#64 The Reckoning, COVID, and Other Absurdities with Thomas Beckett Kane

This week I am joined by Thomas Beckett Kane, author of the book The Reckoning: A Definitive History of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Absurdities, releasing October 2, 2025. It’s been five years since the start of the covid pandemic, and Americans still don’t truly have a shared reality about the disease and the government’s response. Much of this is due to deliberate right-wing misinformation and absurd conspiracy theories. However, ultimately, the pandemic exposed and heightened ideological differences related to collective sacrifice versus personal freedom.

Thomas has a more libertarian-influenced perspective that doesn’t exactly align with mine. (Full disclosure, he was critical of covid lockdowns.) But he also doesn’t share the far-right insistence that Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates created covid in a secret lab as part of their diabolical plot to subjugate humanity.

Most of my readers probably agree with me on covid more than they would Kane, but I think you’ll still enjoy our discussion.

You will hear:

• Dispelling the idea that just because Thomas was critical of the covid lockdown that he didn’t think the virus was real
• His belief that the steps taken to address the virus were an overreaction and extreme to the point of tyranny, rather than a more targeted approach to protect the most vulnerable communities instead of a blanket shutdown
• The downsides of pitting politics against science and experts where people grew more wary of expertise based on their own beliefs, rather than anything evidence-based
• Thomas' thoughts on vaccines and vaccine mandates
• The almost amnesiac response of the public five years after the pandemic where it feels like it never happened
• The nuance needed to look at the situation as a whole, rather than either side’s extreme views 
• And so much more!

Guest Info: 

In 2019, military veteran Thomas Beckett Kane found himself at the center of an impending shift in human affairs. After the Covid-19 virus arrived on American shores, L.A. experienced some of the most extreme responses imaginable. With basic freedoms ripped away, fear stoked within the population, and society plunged into chaos, he witnessed the fragility of social order and individual freedom first-hand. 

When not writing books about the decline of Western civilization, Kane enjoys working out, reading, and listening to Oasis.

Links:  

Thomas’ Website: https://thomasbeckettkane.wpcomstaging.com/

Thomas’ Book: The Reckoning: A Definitive History of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Abs

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