On his weekday podcast (which I sorely miss), Dan Bongino would occasionally refer to a scandal as “the biggest of our time.” This raised questions in my mind, such as how big was it compared to the others? How big must a scandal be before it could be considered “the biggest scandal of our time”? How are scandals measured, anyway? You can’t easily assign a dollar value to loss of trust or societal division.

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Evaluating the damage from these events requires considering multiple dimensions: economic costs, loss of life, social cohesion, political polarization, and erosion of trust in institutions. For example, while the COVID-19 pandemic was a global health crisis, others, such as Russiagate and the Biden Dementia Cover-Up/Autopen Scandals, are more explicitly political controversies. All have inflicted damage and contributed to division, but their scales differ dramatically. Let’s examine a few, in no particular order:

• COVID-19 Pandemic: The virus caused over a million deaths in the U.S. alone and triggered the sharpest economic contraction since the Great Depression. GDP losses were projected at $3.2 - 4.8 trillion in the first two years, with total economic costs reaching $14 trillion by 2023 due to unemployment spikes (peaking at 14.8%), supply chain disruptions, and reduced government revenue. Socially, it worsened mental health crises, educational setbacks for millions of children, and long-term health issues for survivors.
  
  
  • Scale of damage: Catastrophic and unavoidable in the short term, and exposing underlying vulnerabilities in public health infrastructure.


• Response to COVID-19 (e.g., lockdowns & mandates): While it was claimed that the lockdowns helped curb early transmission and save lives, data from countries that did not impose lockdowns demonstrate otherwise. The lockdowns also came at an enormous cost: widespread job losses across sectors, mental health deterioration (e.g., increased anxiety, depression, and substance abuse), and educational disruptions affecting an entire generation. Economically, contraction of the workforce and disrupted supply chains amplified the pandemic’s downturn. Socially, 72% of Americans now view the era as divisive, fostering skepticism toward government and science.
  
  
  • Scale of damage: High, and arguably more preventable than the virus itself. Policy choices that traded short-term gains for prolonged societal fractures.


• Russian Collusion (a.k.a. Russiagate): Hillary Clinton commissioned a series of fraudulent, scandalous memos implicating Donald Trump in a salacious escapade. The memos claimed Russia was threatening to reveal this information unless Trump “played ball.” The FBI, with the approval of Barack Obama, leaked this story to the media. The FBI then used those media reports to justify obtaining warrants to surveil the Trump campaign, lying to a federal judge to do so. The Durham report (2023) revealed FBI flaws and biases, fueling perceptions of a “witch hunt.” This deepened partisan rifts, eroded trust in the FBI and media, and contributed to ongoing election skepticism.
  
  
  • Scale of damage: Significant for political trust, Americans expressing concern over foreign meddling. It also revealed the depths the Democrat party would go to amass and retain political power. This event damaged Trump’s political campaign, hamstrung his first term in office, and resulted in massive financial and legal penalties to him and many of his closest advisors.


• Biden Dementia & Autopen Scandals: Questions about Biden’s mental fitness emerged during the 2020 election, with him campaigning from his basement and, after the election, spending 40% of his time on vacation. His numerous falls, faux pas, aimless meandering, and memory lapses culminated in his cataclysmic debate performance against Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, which ended his campaign. Subsequent revelations on the presidential pardons signed by autopen raised legitimate questions as to who was actually running the government during his term.
  
  
  • Scale of damage: Politically acute and timely. His family and his closest advisors brushed off accusations of his frailty, but later, some have confessed to being concerned. Economic losses and the harm done to ordinary people were immense. The innumerable lies and fabrications engaged in by the Left to prop up an obviously corrupt, incompetent man to maintain their political power fractured their party. The last-minute installation of Kamala Harris without a primary election further damaged their brand.

There were, of course, numerous other scandals: Clinton/Lewinsky, Obamacare, pallets of cash delivered to the “Death to America” crowd in Iran, the Afghanistan withdrawal, Hillary selling hypersonic missile tech to Russia, et. al.

Which was the worst? It may be a matter of opinion unless we can agree on objective metrics. Russia-gate and the Biden Dementia Cover-Up/Autopen Scandals were corrosive to America’s foundations, widening tribalism and cynicism. But these were confined to the political sphere and were less quantifiable.

While COVID-19 resulted in great loss of life, I submit that the response to COVID-19 was worse, as it reshaped daily life for every American. Investigations into the safety and efficacy of the “vaccines” themselves are ongoing and should be included in the tally of damage. Prolonged lockdowns, mandates, and inconsistent messaging have inflicted trillions in avoidable economic pain, shattered social bonds, and left a legacy of isolation and division, permanently scarred trust in experts and governments. It set a precedent for overreach that we’re still unpacking. Healing will take years, perhaps generations. But it also offers lessons for resilience—if we choose to learn from them.