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Donald Trump, who for months played down the severity of the coronavirus epidemic and who, when the situation got out of control, accused China of hiding the danger of Covid-19, already knew everything at the end of January. And at the beginning of February He had discussed the severity of the health crisis with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
But in public he kept saying that the situation was under control., that the very few cases of contagion in America would soon disappear: “In April, with the heat, the virus will disappear miraculously.” It is not the first time that the president has been accused of underestimating a crisis whose seriousness he knew. But Rage, the new book by Bob Woodward that yesterday was anticipated to the press does not contain only well-argued comments and backed by more or less credible testimonies. In the rehearsal there is also an extraordinary own goal by the president who, in conversation with Woodward himself who was interviewing him for Rage, on February 7, had told him about his interview with Xi, adding that “this virus is a serious, deadly thing: it is transmitted through the air, through the breath and is much more dangerous than other flu viruses” that, also, they kill 25-30,000 Americans a year, even if people don’t realize it. But Covid-19, Trump added, “has a 5 percent death rate compared to 1, or even less, for the other flu.” The president’s words recorded, with his consent, by Woodward and now broadcast on all American television.
Along with clips from other interviews by the celebrated journalist (the Watergate “hero” with his colleague Carl Bernstein, when, half a century ago, the two were young reporters for Washington Post) in which Trump admits that the virus is also dangerous for children, although he has publicly claimed otherwise. Then the president who opposed the shutdowns and the obligation to mask admits that he has downplayed the severity of the pandemic: “And I’ll keep doing it because I don’t want to panic.”
In his book Woodward also reports that As early as January 28, his national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, had warned the president that “the coronavirus represents the greatest threat to national security of his entire presidency.”
And immediate Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s response during a rally in Michigan was very harsh: “The President knew that a deadly disease was spreading in the country and did not do his job to protect citizens: he betrayed the American people over a matter of life and death. It is the breach of their duties, we are beyond contempt. ” It was the turn of Trump’s spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, to try to defend him by claiming that “the president did not lie to the Americans”: he was prudent in protecting them without terrorizing them.
Then Trump himself spoke on the sidelines of a meeting in which he presented the names of the conservative judges he intends to promote in his next presidential term. Trump did not (and could not) challenge Woodward’s book, simply reiterating that he downplayed the crisis so as not to spread panic: “I am a cheerleader from the United States and I don’t want to scare her with horrible things, you have to show leadership to prevent fear and mistrust from spreading.” Then, as in the past, the president reaffirmed that he had done the right thing against the crisis by isolating the United States, especially China, and buying medical supplies around the world. The number of deaths and infections in the United States is good for him and the results of the work done will soon be seen with vaccines.
September 9, 2020 (change September 9, 2020 | 22:38)
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