INTERVIEW 11: What Is the Plan?

Phone call

April 5, 2020

TRUMP:

I think we’ll never get credit from the fake news media no matter how good a job we do. No matter how good a job I do, I will never get credit from the media, and I’ll never get credit from Democrats who want to beat me desperately in seven months.

COMMENTARY: On April 3rd, when the Centers for Disease Control issued new guidance recommending that Americans wear masks, Trump said at the Coronavirus Task Force briefing that day:

TRUMP:

This is voluntary. I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.

The death toll in the United States had reached 7,000 and the number of new cases was rising by a staggering 30,000 each day.

I had spent the past three weeks intensely interviewing the medical experts as the virus exploded in the United States. My questions were directed at what needed to be done. It was apparent to me that Trump did not have a strategy or a plan.

I had talked at length to Dr. Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, and Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Redfield had the responsibility of protecting the health of all Americans. He had 23,000 people, including contractors, working for him all over the world.

I was told by multiple sources that the president was not listening. Dr. Fauci said the president’s attention span during crucial briefings was “like a minus number.” This dramatically echoed Mattis’s point about Trump taking the freeway offramps to nowhere during national security briefings. Privately, Fauci said Trump’s leadership was “rudderless.”

If there was one theme, the experts said tackling the virus required a coordinated effort led from the top.

I had the president’s attention now. The question for me was how to use the information I was gathering from his top advisers. Trump seemed to be more patient listening to me than to his experts, who were really disillusioned with his failure to organize an aggressive campaign against the virus.

My goal was to cover all of their priority areas in our interview and find out what Trump thought and might have planned. Given the risks and hazards from the virus, this could not be a regular interview. I wanted to lay it out as starkly and candidly as I could. Was he organized? Was there a plan? Did he know what the main issues were? Was he paying attention? It reminded me that I had personal responsibility beyond just being a reporter.

The president had given up on his plan to open the country by Easter. He sounded resigned, almost chastened, with a solemn tone unlike any I had heard from him in our previous interviews.

“The plague” he said when I reached him on April 5th.

TRUMP:

It’s a horrible thing, what’s going on. It’s unbelievable. You know it just hit its 182nd country. Can you believe it?

BW:

Is that right now?

TRUMP:

It’s now up to 182, yeah, as of this morning. It’s hard to believe. It moves rapidly, Bob. It moves rapidly and viciously. If you’re the wrong person and if it gets you, your life is pretty much over if you’re in the wrong group. You know what I mean. It’s a tough deal.

BW:

Is there any way to tell what that group is yet?

TRUMP:

Yeah, well, the group is older and people with a condition especially. I mean, older with a condition, big trouble. Big trouble, if you have a combination of the two.

BW:

Well, that’s our age group, isn’t it, sir?

TRUMP:

It’s—well, hopefully we’re much younger than that, Bob. You look younger. But it’s our age group. You know? Older, especially 80. Well, you’re not anywhere near that. What are you, Bob? Just out of curiosity.

BW:

No, well, happily I’m only 77.

TRUMP:

Okay, good. Well, yeah. I’m 73.

BW:

Here I want to ask you a series of questions.

TRUMP:

Yeah, you go quick, Bob.

BW:

All for the book. I know you’re pressed for time.

TRUMP:

A little pressed. I’ve got about 12 generals downstairs waiting for me. But that’s okay.

BW:

Okay. [laughs] I appreciate that. The central question is, in doing some reporting on briefings that people have given and so forth—

TRUMP:

Right.

BW:

—are we going to go to full mobilization? People at least I talk to say they want that feeling of full mobilization.

TRUMP:

Well, I think we’re at—other than we can call up additional military. As you know, I’ve sent in military doctors, surgeons, nurses, first responders, over a thousand to New York yesterday. You know that.

BW:

Certainly.

