'Democracy can die in the light too. It’s happening right in front of us. Woodward’s revelations may show us an unflattering angle on the president, but it doesn’t look like anything we haven’t seen before.' — SatansJacuzzi
, Trump repeated what he said at the time, that he was withholding information strategically to avoid creating panic: "The fact is, I'm a cheerleader for this country. I love our country. And I don't want people to be frightened. I don't want to create panic, as you say, and certainly I'm not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy,” Trump said.
If that is true, it speaks to a fundamental aspect of Trump and his presidency: The communication of information is never undertaken as simply sharing some facts or truth, but rather it's done to serve whatever end Trump wants. Whether it was to avoid national and global panic or to get reelected, Trump’s decision to downplay the virus was strategic. Even when the president’s rhetorical strategy is slapdash or spontaneous, it exists to advance his power or make him look good .
But we already knew that. We already knew Trump lies and obscures and obfuscates to protect himself. Since his inauguration, his administration has demonstrated a rabid willingness to distort or outright disregard the truth for the sake of engineering a propagandized version of reality.
It is remarkable that Trump would be so candid with Woodward, a man famous for his role in Nixon’s downfall. But his willingness to do so suggests Trump is either foolish enough to think nothing of making these revelations to a famous reporterhe has some other con in mind. Maybe doing these interviews just scratched his itch for feeling important. Maybe, asTrump knows the media is a threat to his power.
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