He wasn't downplaying until after March when it was growing.Fauci was on record end of January saying it wasn't as bad as the seasonal flu.So if there were a bomb outside the door of your building...and I knew it was live and was deadly, you would be fine with me telling you that it's just another UPS package and there was nothing to be worried about? Then when the bomb sniffing dogs reacted when they found it, it would be okay for me to say the most likely were smelling bacon and it was nothing to worry about. Because I didn't want to create a panic.
Sorry...but when you know in January that it's bad..it might be okay to "play it down" initially so as not to create a panic. But when you see in February and March that it's worse than we though, it might be better to admit that it's bad, but tell the people that you and your administration will do everything in their power to keep ahead of this. Comfort them. Display leadership. Instead, you keep saying it will go away by April (then summer). But Trump opted for "downplay" in January and...short of it killing his true love Ivanka...was ALWAYS going to downplay it. That's not smart. That's not leadership. That is stupid.