Mr. Trump can overrule his public health experts on the extent of mitigation the country can sustain, and no doubt the two disagree from time to time. With food lines forming across the U.S., the virus is not the only public health threat to the American people.

Yet Dr. Fauci doesn’t strike us as the sort to bail out easily even if his advice isn’t taken, as long as he thinks he can air his views honestly. At Monday’s virus task force briefing, Dr. Fauci pushed back at the press for its insinuations, and when a reporter asked if he was doing it “voluntarily,” he snapped “don’t even imply that.”

Dr. Fauci is a valuable communicator and has improved public confidence in the Administration’s coronavirus response. Many in the press can’t stomach that. Their favorite frame about Mr. Trump is that he is rejecting advice from his expert and bureaucratic betters. The White House said Monday that Mr. Trump has no intention of firing Dr. Fauci, which is wise. No one would be more delighted if Dr. Fauci got the boot than the media resistance.