china made some mistakes. all countries made some mistakes. it was a mutant virus, it takes time to identify it and to see how dangerous it is.....but what i am talking about is Trump's willful lying about how dangerous it was, he admits it in a phone call with Bob Woodward!! on February 7th, meaning he had been briefed about how dangerous it was, how infectious, how lethal, in late january/early february and lied about it to us for at least a month and a half when we could have taken steps to isolate the few actual cases we had in this country!! how can you deny that?
This is the conversation Trump had with Woodward on February 7th, when we had maybe 5 cases of covid in the country-
President Donald Trump acknowledged the “deadly” nature of the coronavirus earlier this year in a series of recorded interviews with The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, even as Trump publicly sought to dismiss the disease’s threat to Americans.
Recounting a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump told Woodward on Feb. 7 that the coronavirus is “more deadly than your, you know, your — even your strenuous flus.”
“This is more deadly,” he said. “This is five per — you know, this is 5 percent versus 1 percent and less than 1 percent, you know. So, this is deadly stuff.”
Woodward conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with the president between last December and July to gather material for the veteran journalist’s forthcoming book on the Trump White House.
Excerpts of those conversations were published Wednesday by the Post, including an exchange between Trump and Woodward in which the president revealed he was eager to downplay the coronavirus outbreak so as not to alarm Americans.
“I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down,” Trump said on March 19. “Because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Trump later defended himself during a White House briefing, emphasizing the notion that he was trying to prevent panic. He called Woodward's account "just another political hit job," and said he was acting in the country's best interest, even calling himself "a cheerleader for this country."
"We had to show calm," Trump said. "The last thing we can show is panic or excitement or fear or anything else. We had to take care of the situation we were given."
When asked why didn't take more preemptive measures based on his understanding of the virus before the disease spread in the U.S., Trump said: "You didn't really think it was going to be to the point where it was." But Trump acknowledged to Woodward in February how easily transmissible and deadly the disease was.
According to the book, Trump knew in early February coronavirus was dangerous, highly contagious, airborne and "deadly."
Here's an exchange between Woodward and Trump on Feb. 7:
Woodward: And so, what was President Xi saying yesterday?
Trump: Oh, we were talking mostly about the virus. And I think he’s going to have it in good shape, but you know, it’s a very tricky situation. It’s –
Woodward: Indeed.
Trump: It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so, that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than your – you know, your, even your strenuous flus. You know, people don’t realize, we lose 25,000, 30,000 people a year here. Who would ever think that, right?
Woodward: I know. It’s much forgotten.
Trump: Pretty amazing. And then I say, well, is that the same thing-
Woodward: What are you able to do for-
Trump: This is more deadly. This is five per- you know, this is five percent versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So, this is deadly stuff.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...ed-risk-410796
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