WaPo makes a big deal out of the fact that Trump knew COVID was deadly and much worse than a flu, but was telling the country a different story.
I found that less interesting than some other aspects of Woodward’s presentation:
Kim said his meetings with Trump were a “precious memory” that underscored how the “deep and special friendship between us will work as a magical force.”
Coats: “He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie.”
Trump: “My fucking generals are a bunch of pussies.”
Woodward asked Trump about whether white people should be feeling some responsibility to better “understand the anger and pain” felt by Blacks in America. “No,” Trump replied, in his own sensitive way, “I don’t feel that at all.”
Scoop,
I think that first revelation about him down-playing Covid instead of dealing with it is pretty effing significant. Based on our population and resources, even the most conservative estimates using a “typical” nation’s response, we should be (at most) at about 50,000 deaths. That’s an incremental ~150,000 lives lost because he prioritized staying in power and boosting the stock market instead of keeping Americans as safe as possible. I’m that isn’t a case for negligent homicide?
If he’d simply thrown resources at testing and PPE, and told Americans “This Covid is dangerous stuff and we need to take it seriously. We’re learning about it as we go, but we need to follow the experts‘ advice and think about each other, especially the vulnerable. If we do that, we’ll minimize the damage and lives lost. Instead, he undercut their messaging and turned mask-wearing into a culture war of “Muh freedom!” when it’s really no different than being told to turn on your headlights when driving at night.
I agree with you that it was probably the most significant fact in there, but I guess I already knew that. I assumed that plenty of smart people were telling him that COVID would be a major crisis, and that he was downplaying it despite that advice. In that sense, Woodward’s big revelation seemed like a dog-bites-man story to me.
I have to add that if you are right that Trump could be accused of negligent homicide, then you might also argue that Woodward belongs in the adjoining cell, for his act of withholding the info until he could sell some books.
Woodward isn’t paid by the public….Trump is along with his complicit Cabinet. Woodward has no legal duty of care.
He certainly had a moral duty, and failed it.
He also had a legal duty – IF Trump was guilty of a felony under federal law, and if Woodward knew of it. (That’s a lot of “ifs,” and some of them are nested within people’s awareness and intentions, so there’s no provable case there, but let’s follow the logic for a moment and assume the ifs are answered in the affirmative.)
If so, THEN Woodward was in violation of the US Penal Code, punishable with up to three years in prison.
Of course, Woodward had no LEGAL obligation to tell the American public, but he would have been legally required to report it to the proper authorities, in this case a federal judge, since the executive branch would not be expected to respond. He may actually have done that. I simply don’t know, but I am assuming that Woodward did not consider Trump’s actions to be felonious, and therefore had no responsibility to report them.
But there’s no question he had a moral responsibility to report to the public that he knew for a fact that Trump was lying. Thousands of lives were at stake, and he stood silent.
It was me, not Tanner who said that…and I’m not saying he’ll be prosecuted, but there’s a lot of dead bodies because of DJT. Unlike you, I previously held out that it could be because of general incompetence, but the tapes demonstrate his actions were deliberate.
He will not be prosecuted for that until and unless there really is a hell.
“Knowledge” is an extremely slippery legal concept best not left to the lay person. Woodward doesn’t come remotely close to satisfying that section of the US Code. Court cases make that abundantly clear….
I’d call you a half-wit but I’d probably be overstating by a quarter.
damn … i am a Trump supporter … but i dont think about it every day … i guess maybe because i know he will win this election pretty easily … Biden is pretty much of a dolt … if you guys could have picked anyone else better … you might have had a chance …
but wow … i have never seen so much TDS … boys … yes boys … he is living in your head rent free … it is really fun to read you boys whining EVERY day … boys … take a day off … go relax … get a drink … play more video games in your mom and dad’s basement … or get out of the basement and go in the sunshine … get a life … !!! … there is pretty good T&A here … watch some …
but try to get him out of your heads and stop whining so much … you all are making me tear up … i am running out of tissues !!!
You’re an idiot. In less than eight weeks both him, and his cult like yourself will need to find something else to do instead of living a philosophy of just spiting the other side at all costs.
I suggest Scientology, you guys already fit the mold of turning your brains off and worshiping and a fraud.
Why do all Trump supporters sound like morons?
So Woodward sat on this for six months? Well, gotta sell those books I guess.
To me, this is no longer about Trump. He’s indelibly established himself as vile a personality as has existed in recent memory.
Now it’s all about his supporters, and watching the depths to which they will go in prostrating and debasing themselves to him.
And don’t forget all of those senators who voted in his favor at impeachment time, even though he was obviously guilty – not just beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond any possible shadow of doubt.
They all took an oath of loyalty to the United States, but when they had to choose between the United States and Trump, they cast the “fuck America” vote.
exactly that is why it’s important to vote these guys out for what Scoop just said.as well as Trump
I agree with UncleScoopy about the Republicans in Congress 100%. To me, that is why the Republican Party has no long term future, and why it was worth impeaching Trump, even though it the odds of it succeeding were so slim. They, and their party, are chained to the cross of Trump forever.
Maybe the US has no future…even if Biden wins, the US is a very divided country. Remember Lincoln’s words….”A house divided against itself cannot stand.” This won’t resolve by itself.
Uh, Tanner, the US had a future after the fricking CIVIL WAR. Nope, sorry, we just have too many people, land, and natural resources to go away. Unless you mean the government of the United States. That may need a great deal of reform and could be considered to cease to exist, I guess, just like French Republics number 1, 2, and 3 ceased to exist
If you mean like the Roman Empire ceased to exist, well, that was an empire, and that is just what happens to empires, AFAIK. The Italians never disappeared, although they were part of other peoples empires for quite a while.
I guess I don’t know quite what you mean. Care to explain?
See the FSU.
Tanner said: “see the FSU”.
That means nothing to me. If you are talking about “the” Florida State University, I do not know why. Any help?
FSU=Former Soviet Union
OK, thanks for clearing things up, Tanner, and I see your point. Still, the Russians are still there. It was their government, in it’s post-1917, that ceased to exist. I guess that’s what you meant, then.
Now that’s a psychopath: Trump also boasted to Woodward that Kim “tells me everything,” including a graphic account of Kim having his uncle killed.
What’s the new spin his cult is going to give on this one? Woodward has him on tape.
Wish his cult would just cut the bull and admit they just want the world to be terrible because they’re miserable and have nothing else to root for except bad things happening to other people. That’s what it boils down to. If you’re a piece of trash, just admit it and stop making excuses.
The Trump cult tells me that this is the “media machine desperately trying to stop Trump’s re-election.”
So what the hell are Trump’s own tapes words on this? Digitally altered or something?
Damn I would just give him Alaska to send him and his followers off to live in, and ship the reasonable people back. They can call it Trumperica or whatever the hell they want, and let Darwinism act on his idiot cult.
Indy, Trump’s supporters are at the point where they simply ignore anything they do not wish to hear. They don’t want to hear this, so as far as they are concerned, this story does not exist. If they see something about it, they dismiss it as a lie. They are not interested in truth or facts when it comes to Trump. Supporting him as become as deeply ingrained and unthinking as breathing.
Bingo! Critical thinking no longer, if it ever did, plays a part in their lives. Mark Twain said that it’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
Indy, if we give Alaska to Trump and his supporters, it will be part of Russia in a New York minute. Trump will not live there; he will re-appear somewhere with enough money to go bankrupt running TEN casinos.