POTUS snubs ‘expert’ guidance on policies and appointments

Consider it a pillar of populist thinking that all manner of experts, authorities and professionals have earned the doubts of the people.

And in many instances, they have.

Bright Ivy Leaguers and technocrats helped bog us down in the Vietnam War and other disasters. Financial wizards assured us about practices that yielded less-than-prosperous results. Casually-prescribed drugs proved dangerously addictive.

So President Donald Trump gets a generous share of credit, especially from his fan base, when he makes a show of looking past credentials and bucking so-called “professionals.”

When this practice becomes scornful and reflexive, however, the president risks disregarding wise advice from people who may actually know what they’re talking about.

Trump seems to believe he knows better than lawyers when it comes to finessing a legal and political threat from special counsel Robert Mueller. By all accounts this is one reason for an apparent paucity of high-powered expertise on his legal team.

Ethics experts along the way suggested that he separate himself from his businesses in a genuine way and release his taxes to build trust.

Instead, serious conflict questions linger. Just this week, a federal judge allowed plaintiffs to proceed with a lawsuit claiming payments to Trump companies from governments both foreign and domestic may violate the Constitution.

Census officials who served both major parties’ administrations advised against Trump’s adding a controversial citizenship question out of concern that it could suppress the count — which is supposed to include all residents, not just citizens.

But what would seasoned bureaucrats know about a decennial practice enshrined in the Constitution by Jefferson, Madison, and other founders of the republic? Perhaps a lot.

Scientists have accused the Environmental Protection Agency of distributing misleading claims meant to discredit the concept of climate change. The White House doesn’t contest their assertions point-by-point, just dismisses them with a wave of the hand.

The president’s evident disdain for expertise extends to his appointments.

Housing Secretary Ben Carson made it as a brain surgeon, but his lack of experience in the area he now administers seems to be giving him a rocky time.

Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, a neophyte in foreign affairs from the real estate world, looks to many like he’s spinning his wheels.

Nobody at the White House was reported to be worried that State Department professionals have been leaving en masse.

This week, Trump announced White House physician Ronny Jackson will serve as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Lawmakers and veterans advocates, who may know a bit about the subject, expressed concern that Jackson lacks the experience to run this sprawling bureaucracy.

Trump recently named Larry Kudlow as his top economic adviser. Going back a decade, Kudlow as a Wall Street analyst proved miserably wrong on key predictions about the economy and the housing market.

If Kudlow turns out to be a great pick, who knows? It might suggest that shaky credentials are better than none. But Trump is unlikely to change his hiring habits at this stage.

By Dan Janison

dan.janison@newsday.comDanJanison

Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.