To see how this works, look no further than the “Joe Biden is too old” narrative.

This particular mind-virus was concocted by right-wing media — Fox, Breitbart, Newsmax, the usual suspects — who have long been desperate to slime Joe Biden with anything they can make stick.

To them, Biden is infuriatingly bland. Nothing about him offers the slightest whiff of scandal or bad faith. With so little to work with, they make stuff up — Hunter’s laptop, House investigations, immigrant …