Sure, President Joe Biden is terrible at his job. Even the corporate media is forced to talk endlessly about his abysmal approval ratings, his unsettling age and acuity, and Americans’ ongoing economic pessimism. But there’s one major Biden weakness that no one talks about. It seems like we’ve all just forgotten it ever happened.

Does COVID-19 — and all the associated death, destruction and despotism that it caused — even register in the public consciousness anymore? On the one hand, time seems to have stopped in March 2020. The years since have all blurred together, a fever dream of craziness that is “post-normal” America. Institutionalized race communism, gender witchcraft, AI and high-tech censorship, an international Western elite coordinating to subdue the masses they openly despise, and of course, revisionist global wars — all of this exploded and consolidated into the “new normal” after COVID.

On the other hand, COVID seems completely memory-holed. Besides the seasonal articles warning of a dark winter, we don’t talk about COVID much at all. For years we used wartime language (and federal mobilization) to describe our invisible foe. Now, no one talks about the sacrifice in blood and treasure. We forget the casualties that once stayed glued to the corner of our screens; we pretend the indignities we suffered and the irreparable loss of liberties never happened. There is no moment of silence, no COVID Memorial Day. We swallowed the trauma of the COVID years and have all just moved on.

Why is this?

For those responsible for much of this trauma — the media and government officials who denied China’s complicity and pushed unscientific lies to empower themselves — moving on is a way of shielding their own culpability. During COVID, they consolidated a regime of moral and scientific authority (Trust the Science™, or it’s your fault grandma died!) in an almost cult-like way. They not only ousted Donald Trump on that platform, but dealt a serious blow to the legitimacy of populist Trumpism in the public mind. To talk about COVID now would require admitting some mistakes and undermine their entire right to rule.

One TIME Magazine headline sums it up best: “Knowing the origins of COVID-19 won’t change much.”

Like it or not, these are the dominant figures that set the topics of discourse of the moment, which partly explains the right’s COVID amnesia. Conservative media and politicians necessarily exist in a largely reactionary environment: the left unleashes some fresh hell, and conservatives react. It’s the inherent downside of conserving. However, the forgetfulness is also partly strategic. Received wisdom in party politics suggests that attacks on your opponent won’t cut it; a positive, future-oriented campaign vision is necessary for success.

Mostly, however, people right, left, and center would just rather not think about it anymore. Sometimes, repression is really the best option to move onward with your life. Those not still in the COVID cult won’t forgive; continued elite escalation still makes true reconciliation impossible. But they will forget the acute cause of the explosion of abnormality. While it’s infuriating that we’ve moved on without finding truth and reconciliation, this will all likely boil down to a major advantage for Trump.

How did Biden win in 2020?

He talked endlessly about COVID, excoriating Trump for poor messaging and even worse mobilization. The entire election became a referendum on Trump’s handling of the pandemic (and corollary crises). COVID also served as an excuse to enact mail-in voting and other schemes that built in systemic advantages for Democrats. Given the onslaught of propaganda and procedural changes, Americans by and large decided they were dissatisfied with Trump’s performance. But now that COVID has left our cultural lexicon, Biden has lost his most potent weapon.

The American people, now thinking outside the acute stress of a pandemic, will have clearer eyes to evaluate both candidates. This isn’t just relegated to moderates and center-left liberals, who might be more amenable to Trump now that the hysteria has died down. COVID amnesia gives Trump an intra-party win on the right as well.

While Trump can’t really be blamed for his mistakes in a fluid, uncertain crisis, COVID was nevertheless his biggest vulnerability from the right. In hindsight, he could have more aggressively combated his own public health experts, been more proactive against Democratic lawfare on voting procedures, and put more pressure on states to end or eschew mandates. There are mistakes he won’t make again, but they left him open for criticism — particularly from America’s largest COVID iconoclast, Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Enjoying broad conservative approval of his handling of the virus, DeSantis had the opportunity to contrast his performance in Florida with Trump’s early ambivalence toward lockdowns and mandates. While the DeSantis campaign made some halfhearted attempts to push this narrative, it was certainly not the central message. This was likely in part due to the public’s amnesia; what point would there be to rehash COVID if the public has no appetite for it? But his decision to suspend his campaign on Sunday is the clearest indicator yet that COVID will not play a role moving forward.

Thanks to COVID amnesia, Trump has now almost certainly locked up the GOP nomination. It’s now only likely to help him more moving forward.