Donald Trump used his Thursday campaign event in Pennsylvania to mock Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for the way he wears his mask amid the coronavirus pandemic, WAOW reported.
“Did you ever see a man who likes a mask as much as him?” Trump asked the crowd.
“He has it hanging down. Because it gives him a feeling of security. If I were a psychiatrist, right, you know I’d say: ‘This guy’s got some big issues. Hanging down. Hanging down.’”
As reported by Breitbart , Trump expressed his support for mask-wearing as a preventative against COVID-19, and called on Americans to ensure they social distance and wash their hands over Labor Day weekend. Trump’s recommendations echo public health experts who are attempting to prevent an explosion of coronavirus cases similar to the uptick seen after Memorial Day weekend.
Biden previously proposed a national mask mandate but walked back the plan on Wednesday and called himself a “Constitutionalist.” The proposal received pushback from many who believed such a ruling would be unconstitutional.
Trump previously refused to wear a face mask in public and was hesitant to push public health experts’ advice on safety measures amid the pandemic. As The Inquisitr reported, progressive commentator Sam Seder used an episode of his The Majority Report podcast to accuse the president of attempting to create a culture war over the use of masks to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
Per USA Today , Trump’s support for mask-wearing appears to be erratic. During his Tuesday visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, the president did not wear a mask and told others at a roundtable meeting that they could remove them if they wanted to.
Nevertheless, the president appeared to have a break on the issue in July when he urged Americans to use protective coverings.
“We’re asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact, they’ll have an effect. We need everything we can get.”
Dr. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, previously claimed that the evidence thus far is clear in its support of the effectiveness of masks to prevent coronavirus transmission. Although the practice is not foolproof, Murray said the effectiveness of the tools against viral transmission is about 50 percent.
Critics claim that masks could cause carbon monoxide poisoning. But other reporting suggested that carbon dioxide molecules are too small to be contained by most face coverings.