How Experts Became the Enemy

The Northwestern history professor and New Yorker contributor Daniel Immerwahr joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the ways in which the COVID crisis deepened Americans’ distrust of institutional experts and propelled R.F.K., Jr., to the height of political power in the Trump Administration. Plus, they talk about how Anthony Fauci’s clashes and eventual reconciliation with AIDS activists in the nineteen-eighties and nineties could serve as a guide to repairing the rift between Americans who are skeptical of experts and the officials who set public-health policy today. This week’s reading: “R.F.K., Jr., Anthony Fauci, and the Revolt Against Expertise,” by Daniel Immerwahr “Who Gets to Be an American?,” by Michael Luo “The Stakes of the Birthright-Citizenship Case,” by Ruth Marcus “Donald Trump’s Culture of Corruption,” by Isaac Chotiner “The Mideast Is Donald Trump’s Safe Place,” by Susan B. Glasser Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts. To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices