US Life expectancy fell in 10 of the last 12 years. That doesn’t seem like cherry picking to me.

We both know the trajectory has been towards longer lives and the only major aberration is the one we have just experienced due to the pandemic. Yes, you can probably find some sets of years where in increase was minimal or there was a minor decline, but the larger trend is so painfully obvious we shouldn't even be discussing it.

Every single year after 2014 has had a lower life expectancy than 2014, that’s a real indication that the long term trend has changed.

Granted we might reasonably exclude COVID when trying to figure out the trend, but even then it looks at best flat from 2010.