President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed US coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and "more deadly than even your strenuous flus," and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward...
www.cnn.com
There is nothing left to be said.
So, im curious. Let's say trump had come out with the truth. Let's say he would have gone on national TV and said "folks, im going to level with you, there is a virus coming, and its going to be big, bigger than anything we've seen before. This virus will likely kill hundreds of thousands of people, will shut down the economy for at least 6 months, but we can't exactly say how long it could last. It could be nearly 2 years before we are back to normal..."
The panic and economic calamity that would have caused would have been massive. How would that have been any better than him downplaying it? Maybe, and im just spit balling here, but maybe he down played it to help soften the blow to prevent all out collapse of the system?