The war between science, fact, and truth on the side and anti-science, conspiracy, and lies on the other has been raging for centuries. Trump understood how to stoke and profiteer from it but he did not create it. The era of the early astronomers has eerie parallels to today. The dark forces in America have bubbled up through Lindberg and McCarthyism and the Know-Nothings. But what's different now, and what's really terrifying, are two differences from the past: First, the forces of darkness have the unrelenting internet and the far-right media with which to recruit and convince. Second, there is only one political party trying to stand up to the forces of darkness. How the American experiment and American Democracy will fare given this new battlefield, new weaponry, and only one political party to wage the war remains to be seen. But the canary in the coal mine just might be whether the anti-vaxxers can keep this pandemic going.
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