When Dr. Anthony Fauci stepped down two years following an extraordinary career in public service, Barack Obama issued a memorable statement. “I will always be grateful that we had a once-in-a-century public health leader to guide us through a once-in-a-century pandemic,” the former Democratic president wrote. “Few people have touched more lives than Dr. Fauci — and I’m glad he’s not done yet.”

Obama’s praise represented the sentiments of many Americans, who came to celebrate Fauci as a pioneering public-health visionary who dedicated his life to helping others. That opinion, up until fairly recently, was entirely bipartisan.

But as Republican politics has radicalized, the right has come to see Fauci as a monstrous villain, whom they’re eager to target.

Two years ago, GOP lawmakers said Fauci’s retirement wouldn’t deter them from going after him if voters put House Republicans in the majority. A year later, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said in reference to Fauci, “We need to pop him good, and hang a felony on him.”

It was against this backdrop that Fauci appeared before a congressional committee for yet another round of questions. NBC News reported:

Those who watched the cringeworthy display heard quite a few conspiracy theories, and more than a few odd complaints that had nothing to do with Covid or the pandemic, but those waiting for devastating information that made Fauci look bad were left wanting.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Indeed, The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank explained, GOP members on this House panel have spent the last year and a half promising bombshell revelations about cover-ups and nefarious payoffs. Yesterday’s hearing was the party’s opportunity to expose Fauci once and for all — except Republicans didn’t have anything notable to share. From Milbank’s column:

And this is ultimately what mattered most about the hearing. House Republicans spent years gearing up for this high-profile event. They would finally expose Fauci. They would present their evidence and prove their conspiracy theories true. Conservative media outlets and far-right activists would, at long last, rejoice as the celebrated immunologist was torn down by GOP members who’d done their homework.

Except, none of that happened. Republicans tried to rake Fauci through the coals, but he emerged unscathed — not because the committee’s GOP members struggled to present a coherent case, but because there was no case to bring.

The Republicans’ “weaponization” committee was a dud. The party’s anti-Biden impeachment crusade was a dud. The GOP’s Jan. 6 committee was a dud. And now the GOP’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has joined the pitiful parade, leaving Fauci unscathed.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com