As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Dr. Anthony Fauci may be out of the spotlight, but his legacy from the COVID pandemic and AIDS epidemic is still under review. Now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is endorsing Trump yet still on the ballot himself, his book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” is seeing renewed relevance. For at least a few minutes, let’s attempt to set aside our emotions about RFK and Fauci. Does this book lay out fair theories about healthcare elites such as Fauci, or has RFK overreached?
‘The Real Anthony Fauci’ Summary: A Theory on How Fauci, Bill Gates and Big Pharma Have Controlled Our Lives
“The Real Anthony Fauci” is a 400-page book, but it’s a 4,000-page or more frustrating read if you want to give it an honest chance by researching its myriad footnotes. Robert Kennedy wants to convince the readers of this book that we have been bamboozled by Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates and big pharma into believing everything we were told about the COVID-19 pandemic and AIDs, and that the primary function of certain government health agencies are a complete lie. Mr. Kennedy spins a web of deception led by many in government, corporations and other shadowy individuals that our rights have been hijacked for their complete control of our lives. The question is how much of this narrative is true.
Does Mr. Kennedy make a compelling case against Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates? Or is this an unsubstantiated attack on everything we are led to believe in regards to our trust in Mr. Fauci, Mr. Gates, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), World Health Organization (WHO) and more?
Mr. Kennedy separates the book into different areas of study starting with the COVID-19 pandemic, then takes us through the AIDS epidemic, Bill Gates’ philanthropy and investment in vaccinating the world and finally to a full-blown conspiracy by various actors working together to take over our lives by how they would manage a pandemic that eventually occurred with COVID-19. It is in the final chapter that he puts together his history of how the various individuals, organizations and government actors have been planning for this all along.
At The Rauch Review, we care deeply about being transparent and earning your trust. These articles explain why and how we created our unique methodology for reviewing books and other storytelling mediums.
Audience and Genre: Exposé or Conspiracy Exposition
Too many people will see the author’s name and have preconceived notions about this book. Many of Mr. Kennedy’s supporters will laud the book without reading it, and his distractors will cajole it without reading it. The irony is they need to read it to be able to highlight the points they want to make instead of taking everything for granted.
The people who may want to read it with an open mind may not have the time because there is an inordinate amount of references that do not make the point the author wants or are only verifications of the sentence stated in the book, as opposed to some points that should be further researched. Mr. Kennedy has included so many footnotes that a reader can easily be deterred from their own examination of what is fact and what is fiction. Yet, if a reader wants to truly understand what Mr. Kennedy wants us to believe and if it should be believed, they are going to need to set aside a few afternoons.
All this information leaves the potential reader with the daunting task of trying to see if Robert Kennedy has uncovered one of the great scandals of our time or if he has spent untold amounts of energy creating a conspiratorial trope. Even though the book sold well, how many people really want to take this deep dive to uncover what is true?
Three Cs: Compelling, Clear, Concise
Editorial Note: We believe these three factors are important for evaluating general writing quality across every aspect of the book. Before you get into further analysis, here’s a quick breakdown to clarify how we’re using these words:
- Compelling: Does the author consistently write in a way that would make most readers emotionally invested in the book’s content?
- Clear: Are most sentences and parts of the book easy enough to read and understand?
- Concise: Are there sections or many sentences that could be cut? Does the book have pacing problems?
Compelling: Yes, for People Who Hate Fauci and Love RFK
How much you may want to read this book depends on how you feel about quite a few topics, yet as stated above many people have an opinion long before they read the book. Reading through the introductory notes written by many notable people, you may get the feeling Mr. Kennedy is a great American hero ready to save us from all sorts of malfeasance. For many indoctrinated people, this emotion will be enough to have them jump right in. And for them, the book will meet their expectations as chapter after chapter increases the size and scope of the scandal overriding the national and international heath industry, big pharma, Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci.
As mentioned above, many will dismiss the book out of hand, and the introductory notes will mean nothing.
Are these same notes enough to encourage people to read this book who may not already have preconceived notions? They might and, if they do, they will find the book a very interesting read if they just read the book straight through.
Is it moving enough to possibly influence some opinions to create a new die hard fan of fighting against what is wrong? Unclear.
Clear: Straightforward Structure, Perhaps Muddied by Mudslinging and Fancy Words
Mr. Kennedy is a well-read individual, and he works hard to incorporate his knowledge into this book. He has a very deep vocabulary. However, neither of these attributes help to make his points easy for a reader to grasp.
A straight read through allows Mr. Kennedy to use each chapter to show a new problem, hopefully leading to his final chapter showing how through the last few decades certain individuals have been conspiring against us the whole time. Does he succeed in this endeavor?
