Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Well, sunlight and washing things. Never overlook washing things. The best way to know when it's time to wash things is to recognize that they are dirty. To know that, you have to be able to see them. That’s why the idea of a transparent government is so important, and why I hope President Donald Trump brings even more of that transparency to government.
I love the fact that the President conducts much of the meetings of his Cabinet in front of the media. While I despise the left-wing corporate media, Cabinet Secretaries damn well better be able to answer their questions, or else they have not been doing their jobs very well. If they can swat away stupid attacks by liberal reporters, you know they’re on the ball.
Those Cabinet meetings are a stark difference between the Trump administration and the administration of whoever was really making the decisions. At the same time, Joe Biden was puppeted through 4 years in the Oval Office. Joe lived in the White House, but he never really worked there, and his Cabinet was rarely around. That meant we had no peek behind the curtain; no look at what the government was actually doing.
Trump lays it all out there for the world to see, and lets the people he’s appointed to be in charge of very important aspects of our country defend themselves from either the truth or the lies the press tosses at them. No other President had the intestinal fortitude to do that, or the faith in their appointments to do it either.
In the “above the fold” aspects of government, the Trump administration is unparalleled. But, as the “above the fold” part implies, there are also things below the fold. The ability to see what’s happening there is just as important.
As a recovering health policy analyst, I follow developments in healthcare because they will eventually impact everyone, whether we like it or not. I saw in the Wall Street Journal the other day about how Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, someone a lot of people I know really like, is convening panels of experts to address various issues related to health care. I immediately liked the idea – the more discussion, the better.
Then I saw some of the specifics, or at least the specifics we were allowed to see, and I became less enthusiastic about the idea.
While I appreciate a look behind the curtain and the promise of a more transparent government, several red flags surround these new “expert” panels.
It is clear from the press release announcing the first panel regarding talc that minds were already made up – talcum powder is carcinogenic. Makary insinuated it over and over again before even hearing from his panelists.
What should be more alarming is that the press release made it clear this roundtable discussion was brought about after George Tidmarsh published an article in the Journal of the Academy of Public Health (JAPH) on April 9, 2025. The article has not been peer-reviewed and the journal has come under fire by Science magazine for spreading propaganda.
Make of that what you will, but it was just founded in February by Makary and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. In fact, more than half of the panelists have ties to that journal.
I don’t like stacked decks unless I’m playing cards and dealing, so having a panel of like-minded participants smells of foregone conclusions. I wonder if any conflicts of interest aren’t readily apparent.
Maybe there aren’t, but that this is how the first of these panels started makes me concerned for the future, as they move to issues that impact a lot more people than the talcum powder issue does.
“The agency usually posts meeting notifications weeks in advance and invites public comment. Not this time,” the Journal reported.
Whatever you think of the issue, the original plan was to hold this meeting in private, without even disclosing who the participants were. That eventually changed, likely due to public pressure, which is good. But why plan to hide it in the first place?
These are our tax dollars; this is our government. Discussions about the direction of that government, regardless of the issue, should be open to all. Granted, very few people would likely watch a panel discussion on talcum powder, but isn’t that up to each person? The “threat” of the public watching is as much of a disinfectant as the public actually watching is.
The curtain not only needs to be pulled back, but it should be pulled down and burned. As much of the government as possible, no matter how boring, should be conducted in the way the President conducts his Cabinet meetings. Radical transparency should be the norm, not the exception. This approach will make it more difficult, if not impossible, for future administrations to reinstate those curtains.
President Trump has the chance to truly open up government to public scrutiny— and the fear of the consequences that comes with it. If he wants a legacy that will truly last, one that will make a difference for decades to come, let it be that he demands everyone in his government conduct as much of their business as possible in front of the whole world. Let us see what is happening so we can prevent as much bad as we can and hold everyone accountable.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.