McDonald: The faithful are falling—Support for irrational and destructive mandates is collapsing

A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University recently published a meta-analysis of 18,590 studies on the effects of lockdowns around the world. Surprisingly, of the 18,590, only 24 qualified for review. What did they find? “An analysis…supports the conclusion that lockdowns have had little to no effect on mortality.” Worse, “While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted. In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.” So, lockdowns don’t work and they destroy society.

This is not news. We have known this for nearly two years. What is different now is that this inescapable truth is starting to receive real attention throughout broader society. In addition to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times, Yahoo News covered the story. Facebook is not taking down links to it on its site for “misinformation.” Twitter is not slapping a warning label on posts that cite it. How could this be?

Just days before the Johns Hopkins study was released, California governor Gavin Newsom was photographed with Magic Johnson at Sofi Stadium—without his mask on. He was accompanied by LA mayor Eric Garcetti and San Francisco mayor London Breed. None were wearing masks. The governor tried to explain himself by saying that he had been wearing his mask before and after the photo was taken, only to have this lie exposed when yet another photograph surfaced of him sitting at his seat with his mask dangling from his hand. Garcetti later publicly announced that while wasn’t wearing a mask in the photo taken with Magic, he had been holding his breath while the photo was snapped. So, he didn’t inhale? Meanwhile, Breed was apparently “feeling the spirit,” just like she had in San Francisco at the Black Cat Club late last year when she was observed dancing maskless to Tony! Toni! Toné! Not only are these elected “leaders” hypocrites, but they clearly do also not believe in the mandates they have imposed on their constituents.

This is also not news. Before Newsom was recalled, his insincerity toward the mandates was broadcast over national news following the infamous French Laundry incident, where he was caught dining among a large group of people in a closed room, all sitting together, none wearing masks. What is different now is people’s reactions to it. Soon after the Sofi Stadium incident, a San Diego mother told her son that he was done with wearing a mask to school. “If Newsom can attend a football game without a mask, you can go to school without one.” Other mothers joined her in sending their children to school without a mask. Principals are suspending children for violating mandates, but they won’t be able to suspend every student, if more mothers join in to defy these ludicrous and abusive policies.

Monmouth University’s latest poll reveals this reaction from ordinary Americans is not an aberration. Fully 70% of Americans say it’s time to “move on” from the pandemic, including a majority now opposed to workplace “vaccine” mandates. Close to 50% of Americans no longer support mask mandates. They have seen that none of the mandates—lockdowns, masks, and forced “vaccination”—have had any effect on reducing either deaths or the spread of disease. More important, though, is what Americans have seen: an explosion in youth suicides and drug overdoses, mental illness, speech and language disorders, academic failure, unemployment, and crime. Americans are suffering from the effects of profound government incompetence, and the suffering can no longer be denied. The callous disregard shown by our ruling class can no longer be brushed aside or forgiven as a simple mistake. In fact, the more overtly our leaders scoff at criticism of their own hypocrisy, displaying contempt for the voters that elected them, the more emboldened they become.

Thank you, Gavin Newsom, for encouraging Americans to free themselves from fear—and direct their anger against you and your loathsome mandates. I believe we have passed the tipping point and are now on a road to recovery. May the progress be swift.

Mark McDonald, M.D.

Psychiatrist and author of United States of Fear: How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis