US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra is about to step down, along with the rest of the Biden administration. Not only that, but it also seems likely that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will take over that post.
Ouch.
That aside – the exit of Becerra might be the end, and the conclusion of a “synopsis” of this particular political drama – but the start goes way back to 2020, the pandemic, its (mis)handling, and all the wrongs that impacted both people’s physical and mental health, and facilitated rampant online censorship, for many years.
It makes for an interesting read that the Washington Post decided to give Becerra a lot of space to state his case – but less so because of anything the soon-to-be former official actually had to say, or any ideologically heavy narrative the media outlet in question itself, felt the need to peddle in this context, one more time.
(There’s a point in the article where the Covid pandemic is described – now in January 2025 – as merely “receding”?)
These seemingly last-ditch delusional efforts are being made all over the place and this one has Becerra at one point addressing the elephant in the supposedly purely scientific room – what about the rampage of online censorship around Covid?
Believe it or not, it’s the victim card that Becerra chose to play here. “I can’t go toe to toe with social media,” he is quoted as lamenting by the Washington Post, bringing up things like “instantaneous misinformation” as the culprit for citizens now expressing low trust in the outgoing government.
What? Not even with the full state apparatus at your disposal, “repurposing” federal government units like the GEC, and more pressure on companies behind social platforms than they likely ever faced on any other issue – the likes of Becerra were still supposedly unable to “go toe to toe” with the very social media, the now outgoing government appears to have effectively coerced well into submission?
Instead of “fessing up” to any of the things the previous administration clearly got wrong, Becerra decided to complain also about the fact the Biden White House-Big Tech collusion was ever challenged legally, bringing up the Murthy v. Missouri.
The Supreme Court (albeit on “standing” merit alone) actually ruled in the government’s favor there.
You wouldn’t have guessed that from Becerra’s interview, though.
