#Trump told Bob Woodward he downplayed COVID-19 to prevent mass panic

President Trump publicly downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to prevent widespread panic from gripping the nation, he told Washington Post editor Bob Woodward for his upcoming book.

“To be honest with you, I wanted to always play it down,” Trump said in a March 19 interview, an audio clip of which was released Wednesday by the broadsheet. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

The snippet was one of several published by the paper featuring highlights of the 18 on-the-record interviews Woodward conducted of Trump for his new book, “Rage.”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday disputed Trump’s own choice of words, insisting to reporters, “The president never downplayed the virus. The president expressed calm.”

The president did so — publicly likening the coronavirus to the flu — even as he acknowledged to Woodward just how grave the situation was.

“You just breathe the air, and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in another audio clip, recorded on Feb. 7. “That’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. … It’s also more deadly that even your strenuous flus.

“This is deadly stuff.”

Woodward’s book also quotes Dr. Anthony Fauci — America’s foremost infectious disease expert — as describing Trump’s leadership during the pandemic as “rudderless,” adding that the president was “unfocused in meetings,” and that “his sole purpose is to get re-elected.”

In an interview with Fox News, Fauci disputed that and said that he doesn’t “recall” making those remarks.

In the released audio clips, Trump also opined on race relations in the US, in light of protests that raged across the country since the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“No,” Trump said flatly when asked by Woodward on June 19 whether he agreed that he benefited from white privilege that kept him from hardships faced by black Americans. “You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you? Listen to you! Wow! No, I don’t feel that at all.”

Still, Trump conceded in a June 22 interview that systemic racism exists in the US.

“Well, I think there is everywhere. I think probably less here than most places, or less here than many places,” he said. “[But] I think it is, and it’s unfortunate, but I think it is.”