There’s been a lot of outrage at President Trump’s baseless dismissal of climate change at a press conference in California this past week. As the LA Times explained, the science shows us that when it comes to wildfires, the last 10 years have shattered records, and 2020 tops them all. Lives are at stake and the President flippantly dismissed the root cause of such deadly fires.

But denying a frightening reality is a pattern of behavior for Trump. As the latest recordings from journalist Bob Woodward’s interview with the President reveal the starkest account of the President’s willingness to mislead the public on matters of science and public health. Woodward’s interview reveals that Trump knew just how dangerous the coronavirus was but continued to downplay risks and attack leaders taking action to protect their citizens.

Why This Matters: What the President says matters. Estimates show that over 80% of COVID-19-related deaths could have been prevented in the U.S. through a better response. And now that President Trump is denying the urgency of climate change and supporting conspiracy theories, people are succumbing to fake news and refusing to leave their homes when prompted to evacuate.

More on Woodward: As Vox wrote about the latest recordings from the Woodward interview with Trump, the President said one thing privately, and another thing publicly.

• As a result, people who listened to him might not have taken the necessary precautions to avoid exposure to a virus that has now killed more than 194,000 Americans and counting.
• Now, he continues to flout public safety recommendations, holding political rallies that double as potential superspreader events, at which Trump has been undercounting the number of deaths.

There are many parallels between these actions and how the conservative media ecosystem is amplifying Trump’s lies. Trump apparently acknowledges science in private and denies it in public, which perhaps is a ploy to distract from the fact that he lacks a plan to address both the coronavirus pandemic as well as the climate crisis.