Deception: The Great Covid Cover-Up
By Rand Paul
(Regnery Publishing, 408 pages, $33)

His newest book, Deception: The Great Covid Cover-Up, is Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s holy grail, his quest to unmask the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts of Anthony Fauci — along with the scientific-industrial complex, the government, and the mainstream media — to obfuscate the origins of the disease that resulted in 2 million American deaths, misrepresent Americans’ options for treatment, and impose broad-scale community lockdowns just so that all involved could continue to ride their gravy train of personal profits.

Paul, who holds a medical degree, spares no one in his account. His primary target is long-serving National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, who rapidly became the face of the pandemic. The senator criticizes the good doctor for claiming that he was “following the science” when he propagated the theory that COVID-19 originated from a wet market in Wuhan instead of a leak from a laboratory associated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where scientists were actively conducting gain-of-function research. (READ MORE from Leonora Cravotta: The Mysterious Secret Life of France’s Controversial Prime Minister)

Paul also calls out others involved in the cover-up, such as Dr. Shi Zhengli, director of Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, the pass-through organization for funding of the aforementioned research. Paul excoriates Fauci not only for implementing gain-of-function research, which was partially funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars, but for hiding the fact that he was receiving royalties for it and, most importantly, circumventing government oversight by redefining “gain-of-function” to exclude his work. Fauci hid this information because millions of research dollars and royalties were at stake — and, in doing so, put U.S. national security at risk.

True — and False — Consequences of the Pandemic

Paul lambasts Fauci for dictating lockdowns for businesses and schools, championing universal vaccination, ignoring the efficacy of natural immunity, and misrepresenting the utility of masks. The author maintains that not only were these measures completely unnecessary given that COVID-19 has a 99 percent survival rate, but they also had profoundly negative consequences. Universal vaccination placed our youth at risk for myocarditis. Students fell behind academically due to the inherent limitations of remote education. Many shuttered small businesses never reopened. And individuals of all ages experienced depression from isolation and limited opportunities for physical exercise. The lockdowns, Paul points out, had their most devastating impact on poorer communities, while the “laptop class” still had access to private clubs, private schools, and a plethora of opportunities for socialization and recreation.

Paul presents himself as the voice of reason against a backdrop of “COVID hysteria.” As the sole senator to vote against the Payment Protection Program Act in April 2020, he didn’t shy away from speaking his mind:

We now have scientific evidence from randomized studies that we can treat this disease without a draconian lockdown of the country.… So today I rise in opposition to spending $500 billion more. The virus bailouts have already cost over $2 trillion. Our annual deficit this year will approach $4 trillion. We cannot continue on this course. No amount of bailout dollars will stimulate an economy that is being strangled by quarantine. It is not a lack of money that plagues us but a lack of commerce. This economic calamity only resolves when we begin to open the economy.

Just as Paul was critical of universal vaccination — which does not account for age, existing immunities, or preexisting conditions — he eschewed distributing $1,200 checks to individuals who had neither lost their jobs nor suffered any other economic consequences from the pandemic.

Fauci’s Cover-Up Unveiled

Deception is peppered with excerpts from testimonials where Paul puts Fauci, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Moderna President Stéphane Bancel, and others key figures on the proverbial hot seat. One popular exchange between Paul and Fauci about masks was particularly insightful:

Senator Paul: “You won’t get rid of vaccine hesitancy by telling people to wear a mask after they get the vaccine-you want people to get the vaccine, give them a reward instead of telling them that the nanny state is going to be there for three more years and you’ve got to wear a mask forever. People don’t want to hear it. There’s no science behind it.”

Dr. Fauci: “Well let me just state for the record that masks are not theater. Masks are protective. And we-”

Senator Paul: “As immunity, they are theater, If you already have immunity, you are wearing a mask to give comfort to others. You are not wearing a mask because of any science.”

Paul, one of the first public figures to contract the virus, was potentially more vulnerable to COVID-related pneumonia due to his damaged lung, one of the many injuries he received when he was assaulted by “a disturbed leftist” in 2017. The mainstream media wasted no time COVID-shaming the senator. Associated Press White House reporter Seung Min Kim accused him of going to the gym and using the pool after he tested positive for COVID, an allegation that Paul’s staff swiftly refuted. 

Deception, which was written in loosely chronological order, is ultimately a hopeful story in that we witness Paul’s vindication vis-à-vis his assertions that Fauci lied to the American public. In February 2023, the Wall Street Journal announced that the Department of Energy “acknowledged that COVID-19 likely leaked from a Wuhan lab.” This revelation was famously boosted by a retweet from Elon Musk to his now-160 million followers. (READ MORE: Virus Variant: Perpetuating White Coat Supremacy in America)

“Dr. Anthony Fauci funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, lied to Congress about it, and now both the FBI & the Department of Energy have concluded that the coronavirus originated at the Wuhan lab,” a Twitter user wrote. “Does that mean Dr. Anthony Fauci funded the development of COVID-19?”

Musk tweeted in response, “He did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth).”

Dr. Anthony Fauci funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, lied to Congress about it, and now both the FBI & the Department of Energy have concluded that the coronavirus originated at the Wuhan lab.

Does that mean Dr. Anthony Fauci funded the development of COVID-19? pic.twitter.com/ToCQKR91zz

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 26, 2023

Paul repeatedly emphasizes that the truth about Fauci and the various COVID narratives would never have come out without the Freedom of Information Act. In August of 2023, the senator filed a criminal referral to the Department of Justice regarding Fauci’s role in covering up the origin of COVID. He concludes the book by musing on whether Fauci, Daszak, or Shi will ever have to answer for their lies.

“Did their actions lead to the largest man-made plague in human history?” Paul writes. “Are millions dead as the result of their experiments to increase the pathogenicity of deadly viruses? History will judge.”

Deception is a highly readable book that depicts the elaborate spider web of fabrications that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the elite scientific community, the government, and the media wrought upon the American people in concealing the origins of the COVID-19 virus and Fauci’s involvement in gain-of-function research. Sen. Rand Paul is to be commended for not only writing such a brave exposé but also continuing his quest to unearth the truth and punish those who exploited the worst pandemic in 100 years and deceived the American public for personal gain.