It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, September 09, 2020
Meredith Corp. Weighs Split of Publishing, Local TV Business
9/9/2020 by Alex Weprin
Ben Gabbe/Getty Images Meredith Corp.'s Tom Harty
The company is asking shareholders to vote on a charter amendment allowing for a "tax efficient" separation of its businesses.
Meredith Corp. is proposing an amendment to its corporate charter that would allow for the company to split its national media business and its local media business, though the company is emphasizing that no such split is imminent.
The company's national media division includes its publishing unit, which produces magazine titles like People, Entertainment Weekly, Better Homes & Gardens, Travel + Leisure, and Martha Stewart Living, among many others.
Its local TV business includes 18 TV stations across 13 states, including the CBS affiliates in Atlanta, St. Louis and Phoenix, and Fox affiliates in Las Vegas and Portland, Oregon.
In a statement announcing the amendment, the Des Moines, Iowa-based company said it "is not in response to any specific conversations or events. Instead, the Company believes it is a prudent step to increase the number of options available."
Meredith Corp. added that there is no timeline for or assurance of any split, though it stressed any separation would be "tax efficient" and would preserve the rights of shareholders.
"In order to maximize the flexibility of our Board and senior management to optimize transaction structure and tax efficiency and maintain the status quo voting rights of our shareholders regardless of transaction structure should the Board and senior management determine that a transaction is in the interest of shareholders, we are seeking a clarifying amendment to our Restated Articles of Incorporation," the proposal reads.
A separation, if it comes to fruition, would continue a more than decade-long trend of media companies splitting their print/publishing and television brands. In 2013 Rupert Murdoch split his company News Corp. in two, separating its U.S. TV businesses into 21st Century Fox. In 2015, Gannett spun off its local TV business into TEGNA, while keeping its legacy TV newspaper business. Likewise, in 2014 Tribune split its local TV and newspaper business into Tribune Publishing and Tribune Media.
TV Station Giants to Benefit From Record Political Ads in 2020, Analyst Says
9/9/2020 by Georg Szalai
Getty Images
Joe Biden on day 4 of the Democratic National Convention 2020.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's record August fundraising means "both campaigns are tracking towards record fundraising and advertising spending," says Guggenheim's Curry Baker.
Election season is on track to bring in record political advertising spending, with big broadcast TV station groups, such as Nexstar, Gray and Tegna, among the key beneficiaries, according to an analyst report.
Guggenheim Securities analyst Curry Baker on Wednesday forecast "a record political cycle in 2020 with total political advertising expected to exceed $10 billion." He mentioned ad prognosticator GroupM's forecast along those lines, which compares with the $8.7 billion recorded during the 2018 mid-term elections.
Local TV stations are benefitting from this, the analyst said, writing: "We believe political spending on local TV could top $3.2 billion, a 20 percent-plus increase from 2018, the previous record cycle."
One key driver of latest momentum was Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden's record August fundraising. "Last week, the Biden campaign announced it raised $365 million during the month of August, setting a one-month record, previously held by President Obama – $193 million in September 2008)," the analyst explained. "Looking back to August 2016, Hillary Clinton raised $143 million and then-candidate Trump raised $90 million. The good news for broadcast TV is that Biden is spending heavily on traditional advertising."
For example, in early August, the Biden campaign unveiled a $280 million fall advertising blitz, including $220 million allocated for TV, which Baker said was "a record political advertising buy."
President Donald Trump's campaign at the end of July had $300 million of cash and had raised $1.1 billion, with August numbers not yet available, the Guggenheim analyst noted. "Recent reports are saying the President's campaign is looking to accelerate fundraising efforts, presumably due to Biden's huge August haul, and the President is considering spending $100 million of his own money over the next two months," he said, concluding: "Our bottom-line takeaway is that both campaigns are tracking towards record fundraising and advertising spending with two months left until the election."
Looking at competitive states for the presidential election, as well as key Senate and gubernatorial races, Baker's takeaways are two-fold: "All data to date supports a robust 2020 political cycle; and we believe the pure-play local TV stations groups (Nexstar, Gray, Tegna) are best positioned to benefit from the 2020 presidential cycle." He said Nexstar remains his top stock pick among local TV broadcasters, followed by Gray.
With Republicans controlling the Senate 53-47, but the future being in play Baker also argued that "the current state of all the races shows a dead heat for control," with six Senate contests considered a toss-up and another six being close. "The top 10 Senate races have raised $465 million (through the end of June or July), on pace to meet, and possibly exceed, $612 million from the top 10 Senate campaigns in 2018 and already ahead of the $383 million raised by top Senate campaigns in 2016," the analyst said. "We expect fierce spending, both by campaigns and third parties, on Senate seats over the [next] two months."
Baker's bullish commentary on local TV groups comes after Kagan, the media research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, had said in a report last week that TV station firms' political ad revenue had been "negatively impacted" by COVID-19 during the second quarter, but a "huge second half" of the year was "looming." It added: "Fresh off the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, political advertising is ramping up for U.S. TV broadcasters as limitations due to COVID-19 are expected to boost TV's take of the important revenue segment."
GEORG SZALAI
Naomi Osaka said she cried watching messages of thanks from the parents of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery after her latest US Open win
Naomi Osaka has kept the spotlight on police brutality during the US Open by wearing masks bearing the names of high-profile victims of gun violence. Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports Naomi Osaka has kept the spotlight on police brutality in the United States by wearing masks printed with the names of high-profile victims of gun violence during each round of this year's US Open.
So far, she's donned masks bearing the names of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Trayvon Martin, and Ahmaud Arbery.
After her quarterfinal victory Tuesday, Osaka watched video messages of Martin's mother and Arbery's father thanking the two-time Grand Slam champion for raising awareness about violence against Black people.
Though she was smiling and composed during the broadcast, Osaka later revealed that she "cried so much" once she was off camera.
"It was really emotional," Osaka said during a post-match press conference. "At first I was a bit in shock, but now that I'm here and I took the time I'm really grateful and I'm really humbled."
Naomi Osaka has been absolutely clinical on the court during her run through the 2020 US Open, but her off-court activism has taken an emotional toll.
The 22-year-old tennis superstar has kept the spotlight on police brutality and gun violence in the United States by wearing masks printed with the names of high-profile victims during each round of the New York-based major.
Through the quarterfinals of the tournament, she's donned masks dedicated to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Trayvon Martin, and Ahmaud Arbery.
Naomi Osaka wears a custom-made mask bearing Trayvon Martin's name. Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
After Osaka's 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Shelby Rogers Tuesday evening, ESPN played video messages from Sybrina Fulton and Marcus Arbery — the mother of Trayvon Martin and the father of Ahmaud Arbery, respectively.
At 17 years old, Martin was shot and killed by self-proclaimed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman while walking home from a local convenience store on February 26, 2012. Eight years later, Arbery — a 25 year old Black man — was hunted down by white vigilantes while he was jogging in his neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia.
In short clips aired on Tuesday night's broadcast, the pair thanked the two-time Grand Slam champion for her commitment to bringing attention to their slain sons and the gun violence that continues to plague the country.
Naomi Osaka dons a mask bearing Breonna Taylor's name. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
"I just want to say thank you to Naomi Osaka for representing Trayvon Martin on your customized mask," Fulton said. "We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Continue to do well. Continue to kick butt at the US Open. Thank you."
"Naomi, I just want to tell you thank you for the support of my family," Arbery added. "And God bless you for what you're doing."
Osaka smiled and kept her composure while watching the clips and reacting on camera. She commended both Fulton and Arbery for their continued strength in the wake of their familial tragedies and told the interviewer that it "means a lot" to hear from them both.
"I feel like I'm a vessel at this point in order to spread awareness," Osaka said on the broadcast. "It's not gonna dull the pain, but hopefully I can help with anything that they need."
But in a tweet sent out later in the evening, Osaka said that she became extremely emotional once they stopped filming.
"I tried to hold it in on set but after watching these back I cried so much," she wrote.
The 2018 US Open champion — whose father is Haitian and mother is Japanese — echoed similar sentiments in her post-match press conference. She said she was "just trying really hard not to cry" while on camera and described Fulton's and Arbery's messages as "surreal" and "extremely touching."
"I feel like what I'm doing is nothing — it's a speck of what I could be doing," Osaka told reporters.
