There was an epic showdown Sunday morning on CNN with State of the Union co-host Dana Bash battling Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over COVID.
The Truth About Lockdowns
Bash was out of her league as she tried to paint RFKJ into a corner by claiming it is not just Anthony Fauci who should be blamed for the draconian pandemic response that large swaths of the U.S. experienced.
“You have been placing nearly all the blame on the COVID pandemic and the way that the U.S. responded to it squarely with Dr. Fauci. But of course, he worked for President Trump,” Bash said. “Does President Trump also deserve some of the blame?”
Kennedy responded that, in his view, “the thing that did the most damage to our country was the lockdowns” and Trump wanted to end them, while Fauci advocated for keeping them.
That’s when Dana stepped in it. “Well, the lockdowns were done by governors. I mean, certainly Anthony Fauci and the president had opinions, but the lockdowns were done by governors and largely because… they were hearing… from hospitals saying that their ICUs were overrun and they needed some help while that was happening,” she claimed.
“Dana, that’s just not true,” he replied. “No, they were doing it because Anthony Fauci was telling them from the top you need to lock down. There were ICUs that were empty all over the country, including in New York at the height.”
She should be embarrassed. That is not even up for debate. Does she not read the news on which she is reporting? Did she not see Fauci’s own diary that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) made public last week? He was literally bragging about starting the lockdowns in real time.
Here is what he wrote on March 15, 2020:
I spoke with Bill de Blasio (Mayor – NYC) and convinced him based on what I was saying publicly and my conversation tonight to close the NYC schools (he had already decided based on what I was saying on TV). I went on to tell him he should close the bars and restaurants in NYC. He said that he would base this on my recommendation.
I had a similar call with Ann O’Leary, the [Chief of Staff] of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. Ann said that based on my TV appearances today and yesterday, the Governor has decided to close the schools in California as well as the bars and restaurants.
Though, as we would all later find out, the governor would not adhere to his own bans as he dined at French Laundry, scuttling down wine by the barrel.
Buddy, Buddy
In his diaries, Dr. Fauci also bragged about texting with this biased anchor, Dana Bash, herself. Maybe that is why she is too scared to bring up Fauci’s diary entries. But she should at least be reading them because she is in there.
The former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recalled texting with Bash on April 17, 2021, after he had a fiery exchange with Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Capitol Hill:
Dana Bash sent me a text: “I just watched the whole Jordan thing. Again, you’re a better man than I…. As our friend Wolf Blitzer said to me yesterday – no one would have blamed you if you said simply “Mr. Jordan, go f— yourself.”
I mean, this makes you feel for Chris Licht. Remember Chris Licht? He was the executive producer for the Stephen Colbert show and they brought him over to run CNN when Jeff Zucker got fired. His mission – and he understood it – was to try to make CNN a little bit more fair and balanced. They tried to have that Trump town hall in May 2023 where Kaitlan Collins showed up with her unhappy face and was nasty to Trump.
He tried a couple of things, but this is what he was up against – our “friend” Dana and Wolf; and Jake Tapper having dinner with Fauci and exchanging notes on how awful Laura Ingraham is. I mean, Chris Licht, you didn’t stand a chance. What happened there was not your fault.
The Battle Raged On
In any event, the battle between Kennedy and Bash didn’t stop at lockdowns. She decided it was a good idea to challenge him on censorship during COVID and the efficacy of the vaccine when it comes to children. That is akin to putting a bloody hand in the water while admiring a shark and wondering what will happen.
RFKJ stunned Bash when he reminded her that “the primary obligation of the country” is protecting the American people’s constitutional rights.
“What does that mean,” she asked incredulously.
“Well, during COVID we completely dismantled our constitutional rights,” he explained. “The doctors who were saying ‘you’re doing it wrong’ were being marginalized and vilified.”
When Bash tried to interject and say she wanted to move on, Kennedy hit the nail on the head. “Of course you want to move on, you were part of the problem,” he retorted.
“No, I wasn’t part of the problem,” Bash claimed.
“There was absolute press malpractice… Your job is a fierce skepticism toward authority and you weren’t doing that. You were beating up on people who were dissenting,” Kennedy argued.
That is when a flustered Bash claimed she was being attacked. “Are you going to– you want to sit here and attack me or do you want to have conversations,” she wondered.
Her claims that the “COVID vaccine worked” were similarly dismantled as Kennedy asked her to show him a study that proved the shot protected children. “The vaccine did more good than harm to children, can you show me one study that shows that,” he inquired.
“I can tell you that when it comes to the vaccine, there have been studies that show that because of vaccine disinformation… there could have been 100 to 200,000 lives in the U.S. saved,” Bash said as she read from her notes.
“You are saying nonsense,” Kennedy said. “You’re making assertions you can’t support and then when I call you on them, you’re telling me I’m arguing.”
“I am not saying that the entire way that the COVID reaction was accurate. It was a scary time and people made mistakes, absolutely,” Bash later admitted.
“You were scaring people,” RFKJ interjected.
The Takeaway
Adam Corolla put it best when he posted this on X: “Remember, they are not defending Fauci for lying. They are defending themselves for lying.” That’s exactly right.
Meanwhile, we have fawning example, after fawning example of Bash interviewing Fauci and other government officials. At the height of the pandemic, in December of 2020, she hosted Fauci on her program and noted that people were calling him a “superhero.” Her hard-hitting question: “How do you keep yourself going in the face of death and disease?”
After the Biden administration’s first press conference on COVID in January 2021, Bash declared to her panel that “anybody who has any connection to reality about what is going on around them should have watched that and said the adults are back in the room.”
It wasn’t your fault, Chris Licht.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,372 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.