Back in April, when America had reached the unthinkable level of 50,000 dead from Covid-19, news broke that Trump had been briefed way back in January on how deadly the coronavirus was but had not acted on that information. Trump defended his lack of action by saying he had been misled by the CIA briefer, who had, he tweeted, “only spoke of the Virus in a very non-threatening, or matter of fact, manner….”
Thanx for the very informative timeline to the Woodward interviews. We should all be thankful that he got this info on tape “over the course of 18 interviews.” Maybe that will shut up the Internet Naysayers who lit up twitter yesterday saying that Woodward was as guilty as the President of the United States for not releasing that info in February or March. Had he exposed those initial interviews the subsequent interviews would not have happened.
I have been countering as some journalists have that Bob Woodward is a writer, not the leader of the U.S. Of those thousands of ppl who have died, many of us have not because we listened to the experts in the field of medicine and not the idiot occupying the White House. Likewise, the idiot’s cult base would not have listened to Woodward’s facts any more than they listened to the facts of those medical experts at that time and would have still defied the recommended precautions. Even yesterday there were reports of denial in light of Woodward’s revelations.
Not only is he a particularly bad and dangerous individual...full of his own "special qualities"...he is totally naive if he thought he could charm Woodward out of " doing a Nixon" on him. I'm breathless in front of such fantasmagoric stupidity.
Francois Hollande, EX-president of France thought that he could charm a couple of French journalists throughout his "reign" according them "secret" interviews. They produced a book about 6 months before he was fighting for re-election from the exclusive interviews that they taped with him. The book was entitled "What a President should never say" . Hollande was forced to back out of his re-election bid as a result rather than face total humiliation. He disappeared into a well deserved nonentity. I think we can reserve for Trump his well deserved fate too.
By now, all of us in someway have been negatively impacted by COVID 19. We’ve lost a family member or dear friend. We’ve lost jobs or are helping to support someone who has lost a job. At the very least, our lives have been disrupted by self isolation and wearing uncomfortable masks when we do have to venture out. (Except, of course, those who still believe this is all a hoax to infringe on their rights and that every single one of the dead - 190,000 and counting - were at death’s door anyway.) It’s infuriating to learn, and have proven by a reporter’s recordings, that our President knew the severity of this threat back in late January, downplayed it to the American people and did virtually nothing behind the scenes to combat it, other than “wishing it away.” Some models say that 85% of the deaths could have been avoided with some strict country-wide preventive measures taken in February or early March. Have I used the word infuriating yet? And what of the Pandemic Response team that was dismantled and the Pandemic playbook that was ignored by the Trump administration. Am I piling on if I suggest that proactive measures by this team in 2019, when the virus was first detected abroad, could have led to zero impact in the United States and that most of us would have never uttered the words “COVID 19”, let alone have our 2020 lives impacted in anyway? Have I used the word infuriating yet?
In light of these latest revelations, I have exhausted my irate stupefaction and must spin 180 degrees around to my compassionate side (as the former producer and co-writer of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood") wondering in profound sadness what form of child abuse transformed a presumably innocent young child named Donald into this grotesque creature. Innumerable books will continue to be written chronicling the awfulness of the man and the devastation he has wrought, but I do hope for one truly definitive portrait of how such a crime against a child might have been accomplished.
I am sure most readers would agree that every day you think it cannot get crazier with 45 and his administration. But it does. This won’t make a dent in his cult followers but perhaps enough voters can be swayed to vote him and the republican enablers out of office. I watched the watergate hearings in college, but this presidency tops those antics by a long shot
According to what Lawrence O'Donnell had tonight, most of Trump's conversations with Woodward is just the two of them, no staff, so the staff has no idea what's going to be in the next tape that drops. And with 55 days, there isn't enough time to get out from under, and we're now in the period where even the morons are paying attention. The Biden campaign already has an ad out tonight using him from the tape about lying.. They've got the money to run ads from now to November 3 of him on tape, damning himself.
“I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic,” Trump said. “Certainly I’m not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy.”
Does he think we don’t remember “Liberate Michigan. Protect your second amendment rights”. Or the demon lady dr. Or the no mask super spreader events including the RNC at the White House. Or that Dr Fauci and family now need security because of all the threats. Or that almost a quarter million people in the US will have died by Nov 3. Or that he threatens not to go quietly when he loses the election. Frenzy and panic are the snake oil he sells.
