COVID-Era 'Experts' Are Again Having A Meltdown

Anyone who paid attention to COVID-era policy and our pandemic response knows that the "expert" class comprehensively disgraced itself since 2020.

Instead of unbiased, objective analysts and research, the entire scientific and medical community completed its long-standing turn into political advocacy . Refusing to listen to critics, they instead demanded that the entire global public listen to their dictates, without question.

"Follow the science" was an endless mantra; a patronizing dismissal of individual liberty, responsibility, and an anti-reality position that dismissed dissenting scientists. And there were plenty who dissented.

Understandably, public trust in these institutions and experts has collapsed. The CDC, NIH, FDA and other agencies have seen their favorability ratings fall dramatically, to historic lows. Even trust in the medical profession and individual doctors has collapsed.

You’d assume then, that those in those fields would approach the ensuring years with humility, respect for the public they supposedly serve, and perspective.

They have not.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 03: Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is sworn-in before testifying before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 03, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Subcommittee is holding a hearing on the findings from a fifteen month Republican-led probe of former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci and the COVID-19 pandemic's origins. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

‘Science’ Is Having A Rough Day

Perhaps the most clear-cut example of how "the science" is handling election results they don’t like is an article from Nature, a formerly reputable scientific journal.

Nature, which ostensibly is supposed to be an unbiased publisher of modern research, has instead, like so many other institutions, abandoned its goals in favor of ideological promotion. And this article represents the nadir of the entire organization and the underpinning philosophy behind it.

"Scientists around the world expressed disappointment and alarm as Republican Donald Trump won the final votes needed to secure the US presidency in the early hours of 6 November," it starts. "Owing to Trump’s anti-science rhetoric and actions during his last term in office, many are now bracing for four years of attacks on scientists inside and outside the government."

"Anti-science rhetoric and actions."

Trump, remember, effectively turned over control of the federal government to Anthony Fauci, Deborah Birx, Jerome Adams and the CDC after March 2020. His mistake during that fateful year wasn’t that he didn’t listen to science, it’s that he allowed those people too much power.

Those "experts," the ones Nature would fawningly praise, failed spectacularly. By every conceivable measure, on every single policy. There isn’t one issue they got right. Not one. Masks, gain-of-function research, lockdowns, travel bans, school closures, vaccine mandates…every single policy proposal they suggested was a dramatic, world-altering failure that had catastrophic ancillary consequences.

That’s what science did. Trump is responsible for listening to their advice and implementing it, and deserves blame for not doing more to counteract it, but make no mistake, it’s still "science" that fundamentally got it wrong.

"In my long life of 82 years ... there has hardly been a day when I felt more sad," said Fraser Stoddart, a Nobel laureate at the University of Hong Kong. "I've witnessed something that I feel is extremely bad, not just for the United States, but for all of us in the world."

"I am shocked, but not surprised", said Michael Lubell, a physicist at the City College of New York in New York City, who tracks federal science-policy issues. "The implications of the win for both government policy and science are profound, especially because of Trump’s deep skepticism of scientists and other specialists who manage public health and environmental policy within the federal government," Lubell continued.

"We need to be ready for a new world," added Grazyna Jasienska, a researcher in Poland. "I am trying to be optimistic, but it is hard to find any positive aspects for global science and public health if Republicans take over."

It keeps going.

Virologist Tulio de Oliveira in South Africa, posted on X after the results, "With the changes around the world, you may want to relocate to one of the best Universities in [South Africa] in one of the world’s most beautiful region!", while adding links to job listings.

"Perhaps one of my biggest worries ... is that Trump will be another nail in the coffin for trust in science", thanks to "anti-science rhetoric" said Lisa Schipper, a "geographer specializing in climate change vulnerability."

After relaying these nonsensical ravings, Nature finally, and unwittingly, revealed the underlying problem: "according to a survey of thousands of US adults by the Pew Research Center in Washington DC, the percentage of people who say that science has had a positive effect on society has been declining steadily since 2019."

The decline of trust and "faith" in science is because of science itself. It’s due to the arrogance and condescension of "experts," their unwillingness to admit mistakes and apologize for the damage they cause. That’s on them, not on Trump or anyone who criticizes their failings.

As noticed by Kevin Bass on X, the editor-in-chief of Scientific American exemplifies the prevailing attitude among "scientists" and why they are continually hemorrhaging public trust.

The entire community, save a few sane individuals, is fundamentally broken. They are disconnected from what the public thinks and feels. There’s no acknowledgment of the damage they caused, no acceptance that their definitive proclamations about things like masks or vaccine efficacy were hopelessly wrong.

The problem is always with you, the voter, the public, the person who dares to think for themselves or seek out information. If we all just shut up and listened to them, the world would be so much better. Never mind that they haven’t been right about any major political issue in decades.

"Starting now, we are going to need brave people, people willing to push back, protect the vulnerable, and do what’s right, over what’s easy," Nature quoted one anonymous senior official with the US Environmental Protection Agency as saying. "We do have to remember what’s right. And what’s right is protecting public health and the environment."

The issue is that "science" doesn’t care about public health or the environment, they care about protecting and promoting their ideological goals. Public health means the entire public. Not just those that agree with you. Yet Laurie Helmuth and others on the "pro-science" left viciously attack those who voted for a different presidential candidate. How can anyone take you seriously when it’s clear you don’t respect or care for anyone who has opposing views?

Politics is their religion, and it’s creating a rot at the center of the entire industry. As the 2024 election results show, people have had enough of being lied to and gaslit. They’ve had enough of being lectured to and talked down to by those who don’t understand the actual problems facing society and won’t listen to their concerns.

COVID may not have been a major topic during this election cycle, but it absolutely impacted the results. The consequences of pandemic policy, dictated by the scientific community, have been disastrous. Rampant inflation from lockdown-era money printing. Children set back in schools, forced to miss major milestones they’ll never get back. Seeing friends or family distance themselves or commit to permanent masking.

That’s the legacy of "science" since 2020. The fact they have any trust left at all is stunning.