Musk tweeted on Sunday.
Musk’s remark was widely slammed by the White House.
“They’re disgusting, and they’re disconnected from reality,” White House press sec. Karine Jean-Pierre stated Monday. “These remarks are really hazardous and should be addressed.”
What was Dr. Fauci’s reaction?
In an interview with David Axelrod on his show, Fauci blasted Musk for inciting a “cesspool of interaction.”
“I don’t say anything to him. I do not pay attention to him because he’s just a distraction,” Fauci informed Axelrod. “And, to be honest, if you get dragged into that muck of engagement, it’s — there’s no value given to that. It makes no difference.”
However, in an interview with CNN host Erin Burnett, Axelrod explained that Fauci is willing to blame the deterioration of political discourse on social media – a medium in which Musk has a hand.
“He stated that there has been a degradation in political dialogue. And he puts a lot of the fault on social media,” Axelrod elaborated.
“And, of course, he’s been in the thick of it all. He was targeted throughout the pandemic for the decision-making and the advice he gave to policymakers about how to deal with the pandemic, and he had serious security threats that demanded round-the-clock security, which he asserts in this podcast will have to keep going after he exits his post at the the end of the month,” he elaborated.
In an interview with Nature, Fauci reinforced his point.
“I don’t pay any attention to that, and I don’t feel compelled to answer,” he told the publication. “I don’t use Twitter. I do not have a Twitter profile. A lot of that is just disinformation, and I’m not going to waste my time worrying about it.”
Nonetheless, Fauci stated that he feels Musk’s critique highlights the safety risk he poses.
“Of course, it’s in jeopardy,” he remarked of his own safety. “That’s why I always have armed federal officers with me. He incites a lot of rage in individuals who have no understanding why they are enraged — they are enraged because someone like him is tweeting about it.”
