President Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to a military hospital on Saturday, the first time the president has been seen in public with the type of facial covering recommended by health officials as a precaution against spreading or becoming infected by the novel coronavirus.I'd like an apology from Trump, and from every conservative who ever mocked mask-wearing. All of us who've been regularly wearing masks deserve that. No apology will be forthcoming, of course.
Trump flew by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in suburban Washington to meet wounded servicemembers and health care providers caring for COVID-19 patients. As he left the White House, he told reporters: “When you’re in a hospital, especially ... I think it’s expected to wear a mask.”
Meawhile, the people who rejected masks for months, and who laughed at Joe Biden for wearing one, have now decided that wearing one once somehow makes Trump an American hero.
This is what presidential looks like. 🔥 https://t.co/qfsM16xpYS
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) July 11, 2020
#AmericaFirst pic.twitter.com/aC4bhg0SSv
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) July 11, 2020
Amd already we already have a Washington Post reporter implying that This Is The Day Trump Became President.
Trump looks...totally fine (and even — dare I say — presidential!) in a mask. I’m confused why it took so long for him to do the responsible thing, following his own CDC’s guidelines and modeling good behavior.
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) July 11, 2020
The Trumpers will get away with this hypocrisy. Trump will be praised, and he may continue to wear a mask for that reason. I predict that that alone will result in at least a slight bump in his poll numbers. (Many heartland white people really don't want to withhold a vote for the Republican presidential candidate, so they'll seize on this as a sign that Trump is a reasonable man after all.)
Or maybe he'll revert to masklessness. He'll certainly continue to be the angry, divisive, unreasonable president he's been for years, and he'll continue to do nothing to make Americans safer from the virus. There's only so much change he's capable of.
I think regular mask-wearing by Trump could save lives, including the lives of non-Trumpers -- if he undercuts the anti-mask culture-war stance by wearing one, some of his cultists might do the same. That's good.
But it could get him reelected. It really could make a difference in how the public sees him. But it remains to be seen whether he understands that.
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