IF ONLY IT WERE A MUZZLE

Don won’t wear mask, but says we all should

want to set a good example, Trump said he couldn’t picture himself greeting world leaders or “dictators” while wearing a face mask.

“I just don’t want to wear one myself,” he said. “I just don’t want to do it. Sitting in the Oval Office, behind the great, beautiful Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, dictators, kings queens — I just don’t see it for myself.”

He stressed, “I won’t be doing it personally.

It’s a recommendation.”

Friday’s announcement capped an evolution in messaging from the White House that officials acknowledged has been confusing and marred by contradiction and misinformation, even as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. tops 270,000, with at least 7,000 people dead.

On Thursday, Trump claimed some 100,000 ventilators were coming to hospitals across the nation within two weeks — only for Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to clarify that the bulk of those machines may not be ready until June.

Some cities had already announced face mask recommendations before Trump’s halfhearted announcement, including New York and Los Angeles.

The CDC said in its new guidelines that wide-ranging face mask usage could help fight the virus, as people can have the infection and spread it without showing symptoms.

People should not attempt to acquire professionalgrade masks, such as N95s, as those are in short supply and should be reserved for healthcare workers, according to the guidelines.

Speaking at the same briefing as Trump, CDC Director Robert Redfield noted that social distancing remains the most important weapon in the war against the virus.

Contrary to Trump, though, Redfield did not say he would buck the new mask guidelines and urged Americans to follow them.

“We know a face barrier can interrupt the number of particles that can go from one person to another,” Redfield said. “The purpose of this face covering is to be another adjunctive mitigation strategy to protect someone spreading the virus from themselves to someone else.”

First lady Melania Trump embodied the everchanging messaging with a tweet saying, “As the weekend approaches I ask that everyone take social distancing & wearing a mask/ face covering seriously.”