“Rage”: Watergate Case reporter blames Trump for purposely killing 200,000 Americans
The presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, emphasized that “while a deadly disease swept through our nation, President Trump did not do his job”
The administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is characterized by deception. During the “boom” of his government, the first seven months, an investigation by The Washington Post found that he told an average of 23 lies per day. How many have there been during the almost seven months of the pandemic? A period in which his country leads all the negative rankings that have to do with the coronavirus.
In this regard, Bob Woodward — one of the journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal in 1974 and caused the resignation of then-President Richard Nixon — interviewed Trump 18 times, between December 5, 2019 and July 21, 2020.
Given the credibility he gained during his extensive journalistic career, a revelation he made days ago in his most recent book, entitled “Rage” (Rabia, in Spanish), causes a stir in the US society. The interviews were recorded with Trump’s permission.
According to Woodward, Trump knew that COVID-19 was a much more deadly disease than the common flu, even before the first death was reported in his country. However, he was lying publicly about its “dangerousness” because he wanted to “downplay the crisis” and “not cause panic.”
A deadly virus
This week, media such as the British agency BBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post published excerpts of the interviews with the president. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Trump knew more about the severity of the disease than he was saying publicly.
During one of the conversations, on February 7, Trump told Woodward that the coronavirus was five times more deadly than the flu and that it was transmitted through the air. “You don’t have to touch things. True? But the air, you just breathe the air and that is how it happens (…) And that is very complicated, it is very delicate”, were the words of the magnate.
The president also recognized the threat to young people. “Only today and yesterday, some surprising facts emerged. It’s not just about the elderly. Also young, many young people”.
But in front of the media in February, Trump promised that the virus was “under control” and that the case count would soon approach zero. Likewise, he publicly assured that the flu was more dangerous than the new coronavirus. Even speaking on Capitol Hill on March 10, Trump said, “Just keep calm. It will go”.
Nine days later, after the White House declared the pandemic a national emergency, the president told Woodward: “I always wanted to minimize it. I still like to minimize it, because I don’t want to create panic”.
Main reactions to the deception
This same week, when approached by journalists about that controversial lie, Trump said: “I don’t want people to be scared, I don’t want to create panic and I’m certainly not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy (…) We want to show confidence, we want to show strength”.
Likewise, the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, followed his words so as to try to rescue her boss’s reputation: “The president never downplayed the virus. Once again, the president expressed his calm. The president took it seriously”.
On the other hand, on Twitter, the presidential candidate for the Democratic party, Joe Biden, emphasized that “while a fatal disease swept through our nation, [the president] did not do his job, and on purpose. It was a life and death betrayal of the American people”.
Precisely, since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the United States has exceeded 194 thousand. And in the next few days that indicator will reach, without a doubt, 200 thousand deaths. There is no other country remotely close to that tragic ‘counter’ in the rest of the planet.
What else does the book reveal?
In his book, Woodward wrote that he mentioned the protests of the Black Lives Matter movement in a conversation on June 19. He suggested that “privileged white” people like themselves (Trump and Woodward) should work to understand how black Americans feel.
The president’s response was terse, denigrating, and sarcastic: “You really did drink Kool-Aid, didn’t you? (…) Just listen to yourself”. He then added another “lie”, claiming that he had done more for African Americans than any president since Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery. .
Later, on July 8, Trump reiterated that he had “done a lot for the black community” but that he “did not feel any love” in return, according to the BBC agency.
Additionally, the book also cites dozens of letters between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In them, the North Korean allegedly refers to Trump as “Your Excellency” and assures that “this deep and special friendship will function as a magical force”.
According to the US media, Trump said about Kim Jong-un: “It’s like when you meet a woman. In a second, you know if something will happen or not. It doesn’t take you 10 minutes or six weeks. It’s like, wow, okay. You know? It takes a little less than a second”.
Additionally, Trump also told Woodward that he felt his predecessor, Barack Obama (2009–2017), was “very overrated”. “I don’t think Obama is smart (…) And I don’t think he’s a great speaker”. He also referred to former President George W. Bush (2001–2009), a member of his Republican party: “He seemed like a stupid idiot, and he was”.
Trump boasted of a new secret weapons system. “I have built a nuclear system, a weapons system that no one has had before in this country”. According to Woodward, other sources confirmed the information, without providing further details, but expressed surprise that Trump released it.
The journalist pressed Trump on the role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Once again, Trump dismissed the US intelligence assessment, emphasizing: “He (Salman) says very strongly that he did not”.
Trump’s betrayal of his nation
A CNN report alleges that the book reveals how Trump is a president who has betrayed the public trust and the most fundamental responsibilities of his office.
“If instead of downplaying what he knew, Trump had acted decisively in early February, with a strict lockdown (confinement) and a consistent message in favor of wearing masks, social distancing and hand washing; experts believe that thousands of American lives could have been saved”, reviews CNN.
In addition, “Rage” also includes statements from many former Trump Homeland Security officials. Among them are former Defense Secretary James Mattis and former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.
Mattis assures that Trump is “dangerous” and “inappropriate” to be commander in chief of the Armed Forces. Meanwhile, Coats “harbors a secret belief, albeit unsupported by intelligence evidence, that (Russia’s president) Vladimir Putin knows ‘something’ about Trump”.
The book also contains harsh assessments of the president’s leadership during the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, says Trump’s leadership lacks a “rudder” and that “his attention span is like a negative number”. “His only purpose is to be reelected”, he assures.
Trump distorts his own statements
In a secret intelligence report, dated January 28, 2020, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien gave Trump a “jarring” warning about the virus, calling it the “greatest threat to national security” of his presidency.
O’Brien’s deputy Matt Pottinger agreed, telling Trump it could be as serious as the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans.
Pottinger even warned Trump that there was an asymptomatic spread in China, because 50% of those infected showed no symptoms.
Trump’s response was that three days later he announced restrictions on travelers from China. The move was a suggestion from his National Security team, despite the president later claiming that only he supported the travel limitations.
When asked by Woodward in May if he remembered O’Brien’s January 28 warning that the virus would be the greatest threat to national security of his presidency, Trump responded: “I’m sure he said that, you know, I’m sure he said it”.
But, the president took all credit and no responsibility for his actions related to the pandemic. “The virus has nothing to do with me”, Trump told Woodward in his final interview. “It’s not my fault. It’s … China let out the damn virus”.
‘Dynamite behind the door’
According to CNN, Woodward, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, conducted hundreds of hours of confidential background interviews with first-hand witnesses and obtained “confidential notes, emails, diaries, calendars, and documents”.
The book is full of anecdotes about senior cabinet officials taken by surprise by Trump’s tweets, frustrated by his inability to focus and frightened by his policies and refusing to accept facts or listen to experts.
“Rage” is a continuation of Woodward’s best-selling book, “Fear”, published in 2018. There, it portrays a chaotic White House in which his aides hid Trump papers to protect the country from what they considered his most dangerous impulses.
While Trump harshly criticized “Fear”, he also complained that he did not speak to Woodward for the book. For this reason, he then agreed to extensive interviews for “Rage.” Yet on August 14, Trump pre-emptively attacked the new book, tweeting: “Bob Woodward’s book will be FALSE, as always, as will many of the others”.
At the end, the journalist remembers a phrase from the magnate: “When you are running the country: There is dynamite behind every door”. Woodward’s verdict is harsh: “Trump is the dynamite behind the door (…) Trump is the wrong man for the job”.
