What I think I hear you saying is: 1. Maybe if someone like Trump can lie all the time snd still be believed by ~30-40% of people, it doesn’t matter whether a p

What I think I hear you saying is: 1. Maybe if someone like Trump can lie all the time snd still be believed by ~30-40% of people, it doesn’t matter whether a public figure is honest, people will just believe them anyway. 2. It’s unfair to criticize Fauci for dishonesty when other people aren’t criticized for being worse. To these I would say: 1. Public health officials start out more trusted than controversial politicians, but they don’t have many die-hards who will just believe no matter what either. So, someone like Fauci has more to lose from being dishonest. I don’t think we can conclude that because Trump “got away with it” that Fauci can too. And even if he were as impervious to criticism on this front as Trump, 40% of people trusting someone in his position wouldn’t be nearly good enough. 2. I’m not sure about this one. I think Trump got a lot of (completely deserved) criticism for being mendacious. It’s true that some of the people who always gave him a pass criticize Fauci for dishonesty, but what are you donna do? People are hypocrites. I think more people would trust public health experts if they were more honest, and that’s all that matters to me.