Would anything had changed if the tapes had been released sooner?

[cynatnite]

Would trump have done anything differently? Would the repubs remain as silent as they are now?

This is where my thinking is. I'm not convinced anything would have really changed if Woodward had released them sooner.

[Wounded Bear]

1. I doubt it...

It would have just given them more time to gaslight it.

I don't really have a problem with the release date.

[Mike 03]

2. What happened yesterday and today is exactly what would have happened

in February, and what always happens when Trump is caught red-handed in a dangerous or criminal deception or doing something illegal.

Trump figures out some explanation, excuse, justification, muddies the waters, doubles down, goes on Fox and gives a confusing, unintelligible interview, blames somebody else, sends out surrogates to lie for him. Meanwhile the virus continues to rage across America.

"It was a perfect phone call."

"We get to keep all the oil" (in Syria).

"There was no collusion."

[lapfog_1]

3. Do not buy in, even for a moment, that this is Woodwards fault

This is all Trump.

[cynatnite]

6. I'm not at all...

I'm saying if Woodward had released the tapes earlier, trump would still be trump. Nothing would have changed.

[uponit7771]

7. Agreed, but letting Woodward off the hook for any onus does the same for Trump. Trump is trying to

... use that very fact this morning around 20 minutes ago in a tweet.

Both can be true, Woodward should've let us know about the lethality of CV19 and its Trumps fault.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I don't know if it would have made a difference in the approach to Covid 19 or not.

If the tapes had been released in March, however, we would be looking at Trump's remarks in the rear view mirror by now. As it is, they are still going to be on people's minds come November (or sooner for those mailing their ballots).

[uponit7771]

5. Maybe not the book but airborne & lethality of CV19 could've save hundreds of thousands of lives.

[cynatnite]

8. The information was out there, but trump wasn't the one saying it...

That's the key here, IMO. trump would still be trump even in the light of these tapes had they been released then. I'm not convinced these tapes would have made much of a difference, but I get your point.

[uponit7771]

10. This is false, it was NOT well known among American public in Jan/Feb the lethality of CV19 and that

... it was airborne and masks was the best way to defeat it now.

I think we need to get the messaging on this together; Trump is at fault and Woodward could've smartly let America know about the lethality of CV19 as soon as he found out both can be true.

[cynatnite]

13. I remember reading and watching the information coming out back in early March...

The WH wasn't saying it. That was early on when the lethality was in question, at least for me it was.

Thinking about it, perhaps if this had been released back then it might have forced trump and his stooges to act a bit more responsibly, be a little more honest. I'm just not convinced of how much of a difference it might have made. trump is the kind of tempermental asshole who digs in his heels, even more so when not one damn repub will stand up and do what's right.

[uponit7771]

16. Trump knew in Jan / Feb and should've told the general public AT THAT TIME. We should've known ...

... that CV19 was airborne in Jan / Feb and the most effective way to defeat it was masks until later on in the year and did not ... MOSTLY ... because Trump was understating the harmfulness of the bug.

Anyone else who could've warned America should've spoken up ... but Trump owns 100% of CV19 lies

[Spazito]

9. I don't think so....

we will never know for sure. It's almost impossible to take one's knowledge or lack of back to Feb, early March which we would need to do to have a good sense of what might have changed had Woodward come out with this at the time.

It's all looking in the rear view mirror, imo, while Americans continue to die, trump does nothing, the Senate does nothing.

[beachbumbob]

11. the change would have been with the GOP leadership in Congress as well as GOP governors

not saying these people knew about trumps duplicity, but if made public back in say, in March (I am not sure when interviews were conducted), there could have been serious pressure on trump. Meanwhile trump weaponized the CDC, FDA, NIH to lockstep with him and that could been impacted as well. To say if woodward released the tapes the day after he interview would have little or no impact is pure bullshit.

we don;t know as woodward place profit over country like a good elitist he is

[ProudMNDemocrat]

12. Trump's hole keeps getting deeper.

Trump LIED, people DIED..

Make a Bumper sticker about it.

[Champion Jack]

14. Drumph would have had an easier time obfuscating...

distracting and burying it

[BannonsLiver]

15. It would have been a 24-48 hour story

Then it would have given way to whatever the next shiny object he threw out there was. To think he would have changed his approach based on this is ahistorical.

[Midnightwalk]

17. It's such a false dichotomy

The real tape to listen to is the one where trump says he takes no responsibility.

Who is the president? Does he take advice from a used to be a reporter like Woodward? If he had listened to Woodward it would just be another case of listening to someone with zero expertise.

The fact is that trump lied about the severity and misled America. He and his republican governors prematurely opened the country for business. He mismanaged the the testing and ppe supplies to this day.

They are still actively encouraging school and sport reopening and discouraging mask wearing.

Trump’s tweet about Woodward basically is a claim that he did the right thing. He still takes no responsibility.

That’s the most damning, infuriating and dangerous thing.

Arguing about woodward is like arguing about the flea on the tail of a dog on a runaway train. Trump is a danger to us all.

[agingdem]

18. released when?

it's not when the tapes were released...it's about the damn timeline..remember in early February this virus barely had a name...this hadn't slammed the United States yet...playing down this virus was not about calm...this wasn't "daddy protecting his children"...this "calm" was about calming a roaring stock market and 4 more years of Trump...and it was not incumbent upon Woodward to issue a dire warning..this was incumbent upon all those GOP boys and girls that had been briefed and were in the process of playing the market for profit before the bottom fell out and ignoring their own constituencies

again, remember who's at the helm...even if Woodward sounded the alarm, Trump and his slobbering FOX sycophants were in charge..post hoc ergo propter hoc..everything that came after was because of what came before...Trump unilaterally dismantled all of the safeguards Obama had put in place in anticipation of a pandemic...that was the real beginning...

[blm]

19. Yes. The media and GOVERNORS would have acted more urgently.

[BannonsLiver]

20. Pfft not mine

[Squinch]

21. Yes. Those who listen only to Trump would have understood that the virus was actually

deadly. They would have heard Trump saying it. There would have been less non-compliance in areas outside of the Northeast (which is compliant bc we saw what the virus can do) and fewer deaths.

[Thekaspervote]

22. No! In fact the timing is perfect..it's damaging him more than we could've hoped for

Had it been released earlier, do you think anyone would have listened? They weren’t listening to the experts. How would this book have been different?

[LizBeth]

23. I was thinking that too. And Woodward is right that Trump lies about EVERYTHING. That is the problem

with a liar. That is on Trump. Woodward didn't know facts any more than any one else. So he has a point. Though I think if he put that out in mAy that would be when Trump was working to prematurely open cities again but I think with impact, 7 months of Trump saying it is not a big deal and will disappear gets much more an impact than if Woodward had put it out earlier. I do not think it would have done much of anything if he had put it out at the time, because Trump is a weasel. We look at things from a rational view and Trump is not ever that, so we call it wrong because we aren't living that now.

[Autumn]

24. No. Nothing would have changed. Trump and the Pukes would scream fake news and his

supporters wouldn't care.