Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is the right man to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the best man to calm the rough political waters overwhelming health care and scientific integrity.
Hysteria ‘lives loudly’ in the Trump 2.0 resistance. The legacy media, Democrats, and many in the old establishment are untethered from reality; the rage rhetoric against the President’s priorities is unlike anything we’ve witnessed in recent memory. Regrettably, Trump resistance for resistance’s sake is causing fear and confusion in the public health community.
Dissent is critical in open, healthy discourse. Where this administration goes wrong or where there is legitimate disagreement over ideas and policy, contrarian voices are needed – and expected. Holding the powerful accountable is necessary in a Democracy. However, as we saw recently during the President’s speech before a Joint Session of Congress, many elected officials care more for political theatrics than finding common ground for compromise and reform.
As the editor of RealClearHealth, I spend a substantial portion of my time engaging with myriad advocacy groups, policy experts, and media representatives occupying the health-policy space. Much of the conversation since Trump’s inauguration has focused almost entirely on ‘How Trump, Kennedy, et al. are going to destroy public health and ignore science’ – some have even warned that Trump’s health agenda will kill people. Policy experts, respected advocates, and the legacy media are dealing in gossip, rumors, and half-truths – it’s shocking. Putting ideology over reason and prioritizing politics over science.
Walking straight into this storm is Professor Jay Bhattacharya, President Trump’s nominee to lead the NIH. As Dr. Bhattacharya demonstrated in his Senate confirmation hearing, he is a man not only with an intellect that the American people can trust, but someone who will implement a pro-science agenda. Gone will be the days of weaponizing science for political purposes – like we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic. What’s more, Dr. Bhattacharya showed himself to be a man filled with grace, a man who is empathetic. And he's been courageous in terms of stepping up to speak the truth, especially during the COVID shutdowns and mandates. In fact, during the pandemic, Dr. Jay was often a lone voice asking for wisdom and science to lead the day.
It is inexplicable how many of Trump’s critics are acting like we didn't just suffer catastrophic failure of our public health institutions. These critics are opposing reform, so it seems, just because the ideas are coming out of the Trump administration. Our public health community needs a reset. These (partisan) critics refuse to recognize that they’ve completely lost the trust of the American people. To put it bluntly, the Biden health agencies and the Dr. Fauci regime wrecked the public’s trust in our health agencies.
Jay Bhattacharya will lead a revolution at the NIH where scientists will be empowered to follow the science and not be pushed to participate in politics or ideology.
Dr. Bhattacharya will win the public trust back so Americans once again trust the science.
