It was only a matter of time, and we knew it. Still, when the email from the National Science Foundation arrived on April 18, 2025, our hearts sank. The very same day our research team learned that our study of COVID death, mourning, memory, and misinformation was terminated (“effective immediately”), the Trump administration published its overhauled COVID.gov website. Gone from the site was any mention of pandemic death or prevention, replaced by recriminations and accusations—all unfurled beneath a banner with the noticeably svelter figure of President Trump emerging midstride between the words “Lab” and “Leak.” Credit: Screenshot of COVID.gov by Sarah Wagner A screenshot of the COVID.gov website banner. Our project, “Rituals in the Making,” didn’t start out studying the kinds of pandemic revisionism encapsulated in the current White House’s website dedicated to the virus.…