a photo<\/a> of a young Fauci explaining how HIV interacts with the immune system, captioned \u201c#tbt #thirsttrap\u201d\u2014was created three weeks ago by Sara Alexander, Tiffany Zarrella, and Leann To, three friends and microbiologists who work together in Bethesda, Maryland. They are not joking about their crush, and their fan account now has more than 15,000 followers.<\/p>\nThe trio had been talking about their thirst for Fauci over text, and decided to take it public in hopes that it would be entertaining to other bored and freaked-out people. To, 22, told me that she thinks people are drawn to Fauci\u2019s \u201ccute Brooklyn accent.\u201d She wouldn\u2019t have been able to guess his age, she added, pointing out that he\u2019s an avid runner, and has serious light-up-the-room energy. \u201cHe\u2019s very knowledgeable and expert, but he speaks in a really approachable way,\u201d Zarella, 33, told me. \u201cEveryone wants to know what\u2019s going on, and he delivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander, 25, agrees, saying, \u201cI do personally think that he actually is attractive, and it\u2019s not unheard of for people to be attracted to older men. Look at Jeff Goldblum.\u201d I proposed to her that Goldblum is an actual Hollywood star, and that there might be something strange about presenting Fauci as one. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to prop him up and make him a celebrity,\u201d she told me. \u201cIt\u2019s just an appreciation of him. He\u2019s working 16-plus-hour days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Americans have had plenty of political crushes before. There have been more durable ones on presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and, more recently, Barack Obama. By the time Obama became a public figure, the internet was ready to amplify conversations about thirsting over handsome and competent men: In 2007, one of YouTube\u2019s first mainstream viral hits was a comedy music video called \u201cCrush on Obama,\u201d starring the actress Amber Lee Ettinger as a young woman in booty shorts who wants to make out with the then-senator from Illinois.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did develop a crush on Obama,\u201d Ettinger told me. (Today, she\u2019s an Instagram influencer who posts mom-related lifestyle content.) \u201cHe was this young, suave, handsome fellow. People felt a personal connection with him when he spoke.\u201d For Fauci, she speculated, the incentives for crushing are a little bit different. \u201cNo. 1, his little New York accent. He feels like a voice of reason, someone you can trust. He has a calming presence about him. Supersmart. I think he\u2019s adorable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The more obvious precedent for Fauci\u2019s newfound celebrity is another flavor-of-the-week public figure, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who became a superhero and stoic boyfriend to the left during his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. That in itself was not entirely novel: For a brief period after 9\/11, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was treated as a sex symbol\u2014as Salon<\/em> put it, a \u201chot Republican war dad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n