RUSH: Dr. Fauci… Dr. Fauci has finally admitted — this happened back on Friday — that the lockdown might do “irreparable damage,” something I opined on, something I told you two weeks into this. Dr. Fauci, up until last Friday, was dead set against any opening. Now, what happened? What made Dr. Fauci…? I mean, this is not just changing his mind. This is a drastic misdirection of opinion. Big, big-time change.

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RUSH: Okay, here’s the Dr. Fauci sound bite. This is from Friday. He was on CBS’ Fast Money Halftime Report. Co-host Scott Wapner, talking to Dr. Fauci, said, “How do you address what others have said, that it is just time to open the country now. It’s time to protect just the most vulnerable?”

FAUCI: We certainly want — in a cautious way — reopening. We can’t stay locked down for such a considerable period of time that you might do irreparable damage and have unintended consequences, including consequences for health. And it’s for that reason why the guidelines are being put forth so that the states and the cities can start to reenter and reopen.

RUSH: All right. I’m genuinely curious. Do you know what changed for Dr. Fauci? ‘Cause, folks… (interruption) What was it? (interruption) Okay. So you think that Dr. Fauci has been forced into revising his opinion because the states have reopened and everything is fine, and Dr. Fauci will look like an idiot if he doesn’t acknowledge this? That is your theory? (interruption) Well, I guess we can go with it. Now, don’t misunderstand, folks, but I have been saying this exact thing since two weeks into the shutdown.

Now, don’t misunderstand. I know that the Drive-By Media is never gonna treat me as the oracle they treat Dr. Fauci. The media is gonna sit around and wait for me to do what they think is step in it, examine, then report that, whereas Dr. Fauci… “Oh. Dr. Fauci says it’s okay to open. Lockdown might do irreparable damage!” You can’t find him even alluding to that as recently as three weeks ago. Anytime reopening came up… Look, I’m not dumping on Dr. Fauci.

But anytime there was a good story, anytime there was good news, who was it usually throwing cold water on it? It was Dr. Fauci, or it was somebody from the coronavirus task force, and it was like clockwork. Anyway, I’m glad that Dr. Fauci has moved in our direction here, ’cause it’s only common sense. This is something that anybody should have known two weeks into this. Irreparable damage has been done by the lockdown — irreparable damage to the economy, to the American people, to their lives, to their livelihoods, to American cities.

It still is what has me bamboozled about these Democrat blue state governors. They seem obsessed remaining locked down. Look, we all know why. They probably got their marching orders from somebody. It’s a political objective — damage Trump, do whatever they can — ’cause some of these blue states happen to be battleground states where Trump, in specific places, did well. It’s sad that they would behave this way and have these objectives. But don’t doubt me; they do.