“Attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science. … So if you are trying to, you know, get at me as a public health official and scientist, you’re really attacking not only Dr. Anthony Fauci, you’re attacking science … You have to be asleep not to see that.” — National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, “Meet the Press,” June 9, 2021

It is troubling enough that Dr. Anthony Fauci, our country’s leading public health technocrat and the fiat leader of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the world’s principal funder of scientific research — would make such a narcissistic and scientifically absurd statement.

The more serious concern is that the majority of my political party — the Democrats — and the mainstream media generally accept Fauci’s assertion as gospel.

Journalists — even science journalists — act as if they believe any pronouncement by Fauci (or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or World Health Organization) should mark the end of scientific inquiry.

My latest book, “A Letter to Liberals — Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals,” emerged from a congenial and ongoing conversation during the COVID-19 pandemic between myself and my longtime friend and former law partner, John Morgan, a lifelong champion of the Democratic Party and liberal values.