It takes a long time for the elites to grasp what normal people understand intuitively.

Their intellectual strategy appears to be based upon a method known and understood solely by them. If I had to summarize it, it seems to go like this:

• Pick a stupid, extreme, and utterly indefensible proposition and demand that it be implemented no matter the cost
• Viciously attack all dissent as anti-science
• Make tons of money off the disruptions
• Accuse opponents of being fascists and a threat to all life on earth
• Whip out Hitler comparisons
• Ride the descent into madness and destruction caused by their policies all the way to the bottom
• Make tons of money on the ride down by manipulating government policies
• Scream “democracy is at stake” as they deploy their shock troops
• Slowly realize that they are surrounded by a hellscape and that is bad for them electorally
• Blame conservatives, or failing that, somebody other than themselves for the mess
• Find a way to scam taxpayers to put more money in their pockets off of the damage they caused
• Rinse
• Repeat

This pattern has been followed perfectly by the Left regarding the disaster caused by their insistence that public schools be closed during the COVID pandemic.

Now that the scale of the disaster is becoming too obvious to miss, the Left is at the “find somebody else to blame” phase of their strategy, and of course they continue the “scam the taxpayer” schemes as well.

Nobody can seriously deny that keeping schools closed caused massive damage to children–the learning loss (a term that many on the Left reject because they think it is too negative and stigmatizing) is so extreme, and correlates exactly with online learning, that they cannot deny that it exists. They can try to name it something more anodyne, but the scale of the disaster is too large to deny outright.

The AP has a long story on this issue–following an awakening that was already taking place.

As effects of the pandemic on kids become clear, some adults are second-guessing extended school closures.

In @AP interviews, nearly 50 educators, parents and health officials looked back at decisions to keep kids online – and some had regrets. https://t.co/QD218lvHu6

— The Associated Press (@AP) October 21, 2022

Some had regrets? Every single one of them should not only have regrets but instead should be picking up pitchforks and torches to punish the malefactors. Anthony Fauci, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, virtue-signaling Democrat politicians, and the vicious columnists at places such as The Atlantic, the New York Times, and just about every mainstream media outlet in the country should be held accountable. In a sane world, we would find a remote island to which we could banish them. Unfortunately, Australia is taken.

They never will be punished, though. We all know that. They own the commanding heights of our society and can do whatever they like to the peasants, at least until we deplorables revolt.

What sparked my thinking about this at this particular moment was a Jake Tapper rumination. Tapper, apparently, was early to the realization that school closures may have some downsides (I never watch him, so I am taking others at their word that this is the case), and he is openly wondering why there is relative silence on this issue.

Jake Tapper: "I have to say I'm surprised that there hasn't been a national conversation about the damage done to kids because of these school closures" pic.twitter.com/JHdrIQElbY

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) October 22, 2022

We all know why: if there were, the Establishment™ would look just as bad to everybody else as it already looks to us. Once you lose your residual respect and deference for the Establishment you can never go back. This is already happening with so many of us and the powers that be are terrified that the trend will continue.

https://t.co/71ADfr3WcM

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) October 22, 2022

They are trying to bury the evidence and move the country on to more frivolous issues such as whether Alex Jones can find a billion dollars to pay for his sins, or whether Steve Bannon should go to jail forever. And, of course, they can announce that Trump is finished once and for all. For real. This time. They really have him by the short hairs. Ask Adam Schiff.

It won’t work. Not with parents who have seen the damage done to their children and recall that the Republican Party quickly coalesced around a rejection of the school closure mantra. And, ironically, it was the Left media who impressed upon the public how all the consequences of sending kids back to school–the bodies piling up on the street in Red states–were all on the dastardly Republicans.

Well, the bodies didn’t pile up on the streets anymore in Red than Blue areas, but the kids sure did better when they went to school. The MSM made abundantly clear that the Republicans would be responsible for the results of these decisions, and judging the results, the public–at least the non-crazy public–kinda like the results the Republicans delivered on this one.

It only took a few months for the fact that kids weren’t really at risk from COVID to become clear, and once it did there was absolutely no reason why kids should be denied an education. Except, of course, that the Democrats and the MSM thought that keeping the schools closed would benefit them politically with nervous moms and especially the education establishment, which is a vital part of their base. Tons of money and volunteers around election time come from union teachers, so the Democrats obey when the union demands.

The worst offenders were @nytimes and @npr IMO
liberal outlets who fear-mongered and exaggerated the risk to kids and demonized folks who said otherwise

— Vinay Prasad MD MPH (@VPrasadMDMPH) October 22, 2022

I’ve decided to write a more extended VIP post on this issue in the next week or two because it really deserves a deep dive–and one that I am not going to do on a sunny Saturday morning during the only season in which Minnesota weather is not some version of hell.

I love you guys, but frankly not enough to give up my day. It is going to reach 75 during a late October day in Minnesota. I am going to enjoy it, damn it.