In a tweet from late Monday, President Donald Trump called wearing masks in public “patriotic”. This was a sudden turnaround from his prior stance, which was that wearing masks was unimportant. In the tweet, the president includes an image of himself wearing a mask, something he has only done once in public since the pandemic started.
The move is as confusing as it is reassuring. On the one hand, the sudden reversal is a rarity for Trump, who is loath to ever change course on a topic when he’s made up his mind. Even in the tweet in which he championed mask-wearing, the president referred to SARS-COV-2 as “China Virus,” an epithet that many have decried as racist.
In the tweet, the president states, “We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!”
Whether this means Joe Biden is magnitudes more patriotic due to wearing a mask in public since the pandemic started is unclear from Trump’s tweet. The former vice president is Trump’s likely opponent in November. And Trump is slipping precipitously against Biden in national polls.
In fact, Trump’s Monday tweet was a direct response to Trump Campaign internal polling. Poll numbers from across the country show that likely voters disapprove of how Trump is handling the pandemic. One of the common complaints is that he is muddling the conversation on mask-wearing.
Early on in the pandemic, there was no expert consensus on mask wearing. However, after roughly a month, health experts came to an agreement. Masks are currently the best way to slow the spread of the virus. Even simple cloth face coverings can keep you from breathing respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. Wearing a mask is good for the people around you.
Now that the president is on the same page, he is likely hoping to repair his bruised public image. However, his approval ratings dropped due to more than just his virus response. His response to the Black Lives Matter movement was universally disliked, according to polls.
One doesn’t need online Bible theology classes to know that using tear gas on protesters to set up a photo op isn’t very Christian. That particular incident proved to damage Trump’s public standing considerably. Whether he’ll be able to recover in time for November remains to be seen.
