Since when did Presidents not being forthcoming about their internal view of an external threat and deciding to risk their lie against our panic, become so surprising???
Roosevelt with the atomic bomb, or Kennedy and our kill Castro Game in Cuba…or before 911 Saudis at flight school or Japanese sinking ships off the coast in ww2 or the USS Indianapolis sunk with the highest loss of lives…Navy waited days to go looking…bad news makes it all too demoralizing to tell the truth……we want good news…Presidents know that.
Even now, maskless citizens prefer the lie.