Here’s what Jake Tapper and Anthony Fauci were up to while “small household gatherings’ were condemned, schools were closed, Thanksgiving gatherings were shamed, nursing home residents were denied access to loved ones, mourners were banned from funerals, small businesses were shuttered, and churches were closed.
On October 14, 2020, far-left CNN published a report warning about the dangers of “small household gatherings.”
“What we’re seeing as the increasing threat right now is actually acquisition of infection through small household gatherings. And particularly with Thanksgiving coming up, we think it’s really important to stress the vigilance of these continued mitigation steps in the household setting,” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield told the nation’s governors in a conference call Tuesday, according to audio of the call obtained by CNN.
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For example, reports for Vermont, Washington and Delaware warned against community transmission “in smaller gatherings of family and friends where masking and social distancing recommendations are not followed,” recommending “increased messaging regarding the need to take these measures, especially given the element of prevention ‘fatigue.’”
Here are transcripts from Jake Tapper’s basement-rated CNN show on that same day where viewers are repeatedly told to avoid small indoor gatherings. One warning came from an “expert” from Harvard. All of this was presented within the context of Tapper attacking President Trump (including an accusation of “mass murder”) for wanting to get the country re-opened: [emphasis mine throughout]
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are masks, distancing, regulations in many public places. But we’re spreading the virus at small family gatherings, says the CDC director. Got to be vigilant at Thanksgiving.
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JAKE TAPPER: On a call with reporters, Trump administration officials seem to be once again embracing this concept of herd immunity, touting Trump’s push to reopen the country.
One of your colleagues, William Haseltine, says herd immunity is just another word for mass murder, the idea of letting the disease work its way through the population, estimates of about two million Americans dying from it. Do you agree? Is herd immunity the same thing as mass murder?
ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: You know, those are stark words. Look, it’s a terrible policy. It’s a terrible policy, because it will lead to hundreds of thousands of Americans dying, unnecessarily, right? Like, if they — if we had no choice, that would be another thing. But no serious public health person actually thinks herd immunity is a good policy strategy.
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JAKE TAPPER: I think there are a lot of people out there who think, oh, you just want to lock down the country again. That’s not the case, I know. What do you want to do, other than masks, avoiding crowds, social distancing? I mean, how can we go back to some semblance of normal, while also protecting people?
DR. ASHISH JHA: So, we are in a pandemic, the worst pandemic in a century. We’re not going to be able to go back to normal as we knew it in 2019. So the question is, what can we do? And the list you just gave, Jake, I don’t have a much bigger and better list. It’s masks, it’s social distancing, avoiding indoor gatherings, and fixing our testing programs, which still aren’t where they need to be.Believe me, if we just did those things, we could probably get 80 percent of our lives back, which is probably as well as we can do in a pandemic. But vaccines are coming sometime in early 2021, I hope, and life will begin to get much better.
Here’s what Fauci himself said in mid-October about that year’s upcoming Thanksgiving gatherings:
“I think given the fluid and dynamic nature of what’s going on right now in the spread and the uptick of infections, I think people should be very careful and prudent about social gatherings, particularly when members of the family might be at a risk because of their age or their underlying condition,” the 79-year-old said. “Namely, you may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering unless you’re pretty certain that the people that you’re dealing with are not infected.”
And then…
And then…
And then…
The following week, on October 23, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci wrote in his diary (page 170):
Had dinner at my home with Jake and Jennifer Tapper. Relaxed, good time. Jake clearly believes that Trump is totally nuts. Hit 83,000 new cases today. The single day record since the beginning of the outbreak. Surge continues.
Here is what Fauci said just a few weeks later about the danger of Thanksgiving:
We know for sure that people who are without symptoms, innocently — with no malintention at all — goes [sic] to a party or goes to a gathering, gets together indoor, you let your guard down, you obviously have to take a mask off if you’re eating or drinking. Try to avoid that as much as possible.
Oh, and that was the second dinner Tapper and Fauci had. The first was a few months earlier in July of 2020 (page 122): “Had dinner over Jake Tapper and Jen Tapper’s home in DC. Terrific couple. Friendship building.”
Three weeks after that dinner — where I’m sure the participants wore masks and remained six feet apart — Tapper interviewed Brett Giroir, Trump’s Assistant Secretary for Health and the administration’s coronavirus testing coordinator. Here’s Fauci’s diary entry mentioning that interview: “Brett Giroir on Tapper (State of the Union) talking bullshit about testing with Jake pressing him. I gave Jake some questions to ask him.”
Here are my predictions: 1) Jake Tapper will keep his job and 2) Republicans will continue to do business with Jake Tapper.