The Real Anthony Fauci

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The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
The Real Anthony Fauci book cover.jpg
Author Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
LanguageEnglish
Subjects Anthony Fauci, HIV/AIDS in the United States, COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
Publisher Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date
November 16, 2021
Pages480
ISBN 978-1510766808

The Real Anthony Fauci is a 2021 book by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in which he attacks Anthony Fauci and his leadership of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In the book, Kennedy offers misinformation about Fauci's role during the HIV epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and HIV/AIDS denialism. [1] [2] The book was described as "controversial" by The Guardian and Publishers Weekly and a "conspiracy theory extravaganza" by Science-Based Medicine. [3]

Contents

Publication

The Real Anthony Fauci is a 480-page [4] book written by anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [5] [6] The book was published by Skyhorse Publishing [7] on November 16, 2021. [8] [4] It includes dustjacket blurbs by Tucker Carlson, Naomi Wolf, Oliver Stone, and Alan Dershowitz. [9]

Synopsis

The book accuses American public health leader Anthony Fauci of thirty years of abuse of power, during both the HIV epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. [10]

In the book, Kennedy accuses Fauci of pulling off "a historic coup d’état against Western democracy" [11] and promotes unproven COVID-19 treatments, including hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. [12] The author shares his opinion that COVID-19 vaccines are not sufficiently safety tested, [8] and likens vaccine mandates in the United States to living under the rule of Nazi Germany. [13]

The book accuses Fauci of deliberately neglecting to use hydroxychloroquine in order to increase the number of people who would die from COVID-19. [14] Studies show the drug is ineffective against COVID-19. The World Health Organization recommends it not be used for treating or for preventing COVID. [15] [16]

Kennedy also attacks the science of AIDS, spending over a hundred pages quoting HIV denialists such as Peter Duesberg who question the isolation of HIV and the etiology of AIDS. [17] Kennedy refers to the "orthodoxy that HIV alone causes AIDS", [4] : 348  and the "theology that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS", [4] : 351  as well as repeating the HIV/AIDS denialist claim that no one has isolated the HIV particle and "No one has been able to point to a study that demonstrates their hypothesis using accepted scientific proofs". [4] : 348  The scientific consensus is that the evidence showing HIV to be the cause of AIDS is conclusive. [18]

Critical reception

Copies of the book for sale in 2023 RFK Jr. book Dirt Cowboy Cafe 7 South Main Street downtown Hanover NH July 2023.jpg
Copies of the book for sale in 2023

The book has sold over one million copies [19] and remained a New York Times best seller for seventeen weeks. [9]

Noting Kennedy's concern about the safety of vaccines, the Associated Press pointed out the Food and Drug Administration's three phases of testing. [8] FactCheck.org says "One of Kennedy’s most common and pernicious false claims is that vaccines are not tested for safety in clinical trials," a claim it calls "overtly false." [20]

Both The Guardian [5] and Publishers Weekly described the book as controversial. [7] Newsweek described the book as "inflammatory". [21] Democratic party State Senator Will Brownsberger described the book as promoting a conspiracy. [22] [14] Medical doctor Theodore Dalrymple accused Kennedy of paranoia, and criticized his writing for containing contradictions, absurdity, falsehoods, needless exaggerations, and seeing "conspiracy everywhere" while lacking objectivity. Dalrymple's fact checking of five scientific papers cited in the book led him to conclude that Kennedy had interpreted each of them incorrectly and therefore misled readers. [23]

Molecular biologist and science communicator Dan Wilson devoted seven episodes of his Debunk the Funk video series to refuting claims in the book. [2] Wilson concludes that Kennedy is a "full blown" HIV/AIDS denialist who makes "disgusting, hateful, and wrong claims." [2] [24]

Infectious disease specialist Michael Osterholm says that Kennedy's anti-vaccine disinformation is effective “because it’s portrayed to the public with graphs and figures and what appears to be scientific data. He has perfected the art of illusion of fact.” Osterholm also adds "this is about people’s lives. And the consequences of promoting this kind of disinformation, as credible as it may seem, is simply dangerous.” [1]

In the National Review , journalist Matthew Scully wrote "With courtroom standards of proof — everything cited and sourced to government databases and to peer-reviewed publications — Kennedy details egregious wrongdoing and raises entirely legitimate questions about the workings of the federal health bureaucracy during Covid and long before." [25]

Film

In 2022, Kala Mandrake directed the 111-minute film The Real Anthony Fauci. The Radio Times categorized the film as "crime/detective | fantasy". [26] The film features Kennedy. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

Various fringe theories have arisen to speculate about purported alternative origins for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), with claims ranging from it being due to accidental exposure to supposedly purposeful acts. Several inquiries and investigations have been carried out as a result, and each of these theories has consequently been determined to be based on unfounded and/or false information. HIV has been shown to have evolved from or be closely related to the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in West Central Africa sometime in the early 20th century. HIV was discovered in the 1980s by the French scientist Luc Montagnier. Before the 1980s, HIV was an unknown deadly disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS denialism</span> False belief that HIV does not cause AIDS

HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that HIV exists but argue that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as they acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of sexual behavior, recreational drugs, malnutrition, poor sanitation, haemophilia, or the effects of the medications used to treat HIV infection (antiretrovirals).

