--- title: Don’t Look Now, But the Culture War Is Turning Back to COVID description: Elon Musk said “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” Ron DeSantis wants COVID vaccine makers on trial. Pandemic politics are making a comeback. canonical: https://time.com/6242029/covid-19-vaccine-culture-war-politics/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-12-19T12:00:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:05:37.949Z article:section: Politics og:title: Don’t Look Now, But the Culture War Is Turning Back to COVID og:description: Musk says his pronouns are "Prosecute/Fauci." DeSantis is targeting vaccine makers. Pandemic politics are back in 2024. og:url: https://time.com/6242029/covid-19-vaccine-culture-war-politics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b56a9727f31a04e/698a38f609208f1d00419f3c/GettyImages-1238710198.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-HEALTH-COVID-MANDATE-PROTEST og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Don’t Look Now, But the Culture War Is Turning Back to COVID twitter:description: Musk says his pronouns are "Prosecute/Fauci." DeSantis is targeting vaccine makers. Pandemic politics are back in 2024. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b56a9727f31a04e/698a38f609208f1d00419f3c/GettyImages-1238710198.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Don’t Look Now, But the Culture War Is Turning Back to COVID > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8109da03-da52-495d-9cbd-349e46e63ea8&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Dr. Anthony Fauci Is Stepping Down. Here’s His Advice For His Successor [Watch (HLS stream): Dr. Anthony Fauci Is Stepping Down. Here’s His Advice For His Successor](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WnmPuQgL.m3u8) (8:53)  _Published 2022-12-20. Dr. Anthony Fauci is leaving his post as NIAID director and chief medical advisor to President Biden. He hopes to impart a few lessons._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Dec 19, 2022 12:00 PM UTC Dr. Anthony Fauci is leaving his post as NIAID director and chief medical advisor to President Biden. He hopes to impart a few lessons.  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Dec 19, 2022 12:00 PM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ For a brief moment, there seemed to be a lull in the politicization of a plague. Sure, there were still the anti-vaxxers showing up at school board [meetings](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/01/california-school-board-officials-plead-for-protection-from-protesting-parents)—and sometimes [running](https://edsource.org/2022/conservatives-are-waging-a-war-for-control-over-california-school-boards/679713) them—and the occasional [kerfuffle](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/27/pandemic-didnt-have-be-politicized-one-party-is-blame-it/) over mandates boiled over. Dr. Anthony Fauci remained a despised figure for [some](https://www.statnews.com/2022/10/25/republicans-campaign-anti-science-anti-fauci/), and one cable network in particular made a [point](https://www.foxnews.com/media/laura-ingraham-when-will-fauci-leave-the-national-stage) of finding every excuse to post his mug on screen. The internet, safe harbor for kooks of all stripes, continued to [promote](https://time.com/6092368/americas-frontline-doctors-covid-19-misinformation/) baseless theories about COVID-19’s origins and potential end. Still, as the spread of the disease and its disinformation seemed to slow from its hateful boil, things started to feel like they were approaching pre-pandemic levels of normal. Sure, there were still some 135,000 new cases on [Thursday](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html) in the United States, but that’s way off from the million-plus cases seen last January. This was, to be clear, a good development. Treating every discussion around a global pandemic that has [infected](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html) more than 650 million people and killed almost 6.7 million as some sort of binary political test was—and is—a maddening approach to a crisis. Yet there are those who are all too happy to view the pandemic as a useful weapon in scoring points, a detour away from responsible conduct and into the circus tent of politics. Screaming as loud as you can doesn’t make your denial of COVID’s threat any less of one. Like I said, there was a moment when the carnival organ grinded to a stop, notably when the Republican primaries of this year ended. The silence, however, proved short-lived. Its pipes are back screaming, right as the opening days of the 2024 contest appear to have arrived. Newly crowned Twitter owner Elon Musk last week [sent](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-12-14/column-by-embracing-anti-fauci-and-qanon-conspiracies-musk-tests-how-low-twitter-can-sink) his own rocket of a [troll](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/business/musk-twitter-fauci.html) on his new toy: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” It was a double-barreled ding against both the [nation’s top immunologist](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/opinion/anthony-fauci-retirement.html), and the inclusive [approach](https://time.com/6191662/gender-sex-transgender-rights-pew/) of allowing individuals to choose their own gendered or gender-neutral pronouns. Musk, who is testing just how elastic Twitter can be in accommodating political stances, drew the predictable outrage and reward—a cycle some politicians already know well. Then there was the recent decision by Congress, or more specifically Senate Democrats, to [trade](https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/politics/ndaa-defense-bill-government-funding/index.html) away a mandate on vaccines for U.S. military members in [exchange](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/us/politics/defense-bill-vaccine-mandate-senate.html) for the must-pass defense bill. Even though Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin supported the mandates, it was just one of those things that fell aside in the chase for the big-picture spending. (A companion effort to reinstate discharged service members, however, did not get support.) Defending the Biden administration’s mandate was unlikely to win Democrats many friends, especially when it meant potentially sacrificing a pay raise for the troops. There are no wins in denying men and women serving in uniform their due, especially at the holidays. Cynicism, however, always wins. Consider Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example. Just over a year ago, the leader of the aging state of Florida [leaned](https://www.wfla.com/community/health/coronavirus/vaccines-are-saving-lives-desantis-stresses-importance-of-shots-as-florida-covid-cases-spike-criticizes-mask-mandates/amp/) heavily into vaccines. He urged his residents to get the jab, praised vaccines for saving lives, and scrambled to understand the impact of a pandemic on a state with a heavy reliance on tourism. But then, he looked around at the political landscape facing his 2022 re-election and potential 2024 presidential bid, and pulled a full [180](https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/12/15/gov-ron-desantis-shifting-positions-vaccines-under-fire/): he banned mask and vaccine mandates, trashed Fauci at every turn he could find, and wouldn’t even [say](https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/05/politics/ron-desantis-covid-vaccine-booster-shot/index.html) if he got his booster shot. He [barreled](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/florida-gov-ron-desantis-looks-to-open-the-state-to-business-again/2020/04/20/24c8f5d4-8351-11ea-878a-86477a724bdb%5Fstory.html) ahead with plans to reopen Florida before the pandemic had even hit its nadir. Last week, while convening anti-vaxxers for a chat—and preparing for his next act in politics—DeSantis [suggested](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/12/13/ron-desantis-covid-vaccines-grand-jury-florida-investigation/10890753002/) his state’s supreme court should impanel a grand jury to investigate pharmaceutical companies’ transparency in vaccines. The ultimate practitioner of such savvy amplification of COVID-19’s political juice remains former—and perhaps future—President Donald Trump. His return to power hinges on DeSantis’ [potential](https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/florida-gop-likes-desantis-far-trump-new-poll-rcna60868) to chase and catch him. After all, it was only a year ago that Trump drew [_boos_](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-reveals-he-got-covid-booster-shot-crowd-boos-him-n1286361) when he told an otherwise friendly crowd that he had received his vaccine booster. And to the chagrin of much of his base, he never [fired](https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/politics/can-trump-fire-fauci/index.html) Fauci (even though he couldn’t [really](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/02/can-trump-fire-fauci/) do [it](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-fire-fauci-easily-make-messy/story?id=73971488)). Trump is, for the true anti-vaxxers, an unreliable partner when it comes to fighting the Establishment’s faith in science. Both men’s supporters are looking at their positions on vaccines as an early barometer for success. For Trump, his role in developing Operation Warp Speed is seen as evidence that he helped beat back the virus’ hellscape—even though he wrongly [says](https://www.science.org/content/article/fact-check-no-evidence-supports-trump-s-claim-covid-19-vaccine-result-was-suppressed) the vaccine rollout was delayed until after the election for political hackery. For DeSantis, his steady evolution into an anti-vaxxer—or at least someone who seems palatable for true anti-vaxxers—is a way to creep onto turf long assumed to be safely in the MAGA column. So, even as COVID’s threat seems to be fading, it is surely going to have VIP access to the coming GOP primary calendars. The