Almost a year into 15 days to slow the spread, and even the most benevolent of us are fed up with being lied to. Our last remaining bastion of credibility sullied theirs because of the sense that we were too stupid to follow fact-driven guidance, and we’re paying for it in record coronavirus deaths.

Just imagine if this pandemic started with mass mask-wearing and limited business shutdowns akin to Taiwan? It would have prevented the community transmission that turned the virus into a national pandemic and kept the simple act of wearing a mask from becoming politicized. With more realistic standards set for social distancing and guidelines, the population would have been paced enough that perhaps tyrannical shutdowns and personal lockdown fatigues in places such as California wouldn’t be driving people to socialize solely in multigenerational superspreader gatherings in cramped households.

Alas, the experts lied and people died. Rubio is just the one member of the ruling class with the stones to call a spade a spade.