"It was really emotional. At first I was a bit in shock, but now that I'm here and I took the time I'm really grateful and I'm really humbled." —US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2020
Osaka has said she will continue to wear the masks throughout the US Open. She'll return to Arthur Ashe Stadium Thursday to take on 28th seed Jennifer Brady for a trip to the final.
Naomi Osaka, the tennis champion working her way through the rounds of the U.S. Open, received a heartfelt surprise Tuesday night when the parents of Travyvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery thanked her for wearing face masks with their names and those of other Black victims of violence before and after her matches in a bid to draw attention to police brutality and racism in the U.S.
Naomi Osaka wears a mask with the name of George Floyd on it on Tuesday at the U.S. Open in New York ... [+] GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
Throughout the U.S. Open, Osaka has worn face masks emblazoned with the names of Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin, Black people who died either at the hands of the police or in violent struggles with whites believed to be motivated by racism.
On Tuesday night, broadcaster ESPN showed Osaka pre-recorded messages from parents of two of the people whose names Osaka wore.Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, thanked her for representing her son and other victims on her masks, saying “we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Continue to do well, continue to kick butt at the U.S. Open.”
“Naomi, I just want to tell you thank you for the support for my family and God bless you for what you’re doing,” Ahmaud Arbery Sr., Arbery’s father, told her. “My family really, really appreciates that.”
“It means a lot,” Osaka, who was born to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, said in response to the videos. “They’re so strong. I’m not sure what I would be able to do if I was in their position. I feel like I’m a vessel at this point to spread awareness. It’s not going to dull the pain, but hopefully I can help with anything that they need.”
Later on Twitter, Osaka said she was moved to tears by the video messages—and that she prepared seven masks to wear with seven names, one for each round of the U.S. Open if she progresses to the finals.
KEY BACKGROUND
Osaka is no stranger to advocating for causes she believes in, both on and off the court. In August, she announced she would forgo the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open tournament to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. “If I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction,” Osaka said. The entire tournament later followed her lead and paused play for an entire day. “As a sport, tennis is taking a stand against racial inequality and social injustice,” the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour said in a statement.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“I tried to hold it in on set but after watching these back I cried so much,” Osaka shared later on Twitter. “The strength and the character both of these parents have is beyond me. Love you both, thank you.”
Naomi Osaka’s Powerful Tribute to Victims of Police Violence By Hannah Gold THE CUT
Photo: Getty Images
Last month, Japanese tennis champion Naomi Osaka, the highest-paid female athlete in the world, effectively shut down the Women’s Tennis Association for a couple days by announcing she would strike alongside other professional sports players in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Since then, Osaka has continued her activism for victims of police brutality on the court by wearing a series of face masks emblazoned with the names of Black men and women who have been killed by cops and armed vigilantes. Osaka brought seven masks with seven different names to the tournament, prepared to wear one for each match. So far she has worn five: Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Trayvon Martin.
After winning her U.S. Open quarterfinals match on Tuesday, Osaka appeared on ESPN, where she was surprised with a video message from the mother of Trayvon Martin and the father of Ahmaud Arbery. Martin was 17 when he was murdered by neighborhood-watch coordinator George Zimmerman in 2012; Arbery, 25, was jogging in his neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, earlier this year when two white men in a pickup truck chased him down and shot him dead. Three suspects have been charged in connection with Arbery’s murder.
Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s mother, said in the video message, “I just want to say thank you to Naomi Osaka for representing Trayvon Martin on your customized mask, and also for Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Continue to do well. Continue to kick butt at the U.S. Open.” Marcus Arbery Sr. said in a separate message, “God bless you for what you’re doing and you supporting our family with my son. My family really, really appreciates that.”
Osaka, visibly moved upon seeing the videos, responded first by saying, “It means a lot … They’re so strong. I’m not sure what I would be able to do if I was in their position. I feel like I’m a vessel, at this point, in order to spread awareness, and it’s not going to dull the pain, but hopefully I can help with anything they need.” Later, in a news conference, Osaka reflected again on that moment, saying, “I was just trying really hard not to cry. It’s extremely touching that they would feel touched by what I’m doing.
The throne speech must blaze a bold new path — including imposing a wealth tax
September 9, 2020
The speech from the throne is only weeks away. Moments like these — pandemics, depressions, wars — are historical turning points, often marking a time period when fundamental change toward social and economic equality become possible.
