What a proven coronavirus lab leak theory would mean

The prospect of even greater Chinese culpability, of course, is a big reason this idea initially caught on in many parts of the American right. President Donald Trump’s and his party’s efforts to shift blame away from their own response and toward China was politically convenient, which led to too much initial skepticism of the lab leak theory. Trump also, as I noted earlier this week, engaged in plenty of conspiracy theorizing with little or no evidence to back it up. When you combine that with what scientists were saying at the time, it was easy — too easy, it turns out — to be overly dismissive of the lab leak theory.