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We now have proof that President Trump does not care about the health and lives of his supporters, or any other person in our country. He can be heard on an audio tape (and he admits the tape is of him, and he agreed to being taped) saying the following things to reporter Bob Woodward about COVID-19
“It goes through the air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch… you don’t have to touch things, right? But the air, you just breathe the air … And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.” February 7, 2020.
“I think, Bob, really to be honest with you…I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.” March 19, 2020.
Now for some additional context. Trump, who constantly complains about “fake news” and criticizes reporters (even some from Fox News), voluntarily spoke with Bob Woodward over an 11 month period, in 18 separate interviews, for a total of almost 10 hours. Trump knew he was being taped and that Woodward was gathering information for a book he was writing about Trump. Trump also knew Woodward (who exposed the Nixon/Watergate scandal) has worked for the Washington Post for decades, although Trump often criticizes the Washington Post and its owner, Jeff Bezos.
So, we now know for sure that Trump knew, and believed, that COVID-19 was serious and deadly as early as the beginning of February, yet he told the public, and especially his supporters (who have eagerly embraced Trump’s fake news), quite the opposite. And he continues to lie about the seriousness of the virus while approximately 1,000 people in the U.S. die every day from it, with a total of over 200,000 so far. At a recent rally in Ohio, Trump lied to his fans that the virus isn’t that bad — it mostly kills “elderly people” and “it affects virtually nobody.”
Trump saying he wants to downplay the seriousness of the virus so as to not cause a panic is not only deadly, it is patently absurd! Gov. Cuomo of New York handled the virus very seriously from the beginning and there was no panic on the streets of New York City. Canada, which has taken the virus seriously, has had a significantly lower rate of infection and death per capita from the virus than the United States, and all without panic in the streets. But then Canada also has universal health care coverage.
There is no way to spin this. As Trump holds his rallies with hundreds of people close together and not wearing masks, he simply does not care if some of them contract the virus and die, or become disabled from it. Meanwhile, he lives in a protected bubble because he knows how deadly the virus is. As long as his fans vote for him, he is happy.
Susan Miller
Onalaska