Unlike the apparently failed state south of the border that seems to be trudging toward a dystopian future, the federal government has implemented a commendable, if imperfect, plan to protect Canadians’ health and safety, support unemployed workers and help struggling businesses in this time of pandemic-induced shock.
Longer term, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to rebuild the economy, address inequality and take bold action on the climate emergency. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has written:
“Rising income inequality and a hollowed-out middle class are the dominant social and political challenge facing our generation.”
Will they follow through on these promises? Or will they appease the people who derive their power from wealth — or plutocrats, as Freeland called them in her book of the same name — and ultimately acquiesce to the parameters they set on what kind of change is acceptable?
So far there has been no mention of a wealth tax or an increase in the income tax rate for the wealthiest Canadians, the rebuilding of the badly frayed social safety net or the expansion of universal health care, notably via universal public pharmacare. Nor have there been any bold measures to decarbonize the economy that align with the government’s net-zero 2050 target. Debt, deficit drumbeats
Corporate mouthpieces are beating the austerity drums, warning about rampant debt and deficits. The Business Council of Canada is urging the government to set clear fiscal targets and rein in spending to control the debt.
The Fitch credit rating agency — which in 2007 disastrously rated sub-prime mortgage bonds as Triple A, a contributing factor to the global financial crisis — has downgraded Canada’s credit rating due to the “deterioration of Canada’s public finances.” It’s also given a nod to Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole’s pledge to balance the budget.
It should continue to do so — notwithstanding the rising deficits and debt ratio — in order to rebuild a fragmented economy and social state and lead the green transition. Japan has been doing this for years, with the Bank of Japan owning the bulk of government debt.
Income and wealth inequality have risen to unprecedented levels over the past four decades. The pandemic has laid bare the consequences of this new gilded age.
Tax brackets have been reduced from 17 to four. More importantly, the bulk of the wealthiest Canadians’ incomes are not from wages, but from their share holdings, which are taxed as capital gains at very low levels and only kick in when shares are sold.
Median household income in Canada has remained flat since 1982, while the average income of the richest one per cent has increased dramatically, doubling between 1982 and 2010 and widening further over the last decade.
Galen Weston Jr., right, Loblaw Companies Ltd. executive chairman, poses with and his father Galen Weston Sr., at the company’s annual general meeting in Toronto in May 2010. The Westons are among the richest families in Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
According to recent estimates by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the top one per cent of Canadian families hold 25 per cent of total family wealth.
The bottom 40 per cent of families hold basically no wealth, while the 1,000 richest families have some $325 billion in combined wealth. This contrasts with the total $3 billion combined wealth held by 12.8 million Canadian families. True to form, the five richest billionaires in Canada saw their wealth increase by nine per cent in the first three months of the pandemic. Tax avoidance
The system has created massive opportunities for tax avoidance by the richest Canadians and large corporations. Canadian corporate assets in the leading 12 offshore tax havens reached $381 billion in 2019.
The inequality gap will most definitely continue to rise over the next 10 years without a wealth or estate tax on the richest Canadians, without increasing the income and capital gains tax rate on the richest Canadians and without closing tax loopholes. Climate emergency
In his new book, A Good War, Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, urban studies professor Seth Klein laments the new climate denialism that involves governments and industry leaders verbally accepting climate science but denying what the reality means for policy. Governments promise action but practise appeasement of corporate interests, delivering “underwhelming and contradictory policies.”
Mark Carney — formerly the Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, and now a special envoy for climate action for the United Nations — has warned that climate is approaching a tipping point that could precipitate global financial and economic collapse, to say nothing of a planetary apocalypse. Carney is now serving as an adviser to the Trudeau government.
A recent United Nations Environment Program report estimated Canada’s emissions in 2030 would be 15 per cent above its Paris accord reduction target of 30 per cent over 2005 levels. That’s part of a growing global disconnect between rising temperature trends and commitments by governments to cut emissions.
Trudeau vowed Canada would exceed its 2030 commitment on the way to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. He promised that concrete actions, including legally binding five-year targets, would be revealed before the next UN climate summit in November. Canadians want a wealth tax
Canada needs an ambitious social and economic plan that will hopefully present itself in the upcoming throne speech.
