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It has been a bad week for the credibility of federal health officials, who have backtracked under fire from two ill-considered pandemic directives that were adopted under pressure from the White House. It started Sunday with the head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, grossly overstating the benefits of giving COVID-19 patients blood plasma from people who’d recovered from the coronavirus. To support President Trump’s announcement that the therapy was some sort of amazing breakthrough (it isn’t) and that the FDA would be giving it emergency approval, Hahn had said the treatment would save an additional 35 lives out of 100 patients treated. Other medical experts quickly pointed out, however, that the data showed no such thing, and on Tuesday Hahn publicly apologized. The following day it was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s turn for embarrassment. (8/28)

Covid-19 is teaching everyone in medicine lessons about health care and public health. Mine have been up close, personal, and frightening. One day I was a healthy 44-year-old doctor, CEO of a health care company, and a triathlete who was prepared to do another triathlon. Then I was a Covid-19 patient a few shallow breaths away from being put on a ventilator. A nurse saved me from that fate. (Christopher Chen, 8/28)

It was a beautiful image. That’s all it was, but that was the most important thing. It was, in fact, the only thing. On Thursday evening, the stage was dramatically set for the president’s speech to the Republican National Convention on the South Lawn of the White House. Surely there were no more American flags left in the land because they were all assembled as a backdrop for the night’s grand finale.A pandemic is raging, preventing Americans from traveling freely, shuttering schools and keeping businesses closed. But not at Trump’s White House. The perfectly manicured lawn was filled with little white chairs that were spaced inches apart and most of the 1,500 or so people in attendance were maskless. Cabinet members, Trump family members, supporters and a beatific Vice President Pence were all nestled up next to one another. It wasn’t so much a cult of denial, but a cult of personality. (Robin Givhan, 8/28)

Mr. Trump failed to repeal ObamaCare and has now defaulted to promoting drug price controls that would limit the development of new cures. He also failed on what could have been a landmark immigration reform, trading some legalization for more border security. His televised naturalization service this week clashes with his often harsh limits on even legal immigration. (8/27)

“Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free reign to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens,” Trump said. Notably, the convention also made clear strides to emphasize diversity within the Republican Party, with noteworthy speeches by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and former South Carolina Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. All this combined to make the Republican Convention effective at communicating Trump’s message for reelection, and drew a strong contrast between him and Biden. (Doug Schoen, 8/28)

We are in the middle of a pandemic that has killed 177,000 Americans. Every rational medical expert on the planet, including those in Trump’s administration, has the same advice: Since we do not have a vaccine, wear masks and socially distance. Trump refuses. He invited 1,500 non-mask-wearing members of his cult and set out chairs on the South Lawn of the White House for them in close proximity to each other. (An unspecified number were tested.) He wants the false image of normalcy — the same thing he sought in his rally in Tulsa and could not get. He is more than willing to endanger those he invited — not to mention staff who come in contact with them — to make himself look more successful in addressing the pandemic and increase his chances of reelection. He tries to will the pandemic out of existence. And he prefers whatever political advantage he can wring out of his TV events over protecting the lives of Americans. You cannot get a better description of the essence of Trump. (Jennifer Rubin, 8/27)

My daughter argues that as long as she’s seeing all of her friends together in school, they should be able to gather together in their houses as well. Unfortunately, she has risk exactly backward. She’s not alone; lots of Americans do. My kids, like most in Indiana, have been back at school since mid-August. Each time my 9th and 11th grader head off to high school, they spend more time among other human beings in a day than they had cumulatively all summer. Because of that, they along with many of their friends and those friends’ parents think that there’s less reason to be careful in other aspects of their lives.But as we loosen restrictions in some areas, we should be increasing restrictions in others. (Aaron E. Carroll, 8/28)

To the conservative media, however, what happened in Kenosha was eminently justifiable and even cause for celebration. “Are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?” Tucker Carlson said on the Wednesday broadcast of his Fox News show. “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Carlson, who has an average nightly audience of more than 4 million viewers, blamed local political leaders for the killings. “Kenosha has devolved into anarchy because the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it. People in charge in Wisconsin from the governor on down refused to enforce the law,” he said. “They stood back and watched Kenosha burn.” Ann Coulter, a conservative author and provocateur, said that she wanted (the shooter) Rittenhouse “as my president.” (Jamelle Bouie, 8/28)