Woodward’s Trump Interviews

“President Donald Trump talked in private about the ‘deadly’ coronavirus last February, even as he was declaring to America it was no worse than the flu and insisting it was under control, according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward… His public rhetoric, Trump told Woodward in March, was part of a strategy to deliberately minimize the danger. ‘I wanted to always play it down,’ the president said. ‘I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.’” (AP News)

The left argues that Trump’s downplaying of the virus resulted in a significantly higher death toll.

The right is divided about Trump’s comments but generally does not believe that he is responsible for the death toll.