Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn became the Twitter villain du jour after she attempted to drag Dr. Anthony Fauci for writing a book about his experience as the country's foremost pandemic expert.
Instead, Blackburn herself was the one who got dragged, after she posted a tone-deaf tweet, seen below, that made insinuations of callousness and incompetence about Fauci for his choice to pen the upcoming tome.
While Americans suffered, Fauci wrote a book.— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@Sen. Marsha Blackburn) 1623102269
The tweet is ridiculous on its face, especially coming from Blackburn, a die-hard Trump supporter who has worked diligently to undermine her constituents' access to healthcare and has repeatedly voted against pandemic relief bills.
Blackburn's main work to fight the pandemic has been a sustained effort to place blame for the pandemic on China. Those efforts include legislation, such as a bill she and fellow Republican Senators Daines and McSally introduced that would allow U.S. citizens to sue China for its role in the pandemic.
And that's all before we get to the fact that Blackburn herself wrote a book last year and spent much of the fall making the rounds on talkshows promoting it.
But even setting that aside, Fauci's writing project, called Expect the Unexpected: Ten Lessons on Truth, Service, and the Way Forward, is hardly the type of undertaking that would detract from his work as a doctor and scientist. It's a scant 80 pages long, the bulk of which is composed of reprints of interviews Fauci has given over his 34-year tenure as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
And the project isn't even a money-making enterprise. National Geographic Books, for whom Fauci wrote the short tome confirmed in a statement Fauci isn't even being paid any royalties for the book.
In short, the whole thing is a fake controversy manufactured by Blackburn.
Twitter wasn't about to let her get away with it.
While Americans died, Marsha made sure Tennesseans didn\u2019t have healthcare— Brienne of Snark\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Brienne of Snark\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1623107491
You should consider reading one.— Steve Hofstetter (@Steve Hofstetter) 1623108638
And you chose to double down on misinformation that would kill even more Americans. Nothing so benign as writing a book— Dawn Got Vaccinated! (@Dawn Got Vaccinated!) 1623102952
While Americans suffered, Trump and Jared Kushner made sure they died— Singh, MD \ud83c\udf0a (@Singh, MD \ud83c\udf0a) 1623107391
While Americans suffered you tried to overturn an election.— Fred Wellman (@Fred Wellman) 1623112870
While Americans suffered, Republicans continued to deny the seriousness of the COVID pandemic and vote against financial relief.— Leia (@Leia) 1623112843
Seriously Marsha?\nWhile Americans suffered, Sen. Marsha Blackburn ALSO wrote a book, and even went on The View to promote it in Oct 2020 pic.twitter.com/GSptE2U16j— BebopSpaceCowgirl \ud83c\udf08\ud83d\udc96\ud83d\udc9a\u2764\ufe0f\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9c (@BebopSpaceCowgirl \ud83c\udf08\ud83d\udc96\ud83d\udc9a\u2764\ufe0f\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9c) 1623121139
It's pretty stunning how productive that guy is! He managed a pandemic, did daily teevee conferences next to an insanely tyrannical moron boss, and wrote a book -- at the same time!\nHeroic.\nAnd nice of you to notice.— Resolve.Action.Love (@Resolve.Action.Love) 1623114506
While Americans suffered, Marsha Blackburn lied for a sad racist clown. And still does.— Mr. Newberger (@Mr. Newberger) 1623113907
While Americans suffered, Marsha and the GQP went on vacation rather than hold a vote on the stimulus plan.— \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Lance \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Resistance + Kindness = Change (@\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Lance \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Resistance + Kindness = Change) 1623130361
For her part, Blackburn responded to the criticism of her tweet by doubling down with a tweeted video in which she spread conspiracy theories about Chinese scientists intentionally releasing the virus onto the public and accused Mark Zuckerberg of covering it up.
@winnieharlow/Instagram
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
