March 19: On This Day In 2020
By now Trump and--his nation--were slipping into deeper problems with Covid, which was killing more Americans by the day and cratering the economy. And Trump didn't seem to know how to stop the slide, flailing about, proposing deadly remedies.
OTDI 2020, he met secretly with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame to talk through the Covid status. “To be honest with you, I wanted to always play it (Covid) down. I still like playing it down…” he told Woodward, who kept this disclosure secret until his book “Rage” was published six months later.
The president's thought process was unsettling and typically Trumpian. "Playing it down" was steering the ship into the iceberg, not away from it. But, to him, the appearance of strength matters more than anything, including the deaths of citizens who put their faith in him.
Later, Woodward drew some flack for not publicly publishing Trump’s views as soon as Trump revealed them to him. After all, if the public understood just how badly their president was knowingly misleading them, perhaps they’d take the crisis more seriously.
Was Woodward putting his loyalty to his book ahead of the pubic interest? He defended himself, saying he waited so he could verify everything Trump told him. And Trump did not hesitate to call the book a “hit job.”
Also, OTDI 2020, Trump was touting hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid. It’s used mainly to treat malaria, which is caused by a parasite, not a virus. Health authorities trashed its effectiveness on Covid, but that’s didn’t stop the MAGAs from flocking to it. A month later the FDA was reporting on deaths probably caused by the drug.
A recent study estimates 17,000 died because they took “hydroxy.”
Sources/Links for further reading
The Washington Post’s story on the revelations from Woodward’s book
CBS News has audio clips from Woodward’s interviews with Trump. Woodward said it was important to hear Trump's tone of voice
Poynter Institute’s questions Woodward’s withholding Trump’s quotes
Spectrum News reports on Trump touting hydroxychloroquine
Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology has the FDA hydroxychloroquine warnings
Bob Woodward’s book "Rage," about Trump and Covid is available here on Amazon
The 2024 hydroxychloroquine study: 17,000 deaths
Summary: Trump "plays down" Covid - Woodward. Knowingly misleads nation about Covid's dangers