Earlier this week, Musk took verbal shots at Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying he should be prosecuted.
On Tuesday, Fauci was asked about that on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” Fauci told Mitchell, “Well, to be honest with you, Andrea, I don't pay attention to that. I mean, yeah, he has a big megaphone, but I mean, the Twittersphere as it is has really gone berserk lately. It's kind of become almost a cesspool of misinformation. I'm really not even sure what he said, but I don't pay attention. I don't have a Twitter account. I don't tweet and I don't listen to tweets. So whatever he said, I'm not paying attention to it.”
Fauci turns 82 on Christmas Eve and is retiring as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases after 38 years. He told Mitchell, “Well, the next chapter in my life, I want to be able and I will do things outside of the venue of the ... United States government, as a private citizen in teaching, in lecturing, in writing hopefully getting back to the conversation we just had to inspire young people to go into science. And for those who are in science, to inspire them to continue what they do in the realm of the health of the American public, and hopefully some in public service, like I've had the privilege of doing for almost 60 years now.”
And despite all the grief he has received over the past several years, particularly from many conservatives and conspiracy theorist types, Fauci would make the same career decisions and be a scientist all over again.
He said, “If I had to do it over again, absolutely, 100%, 100%. And I recommend it to people. It's not for everyone, but if you have the slightest inclination for it, it can be a very, very satisfying and fulfilling field.”
What’s next for Zucker?
Former CNN president Jeff Zucker is getting back into the media game. He is going to be the chief executive of RedBird IMI — which is being described as a new joint venture between private-equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and International Media Investments, an Abu Dhabi-based media holding company.
The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Toonkel wrote, “In his new role, Mr. Zucker will focus on building, buying and investing in sports, media and entertainment entities around the world with the backing of RedBird and IMI, which together are investing $1 billion in capital to fund the joint venture, the companies said.”
In a statement, Zucker said, “I’ve spent 35 years running media businesses at the intersection of news, sports and entertainment, creating new brands and resurrecting old ones. That experience has given me unparalleled perspective for this unique time in media, and the combination of the RedBird and IMI capital and strategic discipline, combined with my operational experience, will give this joint venture a unique advantage in the current media landscape.
Zucker stepped down at CNN in February after he failed to disclose a relationship he was having with another CNN executive.
Good work
CNN anchor Kate Bolduan showed her bulldog interviewing skills Tuesday by grilling Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de León, who has not resigned after being accused of racist comments about another councilman’s Black child. The interview came just days after he got into a physical scuffle with an activist.
In October, the Los Angeles Times published a story about a leaked audio recording from 2021 in which Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez made openly racist remarks. The Times’ Rachel Urganga wrote last month, “In the leaked audio recording released last month, De León conferred with Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmember Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera about keeping districts in Latino control, making racial insults and not objecting when Martinez made even cruder ones.”
Martinez and Herrera have since resigned, but de León has refused to do so.
Bolduan didn’t beat around the bush. She asked, “Why are you not resigning? I know you say you still have work to do. But other members, the points that the council members are making still today about this whole thing is that they say that the city cannot heal if you are still there, and one member saying that your continued presence on the council is causing severe and ongoing harm.”
De León started his answer by saying, “In a democracy, the voters make the decision, not folks who are in the political gallery or political pundits or even my own colleagues.” He continued by saying, “tens of millions of Americans go to work every single day with folks they don’t like. But you know what they do? They get up and they go to work. They don’t have the luxury that some folks do when they want to walk out.”
He went to say he was “profoundly sorry” for “not standing up” to comments made in the meeting. But that’s where Bolduan showed her reporting chops.
She said, “It wasn’t just that you didn’t stand up, you also took part in the communication. I mean, in it, you said — you compared the young Black child of a fellow councilman to being an accessory, like a luxury handbag.”
De León eventually did say, “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
Bolduan went on to ask exactly what de León was apologizing for and said, “If this was anyone else, would you say the person I just described is serving their community well?”
Excellent work.
Final column
Pulitzer Prize-winning national columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. is retiring and wrote his final column Tuesday: “Time flew, didn’t it? Now, it’s time for me to fly off, too.”
Pitts wrote, “I’ve written about 1.6 million words as a columnist. This 600 or so will be the last. I’m retiring for a few reasons. One is that, while I’ve managed to squeeze out four novels between column deadlines, my dream was always to write books full time. I turned 65 in October, so if not now, when?”
He added, “Another reason is that a column, for me, at least, is an act of emotional investment — and I’m emotionally exhausted. They say you know when it’s time. That’s true. And it is.”
