President Donald Trump spoke privately about the deadly nature of the coronavirus in recorded interviews even as he was publicly downplaying the severity of COVID-19 early this year, before the pandemic would take nearly 200,000 American lives and counting. The president shared his stark assessment with the Washington Post's Bob Woodward in recorded phone interviews in February, as the virus was spreading from China to other parts of the world. 'This is deadly stuff,' the president told the Watergate reporter, Washington fixture and author who has interviewed U.S. presidents going back to Nixon. 'You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed,' Trump told him in a Feb. 7 call. 'And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.' Trump had been briefed on the virus in the Oval Office Jan. 28th, as Washington Post excerpts describe. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien warned him: 'This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency,' according to Woodward. O'Brien's deputy, Matthew Pottinger, warned the threat was akin to the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed 50 million worldwide. His grievous language came as he was telling the nation the virus is 'going to disappear' and would 'all work out fine.' Trump told the nation Jan. 30: 'We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.'
It’s going to disappear. One day – it’s like a miracle – it will disappear.
If you look at our numbers, our fatality numbers compared to other countries, it’s amazing what we’ve done. We’ve been able to do something ... that especially with the country the size we have, we’ve done an incredible job.
According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, among the twenty countries currently most affected by COVID-19 worldwide the only countries with higher deaths per 100,000 are Peru (93.71), Spain (63.34), Bolivia (62.51), Chile (62.37), Ecuador (62.20), Brazil (60.85).
Well done Mr Peresident!
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
I've honestly lost a lot of the respect I had for Woodward in not making this public sooner, but I guess he had to sell his book. Trump's lies I expected, but Woodward's omissions?
Yes: those taped interviews were six months ago. I wonder what the old Woodward (1970s vintage) would have said about the new version. As you say he's selling a book. I think he sold a little more this time.
I have been hearing about the problem of putting together teams of test subjects to evaluate Covid 19 vaccine. It is slowing down the approval process. They can’t get enough black subjects. So what if they can’t get enough blacks to participate, according to liberals there is no such thing as race and no difference between the races. Since all people are indicial don’t worry representative participation just use white people; if it works for white people it will work for everyone else. You can’t have it both ways all peoples are either the same or they are not.
I expected to be placed in an air force combat position such as security police, forward air control, pararescue or E.O.D. I would have liked dog handler. I had heard about the dog Nemo and was highly impressed. “SFB” is sad I didn’t end up in E.O.D.
I think we should definitely take the focus off Trump's mendacity which has directly caused Americans to die in droves and instead join the lying bastard in blaming Bob Woodward for not er . . . revealing all to the fake news media some months back. Whatever Woodey's culpability, the head guy what be in charge must shoulder all the blame
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
I have been hearing about the problem of putting together teams of test subjects to evaluate Covid 19 vaccine. It is slowing down the approval process. They can’t get enough black subjects. So what if they can’t get enough blacks to participate, according to liberals there is no such thing as race and no difference between the races. Since all people are indicial don’t worry representative participation just use white people; if it works for white people it will work for everyone else. You can’t have it both ways all peoples are either the same or they are not.
Who thinks lib is denser than concrete?
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
If they are trying to recruit black subjects , it's likely a reflection of those most affected by the virus (and the last I heard was that black and hispaic persons made up more than half those infected. If you have a scientific reason to dispute this, go right ahead and contact Merck et al. And your bullshit about what liberals believe/say is not science; it's amazing how much someone who dismisses liberal claims to know about their beliefs and views of facts.
Well Meade, reasonable minds can differ, and I am not either excusing or taking the focus off Trump's deeds and lies; but I do think Woodward should have exposed this months ago (and not only to Fox news) rather than delay it to promote his book; it may have done some good earlier this year and made some take the situation more seriouslyr. He is not president, and is not under any compulsion to do so, but his failure to report the facts to serve his own ends has made me lose respect for him as I always thought he was, first and foremost, a reporter. If his behavior is OK with you, then go ahead and defend it.
You have my vote, Meade. (Lib density >> concrete.)
However, there is a real issue here despite lib's attempt to make some sort of asinine political point. It's not surprising that some Blacks are reluctant to participate in medical trials - and usually their proportion is lower than you might expect just from demographic data - the Tuskeegee syphilis trials, which recruited black men without telling them what they had signed up for, ended in 1972. For many people that is still fairly recent. Drug companies conducting trials are apparently making efforts to include more older Black and Hispanic participants not least because they have so far been shown to be both more susceptible to contracting the virus and more likely to have an unfavorable outcome if they do.