No, I am not saying that Woodward did anything criminal or even negligent. Our laws do not require us to come to the aid of others or save them. It is our conscience that should be our guide not our laws.

I still have to process what has happened in Woodward's case but right now my opinion of him is diminished by my understanding of what he did and did not do. I doubt I have all the facts and might change my mind but I stand by the idea that if it cost even one life to produce the book that it was not worth it.

Contrasting Woodward with Trump. I have always had a negative opinion of Trump the revelations from the book do very little to change my opinion of Trump. I previously had a favorable opinion of Woodward, that opinion is in flux but I doubt my opinion of him will ever be has favorable as it was.

Consider the responsibility that comes with power. With great power come great responsibility. Woodward put himself in a position where his decisions affect the lives of a lot of people. He must bear the responsibility for the impact he has on their lives. There is a difference between responsibility and obligation.

He was under no obligation to act to minimize the impacts of Trumps poor leadership. I don't understand how he could in good conscience not act to mitigate Trumps mismanaging of the pandemic when he had the power to do so. If his conscience leads him to think that he has a higher responsibility to document history and not influence it, I disagree but then people are bound to disagree.

If his motivation was to maximize the sales of his book that is in my opinion unconscionable. If his decision was to time the release of the book to have the biggest impact on the election thinking that was more important than saving some of the people from Trumps mismanagement of the pandemic but saving the country from 4 more years of Trump. That would take some evaluation. 4 more years of Trump is fraught with uncertain consequences.