When it comes to following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, President Donald Trump is using a “do as I say, not as I do” approach.
On Friday, the CDC revised its guidelines, advising Americans to wear a mask at all times when out in public.
But when the president announced the recommendation at the coronavirus task force press briefing on Friday evening, he emphasized that the mask measure is “voluntary” and went out of his way to say he wouldn’t be complying.
“This is voluntary. I don’t think I am going to be doing it,” he told reporters, according to PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.
In fact, Alcindor said the president kept reiterating that he would not be covering his face regardless of what his team of experts said.
After reporters pressed the president on why he wouldn’t follow the CDC recommendation, his answer suggested he was more concerned with vanity than the virus:
“I just don’t want to wear one myself … I’m feeling good. … Somehow sitting in the Oval Office … the great Resolute Desk … I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, dictators … I don’t know, I don’t see it.”
Ironically, the CDC said the mask recommendations were made at the behest of the White House.
As you might expect, many Twitter users had strong opinions about the president’s unwillingness to follow the advice issued by his own administration.
But some people were more concerned about the reason he cited for not wanting to wear a mask.
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