The distressing, dysfunctional politics of a world with endless COVID

Get ready for more of the same, only worse

COVID and screaming.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

There was a fleeting moment early on in the COVID-19 pandemic when it was reasonable to think that a dangerous virus spreading across the globe might bolster technocrats in our era of populist attacks on elites and expertise. In a crisis, people would want competent, effective government they can trust. That would create an opening to remind restive voters of how important it is to elect people who know what they're doing and who can make a positive difference when people are dying, economies are buckling, and daily routines are upended by a deadly pathogen.

If you'd told me in late March 2020 that a joint effort between pharmaceutical conglomerates and governments would succeed in devising, testing, and distributing several highly effective vaccines within a year, I would have considered that even more reason to suspect the technocrats would receive a real boost, throwing the populists back on their heels.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.