TRUMP:

And I’ll tell you what is happening is what I said is going to happen. So far it’s been true in every case. They’re not needing the kind of things they think. For instance, you look at the ventilators. So far they’ve had the ventilators. You know, you have no idea, Bob, but ventilators are a big deal. You know, it’s like building a car, okay? You know it’s a very expensive—

BW:

Sure. I heard you yesterday—

TRUMP:

No, well it is. It is. You can understand. That’s not like—gee whiz. Now we have millions of face masks that have come in and, you know, but that’s a whole different thing. You’re not hearing about that much anymore. You’re not even hearing about the gowns very much anymore, the protective gowns.

BW:

No, we’ve talked about this question, which is at the core of this: and that is to make sure you do everything. You know, no one in history is going to come back and say—

TRUMP:

No one’s going to say Trump did too much, you mean? Yeah.

BW:

Yeah. There’s never too much.

TRUMP:

I agree.

BW:

And I’ve found 16 things with my reporting, real quickly. On the testing, people out in the field, Fauci in private briefings and so forth is saying we aren’t there yet. And do you—

TRUMP:

But Bob, Bob, the test—well, first of all, we have great new tests. We inherited a broken test. But just so you understand, the states are really supposed to be doing the testing. You know? We got put into a position, and I didn’t like that position. We’re helping the states, but the states are supposed to be doing the testing and they have from the beginning. And really they are doing it. If you go to California, if you go to most states—the only ones that complain are the ones that aren’t doing a good job, frankly.

BW:

Okay, but still, a lot of people are saying we need a Manhattan-like project. That’s, you know, the project to beat the—

TRUMP:

Bob, this will be gone before you—we have done that, Bob. We have done that. We’ve got—you know I made the big center that we built, and the military wasn’t thrilled with it. They built 3,000 beds in the Javits Center, right? That was for regular, you know, surgeries, et cetera. That was for regular patients, not COVID patients.

BW:

Do you think you have a Manhattan—

TRUMP:

All COVID facility. And that was, that is being operated by the military. I don’t know if you know that. Do you know that?

BW:

Yeah. Certainly. The question is—

TRUMP:

But you know that’s a big deal though, Bob. I mean, that’s a big deal.

BW:

No, a lot of big things going on. The question is, are you happy? Is it enough?

TRUMP:

Uh—okay. The answer is this: if a Democrat governor—for the most part. A couple of others, too. But if they’re looking for 1,000 ventilators, right, and I said, no, no, no, I’m going to send you 10,000. They’ll be so nice. Thank you, Mr. President, you’re the greatest. When the news speaks to them or when they’re on a show or something: How’s the president doing? He didn’t send us enough ventilators. Okay?

BW:

Sure. Listen, I understand the back and forth.

TRUMP:

There is nothing I can do to have a Democrat say good things. Now, despite that, you have Democrats saying good things. Like Gavin Newsom. Not—

BW:

Sure, but if you come out and say this is full mobilization, this is a Manhattan Project. We are going—pardon the expression—balls to the wall, that’s what people want.

COMMENTARY: I am referring to the enormous scale of the 1940s collaborative project between the U.S. government, scientific, and military sectors to build the atomic bomb.

TRUMP:

Yeah. Well, okay.

BW:

And people want to feel that that’s—

TRUMP:

I think maybe then I’m doing a bad job of not saying it. You know, I go to these news conferences—I’ll probably, possibly do one today. I’m going to a task force meeting right now. Literally.

BW:

Yes, right.

TRUMP:

Been speaking to people all day. Been calling up governors, been calling up everybody. And hey, look, Cuomo asked us for 40,000 ventilators. Okay? Think of it. You don’t have to know too much—

BW:

Okay, but Cuomo is not the issue.

TRUMP:

No, no, I know. But 40,000.

BW:

I’m just saying—

TRUMP:

I told him, you don’t need anywhere near that amount.

BW:

Mr. President, as a reporter—

TRUMP:

Now it’s turning out that we’re right.

BW:

—we’ve talked about—you are the one. This is a question about your leadership. And I just want to know how you feel about it. Second thing is the medical—

TRUMP:

I feel good. I think we’re doing a great job. I think we’ll never get credit from the fake news media no matter how good a job we do. No matter how good a job I do, I will never get credit from the media, and I’ll never get credit from Democrats who want to beat me desperately in seven months.

