The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have repeatedly called on Americans to wear a mask in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. “All Americans have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families, and their communities,” said the CDC director. Wearing a mask doesn’t primarily protect the mask-wearer—it protects others. As Joe Biden has made clear, wearing a mask isn’t just a symbol, it’s an active part of good citizenship.
"Every single American should be wearing a mask when they're outside for the next three months, at a minimum. Every governor should mandate mandatory mask-wearing," said Biden. Doing so could save at least 40,000 American lives, according to the latest estimates.
So, of course, Donald Trump is mocking Biden for wearing a mask. Because, after all, why would anyone do something for other people? Trump is attacking Biden because he’s simply incapable of inconveniencing himself in the slightest to protect American lives.
Standing in front of a small group on the tarmac of a Pennsylvania airport, Trump sneered at the Democratic nominee for constantly wearing a mask. “Did you ever see a man who likes a mask as much as him? … If I were a psychiatrist, right, you know I’d say: ’This guy’s got some big issues.’” Trump also made fun of the way Biden’s mask was “hanging down.”
Naturally, Trump said all this while not wearing a mask to a crowd that was also largely maskless. Because the entire basis of Trump’s campaign, and life, is that there’s no point in doing anything that benefits anyone else.
In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump decided to deliberately halt plans to develop a national testing strategy because he thought that the disease would damage states with Democratic governors more than it would states with Republican governors. That decision—that deliberate decision—has directly resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans.
But Trump wasn’t satisfied. Since then he’s repeatedly pushed make-believe miracle drugs and so politicized the wearing of masks that people across the nation are repeatedly having to deal with Trump-inspired assholes who threaten violence over wearing masks. And he’s still at it. Trump is disparaging Biden for having the common sense and decency to care about the lives of his fellow Americans. That’s exactly the kind of thing that Trump believes makes someone a loser.
By the way, the latest Quinnipiac poll, released yesterday, puts Biden up by eight points in Pennsylvania. And that’s before the people in Trump’s mask-refusing crowd start dropping.
Trump’s comments came as the ticker at Johns Hopkins passed 185,000 American deaths from COVID-19. WorldOMeters has the total over 191,000.