Anthony Fauci is proof that only the good die young.

At 82 he is older than President Biden or Mitch McConnell, but he moves around and thinks as clearly as a man 20 years younger. He is smart, glib, telegenic, and an accomplished con man.

Well, a con man may be a bit harsh. Perhaps I should say politician, although he is a better and smoother liar than most politicians because he can draw on the reserve of credibility that comes from wearing a white coat and claiming the mantle of science.

As Jazz wrote yesterday, Fauci is back on the COVIDmania tour, pushing his debunked narrative that the policies he pushed during the height of the pandemic will really work this time, even though they proved completely worthless in stopping the spread of COVID and absolutely disastrous to the economic and social health of the country.

He made the mistake of showing up on the normally friendly CNN to promote hysteria and in particular mask mandates yet again, and this time he got some serious pushback from Michael Smerconish.

It’s about time.

Shocking to see this take down of masks on CNN, wow. pic.twitter.com/1Yrb5lSEvp

— Eli Klein (@TheEliKlein) September 3, 2023

At issue was the Cochrane Review meta-analysis of mask studies, which conclusively demonstrated that population-level mask mandates don’t work to slow or stop the spread of COVID (or the flu). This is as true for N95 masks as with the absurd surgical masks, or the even more absurd cloth masks that the CDC and Fauci pretended could do anything but make things even worse.

As you likely know, I have written about the Cochrane analysis several times in the past, and the results were utterly unsurprising to me. It is a matter of simple logic that mask mandates are pointless, even if you could make masks that were theoretically effective. It has to do with the way human beings use masks, and the Cochrane analysis proved conclusively that even theoretically effective masks such as N95s prove useless in the real world.

Don’t worry about the particulars, unless you want to; the data speaks for itself. Mask mandates don’t work.

Fauci, interestingly, didn’t deride the Cochrane Review study and appeared to concede the validity of the study (in this one case–he still is arguing that mask mandates are a good idea even though he conceded they don’t work to Smerconish). Fauci’s modified limited hangout is that masks may not work on a population level, but they can be effective on an individual level.

Fauci has some logic on his side if by that he means that an N95 mask used as directed, disposed of immediately after use and not reused, accompanied by all the proper disinfection of exposed skin immediately after leaving the vicinity of the virus…etc. can reduce the likelihood that this particular individual gets infected, then he is right.

But so what? Even doctors don’t do that in real-world settings–that is basically requiring everybody to live in a level 3 biohazard lab all the time. Doesn’t happen. Even in hospitals with doctors dealing with the virus constantly. Cochrane demonstrated that conclusively, so what is the point of mandating masks if they don’t work in the real world?

The problem for Fauci and the COVID con-men is that they cannot admit that they put everybody through hell and did so much damage for no reason. They would rather keep putting us through hell than admit they were wrong.

Some of these con artists do it to defend “science,” believing as the authors of the Proximal Origin paper that admitting the truth undermines faith in science and has bad political consequences; others do it for their own egos. Yet others because it is a method of exerting control over others.

At some level it doesn’t matter why they choose to lie; all that matters is that they are liars. At least for the purpose of deciding whether to listen to them about anything.

It’s not just masks, of course. They are lying about almost everything COVID-related, particularly the vaccines. Pushing COVID-19 vaccines for young and healthy people is so irresponsible that in a just world, each of these people should be stripped of their medical licenses and their advanced degrees. People will die–I mean that literally–due to this advice. More people by far than will be saved.

If I had my druthers every single one of these public health liars would be fired and ostracized. But the Establishment takes care of its own.

Will Fauci be held accountable? Of course not. He is lionized as a hero, and the Establishment will prop him up even when his glibness cannot.

Still, good on Smerconish for getting if not a pound of flesh, at least a few ounces from Saint Anthony of Fauci.