It is hard to say. If the reader glosses over so much of the verbiage, he might. Yet, with a critical read, the text bogs down. The amount of information can be overwhelming, especially if you take the deeper dive. A reader must reread passages or tie the loose ends together and struggle with the constant mudslinging and bombastic accusations that make for inflammatory reading, but do not help with obtaining clear points.
Concise: Yes, If You Don’t Follow the Footnotes
This book could have been much easier to read if, instead of using footnotes incessantly, he took the main points of each chapter and incorporated the footnote into the text. Also, there is so much redundancy in the footnotes that they lessen his valid arguments. A reader has to dig through so many weeds of useless information disguised as a valid point that it becomes difficult to find the blades of grass. Too many of the footnotes referenced the same information, or worse, were not valid at all. And too often points were repeated from chapter to chapter, which wears the reader down.
This book does not do the reader any favors. The book will read fast if you are already of a similar mindset regarding RFK’s theories and that there is a deep state that needs to be exposed. If you are of the mindset Mr. Kennedy is a conspiracist that has no idea of the importance of what our government does, public health or the importance of public planning, you will find it a shrill cry of audacious accusations. If you are a person who is curious because you have heard quite a bit from either or both sides, then it is still somewhat of a disciplined read to get through it. No matter where you fall in the above audiences, you truly need to read the footnotes and then research the research if you ever want to find out what is the truth versus the fuss.
Prose Style: Revealing Look Into our World?
There is an old saying that says if you point a finger at someone there are three fingers pointing back at you. Mr. Kennedy definitely is pointing many fingers, yet are any coming back at him?
This book wants the reader to see major eye-opening problems with many aspects of how Mr. Fauci and Mr. Gates, along with many others, have hijacked the health care system, benefitted big pharma with sole reliance on vaccines as a way to handle all health issues throughout the world and eventually benefit a small group of elites who will take away the rights and liberties of all the people during a pandemic. One point it never makes is what happens afterward.
For most of the book Mr. Kennedy writes individual chapters on each issue he wants us to understand and works to prove his points about why Mr. Fauci and others have led us astray.
By the final chapter, the reader is given an almost science fiction plot that shows certain notorious individuals have been scheming for decades on how to control the world if there ever was a major biohazard leak or contagious disease unleashed upon the world. Each page of the final chapter describes in detail a vast amount of plannings that ultimately leads to the COVID-19 pandemic and gives the impression this cast of characters was leading to this all along.
There are quite a few accusations in this final chapter that can leave readers wondering if he is correct. One point Mr. Kennedy states in his book, and which I agree with, is that better public planning and policy is needed for any future pandemics. He does offer the same minimal ideas a few times in the book. Other than that assertion, there are no answers to this vast conspiracy, or maybe I missed them, but they did not stand out. He spends quite a bit of our time creating this world where our liberties have already been lost and we are hapless against it and leaves us there.
The fingers pointing back, even if correct, do nothing more than finger point throughout the book. We are shown an inflammatory picture and are left trying to figure out how to hang it on the wall or what else we need to do with it.
Setting: The Halls of Power
This book walks us through the various organizations, governments and individuals who have shaped our healthcare system for decades. The book tries to connect dots of how each organization is tied to another one and which individuals have manipulated others to obtain what they wanted.
The book does a great job of introducing the reader to quite an extensive list of organizations that shape our world. Whether you believe the substance of the issues or not, the book does provide the reader a benefit in showing how these organizations interact with each other and what is their purpose or function. There is enough historical context introduced that shows the evolution of these organizations.
Rhetoric: The World as You Know It Has Failed You
Mr. Kennedy wants you to believe that Dr. Fauci, Mr. Gates and others have taken control of your lives through a dependence on their views on how health care should be administered throughout the world. He works to create a mindset that you should be as upset as he is and that your lives mean nothing to the described worldview.
A constant theme is that Mr. Fauci is more interested in personal wealth than your health. That every decision he makes is to benefit big pharma, which in turns benefits him. This argument is addressed in the chapters on COVID-19 and AIDS extensively. RFK paints Mr. Fauci as self-serving, arguing he has no business being in charge of NIAID. And that many in the various U.S. Government bureaucracies are either controlled by Mr. Fauci or beholden to him. And subsequently will not confront him in fear of losing credibility or wealth due to his ties with big pharma.
