Editors at National Review Online offer the Trump administration a simple message: “Don’t blame Fauci.”

Now, the White House press shop has taken the unusual step of circulating anti-Fauci talking points to the media, alleging that the doctor has repeatedly made errors in his public comments. It would be nearly impossible to fire Fauci, for reasons both political and bureaucratic, and some in the administration have tried to knock him down a peg instead.

Needless to say, Fauci is not above scrutiny, is not always right, and does not have the final say over federal COVID-19 policy, nor should he. But this is a ridiculous gambit. The allegations in the circulated memo are largely out of context or overstated, and the doctor has never said anything as wildly unrealistic as Trump’s own repeated assurances that the virus is simply going to disappear. …

… One of the memo’s more legitimate criticisms is that Fauci advised against wearing masks early in the pandemic. He thought that scarce protective equipment should be reserved for health-care workers, which makes sense, but he also pooh-poohed the effectiveness of masks for the public, which was ill-advised. (That the experts so flagrantly contradicted themselves on masks surely has played a role in the resistance to wearing them.) …

… All in all, the assault on Fauci is a sideshow that distracts from the very real question of how states should proceed as COVID-19 spreads in new places, as the economy continues to limp, and as the public tires of endless COVID-19 restrictions. Fauci himself has acknowledged that his role is to assess the public-health side of the equation, not to evaluate the many tradeoffs that lockdowns pose. As director of NIAID, he is best understood not as a cable-television personality but as the leader of the public research enterprise that is developing treatment and vaccine protocols to fight the virus.