Woodward wants us to believe that Trump intentionally deceived the American people. He knew how serious the virus was, but wanted to hide its seriousness from the public to avoid a panic. That’s the line.
Dr. Fauci, who ranks even higher than Woodward in the esteem of liberals I know, isn’t buying it. Fauci, who had the advantage of being there, says:
I didn’t get any sense that [Trump] was distorting anything. I mean in my discussions with him, they were always straightforward about the concerns that we had. We related that to him. And when he would go out, I’d hear him discussing the same sort of things. . . .