The revelation in Bob Woodward’s upcoming book that President Donald Trump privately understood the threat posed by COVID-19 while downplaying its danger in public inspired a raft of viral attack ads on Wednesday.
Trump in a taped February interview with journalist Woodward for his upcoming tell-all “Rage,” slated for release next week, admitted the coronavirus is “more deadly than even your strenuous flus” and “deadly stuff.”
The conservative Lincoln Project, whose Republican members are working to defeat Trump in November’s election, hit back at the president by contrasting what he said in that and subsequent interviews with Woodward to what he was claiming in public:
The video has garnered more than 3.4 million views on Twitter alone.
The progressive PAC MeidasTouch dubbed Trump a #PretendPresident with this video:
The PAC Really American spelled out why Trump “doesn’t care” and urged Americans to ”end the nightmare” in its clip:
Democratic 2020 nominee Joe Biden’s campaign described Trump’s lies as “unconscionable” with its response:
Donald Trump knew that COVID-19 was dangerous. He knew it was deadly. And he purposely downplayed it.
Now, nearly 200,000 Americans are dead.
It’s unconscionable. pic.twitter.com/SLqqhmWy8E
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 10, 2020
And Jon Ossoff, the Democratic challenger to Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), compared Trump’s comments to those of his 2020 election rival:
A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus
