Trump was lying to the nation in February, and he's still lying to the nation now. He lied to the nation every month, every week, every day, and every hour in between. He knew that COVID-19 was far deadlier than flu. He knew it was easily spread and highly contagious. He knew that a national system of testing, case tracing, and isolation was vital to effectively managing the pandemic. He knew all that. He just decided it would be better if more Americans died.
Now we have solid evidence that Trump was lying to the nation from the very beginning about COVID-19. At the beginning of the outbreak, Trump publicly downplayed the virus as no more dangerous than the flu. But in reality, he secretly admitted to Bob Woodward-- in newly disclosed secret recordings-- that he was lying to the public about the danger we all faced.
“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a February 7 call with Woodward. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu. This is deadly stuff.”
“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, according to a copy of the book obtained by CNN. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
But by ignoring reality in public, the president didn’t prevent panic, he provoked it. Many statements Trump made as the virus spread in the U.S. were outright falsehoods:
“We have it very much under control in this country.” “It’s going to be just fine.” “It’s one person coming in from China.” “We’re doing a great job with it.” “It’s going to have a very good ending for us.” “We’re in great shape.” “We have 12 cases — 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.” “Just stay calm. It will go away.” “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”
Responding to the bombshell on Wednesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump “has never lied to the American public on COVID” and also claimed he “never downplayed the virus.” Looks like Krazy Kayleigh is just as bad a liar as her predecessor Sarah Huckster.
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