Commentary: Bob Woodward's revelation about the president's COVID response is a threat to Anthony Fauci — not to Trump

Finally, the trial of Lord Anthony Fauci is at hand.

Granted, it comes in the form of Orange Man Bad from a press corps, which feels it did its solemn duty for months by sitting on a story so terribly important to the American public that no one really needed to know about it until the political timing was juuuuust right. But you know the drill by now. Journalism is magical and not at all broken.

The story I refer to is, of course, President Donald Trump's supposed cover-up back in early 2020 about the true nature and severity of the coronavirus cloud on our horizon. The math goes something like this. Trump knew it was bad but told the public everything would be OK. Then he simply watched as millions died because of his willful deceit against both science and compassion.

Well, math is hard for some. Because that doesn't check out at all.

Trump shut down travel from China (good), then locked down the economy he had previously reinvigorated to the tune of historically catastrophic unemployment levels (bad). While deaths per capita across the country largely fell into a grouping of worldwide and flu-on-steroids norms, which occurred almost no matter what interventions were taken (perhaps you've heard of Sweden?). And that's if you can believe the data about what actually counts as a coronavirus death, which you can't.

Yes, I know. Reality wasn't so great, either. This hasn't been Trump's finest hour by a long shot. Here's the kicker, though: Fauci was at Trump's side for it all.

You can think anything you want about the efficacy or sound-mindedness of how things played out above, but what you can't do is pretend that Fauci didn't have a hand in it. Just as you can do the same with Trump and the BLM riots, but you can't pretend those riots aren't happening in cities dominated for decades by Democrats who have made it clear they have their own designs for America.

That's the same Fauci the Left has canonized this year with a cult-like devotion. He was infallible. We had to trust him, no matter how many times he was wrong about everything all the time. He was going to save us from Trump killing us all. Of course, the reality is the exact opposite — as it usually is when compared to progressive vision quest. The reality is the dumbest thing Trump has done his entire presidency is entrust it to Fauci the fraud. His heinous lockdowns did untold damage to this country it will take years and years to dig out from.

Perhaps realizing that if Trump goes down for this, he does as well, Fauci leaped to Trump's defense against this silliness. And on Fox News, no less. See, where did Trump get the notion that COVID-19 would just be a bad flu back in March? Why, from Fauci himself, who wrote those very words in the illustrious New England Journal of Medicine back on Feb. 28.

See, when it comes to having red in the ledger, Trump's been more accomplice than point man on multiple fronts. His grave sin was submitting to the expertise of Fauci, who has proven to be an expert at nothing this year other than building his own brand.

Fauci's designs for America over the course of 2020's virus-palooza have run the gamut from "nothing to see here" to "maybe you better put your goggles on." From "rub some dirt on it" to "death comes to us all." And it doesn't really matter if he had held these varied positions because he was legitimately following what he believed to be true, is utterly incompetent or is a debased liar.

Believe "the experts" we were and still to this very day are told with Karen-filled scorn. And Trump, much to my chagrin, repeatedly did. That's where you can place his guilt if there is any to be found. A Vader to Fauci's Palpatine. Their scalps are in this together.

Fauci understands all of this better than anyone, which is why he is already running cover for Trump against the very media sycophants who have coveted his healing touch for so long. In fact, no one needs for Bob Woodward's new book about Trump's supposed leadership heresies to be taken less seriously than him. Whereas Trump is almost immune to these varied coup attempts after four years of trying on multiple fronts, this if Fauci's entire ballgame.

So scream that the emperor has no clothes all you want, but no one's bare ass is more exposed right now than "In Fauci we trust."