On June 2, 2020, I spent my 18th birthday entirely alone. For much of the day, I sat on my front porch, answering text messages from friends, but mostly I allowed time to pass in a crawl, the way it did for much of the COVID-19 lockdown. In the evening, I went inside and turned on the nightly news out of habit. It had become addicting watching the number of COVID cases rise and hearing concerned news anchors pour over virality data and quarantine horror stories. I spent my 18th birthday alone, shut away from my friends and family, watching people post black squares on their Instagram accounts in solidarity with George Floyd.  That same day, Dr. Anthony Fauci met with President Donald Trump, during which time Trump allegedly stated, “I love you, Tony. I want to give you a big hug.” After meeting for awhile to discuss vaccines, Trump called Fauci “close” to his desk and complimented him by saying, “You are looking real good.” According to Fauci’s diary, upon leaving the White House, he bumped into a friend and bragged about his performances on recent media hits. He then excitedly anticipated his plans for a morning breakfast meeting with Michael Caputo, the former assistant secretary for Health and Human Services. The previous day, June 1, Fauci bragged in his diary about getting to do a Zoom graduation ceremony for the Regis High School’s senior class. By his own judgement, they “loved it.” While hundreds of thousands of children and young adults were blocked from having actual graduation ceremonies, or meeting with family members, or having morning breakfasts with their friends, Fauci was living a normal life. After he spent months scaring Americans and convincing local and state governments that they had to shutter their doors, he was parading around D.C., doing media hits and making notes about which celebrities offered him public praise.  For members of Gen Z, the pandemic was the first major cultural event they experienced. Many were too young to remember 9/11 or the 2008 financial crisis. While some of my friends vaguely remember a few things about the Obama presidency or Trump’s first term, very few of them were mature enough to be politically engaged. The pandemic stripped away their ignorance, forcing them to deal with the tyrannical political inclinations of Fauci, state governments, and liberal elites.  At the time, very few young people saw any upside to the COVID pandemic. It led to 46% of Gen Z reporting new mental health issues, 65% reporting feeling “very lonely,” and spikes in dangerous social trends such as transgenderism. Some students never got to say goodbye to their friends before leaving for college or, upon arrival, weren’t allowed to leave their dorm rooms without a mask. Numerous colleges required students to be vaccinated if they wanted to attend classes in person, while other universities and high schools simply told people to take virtual classes without any end in sight. Many of my teenage friends suddenly found themselves smoking weed every night to pass the time, or turning to dangerous illicit drugs just to “feel something.” With bars closed and parties cancelled, many of my former classmates started drinking alone in their rooms. Meanwhile, out-of-touch celebrities posted cringey videos of themselves singing “Imagine” and hiding in their Beverly Hills mansions.  For some Zoomers, the reaction to COVID was despair. But for many others, the reaction was defiance. After months of lockdowns and mask mandates, young people realized that their likelihood of getting sick was very slim and that quarantining barely mitigated the spread. As “two weeks to slow the spread” spiraled into endless months of forced isolation, many people realized the government was being weaponized against them. Just a few of my peers’ stories back this up.  Alex, who is now 26, dropped out of Northwestern just a few months into his freshman year after realizing the school’s online classes didn’t match its pricey tuition fees. In his free time, he taught himself computer programming. After landing a job at a well-known bank, he came to the conclusion that college was a scam, COVID was a scam, and that the only people who hadn’t lied to him were conservatives. Jake, 27, had recently graduated from high school and got into the trades during the start of the pandemic. After going into several people’s houses per day, he realized the quarantines had had very little effect on peoples’ safety and Fauci’s HHS had been spreading lies. Eric, 24, was forced to spend all of his time alone in his dorm room as a college student. He began listening to podcasts, starting with Jordan Peterson, and eventually wound up listening to Michael Knowles and Charlie Kirk every day. Within the course of less than a year, he went from being apolitical to volunteering for Turning Point USA.  COVID taught young Americans that they couldn’t trust the government to make decisions for them. In the past few years, a majority of my peers have admitted a similar experience: that COVID caused them to see the tyrannical abuse of power inflicted by left-wing governments. It’s no surprise that Trump won the popular vote for Gen Z men in 2024; he represented freedom from radical leftism. I was not the only Gen Z kid who spent her birthday, or graduation, or weekends alone. I was one of many young people who realized that Fauci’s shutdowns and power grabs were nothing but narcissism. Gen Z will never forgive Fauci for lying to them, but they can be grateful that he showed them how dictatorial politicians can be. *** Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College. This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.