Public health disasters do not always begin with a new pathogen. Sometimes they begin with a government official who teaches people to distrust proven means of protecting themselves.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has elevated that practice into a governing philosophy. His falsehoods, conspiratorial thinking, and institutional sabotage make him an enemy of the American people. The consequences extend beyond degraded public discourse. They include untold numbers of preventable illness and the foreseeable loss of human life.