contest, however, may end up coming down to who has the louder megaphone, and COVID amounts to an easy primal scream. The decibel-level-as-proxy-for-fact strategy is one that seldom serves voters well and often drives the conversation into a ditch of regret. This sort of performative [protest](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/16/pandemic-vaccines-mandates-republicans/) is nothing new, and it can read as tired after a while. There are real costs to this conduct, though. Red states have borne the brunt of COVID-19, with states that backed Trump [posting](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/07/29/covid-19-is-crushing-red-states-why-isnt-trump-turning-his-rallies-into-mass-vaccination-sites/) the absolute lowest rates of immunization. Being a “vaccine skeptic,” as some prefer to be known, is fashionable in some circles. That status, new [research](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/12/16/politics-health-relationship/) tells us, can also be deadly: the redder a locale, the more likely it was a high-mortality place for COVID-19 and other ailments. Judging by how some thought leaders are positioning themselves, it’s a point of pride to keep hospitals and funeral homes alike packed with avoidable troubles. And some of the biggest self-described proponents of besting science with trolling are preparing their next shouts. The quiet, it seems, is over. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ## Transcript [00:00] What will you do the first day that you are no longer head of [00:03] n? I a i d. [00:05] I'll probably sleep an extra hour and not get up at 5 in the [00:09] morning, the way I have in the last 40 years. [00:21] Dr. Anthony fauci announced in August that he is stepping [00:25] down from his role in the federal government. [00:27] He will leave the position he's held for 38 years as the Director [00:31] of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases, [00:35] as well as his role as chief medical advisor to President [00:39] Biden. [00:41] As a health reporter. [00:42] I've spoken to dr. [00:43] Fauci numerous times over the years about the major outbreaks [00:47] during his career, Hive Bola, H1 N1, [00:52] flu, SARS MERS, and of course covid-19 before his transition [00:59] to a new role. [01:00] This month, I took the opportunity to conduct an exit interview, [01:03] to discuss his achievements, as well as his plans for the future. [01:08] My wife jokingly calls it a rewiring, [01:11] I actually call it sort of the next chapter in my professional [01:17] and personal life, but I would like to do is to lecture and write [01:23] an advice to the extent that my advice is solicited. [01:29] I have to offer 54 years of experience as a scientist at the [01:35] NIH. 38 years of running, what everyone agrees is the is the [01:42] largest and most important infectious disease, research [01:45] institution of the world and the privilege that I've had of advising [01:50] seven, presidents of the United States over that almost 40 years. [01:54] As we've gone over the last 38 years, [01:58] that I've been in a position of leadership and policy making [02:02] at the NIH, that things have really evolve into, [02:06] unfortunately, [02:08] Rather intense, what I would call hostility and divisiveness [02:16] in our society where political ideation has really been very [02:24] I think disruptive to the kind of cooperation and collaboration [02:28] that you need. [02:34] It becomes particularly distressing in the arena of Public [02:39] Health goes. If there's one area where you would really like [02:42] to have everyone pulling together. [02:44] It would be as we confront a historic, [02:48] pandemics such as cold, but that's not what we're seeing. [02:52] We're seeing fundamental Public Health principles of being [02:56] interpreted one way or the other, depending upon what your political [03:02] ideology is. I mean, how can you possibly have a situation [03:06] where we know, as a matter of fact that vaccines are safe and [03:12] extraordinarily life-saving, if you look at the data and yet [03:17] there were people prefer variety of misinformation [03:20] disinformation and conspiracy theories. [03:23] Don't want to get vaccinated that just doesn't make any common [03:27] sense. You mentioned the seven presidents with whom you have [03:31] worked. I wonder if you could quickly, [03:34] provide Just a little perspective on what it was like to what [03:37] it, what your job was like, under under each of them and, [03:41] you know, you mentioned kind of the New Perspective, [03:45] we now have on the intersection between politics and Science. [03:50] And I wonder if you could come in a little bit on how you [03:52] seen that change during the course of your career, [03:55] the phenomenon of having advised seven presidents. [03:59] Is that a lot of what I can do and the role I have [04:04] during an Administration, depends on the circumstances [04:07] that are resistant within the time frame of that particular [04:11] Administration George