Also unfit to govern, of course, is every Republican in Congress who has aided and abetted Trump over the past three and a half years. At any point, Mitch McConnell and his mob of thugs could have put a stop to Trump's gross betrayal of American citizens. Instead, Moscow Mitch lived up to his new moniker. Laughably, and not unsurprising, Trump's main cheerleader, Lindsey Graham, has been thrown under the bus by the man he has defended time and again. If the results weren't so tragic, this would almost be amusing.
As the days unravel, I feel yesterday was a paramount day for our Country where Trumps deceit is laid bare by his own words. Not hearsay nor statements left for interpretation. His own words. Although the right wing will do their absolute best to spin this, the tapes are the receipts. As Woodward and Bernstein brought down a President in the past, I feel Woodward is on course to do this again. I don't feel this will turn Trump voters against him, but I do think this may be the stimulus that with get the "sofa Democrats" out to vote. Thank you Mr. Woodward and thank you Heather for showing us the path.
Why is America such a *kill the messenger* culture? People (including POTUS 🙄) are trying to pace the blame of Covid on Woodward. Or using the fact he didn’t come out earlier as a rationale that it’s *not that serious or he would’ve said something sooner*. (DJT Twitter feed)
I’m fighting this out on 3 Facebook threads.
1. Donald Trump lied. He lied to everyohe, not just *the Libs*. Luckily for us *Libs* we listened to science - mostly - when it was available to us.
2. The onus to come forward was on people in the administration. Period.
3. Mike Pence knew exactly what was going on and came out and lied to America . Every fucking day. For months. We pay his salary.
4. Dr. Deborah Birx knew what was going on and sat there and took it, at best, and, at worst, obfuscated just as much as the rest of them. We pay her salary.
5. Alex Azar knew. He lied to the American people. We pay his salary.
6. Dr. Robert Redfield knew and continued to deny it. We pay his salary
7. Richard O’Brien knew IN JANUARY that this would be the toughest challenge Trump would face in his presidency. He knew. He said nothin to the public. We pay his salary.
8. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci knew and TRIED TO FUCKING TELL US. They hampered him at every turn. They made it so he had to get approval before speaking to the public. They refuted everything he said. We pay his salary.
9. Bob Woodward is a journalist he told the truth, after the fact. That’s his job. He says he didn’t believe Trump when he was talking all this smack back in February and I believe him. Anyone who heard what was coming out of IQ45’s mouth in public would have doubts. Especially someone who has spent the majority f their professional career writing about presidents and the fucked up shit they do.
The fact is... DJT felt all the MAGAs out there are stupid snowflakes who. couldn’t handle the truth. He lied TO THEM, They castigate us for watching MSM, but, who had the right *spin* on this story? The president or the media? Closing in on 200,000 Cofid-19 deaths here in America. I think the media had it right, and according to his own words, Trump did too. And since MAGA didn’t listen to the media then, why do you think they’ll listen now? They don’t care if the apes are in Trump’s on voice. Stop being delusional. Nothing would’ve changed.
Unfortunately the third major story is THE major story, and will remain so for the remainder of our lives. We can no longer stop the impact of climate change. It will be devastating. We can mitigate if we move quickly
I’m shocked by Trump’s candor which makes me wonder what news story he is trying to deflect attention from.
In 2016 the sordid story about Trump and a porn star broke just before the election.
The story that didn’t make headlines around that time but should have is that Trump and Jeffrey Epstein have a victim in common. In Oct 2016 PBS News hour published a list of assault allegations against Trump. The list includes a victim who “.....claims she was repeatedly raped by Trump and Jeffery Epstein at Epstein’s New York City apartment in 1994, when she was 13 years old”. (Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/assault-allegations-donald-trump-recapped)
Trump is exceptionally good at manipulating the conversation by dominating the news cycle.
So, as shocking as the Woodward tapes are - my assumption is that there is a bigger, more shocking story that he is trying to distract our attention from.
So glad He called Bob Woodward. I wonder if he is just stuupid or if it’s a piece of the puzzle leading to him continuing to follow the Nixon pattern, to resign and have Pence pardon him.
Wow, just wow. The lies are being exposed faster and faster, like bombshells, and I can't help but think that his base will continue to blindly support him even despite these new revelations. If Russian bounties on our troops and his disrespect for our military did not move them, I sadly doubt even his lies being revealed about Covid-19 will change their minds.
