Conservatives are once again in the crosshairs of Hollywood outrage, this time for the supposed sin of being insufficiently deferential to Dr.
Anthony Fauci, prompting singer and actress Barbra Streisand to publicly scold Republicans for daring to question the man who helped drive some of the most sweeping government restrictions in modern American history.
As reported by RedState, Streisand rushed to Faucis defense after the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted along party lines to hold him in contempt of Congress, denouncing Republican efforts at oversight as nothing more than a partisan vendetta. Posting on the left-leaning social media platform Bluesky, she insisted that recent attempts by Republicans to press Fauci on his COVID-era decisions amount to a witch hunt, and complained that conservatives fail to appreciate that he was a voice of reason.
In a longer statement, Streisand declared, Dr. Anthony Fauci has been subjected to a disgraceful witch hunt by Senate Republicans. Dr Fauci is an American hero... The GOP is attempting to rewrite the history of the pandemic. She went on to praise his broader career, asserting, He was instrumental during the AIDS crisis to stop disinformation and pushed to discover the vaccine to allow AIDS patients to live with the virus.
Streisand also invoked the toll of the coronavirus outbreak to bolster her defense of Faucis record and the aggressive public-health regime he championed. Amid the horrors of the Covid pandemic which killed one million Americans, Dr Fauci was a voice of reason and helped speed the development of the vaccine to prevent hospitalization, she wrote, before repeating her charge that The GOP is attempting to rewrite the history of the pandemic.
Her post drew enthusiastic agreement from like-minded Bluesky users who echoed her disdain for conservatives and her reverence for Fauci. I dont quite understand why there are people who dont follow the science, wrote user HowardIan328, treating Faucis pronouncements as synonymous with scientific truth rather than policy preferences open to scrutiny.
Another user, Darbrina, personalized the attack by targeting Senator Rand Paul, one of Faucis most persistent critics in Congress. Rand(y) Paul is jealous of Fauci...plain and simple. Fauci is everything the Rand(y) isn't. Fauci is a decent, educated man who has multiple degrees, accolades and achievements, and has actually benefited mankind, unlike the pathetic Paul who has only done evil, she claimed, dismissing legitimate oversight as petty resentment.
User Gato918 went even further, professing a kind of lifelong loyalty to the embattled bureaucrat. I've trusted Dr. Fauci since 1972, that's when I began my medical career. I will continue trusting him forever ... the commenter wrote, underscoring the quasi-religious devotion many on the left still display toward the former public-health official despite mounting questions about his record.
Streisands indignation is particularly striking given her long history of attacking President Donald Trump and his supporters with impunity. She spent his first term publicly railing against him, even recording an entire anti-Trump album, and during the 2024 campaign she accused him of borrowing from the fascist playbook and proclaimed that he should be nowhere near the Presidency.
Her sudden sensitivity to alleged political witch hunts therefore rings hollow to many on the right, who recall years of relentless investigations and smears directed at President Trump and his voters. When Hollywood liberals deploy that phrase, it seems, it is only when their own ideological allies face basic accountability.
Compounding the irony are questions surrounding Streisands own conduct during the COVID years, when ordinary Americans saw their businesses shuttered while well-connected entities benefited from taxpayer-backed relief. Her production company, Barwood Films, reportedly received roughly $200,000 in PPP loans in 2020 and 2021loans that were later forgiven, effectively turning them into a subsidy.
Reports indicated that among those on Barwoods payroll was the groundskeeper at Streisands expansive Malibu estate, though a spokesman denied that PPP funds were actually used to pay him. For many conservatives, that episode epitomizes the double standard of an elite class that lectures the public on science and sacrifice while enjoying the protections and perks of a system they helped shape.
Against that backdrop, Streisands charge that Republicans are attempting to rewrite the history of the pandemic looks less like a defense of truth and more like an effort to shield favored officials from hard questions about lockdowns, school closures, and shifting narratives on masks and vaccines. Perhaps, as some on the right suggest, she would be better served returning to singing about memories rather than trying to overwrite the publics recollection of what they lived through, because Americans remember exactly what happened and are not obliged to accept Hollywoods script.
Login