Amid damaging reports of the president openly downplaying the deadliness of Covid-19, two-thirds of Americans say that Trump acted too slowly when dealing with the pandemic, and 68% say they don't trust what he says about the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, interviews between Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and Trump were released, which included the president acknowledging on February 7th that he was fully aware the coronavirus was "deadly stuff" and was even "more deadly than even your strenuous flu."
As a result, Trump immediately came under scrutiny for publicly comparing Covid-19 to the flu throughout February and March. Trump claimed he downplayed the danger of the coronavirus because he didn't want to "create a panic," despite the fact Trump has repeatedly utilized fear tactics over the past four years, including the days immediately before and after he claimed, "I don't want people to be frightened."