Measles Loves MAGA

Stupidity Goes Viral

It is a grim and deadly irony that, in an age obsessed with “going viral,” one of today’s most successful influencers has been around for at least 1,500 years. Say hello to measles.

Like a once-canceled celebrity roaring back with venom and velocity, a disease declared eliminated in the United States more than two decades ago is again having its moment.

Thank you, MAGA. Or MAHA. Or whatever acronym for organized stupidity you prefer.

News broke today that measles cases in 2026 have reached their highest level in 35 years. And it is only July. The number has already surpassed the record-setting total from 2025, when 2,289 cases were confirmed. You do not have to be Einstein to see the trend in the data, or Sherlock Holmes to follow the trail of clues.

There are many threats to human health that are complicated and poorly understood. And while the science of how diseases spread requires study and expertise, the basic mechanics of a measles outbreak are well known. Because we used to have them all the time. And then we didn’t. Because we developed a vaccine.

And then people with microphones and power decided to attack vaccines, arguably the single greatest invention for reducing suffering and death in human history.

The basic math connecting vaccination rates to disease prevalence is actually pretty simple. In fact, it’s at a level any toddler on a seesaw can understand. Vaccines go down? Measles goes up. Vaccines go up? Measles goes down.

Which makes the current outbreak both predictable and heartbreaking. Because, as with so much of the MAGA era, these clowns are not merely failing to solve new problems. They are taking problems we had already solved and making them, um, great again.

When it comes to this know-nothing, anti-science, anti-expertise, anti-future, anti-sanity regime, we have the perfect conditions for incompetence to metastasize from metaphor into literal, deadly disaster. Peeling paint at the Reflecting Pool is one thing. Surging measles cases are another. So are endless wars, incomprehensible tariffs, and entirely avoidable environmental crises.

The root cause in every case is the same: incompetence, stupidity, corruption, and selfishness among the buffoons making decisions that affect us all. And by “us all,” I do not mean only the United States. They are destabilizing the entire world.

The CDC was once the gold standard for reliable public-health information. But under the anti-vaccine and more broadly anti-evidence reign of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the agency has been subjected to tremendous political pressure to replace science with superstition and propaganda.

Respected scientists have resigned in protest, and a new CDC director is now awaiting Senate confirmation. To secure the vote of Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, the administration made a minor amendment to a CDC webpage that had insinuated a long-disproven link between vaccines and autism. The dangerous lie at the heart of the page, however, remains intact. Let’s take a look.

In other words, the CDC is still claiming that the statement “vaccines do not cause autism” is somehow not evidence-based because science has not eliminated every theoretical possibility that vaccines might cause autism. This ignores how science actually works. It is often impossible to fully prove a negative. By this standard, we also cannot rule out the possibility that RFK Jr. is an alien host sent to destroy human civilization from within. Although, in fairness, the evidence for that may be stronger.

It is also a lie to say that studies supporting a link have been ignored. The opposite is true. The overwhelming body of research showing no link has been ignored by the cranks now running our government.

It is impossible to know how this age will be viewed by people in the future, in part because we do not yet know how it will end. But one distinct possibility is that they will look back and ask, “How could they have been so stupid?”

Because that is the thing about stupidity, especially in a representative government. Elect enough ignoramuses, and stupidity can spread to every level of society.

You could even say it goes viral.