President Donald Trump bragged to the veteran journalist Bob Woodward that he protected Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) from congressional scrutiny after the brutal assassination of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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"The people at the Post are upset about the Khashoggi killing," Woodward told Trump on January 22, according to his book. "That is one of the most gruesome things. You yourself have said."
"Yeah, but Iran is killing 36 people a day, so —" Trump began, before Woodward redirected the conversation to Khashoggi's murder.
Woodward wrote that he continued pressing Trump about MBS's role in ordering Khashoggi's killing, which has been widely reported on.
"I saved his a--," Trump said in 2018, amid the US outcry following Khashoggi's murder, according to the book. "I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop."
During his January 22 conversation with Woodward, the president said, "Well, I understand what you're saying, and I've gotten involved very much. I know everything about the whole situation."
Trump added that Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars on US products. He also stressed MBS's claim of innocence, despite the fact that US intelligence and other foreign intelligence agencies have concluded otherwise.
He will always say that he didn't do it," Trump said of MBS. "He says that to everybody, and frankly I'm happy that he says that. But he will say that to you, he will say that to Congress, and he will say that to everybody. He's never said he did it."
"Do you believe that he did it?" Woodward asked.
"No, he says that he didn't do it," Trump replied.
"I know, but do you really believe —" Woodward began before Trump cut him off.
"He says very strongly that he didn't do it. Bob, they spent $400 billion over a fairly short period of time," the president said. "And you know, they're in the Middle East. You know, they're big. Because of their religious monuments, you know, they have the real power. They have the oil, but they also have the great monuments for religion. You know that, right? For that religion."
"They wouldn't last a week if we're not there, and they know it," he added.
Trump repeatedly used executive power to block or bypass congressional efforts to cut ties with Riyadh after Khashoggi's murder.
Is there a Republican that has a fucking ounce of morality. Because this shit is on them at this point. Nixon’s party had the backbone to take out their own trash.
Post by Velar Fricative on Sept 10, 2020 13:13:20 GMT -5
Also in the book it talks about how Kim Jong Un told Trump graphic details about how he had his uncle killed. You know, just a casual conversation between friends.
And Trump also said it he feels no responsibility to understand the plight of Black people.
Woodward clearly got Trump to talk about eeeeeeeeeeverything.
I actually am okay (in general) about not releasing too much information that could incite a panic. But you don’t just downplay the threat entirely either. There is a way to promote vigilance, good habits, etc. Especially when he doesn’t downplay the lesser threats of illegal immigrant caravans and other bullshit.
And even if they really didn’t understand the degree of the threat (sounds like they did though, but I’ll be generous here), you sure as hell don’t downplay it when it’s already killing thousands of people a day. He could have had a real national response. Instead, he tells blue states to go fuck themselves, he doesn’t promote mask-wearing and distancing, and he pretends the virus just doesn’t exist.
I don't know. A lot of more recent Crisis Communication Scholarship concludes that disaster panic is a myth. People make better choices with more information. Transparency is best.
Besides it is laughable that Trump is one to avoid panic. Scaring the shit out of people is his MO.
I actually am okay (in general) about not releasing too much information that could incite a panic. But you don’t just downplay the threat entirely either. There is a way to promote vigilance, good habits, etc. Especially when he doesn’t downplay the lesser threats of illegal immigrant caravans and other bullshit.
And even if they really didn’t understand the degree of the threat (sounds like they did though, but I’ll be generous here), you sure as hell don’t downplay it when it’s already killing thousands of people a day. He could have had a real national response. Instead, he tells blue states to go fuck themselves, he doesn’t promote mask-wearing and distancing, and he pretends the virus just doesn’t exist.
I don't know. A lot of more recent Crisis Communication Scholarship concludes that disaster panic is a myth. People make better choices with more information. Transparency is best.
Besides it is laughable that Trump is one to avoid panic. Scaring the shit out of people is his MO.
His fearmongering is limited to made-up problems. Otherwise he would have to do something about them.
I actually am okay (in general) about not releasing too much information that could incite a panic. But you don’t just downplay the threat entirely either. There is a way to promote vigilance, good habits, etc. Especially when he doesn’t downplay the lesser threats of illegal immigrant caravans and other bullshit.
And even if they really didn’t understand the degree of the threat (sounds like they did though, but I’ll be generous here), you sure as hell don’t downplay it when it’s already killing thousands of people a day. He could have had a real national response. Instead, he tells blue states to go fuck themselves, he doesn’t promote mask-wearing and distancing, and he pretends the virus just doesn’t exist.
I don't know. A lot of more recent Crisis Communication Scholarship concludes that disaster panic is a myth. People make better choices with more information. Transparency is best.