September 9, 2020
Thanx for the very informative timeline to the Woodward interviews. We should all be thankful that he got this info on tape “over the course of 18 interviews.” Maybe that will shut up the Internet Naysayers who lit up twitter yesterday saying that Woodward was as guilty as the President of the United States for not releasing that info in February or March. Had he exposed those initial interviews the subsequent interviews would not have happened.
I have been countering as some journalists have that Bob Woodward is a writer, not the leader of the U.S. Of those thousands of ppl who have died, many of us have not because we listened to the experts in the field of medicine and not the idiot occupying the White House. Likewise, the idiot’s cult base would not have listened to Woodward’s facts any more than they listened to the facts of those medical experts at that time and would have still defied the recommended precautions. Even yesterday there were reports of denial in light of Woodward’s revelations.
Not only is he a particularly bad and dangerous individual...full of his own "special qualities"...he is totally naive if he thought he could charm Woodward out of " doing a Nixon" on him. I'm breathless in front of such fantasmagoric stupidity.
Francois Hollande, EX-president of France thought that he could charm a couple of French journalists throughout his "reign" according them "secret" interviews. They produced a book about 6 months before he was fighting for re-election from the exclusive interviews that they taped with him. The book was entitled "What a President should never say" . Hollande was forced to back out of his re-election bid as a result rather than face total humiliation. He disappeared into a well deserved nonentity. I think we can reserve for Trump his well deserved fate too.
By now, all of us in someway have been negatively impacted by COVID 19. We’ve lost a family member or dear friend. We’ve lost jobs or are helping to support someone who has lost a job. At the very least, our lives have been disrupted by self isolation and wearing uncomfortable masks when we do have to venture out. (Except, of course, those who still believe this is all a hoax to infringe on their rights and that every single one of the dead - 190,000 and counting - were at death’s door anyway.) It’s infuriating to learn, and have proven by a reporter’s recordings, that our President knew the severity of this threat back in late January, downplayed it to the American people and did virtually nothing behind the scenes to combat it, other than “wishing it away.” Some models say that 85% of the deaths could have been avoided with some strict country-wide preventive measures taken in February or early March. Have I used the word infuriating yet? And what of the Pandemic Response team that was dismantled and the Pandemic playbook that was ignored by the Trump administration. Am I piling on if I suggest that proactive measures by this team in 2019, when the virus was first detected abroad, could have led to zero impact in the United States and that most of us would have never uttered the words “COVID 19”, let alone have our 2020 lives impacted in anyway? Have I used the word infuriating yet?
In light of these latest revelations, I have exhausted my irate stupefaction and must spin 180 degrees around to my compassionate side (as the former producer and co-writer of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood") wondering in profound sadness what form of child abuse transformed a presumably innocent young child named Donald into this grotesque creature. Innumerable books will continue to be written chronicling the awfulness of the man and the devastation he has wrought, but I do hope for one truly definitive portrait of how such a crime against a child might have been accomplished.
I am sure most readers would agree that every day you think it cannot get crazier with 45 and his administration. But it does. This won’t make a dent in his cult followers but perhaps enough voters can be swayed to vote him and the republican enablers out of office. I watched the watergate hearings in college, but this presidency tops those antics by a long shot
According to what Lawrence O'Donnell had tonight, most of Trump's conversations with Woodward is just the two of them, no staff, so the staff has no idea what's going to be in the next tape that drops. And with 55 days, there isn't enough time to get out from under, and we're now in the period where even the morons are paying attention. The Biden campaign already has an ad out tonight using him from the tape about lying.. They've got the money to run ads from now to November 3 of him on tape, damning himself.
“I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic,” Trump said. “Certainly I’m not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy.”
Does he think we don’t remember “Liberate Michigan. Protect your second amendment rights”. Or the demon lady dr. Or the no mask super spreader events including the RNC at the White House. Or that Dr Fauci and family now need security because of all the threats. Or that almost a quarter million people in the US will have died by Nov 3. Or that he threatens not to go quietly when he loses the election. Frenzy and panic are the snake oil he sells.
Also unfit to govern, of course, is every Republican in Congress who has aided and abetted Trump over the past three and a half years. At any point, Mitch McConnell and his mob of thugs could have put a stop to Trump's gross betrayal of American citizens. Instead, Moscow Mitch lived up to his new moniker. Laughably, and not unsurprising, Trump's main cheerleader, Lindsey Graham, has been thrown under the bus by the man he has defended time and again. If the results weren't so tragic, this would almost be amusing.
