At one time, it would have been difficult to imagine a sitting president politicizing a deadly virus that killed more than a million Americans, telling his supporters that claims of the virus’s seriousness were “a hoax.” It was that kind of rhetoric, however, spouted throughout 2020 by Donald Trump and his cultists that spread lies and disinformation and led to death threats against the nation’s top medical scientists.
Using an anonymous email account based in Switzerland, Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr. threatened to kill Dr. Anthony Fauci or members of his family, the U.S. Department of Justice said. https://t.co/pIwsLEROxb
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 5, 2022
Dr. Anthony Fauci received threats to himself and his family during the COVID-19 pandemic’s worst periods, including those from West Virginia native Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr. Connally was proven in court to have created an anonymous email account in Switzerland to send the death threats. Some of those threats included language promising that Fauci and his family members would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire” and that they would be “hunted, captured, tortured and killed.”
According to USA Today:
‘U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Connally to 37 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Connally most recently lived in Snowshoe, West Virginia. He was arrested last summer, and pleaded guilty in May to making threats against a federal official.’
In addition to the rhetoric by Trump himself, his cultists have piled on, making a competition of their idiocy to stir up the crazies in the GOP. Embarrassing representatives like Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have done their part to incite the violence.
Fauci thinks he's just going to retire and move on with his life.
Not on my watch. He belongs in jail.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) July 18, 2022
Whether Fauci retires or not, he still must be investigated and held responsible for his role in Covid-19.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 18, 2022
Dr. Fauci, who has served as a chief medical advisor and was involved in the advances in treatment for HIV, says that kind of chatter doesn’t concern him.
In interviews, Fauci has responded to the criticism by saying:
‘They’re going to try and come after me, anyway. I mean, probably less so if I’m not in the job. I don’t make that a consideration in my career decision.’
Twitter agreed with Connally’s harsh sentence but felt it could be applied a little more consistently with other recent domestic terrorists, including those who made horrifying threats against Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Read some of their comments below:
