“The bad guys may seem to hold all the cards, but they fear us more than we realize -- and that isn't wishful thinking on my part.

Take this weekend's confrontation between Joe Rogan and Dr. Peter Hotez (who, if we lived in a normal society, would be branded a source of health misinformation for his consistently false -- but authoritatively delivered -- statements about Covid and vaccines).

As many of you know, Rogan interviewed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., just days ago, and a portion of the characteristically lengthy interview involved vaccines. RFK Jr. explained his position and answered Rogan's questions.

Well, Dr. Peter Hotez wasn't happy about this at all.

On Twitter he made clear how unhappy he was that Spotify wasn't even trying to control Rogan's "misinformation" anymore, and that this was terrible.

Rogan appears to be done with b.s. like this, so he immediately confronted Hotez publicly:

"Peter, if you claim what RFK Jr. is saying is 'misinformation' I am offering you $100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if you’re willing to debate him on my show with no time limit."

That isn't what Hotez wants, obviously.

He replied: "Joe, you have my cell, my email, I’m always willing to speak with you."

First sign he wouldn't debate.

Meanwhile, Joe's offer of $100,000 to charity began to multiply, with other people adding large sums to the total -- as of this writing it's now at over $2.6 million.

Joe came back with:

"This is a non answer. I challenged you publicly because you publicly quote tweeted and agreed with that dogsh** vice article. If you're really serious about what you stand for, you now have a massive opportunity for a debate that will reach the largest audience a discussion like this has ever had. If you think someone else is better qualified, suggest that person."

Hotez responded, again obviously not wanting to debate, with this: "I’m happy to come on and clear the air. I respect you and your show. I don’t want an adversarial relationship, I think we can work well together."

By the way, this is the same creep who, just weeks earlier, had written about his concern about Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson -- "then fold in Rogan and RFK Jr. and it becomes a pretty formidable coalition with neofascist leanings."

That's what he says when he thinks Rogan isn't looking, but when speaking to Rogan he's all sunshine and sweetness.

Well, Rogan dug up that Tweet and said, "Are you sure I’m not a part of a coalition with neofascist leanings? Seems like that’s what you really think, or what you’re projecting to the masses."

Hotez said he'd be willing to have a "discussion" about vaccines; Rogan then explained to his followers: "To those misunderstanding what he’s saying, he’s NOT agreeing to debate RFK Jr. He’s just offering to come on my show by himself."

After all this, the Hotez Twitter feed became nonstop retweeting by Hotez of people telling him how great he is and that since he is The Expert he shouldn't have to debate anyone -- especially people with unapproved views.

It's the old "I can't debate a 'conspiracy theorist' because I'd dignify his position" argument, which is rapidly losing whatever effectiveness it once had.

Pete, concern about vaccines is already out there. If you think that's a problem, and you think a public debate would actually make the situation worse, what exactly does that say about your position?

Glenn Greenwald put it this way: "The demands from establishment liberals that Peter Hotez not debate RFK -- despite his polling at 20% among Dems for president -- is status: The only thing these people have left is their establishment status. By definition, anyone who dissents is inferior, not worth hearing."

Hotez believes vaccine "misinformation" has cost untold lives. Here is his chance, then, to speak to tens of millions of people, and expose one of his greatest adversaries as a charlatan -- and he runs away.

If you look into Hotez, he was a source of nonstop propaganda during the Covid fiasco, managing to wind up wrong in every particular I can see.

And to watch him pivot from "you're fully vaccinated with two doses" to "I've always said this was a three-dose vaccine" (even though we heard him with our own ears say something different), to "the third dose isn't holding up so we need a booster" to "I don't think we'll need regular boosters" to "we need an annual booster" to "maybe every few months" is truly breathtaking -- especially given the authoritative tone in which he delivered his various statements. He was certain of things he couldn't possibly have known.