Rand Paul mocks Dr. Fauci as ‘some sort of Greek philosopher’

During the television appearance, Fox News host Laura Ingraham praised Paul for calling out the "lies" of Dr. Fauci and asked whether American are afraid to question him.

"Well, it's the science — and people are afraid of, you know, scientists, and he's put on a pedestal," Paul told Ingraham. "But you have to remember that his lies are noble lies, Laura.

"He's not telling you this because he’s a mean man," Paul continued. "He's telling you this because he feels sorry for you because you don't understand, and Americans aren't smart enough to make informed decisions. So, he fashions himself some sort of Greek philosopher. He tells you these noble lies."

The "noble lie" is a concept developed by the Greek philosopher Plato. In his book The Republic, Plato argues that society should be ruled by a "philosopher king," and that the lower castes must be told "noble lies" by their rulers in order to promote social harmony and inspire confidence in a sort of national mythology.

"So, at first, he told you that all the masks don't work. But he told you that because he wanted to protect the N-95 masks, which actually in a health setting do work. But then, later on, he said, all masks do work. But that's also a lie also because really only the N-95 masks work," Paul asserted.

In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Fauci told Americans that masks were ineffective in mitigating the spread of coronavirus. He later said that masks are, in fact, effective. According to Fauci, he lied about the effectiveness of masks in order to ensure that there were enough masks available for doctors, who Fauci said needed them most.

Paul's assertion that only N-95 are effective at preventing coronavirus from spreading is disputed by health experts and organizations including the CDC, which recommends wearing masks primarily to protect the health of those around you in case you are sick unknowingly.

"It's a compilation of lies,” Paul said. “But they're all done to protect you because he doesn't think you're smart enough to make any of these decisions on your own."