Published August 3, 2026
She’ll never see the boy falling out of the sky,” sings Mumford & Sons in “Icarus.” As the sun was receding from view, Icarus at least realized that his wings had melted and he was plummeting toward the earth; whereas Anthony Fauci sees this and believes he is still ascending past the sun into some empyrean realm beyond the reach of mere mortals. He’ll never see the boy falling out of the sky, and it’s bound to hurt when he hits the ground.
Last week, Fauci was subpoenaed to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where he was grilled for three hours by committee chair Rand Paul and fellow Republicans. Topics included, among others, pandemic origins, gain-of-function research, lockdowns, vaccine injuries, suppressed Covid treatments, records destruction, and Fauci’s alleged use of public resources and personnel to secure cash awards for himself totaling over $1 million. After a brief opening statement, Fauci gave the same response to all 111 questions from senators: “I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.”
Fauci did whisper frequently to his half-dozen lawyers present, one of whom was thrown out for repeatedly attempting to speak without being recognized by the Senate. “America’s Doctor” doggedly pled the Fifth even when Sen. Hawley trolled him by asking, “What day of the week is it today?” and “What color tie are you wearing?” Senate hearings have become a form of political theater, especially in our age of social media, but this surreal show took the genre to new heights.
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Aaron Kheriaty, MD, is the Director of the Bioethics, Technology, and Human Flourishing Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is a physician specializing in psychiatry who has published over one hundred articles and five books, including most recently, Making the Cut: How to Heal Modern Medicine.
