Trump in Woodward’s new ebook: “I needed to all the time play [Covid-19] down”

President Donald Trump admitted to publicly downplaying the actual risk of Covid-19 for weeks, at the same time as cities and states shut down and extra Individuals fell sick, in keeping with excerpts and audio recordings from reporter Bob Woodward’s forthcoming ebook Rage.

“I needed to all the time play it down,” Trump mentioned on March 19. “I nonetheless like taking part in it down, as a result of I don’t need to create a panic.”

In a number of interviews with Woodward, Trump mentioned he was conscious of the specter of the novel coronavirus as early as January, and continued downplaying the true threat the illness offered effectively into March, when the US’s epidemic took off. (CNN printed audio clips from the interviews.)

On February 7, Trump instructed Woodward, “That is lethal stuff.” He instructed Woodward that it was 5 instances as lethal because the flu. He acknowledged that the virus “goes by air,” including, “That’s all the time harder than the contact. You understand, the contact, you don’t have to the touch issues, proper? However the air, you simply breathe the air, and that’s the way it’s handed.”

Later that month, Trump claimed in public that the virus would disappear “like a miracle.” He additionally mentioned that “you’ve 15 folks [with the coronavirus], and the 15 inside a few days goes to be down to shut to zero.” In early March, he additionally publicly in contrast the coronavirus to the flu, arguing that Covid-19 hadn’t killed as many individuals within the US because the widespread flu does.

On March 19, Trump acknowledged to Woodward that Covid-19 may hit younger folks in addition to outdated folks. That dialog is when he mentioned he nonetheless needed to downplay the risk.

By then, it was completely clear that the virus was an actual risk within the US. Instances and deaths have been beginning to rise within the New York Metropolis area particularly. San Francisco was already below lockdown. Trump was holding day by day press briefings in regards to the virus. On the identical day he instructed Woodward he downplayed the disaster, he boasted about his administration having the whole lot below management.

Later in March, Trump insisted in public that the US would be capable of return to regular and reopen by Easter Sunday in April. “You’ll have packed church buildings throughout our nation,” Trump mentioned on March 24. “I feel it’ll be an attractive time.”

Trump instructed Woodward that his intent was to keep away from a panic. However specialists say that Trump’s response to the virus — significantly the magical pondering that coloured his public feedback — fueled the outbreak in America. That fostered a way of complacency among the many public and different leaders, constructing resistance to vital public well being measures towards Covid-19 like social distancing, testing, and masking.

As soon as states started locking down, Trump pushed them to reopen too early and too shortly — to “LIBERATE” themselves from financial calamity. After his administration urged folks put on masks in public, Trump claimed it was a private alternative, refused to put on a masks himself, and mentioned folks put on masks to spite him. He additionally overvalued unproven and even harmful therapies, at one level musing about folks injecting bleach to deal with Covid-19. And he was sluggish to develop US testing capability, arguing that extra testing made the US look unhealthy by revealing extra circumstances; he as a substitute punted the difficulty to native, state, and personal actors unequipped for the total job.

“It begins in some ways, and you might argue it ends in some ways, with the Trump administration,” Ashish Jha, the college director of the Harvard International Well being Institute, beforehand instructed me. “If George W. Bush had been president, if John McCain had been president, if Mitt Romney had been president, this may have appeared very totally different.”

This continued, based mostly on Woodward’s reporting and the president’s admission in audio recordings, effectively after the specter of Covid-19 was clear even to Trump.

The consequence: The US is doing about seven instances worse than the median developed nation, rating within the backside 20 % for Covid-19 deaths amongst rich nations. If America had the identical loss of life charge as Canada, 100,000 extra Individuals would doubtless be alive in the present day.

Trump, nevertheless, has admitted no duty for all of this. In his final interview with Woodward in July, Trump mentioned, “The virus has nothing to do with me. It’s not my fault. … China let the rattling virus out.”

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