By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College
With job losses in July, and affordability concerns, several members of Congress are so mad that they’re going after Dr. Anthony Fauci over COVID-19. Their strategy seems to be to try and get him to perjure himself. When he pleaded the 5th Amendment, they voted to hold him in contempt of Congress. I look at the data, and the facts, in the case of COVID-19.
As a health adviser to President Trump, Dr. Fauci made some health recommendations. Even though he held no dictatorial powers, and states were in charge of health policy, some are blaming him for all of the deaths for some reason.
While Fauci had the audacity to suggest we wear masks and engage in social distancing, his opponents made a lot of different claims. Some said…and still say…that COVID-19 wasn’t real (and somehow blame Fauci for it…go figure). Others said it would go away by Easter, or fade into the mist (it didn’t). We had critics say that if we just took bleach, anti-malaria drugs, or horse-dewormers, that it would solve the problem.
I ran the numbers, looking at states that voted for Donald Trump in 2020, using COVID-19 death rates from Statista (it’s here, if you want to check my numbers: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/?srsltid=AfmBOopVPnRPnvTEqbqGDm3C0nOhXkkLw2Jbl255TnLp2AbdeNCDMxTg).
I compared them to those that voted for Biden in 2020. States that voted for Trump had an average death rate of 357.08, versus only 301.8889 deaths for the Biden states. If you compare Trump states in 2024 to those that voted for Kamala Harris (plus DC and Puerto Rico), the gap is even bigger. Trump states average a COVID-19 death rate of 363.4516 to a COVID-19 death rate of 276.7143 for the places that voted for Harris. And yes, both comparisons are statistically significant in their differences.
That data is reinforced by Bioinformatics CRO, which shows states ranked by age adjusted COVID deaths. Red states make up most of those at the top as well, while most of those at the bottom vote blue.
I’ve also seen critics hyping the term “gain of function research” and blaming Dr. Fauci for it. Well, guess what I found. I found that President Barack Obama’s Administration’s moratorium on “gain of function studies.” That moratorium was issued on October 17, 2014. “[T]he U.S. Government will institute a pause on funding for any new studies that include certain gain-of-function experiments involving influenza, SARS, and MERS viruses. Specifically, the funding pause will apply to gain-of-function research projects that may be reasonably anticipated to confer attributes to influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses such that the virus would have enhanced pathogenicity and/or transmissibility in mammals via the respiratory route.” It’s all here, if you don’t believe me: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/10/17/doing-diligence-assess-risks-and-benefits-life-sciences-gain-function-research
During Trump’s first term, that policy was rescinded by the NIH on December 19, 2017. I wonder why those Senate critics of Dr. Fauci forgot to bring up that important detail in their marathon hearings. That was an important fact to overlook if gain of function is actually responsible, as they claim.
Meanwhile, as our Administration promises to boost A.I. in so many things, we learned that artificial intelligence is being used to create viruses that are not found in nature, according to the BBC. I’d rather my Senators quickly take on that concern, instead of beating up on Dr. Fauci.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu or on “X” at @johntures2. His first book “Branded” a thriller novel where corporate greed, media manipulation and academic intrigue collide in a deadly game of product placement, has been published by the Huntsville Independent Press (https://www.huntsvilleindependent.com/product-page/branded). His second novel, “Independent Thought,” about a third-party candidacy that brings America to its knees, is coming out later this summer with HIP (https://www.huntsvilleindependent.com/).
Aug., 11, 2026