President Trump defends downplaying COVID ahead of Bob Woodward book | USA TODAY

Here's what President Donald Trump told Bob Woodward versus the public about COVID-19.
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President Donald Trump told Bob Woodward in a recorded interview that he wanted to downplay coronavirus. See what he told the public then and now.

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65 comments

    1. I like that this story has been headlining for TWO DAYS and only one video made it to YouTube trending.

      Convenient for the guy who spent millions of dollars on YouTube ads. Makes me wonder if YT stumbled upon his missing campaign funds.

  1. Keeping people informed and safe, is not creating panic. All the lifes which could have been saved, if everyone would wear masks.

    1. Da don lil d BiG oNny ole 45 needs stix wit what he do best like givin head 2 real world leaders & puttin him mudd on their turtles know what im talkin aboot

  2. The thing is, you have to strike a balance between “It’s no big deal.” and “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Looking back, he really should’ve told the population that COVID-19 can be a threat, but if everybody remains vigilant we can get through it with minimal fatalities. Because if you tell everybody that it’s not too big a deal, people will flock together without a care in the world, and if you tell everybody that they should be worried they’ll freak out and panic buy.

    1. @IcedMorning
      So what were you thinking when he stopped flights from China except for Americans to be able to come home? And then he added other places as well… That right there showed and proved just how serious he was.

    2. under a Panic dumbass, people don’t flock together , so many people will start forming clicks, and the strong and the people w/ $ will form together and the weak will get left behind , that’s a fact

    3. That’s why every couple months we panic buy guns…. Don’t forget there are plenty of countries that didn’t panic and managed to keep the numbers low. Guess that’s what happens when a government listens to some science.

    4. @Goose so then why not have a national shelter in place and mask order in the beginning of February, instead of vilifying democratic governors who tried to slow the spread, and praise republican governors that said go about your business, nothing is wrong? Why divide the country and make something as simple as wearing a mask a political act? The man is a horrible leader.

    5. If it were only too simple to believe that child like simplification. LOL. Trump didn’t want to instill fear. Yeah. That’s why he downplayed it. Good luck with that BS! His campaign is centered around instilling fear into the electorate. GTFO

    1. Godmirra i like how you automatically assume i support trump and actually if you go on his youtube it says on his channel in one of the videos that there is no evidence of human to human transmission… let me repeat… there is no evidence of human to human transmission… go figure

    2. @Youtube Account So wait you agree with that or are you saying look what this crazy moron thinks? What is your point of having me look at Trump’s Youtube channel?

  3. Once again he’s trying to defend the indefensible. Personally, I feel like he’s lied to me again while looking me in the eye. He’s lied so many times he’s not capable of caring. Every single one of his enablers need to go now so that we can start healing.

    1. @Donald Grow I can’t argue with you because we’re not talking about Biden or Obama. You’re using tired old insult names and deflecting the subject away from Trump. This is why we’re in this position. Bad logic, innuendo, assertions, people who can vote without having a clue about their candidates abilities and ignoring their past. We suffer as Americans because because of the stupid decisions some made to make this insulting fool president.

    2. The Horde yeah. That’s what it is. Sad, bruh. It’s just a lil misunderstanding. Lol. Thousands of instances. Being on tape directly contradicting your public comments…. just a lil word or two is different. 😂🤣🤣

  4. He knew it was dangerous and he knew it was transmitted via the air. So why then did he not encourage us to all don masks. And lead by example and wear a mask himself. That wouldn’t have caused a panic and most Americans would have followed the President’s example especially with Dr. Fauci and others in the health community telling us the same thing. We could have saved so many lives and lessened the economic impact of this virus if we all would have worn masks from the earliest days of the pandemic.

    1. And then there’s Pelosi who has led the scolding of “you MUST where a mask”. She was caught doing two things she has scolded us on just last week. Wake up!!!!

  5. There is no defending. He lied, bottom line he is responsible for not preparing the nation. For so many deaths which were unnecessary

    1. @Youtube Account They test people for Flu first, if it comes back negative _then_ they test for Covid. If it’s just a Cold, both Flu and Covid tests will both be negative.

    2. Not Sure … then why is it that i had friends and family telling me they were falsely diagnosed with covid when they had a strong cold? Why is it that in western medicine they never teach people how the easiest cure to anything is the placebo effect?

    3. Alec Dwyer they simply dont understand how they were subconsciously programmed by the media to hate him… and if they really saw what he did for american lives they would know how great he is

    4. Chinese defence part manufacture Air force Navy missile defence system tracker hack pubg media news child hack software server hacker communist party China hacker

    1. @Kyle Bradley No, just everything bad that is happening is because of Trump. The world would be a much better place without him.

    2. @Avi Gindratt Cheer up, in another 4 years you’ll ever stop hearing about bad things on the propaganda networks or we’ll have someone else to blame all the problems on!

    3. @Kyle Bradley Something like 100% of Trump is trash. &Media loves trump because more people watch because of him. 

      Fox is right wing conservative trash and is by far the biggest propaganda news outlet ever. They are pro trump, therefore pro evil.

  6. Rump is always the idiot. In the prior book, Fear, Rump said Woodword was a liar, but why did he talk to him again?

  7. Down playing the COVID, he meant, I have over 320 million chips in my hand and 190,000 chips lost mean a drop of the bucket, no problem..

  8. So Woodward had the information for months, but he waited until his book was published to attack the President? If it was so important, why didn’t he bring it forward immediately? USAToday is a Communist front. If you read it, remember that and filter it accordingly.

  9. I wouldn’t want to scare anyone and cause panic but ms 13 is moving into your neighborhood with cheap apartments and they’re bringing guns and drugs and lots of my black friends are coming with hoodies and motorcycles and weed shops. But I don’t want to panic anyone.

  10. Trump knew from the beginning that the Covid virus was deadly – He’s OK with 191,00 plus Americans dying – this South Florida Republican will not be voting for him.

    1. Well, this virus was, is, and will continue to spread, until 80% of the global population is infected, not matter who is the President was, is, or will be. (We will see how effective the vaccine will be, but there is a not-immaterial chance that the vaccine will be limited or temporary in its effectiveness.). The real issue is the rate of infection. I think the US and the rest of the world has this rate of infection relatively under control at this point.

      NY Metro area almost fell when the rate of infection spiked in March and April. I remember Cuomo and De Blasio urging NY residents to remain calm all the way to the end of February. People forget the details of the very events they just live through. Amazing how susceptible people are to manipulation.

    2. Where do people get the “he’s okay with” such and such? Do you know what’s on his conscience? You vote for who you want, all I’m saying is, he didn’t want people to panic. Yes, I agree he could have been more transparent, but at the end of the day it wouldn’t have mattered because those people would have still died. Especially in NY where our great governor Cuomo sent the elderly with covid positive tests back into nursing homes.

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