The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
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CNN melts down after MAGA pundit calls Fauci a ‘sociopath’ … the guy ‘should be in a mental institution!’

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A CNN panel erupted after former Trump White House aide Caroline Sunshine called Dr. Anthony Fauci a “textbook sociopath” who belongs in a mental institution—but the televised diagnosis threatened to obscure the far more consequential developments surrounding the former COVID adviser.

Sen. Rand Paul is referring Fauci to the Justice Department after the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted along party lines Thursday to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Republican investigators have also obtained a copy of Fauci’s government-issued pandemic-era cellphone, while the attorneys general of Florida, Louisiana and West Virginia have subpoenaed records concerning his finances, pharmaceutical contacts and COVID guidance.

The fireworks began Thursday on “CNN NewsNight” as panelists debated Fauci’s newly released diaries, his pandemic record and the Republican investigation.

Liberal author Leigh McGowan argued that Fauci was being scapegoated for decisions made by President Donald Trump and other elected officials.

“He didn’t shut down the country, Trump chose to. He didn’t shut down the schools. Trump did. He didn’t mandate masks. Trump did.”

McGowan called the renewed scrutiny “a lawless political stunt” targeting a longtime public servant.

Sunshine responded by launching the conversation directly through the emergency-room doors.

“Forget about prosecuting him, the guy should be in a mental institution!”

She continued:

“He’s a textbook sociopath. I mean, DSM-5-level sociopath running our pandemic response.”

Sunshine cited what she described as low empathy, narcissism and a willingness to inflict pain on innocent people.

McGowan and host Abby Phillip reacted with disbelief.

“What are you talking about?” Phillip asked.


The host pressed Sunshine on whether enjoying favorable press was sufficient grounds for institutionalization.

“Are you suggesting that he should be in a mental institution for having an ego?”

Phillip noted that egotism “would characterize just about every single person in Washington.” On that narrow point, CNN achieved a rare bipartisan medical breakthrough.

Sunshine based her attack partly on Fauci’s newly released pandemic diaries, which contain extensive references to his media appearances, favorable coverage and celebrity status.

One particularly revealing entry declared:

“Today I am the most famous and talked-about person in the country.”

The diaries show Fauci tracking magazine covers, television appearances, newspaper profiles and praise from prominent figures while COVID deaths mounted and government restrictions devastated businesses, schools and family life.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was reportedly mentioned more than 200 times. Former Trump COVID adviser Dr. Scott Atlas said Fauci mentioned him more than 60 times, often expressing alarm over Atlas’ opposition to lockdowns and school closures.

The material paints an unflattering portrait of a government official deeply invested in his public image. But vanity is not a psychiatric commitment standard, and it is not a federal crime.

Washington would become a ghost town if excessive interest in one’s press clippings qualified a person for involuntary hospitalization. Former Trump deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews made that point during the CNN clash.

“Was it very frustrating working in the White House press office and him being on a magazine cover or doing an interview on TV where he’s talking ill about the White House? Yes, that was annoying.”

But Matthews argued that the administration was confronting an unknown virus and making decisions with incomplete information.

“We were dealing with a novel virus. This was a once-in-a-lifetime generational pandemic.”

When Sunshine accused Fauci of reading his press clips, Matthews noted that narcissism was hardly exclusive to the doctor.

“You don’t think that Donald Trump and all those other senators on the Hill are just as narcissistic?”

Phillip then aired 2020 clips of Trump calling Fauci “so professional,” “talented” and “a major television star.”

Trump’s past praise does not settle questions about Fauci’s conduct. It does complicate the effort to assign him sole responsibility for every pandemic decision made across a federal government, 50 states and thousands of local jurisdictions.

The legal dispute began when Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during his July 29 appearance before Paul’s committee.

He refused to answer questions concerning COVID’s origins, federally funded research, pandemic policies, his diaries and previous testimony. He also declined deliberately mundane questions from Sen. Josh Hawley about the day of the week, his tie and the hearing-room carpet.

Fauci said Paul was attempting to lure him into a “perjury trap.”

“The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something—anything—that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.’”

Paul responded that Fauci would face “repercussions” for refusing to testify. The committee subsequently approved the contempt resolution. Paul designed it to permit a direct referral to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia without first obtaining a full Senate vote, according to Fox News. That attempted shortcut will likely face legal challenges. A traditional Senate contempt resolution normally proceeds to the full chamber, where overcoming a filibuster would require 60 votes—an unlikely outcome.

Paul acknowledged the unresolved questions.

“It’s a good legal discussion, and we will make those legal points to DOJ in sending the referral over.”

The contempt referral is only one part of the expanding investigation.

The Department of Health and Human Services transferred a copy of Fauci’s government-issued COVID-era iPhone to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

It remains unclear how much recoverable information is stored on the device or whether investigators have obtained access to its contents.

Paul’s committee already possesses more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s personal diaries. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has also signaled that his panel intends to question Fauci again about discrepancies between the diaries and his previous testimony.

“If former President Biden’s blanket autopen pardon is valid, then Dr. Fauci has no right to refuse to answer questions,” Comer said.

Separately, the attorneys general of Florida, Louisiana and West Virginia have demanded documents dating from January 2020 through August 2026. According to the New York Post, their inquiry is examining whether Fauci personally benefited from guidance he promoted while serving in government.

The subpoenas seek communications involving vaccines, adverse-event information, pharmaceutical companies and financial opportunities, including prizes, publishing arrangements and academic positions.

After playing clips of Trump praising Fauci, Phillip dismissed the celebrity chatter and returned to the essential issue.

“I think it is a little embarrassing that he loved his press so much, but my question is, what is he being prosecuted for?”

That question now belongs to the Justice Department.

Contempt of Congress is the immediate allegation. Possible false statements, records issues or financial conflicts remain subjects of investigation rather than established crimes.

Republicans must prove any case with documents, testimony and applicable law.

MY QUICK TAKE

Caroline Sunshine may have intended to bury Anthony Fauci. Instead, she handed him a sympathy bouquet and a gift certificate to CNN.

There are legitimate questions about Fauci’s testimony, his private diaries, government-funded research, records preservation and the breathtaking ego required to write, “Today I am the most famous and talked-about person in the country.”

That sentence does not require a psychiatrist. It requires an editor—and possibly a mirror with a restraining order.

But calling Fauci a “DSM-5-level sociopath” who belongs in a mental institution is rhetorical malpractice. Unless Sunshine quietly completed medical school during a commercial break, she should leave involuntary commitment to qualified professionals.

Conservatives do not need to exaggerate this story. Fauci took the Fifth 111 times despite holding one of the broadest presidential pardons ever issued. His government phone is now in Senate hands. Three state attorneys general have subpoenaed records. His diaries show a man remarkably captivated by his own press while Americans were losing businesses, classrooms, funerals and years of ordinary life.

That is enough material to fill several hearings without bringing a straitjacket.

The strongest criticism of Fauci is not that he was insane. It is that he was powerful, frequently wrong, insufficiently candid and protected by institutions that treated disagreement as dangerous misinformation.

Calling him crazy lets everybody avoid discussing whether he misled Congress, suppressed competing scientific views or benefited from the celebrity his policies helped create.

Fauci’s defenders also deserve correction. Trump praised him, yes. Trump shares responsibility for federal decisions made during his administration, yes. But none of that grants Fauci permanent immunity from scrutiny. “Trump liked him in 2020” is not a papal indulgence covering every subsequent contradiction.

The Justice Department should follow the facts. If Fauci committed a prosecutable offense outside his pardon, prove it. If the contempt referral is legally defective, say so. If the phone and diaries reveal nothing criminal, report that too.

Accountability requires evidence. Psychiatry by panel discussion is just noise.

And CNN already has plenty of that.

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