Mr. Kennedy’s theme above weakens some of the more reasonable critiques of Dr. Fauci. As we have discovered post-pandemic, a certain amount of Dr. Fauci’s initial recommendations for what we should do for the pandemic were not necessary or may have been harmful, such as closing schools completely. There is quite a bit of developing research on the effects that schools closing had on students. Taking a bombastic view of everything around Dr. Fauci may mitigate how some people view everything he instituted during the first few months and, in defense of Dr. Fauci, defend too many of his programs.
And that Mr. Gates through his philanthropy is hiding a deeper agenda of gaining more wealth via philanthrocapitalism, more power and control of our daily lives. Mr. Kennedy takes a deep dive into what Bill Gates has done over the years. And with an open mind, a reader could determine an even deeper dive is needed. Deep in the footnotes about Mr. Gates are valid arguments that Mr. Gates’ influence in WHO and other aspects of health care throughout the world need a very thorough examination to see if he is just overstepping his bounds or if he has a more greed-influenced vision.
How does Mr. Kennedy define Mr. Gates’ philanthrocapitalism? Mr. Gates, through his nonprofit organization, works to make sure everyone is vaccinated against what they may encounter. And all this work benefits Mr. Gates due to his investments in the large pharmaceutical companies who reap the benefits of world wide sales. And eventually leads to the final chapter where Mr. Gates has been working for years to control the world through how the various government agencies, WHO and spy networks all are tied to how they will control the world through the media, the military and other government organizations.
Cultural and Political Significance: Is the Time Now for Robert Kennedy?
Mr. Kennedy is embarking on an independent bid to become President of the United States. Does a reading of his book encourage a person to consider him as presidential material or vote for him? Does he give the reader enough information that they can make an informed decision on him being able to address the problems he confronts? Is the reader willing to accept he has the facts correct and is in his right to address these issues if elected?
These are just a few questions we may need to consider with his presidential aspirations. This book embarks on a worldview many people may or may not believe, but do we use this book to make a full determination on who he is and what he represents? The answer to the last question is probably no. Not because the book is lacking in his interpretations on what he believes, but because many people have probably already made up their mind before they read the book.
This is a flashpoint, an attempt to call out trusted people who have misled us. The first point: Does the book succeed on its merits? The second is does he succeed in enlarging his audience to make a successful run at the presidency? And if he succeeds, what does it mean for everyone involved in his book? And what if he is wrong and wins. What happens next?
People run for the presidency on many issues, and the information in this book is not enough to base an entire campaign, yet we might see aspects of what is in the book on the campaign trail. Will it have a positive effect for him? We will see.
Authenticity: He Really Believes What He Says
Mr. Kennedy makes no doubts about how he feels. He spends the entire book setting the reader up to become as enraged as he is about how we have been misled. His feelings are constantly shared throughout the book by his use of inflammatory and demonstrative language in his descriptions of Mr. Fauci and Mr. Gates.
They represent everything wrong with government control, big pharma, self dealing and more to him. He lets us know in no uncertain terms that we need to know his truth. At times his bombastic name calling is overbearing, yet leaves no doubt that he feels the injustices need to be exposed and the individuals in charge are responsible for many abuses of power.
Critiquing the Critics: There Are Very Few Open-Minded Reviews Out There
Robert Kennedy Jr.’s name by itself stirs up controversy or praise. And this is demonstrated by the people critiquing this book. Both sides love telling a reader their opinion and why you shouldn’t read it, because they have all the answers for you.
Going back to my original points, people either praised it without reading it or condoned it. And you can tell by the comments. The reviews from readers tell us exactly how we should feel. It is either the greatest exposé written, or let me tell you why you shouldn’t read it.
There are quite a few professional reviews that support the work and what it says. I did not do the research on the overall viewpoints of each reviewer, yet I did find it interesting that people who support the book took much more time than the detractors. Yet, many well-known publications did address the book as a conspiracy and refuted many of his arguments.
There are a few reviews that do come close to an open assessment. One is by Robin Holtom on the Hastings Independent which offers a few specific examples into the depths of the issues and his observations.
Another interesting review was from State Senator, Will Brownsberger of Massachusetts. In today’s polarized political world I found it somewhat refreshing to see a politician step up and address in a critical eye what was said in this highly charged book. Sen. Brownsberger’s review is short and to the point supporting Dr. Fauci in general and the points about public health care in general. He supports the science behind what people like Dr. Fauci do and summarizes:
“But I am completely unable to step into RFK Jr.’s worldview. In his world, a few ruthless titans are pulling the strings for profit. I see a world in which a whole lot of mostly decent people with normal levels of self-interest are trying to do their jobs — to create medications and improve public health.”
Book Aesthetic: Stereotypical Exposé Style Cover
Presumably because this is a hard hitting exposé, the cover is designed to give that impression. It is all black with white letters. I find the cover a bit underwhelming. From a distance it seems very generic.
