Remember “herd immunity” – a concept most of us discovered during the Covid pandemic? It’s what happens when a pathogen becomes so ubiquitous that the population has acquired resistance. After the momentous defeat of Donald Trump in last week’s US midterm elections, there is the intriguing and cheering possibility that citizens are developing herd immunity to smear campaigns.

Conor McGregor, of all people, can help us understand what is going on. If this seems absurd, think of Trump’s manic Truth Social post on Saturday: “I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States. I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harris [sic].”

Dana White is the president and chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – and the man who made McGregor a multimillionaire. His putative “assistants” are UFC fighters.

This offer (later explained away by Trump as a joke) can be seen merely as evidence of Trump’s ongoing loss of marbles. But it also tells us something quite profound about the nature of last week’s political earthquake.

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