I’ve been thinking about the Bob Woodward revelations and the questions about whether he should have revealed in February that President Trump was two-faced and dishonest with the American people about the coronavirus.

I tend to think that Woodward should have, if only in the reporter’s interest in telling people what they need to know when they need to know it.

Some say if Woodward had told us then what we know now, it might have saved thousands of lives.

Well, not so fast. There’s another factor, and that factor is Mr. Trump himself.

Woodward’s early revelation would have only saved lives if it would have changed the president’s actions, and I don’t think it would have. I think Mr. Trump would have doubled down on his “the coronavirus isn’t dangerous, it’s going to go away” line, and he would have continued holding rallies and non-socially-distanced and unmasked events.

But might an early reveal of Trump’s dishonesty have made Republicans force him to do something? Again, no, I don’t think so. We’ve seen plenty of times where Republicans have known what was going on was wrong and continued to back the president anyway.

Remember Charlottesville? Remember quid pro quo?

Yes, I think Woodward should not have waited until now to reveal what Trump knew about the pandemic. But I don’t think it would have made much difference in the death toll. I believe the responsibility for that lies squarely on the shoulders of the president.