Amid the release of disparaging diary entries from former COVID Czar Anthony Fauci, Gov. Ron DeSantis has been responding to criticisms on social media from the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the pandemic.
Among other things, Fauci called DeSantis a “complete disgrace” for reopening schools during the pandemic and for ignoring advice on masks and restrictions, contrary to federal guidance.
During remarks to the Florida Sheriffs Association, DeSantis recounted the battles with the doctor over the virus, drawing parallels between Fauci’s pandemic approach and the sometimes tough measures sheriffs have to take to maintain law and order.
“And you can talk about the stuff we’ve done on law and order. I can talk to you about budget, all the success we’ve had there, the economy. None of that happens had we let this state descend into some type of Faucian dystopia where people’s freedoms were curtailed, and their livelihoods were destroyed,” DeSantis said Tuesday.
“And so you go back to those days when Fauci was on TV every day in 2020, some of the bleakest days we’ve seen in this country for how law enforcement was being treated. We had riots in many cities. We had attacks on law enforcement happening frequently and during that time. And there were a lot of people that were going with the flow. There were a lot of people that thought that that was cool and chic to do all that stuff. Florida stood strong. We stood for what was right, but that’s really one of the tests of leadership,” DeSantis added.
He went on to say that “leadership is about being willing to pay those costs … about being willing to do what’s right in the face of a lot of adversity.”
DeSantis talked about police in other jurisdictions being forced to enforce COVID restrictions, which he said “perverts law enforcement” and makes it do things it wasn’t intended to.
DeSantis has had plenty to say about Fauci over the years.
In the wake of Joe Biden’s pardon of Anthony Fauci, DeSantis thought Attorney General James Uthmeier could prosecute the doctor for pandemic misdeeds.
As a presidential candidate running against incoming President Donald Trump, DeSantis accused his rival of being soft on Fauci.
During a 2023 interview on the Steve Deace Show, the Florida Governor lampooned the President’s disavowal of a late-term presidential commendation he granted, which he called “pathetic … drivel.”
“Of course he did give Fauci a presidential commendation his last day in office. Megyn Kelly asked him about it,” DeSantis said. “What was that? Was that the immaculate commendation that just happened to happen?”
Fauci was a frequent refrain for DeSantis during his insurgent challenge to Trump.
“I was born and raised in Florida. And while I’ve always loved the state, we didn’t have the same type of pride growing up that, say, people in Texas have about Texas. And yet in the last few years, particularly since I’ve been Governor, we’ve developed that pride and I think a lot of it is rooted in the fact that we told people like Fauci to take a hike during COVID,” DeSantis told Russell Brand.
Though the Never Back Down super PAC was not legally allowed to coordinate with DeSantis’ campaign, it helped to reinforce this messaging. An ad called “Steel” was predicated on a central image: a White man in a hard hat watching Trump and Fauci discuss COVID mitigation strategies.
Fauci was also a recurrent motif during DeSantis’ re-election campaign, with merchandise such as “Freedom over Fauci flip-flops” marketed to the faithful in 2022.
“Fauci doesn’t care about doing what’s right or using even basic common sense. He’s too caught up in TV interviews, magazine covers and the adulation and acceptance from elitists that he’s likely craved his entire life,” the Governor wrote in an email last year entitled “Permanent Faucism.”
Fauci served as a punching bag during more than one surge of COVID, and the Governor’s team found a merchandise opportunity there as well. When the delta variant strained hospital capacity in Florida, DeSantis’ political committee released merchandise lampooning Fauci, including “Don’t Fauci My Florida” beer koozies and T-shirts.
He also took issue with Fauci’s AIDS policy recommendations decades ago, from a long-form 1983 interview with Fauci where he said the “full extent of transmissibility” of the disease was not known.
“We are not going to be like Fauci in the ’80s, claiming that families could get AIDS by sitting and watching TV together,” DeSantis said about monkeypox in 2022.
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