Wallace began his conversation with Cortes by talking about Joe Biden's lead over the president on key issues including the coronavirus, race, and even law and order, while the president leads on the economy, and he said that Trump "hasn't broken through." Cortes said the economy is the most important, and that "the ultimate driver of the electoral decision" for most of us is "who can create prosperity for me, for my family, and for this country going forward." We're going to see a Trump boom 2.0, he said.
Cortes also said, referencing the coronavirus,
I think - here's the reality: I think unfortunately corporate media has been relatively successful at pushing out a myth that the president mishandled the virus. And I actually when I look at for instance these revelations from Woodward, I think if you look at them in the context of the totality of actions taken by this president, it actually reveals an exemplary record of crisis management.
He said what he means is that "it's very clear that the president, early on during the fog of biological war" (and I can't stop seeing an image of a guy with orange hair fighting off a fog of Agent Orange, or worse, a fog of sexually transmitted diseases - his own personal Vietnam, you'll recall), Trump decided to "reassure the American people. That he was going to be the kind of leader who convinces people that we can persevere through this epidemiological Pearl Harbor" and that meant he had to lie to us. (Cortes didn't actually say that last part, I did.) All of that added up to what he called "a record of superb management actually of the virus."
Since Cortes opened the door, Wallace honed in the Woodward tapes, noting Trump told Woodward that the coronavirus was deadly and much worse than the flu. But he told us we'd be down to zero cases and it's not worse than the flu - so "why not level with the American people, Steve?"
Steve put on his gas mask and went back to "the fog of war, of biological war..." but Wallace wasn't having it, saying "I'm going to interrupt you right there, because it wasn't the fog of war."
In fact, Wallace went on to explain, just days before the Woodward phone call, both the national security advisor (this is the biggest challenge you're going to face in your entire presidency, he said to Trump) and the deputy national security advisor (immediately comparing it to the Spanish flu) had made it clear "this was a deadly pandemic. There was no fog here."
Cortes played his card again, saying there was "tremendous fog," and went on to talk about stuff Dr. Anthony Fauci was saying at the end of February. And to blame the Chinese Communist Party for lying to the world, leaving us "searching largely in the darkness" to figure out what the facts were.
Shifting into his Captain Obvious role, Wallace said that Cortes was giving a different explanation than the president did. In the Cortes world, the president doesn't know, it was foggy, the science was foggy - but Trump himself said he did know the science, he just didn't want to "jump up and down" and create a panic. Cortes insisted it was both.
Wallace said that "one of the reasons that there's a question about that is because of the fact that the president plays the panic card all the time, especially when he's talking about Joe Biden." And after playing a clip of Trump saying "if Biden wins, the mob wins. If Biden wins, the rioters, anarchists, arsonists and flag burners win," Wallace asked "Is that a president who is trying to keep the country calm?"
Cortes tried to explain the difference between the two Trumps.
When the president is talking about legitimate fear of what can happen in America if Joe Biden were to win, and if disrespect for the police were to continue to become the norm in this country, he's trying to exhort the American people to action, to say we can stop this, we can back the police, we can restore order, we can insist on the rule of law. That is sensible to recognize that there is a legitimate fear out there in the country.
What is not helpful is to tell the American people that this virus is out of control... The president's job in a time of crisis is partly to be reassuring to the American people, to convince them that we can and will persevere through this epidemiological Pearl Harbor.
Wallace could have said, at that point, that "the president could have tried to exhort the American people to action, to say 'we can stop this,' we can back the scientists, we can wear masks and practice social distancing, we can insist that everyone follow the guidance of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. That is sensible to recognize that there is a legitimate virus out there in the country." But he didn't.
Instead, he said
I got it -- I got your point. The argument would be that there's - it's a false choice you're making. He either plays the rosy scenario or he sets his hair on fire. There is something in the middle, which is just being honest with the American people. And there's a question, Steve, as to whether or not the president is still being honest with the American people...
Pointing to Trump's and Fauci's different messages on how long the virus will be sticking around: we're rounding the turn, per Trump, vs. the end of 2021, from Fauci. Cortes said that Trump has a "far more optimist view right now" than Fauci, and then he dragged in some other doctors who disagree with Fauci. And, Cortes thinks,
The president is now making I think very properly a really optimistic case that we are nearing the end of this, that the trends are going aggressively towards health...
And he added more comments from Fauci saying (on Fox, anyway) that there aren't any discrepancies between Trump and him. To which Wallace pointed out first that Fauci said something different on a different network, and second,
I find it interesting that sometimes you're citing him (Fauci) as an authority and sometimes you're saying he's wrong.
Which was a good call-out, because that's exactly what these folks do, for sure. And if you already knew that, which you should have, you can give yourself a couple of bonus points on top of your extra credit.
Protect yourself - and others - from the fog of war. Wear a mask and practice social distancing, and I'll see you around the virtual campus.
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