COMMENTARY: COVID-19 had now killed 12,182 people in the United States, four times the U.S. deaths from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The disconnect between what the doctors were outlining and what Trump was saying was about as large as it could be. From my position as I watched Trump’s response, it reminded me of the responsibility to yell “STOP!” when somebody is about to step in front of a bus.

BW:

If you go out and say this is full mobilization, we are—

TRUMP:

I’ve done it. I have done it.

BW:

—Manhattan Project—

TRUMP:

Well, yeah.

BW:

—state. Anyway. The medical supply chain. People I talk to say they still aren’t satisfied with it.

TRUMP:

[loud sigh]

BW:

They wonder whether you’re going to federalize that. Is that possible?

TRUMP:

We’re getting very few complaints. Now, I am a big fan of the hydroxychloroquine.

BW:

I know. I know.

TRUMP:

It may not work, by the way, and it may work. If it does work, I will get no credit for it, and if it doesn’t work, they’ll blame the hell out of me. Okay? But that’s okay. I don’t mind that. But we’ve ordered millions of doses of the hydroxy. We’ve ordered millions. We have millions. We’re stocked.

BW:

Okay, third area, sir—

TRUMP:

The governors—now you have some governors that were totally opposed to it that are really wanting it, and we’re able to take care of them.

COMMENTARY: Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug that has dangerous side-effects. Trump was widely criticized for ignoring the advice of his scientific and medical experts for promoting the drug as a COVID cure. None of the doctors had mentioned hydroxychloroquine to me.

Here is Fauci’s response when asked at a press conference if the drug is an effective coronavirus treatment:

FAUCI:

The answer is no.

When Trump returned to the microphone, he said:

TRUMP:

I disagree. I feel good about it. That’s all it is, just a feeling, you know. I’m… smart guy. I sure as hell think we ought to give it a try.

Hydroxychloroquine has never been shown to be an effective treatment for COVID-19.

BW:

The third area, sir, is the unemployment benefits and the cash payments. Is there really in place a system where this is going to work? People I talk to—

TRUMP:

Okay, ready? I was totally opposed to the distribution of the money the way the Democrats wanted it. They wanted it to go through unemployment insur—you know, centers. But many of them have 40-year-old computers. I said, it’ll take a long time to get there if you do that. The money is sent. It’s up to the states to deliver it.

BW:

Okay. The fourth area is the small business loans. I know you said—

TRUMP:

That’s going really well, Bob. I mean, that—you know, I don’t know if you saw. It was opened on Friday.

BW:

I understand. But some of the banks are not participating because they say that—

TRUMP:

Well, if they don’t participate we’re not going to be happy with them. But Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, they had to get their own stuff straightened out. It had nothing to do with us.

BW:

They say the interest rate is too low and they’re reluctant to participate in full.

TRUMP:

Well, didn’t we sell $13 billion in one day?

BW:

Whatever it was, yes. But the number has got to be up to, what, $300 billion. $377.

TRUMP:

We’re probably going to have to raise it, because we’re going to need—which is a good thing not a bad thing. No, it’s going out very fast, Bob. And the banks are doing it. And the biggest thing are the community banks are doing it. You know?

BW:

Fifth area: shelter in place.

TRUMP:

It’s been very successful, anyway. Go ahead. What?

BW:

Does it need a national order? I know you’re reluctant to do this. I’m just telling you as a reporter—

TRUMP:

Bob, 93 percent—almost 95. I think 95 percent closed. We have a couple of states. There are a lot of constitutional reasons, there are a lot of federalist reasons. And those states are all in good shape, Bob.

COMMENTARY: A “stay at home order” was in place, which meant only businesses deemed “essential” could continue to operate. For instance, schools went online, restaurants transitioned to take-out and delivery only, other businesses closed their doors for good.

BW:

Sixth is the food supply. Are you confident that the food supply is going to get out to people?

