Dr. Fauci’s pleading of the Fifth 111 times in a recent Senate hearing outraged many Americans. Far before the Senate, in Missouri vs. Biden (2026), in which Dr. Kheriaty was a plaintiff, Dr. Fauci pleaded the Fifth 168 times; the Justice Department recently ruled in his favor. It is understandable, then, that many have had cause for outrage for many years. Some paid for COVID lockdowns and irrational mandates with their livelihoods, including Dr. Kheriaty, who was fired from UC-Irvine’s School of Medicine after he challenged their COVID vaccine mandate in Federal Court. Others, unfortunately, paid for these pandemic-era policies with their lives. What these hearings revealed is something that can’t be unseen: the U.S. healthcare system rests on an enormous amount of unchecked power. A solution is needed. Drs. Kheriaty and Orlandi discuss this and more on this episode of What We Can’t Not Talk About. Timeline Summary [0:00] – Introduction and welcome; Dr. Orlandi welcomes back Dr. Aaron Kheriaty of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. [1:48] – Seeing American medicine with an outsider’s eye, and why this conversation could not wait. [3:35] – Challenging UC Irvine’s vaccine mandate in federal court, and being fired for it. [5:22] – Censored for saying true things: what could and could not be said about the COVID shots. [7:07] – Missouri v. Biden, the government’s own admissions, and Fauci under oath for the first time. [8:53] – “I don’t recall”: amnesia for the most consequential decisions of the pandemic. [10:42] – Why no credible scientist says “The Science”: conjecture, refutation, and the method itself. [12:28] – What Fauci’s government records actually show, and why they are fair game for the public. [14:14] – Scott Atlas’s memoirs, and the pattern that was clear long before the Senate hearing. [16:03] – The New Abnormal: a man used by the media, the biosecurity apparatus, and financial interests. [17:49] – Refusing responsibility, and the more controversial point Dr. Orlandi wants to make. [19:37] – Why this must not happen again: honest scientists, royalties, and the temptation of power. [21:22] – The NIH’s grip on American medical research, and what the purse strings buy. [23:12] – Doctors who harboured private doubts and would not say in public what they wrote in email. [24:59] – “Prove me wrong” in an age when nobody can be proved wrong, and dogma dressed as science. [26:48] – Flattery and flatterers: why people in authority must sift what their critics say. [28:37] – Weak leaders and strong leaders; Lincoln, and surrounding yourself with better people. [30:23] – The despair crisis that predated COVID, and what isolation actually did to patients. [32:11] – The Other Pandemic: the lockdown mental health crisis, and the CDC’s own evidence. [33:58] – The disingenuous framing that critics of lockdowns put money ahead of public health. [35:43] – All-cause mortality at record highs, and the data that was suppressed at the time. [37:29] – Propaganda’s cruellest trick: the guilt that stops you looking again. [39:15] – A suggestion for anyone willing to revisit what they believed, and a turn towards medicine. [41:02] – Gain-of-function research, lab leaks, and why staying calm is the first thing to do. [42:49] – Mask theatre on the way to the table: do not outsource logic or common sense. [44:34] – Targeted advice, monetised data, and health guidance that does not look like selling. [46:20] – Trust your instincts and the people who care about you; simple advice patients can follow. [48:06] – Why medicine chases weight loss, and the money in treatment rather than prevention. [49:52] – A competing theory of cancer, available since the 1930s and largely ignored. [51:37] – Ozempic, Botox, and the message that there is a magic pill for every problem. [53:23] – Where these drugs do make sense, and why cosmetic use fails the risk-benefit test. [55:11] – Cheap toxic food, expensive healthy food, and why obesity is not simple laziness. [56:58] – Contraceptive estrogens in the water supply, fertility, and the costs pushed onto families. [58:45] – Courage, staying in the fight, and having someone in Washington you can call. [1:00:32] – “Social distancing” rather than physical distancing, and the bonds it broke. [1:02:18] – Turn the screen off: getting away from rage bait and doom scrolling. Links & Resources Dr. Kheriaty’s New Book, Making the Cut: https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510784215/making-the-cut/ Dr. Kheriaty’s Recent Article on First Things: https://firstthings.com/icarus-descending/ Dr. Orlandi’s Review of Making the Cut on Substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-172888363 Dr. Kheriaty’s Previous Appearance on WWCNTA: https://youtu.be/AfANnnwNmzA?si=_drMqtSP1HTKslz_ Missouri v. Biden/Murthy v. Missouri Summary: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/missouri-v-biden-consent-decree-2026/ Austin Institute: https://www.austin-institute.org/
