Was Drumpf telling revisionist lies to Woodward about his early belief in the virus?

[Marcuse]

It would not be the first time he retroactively and falsely claimed to have absorbed knowledge or expertise on a given subject. He has a pattern of saying something stupid, walking it back with a hostage like statement and then walking back the walk back (Helsinki, Charlottesville, etc).

His goal was to impress, co-opt and manipulate Woodward. What a tangled web he weaved.

The reality of what he did:

[Lars39]

1. Woodward's rationale for not disclosing earlier

was that he didn’t know if what Trump said was true.

[wishstar]

2. The damning interview took place back in February, so it represented Trump's early knowledge

that's why the comments have caused a shock because his belief at the time was in total contradiction to the way he downplayed and failed to have a coordinated plan. Woodward conducted 19 discussions with him over several months starting in Feb.