Surprised no one has mentioned this, but Trump made an absolutely breathtaking disclosure at yesterday’s coronavirus press briefing. He admitted that he knew all along just how bad this pandemic could get—but decided it would be better to be a cheerleader than a leader.
At Tuesday's White House press briefing, Trump was asked whether he lulled Americans into a false sense of security by telling the public that the virus would go away quickly, even as it was clear the number of cases and death toll were on the rise.
"I knew everything. I knew it could be horrible, I knew it could be maybe good," Trump said. "I don't want to be a negative person."
He continued: "This is really easy to be negative about. But I want to give people hope too. You know I'm a cheerleader for the country — we are going through the worst thing that the country has probably ever seen."
This exchange took place between Trump and CNN’s Jim Acosta. Josh Marshall got a clip.
When this story rolled across my Facebook feed, I had to read it twice to believe it. The president of the United States effectively told the American people that he had reason to know that this bomb could explode—and yet felt it was more important to be the cheerleader-in-chief.
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Any leader with a reasonable amount of competence can give his people hope while at the same time being candid about a situation. It’s beyond belief that the president of the United States doesn’t understand this. He wails that we’re not letting him do his job—and yet, once again, he admits failing to do his job.
This would be bad enough taken by itself. But consider that this comes on top of Trump disbanding a unit of the National Security Council dedicated to watching for signs of pandemics, ignoring multiple intelligence reports warning about how bad coronavirus could get, lining out a post for a CDC expert who was tasked with detecting outbreaks in China, etc., etc. And of course, his public dismissals of this disease as just the flu.
It cannot be stated enough. The president of the United States admitted on national television that he had reason to know just how bad this outbreak could get—and yet, downplayed it in the name of keeping things positive. This is unconscionable. This is disqualifying.
It’s hard to believe that this isn’t leading the headlines. But there’s a way to push it to the forefront and ramp up the pressure on Trump. Sign this petition demanding that Trump either resign or give up his bid for reelection. It’s the only way he can even begin to atone for this.