But there was another big lie in 2020, also propagated by former President Donald Trump, involving the coronavirus pandemic. It was a lie that systematically downplayed the severity of Covid-19 and the utility of face masks. It very likely resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
To understand the genesis of this lie, remember that the coronavirus arrived in an election year. Despite a rancorous initial three years punctuated with an impeachment, the former president’s path to reelection was bolstered by one unimpeachable accomplishment: a robust economy. The coronavirus threatened that. The resulting interplay between politics and the pandemic created an irresolvable conflict that influenced the Trump administration’s coronavirus response for the remainder of his term.
On January 22, 2020, the day the US reported its first case of Covid-19, President Trump said he wasn’t worried about the outbreak becoming a pandemic. “We have it totally under control,” he said.
In his book “Rage,” Bob Woodward reported that six days later, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien unambiguously told Trump: “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency. This is going to be the roughest thing you face.” On Febuary 7, 2020, Trump told Woodward the coronavirus was highly lethal, noting that it was “more deadly” than — “even your strenuous flus.”
On February 25, four days before the first report of an American coronavirus death, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, informed reporters that she had told her children that “we as a family ought to be preparing for significant disruption to our lives.”
That same day, Alex Azar, then Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, assured the press that the Trump administration was committed to “radical transparency.”
The next day, the President said: “This is a flu. This is like a flu. It’s a little like a regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”
On March 9, with US coronavirus deaths mounting, Trump again likened the coronavirus to the flu, tweeting, “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
Despite the knowledge that the virus was being spread via respiratory droplets and aerosols, the CDC was slow to recommend masks for the public. On February 29, Surgeon General Jerome Adams scolded the public in a tweet: “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
On April 3, the CDC changed its position, and advised all Americans to wear a face covering in public. At a Coronavirus Task Force briefing that day, the President immediately threw cold water on the recommendation, declaring: “You can do it. You don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it, and that’s OK.” He added, “Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens — I just don’t see it.” The message to his followers was clear: masks were optional.
Despite Trump’s public nonchalance, in private he had known for months precisely how easily the virus was spread, and the rationale for wearing masks. On February 7, he told Woodward: “It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch – you don’t have to touch things, right? But the air, you just breathe the air. That’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one.” On April 13, Trump told Woodward that the coronavirus was “so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t even believe it.”
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