#The politics of hydroxychloroquine and other commentary

Tablets containing hydroxychloroquine, a drug that has shown signs of effectiveness against coronavirus.
AFP via Getty Images

For many who “held out hope that science remained an exception” to the idea that “every domain of life is political,” laments Norman Doidge at Tablet, the “sordid 2020 drama of hydroxychloroquine” has been the nail in the coffin. Yale epidemiology professor Harvey A. Risch predicts this “misbegotten episode” will “be studied by sociologists of medicine as a classic example of how extra-scientific factors overrode clear-cut medical evidence.” Research shows hydroxychloroquine can be a lifesaver if given to certain COVID patients at an early stage, and it’s been safely “treating autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis” for years. But while many “have excelled in making counterfeit bills that look real,” few “have excelled at making real bills look counterfeit” — until President Trump started touting the drug, making it unpopular among the elite and its positive results thus subject to deadly politicizing. The story shows, sadly, “the perilous state of vulnerability of our scientific discourse, models and institutions.”

Culture critic: The Weakness of Wokeness

“Racial identity politics has become the rage in the media, entertainment and political worlds,” observes Joel Kotkin at The American Mind, yet it does little to help anyone besides “writers and administrators in the diversity ‘industry.’ ” In reality, “historically disadvantaged groups” have “succeeded, first and foremost, by developing their own skills and economic power, building alternative institutions and strengthening family ties” — not by the government “imposing racial imperatives.” Radical “racial politics” has “limited staying power,” anyway, since many minorities see how “racialized violence” devastates their communities — the reason they “overwhelmingly oppose the defunding of law enforcement.” Instead of going “woke,” better to emphasize “mutual assistance, family and work,” the “surest pathways that have led even the most discriminated groups to a better future.”

Legal beat: After Clinesmith, the Deluge?

The establishment media’s attempt to downplay ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith’s guilty plea in US Attorney John Durham’s probe of the Trump-Russia investigation is simply “spin, and it’s wrong,” blasts Charles Lipson at RealClearPolitics. Clinesmith in August 2016 doctored a CIA e-mail to say Carter Page, an adviser to candidate Donald Trump, “was not a CIA asset” — “a deliberate lie” the FBI used to get a warrant to “spy on Page.” This “sheds light on Durham’s broader investigation and the malfeasance he’s uncovering.” Just as “water seeping from the base of a dam” portends “the dam’s failure,” the Clinesmith plea foreshadows “a torrent” indicating “how wide” and “how high” the corruption went.

Pandemic desk: Gov’s ‘Metaphorical’ Mistakes

Gov. Cuomo wanted to present himself and fellow Democrats as a “tough, mature, serious bunch” in his convention speech, eyerolls Spectator USA’s Ben Sixsmith — but his “earnest sermonizing” took “precedence over the truth.” The gov claimed “COVID is just a metaphor” for how “America’s body politic has been weakened” and insisted that his state beat the virus. “Did New York succeed when it shoveled thousands of COVID-19 patients into nursing homes?” Cuomo insists his “success” also “showed, somehow, that ‘love wins.’ ” Of course, “more than 30,000 people have died,” New Yorkers are fleeing the city, a third of small businesses “might be gone forever” and crime has spiked. If that’s “love winning,” just imagine “when hate wins.”

Social media watch: Twitter’s Humorless Censors

“In its latest act of woke censorship, Twitter has suspended and restricted a number of satirical accounts,” report the editors of Spiked. The account of satire site The Babylon Bee has since been restored, but many others remain suppressed, including those of satirists “Titania McGrath” and “Jarvis Dupont” as well as parodies Tolerance Police and Sir Lefty Farr-Right QC. “All the accounts did was make fun of wokeness. But it seems virtue-signaling Silicon Valley nerds can’t take a joke.” Indeed, “Twitter’s purge of the anti-woke satirists is a complete vindication of their work. In banning those who make fun of wokeness and criticize its censoriousness, Twitter has made it even clearer how authoritarian that wokeness is.”

— Compiled by Karl Salzmann & Kelly Jane Torrance