A Good Question for Jay Bhattacharya

At In the Pipeline, Derek Lowe posts an open letter to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya.

That letter and the first reader comment on it are both worth reading.

The nut of the letter is the following question which, I think, is the type of question that should be asked of any official who serves in this Trump Administration and who might seek any position of authority afterwards:

I'll put it simply: as part of the Trump administration, you are surrounded by liars, Dr. Bhattacharya. It's sad and unfortunate, but it's true. This, like the rotting of a mackerel, works from the top down: our President lies constantly, widely, and vigorously about almost every topic that comes to his mind. How does working in this environment fit in with what I believe to be your own worldview, i.e. that you yourself are a truth-teller? Saying that Robert F. Kennedy is devoted to the scientific method does not help you make your case, in my own opinion. Is this something that bothers you in any way? I said earlier that I believed that some of our own self-images might have more similar features than one would think, but here is where that comparison might well break down. Because I don't think that I could ever make peace with myself about that. [bold added]

There may well be people in the current administration who really believe that, by kissing Trump's ring, they can hope to limit the damage that is being done to our government's institutions, or perhaps even effect positive change. Perhaps some of them can even make good cases for why they think so, or how what they can imagine accomplishing isn't undermined by Trump's blatant contempt for the truth.

If that is the case, any such explanation had better damned well be a doozie.

Aside from his questionable decision to work for Donald Trump and Bobby Kennedy, Jr., I find Bhattacharya difficult to judge for the reasons set forth in the first comment I mentioned and linked to above: He is not a blatant charlatan like Kennedy, but, despite his having solid credentials and interesting things to say about government health policy, he is far from infallible.

Regardless of where I would eventually land in a thoughtful evaluation of a pre-Trump Jay Bhattacharya, I think Lowe would say that Bhattacharya will have committed career suicide by taking his current post, absent a fantastic answer to that question.

I fully agree, and I think the same reasoning would apply to anyone who had been credible before Trump II and who is now in Trump's cabinet -- as well as many or most similar people within the Administration close to that level, especially to the extent Trump affected their respective ascents into positions of responsibility.

-- CAV