TRUMP:

Yeah. You haven’t even heard a complaint about that, Bob. I mean, it’s going great. I had a big meeting with all the big suppliers on Thursday. The biggest in the world, all of them. We also had meetings with all the big department store types and all of them—from Amazon to Walmart to all of them. And they’re all doing well. And they’re also, they have long lines going to stores because we’re keeping them six feet away in the line.

BW:

Okay. Seventh area, international coordination. Did you see Henry Kissinger’s piece in The Wall Street Journal saying—

TRUMP:

I did not, no. What did he say?

BW:

—there needs—Do you have somebody who will be the focal point of coordinating with all the other countries involved in this?

TRUMP:

I do. I do. We have a secretary of state named Mike Pompeo.

BW:

And he’s focused on this?

TRUMP:

Oh yeah. He’s very focused on it. We have more than him, but we have a secretary of state, we have—the entire State Department is focused on it. But honestly Bob, it’s more of a local problem from that standpoint.

BW:

Next area. What’s the definition of an essential worker? People feel it’s—everyone’s defining it the way they want to define it. Do you have a definition or does the federal government—

TRUMP:

We have a specific definition. I can give it to you if you want. But we do have a very specific definition.

BW:

Well, it seems loose and vague to people. I’m telling you this—

TRUMP:

Okay, well, I’ll put it out. Maybe I’ll talk about that today.

BW:

—as a reporter.

TRUMP:

Yeah. I’ll do that. Essential. Yeah. You know, we had a case where the churches are saying it’s essential. It’s a very interesting question.

COMMENTARY: An essential worker was someone who was needed to maintain critical infrastructure and continue critical services—this included healthcare providers, police officers, firefighters, utility service crews, and grocery store clerks. All non-essential workers were required to stay home and people were advised to only leave their homes for essential needs like grocery shopping, medical appointments, and outdoor exercise.

TRUMP:

The churches are saying they’re essential.

BW:

How about air travel? Some people say you’re just sending planes with four people on it from one city to the next—

TRUMP:

Right.

BW:

—and that is jeopardizing people. Is there a national policy which—

TRUMP:

They’re mostly closed down. We have to keep some flights open for emergency purposes, but they’re mostly closed down. The airlines are doing checks. We’re doing checks. But they’re mostly closed down, Bob. But they do have some routes. If you do what some people—you need to have at least a semblance of, a little bit—now, we check people going on, getting off. And it has not been a problem.

BW:

Do Fauci and Dr. Birx, do they say this is enough? Or this is a leakage—

TRUMP:

Well, they haven’t complained. I mean, you know—maybe I’ll ask them that question, but they have not complained either.

COMMENTARY: George Kennan, the renowned Soviet scholar and author of the containment doctrine, had said that presidential aides and cabinet officers too often failed to tell presidents what they really thought. Kennan called this, “the treacherous curtain of deference.” Over the decades I had seen and reported on this countless times. Of course, Trump was also not hearing complaints as he routinely dismissed advice.

BW:

Okay. Now who’s in charge of the effort and I’ve talked to some people—

TRUMP:

[deep sigh]

BW:

—who are doing very aggressive, imaginative work on vaccines and antibodies.

TRUMP:

Right.

BW:

Who’s in charge of that?

TRUMP:

NIH. National Institute, which is phenomenal. And they are doing it. They’re in charge of it. We have a lot of potential vaccines, especially probably Johnson & Johnson.

COMMENTARY: Producing multiple COVID-19 vaccines with life-saving effectiveness years ahead of the regular schedule was an area the Trump administration did well.

TRUMP:

You know, NIH is doing the work, but we also farm it out to many, many companies.

BW:

Have you talked to Bill Gates at all? Because—

TRUMP:

No, I have not. He—But I think I’m going to be meeting him very shortly, yeah.

BW:

He’s the expert. He spent billions of dollars of his own money on this. And he says we only get out of this when we have vaccines. And so again, I’m just reflecting what—

TRUMP:

Well, we’re doing great on vaccines. The problem with a vaccine is a vaccine will take 13 to 14 months once you have it. Because you have to test a vaccine. As opposed to the hydroxy, you have to test it. Because the hydroxy’s been out there for 25 years. You know, on another disease, okay? On another problem.

