Former President Donald Trump used his recent speech at CPAC 2021 to highlight the longstanding misinformation campaign that the left has been waging for months, bringing to light a reminder of the daily inaccuracies we as Americans field from the so-called “expert” class daily.
Trump called out the egregious inaccuracies of the 2020 and 2016 pollsters, pointing out how they had him down in multiple states that he ended up winning, including by a whopping 19 points in Wisconsin in 2016.
While most have grown tired of litigating the last election cycle, the president’s speech presented valid points that should open the door for a larger picture policy conversation: estimations can only show so much, and the public and decision-makers should think twice before letting one person’s data dictate their decision-making.
We’ve seen the expert class get things wrong time and time again, from the 2016 and 2020 POTUS elections to the various polls leading up to the unexpected switch-up in the Georgia Senate races.
Beyond election polling, the egregious misses from the data dictators ring wide and cause far more damage to the American people and the cause of freedom than shortcomings in polling ever will.
Take the COVID-19 pandemic, for example. These so-called authorities have spent most of the last 18 months flip-flopping on nearly every major belief surrounding the coronavirus and its path of destruction. Masks, no masks. Eating out, ordering in. Socially distancing outside, remaining alone outside.
The “experts” put out so much conflicting data during the pandemic that it had Americans in a tailspin, sending our economy down the toilet and leaving millions out of work. Even today, nearly 70 weeks after the onset of the pandemic in America, do they really have a good grasp of what’s happening? And who is still suffering from their inability to remain accurate and consistent?
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America's media networks are the most recent entity to suffer at the hands of the “experts” amidst this misinformation-fueled pandemic. Once hailed as the one and only TV ratings service, audience measurement giant Nielsen has come under fire for badly underestimating TV ratings during the pandemic compared to its competitors due to its antiquated tracking practices. The company’s obstinate insistence that viewership was down when Americans had more time to watch TV than ever before cost networks as much as $2.8 billion in lost advertising revenue.
It’s no wonder that One America News doesn’t subscribe to Nielsen’s services. The conservative television network has long warned about heeding too closely to the calls of monopolistic know-it-alls, and it appears to have called Nielsen’s bluff long before anyone else. Now, even the big dogs that use Nielsen — Fox, NBC, and the likes — are part of a conglomerate of networks going after the company for its inaccurate and outdated practices.
In his Farewell Address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said that, “while holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.” These words rang true then, and they ring even truer now.
While the data and opinions of pollsters and forecasters shouldn’t be overlooked, with everything that’s transpired over the last 18 months, lawmakers and the public must allow common sense to guide them to which forecasters are worth listening to — whether that’s public health figures who sounded alarm bells on the COVID lockdowns’ lack of utility long before most, or upstart TV rating services that present data in line with reality. They should also learn to rely on tangible beliefs rather than overly analytical “expert” guesses. Only then will consumers, businesses, and public choice receive the attention and protection they deserve.
Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, the Editorial Director for Reactionary Times, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, which is focused on cybersecurity and politics, has been published by websites including Newsmax, Townhall, American Thinker and BizPacReview.
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