Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union this Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked about Donald Trump’s recent public appearance in a face mask. Trump’s non-mask moments have made headlines, and for good reason. As the nation battles against the novel coronavirus pandemic, experts point to a few ways we can work to slow the spread of the virus; wash your hands frequently, practice social distancing, avoid large crowds, oh, and wear a mask or face covering. Trump, famously, has not worn a mask when visiting a PPE factory in Pennsylvania, or recently, when arriving in Miami, in spite of the county’s mask mandate. Vice President Mike Pence has also famously foregone a mask at events; for example, while visiting the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Trump’s first public appearance wearing a mask occurred on Saturday when he visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. As NPR notes, Trump briefly donned a mask in May when visiting a Ford facility, though as NBC News notes, not in front of cameras. But given how often he appears without them, and his lies about the coronavirus pandemic in general, Democratic leadership is still trying to reach across the aisle and pull some good out of this public-mask-moment.