Wall Street Journal:
(MAY 17, 2020)
Radio host Michael Savage has argued that Dr. Fauci is hoarding knowledge to manipulate the national response to the virus. As he told his listeners last month, “Now all of a sudden you can’t get a scintilla of information from the government about this virus unless it goes through Fauci’s department, whatever that department may be.”
As the pandemic shows, there are no purely technical solutions for problems that demand political leadership.
The U.S. government’s response to Covid-19 has forced us to ask what role scientific and technical experts should play in making policy. We have become used to the spectacle of President Trump standing before reporters surrounded by a gaggle of doctors and scientific advisers—sometimes deferring to them, sometimes questioning them, sometimes berating them. Many governors have held similar briefings with their own panels of experts. This week, a Senate committee called in three of the government’s top public-health officials for testimony, and a House committee is looking to hold its own expert briefing later this month. The pronouncements of these specialists frequently drive key decisions and shape public views.
But the costs and burdens of the pandemic response have driven some Americans to criticize the power of the public health professionals who designed it. Skepticism of experts and resentment of their claims to authority have grown.
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So, for instance, radio host Michael Savage has argued that Dr. Fauci is hoarding knowledge to manipulate the national response to the virus. As he told his listeners last month, “Now all of a sudden you can’t get a scintilla of information from the government about this virus unless it goes through Fauci’s department, whatever that department may be.” Dr. Fauci’s Senate testimony this week drew a flurry of similarly furious criticism.
