Since you seem to be knowledgeable is there an objective writeup of the thought process behind this whole thing e.g. Joe Rogan, who was vaguely skeptical of Covid, I think, I remember Bill Burr mocking him for having a big opinion on the manliness of masks rather than listening to doctors.

But then he got Covid and announced he was taking a medicine that some people think might help, but hasn't been proved.

Now there's all the talk about horse paste or whatever but I feel like we all skipped over a step where there's a group of people who have taken a conspiratorial approach now leaping on an unproven medicine, which just seems odd. So they've always believed in Covid, but pretended not to?

And I feel like I'm going crazy but didn't this already happen with some other drug, that people thought might be really helpful but turned out not to be?

Is it the lockdowns they don't like, the vaccines? Why is jumping on unproven meds so popular in certain circles?

So, a few things, I don't think outright covid denial is a major thread. I tend to see much more "herd immunity/get to normal" from right-adjacent circles.

Regarding Right-wing distrust: The vaccine is new tech (and I mean fundamentally new, not just another flu vaccine). This means that unlike previous vaccines, it's safety profile wasn't nearly as well understood. It's efficacy is pretty well characterized. Conversely, Ivermectin isn't just horse dewormer, it's used in humans too. It has a known safety profile, and had early research dramatic report a 90% reduction in death (the one that was later retracted). Remember, not believing in vaccines doesn't make covid go away, so you've got a chunk of people desperate for an alternative solution. So they see this "known element" and reported efficacy and think that it'll be an alternative to the vaccine.

The previous case was Hydroxy chloroquinine, and I have quite a bit of spite for both sides of that argument then too.