There's NEVER a COVID pandemic. What changes, in US and world?

[Libertas Vel Mors]

It would be interesting if COVID and Monkeypox were switched, with Monkeypox occurring in early 2020 and COVID being delayed until May of 2022.

The Dems win big on that 2022.

On the other hand, monkeypox being its own independent story and not overshadowed by years of COVID almost surely would have played in favor of social conservatives in 2020.

Probably right. I am thinking that some cities and states still might have done lockdowns and things like mask and glove mandates in 2020 due to Monkeypox, although they might have only lasted a few months at the most.

I think it would be more like rural state governors testing everyone who comes off a flight from NYC or San Francisco for a few months, and the the left/right polarization on whether that was appropriate would be reversed.

There's no real reason to think this. Liberals being hypocritical doesn't mean conservatives are. It's forgotten now, but right-wing skepticism of COVID restrictions didn't rise because Trump was against them: conservative skepticism rose even when Trump was supporting restrictions. Conservatives would oppose mandatory Monkeypox testing. Left-wingers are only pretending otherwise because they're trying to avoid responsibility for their own pandemic hysteria.