AMAC Exclusive – By Andrew Shirley
A favorite tactic of the media and liberal establishment whenever they confront a narrative that undermines their political agenda is to simply dismiss any inconvenient facts as a “conspiracy theory” and “misinformation.” But all too often those “conspiracy theories” turn out to be true, and the left are the ones exposed as knowingly spreading lies. Here are five prominent examples.
The COVID-19 “lab leak” theory was always viable
Former President Donald Trump first floated the idea in April 2020 that the virus which causes COVID-19 could have escaped from a Chinese lab. Trump called for full transparency from China and an investigation.
But instead of working to hold China accountable, Democrats and the mainstream media united behind Beijing in an effort to tear down and discredit Trump, their top political enemy.
Anyone who dared question the Chinese line that COVID-19 originated spontaneously in a wet market near Wuhan was pilloried, deplatformed, and even investigated by the federal government. The New York Times suppressed a story from one of its own science writers that could have lent more credibility to the theory, while multiple media outlets insisted the lab leak hypothesis was “debunked.”
Yet in February of this year, the FBI said that the COVID-19 pandemic was “probably” the result of a lab leak – an assessment further backed up by the Department of Health and Human Services. Democrats and the media were forced to reverse course, although none of them apologized for falsely slandering the lab leak theory as a way to hurt Trump politically.
We’ve also now learned that top U.S. public health experts – including Dr. Anthony Fauci – received emails in early 2020 that the virus looked “engineered.” Yet Fauci too worked to discredit the lab leak theory – possibly to avoid scrutiny about the fact that he had a direct role in funding the Wuhan lab from which COVID-19 may have escaped.
Because of the left’s efforts to chill any discussion of the lab leak theory early on, the world may never know for sure how the pandemic began and what facts the Chinese government covered up.
The COVID-19 vaccine might not be the right choice for everyone
Following the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, some people were understandably concerned about potential side effects and its effectiveness.
Instead of educating and communicating with the public, however, public figures like NIH director Anthony Fauci led a relentless smear campaign against anyone who questioned the vaccine. Even simple questions like “What is the efficacy of getting the COVID-19 vaccine if you’ve recently recovered from COVID-19?” were treated as apostasy.
At the peak of vaccine absurdity, personnel at certain New York medical hospitals were fired if they were unvaccinated. Yet, if they were vaccinated and had an active case of COVID with mild symptoms, they were still required to work.
As a result, trust in the scientific community was shattered when it was revealed that the vaccine is linked to a slightly increased risk of myocarditis. Some Americans are on their 7th or 8th booster, yet still find themselves catching the virus.
While the vaccine had its uses, it was never the COVID-19 “silver bullet” it was billed as.
Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell” was not “Russian disinformation”
When the New York Post first broke the story of Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell” in the waning days of the 2020 campaign, the Democrat establishment, liberal media, Big Tech, and the Deep State united to dismiss the story as “Russian disinformation.”
Twitter went so far as to ban any account that even shared the story – including the Post’s. More than 50 retired “senior intelligence officials” signed an open letter assuring Americans that the laptop “had all the hallmarks of Russian disinformation.” CNN accused Trump of spreading “Russian disinformation” by mentioning the laptop during the last presidential debate.
Only after the presidency was securely in the hands of Joe Biden did the left stop the charade and admit that it was all true. The New York Times and The Washington Post issued full retractions – but no matter, their deliberate deception had its intended effect, as Biden was in the White House.
As it turns out, the infamous letter declaring the laptop story to be a conspiracy theory was the brainchild of then-Biden campaign adviser Anthony Blinken (now Secretary of State). The acting CIA Director drafted it, and not one of the document signers ever actually evaluated the laptop.
They really did spy on Trump’s campaign
In a March 2017 tweet, Donald Trump stated, “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism.”
The liberal media and Democrat establishment, of course, quickly labeled this another “conspiracy theory.”
But during special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, the American people learned that the Clinton campaign was indeed actively spying on the Trump campaign and providing their findings to the CIA and the FBI in the hopes of contriving an investigation. The FBI gleefully signed on while the CIA declined to take the bait.
To this day, the mainstream media will say Trump was lying because there hasn’t yet been a “smoking gun” that Obama himself was involved in the operation. Yet Obama officials and appointees in positions of power did greenlight the investigation and were actively spying on Trump. The idea that Obama had no direct knowledge of such an audacious operation now seems like the actual conspiracy theory.
The Deep State is very real
When Donald Trump first claimed that unaccountable bureaucrats embedded in the executive branch were undermining his administration’s policies and that this was tantamount to “Deep State” collusion, he was pilloried for promoting a baseless conspiracy theory.
Yet as early as 2018, an anonymous op-ed was published in The New York Times titled, “I am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” In the piece, this official stated that there was a “quiet resistance” inside the executive branch actively working to undermine the wishes of a duly-elected president. He outright stated, “Many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda.”
Despite this clear admission, the left still accused Trump of promoting a conspiracy theory.
Meanwhile, the official was eventually outed, given a cushy job at Google in addition to multiple media contributor contracts, a book deal, and a fellowship position at a university. This type of reward for somebody who actively claimed to be working to undermine the democratic will of the people only shows Americans that the Deep State is not only real, but it protects its own.
Liberals constantly whine about a decline in “trust in institutions,” including government and the media. But as long as they continue to dismiss the truth as a “conspiracy theory” and weaponize those institutions against anyone who disagrees with them, a resurgence in trust seems all but impossible.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
