Refuses to wear mask as CDC recommends face coverings: 'I don't think I'm going to be doing it'
On the same day the CDC issued new guidance recommending Americans wear cloth face coverings in public, Trump announced he would not follow the recommendation himself. 'I don't think I'm going to be doing it,' Trump said at the White House briefing. 'Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens — I just don't see it.' Trump would not wear a mask in public for over three months, turning a public health measure into a political culture war issue and modeling anti-mask behavior for his supporters.
“I don't think I'm going to be doing it. Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens — I just don't see it.” — White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing, April 3, 2020
Analysis Feed
AI commentaryTrump's mask refusal set the template for the entire pandemic's culture war over public health measures. By visibly refusing to model mask-wearing while the CDC recommended it, Trump signaled to supporters that masks were optional, theatrical, or even anti-Trump. The decision to politicize masks likely cost tens of thousands of lives as his supporters followed his example.