To the Editor:
Re “Trump Admits He Minimized Virus’s Threat” (front page, Sept. 10):
President Trump says he lied about the coronavirus because he didn’t want people to panic. But we know that this president has shown no interest in avoiding panic when he thinks it would benefit him politically. He has in fact encouraged people to panic about imaginary dangers like immigrant “caravans” or attempts to “abolish the suburbs.”
Perhaps Mr. Trump believes that he can ignore problems and make them go away because he has always had a Michael Cohen or a Bill Barr to fix things for him. Now, with his negligence and incompetence on full display, maybe it’s time for the American people to panic, or at least vote for change.
Ann Magyar
Brighton, Mass.
To the Editor:
If Donald Trump was going to treat the public like children by withholding the information about the virus that might have enabled us to protect ourselves from it, it was his solemn responsibility to act as a responsible dad by taking every possible measure to protect us from it. He did not.
Rather, by peddling his own ignorant fantasy that the virus would miraculously vanish, he himself behaved like a child. Half a year and nearly 200,000 deaths later, he still is.
Ron Meyers
New York
To the Editor:
Bob Woodward, in his new book, reveals taped conversations with the president from February and March, showing that he knew the seriousness of the Covid-19 virus at the same time as he played it down to the public. How many lives might have been saved if Mr. Woodward had revealed these facts months earlier, rather than waiting until his book was published?
The president can be held responsible for lying to the public, and Mr. Woodward should be held responsible for keeping this information quiet until now.
Madge Treeger
Clayton, Mo.
To the Editor:
Donald Trump told the American people he considers himself a “wartime president.” Should he then be on trial for war crimes? When he told us that Covid was a Democratic hoax, mocked wearing a mask and held rallies, he knew full well how deadly this virus is. If a general took his troops knowingly to their deaths, he would be court-martialed.
Janet Savadier
Hollywood, Fla.
To the Editor:
In what may prove among the great political ironies of American history, had President Trump been as aware and engaged addressing the dangers of Covid-19 with the American people as he was in his conversations with Bob Woodward, he almost certainly would have been a strong favorite for a second term.
David Sussman
San Jose, Calif.