Tony's Diary Package — page 787

a Peter J. Hotez Updated Jun. 21, 2021 4:43AM ET / Published Jun. 21, 2021 3:35AM ET Alex Wong/Getty Being a scientist was not exactly fun during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in America. But somehow, even as cases and deaths are way down in the United States, the attacks on us are worse than ever. Take Anthony Fauci, a punching bag for the far right since the earliest days of the outbreak. The "Fire Fauci Act," a twisted piece of legislation first introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in April, gained additional Republican support this past week, now reaching at least a dozen House members. That leaders of the GOP would go out of their way to reduce Dr. Fauci's salary to zero and ultimately force his retirement must be examined for what it really is. This is no simple beef with someone who was frequently targeted by the administration and its allies under Donald Trump. It is, instead, a piece of a much larger and systematic anti-science project on the far right, one that is increasingly hard to separate from the Stop the Steal myth powering the right-wing fringe. CNN: 'Let me give you a flash': Hear Dr. Fauci fire back at critics https://cnn.it/35FZOy9 Washington Post