Cal Thomas: Seeking the truth about COVID-19

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, May 18th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. This past Tuesday, Florida Senator Marco Rubio released a 328 page report on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. He claims the report offers a “mountain of circumstantial evidence that the pandemic came from a lab accident in Wuhan, China.”

WORLD Commentator Cal Thomas looks at the pressures that have made the topic so politically charged.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Before he became host of “The Tonight Show” on NBC, Johnny Carson hosted a show on ABC called “Who Do You Trust?” The grammatical error aside (WHOM do you trust would have been correct), it’s a question many are asking when it comes to their government, scientists and politicians. Perhaps an updated version might be whom CAN you trust?

With respect to the origin, prevention and treatment for the virus that causes COVID-19, the misinformation and disinformation are now being uncovered.

Senator Marco Rubio’s report this week will take a while to digest. But it comes on top of last winter’s admission by the Department of Energy. While labeling its conclusions “low confidence,” the federal agency revealed that early allegations that the virus originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, might have credibility. FBI Director Christopher Wray agreed in February, saying the COVID pandemic was likely caused by the Chinese lab leak.

When that story was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan claimed there is no “consensus” in the intelligence or scientific communities about the origin of the virus. Since when did a lack of consensus keep them from reaching conclusions? When there has been consensus, it has often been wrong. American leaders failed to foresee the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Let’s not forget those 51 retired intelligence officers who agreed that the Hunter Biden laptop story was part of a “Russian disinformation” operation. Joining the pile-on was Hillary Clinton, who claimed then-Rep Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) was a Russian “asset.”

The list of COVID-related misinformation and lies is long. It includes recommendations on masks (good, not good), school closures (effective, ineffective), vaccines (prevent infection, then don’t, but wear masks anyway), and social distancing (effective, but then not so much).

The question of origins was especially politicized. Anyone who disagreed with “experts” like Dr. Anthony Fauci was a conspiracy theorist, a denier, wore a tin hat, and was stupid and racist.

The media often aided and abedded such “experts,” and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton was a special target. Cotton held the view that the virus came from a Chinese lab, and a New York Times headline read “Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe Theory of Coronavirus Origins.” The Washington Post ran a nearly identical headline: “Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus fringe theory that scientists have disputed.” Many other news outlets took a similar approach.

In June of 2021, the Post published this half-hearted statement without apology: “Earlier versions of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized comments by Sen. Tom Cotton… regarding the origins of the coronavirus.”

The Pew Research Center has studied the trust Americans place in government, and it states: “When the National Election Study began asking about trust in government in 1958, about three-quarters of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing almost always or most of the time. … Public trust reached a three-decade high shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but declined quickly thereafter. Since 2007, [those] saying they can trust the government always or most of the time has not surpassed 30 percent.”

Is it any wonder?

I’m Cal Thomas.

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