It was back on March 13 that Donald Trump was asked if he felt any responsibility for the inadequate response to the coronavirus.
“I don’t take responsibility at all,” Trump said. You can read that story by Politico HERE.
The same question of responsibility might well be posed to author Bob Woodward after his jarring revelations in his new book RAGE.
Trump is now characteristically calling the book a ”POLITICAL HIT JOB”, never mind that it was based on 18 separate recorded interviews with Trump.
(As an aside, it’s entirely fair to also ask that question of Nancy Pelosi who, despite a shutdown of businesses during the pandemic, nevertheless used her position to wrangle an appointment to have her hair done at her favorite salon and then whined that she was “set up” when the owner of the salon videotaped her.)
But back to the Woodward book. Woodward is a Pulitzer Prize-winner who, along with fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, was as responsible (there’s that word again) for the downfall of the morally and legally corrupt Nixon administration.
Trump confided to Woodward way back on February 7 that he knew the coronavirus was “deadly stuff” with the potential to be five times more deadly than the flu but that he wanted to ”PLAY IT DOWN” in order to avoid creating a public panic.
There’s plenty of blame to go around on this fiasco. White House trade adviser PETER NAVARRO and Chief of Staff MICK MULVANEY warned Trump as early as Jan. 29 of a “full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans.”
National security adviser ROBERT O’BRIEN told Trump in late January that the coronavirus “will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency.”
In fact, Trump received more than half-a-dozen WARNINGS from various other members of his administration of the potential dangers of a pandemic, but nothing was done.
But as a grizzled old reporter with more than half-a-century of writing under my belt, I must admit I have a lot of problems with Woodward, who I admired for the work he and Bernstein did 46 years ago. I have both the book and the DVD of All the President’s Men. I even reviewed the movie for the Baton Rouge State-Times back in 1976 and in my naïve exuberance, predicted it would an Academy Award. (It didn’t.)
Like the public officials we report on, we share a responsibility to keep those who trust us fully informed of the truth. Woodward is no less guilty in failing to do that than Trump.
It is my conviction that Woodward can justifiably be classified with the likes of John Bolton, who refused to testify in hearings leading up to Trump’s impeachment even as he was preparing to launch his tell-all book about the Trump administration, putting his personal financial considerations above those of American citizens. Bottom line, he came off as fearing the sales of The Room Where It Happened might be dampened if he were to reveal what he knew in congressional testimony.
Likewise, Woodward knew as early as Feb. 7 that the corona virus was a deadly threat to not just America, but to the world. Yet, he said nothing. His justification of his silence being that he had no idea of the source of Trump’s information and that he was unsure of Trump was lying about that as he has so many things is a bit weak in retrospect, especially given the time span between Feb. 7 and the publication of his book.
It was Woodward, after all, that relied to heavily on his “Deep Throat” source, who turned out to be FBI agent Mark Felt (as revealed by Felt himself shortly before his 2008 death) for much of his material while working with Bernstein on the Nixon Watergate stories. So, if he could rely on unsubstantiated information back then, what prevented him from going public with information so crucial about the coronavirus pandemic?
I can come up with only one logical reason and it doesn’t reflect well on Woodward.
If politicians are to be held accountable by the media, the media should be no less accountable to the public and in this regard, Woodward failed because like Bolton, he appears to have placed his financial interests before those of the American people.
Some of the blood for more than 190,000 deaths is on his hands.
Louisiana Voice 
I feel like you are holding Woodward to too high a standard. Remember, he is just the messenger. Where was Fauci and Birx and the head of the CDC during this time? They knew full well the deadliness of the Corona Virus. If Trump wasn’t going to tell the facts to the country, then they should have gone to Congress, the United Nations, the American Press, etc. with all of the facts and forced Trump to tell the truth, develop a plan, and implement that plan. They are the experts that know for certain if Trump is lying or not. Woodward isn’t an expert
I agree, John, though I lost a lot of respect for Woodward over this. The unfortunate reality is we are lied to everyday by somebody in a position of authority. We are also told the truth by others in positions of authority. We are placed in the position of deciding who, if anybody, to believe and, as a country I sense we are at the point where we believe nothing we can’t verify with our own eyes and ears – or, much worse, whatever we want to believe, regardless of evidence. The media, meanwhile, gives equal weight to lies and truth. Do they do this to try to be fair? If so, they are failing abysmally.
Trump is a lying inept egomaniac and a threat to our National Security. All of us who can read and think above the 5th grade by Feb 7th, knows that Trump is a lying inept egomaniac thus I agree with Mr. Sachs. Whatever journalistic standard applies, Woodard is not required to promote a lie which is exactly what egomaniacs thrive on. I agree with Trump that it is a “political hit job”, and it is political season, where Truth is not an issue. This I know, not an opinion, educated peoples have the ability to know a lie when they see it. Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes??? ron thompson
That last line really captures the essence of trump, lol.
What strikes me here is that tRump, with his lies, demagoguery and first ever of his ilk in the presidency, has placed the credence of so many people in jeopardy. Such is the case with Woodward. But would it have made any difference if he had reported the conversation back in February? tRump would have gone ahead just as he did and that day’s headline would have gotten lost and forgotten by the next day or shortly thereafter and little would have changed. It would not have had the impact it does today. I have to give Woodward a pass (not that it’s mine to give).
Well, It looks like others have covered most of my thoughts on this subject. At this point exposing a “smoking gun” like Woodward has, has very little effect. As a result, I’m very inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to journalists that will still do it. I need only look at the behavior of the other side to justify giving Woodward some latitude.
All of this could be done better, but trump is not an honest man and doesn’t play by any rules. So, I’ll take what truth we can get and hope we do better in the future. But, I absolutely support Mr Tom’s push for better journalistic integrity. We will begin to repair politics via the election, with any luck. Articles like this will be necessary to repair journalism.
r/
Kent
I just watched the interview that old SoundByte kennedy just did with CNN about this topic. What a complete and total damned moron.
Your SO RIGHT!!
Arrogant asshole Kornpone should have been shut down/off after less than a minute if his utter spew.
It would seem many democrats would disagree with above posts.
Zoe zoe zoe… you really have to get off Facebook and get your news from a reputable source.