BW:

Next area is China on the wet markets. I think Fauci is saying privately in briefings we’ve got to get China to close down their wet markets.

TRUMP:

Yeah, some people are saying that. And that one I have not done yet. You have to understand, I just signed a massive trade deal turning everything—because China’s been ripping us off for years. Like ripping us like you’ve never seen, economically. Destroying our country.

BW:

No, I—listen, Mr. President, I understand all of that. The question is, you’ve got some experts like Fauci—

TRUMP:

Well, I don’t know. Fauci also said that this wouldn’t be a problem, so—this disease was not going to be a problem. I was in the room when he said it, okay? So you know—

BW:

How about the small government Republicans in your own—

TRUMP:

No, but—people have said—people, experts now that are all into it have said this was not going to be a problem. It’s going to be easily put out. And some of the people that you mentioned. And you know, they turned out to be wrong on that. So you know, they can be wrong too, Bob. Right?

BW:

Absolutely. I think—I’m telling you as a reporter, I’ll emphasize this again. They want a sense of World War II mobilization. President Trump up there saying, these are the 12 areas—this is the person who is going to come before you and tell you—

TRUMP:

All right, I got you. I understand. I got you. I think we’re doing a very good job, but I’ve got exactly what you’re saying. Now in New York the deaths have fallen for the first time.

BW:

I saw that. Saw that.

TRUMP:

That’s a big step.

BW:

How about the small government Republicans who, you know, are real leery of all this spending of trillions of dollars?

TRUMP:

Sure. But they’re allowed to their views. I mean, you know, if I did that I wouldn’t have closed the country.

BW:

Are they obstacles?

TRUMP:

If I, you know, listened there I wouldn’t have closed the country.

BW:

Okay. How about the intelligence agencies? How’s Gina doing telling you what’s going on in the world?

TRUMP:

I meet with her every day, practically. Her or her people.

COMMENTARY: I was asking Trump about his CIA Director Gina Haspel.

BW:

And do you feel that you know what’s going on in the world?

TRUMP:

Better than any president’s known in 30 years.

BW:

Okay. And the question—

TRUMP:

I meet with them every day. I have a meeting every single day with them and others, by the way. Defense, et cetera.

BW:

You know, just from 50 years of doing this, sir—

TRUMP:

I know. No, I’m listening to every word you’re saying.

BW:

—what is the first person who made you see how serious this was going to be?

TRUMP:

China, when I saw how many people were dying.

BW:

But wasn’t that in early February, when you talked to President Xi?

TRUMP:

No! No! It was earlier. Look, I did the stop I think in January some time, toward the later part of January, Bob.

BW:

Yeah. I suspect if you say, sir, full mobilization, we’re at Manhattan Project level here—

TRUMP:

No matter what I do, they’ll always tell you bad.

BW:

Okay, but you know what?

TRUMP:

I don’t care.

BW:

—I think people want—even people who don’t like you, people who are opposed to you—want this country to succeed on this.

TRUMP:

Well, no. I think there are some people that would rather have it not succeed. Okay? That’s a big statement. Right?

BW:

I hope not. I mean—

TRUMP:

Okay. Well, there I disagree with you. There are some people that would rather have it not succeed so that they could possibly beat me in the election. All right?

BW:

But they’re irrelevant.

TRUMP:

No. They’re significant, and they’re lying, and they control some of the media. Not all of it. I’m doing fine in much of the media. But there’s a lot of really fake news out there, Bob.

BW:

Listen, we’ve—I’m looking at this—

TRUMP:

You have people that would like us not to succeed, I will tell you that with straightness.

BW:

Say that again sir?

TRUMP:

You have people—many—there are people on the radical fringes and the left that would rather have us not succeed.

BW:

Well, God will never forgive them, then.

TRUMP:

Well, maybe that’s true. I will never forgive them.

BW:

Okay. But you have—

TRUMP:

Anything you ask those people—It’s like I told you. We need 1,000 ventilators. Here’s 10,000. And then they’ll tell the press that’s not good enough. Okay.

BW:

Okay, but—

TRUMP:

It’s happening all the time.

BW:

—but if you go to full mobilization—

TRUMP:

I am.

BW:

—and you tell the world and the country that’s it, these are the people who are in charge of testing, of unemployment benefits, loans, the food supply, international coordination, air travel, the vaccines, China, the intelligence world, if that’s clear to people—

TRUMP:

Right.

BW:

See, if I may bring this up—

TRUMP:

Go ahead.

BW:

During the Nixon case—

TRUMP:

Right.

BW:

—Nixon did not understand the goodwill that people feel toward a president. You know that is a problem now in this country, the polarization, no question. But—

TRUMP:

Yeah, but the ones that like me like me a lot, okay?

BW:

But people know this is a survival issue. People are talking about their kids, and they’re saying, what kind of world are we going to give to our kids? And—

TRUMP:

They’re right. But Bob, when you talk about that—Nixon was an unpopular guy. I have great support out there, Bob. You don’t see it, probably, but—

BW:

No, no, I understand that.

TRUMP:

All you have to do is take a look at the polls. I’m getting—I just got a 69 percent or 68 percent for the approval rating for this, and that’s despite the fact that you’re fighting an uphill battle with these people you’re fighting with all the time.

BW:

Okay. Listen, I understand.

TRUMP:

I have great support out there, Bob.

BW:

I’m asking you a series of questions—

TRUMP:

Yeah, I know.

BW:

—based on my reporting.

TRUMP:

Bob, what I have is—I have to—if I’m going to do what you would like me to do, which I’m doing—

BW:

No, no, that’s not—

TRUMP:

—I have to go.

BW:

—my job. My job is to tell you—

TRUMP:

Because I’ve got people waiting downstairs in a big meeting, and I have to go. I’m talking to you.

BW:

Okay. Okay.

TRUMP:

But if I’m going to do what I’m doing and—you know—

BW:

I’ll listen at five o’clock if you’re coming on, and I appreciate your time.

TRUMP:

Give me the list of the things you said. Did you write them down, or not?

BW:

Yes, I wrote them all down.

TRUMP:

Okay. Give me that list of those things. I’m going to talk to my—

BW:

Okay, what I’ll do is send them to Jared, or you want me to—

TRUMP:

Just read them out. Go ahead, read them.

BW:

Okay. The first is testing. It’s got to be a Manhattan Project. Number two, the medical supply chain has to be made as perfect as it can be. Experts say you may have to federalize that.

BW:

Number three…

TRUMP:

Go ahead. [fades under the commentary]

COMMENTARY: I was intentionally channeling the deep frustration felt by Fauci, Redfield, and others. I read Trump the list again. I wanted to make available to him what his experts were saying to me. I could see the breakdown in communication between Trump and his experts was almost total.

BW:

…oh, okay, the interest rate is—

TRUMP:

Okay, I got it. Let’s move it along. Okay.

BW:

Number five, shelter in place. That there needs to be a national order. I know you don’t want to wear a mask. The experts are saying—I hear the briefings, sir.

TRUMP:

All right, go ahead.

BW:

Six is the food supply. Number seven, international coordinator who’s made it clear this is the person who reports to President Trump and has that responsibility.

TRUMP:

Okay.

BW:

The definition of what is an essential worker. So everyone can know. The next one is air travel. It’s not working. Talk to the experts about it. They’ll just say for four people going from Detroit to New York—

TRUMP:

I got it. Go ahead.

BW:

Next is the vaccine antibody czar. Somebody who’s in charge—

TRUMP:

Vaccines. I got it. I got people in charge. Go ahead.

BW:

Next is China and the wet markets and that whole relationship. Next is how do you accommodate the small government Republicans who are—you know, you make that clear. You’re trying to balance something. But this, small government doesn’t work. You have signed a bill for $2.2 trillion. That’s all you’ve spent on the defense of this country in the first three years. It’s a giant amount of money for a good, necessary cause.

