Why MAGA Is So Obsessed With Fauci

Half a dozen years ago, Anthony Fauci was as popular as he would ever be. A respected physician and researcher for decades, he became in 2020 the public face of the pandemic response—calm, confident, and reassuring, a symbol of scientific authority. And the country turned him into a folk hero. He was on the cover of Time, named one of People magazine’s People of the Year, and played by Brad Pitt on Saturday Night Live. Vendors sold Fauci votive candles and bobbleheads. In April of that year, Kim Kardashian convened three dozen movie stars and athletes on a private video call so he could talk to them about masks and crowds—an hour of his time, he later explained, to reach millions of their fans.