(CNN) –– To the President of the United States, Donald TrumpHe likes to think of himself as a tough guy. He likes other tough men. And the masks, in the world of TrumpThey are not the kind of thing someone like that uses.
But have you ever seen a man who likes masks as much as he does? the president asked about former vice president Joe Biden, during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday. “And then she gives a speech, and she always has it (the mask) –– not always, but many times–– she has it hanging. Because, you know, it gives you a sense of security. If I were a psychiatrist, right? I’d say this guy has some major problems. Hanging up, ”he added.
HAHAHA. Trump took aim at Biden! That coward wears a mask! What a fool!
Oh wait. In fact, wearing masks is one of the best defenses against COVID-19, a virus that has claimed the lives of more than 187,000 Americans and is projects will kill more than 400,000 by the end of the year.
You do not believe me? What if they are the words of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English)? “We are not defenseless against covid-19”, wrote in july. “Cloth face shields are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus, especially when used universally within a community setting. All Americans have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families and their communities, ”he insisted.
And even so —except for a few occasional flirtations with wearing masks For the past month–– the US president not only refuses to constantly use them when in public, but also taunts his Democratic opponent, and journalists, for doing so.
At a press conference at the White House, Trump had this to say about the Democratic candidate: «Joe Biden can wear a mask, but he was outside with his wife, perfect conditions, weather perfect… and that’s why I thought it was very unusual that it had a setting. But I thought it was okay. He wasn’t criticizing at all. Why would I do something like that?
In that same speech, Trump asked a journalist to remove his mask so that he could hear him. The reporter said he could speak louder instead, to which the president responded, “Oh, okay, you want to be politically correct.”
This exchange came weeks after Trump Retweeted a Brit Hume post, from Fox News, who appeared to mock Biden for his appearance while wearing a black mask during a ceremony.
This might help explain why Trump doesn’t like to wear a mask in public. Biden today. pic.twitter.com/9l1gw1ljBE
— Brit Hume (@brithume) May 25, 2020
It also comes after months and months in which Trump has raised questions about the need and effectiveness of masks, even as doctors and infection experts increasingly became convinced that something as simple as wearing a mask reduces the rate. transmission of covid-19.
“I don’t think I’m going to do it,” Trump said of wearing masks in April, during a press conference announcing new CDC guidelines that at the time made it clear that people should wear face protection when physical distancing not possible. “Wearing a mask when I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I just don’t think so,” he insisted.
During a trip to a Ford plant in May, Trump said he wore a mask away from reporters and cameras, but took it off because “I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing her.”
The relationship of the use of masks with virility ––Even if it’s a twisted sense of what it means to be a man or to be tough–– by the president has had clear consequences.
A poll by NBC News / SurveyMonkey at the end of July it recorded that 86% of Democrats and 71% of independents said they wear masks every time they go out in public, while less than half (48%) of Republicans answered the same. A survey by the Research Center Pew the end of June yielded very similar results. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents said masks should always be worn, while only 29% of Republicans and Republicans said the same.
With that data, it’s no wonder that many Trump supporters simply don’t believe in masks. “I don’t believe in the mask, that’s all”, said to BuzzFeed Tony Germaine, a Trump supporter at the Pennsylvania rally on Thursday. I don’t care, I just don’t believe in it. Because I don’t understand the benefit that it’s really going to have, unless you’re in a high-risk area like a nursing home or hospital. I think the left is playing with the mask until the elections. In my opinion, they are trying to steal the elections.
I wonder where from got that crazy idea.
And it’s not surprising either, as noted on Thursday Philip Bump de The Washington Post, that seven out of 10 new cases of coronavirus occur in states that Trump won in 2016.
The continued politicization of the wearing of masks by President Trump is, in a word, unforgivable. Masks shouldn’t have to be a matter political. This is a public health issue, not partisanship. In his continuing attempts to equate the wearing of masks with weakness (and the Democrats), what the president does, in a very real sense, is encourage his most ardent supporters to engage in behaviors that make them more likely to develop the disease. coronavirus. A virus, I will recall again, is projected to claim the lives of more than 400,000 Americans by the end of this year.
CNN’s Allison Gordon contributed to this report.
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