A mural of Tony Fauci was meant to inspire staff. Then NIH took it down. [View all]
Source: Washington Post
March 15, 2025 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
A mural depicted Anthony S. Fauci, the longtime National Institutes of Health official, and an inspirational quote about pursuing scientific goals. The mural, in the Claude D. Pepper Building on NIH’s campus, was removed this year. (Obtained by The Washington Post)
BETHESDA, Md. — The mural of Anthony S. Fauci hung in the halls of the National Institutes of Health, greeting passersby with an inspirational quote from the retired federal official. “Science is telling us that we can do phenomenal things if we put our minds and our resources to it,” read the message from Fauci, who ended his five-decade career at the agency in December 2022. Now there is no image of Fauci, no inspirational message — just a discolored, empty patch of wall.
The portrait and quote, which welcomed NIH leaders and staff in one of the campus’s central buildings, was cut out of the mural in the first weeks of the Trump administration, said three current NIH staffers, who provided photos to The Washington Post. NIH didn’t respond to questions about the agency’s relationship with its most prominent alumnus, including why the mural depicting him was removed. But it is of a piece with other recent actions that the new Trump administration has taken toward the longtime infectious-disease expert, five years after President Donald Trump announced covid-related shutdowns that he and his advisers have since blamed on guidance from Fauci.
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind the U.S. DOGE Service, in November called Fauci “a freaking demon,” alleging that the retired federal scientist indirectly funded risky virus research in China that sparked the pandemic. Fauci and his colleagues have repeatedly denied the claim, and there is no evidence SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the pandemic, was in any laboratory before the outbreak. The ongoing focus on Fauci also comes during broader pressures on NIH, a nearly $50 billion scientific agency that has been largely paralyzed under the Trump administration.
Federal research funding has slowed to a trickle, prompting universities to freeze ongoing work and rescind offers of employment. Grants for vaccine-hesitancy studies and other work have been canceled. Current and former NIH officials say they are alarmed, and politicians in both parties have said they’re worried about the implications. “It’s a profound threat to scientific progress in America,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), who spoke at a rally outside NIH last weekend. “This is the jewel of the scientific establishment … and Elon Musk and DOGE have brought their slash-and-burn tactics right to its doorstep.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/15/mural-tony-fauci-was-meant-inspire-staff-then-nih-it-down/
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This is like petty juvenile junior high school bully shit.
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