Implode-o-Meter News - The crackpot whose 'scientific study' informed the administration's do-nothing pandemic response

... we've determined that Epstein doesn't understand the nature of the virus, doesn't understand what happened in Washington State (which he relied on in his model of the virus' transmission), and doesn't understand that the virus will not necessarily "weaken over time." In short, his conclusions and the methodology underlying them are sheer garbage. But it is the exchange at the end of the interview between Chotiner and Epstein that is the most revealing:
...
[Epstein] You just don't know anything about anything. You're a journalist. Would you like to compare your rÃ©sumÃ© to mine?

[No, actually, I would not.]

Then good. Then maybe what you want to do is to say, "Gee, I'm not quite sure that this is right. I'm going to check with somebody else." But, you want to come at me hard, I am going to come back harder at you. And then if I can't jam my fingers down your throat, then I am not worth it. But you have basically gone over the line. If you want to ask questions, ask questions. I put forward a model. But a little bit of respect.

Wow, this guy sounds like an A-1 psychopath (who happens to think he's a super-smart intellectual ... but is just low-rent alt-right sophist).

Relevant:

The crackpot whose 'scientific study' informed the administration's do-nothing pandemic response