Good lord. The Trump Cult is out to get Dr. Fauci who is trying to save our lives (even the lives of Trumpers!)

They have been spreading rumors about Dr. Fauci, making all kinds of false claims about him, characterizing him as a Hillary supporter, natch, and an avatar of The Deep State, and now he’s being threatened. Additionally he has a fervent fan club and the enthusiasm of their regard for him has become a concern.

Alex Azar has grown concerned for Dr. Fauci and has ordered a security detail to protect his life.

The concerns include threats as well as unwelcome communications from fervent admirers, according to people with knowledge of deliberations inside the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice. Fauci, 79, is the most outspoken member of the administration in favor of sweeping public health guidelines and is among the few officials willing to correct President Trump’s misstatements. Along with Deborah Birx, the coordinator for the White House’s task force, Fauci has encouraged the president to extend the timeline for social-distancing guidelines, presenting him with grim models about the possible toll of the pandemic.

snip

Fauci has become a public target for some right-wing commentators and bloggers, who exercise influence over parts of the president’s base. As they press for the president to ease restrictions to reinvigorate economic activity, some of these figures have assailed Fauci and questioned his expertise. Last month, an article depicting him as an agent of the “deep state” gained nearly 25,000 interactions on Facebook — meaning likes, comments and shares — as it was posted to large pro-Trump groups with titles such as “Trump Strong” and “Tampa Bay Trump Club.”

This is just insane. These people are nuts. The worst people in the world are threatening the best.

I am trying to keep my balance but this stuff makes me concerned for our collective future. This is Nazi Germany level insanity and I don’t see where this ends beyond a mass grave. I want to have hope for the future but this worrisome. There’s something wrong with the whole Trump phenomenon, something deeply sick, and it’s threatening to destroy the healthy, the beautiful ad the good and I don’t know how to stop it or even make a dent in it.

Social media is part of the problem but it’s hardly the whole problem. The article mentions Lou Dobbs, who somewhere along the line became a hatemonger. The whole FOX enterprise is responsible for poison and lies and polarizing the American people. Gateway Pundit and American Thinker are also mentioned as having inspired rage against Dr. Fauci.

Trump himself has dragged the worst impulses up from the ooze, things that should have stayed buried in the American psyche, but which are now front and center and bray from the rooftops on prime time TV. Trump is quoted in the article,

“He doesn’t need security. Everybody loves him.”

www.washingtonpost.com/...