Reviewer’s Personal Opinion: Important Facts That Get Buried
When I was given the chance to read this book to write a review, I was somewhat excited. I had not had a chance to explore any of Mr. Kennedy’s works beforehand, and this is a very timely subject. So I embarked on opening my mind to see the excitement many people felt.
I walked away disappointed. It is a difficult read if you want to give it an honest chance. You have to read through constant admonitions of Mr. Fauci and Mr. Gates. There is no shortage of accusations and recriminations toward them, yet actual facts that are verifiable beyond his footnotes are in short supply. The enormous amount of footnotes also make this a difficult part of the reading.
I say short supply, yet that is more of a quantitative comparison. A better description would be the ratio of verifiable information that proves a point is a significant minority of the total number of footnotes. Or there are many factually correct footnotes, yet they only identify a quote or a fact. Not something that strategically moves his point forward.
Examples of productive footnotes can be found when referencing some of the studies on Ivermectin. In the section on Hydroxychloroquine, however, footnote after footnote references the same researchers or scientists who are debunked in quite a few articles found in outside reading (see comparison below).
There are a few valid points that need more research, which I will discuss below. Yet more often, if you research who Mr. Kennedy references, you find quite an enormous body of work that gives you the impression of being in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” where everyone is saying “run away run away.” And I quote this not for the words, but for the attitude in the movie. It just seems a comedy of complete nonsense for some of the references.
Some comparisons to give you an idea when you should run away and when you might want to research further. The first is Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin.
Mr. Kennedy devotes 19 pages of one chapter and 163 footnotes at the end of the chapter to the idea that Hydroxychloroquine is a viable drug to cure COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine should not be anywhere near COVID-19. The few supporting scientists and arguments were vastly debunked by a wide range of scientists and academia critics. It is incredulous to believe that a few random scientists see so much more than thousands of researchers about this drug. Unfortunately you have to sift through quite a few of the 163 footnotes and research his research to come to this conclusion because the narrative in the book presents a misleading case.
On the other hand, there is enough proof that Ivermectin may need more study and could be a solution to COVID-19 or at the least a viable antiviral agent. Mr. Kennedy devotes 25 pages and 102 footnotes to this topic. When read through with a discerning eye, you can find quite a bit of information to support this theory.
Mr. Kennedy also relies on some research and scientists who almost hurt his point. It is not a matter of cherry picking one of two footnotes to support Mr. Kennedy’s points. Many footnotes contain verifiable studies, yet some contain information that is from questionable sources or useless and leads a person astray.
Mr. Kennedy opens up this section discussing that originally Ivermectin was a drug designed for a wide range of human parasites and that in this form had been deemed safe for human consumption. He quickly moves onto the capabilities of Ivermectin as an antiviral for viruses such as Zika, dengue and yellow fever, to name a few. He references quite a few worldwide studies where Ivermectin showed benefits in either being a prophylactic against COVID-19 or possibly even reducing the severity of the disease. In this section he demonstrates one of his strongest points that the media is beholden to Anthony Fauci’s opinions and influence, which Mr. Kennedy stresses in great detail.
At one point there became a campaign that the press picked up on that people were taking a horse dewormer (Ivermectin) for COVID-19. I point this out because I remember seeing this claim on the news. At the time I had no idea of the drug, Ivermectin, so the press coming out making fun of people taking a horse dewormer was rather concerning, and I was thinking who would do such a thing. After reading the book, you do get a sense of how much we rely on authorities without questioning them. Mr. Kennedy may take it too far, but he does have valid points.
The second comparison is his treatments of Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates. As best I can tell, the accusations on Mr. Fauci were severely overblown. He wanted us to believe that Mr. Fauci was as evil as the Rothschild family. What I surmise is the most straight forward gist of how I think Mr. Kennedy wants you to view Dr. Fauci might be summed up in these two short paragraphs (page 173):
“In addition, Dr. Fauci honed the skill of aways speaking with authority-even when making contradictory assertions with no scientific basis-to rapidly reshape all government pronouncements into dogma, efficiently perpetuated in a quasi-religious manner by the media.
By repeatedly using these formulas for fifty years, Fauci directed his agency away from its core responsibility-basic research on infectious, allergic and autoimmune diseases that have become epidemic since he took over NIAID-and transformed his agency into a profit making appendage for itself and Big Pharma.”
The problem I face in discussing how much Mr. Kennedy should be believed is one you will face also if you attempt to fully read and research this book. An example of why I struggle with his opinion of Dr. Fauci is pages 244 and 245. There are a variety of good footnoted points, but there are also quotes attributed to people who are hard to verify. Mr. Kennedy definitely attributes the quotes to people, but doesn’t footnote them so a reader could verify. Because this book is littered with footnotes, it makes this reader wonder.
