Senate Republicans are defending Trump after revelations to Woodward.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Unrolled thread here:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1303748811869876225.html

Senate Republicans are defending Trump after revelations that he told Woodward he intentionally downplayed the coronavirus in order to avoid creating a panic and gave the public a rosy assessment despite what he knew privately

Sen. Thom Tillis, a vulnerable Republican, said he wants to see "the full context" of Trump's comments before fully weighing in. But he added: "When you're in a crisis situation, you have to inform people for their public health but you also don't want to create hysteria.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina, pointed to Feb. 29 comments that Fauci made on the "Today" show where he said that there was "no need" for people to change their lifestyles "at this moment," though Fauci also warned about the threat of "community spread" from coronavirus
“I think it became clear that the human transmission was greater than originally thought," Graham told me

Graham added of Trump: "I don’t think he needs to go on TV and screaming we’re all going to die.”

Asked again if he was OK with Trump admitting that he played down the threat, Graham said: “His actions of shutting the economy down were the right actions. I think the tone during that time sort of spoke for itself. People knew it was serious”

Other Republicans had similar refrains.

"I’d argued since day one that we put this in proper perspective: I have not been in favor of these overall shut downs, have been devastating to the economy, devastating to people's health in other ways," said Sen. Ron Johnson

Johnson added: "It’s been a difficult thing to manage, and I’ve tried not to be critical of any government officials having to make really tough decisions with imperfect information.... So I understand what he's saying. I don't think it's an illegitimate point to make."

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Fuck. Them. ALL.

[crickets]

16. 👆 This.

[C_U_L8R]

2. People died instead. Good going Republicans.

[wryter2000]

3. I thought they were going to cut him loose after Labor Day

if his numbers didn't pick up. Apparently, not. Will this hurt their chances of holding onto the Senate?

[soothsayer]

10. I was just coming to say the same thing

[Iliyah]

4. People are dying . .

FU republicans.

[Spazito]

5. And yet there are some blaming Woodward for not...

coming out sooner. Here is proof positive, imo, that nothing would have changed if he had, nothing.

[lagomorph777]

6. So they really do want to lose.

This is gong to drag them down big-time.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

13. Hopefully

Thier whole party of damn rethug criminals dies along with trump's massive loss at the polls.

And a rightwinger never trusted with power again.
Now that they aren't hiding what a monstrosity they are.

[still_one]

15. It should

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Exactly what I said they'd have done if Woodward had released the tape at the time.

So let’s stop dragging Woodward and focus on who’s really at fault.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. People Knew It Was Serious, Linz?

Really? After PINO used the words virus & hoax in the same sentence.
People knew it was serious, but are still not wearing masks at the micro Nuremberg events?
The facts, to this day, contradict what this weasel is saying!

[malaise]

9. They are accessories to genocide

Every one of them

[EarlG]

11. HIS ENTIRE RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN IS BASED ON CREATING PANIC!

Panic about Antifa, panic about black people, panic about immigrants, panic about socialism and communism...

Down In The Polls, Trump Pitches Fear: 'They Want To Destroy Our Suburbs'

President Trump has a message for suburban voters. And it's not a subtle one.

"They want to destroy our suburbs," Trump recently warned in a call with supporters.

"People have worked all their lives to get into a community, and now they're going to watch it go to hell," he said from the South Lawn of the White House.

Trump has been issuing increasingly dire and outlandish warnings about what Democrats will do to the suburbs. He warns suburbanites will face rising crime and falling home values if they elect Joe Biden.

The message: Be afraid, be very afraid.

https://www.wbur.org/npr/893899254/down-in-the-polls-trump-pitches-fear-they-want-to-destroy-our-suburbs

Now they're going to turn around and say he didn't want people to panic? FFS!

[panader0]

20. Some good reporter should slap Graham with this plain logic.

Okay to cause panic to be reelected?

[DBoon]

12. Somehow California's governor figured out it was serious

and locked the state down right away

Trump has no excuse.

[still_one]

14. Then they have damned their whole deplorable party. There is much more than just the

mishandling of the virus in Woodward’s book. In the book he has undermined not only the health of the people of the United States, but the National Security

This should, but it won’t destroy the current Republican Party

All the Democrats have to do is play the tapes in trump’s own words

[Tracer]

17. They sure have their talking points ready.

Were they all listening to Kayliar McAninny's press argle bargle?

[COLGATE4]

18. A three idiot circle jerk

[KPN]

19. F U Lindsey. tRump didn't shut down the economy. Aside from

some late to the game international flight prohibitions, he abrogated all responsibility to Governors arguing all along that everything was just dandy. The Governors shut down State economies while tRump fiddled around.