Letter: Trump's downplaying of COVID-19

Reminder that Trump was briefed on the virus in Jan. 2020, and warned of its dangers. In his Feb. 2020 interview with Bob Woodward, he acknowledged that it was airborne, and “deadly stuff.” In their Mar. 2020 interview, he admitted that it was even more deadly than he thought. He also said that he had played it down to the public from the beginning, and planned to continue doing so, which he did. His explanation was that he didn’t want to cause a “panic.” This from a man who regularly tried to scare the public about various issues when he thought it was to his political advantage, such as immigration, hurricanes, crime, and a depression if he lost the election. This was not leadership. It was a betrayal of us all.