The Admission

Yesterday, the Washington Post broke a story (link here) that likely will be one of the most damaging, if not the most damaging, revelations this election season. The headline says it all: "Trump says he knew coronavirus was 'deadly' and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading Americans."

Worse still for Donald Trump, he said this whilst he was being taped with his consent. The tapes were made during telephone interviews conducted by legendary Watergate investigative journalist Bob Woodward for his new book, which will be published next week.

Trump spoke with Woodward in early February about the severity of the coronavirus. "This is deadly stuff," he said. "You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu."

Yet for months thereafter, Trump publicly played down the Covid-19 threat time and time again, saying it was not as serious as the flu and that it would soon be gone (details here). As well, he has steadfastly mocked others for wearing masks, while insisting everyone wear masks in his presence, knowing full well how communicable the virus is via the respiratory tract.

Trump admitted to Woodward in March that he had deliberately deceived the public and had no regrets for doing so. "I wanted to always play it down," he said. "I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic."

He seems not to realize that "not creating a panic" caused countless millions of Americans to engage in risky behavior because they believed there was little risk.

Trump said other damning things to Woodward during the interviews. For instance, he bragged about how the US now has a top-secret nuclear weapons system unknown to Putin and Xi. Anyone else who admitted something like that to a journalist would be prosecuted for espionage. (A President is the only government who, by law, cannot be prosecuted for leaking national security secrets.)

The interview tapes will soon create a nightmare for his campaign and a bonanza for his opponent and supporting organization. Expect to hear those excerpts in ads by the close of the week.

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