I haven’t seen the same thing some of my fellow conservatives have in video of the latest heated exchange between Republican Senator Rand Paul and top health bureaucrat Anthony Fauci.  Paul made some good points, but he didn’t leave Fauci quivering in guilt and fear, as some would have it.  Actually, it would have been better for him and for the country if he had.

Instead, with a hint of a smirk, Fauci launched his own political counterattack, claiming Paul was only going after him to help his own fundraising.

An interesting discussion could be had about the nature of politics and how politicians simultaneously generate controversy and represent the interest of constituents.  (If Americans are willing to pay money to have Paul go after Fauci, that’s a pretty powerful statement that the senator is, indeed, representing them.)  But that’s a secondary, meta debate.

Paul was accusing Fauci of abusing his position as a public health official to engage in efforts to discredit alternative scientific perspectives.  Fauci responded to this accusation by engaging in exactly the bare-knuckle politics Paul was accusing him of.  That action should go on the list of reasons Fauci ought to lose his job.