Trumped Lied…Again
Trump lied in his recorded statement to Bob Woodward that he downplayed the threat from Corona virus because he wanted to avoid panic… Why this conclusion?
1) During Trump’s 3 ½ years as President, he has never demonstrated any calming leadership actions. An action to lead through scary situations requires a leader to be truthful about the situation, to acknowledge what people are feeling, to empathize, and then to counter with confidence that all will turn out OK… ideally because of the leaders adept management. In February, when Trump finally acknowledged that there even was a virus issue, he didn’t acknowledge, he didn’t empathize, instead, once again he lied blatantly, completely opposite of the intelligence he had been given in January or likely earlier. Trump denied there was an issue that deserved concern…just one sick Chinese…no risk to Americans.
2) It might have been a plausible subterfuge, albeit naïve, if Trump had secretly ramped up a major effort to respond to the impending pandemic at the same time…in February. Instead, Trump doubled down on his lie and delayed any response before instituting a halfhearted response with B team players and others who were incompetent for the demands of the crisis, ignoring the warnings and advice he was given from our own intelligence services.
3) Trump’s claim that he was concerned about panic is unbelievable because one of Trump’s core political strategies is to create panic. Listen to any of Trump’s campaign rallies, especially the recent ones: “If Biden wins, mobs will over-run the country! Communists will take over! They will take away your guns…protect yourself!”
4) That Trump lied again would be the most plausible conclusion in light of the above and the verified fact that during the Trump Presidency, he has lied over 15,000 times. Based on his behavior, it would generally be foolish to assume that any assertion he makes is the truth because playing the game truthfully is not his tradition, not his strategy.
5) So why would Trump tell this lie in February? When Trump was debriefed by US Intelligence in January or earlier about the impending pandemic and the need to implement pandemic appropriate strategies for the country including major restrictions of commerce and travel, Trump and his team no doubt concluded that if he and his administration lead an economic shutdown, he would take the blame for the economic pain felt and his chances of re-election would be killed. So instead, Trump decided to do nothing, acting as if he had never received that intelligence and fore warning. In an attempt to shield his reputation when the pandemic inevitably erupted onto the public stage, they decided to use the spin that Trump “worried about a panic” as a cover…never mind that the cover story is completely implausible for who Trump is. So, they slow walk a Federal response. They can’t have Trump be the direct cause of an economic shutdown. They resort to the Republican mantra of ‘States Rights’ as a strategy…that way, when the smelly stuff inevitably hits the fan, Trump can blame the Governors… especially the Governors of blue States. Now, after seven months of pandemic tragedy, no national leadership, fifty individual States’ strategies, within days of 200,000 Americans dead and when it should have been no more than 20% of that… Now Trump is actually attempting to assert that he should be compared to Churchill. Donald, you aspire to be viewed as a wartime leader, but that requires leadership instead of shirking responsibility, truthfulness instead of lies, national camaraderie instead of division…and ultimately caring about something and someone other than yourself.
Trump Lied and Thousands of Americans Died