People really underestimate the degree to which many 'luminaries' are just... privileged and lucky, rather than talented. They're not that clever. They're just allowed to get away with tonnes of bullshit that'd get lesser mortals ignominiously fired.
Speaking of Sullivan: The Bell Curve, which he was instrumental in promoting, is, yes, a pretty racist book. But the degree of academic malfeasance in that book is just astonishing, even considering that. Yet it was taken seriously and didn't wreck Charles Murray's career.
Outright lies, citations that didn't prove what was claimed, extensive citing of white supremacists who did even shoddier agenda-driven work, rank data manipulation. And this was a feted "controversial" work that still influences politics today.
The maddening thing about this and so many other examples is that the real world supervillains aren't evil geniuses. They're just some assholes who rig the system to give themselves and their friends infinite free passes, while locking out many truly talented people.
