Listen Here:

BUCK: “The Fauch” is running around and being a mouthpiece for the vaccine mandates as people are losing their jobs, and here’s an example of it.

FAUCI: The only problem is — is that we’re entering the cooler fall season and we’re entering a situation where the children will be coming back to school. There will be more activity in the fall. We have got to do whatever we can to get those already 70-or-so-million people who are eligible to be vaccinated. We’ve gotta get them to be vaccinated.

We’ve got to convince them through trusted messengers why it’s important for their own health, for that of their families, but also — something that we continue to emphasize — the societal responsibility to get that veil of protection over society.

BUCK: Well, first of all, we know that schools are not a big driver of the pandemic. We’ve known that for over a year. He’s full of it. We’ve seen in Europe the same thing. But, Clay, also we’re past the, “I’m just trying to ask and convince.” We’re at the “get the shot or you lose your job” phase, and it’s interesting that Fauci isn’t willing to say that.

CLAY: Well, and also, they keep saying mandates are really effective. Yeah, and you used the analogy the same way that pulling a gun on somebody is effective to get money. It’s not necessarily the right way. But yes, if you tell people, “If you don’t get vaccinated you are gonna lose your job,” and I think we need to hammer home how many people vaccinated.

‘Cause I don’t think this gets talked about enough, Buck. For people who are 65 years and older, 94% of the country has been vaccinated. Let me repeat that: People who are 65 years and older, 94% of Americans — and these are the people that are at the most risk — have been vaccinated. Eighteen and up, 77% of the population has been vaccinated. For people who are 12 and up, 75% have been vaccinated! We’re talking about three-out-of-four people who are 12 years or older have had a vaccine shot.

BUCK: The people who are vaccinated are the ones that are driving the mitigation policies and the masking in schools and all this stuff.

CLAY: That’s true.

BUCK: And you have to wonder: At what point will they just say, “There is no level of risk that I’m willing to tolerate; I’ll do anything that anyone tells me will mitigate risk in the slightest”?

CLAY: — risk in the first place.

BUCK: Right. They should be thinking of people who are vaccinated. If they really believe what they at least publicly what they say, it should be, “We go back to normal tomorrow because everyone’s had the chance. Everyone’s been able to get the shot. It’s more than enough time. People are not gonna get forced to get the shot.”

CLAY: And most people got it!

BUCK: And what’s amazing is — and most people got it. What’s amazing is when you look at the numbers the people who are scared are overwhelmingly the vaccinated.

CLAY: Yes.

BUCK: And the unvaccinated are not scared. Now, I can tell them this. They’re not gonna convince them to be scared at this point. That will not happen.

CLAY: And telling them they have to do something is not the way. I’ll put myself in this category. I am far less likely to get a vaccine… Again, I’ve had covid already, have antibodies. But I’m far less likely to get a vaccine when you tell me that I have to do it, than I might have been in my own decision-making process. And I think there are a lot of people in that final 25% that think like me. You’re not encouraging that in any way by a mandate.

BUCK: There’s also a part of this I don’t think gets much conversation. I think there are people who… The vax, the vax mandate crowd, call them free riders on this, so to speak. But once you get to 70, 80% of the population vaccinated, the chance of you coming into contact with somebody down the line who is gonna have a high viral load keeps going down and down and down.

We’re not in the early stages of the pandemic anymore, and so if somebody wants to… Look, they’re playing their odds, right? They’re making an affirmative decision that they’re saying, “I think I’ll beat this if I get it, and you know what? If I don’t, that’s the reality of it.” But behind all of this, Clay, is:

The people who are vaccinated who view this as an issue of political tribal allegiance now are the ones who are still terrified. They want your kids masked up, want everyone to get boosters, want everyone to keep going with all of this stuff. Why don’t they feel safe? They got the shot. They say the shot’s what you need. What’s the problem?

CLAY: How about, Buck, the fact that we don’t hear enough that 94% of people 65 and up have gotten the vaccine? You know how hard it is to get 94% of people to agree on anything? That’s a tremendous success story. I think the fact that 77% of 18 and up have is a tremendous success story. The reality is Fauci told us when 75 or 80% of people got the vaccine initially, we wouldn’t have any more issues.

BUCK: Wait! Fauci was wrong again? At some point, people just deserve what they get from Fauciism and they deserve it long and hard, because this guy’s been wrong so many times, it’s hard to imagine anyone couldn’t see through it.