Has anyone else noticed a strange lacuna in the COVID-19 media Force? As though a single voice with a million appearances on national television has suddenly gone silent? Actually, yes, someone has, but before we get there, let’s take a quick peek at the media page for Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as of this morning.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Fauci appeared to be very busy indeed. On February 17, fifteen days ago, Fauci made three national-TV appearances — ABC, PBS, and finally on CNN in which the NIAID director opined that lifting school masking mandates was “risky.” That took place at the same moment in which Democrat executives like Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer began calling for an end to the requirement to mask children, who were at very low risk for the disease, in schools that never were shown to be vectors of transmission in the first place. To call that timing “inconvenient” is an exercise in understatement.

And then … nothing. Did Fauci take a long vacation? Only from the spotlight, Jordan Schachtel pointed out yesterday. Fauci’s still making appearances, but suddenly he’s only making them on local news shows and podcasts (via Ed Driscoll):

If you’re looking for the infamous Dr Anthony Fauci, you might want to check your local television stations, or some random YouTube channels, because the man has seemingly joined the primetime cable milk carton. …

I had to dig pretty deep to find some of his recent media appearances, but I didn’t want to let you all down, so I persevered through the interwebs to find evidence of Fauci’s existence.

He recently appeared on an online streaming show called “Woke AF” (As F**K), in which he expressed his disdain for the unvaccinated. … I also found a recent Fauci appearance on a D.C. local TV channel. In it, Fauci demands “money now” for his government department, seemingly trying to shake down lawmakers for his pet projects.

Why, it’s as if Joe Biden and his administration suddenly found Fauci’s narratives inconvenient, after a year of using Fauci to ineffectively flog its COVID-19 messaging. Whatever could have changed their minds about using Fauci as the White House’s top COVID-19 surrogate?

Schachtel thinks that the White House finally read that memo from Democratic pollster Impact Research:

Here’s an internal memo from a Democrat polling firm that’s circulating through their party as they attempt to shift away from two years of arbitrary and capricious mandates, lockdowns, and closures. “Declare victory over COVID and move on.” I refuse to allow them to do so. pic.twitter.com/ut2V2fJdRR

— Chris Stigall (@ChrisStigall) February 25, 2022

Oddly, Joe Biden didn’t fully incorporate that advice into his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, even with the revolt among Democrat mayors and governors last month over mask-mandate guidelines at the CDC. That revolt may have more to do with Fauci’s sudden absence on national television than the campaign memo did. One has to imagine that people like Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer didn’t appreciate Fauci’s attempts to criticize their efforts to make amends with angry votes in rolling back mask mandates, and likely made those feelings known at the White House.

The wonder of this, of course, is why Fauci wasn’t sidelined months ago. Whether or not one agrees with his messaging, it became clear that Fauci was too much of a controversy lightning rod to sell it regardless. Using Fauci to push for vaccinations and masks would be akin to getting Jimmy Carter as one’s official spokesperson for economic policy. (Or foreign policy, for that matter.) His credibility had been repeatedly tarnished, especially with the so-called “noble lie” on masking which has followed Fauci through the entire pandemic. Why not find another voice to raise up and have Fauci concentrate on running NIAID instead?

It appears that the White House belatedly figured that out, or that Democrat governors and mayors figured it out for them. Maybe Fauci will come back, if not soon then at the next variant breakout, assuming one emerges. The Biden administration would still be better advised to find a new voice with more credibility for its COVID-19 task force … and it better not be Rochelle Walensky either.

By the way … why aren’t the media outlets that provided us 24/7 Faucivision asking where their narrative star has gone?