As the days unravel, I feel yesterday was a paramount day for our Country where Trumps deceit is laid bare by his own words. Not hearsay nor statements left for interpretation. His own words. Although the right wing will do their absolute best to spin this, the tapes are the receipts. As Woodward and Bernstein brought down a President in the past, I feel Woodward is on course to do this again. I don't feel this will turn Trump voters against him, but I do think this may be the stimulus that with get the "sofa Democrats" out to vote. Thank you Mr. Woodward and thank you Heather for showing us the path.
Why is America such a *kill the messenger* culture? People (including POTUS 🙄) are trying to pace the blame of Covid on Woodward. Or using the fact he didn’t come out earlier as a rationale that it’s *not that serious or he would’ve said something sooner*. (DJT Twitter feed)
I’m fighting this out on 3 Facebook threads.
1. Donald Trump lied. He lied to everyohe, not just *the Libs*. Luckily for us *Libs* we listened to science - mostly - when it was available to us.
2. The onus to come forward was on people in the administration. Period.
3. Mike Pence knew exactly what was going on and came out and lied to America . Every fucking day. For months. We pay his salary.
4. Dr. Deborah Birx knew what was going on and sat there and took it, at best, and, at worst, obfuscated just as much as the rest of them. We pay her salary.
5. Alex Azar knew. He lied to the American people. We pay his salary.
6. Dr. Robert Redfield knew and continued to deny it. We pay his salary
7. Richard O’Brien knew IN JANUARY that this would be the toughest challenge Trump would face in his presidency. He knew. He said nothin to the public. We pay his salary.
8. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci knew and TRIED TO FUCKING TELL US. They hampered him at every turn. They made it so he had to get approval before speaking to the public. They refuted everything he said. We pay his salary.
9. Bob Woodward is a journalist he told the truth, after the fact. That’s his job. He says he didn’t believe Trump when he was talking all this smack back in February and I believe him. Anyone who heard what was coming out of IQ45’s mouth in public would have doubts. Especially someone who has spent the majority f their professional career writing about presidents and the fucked up shit they do.
The fact is... DJT felt all the MAGAs out there are stupid snowflakes who. couldn’t handle the truth. He lied TO THEM, They castigate us for watching MSM, but, who had the right *spin* on this story? The president or the media? Closing in on 200,000 Cofid-19 deaths here in America. I think the media had it right, and according to his own words, Trump did too. And since MAGA didn’t listen to the media then, why do you think they’ll listen now? They don’t care if the apes are in Trump’s on voice. Stop being delusional. Nothing would’ve changed.
Did I miss anything?
Unfortunately the third major story is THE major story, and will remain so for the remainder of our lives. We can no longer stop the impact of climate change. It will be devastating. We can mitigate if we move quickly
I hope it isn’t too late to get Trump out.
That would be Major first step
I’m shocked by Trump’s candor which makes me wonder what news story he is trying to deflect attention from.
In 2016 the sordid story about Trump and a porn star broke just before the election.
The story that didn’t make headlines around that time but should have is that Trump and Jeffrey Epstein have a victim in common. In Oct 2016 PBS News hour published a list of assault allegations against Trump. The list includes a victim who “.....claims she was repeatedly raped by Trump and Jeffery Epstein at Epstein’s New York City apartment in 1994, when she was 13 years old”. (Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/assault-allegations-donald-trump-recapped)
Trump is exceptionally good at manipulating the conversation by dominating the news cycle.
So, as shocking as the Woodward tapes are - my assumption is that there is a bigger, more shocking story that he is trying to distract our attention from.
So glad He called Bob Woodward. I wonder if he is just stuupid or if it’s a piece of the puzzle leading to him continuing to follow the Nixon pattern, to resign and have Pence pardon him.
Wow, just wow. The lies are being exposed faster and faster, like bombshells, and I can't help but think that his base will continue to blindly support him even despite these new revelations. If Russian bounties on our troops and his disrespect for our military did not move them, I sadly doubt even his lies being revealed about Covid-19 will change their minds.
Oof. Bob Woodward must have a strong stomach, a great poker game, and a ton of charm.
Sen. Tom Cotton for Supreme Court? Might as well put the ghost of John C Calhoun on the list.