During their first (and, given his illness, probably only) 2020 debate, Trump mocked former Vice President Joe Biden for routinely wearing masks to protect against coronavirus transmission. Well, let us all hope that Trump recovers. Let us also hope that this terrible pandemic quickly gets under control. Center for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield said just last month that a mask prevents coronavirus transmission even better than a potential vaccine. Yet, Trump rarely wears one. It has become a badge of pride among Republicans to go around maskless. And yet, the White House repeatedly ignores basic public health measures. Recent reports show that the White House staff members have not been wearing masks, screening visitors, or practicing social distance. The Atlantic’s White House reporter Peter Nicholas documents that this carelessness continues even as the President rests in his hospital bed.
Earlier Post: Trump Interrupted Biden during Their Debate to Keep Him from Making His Points
Project Strength,
Not Wisdom?
George Lakoff, a top linguist, says that conservative voters want leaders who are strong and powerful. Strong leaders make them feel safer. He calls this the “strong father” metaphor. In contrast, liberal voters more often prefer nurturing leaders. Lakoff calls this the “nurturing mother” metaphor. Let us, just for the moment, overlook his gender stereotypes and think about what this means for last Tuesday’s Trump-Biden debate. Press commentary focused on Trump’s extremely aggressive behavior and repeated interruptions, which I blogged about earlier. (This does not, as has been pointed out to me, mean that Biden was a model of good manners.)
Earlier Post: Let the Pushiest Candidate Win the Debate? Is That Any Way to Pick a President?
Masks Show Weakness?
Really?
So, yes, Trump
interrupted and overwhelmed Biden to show that he was tough. The most important
thing he did, however, was to mock Biden for mask-wearing. Let’s look at this
exchange when moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump about masks:
WALLACE
Gentlemen, we’re going to go on to another subject. You have begun to increasingly question the effectiveness of masks as a disease preventer, and in fact recently you have cited the, the issue of waiters touching their masks and touching plates. Are you questioning the effectiveness of masks?
TRUMP
No, you have to understand -- if you look, I mean, I have a mask right here. [The mask rested in Trump’s pocket, where it didn’t do much good.] I put the mask on it, you know what I think I need it. As an example, everybody’s had a test, and you’ve had social distancing and all of the things that you have to, but I wear a mask, when needed -- when needed, I wear masks. I don’t—I don’t wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.
Note Trump’s key point, making Biden seem fearful: “I
don’t—I don’t wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He
could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask
I’ve ever seen.” The idea was that
Trump was tough and Biden wasn’t.
When Wallace later asked Biden about masks, Trump
retorted that not everyone agreed about them:
WALLACE
I was asking, sir, about masks.
BIDEN
Oh. Masks -- masks make a big difference. His own head of the CDC said if we just wore masks between now -- if everybody wore masks and social distancing between now and January, we’d probably save up to 100,000 lives. It matters,
TRUMP
And they’ve also said the opposite. They’ve also said the --
BIDEN
No serious person has said the opposite --
TRUMP
What about Dr. Fauci? Dr. Fauci said the opposite.
BIDEN
He did not say the opposite.
And so forth. Trump interrupted repeatedly; again, his purpose was to
cast doubt on masks
Now, although there was some disagreement about masks early in the pandemic, that controversy has ended except for the shouting and the conspiracy theories. The CDC's current guidance says:
"Masks are recommended as a simple barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the mask coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice. This is called source control."
However, debating while he was (as we have since learned) already ill from coronavirus, Trump continued to rant that masks showed weakness.
Final Thought: Can’t We Be Wise and Strong?
One White House employee and Republican politician
after another is being diagnosed with coronavirus. As of this writing, the most
recent are North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Social media bots are now telling us that the Republicans are getting
sick because Democratic operatives and Chinese spies are spreading the disease to them. A more
likely explanation is that the Republicans foolishly refused to wear masks.
Republican politicians and conservative media pundits have ridiculed mask-wearers as weak and fearful. Trump continued that pattern during Tuesday’s debate when he made fun of Biden for wearing a big mask. And yet, Trump is now ill. Reality invades Republicans’ specious rhetoric as they catch the coronavirus. It seems that wearing a mask shows intelligence and good judgment. The false bravado of not wearing a mask merely spreads disease. Yes, a leader must be strong. But one can be compassionate and wise at the same time. It’s not either/or.
P.S.: I contributed a chapter, “It Was Not About the Issues: Ethos in the 2004 Presidential Debates,” to Ed Hinck’s volumes about presidential debating. George W. Bush’s thesis was that a president must be “resolute.” John Kerry, in contrast, responded that a president needs to be “smart.” Neither noticed that a president must be both. As the Bible says, there is nothing new under the sun. Click on “William D. Harpine’s Publications” above for more information.
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