Trump said he "played it down" to not create a panic. I think he meant a stock market panic.

[Towlie]

The Trump quote from Bob Woodward is “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.” I wonder how many people read that to mean a panic among the general population, i.e. people fearing for their lives.

I don't think that's what Trump meant. I think he meant that he worried about the effect a truthful announcement about COVID-19 would have on the stock market. Does that sound plausible?

[intrepidity]

1. Of course that's what he meant nt

[TwilightZone]

2. Yeah, that's been a common interpretation ever since he said it.

I think it's exactly what he meant.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Exactly

From the outset, I thought it was commonly understood that he was always more concerned about the stock market dropping (except that it did anyway)

[ProfessorGAC]

3. There's No "Think" About It

That is absolutely all that mattered.
And, it happened anyway.

[Claustrum]

4. I said that since the Woodward tapes came out.

He only cared about the stock market. He didn't even care about COVID until the stock market crashed 10k points in a few days. Then he started doing those stupid COVID press conferences.

[Yonnie3]

5. You are correct n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. He's so stupid; that is exactly what he ended up with in March. It wiped out most gains from 3 years

The only reason it bounced back is that RepubliCons poured money into the billionaires who gained $920,000,000,000 (920 billion) in the last six months.

[Eliot Rosewater]

8. Well, he doesnt know anything about the stock market, at all.

He thinks of panic as in rich people acting or not acting in some way.

The only reason he now buys stocks is the administration is manipulating everything to their financial benefit but traitor himself has no clue how kushner and others are doing it, they tell him what to say or sign, he does.

[Grasswire2]

9. yes, exACTLY.

Been saying that.

He's been protecting the stock market the whole time.

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. What happened to the story where big donors got secret COVID briefing before mkt crash? Nt

[Disaffected]

11. Also a travel panic.

Which would affect the hospitality business i.e. him bigly.

[soothsayer]

12. Yep. Very practically the first thing he did was to pump money into the markets

THAT was his Covid solution.