Authoritarian response to pandemic

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) on Friday said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was told to "stand down" and not appear on five Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the coronavirus.

[...]

Anthony Fauci was scheduled to do all five major Sunday talk shows, but says Fauci canceled the appearances after Vice President Pence took over the administration's response to the disease.

[...]

"I can repeat what he said, he said, 'I was not muzzled. However, I was to go on the Sunday talk shows five of them. The vice president's office then took over the control of this situation, and told me to stand down, not to do those shows,'" Garamendi said, quoting Fauci.

"Now, you can draw your own conclusions whether he was muzzled or not, but clearly he was scheduled to do Sunday talk shows and he was not to proceed with that," the congressman added.

  MSN

Fairly muzzled, if you ask me.

Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow told reporters Friday, "No one's being stifled. No one's being told what to say," with Kudlow adding it was more about coordinating the message.

With Trump's message: Everything's fine. Totally under control.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure we're any the worse off from not hearing from Anthony Fauci:

In a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, who is heading the anti-virus effort, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Anthony Fauci explained "the science behind" the virus: that it spreads from a bat, to a cat, and then to humans in China.

According to a press pool report on the meeting, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the disease jumped from species to species.

“Fauci described the science behind the coronavirus, saying it jumped from a bat to a ‘civic cat’ served at feasts in China and then humans,” said the pool report, referring to “civet cats,” which are considered a delicacy in parts of China. “‘Lo and behold now ... we have a new Coronavirus,’ Fauci said.

  Washington Examiner

And the case in Davis, California? Are they eating cats there, too?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.