A recent Abacus survey found 74 per cent of Canadians believe the government should introduce a wealth tax of one to two per cent of the very rich.
It also found 72 per cent of Canadians supported a universal public pharmacare program. The Liberal government has waffled for decades on pharmacare and continues to do so, even in the face of recommendations from its own advisory panel on the need for it.
On climate, the Abacus poll found that the transition to a low-carbon economy was “extremely or very important” to 53 per cent of Canadians and “important” to another 20 per cent.
Will the public be heeded in the throne speech and the government’s subsequent fiscal update? Will there be a pledge for transformative change or will the plutocracy be appeased once again?
Tilting the scales towards change requires a broad-based, engaged movement. Canadians must mobilize
Adjunct professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Canada Disclosure statement
Bruce Campbell is affiliated with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Rideau Institute for International Affairs He is a research collaborator on the SSHRC Grant, York University, Adapting Work and Workplaces to Climate Change
Alexei Navalny poisoning: what theatrical assassination attempts reveal about Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in Russia
September 9, 2020
Alexei Navalny remains in hospital in Germany after he was poisoned in Siberia. Anatoly Maltsev/EPA
Vladimir Putin’s intelligence and security organs have used a variety of lethal ways over the past few decades to dispatch those who oppose him or the Russian state – an increasingly difficult line to draw. These murders and attempted murders are often theatrical and laced with morbid messaging. The recent poisoning of Putin opponent Alexei Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok has again illustrated the Russian president’s willingness to sanction dramatic homicide as a tool of the state.
Putin’s prioritisation of theatrical vengeance – even at the expense of large-scale diplomatic reprisals and biting economic sanctions – reveals both the nature of his regime and his obsession with maintaining and projecting power.
Political assassination during Putin’s reign is in keeping with Soviet and Russian traditions, but the brazenness of the Navalny poisoning and its timing during the swelling Belarus protests shows both continuity and change. After Stalin’s death in 1953 the Politburo of the Communist Party, not a single person, was the embodiment of the state during the cold war. Putin has blurred and conflated such distinctions since he assumed power in 2000. Ruthlessness
Like his Soviet forebears, Putin presides over a declining state in which power intermingles with corruption and extrajudicial murder. The attempted poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer and British spy Sergei Skripal in 2018 first introduced Novichok into the British vernacular. Fellow Russian intelligence officer and British agent Alexander Litvinenko did not survive his poisoning in 2006 with Polonium-210 in a cup of tea. His murder, according to the official British inquiry, was “probably” approved by Putin personally.
Putin’s well of ruthlessness runs deep, and he has not hidden his willingness to engage in “wet affairs” – such as murders, kidnapping or sabotage. It would be self-defeating to keep his readiness for vengeance secret: it’s a message he wants those Russians who may get grassroots political inspiration from the protests over the border in Belarus to hear.
When asked about specific killings, Putin routinely evades such questions as deftly as a talented spy evades surveillance. But when speaking in general terms, Putin has been clear. Globalsecurity.org and others quoted the Russian leader as threatening that “traitors will kick the bucket, trust me”, after Skripal was released in a spy swap in 2010.
Personal attacks on Putin are seen as existential attacks on the Russian state. Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kre/EPA
Given the melding of leader with state, Putin has increasingly characterised personal disloyalty as a threat to the Russian state. So although former intelligence turncoats are frequent targets of Putin’s vengeance, victims also include journalists and political rivals, particularly those who investigate, expose, and criticise corruption among Putin and his inner circle. Navalny’s apparently effective efforts to organise legitimate opposition through the ballot box would be intolerable for any autocrat who is unsure how to govern without complete control. Soviet poisoning playbook
Although poisoning is arguably the most dramatic form of Russian state-sponsored murder, outspoken Putin critics have been assassinated with more pedestrian means: in politician Boris Nemtsov’s case, four bullets in the back in February 2015. Likewise, Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot on October 7 2006 – also Putin’s birthday – in her Moscow apartment building. Such killings could be cynically attributed to unfortunate street crime in a case of implausible denial, but Novichok leaves no room for doubt.
