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In a public appearance covered by an NBC News affiliate, there is the following comment by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with context (emphasis mine) via DeSantis announces $20M funding for cybersecurity education in Florida on 2 March 2022:

A few questions focused on legislative topics were touched on, with the governor saying he’d need to see more about it before giving an answer, then he spoke about COVID-19 and the current status of the pandemic and related federal policies.

“I think, I’d have to think about some of the stuff, I mean, I agree if you think about what they’ve done, Fauci is in the witness protection program now. They don’t want him out, no, they’ve never, if you listen to them, they never supported all of these policies that were so destructive, they all want to be like Florida all of a sudden and nothing has changed,” DeSantis said. “There has been no change in the underlying science, the ineffectiveness of those policies was apparent long ago. The destructiveness of those policies was apparent long ago.

The governor's comment may have been metaphorical, but I am uncertain. It has been picked up by many other sources, e.g. the legal website, Legal Insurrection, Where in the World Has Dr. Anthony Fauci Gone?

A news source with a verified profile on Twitter posted the following on 2 March 2022:

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) asked by a reporter if he agreed with anything from Biden’s SOTU. After hemming and hawing, DeSantis says, “I agree, if you think about what they’ve done, Fauci is in the witness protection program now.”

When I did a Google search, it returned this:

It looks like these results are changing quickly
If this topic is new, it can sometimes take time for reliable sources to publish information

Ellie Kesselman
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    This is a weird one. He's clearly _not_ making that claim. It's obviously a metaphor (read the rest of the paragraph twice). But maybe lots of people are hearing this guy and thinking DeSantis is making this claim and it does need to be debunked? – Owen Reynolds Mar 08 '22 at 02:07
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    @OwenReynolds I'm not a native speaker, but to me he makes the very clear statement that Dr. Fauci is in witness protection. Maybe he can wiggle out that he didn't mean to make this statement but the words that came out of his mouth will be interpreted by a lot of people as him making exactly that claim. – quarague Mar 08 '22 at 10:12
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    He *has* been given a security detail, because of all the death threats. But that's absolutely not the same thing. – Darrel Hoffman Mar 08 '22 at 14:44
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    Apparently this has become widespread enough that Politifact felt the need to dispel the rumor. This was published 16 hours ago https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/mar/07/facebook-posts/fauci-has-regularly-given-interviews-and-appeared-/ – Ellie Kesselman Mar 08 '22 at 15:30

1 Answers1

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This appears to be a misinterpretation - it is a figurative, not literal, use of "witness protection program".

The article was first posted:

Mar 2, 2022 / 09:55 AM EST

Just 45 minutes later, Fauci was part of a press briefing:

MARCH 02, 2022 • PRESS BRIEFINGS

10:40 A.M. EST

MR. ZIENTS: Good morning. And thanks for joining us today as we release President Biden’s National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan.

Today, I’m joined by Secretary Becerra, Dr. Walensky, and Dr. Fauci. We’ll each deliver some remarks, and then open it up for questions.

Oddthinking
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    Even "figurative" is generous as Dr. Fauci appeared in a press briefing **after** the governor of Florida made his remarks. I would call DeSantis's statement a lie. – David Hammen Mar 07 '22 at 17:51
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    @DavidHammen: I was wondering if it was a snarky, bad-taste reference to the reports about a month ago of the constant death threats Fauci has received. But I am not savvy enough with foreign (to me) politics to be confident about that. – Oddthinking Mar 08 '22 at 00:26
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    You might be able to add this to your answer as it appears to list Dr. Fauci related press events and it appears to have one on February 23rd as well as others in the month of February. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/director-in-the-news – Joe W Mar 08 '22 at 00:49
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    The text just afterwards explains the figurative nature. He's clearly saying "they're embarrassed by him so are hiding him so deeply it's like he's in the WPP". – Owen Reynolds Mar 08 '22 at 02:03
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    There are a vast number of cultural connotations here. For example, (whether it's true I don't know) people usually think of gangsters targeting their own for retribution more than neutral witnesses, so saying someone is in the WPP vaguely suggests that they are somehow criminal. Also, WPP implies losing some degree of autonomy, being under police control and keeping a "low profile" by not doing anything exceptional you might have done otherwise. *('They don't want him out')* So there's a whiff of all around insult there. – Mike Serfas Mar 08 '22 at 02:09
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    Is someone in the WPP prohibited/prevented from showing up at news conferences? – Fizz Mar 08 '22 at 09:20
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    @Fizz: Being in witness protection implies you're cooperating with people helping to keep your location and previous identity secret. Showing up a news conference is pretty much the opposite of both those things. – Peter Cordes Mar 08 '22 at 10:49
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    It seems like De Santis may also have been conflating WPP with protective custody. But it seems clear to me that whatever he was saying was intended figuratively and probably as an exxageration – Barmar Mar 08 '22 at 14:49
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    I would call it hyperbole, not just figurative use. It's intended to stress the following points (that Fauci isn't heard from anymore). Common in punditry. Very common in conservative talk radio, which perhaps DeSantis consumes sometimes. –  Mar 08 '22 at 14:55
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    Politifact seems to be attempting to dispel the claim https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/mar/07/facebook-posts/fauci-has-regularly-given-interviews-and-appeared-/ published 16 hours ago. – Ellie Kesselman Mar 08 '22 at 15:31
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    Ahhh, and it was spread all around on Facebook too https://archive.ph/M1nhL – Ellie Kesselman Mar 08 '22 at 15:33
  • @LangLаngС Did you mean "facetiously"? – nasch Mar 08 '22 at 17:45
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    @LangLаngС: Firstly, it is NOT acceptable to call other users here thick. Secondly, as the Politifact link in the comment above suggests, this is a reasonably notable claim. Your opinion that it is farcical is uncalled for. However, it is an easily dispelled claim, and I showed that with some simply evidence. If you want to post a different answer, focussing on the intention of the speaker, go for it (bring references). Calling my answer [factitious](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/factitious) is an empty insult without merit. – Oddthinking Mar 09 '22 at 02:30
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    @DavidHammen A lie would imply that someone was intended to believe it literally. To a native English speaker, it's pretty obvious that DeSantis was making a joke. You may think it's funny, you may not, whatever, but it's obviously not intended as a literal statement of Fauci's whereabouts. – Kyralessa Mar 18 '22 at 09:56