I have a theory as to what's going on here. I think (based on family who put these beliefs at the center of their politics) the elite truly believe the end of the world is coming because of "climate change". They are genuinely afraid. Fear is a terrible state of mind from which to make decisions. Yet those who actually wield the levers of control have found themselves unable to spread their fear to the majority of the population. But - in their minds - the threat is real! So something must be done! They realize that even all the Elon Musk marketed electric BS is in truth useless to the task of limiting carbon emissions. Hmmm... how do we stop carbon emissions? To do this would require the stoppage of industrial production. Hey?! Covid! That'll do the trick. A full-spectrum industrial halt. Magic.

Meanwhile, the Chinese (who clearly have a lot of influence now) stoke these ideas happily, watching their nemesis committing suicide in the name of this fear. They love this shit.

Long-term goal: the global left doesn't believe the United States as a separate entity should exist. Our local power-base (the US government) should instead be limited to the point of elimination by their preferred "global decision makers". They're quite explicit about this.