Perceived enemies of the Russian state, like the Soviet Union before it, have met their ends in a dizzying variety of gruesome ways, but why does the fascination with poison endure? There are tactical and strategic considerations. An assassin cannot expect a clean getaway after shooting a pedestrian on Waterloo Bridge in London, but a puncture wound with a ricin-tipped umbrella would suffice, as in the case of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov’s assassination by Soviet intelligence in 1978.
Today, Soviet-created Novichok has replaced ricin. It offers the assassin advantages such as stealth and time for escape. It can be administered by exposure to everyday items such as doorknobs or tea. It appears in a sleepy city like Salisbury, as in the case of Skripal, or on Navalny’s flight from Siberia.
Additionally, a poison victim suffers, often publicly, yielding strategic effects. The photographs of the pitiable Litvinenko, hairless, gaunt, suffering in his hospital bed, grimly underscored the intended message. While any thug can murder with a gun, Soviet and subsequently Russian leaders have made assassination into a dramatic art form. The use of exotic poisons shows that confrontations with power are not a battle between two people, but rather bring the full resources of the state to bear against an individual, framing the situation as hopeless and futile. Poison evokes fear that you are never safe, never out of reach.
Choppy waters
Putin is a standard-bearer, rather than a pioneer in the long history of Russian political assassination. Still, the brazenness of an unambiguous assassination attempt on a figure like Navalny, and the political circumstances in Minsk, matter. They can be interpreted as the act of a leader whose hand may be feeling unsteady on the rudder of the ship of state.
At the same time, however, recent Russian constitutional reforms have erased any line between leader and the state, and may give Putin the confidence to deal even more harshly with opponents. But this expanded power has not offered more tools to deal with, or co-opt, the most vocal opponents. Those who cannot be bribed must be intimidated. Those who cannot be intimidated must be silenced.
If Putin has successfully manipulated the political process to make himself president for life, the coronavirus has been less cooperative in bending to his will. Claims of a successful COVID-19 vaccine notwithstanding, Russia’s ineffective response to the pandemic has laid bare the inadequacy of the regime. With the economic consequences of the pandemic and the oil crisis, combined with general Russian Putin fatigue, opposition to Putin is likely to expand.
Given Putin’s apparent legal impunity, his need to distract from state failures and corruption, and disconcerting Belorussian anti-authoritarian protests on his doorstep, it’s hard to imagine Putin losing his taste for the loathsome theatre of political assassination.
By Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart | CNN
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 in his new book “Rage.”
“This is deadly stuff,” Trump told Woodward on Feb. 7.
In a series of interviews with Woodward, Trump revealed that he had a surprising level of detail about the threat of the virus earlier than previously known. “Pretty amazing,” Trump told Woodward, adding that the coronavirus was maybe five times “more deadly” than the flu.
Trump’s admissions are in stark contrast to his frequent public comments at the time insisting that the virus was “going to disappear” and “all work out fine.”
The book, using Trump’s own words, depicts a President who has betrayed the public trust and the most fundamental responsibilities of his office. In “Rage,” Trump says the job of a president is “to keep our country safe.” But in early February, Trump told Woodward he knew how deadly the virus was, and in March, admitted he kept that knowledge hidden from the public.
“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, even as he had declared a national emergency over the virus days earlier. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
If instead of playing down what he knew, Trump had acted decisively in early February with a strict shutdown and a consistent message to wear masks, social distance and wash hands, experts believe that thousands of American lives could have been saved.
The startling revelations in “Rage,” which CNN obtained ahead of its Sept. 15 release, were made during 18 wide-ranging interviews Trump gave Woodward from December 5, 2019 to July 21, 2020. The interviews were recorded by Woodward with Trump’s permission, and CNN has obtained copies of some of the audio tapes.
“Rage” also includes brutal assessments of Trump’s presidency from many of his former top national security officials, including former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Mattis is quoted as calling Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” to be commander in chief. Woodward writes that Coats “continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that Putin had something on Trump.” Woodward continues, writing that Coats felt, “How else to explain the president’s behavior? Coats could see no other explanation.”
The book also contains harsh evaluations of the President’s leadership on the virus from current officials.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s top infectious disease expert, is quoted telling others Trump’s leadership was “rudderless” and that his “attention span is like a minus number.”
“His sole purpose is to get reelected,” Fauci told an associate, according to Woodward.
‘The virus has nothing to do with me’
Woodward reveals new details on the early warnings Trump received — and often ignored.
