.@jaketapper This unnamed “expert” says it’s “possible” that coronavirus originated in Wuhan super lab, we “just don’t know how probable.” I agree. Yet he calls it a “conspiracy theory” that we shouldn’t “mention.” I couldn’t disagree more. He’s wrong on two counts.
First, it’s not a “ theory” and certainly not a “conspiracy theory,” but rather a hypothesis—one among many, all but one of which will ultimately be disproven by the evidence, if the Chinese Communist Party ever shares it.
But given the CCP’s ongoing dishonesty, we have to examine the hypothesis and demand the evidence.
Second, of course we should “mention” the possibility to our people—doing otherwise will breed distrust in our government. A central lesson of past outbreaks (SARS, MERS, Ebola, etc) is to be honest about what we know and what we don’t know.
Because of the CCP’s lies, we don’t know where this coronavirus originated, though we do almost certainly know it wasn’t in the Wuhan food market.
Again, this “expert” and I don’t really disagree about the science, only about the response to our limited knowledge at this point. And that response is not a scientific question, it’s a policy question.
The right policy is to be transparent with our people and examine all possible hypotheses at this point.
