Author and columnist Lara Logan drew harsh criticism, and was dropped by her talent agency, for comparing Dr. Fauci to Dr. Josef Mengele, physician at Auschwitz concentration camp. Granted, this comparison may be over the top. But is it worthy of condemnation?

My father’s eldest brother was murdered in the Holocaust. As a small girl, my mother hid with her family from a Russian pogrom. So I have some credibility when I say, wait a moment. Exactly what made Mengele so evil? Was it his SS uniform? Was it the source of his paycheck? No, it was what he did.

• Mengele performed experiments on unanesthetized prisoners who did not consent to be experimental subjects. As a result, many died, perhaps thousands. But is this not what Fauci did? He funded research in China – because it was forbidden in the US – on making viruses more transmissible and more lethal to humans. As a result, admittedly an indirect result, the virus escaped, infected the world, and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. When it comes to deaths caused by experiments, Fauci makes Mengele look like a piker.

• Mengele also took his turn at selection, evaluating incoming trainloads of prisoners. Those who looked like they could work were assigned barracks. Those who were too young, too old, or too ill were sent directly to the gas chambers and crematoria. But surely, you object, Fauci did nothing this evil. No, not directly. But Cuomo of New York and governors of some other states forced nursing homes to accept Covid-positive patients, thus causing many thousands of deaths of the elderly and infirm. The direct responsibility for this atrocity falls on the governors and health departments involved. But Cuomo blames the policies of Fauci and the CDC. Whether this is fair is questionable. But what is beyond question is that Fauci and his people did nothing to stop it.

• Finally, Mengele was a physician, but he did nothing to treat illnesses of those under his control. And what did Fauci do to mitigate Covid and prevent hospitalization and death? Also nothing. Worse, he and his followers actually threatened physicians and pharmacists with loss of their licenses if they prescribed or dispensed “forbidden” medications, an action unprecedented in free nations. Those who act like dictators have no standing to complain when they are compared with the helpers of dictators.

Lara Logan went too far with her comparison, but not that much too far, after all. When it comes to experimenting without consent, as well as killing the elderly and infirm, Fauci and Mengele have more in common than we would like to admit. Mengele didn’t wear his spiffy SS uniform at work. He wore a white coat. That didn’t make what he did one millimeter less evil. We should remember that when “health” is used as an excuse for totalitarian methods.

Lara Logan survived terrible abuse at the hands of a Cairo mob, so I’m sure she can take mere criticism in her stride. No, I’m worried about us. If we can’t see the actions of Dr. Fauci and his assistants as morally questionable, our moral compass needs extensive repair work.