In a January 28 top secret intelligence briefing, national security adviser Robert O’Brien gave Trump a “jarring” warning about the virus, telling the President it would be the “biggest national security threat” of his presidency. Trump’s head “popped up,” Woodward writes.
O’Brien’s deputy, Matt Pottinger, concurred, telling Trump it could be as bad as the influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. Pottinger warned Trump that asymptomatic spread was occurring in China: He had been told 50% of those infected showed no symptoms.
At that time, there were fewer than a dozen reported coronavirus cases in the US.
Three days later, Trump announced restrictions on travel from China, a move suggested by his national security team — despite Trump’s later claims that he alone backed the travel limitations.
Nevertheless, Trump continued to publicly downplay the danger of the virus. February was a lost month. Woodward views this as a damning missed opportunity for Trump to reset “the leadership clock” after he was told this was a “once-in-a-lifetime health emergency.”
“Presidents are the executive branch. There was a duty to warn. To listen, to plan, and to take care,” Woodward writes. But in the days following the January 28 briefing, Trump used high-profile appearances to minimize the threat and, Woodward writes, “to reassure the public they faced little risk.”
During a pre-Super Bowl interview on Fox News February 2, Trump said, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” Two days later during his State of the Union address, Trump made only a passing reference to the virus, promising, “my administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”
Asked by Woodward in May if he remembered O’Brien’s January 28 warning that the virus would be the biggest national security threat of his presidency, Trump equivocated. “No, I don’t.” Trump said. “I’m sure if he said it — you know, I’m sure he said it. Nice guy.”
The book highlights how the President took all of the credit and none of the responsibility for his actions related to the pandemic, which has infected 6 million Americans and killed more than 185,000 in the US.
“The virus has nothing to do with me,” Trump told Woodward in their final interview in July. “It’s not my fault. It’s — China let the damn virus out.”
‘It goes through the air’
When Woodward spoke to Trump on February 7, two days after he was acquitted on impeachment charges by the Senate, Woodward expected a lengthy conversation about the trial. He was surprised, however, by the President’s focus on the virus. At the same time that Trump and his public health officials were saying the virus was “low risk,” Trump divulged to Woodward that the night before he’d spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the virus. Woodward quotes Trump as saying, “We’ve got a little bit of an interesting setback with the virus going in China.”
“It goes through the air,” Trump said. “That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
But Trump spent most of the next month saying that the virus was “very much under control” and that cases in the US would “disappear.” Trump said on his trip to India on February 25 that it was “a problem that’s going to go away,” and the next day he predicted the number of US cases “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
By March 19, when Trump told Woodward he was purposely downplaying the dangers to avoid creating a panic, he also acknowledged the threat to young people. “Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old, older. Young people too, plenty of young people,” Trump said.
Publicly, however, Trump has continued to insist just the opposite, saying as recently as August 5 that children were “almost immune.“
Even into April, when the US became the country with the most confirmed cases in the world, Trump’s public statements contradicted his acknowledgements to Woodward. At an April 3 coronavirus task force briefing, Trump was still downplaying the virus and stating that it would go away. “I said it’s going away and it is going away,” he said. Yet two days later on April 5, Trump again told Woodward, “It’s a horrible thing. It’s unbelievable,” and on April 13, he said, “It’s so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t even believe it.”
‘Dangerous’ and ‘unfit’
Woodward, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, conducted hundreds of hours of confidential background interviews with firsthand witnesses for “Rage,” and he obtained “notes, emails, diaries, calendars and confidential documents,” including more than two dozen letters Trump exchanged with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Woodward is known to record his interviews with the permission of his subjects and sources.
He writes that when he attributes exact quotations, thoughts or conclusions, that information comes either from the person, a colleague with direct knowledge or documents.
Trump’s conscious downplaying of the coronavirus is one of numerous revelations in “Rage.” The book is filled with anecdotes about top cabinet officials blindsided by tweets, frustrated with Trump’s inability to focus and scared about his next policy directive because he refused to accept facts or listen to experts:
Mattis is quoted as saying Trump is “dangerous,” “unfit,” has “no moral compass” and took foreign policy actions that showed adversaries “how to destroy America.” After Mattis left the administration, he and Coats discussed whether they needed to take “collective action” to speak out publicly against Trump. Mattis says he ultimately resigned after Trump announced he was withdrawing US troops from Syria, “when I was basically directed to do something that I thought went beyond stupid to felony stupid.”
