Democrats Continue to Avoid Acknowledging the Consequences of Their COVID Panic

Upon reading Jonathan Chait’s latest piece in The Atlantic titled, “Why the COVID Reckoning Is So One-Sided,” I initially thought it would address how Democrats had consistently and tragically been mistaken about nearly everything during the pandemic.

But that wasn’t the case.

Chait portrays the left as remarkably open-minded and eager for truth, while he claims the dogmatic right is stuck in “pathological incuriosity.”

Even when conservatives get it right, they manage to do so in the wrong way.

Chait argues that those on the left “have engaged in introspective self-reflection — regarding school closures, the lab leak theory, the political ramifications, and various unexpected lessons. Meanwhile, conservatives have seized the moment to indulge in self-congratulation and mockery of their liberal counterparts.”

While some might see it as perfectly justified to point out the folly of those who accused them of mass murder for attending church, Chait is displeased by what he sees as “gloating” and “football-spiking.”

It’s noteworthy that a few left-leaning outlets have recently published columns (five years late) reluctantly acknowledging that lockdowns were ineffective.

Indeed, in a “bout of confusion amid rapidly evolving events,” mistakes occurred, he admits, but insists that Democrats have simply participated in a good-faith discussion.

This leads to Chait penning a COVID-era article titled “American Death Cult,” in which he accused Republicans of intentionally causing the deaths of their own citizens.

Nothing embodies “introspection” quite like labeling your political adversaries as psychopathic nihilists.

Moreover, very few “reckoning” pieces genuinely engage with the policy failures of the left during the COVID era. The notion that a broad reassessment of pandemic-related policies is taking place is simply a myth.

No Senate Democrat voted to confirm former Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya as the director of the National Institutes of Health, despite his accurate track record on COVID policy.

So, how much genuine reflection has actually occurred?

Furthermore, Chait cannot bring himself to acknowledge that media coverage during the pandemic was biased.

According to him, New York Times readers have been “following this debate for years.” The issue, he claims, is that conservatives mistakenly believe that “mainstream” media are as “ideologically inflexible” as their own platforms.

To support this assertion, Chait relies heavily on anecdotal evidence, neglecting the overwhelming amount of coverage to focus instead on a select few skeptical articles.

Anyone who lived through 2020-2022 knows that the lab leak “debate” featured one side suggesting that the virus may have been artificially created, while the other labeled them as gullible conspiratorial bigots.

The New York Times noted in October 2021 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology “has been the target of conspiracy theorists who promote the idea that the novel coronavirus was engineered in a lab.”

When Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced the lab leak hypothesis, the Times accused him of endorsing an “unsubstantiated,” “fringe” “conspiracy theory.”

Instead of facing reality, Chait attempts to create false equivalence in the pandemic response by citing erroneous claims made by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Yes, Republicans have made their share of bizarre statements.

However, proposing solutions or exhibiting overly optimistic views about the pandemic’s conclusion is not nearly as harmful, unethical, or authoritarian as closing down churches, blocking off playgrounds, shuttering businesses, censoring opposing views, preventing countless Americans from attending loved ones’ funerals, or jeopardizing the futures of millions of schoolchildren.

While accepting mistakes is commendable, doing so at the expense of acknowledging the more significant wrongdoing is counterproductive.

Recently, NPR CEO Katherine Maher testified before Congress, admitting that her network, which oddly still receives taxpayer funding, was “mistaken” and “should have covered the Hunter Biden [laptop] story more thoroughly.”

The issue wasn’t merely that NPR didn’t cover the Hunter Biden story or the Wuhan Institute adequately.

It was that it participated in the broader censorship along with other mainstream media and tech companies to suppress it.

This is akin to admitting to a pickpocketing offense while having just committed armed robbery.

Chait concludes his revisionist narrative with perhaps his most astonishing claim: Liberal America possesses an “aversion to dogma and a willingness to reason,” traits that are “fundamental to their belief system (Read John Stuart Mill).”

I’ve read Mill, and I find little evidence of “liberalism” within most of today’s left.

The fearmongering, statism, and preference for pseudoscience demonstrated by progressives diverge significantly from classical liberal principles.

Indeed, the rigid dogmatism and hysteria applied to nearly every contemporary issue contribute to the current state of Democrats being in a weaker position than they have experienced in decades.

The COVID regime represented a tragic embodiment of this illiberal mentality, reflecting a series of devastating errors for which the left has yet to accept accountability.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner.