We were just three weeks into 2020 when Tom Cotton, the Republican senator from Arkansas, implored the country to take the Wuhan coronavirus seriously. The "experts" told us he was out of his mind—there was only a "minuscule" risk of the virus in the United States. "Not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about," they said. It was xenophobic fear-mongering for President Donald Trump to restrict travel from China.
Then, of course, the virus made it to the United States.
First, the experts told us there was "absolutely no reason whatsoever to wear a mask," unless you were showing symptoms. Then the advice shifted—experts said everyone breathing should wear a mask at all times, it's our best shot to stop the spread. Especially since the experts say there was no chance of a coronavirus vaccine coming this year, no matter what Trump did to accelerate the process. It would take a "miracle," they said, and miracles don't exist.
Of course, now we have millions of vaccines.
If you're still struggling to get the point, maybe you're one of society's so-called "experts"—who have managed to get nearly every single thing wrong this year. And they haven't just been wrong about the coronavirus.
When the United States assassinated Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani, the experts told us the world would combust into violence. "You've unleashed a Pandora's box of problems for Americans in the region," Vox was told by an "expert." On the contrary, America went on to broker peace deals across the Middle East.
When news started to break about Hunter Biden's foreign business deals, the experts popped in to tell us it was actually all just Russian disinformation. Turns out good old Hunter has been under federal investigation since 2018 over his shady foreign business.
We were told that confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court was part of a sinister plot to guarantee Trump's second term. Again, not so much.
Should we even get into the polling experts, who somehow managed to do worse in 2020 than they did in 2016? A look at this one poll should get the point across.
The anointed experts have never been great at predicting things, yet year after year society goes to them for guidance. But their failure on issues across the board has never been clearer than in 2020.
A friend once tried to reassure me after a particularly bad Sunday of gambling, that what I did was actually quite impressive. "It's just as hard to get every game wrong as it is to get every game right," he astutely observed. "You basically did the impossible."
For doing the impossible in a tumultuous year, the experts deserve recognition. You morons are Washington Free Beacon Men of the Year.
