Now that Donald Trump has been infected with the coronavirus, and is spending his days at Walter Reed Medical Center, the president is asking Americans to do their part in saving lives by wearing masks.
“We can save 100,000 lives in the next 100 days, according to the head of the CDC, if everyone wears a mask in public,” said the president on Thursday. “Be patriotic. It’s not about being a tough guy, it’s about doing your part.”
No … those are not the words of Donald Trump, the current president, but of Joe Biden, the soon-to-be president.
Instead of taking the opportunity to stress the importance of wearing masks, Trump recorded a four-minute video, from the hospital, focusing on his favorite topic, himself. “I feel much better now,” Trump said.
He then went on to say how ready he is to get back on the campaign trail.
“I have to be back, because we still have to make America great again,” said Trump. “We’ve done an awfully good job of that, but we still have steps to go, and we have to finish that job, and I’ll be back. I think I’ll be back soon, and I look forward to finishing up the campaign the way it was started, and the way we’ve been doing, and the kind of numbers that we’ve been doing.”
Referring to how great a job he’s been doing in fighting the virus, Trump said, “We’ve been so proud of it, but this was something that happened, and it’s happened to millions of people all over the world, and I’m fighting for them. Not just in the US. I’m fighting for them all over the world.”
But, at what could not have been a more opportune moment, Trump couldn’t do the one thing his own director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, did last month at a congressional hearing … stress the importance of wearing masks.
Asked about the significance of mask wearing, Redfield replied, “I’m not gonna comment directly about the president, but I am going to comment as the CDC director that face masks, these face masks, are the most important powerful public health tool we have.”
“They are our best defense,” Redfield added. “I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.”
Is anyone surprised Trump didn’t seize the moment to actually do something that could make a difference in saving lives? God forbid! What would his supporters think … now that he has it, he’s gone soft?
The next president, who will be sworn in on January 20, 2021, will not feel the need to play Macho Man.