Besides it is laughable that Trump is one to avoid panic. Scaring the shit out of people is his MO.
This makes sense because I think the reason we have so much panic right now is due to lack of transparency.
I do not think this would all be so all-consuming if we just had more information given to us plainly.
Responses are: Trump didn’t want to create a panic, so he kept it close to the vest.
Not going to lie - this was my first thought. Like as a leader I'm sure there are things that you HAVE to downplay to some degree, so I was like that quote/sound clip can easily be answered away with a somewhat reasonable excuse.
But then I read that this interview was BEFORE he said it was a hoax. So yeah fuck that response.
I don't know. A lot of more recent Crisis Communication Scholarship concludes that disaster panic is a myth. People make better choices with more information. Transparency is best.
Besides it is laughable that Trump is one to avoid panic. Scaring the shit out of people is his MO.
This makes sense because I think the reason we have so much panic right now is due to lack of transparency.
I do not think this would all be so all-consuming if we just had more information given to us plainly.
I agree with this. I watched Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily C19 briefing almost daily. He laid it all open every day new positives, hospitalization, deaths. Even in the early days when all those numbers were going up for weeks, I felt better knowing real information, real areas of crisis, real mistakes. Because I felt like we could really get to smart solutions. On the same days Trump lied and said “it would be over by Easter”, “It’s going away” I felt panicked.
I actually am okay (in general) about not releasing too much information that could incite a panic. But you don’t just downplay the threat entirely either. There is a way to promote vigilance, good habits, etc. Especially when he doesn’t downplay the lesser threats of illegal immigrant caravans and other bullshit.
And even if they really didn’t understand the degree of the threat (sounds like they did though, but I’ll be generous here), you sure as hell don’t downplay it when it’s already killing thousands of people a day. He could have had a real national response. Instead, he tells blue states to go fuck themselves, he doesn’t promote mask-wearing and distancing, and he pretends the virus just doesn’t exist.
I don't know. A lot of more recent Crisis Communication Scholarship concludes that disaster panic is a myth. People make better choices with more information. Transparency is best.
Besides it is laughable that Trump is one to avoid panic. Scaring the shit out of people is his MO.
I'm sure you're correct re: Crisis Communication Scholarship. But, if there's one thing I'm sure you and I have been exasperated about during this pandemic, it's the pure lack of information literacy in this country. Transparency is fantastic...when people aren't dumb. I can only imagine how much worse it would be if the scientists shared MORE about new discoveries since there is already so much yelling about how the scientists don't know what they're talking about because they "change their minds" so much. Sigh. But, I know deep down you're right.
And per @livinitup's post re: Cuomo's daily pressers. They were fantastic and informative. But you'd think New Yorkers would stand behind that kind of information and transparency and nope, many believe he's a dictator and call him King Cuomo. You can't really win.
I actually am okay (in general) about not releasing too much information that could incite a panic. But you don’t just downplay the threat entirely either. There is a way to promote vigilance, good habits, etc. Especially when he doesn’t downplay the lesser threats of illegal immigrant caravans and other bullshit.
And even if they really didn’t understand the degree of the threat (sounds like they did though, but I’ll be generous here), you sure as hell don’t downplay it when it’s already killing thousands of people a day. He could have had a real national response. Instead, he tells blue states to go fuck themselves, he doesn’t promote mask-wearing and distancing, and he pretends the virus just doesn’t exist.
I know you agree and I’m not yelling at you, but...
He knew it was transferred through respiration and refused to tell people to wear masks!!! Why is telling people to go about their lives but wear a mask inciting panic???
I’m just so angry! He has destroyed people’s lives. People are dead. People have lost their jobs. And you know he didn’t care about inciting panic. He just didn’t want people to focus on this. Once again, his narcissism hurts everyone but him.
This could have been avoided, not entirely, but to a large degree, if he had simply told people “hey, the China virus is bad, those guys sent it over to hurt us, but we’re not stupid, we’re going to wear masks in public.”
I said earlier I didn’t feel one way or the other on this, but since you do, what do you think would have happened if this was release earlier? Totally genuine, not trying to argue or be a butthead. I’m really trying to envision how this information might have caused any of this absolute 0 federal response to play out differently.
I couldn’t even begin to guess. But I still think people should do the right thing (in this case, release this information) regardless of what the outcome might be.
You mean like his advisors? The Senate? Public health and policy organizations? The CDC?
Trump said it in his own words, but this isn’t news. They slow walked the response from the beginning. We knew from the beginning that they were ignoring the science, ignoring the information available to them to protect people. They fucking threw away Obama’s pandemic playbook.
Nah. I’m not mad at Woodward. It’s pretty damning to hear it in Trump’s words, but I fail to see how him releasing this then or now makes any bit of difference in the federal government’s response.
I actually am okay (in general) about not releasing too much information that could incite a panic. But you don’t just downplay the threat entirely either. There is a way to promote vigilance, good habits, etc. Especially when he doesn’t downplay the lesser threats of illegal immigrant caravans and other bullshit.
And even if they really didn’t understand the degree of the threat (sounds like they did though, but I’ll be generous here), you sure as hell don’t downplay it when it’s already killing thousands of people a day. He could have had a real national response. Instead, he tells blue states to go fuck themselves, he doesn’t promote mask-wearing and distancing, and he pretends the virus just doesn’t exist.
I know you agree and I’m not yelling at you, but...
He knew it was transferred through respiration and refused to tell people to wear masks!!! Why is telling people to go about their lives but wear a mask inciting panic???
I’m just so angry! He has destroyed people’s lives. People are dead. People have lost their jobs. And you know he didn’t care about inciting panic. He just didn’t want people to focus on this. Once again, his narcissism hurts everyone but him.
This could have been avoided, not entirely, but to a large degree, if he had simply told people “hey, the China virus is bad, those guys sent it over to hurt us, but we’re not stupid, we’re going to wear masks in public.”
Trump has also been waging a war on science and expertise that people on the right buy into to a frightening degree.
Also, I’m not mad at Woodward. If he had published the tapes in February, Trump would have cried fake news and then manufactured another crisis to distract from it.
I know you agree and I’m not yelling at you, but...
He knew it was transferred through respiration and refused to tell people to wear masks!!! Why is telling people to go about their lives but wear a mask inciting panic???
I’m just so angry! He has destroyed people’s lives. People are dead. People have lost their jobs. And you know he didn’t care about inciting panic. He just didn’t want people to focus on this. Once again, his narcissism hurts everyone but him.
This could have been avoided, not entirely, but to a large degree, if he had simply told people “hey, the China virus is bad, those guys sent it over to hurt us, but we’re not stupid, we’re going to wear masks in public.”
Trump has also been waging a war on science and expertise that people on the right buy into to a frightening degree.
Also, I’m not mad at Woodward. If he had published the tapes in February, Trump would have cried fake news and then manufactured another crisis to distract from it.
I was talking about this with my mom recently. Saying that you believe in science is now a political statement, which is just bananas. As a scientist, it makes my head hurt.
I don't know. A lot of more recent Crisis Communication Scholarship concludes that disaster panic is a myth. People make better choices with more information. Transparency is best.
Besides it is laughable that Trump is one to avoid panic. Scaring the shit out of people is his MO.
His fearmongering is limited to made-up problems. Otherwise he would have to do something about them.
I absolutely agree with the bolded. He loves fearmongering. He doesn't want to deal with a real problem that would require hard work and difficult choices.
I actually am okay (in general) about not releasing too much information that could incite a panic. But you don’t just downplay the threat entirely either. There is a way to promote vigilance, good habits, etc. Especially when he doesn’t downplay the lesser threats of illegal immigrant caravans and other bullshit.
And even if they really didn’t understand the degree of the threat (sounds like they did though, but I’ll be generous here), you sure as hell don’t downplay it when it’s already killing thousands of people a day. He could have had a real national response. Instead, he tells blue states to go fuck themselves, he doesn’t promote mask-wearing and distancing, and he pretends the virus just doesn’t exist.
I know you agree and I’m not yelling at you, but...
He knew it was transferred through respiration and refused to tell people to wear masks!!! Why is telling people to go about their lives but wear a mask inciting panic???
I’m just so angry! He has destroyed people’s lives. People are dead. People have lost their jobs. And you know he didn’t care about inciting panic. He just didn’t want people to focus on this. Once again, his narcissism hurts everyone but him.
This could have been avoided, not entirely, but to a large degree, if he had simply told people “hey, the China virus is bad, those guys sent it over to hurt us, but we’re not stupid, we’re going to wear masks in public.”
I hear you. I think PSA-type warnings are exactly what he should have done without inciting panic. Like “hey guys, there’s this virus coming of China and Europe and it may already be here, but just wear masks and distance.” But too bad we don’t have a real leader capable of doing that.
Is there a Republican that has a fucking ounce of morality. Because this shit is on them at this point. Nixon’s party had the backbone to take out their own trash.
I had this argument with someone today. The tapes didn’t sink Nixon. The fact that Congress at the time understood their damn job is what did him in. I feel like at this point the separation of powers is totally gone