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CNN, which has obtained a copy of the book, reports that Woodward interviewed Trump on February 7th. During that interview, the president disclosed that he knew COVID-19 was five times more deadly than the seasonal flu.
However, the president decided to not tell the public about the seriousness of the disease and its threat to Americans’ health.
“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump admitted to Woodward more than one month later. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
During the same time, Trump was telling Americans that the virus was under control and would soon “disappear.”
www.cnn.com/…
This was before the first American had contracted Covid-19. At the time is was still thought to be contained within China, but Trump — on tape — admits that the virus is airborne, that it affects both the young and the old, and that it’s about “five times more deadly” than the flu which he correctly states kills over 20,000 per year.
Now we’ve had 189,000 Americans dead. He’s had multiple public events without social distancing and without masks, including 1,500 on the South lawn of the White House for accepting his nomination by the RNC. He has repeatedly claimed that the virus will “go away with the warm weather.” Well, it’s the middle of summer and it’s still here. He’s trying to force our schools to open to in-person lessons while the virus is still raging, putting 20 million students at risk, also their parents, teachers and administrators.
This has been negligent manslaughter.
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2020 · 5:13:35 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
McEnany is defending the claim that Covid “will go away” and claims that Trump has done an “unprecedented job” dealing with the virus. She continues to claim that the “case fatality rate” in the US is lower than other nations. [We’re not. We still have 189,000 dead, we also have over 6 million cases so we’re supposed to ignore how many have actually died because we also have more cases?]
She claims that if people are allowed to “march” in a rally, then they’re allowed to have public political rallies. [The marches are outdoors and include masks and distance, the political rallies are indoors without masks, or distance.]
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2020 · 5:19:23 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
Brian Stetler: “McEnany has no credibility on this subject. [...] Trump likes to claim that all he needed to do was initiate the travel ban, but it was a partial travel ban.”
Brianna Keilar: “Thousand and thousands of people came through from China during the ban. The virus was already in Europe by that time”
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2020 · 5:33:38 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
More details from the book:
2.) Trump gushes over Kim Jong-un in lurid detail.
In the book, Trump tells Woodward that he finds the North Korean dictator to be “far beyond smart,” while also boasting that Kim “tells me everything,” including a detailed account of how he killed his own uncle.
The president also cited Kim to disparage former President Barack Obama, whom Kim reportedly described as an “assh*le.”
3.) Trump ranted about his own generals being “p*ssies.”
The president was apparently unhappy with the way that America’s military brass placed a premium on maintaining the country’s alliances with other nations, which the president said constrained his ability to cut trade deals.
“My f*cking generals are a bunch of p*ssies,” the president ranted. “They care more about their alliances than they do about trade deals.”
[...]
5.) Trump brushed off centuries worth of oppression against Black Americans by boasting about the low unemployment level before the pandemic hit.
In June, in the middle of national protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Woodward asked Trump if he felt the need to understand the experience of being Black in the United States.
“No,” Trump replied. “You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you? Just listen to you. Wow. No, I don’t feel that at all.”
Woodward pressed Trump about this by recounting the history of Black people in America, but the president refused to hear it and instead called Black Americans ungrateful of his supposed efforts to get them jobs.
“I’ve done a tremendous amount for the Black community,” he told Woodward. “And, honestly, I’m not feeling any love.”
He brought black unemployment down by about 1.1%, it was still at 6.1% when Covid hit. It’s now at 16%.
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2020 · 5:55:26 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
Biden states “he lied to the American people, for months. He had the information and failed to do his job on purpose. If he’d acted just one week sooner 34,000 would have been saved. His failure has not only cost lives, it cost millions more. How many families are missing their loved ones at their dinner table. It’s a disgrace.”
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2020 · 6:07:49 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
Biden is thumping Trump for losing manufacturing jobs, having the highest trade deficit in history and increasing offshoring with his tax bill. He also points out that Obama/Biden created more jobs during their last three years than Trump did in his first three before Covid. This knocks down the key pillar of Trump’s candidacy. He promises that he’ll bring jobs back, he hasn’t. He won’t. He’s too incompetent.