There's not exactly a shortage of things Trump said/did to downplay and deflect this pandemic from the start. i dont see how audio of him saying he's downplaying it to avoid panic changes that. it's just another clip.

so i'm saying it would have had zero impact then but potential impact in November (though not necessarily convinced of that either)

>my main concern is that holding onto those tapes hurt what
>could have been a better response to COVID-19 at the time
>Trump made those comments. Trump could have been shamed into
>making something of a national policy for the pandemic. More
>importantly, more of the state and local government officials
>could have taken things more seriously due to how much of an
>absolute idiot Trump appeared to be in those same tapes. Lives
>could have been saved and serious quick progress could have
>been made much earlier on a national level. I'm not too deeply
>concerned about how this will or won't play in Novemeber's
>election.