Of All The Scandals In The Last Nine Years, Is One Of Them ‘The Worst’?

American  Thinker 

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.

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:

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.