Bob Woodward's Bomb Shell Book

Investigative reporter and author Bob Woodward gained fame when he teamed up with Carl Bernstein to do news reporting on the Watergate scandal. This reporting ultimately led to numerous government investigations, criminal indictments and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. Now, Woodward has a new book - backed by 18 hours of recorded interviews with Donald Trump - that drops some major bomb shells, perhaps the most notable of which is Trump's admission that he intentionally mislead the Americans public about the danger of the coronavirus.  Worse yet, as one commentator noted, he politicized the response to the pandemic and took it out of the realm of following medical advice and put it into the realm of "being a good MAGA" vs capitulating to the left.   Most baffling to anyone sane, is why Trump ever allowed Woodward to record the interviews, thus making it difficult to claim he never made the statements (not that this matters to his cult followers). Hubris, intense narcissism and a joy of hearing himself seem to be the only explanations.  A column in the Washington Post looks at some of the bomb shell admissions.  Here are excerpts: 

That President Trump lied to the American people about the danger of the novel coronavirus may not be shocking. More shocking is that he was willing to admit this to Bob Woodward, whose new book “Rage” includes damning new evidence of Trump’s contempt for the truth and American lives.

“This is deadly stuff,” the president repeated for emphasis. … Trump admitted to Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said.

“Play it down,” in this case, means lie. He promised Americans the virus would disappear like magic. He argued covid-19 is akin to the flu. He insisted it was safe for governors to reopen their economies despite unacceptably high rates of infection and the absence of mask mandates. These claims were false, and worse, he knew they were false.

When the president deliberately lies to the American people — as multiple presidents during the Vietnam War did (as we learned from the Pentagon Papers) — and many Americans die as a result, even loyal members of his own party must condemn him and demand he step away. His actions cost critical time, prevented earlier lockdowns and provided a false sense of security to vulnerable people. In all likelihood, tens of thousands of dead Americans would be alive today if he had acted with minimal competence and honesty.

This situation is not unlike Trump’s impeachment hearings. . . . . Now, we have similar malfeasance — precisely the sort of noncriminal but impeachable behavior that the impeachment clause is designed to uncover. Once again, Republicans will claim up is down and night is day. They will refuse to accept Trump’s own words confessing to a deception that cost thousands of American lives. They will not call for his resignation or call for him to withdraw from the election. They would rather continue to support a president demonstrably unfit than risk the wrath of Trump and his cult . . .

This remains true, even though in this case the victims have been Americans, and that thousands — multiples of the death count from 9/11 — have died even though simple precautions could have spared them. Imagine a president fully aware of a Category 5 hurricane near certain to hit a seaside community but who tells the residents, “No big deal. Don’t listen to the experts telling you to evacuate.” Surely, one would find him morally if not legally culpable for the deaths of anyone who made the mistake of listening to him. Covid-19 should be no different.

In his memorable summation at the impeachment trial, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) declared, “History will not be kind to Donald Trump. If you find that the House has proved its case, and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history.” Republicans did not care. Now that Americans’ lives have been sacrificed at the altar of Trump’s ego, Republicans face another hinge moment: say nothing and join Trump in the dumpster of history, or speak up, call for his resignation and recapture a modicum of respect. Sadly, there is little doubt they will choose the former.