Trump Shoots Down ‘Mandatory’ Mask Mandate, Claims He’s ‘All for Masks’ After Consistently Not Wearing One in Public
President Donald Trump claimed he’s “all for masks” on Wednesday after multiple instances of sneering at face masks and downplaying the coronavirus.
Fox Business’ Blake Burman used part of an interview with Trump to ask “why not go forward” and make mask-wearing “mandatory” across the country.
“I don’t know if you need ‘mandatory’ because you have many places in the country where people stay very long distance,” Trump answered. “You talk about social distancing but I’m all for masks. I think masks are good. If I were in a group of people and I was close…”
Trump went on to say “people have seen me wearing one.”
If I’m in a group of people where we’re not 10 feet away and — but usually I’m not in that position and everyone is tested. Because I’m the president, they get tested before they see me — If I were in a tight situation with people…
When Burman asked if the public would see that from Trump, the president answered “I mean, I would have no problem. I had a mask. I sort of liked the way I looked.”
Critics have frequently noted Trump’s reluctance to be seen in a mask, given the fact there are almost no documented instances of him wearing one during the pandemic. The only time Trump was photographed in a mask happened as he toured a Ford plant in Michigan back in May.
President Trump wears a mask during his tour of the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where ventilators, masks and other medical supplies are being manufactured. https://t.co/UCqBVUEuBZ
? Anonymous pic.twitter.com/eiIFVNPVIh
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 22, 2020
Apparently, the president didn’t know that he was being photographed at the time, because he declined to keep his mask on during the public part of his tour, and he told reporters “I wore [a mask] in the back area, but I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highly encourages face masks as a way to prevent Covid-19’s asymptomatic spread, Trump has mocked people in the past for wearing them. Trump’s latest comments to Fox Business come as numerous Republicans and friendly media figures have urged the public to wear masks and/or said Trump would set a positive example by wearing one himself.
Watch above, via Fox Business.
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