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OPINION

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Trump’s Virus Non-Message

The Navarro-Fauci spat adds to the perception of dysfunction.

By the Editorial Board

July 15, 2020

President Trump’s coronavirus management ratings have been plummeting (67% disapproved in an ABC/Ipsos poll last week) and if a better public-relations plan is in the works, it’s not apparent. Wednesday’s news on this front was an op-ed by Peter Navarro, a top economic adviser, attacking the judgment of Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. The White House formally disavowed the op-ed, but it came after the White House social-media director posted an anti-Fauci cartoon on Sunday.

The point is not that Dr. Fauci has been right about everything—the now-reversed early guidance against masks, in particular, hurt public confidence in health experts. Nor should the doctor set virus policy, which is up to elected representatives. The problem is that the White House seems to have given up on projecting any consistent virus message, and the descent into internal sniping amplifies a perception of dysfunction that is politically damaging.

The media are propagating the view that the U.S. is a coronavirus basket case. In fact, the per-capita death rate remains lower than that of some major countries in Western Europe. A more significant reason voters are souring on Mr. Trump’s virus management is his unwillingness to be candid or consistent about the disease’s likely toll.

Americans will accept bad news if it’s in the context of realism about the problem and a strategy to address it. Mr. Trump’s messaging has caromed from saying the virus isn’t a problem, to the economy must shut down to crush it, to the economy must open and everything will soon go back to normal, to barely talking about it at all as cases rise. Now his aides are filling the vacuum by attacking the government health expert who sees it as his role to warn of worst-case scenarios.

This is a mess, and if it continues Republicans will be routed in November. Leaning into a culture war against experts won’t win undecided voters. Americans want a realistic assessment, which is that infections are not going to be eliminated in the U.S. in the immediate future but that does not justify the public-health and economic harm of indefinite lockdowns. If the Administration had said that there would likely be virus flare-ups in parts of the country amid reopenings and civil unrest, fewer Americans would have been caught by surprise.

Today President Trump’s opponents can depict the White House as resigned, lacking direction, and more eager to disparage medical authorities than rally them to implement the Administration’s strategy. Time is running out to change that perception.