On March 9, Dr. Anthony Fauci told the country it was perfectly safe for healthy Americans to take a cruise and to hold campaign rallies.

Speaking at a White House briefing on March 9, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, told the world — on March 9! — that “if you are a healthy young person, there is no reason if you want to go on a cruise ship, to not go on a cruise ship.”

He went on to say that “if you have … an individual who has an underlying condition, particularly an elderly person who has an underlying condition, I would recommend strongly that they do not go on a cruise ship.”

When asked if Trump should continue his campaign rallies, Fauci told the world, reassuringly: [emphasis added]

You know, I can’t comment on campaign rallies. It really depends. We are having as we all said — this is something in motion. This is an evolving thing. So I’m not sure what we’re going to be able to say at the time we’re going to have a campaign rally. If you’re talking about a campaign rally tomorrow, in a place where there is no community spread, I think the judgment to have it might be a good judgment. [But] if you want to talk about large gatherings in a place you have community spread, I think that’s a judgment call, and if someone decides they want to cancel it, I wouldn’t publicly criticize them.

Read that again. It’s not a typo. As late as March 9, Fauci said it was “good judgment” to hold a campaign rally where there’s no sign of community spread.

“Good judgment!”

On top of that, when it came to holding a crowded event in a place where there is community spread of the coronavirus, all he said is that’s a “judgment call,” and he would not criticize them if they canceled.

So… On March 9, the same Dr. Anthony Fauci, who on Sunday accepted the premise he was one of the heroes urging Trump to “recommend social and physical distancing guidelines” all the way back in mid-February — is the same Dr. Anthony who was giving Americans a thumbs up, not just to take a cruise, but to hold and attend campaign rallies.

Here’s his full answer on the cruise question:

I think if you’re a healthy young person that there is no reason; if you want to go on a cruise ship, to go on a cruise ship. Personally, I would never go on a cruise ship, because I don’t like cruises. But [laughs at own joke] that’s another story. But the fact is, if you have the condition that I’ve been speaking about over and over again to this group, namely an individual who has an underlying condition, particularly an elderly person who has an underlying condition, I would recommend strongly that they do not go on a cruise ship.

What’s more, as we have reported — as late as February 29, Fauci told the world it was perfectly safe to go to the movies, the mall, and the gym; it was perfectly safe to go about our day-to-day lives, to engage in our daily routines… He didn’t even suggest we wash our hands more often!

And yet, during a Sunday appearance on CNNLOL, Fauci not only accepted the premise he was a hero urging Trump to shut down the country all the way back in mid-February, he also all but said that if he had been listened to, fewer people would have died:

CNNLOL: The New York Times reported yesterday that you and other top officials wanted to recommend social and physical distancing guidelines to President Trump as far back as the third week of February, but the administration didn’t announce such guidelines to the American public until March 16th, almost a month later. Why? FAUCI: As I’ve said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often the recommendation is taken. Sometimes it’s not. But it is what it is. We are where we are right now. CNNLOL: Do you think lives could have been saved if social distancing, physical distancing, stay-at-home measures, had started the third week of February instead of mid-March? FAUCI: You know, Jake, again, it’s the what would have, what could have. It’s very difficult to go back and say that. I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously, no one is going to deny that. But what goes into those kinds of decisions is complicated. But you’re right, I mean, obviously, if we had right from the very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.

So now he tells us there was “pushback” to his heroic attempts to begin mitigation in mid-February…

So was he lying to us on February 29 and March 9?

Was he engaging in happy talk?

Well, if so, what was the motive?

Only a sociopath would tell the country it’s safe to do all of this public stuff knowing it’s not.

I don’t think Fauci is a sociopath, and I’ve given him every benefit of the doubt. And the idea he was telling the world a bunch of lies because Trump was ordering him to tell the world a bunch of lies, is patently absurd. Had Fauci resigned from the task force under those conditions and blew the whistle, he’d be the biggest hero in the country right now.

Fauci needs to explain himself.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.