W. [04:14] Bush when it comes to HIV AIDS and my mind has had the most [04:20] impact of anybody in the face of preventable, [04:23] death and suffering. [04:25] We have a moral duty to act. [04:30] And we are acting and that has to do with the fact that he [04:34] gave me the privilege in the honor of being one of the architects [04:39] of the pet far program which as we know, [04:42] I saved more than 20 million lives. [04:44] So even though there's controversy about other aspects during [04:49] the administration, the fact is when it comes to saving lives. [04:52] That was, I think the epitome of what we seen, [04:57] the Trump Administration, you know, that it did that's very [05:00] recent and is very clear that they were difficulties. [05:03] Damn, because I had to be put in the position of having to contradict [05:08] then of the president for things that he has said, [05:12] in the impression that he was giving that the virus was going [05:15] to disappear like magic. [05:16] Like, I'd krotchy chloroquine was the name of the new cure for [05:20] for for covid-19, totally sure what the the president was referring [05:26] to, but I believe is referring to a report that used both. [05:30] Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin together to have some possibility [05:36] of being an affect many of the things that you hear out there [05:39] are or what I had called. [05:41] Anecdotal reports, they may be true, but they're anecdotal. [05:46] So, the only thing that I was saying is that, [05:48] if you really want a definitive Lee know, [05:50] if something works that you got to do, [05:52] the kind of trial that you get the good information, [05:54] you know, I just felt I owed my responsibility to the American [05:57] public to just stand up for what was data and evidence and facts [06:03] and science. That put me in a very uncomfortable position [06:08] of having a lot of opposition to me which has now continued [06:13] on to this day. [06:21] What would dealing with today is the reflection of the divisiveness [06:25] in society where people talk about things that are Peyton [06:30] Lee on true conspiracy theories, a normalization of untruth. [06:41] Which is very dangerous because when Society shrug their shoulders [06:45] and accept the fact that people can just say things that are [06:49] Peyton Lee Falls and get away with it, [06:52] you have to get into your infallible opinion be dictated [06:56] by law. You personally attack me and with absolutely not a shred [07:02] of evidence of anything you say. [07:04] So I would like to make something clear to the committee. [07:07] He's doing this for political reasons. [07:09] What you need to do is he said in front of this committee, [07:13] you think you're take down, if I was Ramadan, [07:15] epidemiologist was not political, you know what? [07:19] I'm going to say, what happens when he gets out, [07:21] and accuses me of things that are completely untrue. [07:25] Is that all of a sudden that Kindles the crazies out there, [07:29] and I have life that threats upon my life [07:34] Harassment of my family and my children will obscene phone [07:39] calls because people are lying about me know, [07:43] you know, I guess you could say, [07:44] well, that's the way it goes. [07:46] I can take the kid. [07:47] Well, it is, it makes a difference. [07:50] Not only is that dangerous appublichealth Alice. [07:53] I think that's dangerous for our own democracy, [07:56] to be honest with you. [07:57] What advice, would you have for your successor? [08:00] I mean, you've had a very story career and really have become [08:05] Adept at finding that balance, as we discussed between, [08:08] you know, standing up for the rigors of Science and communicating [08:12] it to the public and navigating, you know, [08:14] the, the current and inevitable, it will always be their political [08:20] pressures. What advice would you have for your successor? [08:23] Really to stick with the science? [08:26] Number one, always go with the data with the evidence and although [08:31] you may be involved in policy, stay Politics, [08:35] do not at all show any ideology. [08:39] One way or the other, just be a pure scientist. [08:44] That's what you need in the job. [08:46] Otherwise you'll get caught up into the divisiveness [08:50] that we were speaking about just a little bit ago. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6242029/covid-19-vaccine-culture-war-politics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6242029/covid-19-vaccine-culture-war-politics/"},"headline":"Don’t Look Now, But the Culture War Is Turning Back to COVID","datePublished":"2022-12-19T12:00:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:05:37.949Z","description":"Elon Musk said “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” Ron DeSantis is targeting COVID vaccine makers. Pandemic politics are making a comeback.","url":"https://time.com/6242029/covid-19-vaccine-culture-war-politics/","keywords":["The D.C. 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