Woodward writes that Coats and his top staff members “examined the intelligence as carefully as possible,” and that Coats still questions the relationship between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Coats saw how extraordinary it was for the president’s top intelligence official to harbor such deep suspicions about the president’s relationship with Putin. But he could not shake them.”
Trump has come under fire in recent days for reportedly making disparaging remarks about US military personnel and veterans. Woodward’s book includes an anecdote where an aide to Mattis heard Trump say in a meeting, “my f—ing generals are a bunch of pussies” because they cared more about alliances than trade deals. Mattis asked the aide to document the comment in an email to him. And Trump himself criticized military officials to Woodward over their view that alliances with NATO and South Korea are the best bargain the US makes. “I wouldn’t say they were stupid, because I would never say that about our military people,” Trump said. “But if they said that, they — whoever said that was stupid. It’s a horrible bargain … they make so much money. Costs us $10 billion. We’re suckers.”
Woodward reports that Trump’s national security team expressed concerns the US may have come close to nuclear war with North Korea amid provocations in 2017. “We never knew whether it was real,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is quoted as saying, “or whether it was a bluff.” But it was so serious that Mattis slept in his clothes to be ready in case there was a North Korean launch and repeatedly went to the Washington National Cathedral to pray.
Trump boasted to Woodward about a new secret weapons system. “I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before,” Trump said. Woodward says other sources confirmed the information, without providing further details, but expressed surprise that Trump disclosed it.
Woodward obtained the 27 “love letters” Trump exchanged with Kim Jong Un, 25 of which have not been reported publicly. The letters, filled with flowery language, provide a fascinating window into their relationship. Kim flatters Trump by repeatedly calling him “Your Excellency,” and writes in one letter that meeting again would be “reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy film.” In another, Kim writes that the “deep and special friendship between us will work as a magical force.” CNN has obtained the transcripts of two of the letters.
Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner also weighs in with some unusual literary insights about his father-in-law. Kushner is quoted as saying that four texts are key to understanding Trump, including “Alice in Wonderland.” Kushner paraphrased the Cheshire Cat: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will get you there.”
Woodward pressed Trump on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Once again, Trump dismissed the US intelligence assessment and defends bin Salman: “He says very strongly that he didn’t do it.”
Trump insulted his predecessors, saying Woodward made former President George W. Bush “look like a stupid moron, which he was.” Trump said of former President Barack Obama: “I don’t think Obama’s smart … I think he’s highly overrated. And I don’t think he’s a great speaker.” He also tells Woodward that Kim Jong Un thought Obama was an “asshole.”
Woodward discussed the Black Lives Matter protests and suggested to the President that people like the two of them — “White, privileged” — need to work to understand the anger and pain that Black people feel in the US. “You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you? Just listen to you,” Trump responded, repeating his outrageous talking point that he’s done more for the Black community than any president besides Abraham Lincoln.
Woodward reports new details on Russia’s election meddling, writing that the NSA and CIA have classified evidence the Russians had placed malware in the election registration systems of at least two Florida counties, St. Lucie and Washington. While there was no evidence the malware had been activated, Woodward writes, it was sophisticated and could erase voters in specific districts. The voting system vendor used by Florida was also used in states across the country.
‘Dynamite behind the door’
“Rage” is a follow-up to Woodward’s 2018 bestselling book “Fear,” which portrayed a chaotic White House in which aides hid papers from Trump to protect the country from what they viewed as his most dangerous impulses.
While Trump slammed “Fear,” he also complained that he didn’t speak to Woodward for the book, which resulted in his agreeing to extensive interviews for “Rage.”
However, on August 14, Trump preemptively attacked Woodward’s new book, tweeting, “The Bob Woodward book will be a FAKE, as always, just as many of the others have been.”
Throughout the book, Trump provides insights into his view of the presidency. He tells Woodward when you’re running the country, “There’s dynamite behind every door.”
After his 18 interviews, Woodward issues a stark verdict: Trump is the “dynamite behind the door.” Woodward concludes his book with a declaration that “Trump is the wrong man for the job.”