Fmr Pres Trump was blamed for many things, the more significant ones were politicizing mitigations against COVID such as mask wearing and vaccinations. I saw him from the Presidential Press Podium and from behind the Oval Office desk ridiculte people who wore a mask.
Fmr Pres Trump was also blamed for spreading misinformation about COVID...
For starters...
(all dates are year 2020)
(hyphen after the date indicates public comment, plus sign after the date indicates comment to Mr Woodward during the interview)
Jan. 22 - "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine. ... We're in great shape. China's in good shape, too."
Jan. 24 - "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!"
Jan. 30 - "We only have five people. Hopefully, everything's going to be great. They have somewhat of a problem, but hopefully, it's all going to be great. But we're working with China, just so you know, and other countries very, very closely. So it doesn't get out of hand. But it's, you know, it's something that we have to be very, very careful with, right? We have to be very careful."
Feb. 4 - "We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat."
Feb. 7 + "It goes through the air, That's always tougher than the touch. You don't have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that's how it's passed."
Feb. 7 + Now it's turning out it's not just old people, ... Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It's not just old- older. Young people too, plenty of young people.
Feb. 10 - "Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away."
Feb. 11 - "In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it's actually less."
Feb. 24 - "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. ... Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"
Feb. 26 - "When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done. ... We're testing everybody that we need to test. And we're finding very little problem."
Feb. 27 - "It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear."
Feb. 28 - "Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They're politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, How's President Trump doing?' They go, Oh, not good, not good.' They have no clue. They don't have any clue. ... Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But you know, we did something that's been pretty amazing. We're 15 people [cases of coronavirus infection] in this massive country. And because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that. They say, 'Oh, he should do more.' There's nothing more you can do."
Mar. 4 - "Some people will have this at a very light level and won't even go to a doctor or hospital, and they'll get better. There are many people like that."
Mar. 5 - "Gallup just gave us the highest rating ever for the way we are handling the CoronaVirus situation. The April 2009-10 Swine Flu, where nearly 13,000 people died in the U.S., was poorly handled. ... I shake anybody's hand now. I'm proud of it."
