MSNBC’s Heilemann: GOP Critical of Fauci Because They See ‘Political Advantage’ of Coronavirus Pandemic

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” network national affairs analyst John Heilemann claimed the GOP was critical of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci because they saw a “political advantage” to keeping the coronavirus pandemic alive.

Heilemann suggested that the “death cult” GOP wanted public health officials to fail because it would help them in the 2022 midterm elections.

“They see political advantage in COVID continuing to be a problem because they know it hurts Joe Biden. They see the political advantage in COVID continuing because they know it hurts the economy,” Heilemann argued. “And if you look at arguments they’re making over and over again … the pattern is there that what they want is for public health and others to fail. You hear them … they were talking about how the Democrats are bringing this back from the midterms. Their sense of the politics of this is very Machiavellian and very dark. It’s not just they’re stupid. It’s that they think that if COVID goes on longer, it puts them in a better political position to win in 2022 and 2024. And they are probably right about that.”

He added, “I think it’s because if people follow Fauci, there is likelier a chance that COVID will go away. And if COVID goes away, it’s bad right now for Republicans. It’s just the math on this, the political math on this. Not hard to figure it out.”

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