TRUMP:

Right.

BW:

Next is the intelligence. That you’re getting it, your people are getting it. There is an assessment of where we are on this globally. And another one is people really need a sustainable income stream. Or an income stream that they can say, okay, at some point I’m going to get this money—whether it’s unemployment benefits, cash payments, some sort of loan. This has got to be done—you want people—sorry, that’s what people are telling me. They want somebody—

TRUMP:

That’s good. I’m glad you told me. Many of these things are done or in great shape. But I’m glad you told me. That’s cool.

BW:

Okay, great. This is—

TRUMP:

I will talk to you tomorrow or something, Bob. Okay? We’ll find some time.

BW:

Okay, sir. Thank you. You have a good day.

TRUMP:

Thanks, Bob.

BW:

And thank you for letting me be so aggressive.

TRUMP:

No, I like that. I like listening to smart people, okay?

BW:

Thank you, sir.

TRUMP:

Thank you very much. Bye.

BW:

Bye.

[Phone call ends.]

BW:

What do you think?

ELSA:

You were really shouting at him.

BW:

I was. To get in a word edgewise.

ELSA:

Your shouting, though, was really loud.

BW:

It’s okay. It’s okay.

ELSA:

You want to get more information from him, not—

BW:

I know. Like this. I agree.

ELSA:

—telling him what he needs to do.

ELSA:

You kind of sounded like you were telling him what to do.

BW:

Yeah. Well—

ELSA:

You don’t want to do that.

BW:

Okay. But we’re in a different world now, sweetie.

COMMENTARY: I hung up feeling distressed. Trump never did seem willing to fully mobilize the federal government and continually seemed to push off problems to the states. He clearly didn’t see the virus as his responsibility. There was no real management theory of the case on how to organize a massive enterprise to deal with one of the most complex emergencies the United States had ever faced. But without question the aimlessness and absence of leadership at the top was contributing to the nation’s inability to respond.

That same evening, Lindsey Graham spoke with Trump by phone. Graham, who had talked repeatedly with the president during the crisis, also worried that Trump didn’t want to own the coronavirus problem.

“He’s got one foot in and one foot out,” Graham said, describing their call. “He wants to be a wartime president, but he doesn’t want to own any more than he has to own.”

Graham told Trump he thought it was Trump’s job to fix problems, “even if it’s not your fault.”

Graham told the president he needed a plan. “You need to explain to the country, we’re not helpless against the virus,” Graham said. “Here’s the game plan to beat the virus. You need theater commanders like you’ve got in Iraq or in Afghanistan. Somebody in charge of testing. Somebody in charge of vaccines. You need a Petraeus to regain your footing. You’ve lost the momentum.”

While Trump’s job approval rating had reached the highest level of his presidency the week of this interview, it was beginning a downward slide as the crisis drew on. “You need to peak in October,” Graham told Trump. “You need to have the economy showing signs of life. A vaccine on the horizon. Drug therapies that work.” Biden would be a rough opponent, Graham told Trump, but his opponent—his real opponent—was the coronavirus.

“That’s probably true,” Trump answered.

Graham pressed: “If you fuck it up, there’s nothing you can do to get reelected. If you seem to manage it well, you’re pretty much unbeatable. You keep the body count down, people will see you as somebody that was successful.”

The next morning, April 6th, I noticed the president began the day on a cheery note. He tweeted, all in caps: LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!

One of Trump’s allies, United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson, came down with the virus and was moved into intensive care.

On April 7th Trump said publicly of the virus: “It will go away.”

On April 11th the death toll from the coronavirus in the United States climbed above 20,000. The U.S. surpassed Italy as the country with the most virus fatalities.

On Sunday, April 12th, Fauci was asked whether Trump had been too slow to act on the virus. Fauci said:

FAUCI:

If we had right from the very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.

Hours later, Trump retweeted someone’s tweet that suggested Fauci should be fired, sparking widespread speculation and worry about Fauci’s fate.