It can only spend the trust it has already earned.

And the fastest way to burn through that trust is to project absolute confidence, silence critics, get caught being wrong, and then issue the correction in a whisper months later or never at all.

Do that often enough, and eventually they will create exactly what we have now: a country that instinctively distrusts official certainty, even in moments when the authorities may finally be telling the truth.

That may prove to be the most damaging legacy of the entire pandemic era.

https://x.com/RWMaloneMD/status/2058901181250859475