<i>The Lancet</i> Peer-reviewed general medical journal

The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also one of the world's highest-impact academic journals. It was founded in England in 1823.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</span> American attorney and anti-vaccine activist (born 1954)

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist. He is the chairman and founder of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group, and an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election. A member of the Kennedy family, he is a son of U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy, and nephew of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and senator Ted Kennedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Fauci</span> American immunologist (born 1940)

Anthony Stephen Fauci is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical advisor to the president from 2021 to 2022. Fauci was one of the world's most frequently cited scientists across all scientific journals from 1983 to 2002. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for his work on the AIDS relief program PEPFAR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lara Logan</span> South African journalist and war correspondent

Lara Logan is a South African television and radio journalist and war correspondent. Logan's career began in South Africa with various news organizations in the 1990s. Her profile rose due to reporting around the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. She was hired as a correspondent for CBS News in 2002, eventually becoming Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Mercola</span> American alternative medicine proponent and purveyor of anti-vaccination misinformation

Joseph Michael Mercola is an American alternative medicine proponent, osteopathic physician, and Internet business personality. He markets largely unproven dietary supplements and medical devices. On his website, Mercola and colleagues advocate unproven and pseudoscientific alternative health notions including homeopathy and opposition to vaccination. These positions have received persistent criticism. Mercola is a member of several alternative medicine organizations as well as the political advocacy group Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which promotes scientifically discredited views about medicine and disease. He is the author of two books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert R. Redfield</span> American medical researcher and CDC director

Robert Ray Redfield Jr. is an American virologist who served as the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from 2018 to 2021.

Donald Gerard McNeil Jr. is an American journalist. He was a science and health reporter for The New York Times where he reported on epidemics, including HIV/AIDS and the COVID-19 pandemic. His reporting on COVID-19 earned him widespread recognition for being one of the earliest and most prominent voices covering the pandemic.

Big Pharma conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories which claim that pharmaceutical companies, especially large corporations, act in sinister and secretive ways, such as concealing effective treatments, or even intentionally causing and worsening a wide range of diseases, in pursuit of profitability, or for other nefarious reasons. Some theories have included the claim that natural alternative remedies to health problems are being suppressed, the claim that drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS are ineffective and harmful, the claim that a cure for all cancers has been discovered but hidden from the public, claims that COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective, and that alternative cures are available for COVID-19. In most cases the conspiracy theorists have blamed pharmaceutical companies' search for profits. A range of authors have shown these claims to be false, though some of these authors nevertheless maintain that other criticisms of the pharmaceutical industry are legitimate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bret Weinstein</span> American podcaster and author

Bret Samuel Weinstein is an American podcaster, author, and former professor of evolutionary biology. He served on the faculty of Evergreen State College from 2002 until 2017, when he resigned in the aftermath of a series of campus protests about racial equity at Evergreen, which brought Weinstein to national attention. Like his brother Eric Weinstein, he is considered part of the intellectual dark web. Weinstein has been criticized for making false statements about COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, and for spreading misinformation about HIV/AIDS.

Children's Health Defense (CHD) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit activist group mainly known for anti-vaccine disinformation, and which has been called one of the main sources of misinformation on vaccines. Founded under the name World Mercury Project in 2007, it is chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The group has been campaigning against various public health programs, such as vaccination and fluoridation of drinking water. The group has been contributing to vaccine hesitancy in the United States, encouraging citizens and legislators to support anti-vaccine regulations and legislation. Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. Its $15-million budget is funded through donations from individuals and affiliate marketing revenues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Del Bigtree</span> American television producer and anti-vaccination activist

Del Matthew Bigtree is an American television and film producer who is the CEO of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network. He produced the film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, based on the discredited opinions of Andrew Wakefield and alleges an unsubstantiated connection between vaccines and autism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Wheeler</span> American newscaster and conservative political commentator (born 1989)

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Plandemic is a trilogy of conspiracy theory films produced by Mikki Willis promoting misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. They feature Judy Mikovits, a discredited American researcher and prominent anti-vaccine activist. The first video, Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19, was released on May 4, 2020, under Willis' production company Elevate Films. The second film, Plandemic Indoctornation, which includes more interviewees, was released on August 18 by Brian Rose's distributor of conspiracy theory related films, London Real. Later on June 3, 2023, Plandemic 3: The Great Awakening was released on The Highwire, a website devoted to conspiracy theories run by anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 pandemic</span> Early experimental treatment efforts during the start of COVID-19 pandemic

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are anti-malarial medications also used against some auto-immune diseases. Chloroquine, along with hydroxychloroquine, was an early experimental treatment for COVID-19. Neither drug has been useful to prevent or treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Administration of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine to COVID-19 patients has been associated with increased mortality and adverse effects, such as QT prolongation. Researchers estimate that off-label use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitals during the first phase of the pandemic caused 17,000 deaths worldwide. The widespread administration of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine, either as monotherapies or in conjunction with azithromycin, has been associated with deleterious outcomes, including QT interval prolongation. As of 2024, scientific evidence does not substantiate the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, with or without the addition of azithromycin, in the therapeutic management of COVID-19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sayer Ji</span> Alternative medicine advocate and COVID misinformation promoter (born 1972)

Douglas Sayer Ji is the founder of alternative medicine portal GreenMedInfo, a website known for promoting various pseudoscientific publications. He was identified in 2020 as one of the largest promoters of COVID-19 misinformation on social media.

Stewart Peters is an American alt-right internet personality, white nationalist, political commentator, Holocaust denier, and conspiracy theorist. He is known for promoting COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories, as well as anti-LGBTQ, antisemitic, and white supremacist beliefs.

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References

  1. 1 2 Bergengruen, Vera (June 14, 2023). "Inside the Very Online Campaign of RFK Jr". Time . Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Wilson, Dan (2022). Reviewing "The Real Anthony Fauci". Debunk the Funk. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  3. ↑ Gorski, David (October 24, 2022). "The making of COVID-19 "contrarian" doctors". Science-Based Medicine . Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Real Anthony Fauci". Skyhorse Publishing. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Helmore, Edward (January 27, 2022). "Tony Lyons, the US publisher who picks up books 'cancelled' by other presses". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  6. ↑ Dorn, Sara (October 10, 2023). "RFK Jr. Launches Independent 2024 Run: Here Are All The Conspiracies He Promotes—From Vaccines To Mass Shootings". Forbes. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
  7. 1 2 Milliot, Jim (March 21, 2023). "Coalition Wants S&S to Not Distribute 'The Real AIDS Epidemic'". Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 Smith, Michelle R. (December 15, 2021). "How a Kennedy built an anti-vaccine juggernaut amid COVID-19". Associated Press . Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  9. 1 2 Sánchez, Lily; Robinson, Nathan J. (May 18, 2023). "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a Lying Crank Posing as a Progressive Alternative to Biden". Current Affairs. ISSN   2471-2647. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  10. ↑ "The bestselling books in Canada for the week ending Jan. 26, 2022". Toronto Star . January 26, 2022. Archived from the original on February 17, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  11. ↑ Kilgore, Ed (May 26, 2023). "Do RFK Jr.'s Supporters Really Know Who He Is?". Intelligencer . Archived from the original on May 27, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  12. ↑ Price, Michael L. (April 6, 2023). "Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. challenging Biden in 2024". CTV News . Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  13. ↑ Dovere, Edward-Isaac (April 16, 2023). "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can't count on family support to take on Biden | CNN Politics". CNN. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Fassler, Jeremy (June 18, 2022). "Simon & Schuster will distribute Jan. 6 report with foreword by conspiracy theorist". Mother Jones . Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  15. ↑ Jaramillo, Catalina; Yandell, Kate (August 11, 2023). "RFK Jr.'s COVID-19 Deceptions". FactCheck.org . Retrieved February 17, 2024.
  16. ↑ "FAQ Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Hydroxychloroquine". World Health Organization. March 28, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  17. ↑ Wilson, Dan (May 31, 2022). RFK Jr. Goes full HIV/AIDS denial in his terrible book about Anthony Fauci. Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023– via YouTube.
  18. ↑ Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Oversight of AIDS Activities (1988). Confronting AIDS: Update 1988. Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.17226/771. ISBN   978-0-309-03879-9. PMID   25032454 . Retrieved May 2, 2024. …the evidence that HIV causes AIDS is scientifically conclusive.
  19. ↑ Scully, Matthew (May 16, 2023). "The Real Robert F. Kennedy Jr". National Review . Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  20. ↑ McDonald, Jessica (August 9, 2023). "FactChecking Robert F. Kennedy Jr". FactCheck.org. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  21. ↑ McDade, Aaron (January 4, 2022). "Norman Mailer Anthology Finds New Publisher After Random House Declines". Newsweek. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  22. ↑ Brownsberger, Will (January 9, 2022). "'The Real Anthony Fauci'". willbrownsberger.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  23. ↑ Dalrymple, Theodore (Summer 2022). "What's up Doc?". Claremont Review of Books . Vol. 22, no. 3. pp. 68–69. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  24. ↑ Wilson, Dan (March 2, 2022). "Reviewing RFK Jr.'s bad book about Fauci - Introduction". Event occurs at 17:18. Retrieved September 28, 2023– via YouTube.
  25. ↑ Scully, Matthew (May 16, 2023). "The Real Robert F. Kennedy Jr". National Review. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  26. ↑ "The Real Anthony Fauci (2022)". Radio Times . Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  27. ↑ "The Real Anthony Fauci (2022)". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
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