Since the pandemic began, Donald Trump has belted out falsehood after falsehood, downplaying the virus and costing Americans their lives by the hundreds of thousands. For months, Trump claimed the cases were only going up because testing was being increased. He continued to hold superspreader campaign events in states where cases and deaths were surging.

In early February, Trump literally told Bob Woodward he knew how dangerous the virus was, but was downplaying it to the public “in order to reduce panic.” Does Marco Rubio have anything to say about this “lie”?

Of course not. Trying to undercut Fauci is simply a tactic meant to appeal to the most deranged voting bloc of the GOP—the QAnon-friendly conspiracy theorists who bought into the “Plandemic” hoax that suggested Fauci had created the coronavirus as a money-making scheme.

And when Rubio beats up on Fauci, what he’s really doing is signaling that he thinks those people are in charge of his party.