In a lecture delivered on October 7, 1976, British humorist and broadcast legend Malcolm Muggeridge offered a piercing observation about the intellectual landscape of the 20th century:

Our twentieth century, far from being notable for scientific skepticism, is one of the most credulous eras in all history. It is not that people believe in nothing — which would be bad enough — but that they believe in anything — which is really terrible. Recoiling, as they do, from accepting the validity of miracles, and priding themselves on seeing the Incarnation as a transcendental con-trick, they will accept at its face value any proposition, however nonsensical, that is presented in scientific or sociological jargon — for instance, the existence of a population explosion, which has been so expertly and decisively demolished by Professor Colin Clark of Monash University. Could any mediaeval schoolman, I ask myself, sit through a universally applauded television series like Bronowski’s “Ascent of Man” without a smile of derision at such infantile acceptance of unproven and unprovable assertions?

This critique of blind credulity resonates powerfully when observing the Senate Finance Committee hearing featuring Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on September 4. The event unfolded as a real-time demonstration of Muggeridge’s point, with Democrat senators embarrassing themselves through a series of shrill, illogical, and often ridiculous interrogations.

In the hierarchy of unfounded beliefs, slightly ahead of the Democrat shibboleths of “Believe all women,” “Trump is a fascist,” “Looting is reparations,” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” is “Believe the science,” something that Robert Kennedy opposes because he knows that “science” has been perverted for political advantage and wants to Make Science Scientific Again.

The hearing quickly devolved into a spectacle of partisan theater, with Democrat senators yelling and hurling insults at Kennedy, seemingly inviting him to respond in kind. One particularly cringeworthy moment came when Senator Ben Ray Lujan, a Democrat from New Mexico, stumbled into a trap of his own making. Forgetting the cardinal rule of debate — never ask a question unless you already know the answer — Lujan demanded, “Are you aware a guy who works for you was charged for practicing medicine without a license?” Kennedy, unflustered, countered with precision: “He was charged by a medical board, sued them, and they were found to have acted in actual malice and [were] fined $2.6 million by a judge for doing that.” Lujan, clearly unprepared for the rebuttal, beat a hasty retreat, underscoring the superficiality of his line of questioning.

The hearing’s rancor was not lost on observers, with Kennedy occasionally firing back, calling Lujan “ridiculous” and accusing him of “talking gibberish,” a sentiment that could easily extend to the others. This back-and-forth underscored a deeper issue: the Democrats’ approach seemed less about seeking truth and more about performative outrage, accepting any narrative that fit their agenda without scrutiny. In contrast, Kennedy’s responses, grounded in facts and legal outcomes, stood out as a rare anchor of reason amid the chaos.

Keep in mind that these are senators who are fully on board with “protecting trans kids” and “gender-affirming healthcare,” two things that are definitely NOT science.

Muggeridge’s warning about the dangers of believing anything dressed in jargon proved prophetic. The Democrat senators’ performance on Thursday was a masterclass in credulity, where unproven assertions and absurd hypotheticals were wielded as weapons, only to collapse under the weight of their own illogic. As the hearing adjourned, it left a lingering impression of a political class more interested in spectacle than substance, a fitting echo of the 20th-century folly Muggeridge so deftly skewered.

And this was on top of Tim Kaine, the man who was within 40,000 votes in 2016 of being our vice president, saying that our rights don’t come from God but from legislation and regulation. In doing so, the Virginia Democrat completely dismissed the belief in God-given rights as “radical and dangerous,” and compared it to the ideology of Iran’s theocracy.

Kaine placed himself squarely against 250 years of American tradition, philosophy, ideology, and theology, and he reminded me of something else Muggeridge said:

“We live in an age in which it is no longer possible to be funny. There is nothing you can imagine, no matter how ludicrous, that will not promptly be enacted before your very eyes, probably by someone well known.”

Muggeridge was a Meme Lord way before social media and memes were a thing.