A few years ago, about halfway through Trump’s term (before covid), I was having a debate (argument) with a leftist friend. It was on climate change and he said he trusted the scientists. I asked him why and he said that they were the experts, and that I should trust them too. I asked him then: if the head of NASA came out and claimed climate change was a hoax, would he 1) believe it, or 2) run to a computer to see who Trump appointed to NASA and find out why that person couldn’t be trusted. To his credit he admitted that it was #2, but it was ok because it would be justified. So the lesson really wasn’t that they were trusting the experts, they were trusting the experts that were telling them what they wanted to hear. They’ve made up their mind and will do all the necessary mental gymnastics to keep their ideology intact.

A few years ago, about halfway through Trump’s term (before covid), I was having a debate (argument) with a leftist friend. It was on climate change and he said he trusted the scientists. I asked him why and he said that they were the experts, and that I should trust them too. I asked him then: if the head of NASA came out and claimed climate change was a hoax, would he 1) believe it, or 2) run to a computer to see who Trump appointed time NASA and find out why that person couldn’t be trusted. To his credit he admitted that it was #2, but it’s ok because it would be justified. So the lesson really wasn’t that they were trusting the experts, they were trusting the experts that were telling them what they wanted to hear. They’ve made up their mind and will do all the necessary mental gymnastics to keep their ideology intact.