When life is upended as it has been, people are much more vulnerable to conspiracy theories etc. And, from there the trolls and hostile nations ramp up their misinformation campaigns to exacerbate the problem. And from there, you amp up people who then proceed to threaten violence, and the trolls and hostile nations sit back and laugh as their "useful idiots" damage science, trust, and truth. Because then strongmen seem viable (e.g., Putin, Xi, Orban, Ergodan, etc). And from there, the battle cry becomes "blind obedience will set us free!"