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As predicted, the net effect of reports on the Woodward tapes has been as much a boon to Trump as a detriment—as pieces like this one now *falsely* date Trump's knowledge of the virus' danger to when *Woodward* learned of it—not weeks or months *earlier*. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-bob-woodward-book/index.html
PS/ The same thing happened with FEAR, two years ago. Woodward—on the basis of his interviews and no other research—declared that there had been no collusion. The media ran with it, and it and Woodward were *wrong*. They're wrong now about when Trump learned of the virus' danger.
PS2/ As I detail based on major-media reporting in Proof of Corruption, the Trump White House learned all about the virus—*everything* it needed to know to take *immediate emergency action*—in November 2019, *three months* before CNN now reports Trump apprehended imminent danger.
PS3/ The *absolute latest*—and I mean the *very* latest—that Trump was personally and robustly briefed on the cataclysmic danger of the virus was *one month* before CNN now says he was.
CNN's reporting makes Trump's "China ban" (which wasn't a ban) seem timely rather than tardy.
CNN's reporting makes Trump's "China ban" (which wasn't a ban) seem timely rather than tardy.
PS4/ So yes—people should listen to the tapes. Then they should *ignore the reporting surrounding them*, as it cannibalizes the tapes by doing some absolutely irresponsible "contextualizing."
That contextualizing is being done by people who don't know what they're talking about.
That contextualizing is being done by people who don't know what they're talking about.
PS5/ I've provided the full COVID-19 timeline on my Twitter feed. I've provided excerpts from my book detailing the timeline on my website. Unlike Woodward, I held nothing back. If you want all that info in one place—a way to contextualize the tapes—it is in Proof of Corruption.
PS6/ Because I teach journalism, I often critique it—even as I celebrate it in my books. The right thing for media to do when the tapes dropped was to talk to *two* groups: 1) medical experts, 2) authors who've written books on the pandemic.
It dropped the second group entirely.
It dropped the second group entirely.
PS7/ The result was that we had talking heads on CNN and MSNBC and elsewhere sagely telling us that Trump learned of the virus' danger in February—because that's when Woodward told America *he* learned of it. This sort of asinine logic is unacceptable during a national emergency.
PS8/ If media thinks it's big news that Trump was lying about the virus when all of America knew he was lying, it should *really* consider it big news that—still—no one in America knows the *incredibly damning* timeline of Trump's knowledge of the virus and his pandemic response.
PS9/ Journalism profs around the country are attacking Woodward for sitting on this info as 190,000 died—the Post just covered it. I've attacked him also. But the key thing *now* is for us to take this national moment of reckoning as a chance to discuss Trump's COVID-19 timeline.
TIMELINE/
9/2019: Virus hits China—hospitals packed.
11/2019: US military briefs Trump White House on virus.
12/2019: More White House briefings. Trump permits pandemic clause in China trade negotiations.
January (first 72 hours): Latest date Trump gets first robust briefing.
9/2019: Virus hits China—hospitals packed.
11/2019: US military briefs Trump White House on virus.
12/2019: More White House briefings. Trump permits pandemic clause in China trade negotiations.
January (first 72 hours): Latest date Trump gets first robust briefing.
TIMELINE 2/
February (first 72 hours): Trump takes his *first* action on virus, *3 months* after the White House was first fully briefed on it. Trump's action is a laughable "travel ban" that allows *40,000 people* to come from China in the first five weeks after it is issued.
February (first 72 hours): Trump takes his *first* action on virus, *3 months* after the White House was first fully briefed on it. Trump's action is a laughable "travel ban" that allows *40,000 people* to come from China in the first five weeks after it is issued.
TIMELINE 3/
February 7: Trump and Woodward discuss the dangers of the virus—*3 months* after the White House knew of them, at *least* a month after Trump did, and *6 months* after the White House modeled the dangers of *just* the sort of virus it knew it faced back in November.
February 7: Trump and Woodward discuss the dangers of the virus—*3 months* after the White House knew of them, at *least* a month after Trump did, and *6 months* after the White House modeled the dangers of *just* the sort of virus it knew it faced back in November.
TIMELINE 4/
February 7: Woodward keeps the tapes to himself to launch a multimillion-dollar book 6 months on. Under 10 Americans had died of the virus at this point; had Trump's words gotten out, the White House would have been forced to ramp up a robust pandemic response ASAP.
February 7: Woodward keeps the tapes to himself to launch a multimillion-dollar book 6 months on. Under 10 Americans had died of the virus at this point; had Trump's words gotten out, the White House would have been forced to ramp up a robust pandemic response ASAP.
TIMELINE 5/
February 2020: Virus pours into NYC from Europe—not China. Trump still a month from issuing travel restrictions relating to Europe; when he does, he exempts any nation in which he has a golf course. He's still talking to Woodward; Woodward is still burying the tapes.
February 2020: Virus pours into NYC from Europe—not China. Trump still a month from issuing travel restrictions relating to Europe; when he does, he exempts any nation in which he has a golf course. He's still talking to Woodward; Woodward is still burying the tapes.
TIMELINE 6/
March (first 72 hours): Livid at Azar because one of his subordinates said the virus could affect the stock market, Trump moves all pandemic response from DHHS to Pence—causing a *2-week delay* in any White House action.
Research says this caused 90%+ of all deaths.
March (first 72 hours): Livid at Azar because one of his subordinates said the virus could affect the stock market, Trump moves all pandemic response from DHHS to Pence—causing a *2-week delay* in any White House action.
Research says this caused 90%+ of all deaths.
TIMELINE 7/ It is only after *all of these things* have happened—on March 19, 2020—that Trump makes the infamous statement about "playing down" the virus that the media is talking about. This event happens many, *many* months into Trump's criminal negligence on pandemic response.
