The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today on the recently released Fauci diaries. It is sharply critical of Dr. Fauci, portraying him as vain, politically manipulative, and more concerned with his public image than he has admitted.
I don’t know enough about the diaries to judge whether every criticism in the editorial is fair. What struck me, however, wasn’t anything in the diaries. It was something Dr. Fauci himself admitted years ago.
Early in the pandemic Dr. Fauci advised the public not to wear masks. Later he acknowledged that this advice was, at least in part, intended to conserve the limited supply of masks for healthcare workers. In other words, he deliberately told the public something other than what he believed to be true because he thought doing so would produce a better outcome.
I understand the dilemma. There really was a shortage of masks. Healthcare workers really did need priority. But there is a line that public officials cross at their peril. Their most valuable asset is not authority or expertise. It is credibility.
Once a public official admits that he has deliberately misled the public—even for what he believes is a good reason—every subsequent statement becomes suspect. If he was willing to tell me something he believed to be false yesterday because he thought it would produce a better result, why should I assume he is telling me the whole truth today?
Scientists are wrong all the time. That’s the nature of science. New evidence appears. Hypotheses are revised. Recommendations change. I have no objection to that.
I do object to being managed rather than informed.
In a free society, citizens are entitled to the best judgment of their public officials, not what those officials think citizens ought to hear. The moment experts decide that the public cannot be trusted with the truth, they begin to squander the very trust on which their influence ultimately depends.
That, more than anything I have read in today’s editorial, is why my confidence in Dr. Fauci’s subsequent pronouncements was so seriously diminished.
Completely agree. It was an unconscionable lie.