Reactions abound to the excerpts from Bob Woodward's book that verify what many of us were well aware of: malignant narcissist Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump lied about the coronavirus for his selfish political purposes (the "panic" he was afraid of was panic in the stock market, which he constantly pointed to as a measure of his "success"). Here are just a few reactions from the dead tree industry that we've gathered:
Karen Tumulty, Washington Post:
The consequences of Trump’s refusal to be straight with the country, we now know, have been tragic.
Rather than taking cautionary measures that could have spared immeasurable suffering, such as assuring that adequate testing was available, the president denied what he knew was true. Or, as he so memorably put it at a news conference in March: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
The Boston Globe editorial board:In that case, however, Trump was telling us something fundamental about himself. Those six words are both the most fitting epitaph for his presidency, and the central reason that Americans should put an end to it when they go to the polls in November.
Playing it down — while chastising state and local leaders who gave COVID-19 the serious response it deserved — set the stage for a preventable catastrophe. Almost 200,000 Americans have died, while countless others have lost jobs and endured major disruptions to life. The United States leads the world in coronavirus deaths, a grim testament to the federal government’s limp response to the virus. Had the president merely told Americans what he told Woodward in February — and, better yet, acted on that information with strict public health measures and vigilant preparation — thousands of victims might still be alive.
In the short term, President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus is certainly on the ballot in November. How much incompetence and dishonesty are Americans willing to tolerate from the president? And how much slack are they prepared to cut his defenders in Congress, who repeatedly put politics ahead of Americans' lives? The president’s campaign strategy is clearly to addle white Americans with fear-laced messages this fall, hoping that will be enough to scare them into accepting his gross incompetence.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board:
In February, as the pandemic was spreading in China but had only infected 15 people in the United States, Trump told Woodward in recorded interviews that the virus was easily spread — “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed” — and was perhaps five times more deadly than the flu, which Trump acknowledged kills 25,000 or more Americans per year. In a Jan. 28 top secret briefing, national security adviser Robert O’Brien warned Trump that the pandemic would be the “biggest national security threat” of his presidency.
Yet Trump publicly minimized the risks and told Americans that the virus was “going to disappear.” He made fun of masks, including when former Vice President Joe Biden first appeared in public wearing one. He celebrated supporters who showed up at rallies without masks and went out of his way to convey a sense of disregard for a virus that has now infected 6.3 million and killed nearly 190,000.
In short, Trump has massive amounts of blood on his hands. [snip]
The New York Times editorial board:The economy is in ruins. The pandemic remains out of control. With eight weeks remaining before the Nov. 3 election, what more do voters need to be convinced that this Mad Hatter must be sent packing?
Mr. Trump’s lack of leadership almost certainly made the nation’s suffering greater, its death toll higher and its economic costs more severe in the long term. When the president dithered on testing and contact tracing, when he failed to make or execute a clear and effective plan for securing personal protective equipment, when he repeatedly belittled and dismissed mask mandates and other social distancing edicts, Mr. Trump knew the virus was deadly and airborne. He knew that millions of people could get sick, and many would die. [snip]
Nearly 200,000 people in the United States have already died, and hundreds of thousands more have suffered grave illness — often followed by a slow, hard recovery and, in some cases, permanent disability. Tens of millions of people have lost their jobs, and millions are on the cusp of losing their homes. School systems and elder care networks are struggling to function. The economy is in tatters.
Yes, imagine if, say, a competent woman who got, say, nearly 3 million more votes than COVID Donnie was president.Imagine what this picture could look like today if the president had been honest with the American public on Feb. 7, calmly taken charge of the nation’s response to the pandemic and did his best to protect them.
Of course, Woodward is being justly criticized for sitting on the damning tapes for 6 months as the death toll climbed, just to juice his book sales. Charles P. Pierce has some thoughts about how Woodward might have some blood on his hands, too.
