President Trump, had finallymade a significant symbolic concession: After months of refusing to wear a mask in public, Trump for the first time allowed himself to be photographed by assembled media while wearing a face covering. He was visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., at the time.
The president’s decision to wear a mask came as cases of coronavirus surged to record levels in the US and after aides and experts urged Trump to follow his own government’s guidelines on face coverings.
“Hopefully I’ll look good with a mask on,” Trump told a Spanish television network in yet another display of vanity before he headed out to the Walter Reed Military Hospital in Washington DC to visit wounded military personnel. He claimed he’s never been against masks, telling reporters as he left the White House “When you’re in a hospital, especially … I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.”
The only time Trump has been known to wear a mask was during a private part of a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan.
Meanwhile, governors — including in red states — are urging their citizens to wear masks as a means of bringing the spread under control. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on July 2 issued an executive order that residents of nearly every county in the state cover their noses and mouths when they are out in public, or face a fine of up to $250.
