Doctor Anthony Fauci revealed plenty about himself when he disclosed that a line from The Godfather has shaped his career: “It’s not personal, it’s strictly business.”

Apparently, Fauci doesn’t understand the line’s real meaning.  The line is used in the movie because it accomplishes what screenwriters and directors strive for in a movie -- irony. It discloses the mindset of people involved with organized crime.  And it’s not a very healthy mindset.

It is first used in the movie when Vito Corleone, The Godfather, is brutally gunned down by a rival faction. The line is used by Tom Hagen, Sonny Corleone’s stepbrother and family attorney. Sonny wants to retaliate against those who shot his father. Tom tells him, “It’s only business, Sonny. It’s not personal.”

Here the audience gets to see what kind of business organized crime actually is. It’s revealing that anyone would accept the murder of a loved one as “nothing personal.” What kind of business is this?

If Fauci had ever studied business or economics, he would know that good business practice is personal. Customers and employees respond better and appreciate being treated pleasantly and personally rather than as just another business decision.  His one-size-fits-all COVID mandates are consistent with “It’s not personal, it’s strictly business.” One has to question, just what is Fauci’s business?

At the end of the movie Michael Corleone, the new head of the Corleone family, tells his brother-in-law Carlo that today he took care of all family business. His enemies, including those in the family business, have been killed. After convincing Carlo that his punishment will only be that he is thrown out of the family business, Carlo admits he set up Michael’s brother Sonny to be murdered and tells Michael who it was that murdered Sonny. Carlo is later murdered by Clemenza on orders from Michael.

Another scene with the use of the "Doctor Fauci career guidance theory" is at the end, when Tessio is taken away to be murdered. He had plotted to kill Michael Corleone. He tells Tom Hagen, “Tell Michael it’s was only business, nothing personal, I always liked him.” I imagine Doctor Fauci got a lump in his throat hearing that emotionally touching dialogue.

Fauci has also adopted other techniques from The Godfather, like the one where Michael tells his girlfriend Kay of his father’s ability to make an offer someone can’t refuse.  His father had his bodyguard Luca Brasi put a gun to a bandleader's head and tell him, “Either your signature goes on the contract or your brains.” Doctor Fauci adopted that policy with vaccine mandates. He even called for a national mask mandate, despite first saying that masks won’t protect anyone from COVID. It seems consistency is not a Fauci mainstay. He recently hinted at possibly canceling Christmas.

All these Fauci orders are “offers you can’t refuse.” Many of these mandates involve people choosing between remaining in their job or profession, including the military, or getting the vaccine.  As a result of Dr. Fauci’s strongarm tactics, people are even being denied access to many public venues for not showing proof of a vaccine.

These mandates are false choices. The options are not much better than what Vito Corleone offered that bandleader.

I’d like to give Dr. Fauci some further advice from the film. To paraphrase Clemenza: “Doctor Fauci, leave the job, take the cannolis.”  

David Ennocenti, is a retired accountant and Graduate of the State University of NY at Buffalo, School of Management with a degree in Accounting and Finance. He passed the CPA Examination in 1983. His writing has appeared in The American Thinker, The USA Today, The New York Times and several other publications. His screenplay, Sniper Queen, was an official selection of The Artemis Women in Action Films Festival. He is a past winner of the Writer’s Digest Annual Competition.

Image: Cheryl Grayum

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