This is a random example of many scenarios. I do not want to bore you with page after page of maybe not contradictory content, but content that you wonder: Does it have holes in the information, or am I overthinking it?
Again, the book is about Dr. Fauci, so there is no shortage of discussion of his career and how Mr. Kennedy claims Dr. Fauci has usurped public health. I think any honest reader is going to come away with their own opinion, and it will differ from person to person.
To me Dr. Fauci is probably a bureaucrat who became way too relied upon for all our information. Outside of the book, you come across some of the mistakes Mr. Fauci made, but these were mistakes, not the inner workings of a fifty-year technocrat out to completely destroy our lives. And Mr. Fauci may have made some other mistakes beyond COVID over the years, including the overreliance on vaccines for quite a bit of our health care, yet nothing that comes close to the monstrous persona Mr. Kenney wants us to believe.
Apart from the final chapter, his depiction of Mr. Gates is very eye-opening. He pictures Mr. Gates as the man behind the curtain behind all world healthcare disasters. He espouses that Mr. Gates has enriched through himself via philanthrocapitalism at the expense of quite a few developing countries via WHO, his nonprofit charity, with Mr. Fauci’s cooperation, and a host of other world leaders whom he has managed to bring to his side via quite a few pandemic planning scenarios and conferences. This content is significantly more of the book than what you might expect from the title.
Yet, in my research of his research, there are quite a few references and individuals who do feel Mr. Gates may have too much power overall in world health matters. It is a much deeper research project than one I wanted to take on to determine how far Mr. Gates and his organizations’ tentacles reach into the global system. From Mr. Kennedy’s points, his research and what I checked suggest this issue does need a thorough review and probably some independent guidance to various countries about how much they should rely on Mr. Gates. I am not saying Mr. Gates is an evil wizard, yet as a person who feels too much wealth is already concentrated into the hands of too few, this definitely shows that we need broader and more dynamic groups involved in everything Mr. Gates is trying to accomplish.
A note on the final chapter: When you first read it, it presents as a history of people studying various disaster scenarios at the behest of Bill Gates expanding his reach in global health planning. By the end a reader may wonder if they just read a basis for a science fiction novel that came about in real life. A reader may be left with the illusion that COVID-19 was all planned. This idea is too big of a leap for me to take.
Mr. Kennedy does touch on — and I wish he had spent more time on — these topics:
- valid alternative medicines
- better public planning and public policy for a pandemic
- better infrastructure for developing countries such as clean potable water for non-viral health emergencies
He even tried the thought that homeopathic medicine, along with the current medical system, could work together to find better answers for some situations. As an amateur public policy student, I wish he took a deeper dive on some of his ideas.
Yet the few good points Mr. Kennedy makes are seriously compromised by his vitriol against Mr. Fauci and Mr. Gates. To think a handful of antagonists and rogue individuals know more than the thousands or researchers and scientists throughout our healthcare system is an enormous stretch. The dots disappear fast if you try to connect them.
Many times I had to reread passages, tie loose ends together and suffer through bombastic accusations of the various individuals in the book. His constant attacks took away from understanding the point he was trying to make that proved the recipients deserved this ire. I can accept he wanted us to understand monsters were at play, yet calling someone a monster followed by incessant footnotes that led nowhere only hurts his cause if the reader is not willing to fight through the mudslinging.
‘The Real Anthony Fauci’ Review: Is Not a Real Read
If you are already inclined to believe the government failed us during the COVID-19 pandemic, this book might excite you. If you think there is much more going on than meets the eye, you might give this book a try. If you approach any book with an open mind or a critical eye, by the time you have researched ten footnotes, your interest may wane very rapidly.
Mr. Kennedy does have good points as mentioned above. However, they are significantly overshadowed by his own hyperbole, constant bombastic attacks, his inconsistencies in his arguments, repetitive attacks and his expectation that you will take the book on its face and accept that all the footnotes are proof of his accusations. Any effort to research his research and a reader can feel disillusioned quickly. This possibility is especially likely if you fall into the category of the person who feels there is much more going on than what we see. If you had hoped to find real proof the government has failed us, you will only be left with a few fragments of an argument.
Buying Options
E-Commerce Text and Audio Purchases
E-Commerce Audio Only
Physical Location Purchase and Rental Options
Digital Rental Options
Get the latest of The Rauch Review in your inbox, discover books you won’t see in stores, stay up to date on the “Rauching to Judgment” podcast and more.