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.

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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[mcortes]

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

[israellara]

Remember when he called for Obama to resign when there were only 4 ebola cases in the US?

[davidjohnston]

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

[doug-]

There is no defense, this should end the trump campaign!

[icedmorning]

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.

[letsgetrealmedicated]

You're not a cheerleader 🤣 you're the damned president.

[aijiang]

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.

[jrizaac]

So his reasoning is that he didn't want to create a worst panic during a time when toilet paper was already nowhere to be found. The media is not your friend people

[darthmalyn]

We going to forget that democrats downplayed it too?

[highpriestofgavinalmightyh]

Even his “downplayed” projections hyperinflated what actually happened, so in reality it was a good thing he did not exaggerate. It’s cool that you are framing it as if he did not immediately say it was to avoid public panic, and that he had a task force assembled by late January when you and the rest of legacy media were still claiming it was no big deal.

We get that you were trying to frame this as a scandal, but it’s not. Your desperation is showing.

[NicolasRodriguez-zmsm]

YOU TRUMP will get a BIG FAT NO FROM ME !

[ArmandoGarcia-fjbe]

He was right. The risk was lower. As a matter of fact the flu was deadlier if we are talking about ages. Every year thousands die of flu even tho we have adapted to it. The corina virus killed more in a shorter period because one it was something new and second most of the deaths are people 80+ on which were on nursing homes when democratic governors put patients in there. Just to put that second part into perspective most deaths happened in democrat cities because it has a higher population and at least 40 percent(being generous) of those death were in nursing home where leaders put patient in there. So let's say we have 170k deaths we can put at least 80k of those deaths in nursing homes. Now let's be realistic of course people would have died in nursing homes but not that much. that means the other 80k is either really old people, ans people that have pre existing conditions. The CDC supports this fact when they said that only 6% of death where people who did not have pre existing conditions and were not old. That's around 5, 000 people in a country of 330M! Ridiculously not that lethal. that means that if you are young(60 below at least) you have a 99.7 of surviving. The flue kills around 65k a year and that is with our technological advancement every year. Right know the death rate is very slow compared to the first months. That makes it way less lethal than the flu. You can take words out of context all you want but he shot down the best economy ever that HE built because of the virus. That does not sound like downplaying to me. And idiots like the comment section here don't know what federalism is. If someone dies in your community your first one to blame is on your local then state and then federal including congress. So why all the blame on trump like he is some kind of king that controls everything when in reality he does not have that much power? Why aren't you blaming your governors and mayors? Ridiculous. That's the problem. People are uninformed and keep voting for the same idiots who in turn keeps you down if my governor( Ron Desantis) was in NYC there would not have been riots, less covid deaths and it would be open for bussiness. It's up to you just compare my state to your state.

[Shangri-la]

Don, t panic please. Barely 190.000 people died

[wxcpjys]

Some people in USA protest aginest Indian government and ask about they want different country name is khalistan thay many time burn indian flag in usa online his parson name who live in USA gurpatwant pannu what USA government think about that or what trump say about that i wna know this matter

[t.]

Real leaders maintain confidence and strength during times of uncertainty. We’ve seen what capitulation and disorder looks like in Democratic cities. No thanks.

[EB-duvh]

I think Barnes and Noble needs to pay Donald Trump a few dollars for all the sales they get now

[brianharechmak]

I vote for biden 2020 . Not like traitor criminal trump

[allenlaszinski]

Terrible excuse, he's all about panic. He loves creating panic

[jenntip]

They all down played it.... it wasn’t just Trump. Results would have been the same no matter what.

[sheilajacob]

So what! If you believe in a supernatural being we call God...You sure can turn things around by being nice? 2 wrongs do not make right! Have a little compassion, will ya! God has helped President Trump up to now, he ain't leaving him.
God has a good plan. This is the greatest country in the world other wise tons of people would have moved back to their mother countries. Let's all wish the Commander in Chief speedy recovery. Blessed are the peacemakers!