Trump deliberately concealed virus severity from public, according to audios
In February, in front of the cameras, Trump insisted that the covid was a "simple flu." But, according to published audios, the president was more than aware of its seriousness
On February 26, Trump in his public statements insisted on lowering the threat of the coronavirus in the United States: the first case of local contagion had just been officially detected, that is, he had not had contact with someone who had traveled abroad, but Trump He promised that the virus in the US was "at a low level. We could be with only one or two people [infected] soon." The press conference was unusual, but the tone remained the one that the US president maintained in public throughout the month of February and the first half of March: accusing the media and the Democrats of "inflaming" the crisis and cataloging the virus as "a simple flu" that "would soon disappear". That in front of the cameras. But behind, Trump was fully aware of the seriousness of the virus, a "deadly affair", "more deadly than the flu" and highly contagious, according to the renowned American journalist Bob Woodward in his latest book, 'Rage' (rabies).
"You just breathe the air and that's how it spreads. And so it is a very difficult [virus]. And a very delicate matter. It is also more deadly than even the most serious flu. It is a deadly matter," Trump admitted in a phone call on February 7 with the journalist, who collects it in his book and whose audio, in which the president admits that he is aware of the seriousness of the virus but that he preferred to "minimize it", has been published by various media Americans, like the Washington Post or CNN.
That Feb. 7 call came ten days after an intense meeting at the White House, in which Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien warned him that the coronavirus was going to be "the biggest security threat. national "that he was going to face throughout his presidency, according to the journalist. It was days later when Trump spoke on the phone with Woodward and confessed that he believed the situation was much more serious than he had publicly admitted. Trump claimed that the virus was "five times" more deadly than the flu.
At that time, there had not yet been any deaths from coronavirus in the US and hardly any containment or social isolation measures had been taken, although at the end of January the access of foreigners from China was prohibited. It was not until March 12 that the president himself publicly admitted that covid-19 was not "a simple flu." Today, the US is the country most affected by the pandemic, with 6.35 million cases and more than 190 deaths.
In a second call on March 19, also recorded in an audio made public, Trump admitted to Woodward that he had deliberately downplayed the danger of the pandemic in the US: "To be honest with you, I always wanted to downplay it. I still like to downplay it, because I don't want to create panic, "the president told the journalist.
I always wanted to minimize it. I still like to minimize it, because I don't want to create panic
In that same call, Trump highlights the growing danger of the virus, including the fact that it was not only fatal for the elderly, but also affects other age ranges. "Now it turns out that it is not just older people, Bob [Woodward]. Today, and yesterday, alarming data have appeared. It is not only the elderly [...] Young people too, lots of young people," Trump details in the interview.
During those months and after, Trump refused to wear a mask or criticized the lockdowns, with the intention of "reopening the United States" and reviving the economy, even going so far as to support armed anti-lockdown protesters in states of Democratic governors.
"Trump never seemed interested in fully mobilizing the federal government and he continually seemed to push the problems [and its management] to the states," the journalist says in this regard. "There was no management plan or how to organize a massive company to deal with one of the most complex emergencies the United States has ever faced," adds Woodward, who helped uncover the Watergate case in the 1970s and who in 2018 He has already published a successful first book on the current president, in a fragment of 'Rage'. The book, which is based primarily on 18 'on-the-record' interviews [that Trump knew was being recorded and that what he said could be published later] of the journalist with Trump between December 2019 and July 2020, also explores other facets of Trump as US president, from the racial issue and the protests to his international diplomacy and North Korea.
