The politics of face masks
GOP, Democratic leaders take different tacks.
Face masks, recommended by public health officials as a way to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus, have become the latest battleground in the partisan war between the nation’s Republicans and Democrats.
Even as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walks the halls of Congress with her scarf pulled up to cover her nose and mouth, President Trump was barefaced Tuesday for a pair of events in Phoenix, including a visit to a mask factory — where there were signs saying everyone was required to wear a mask.
At a House Rules Committee hearing in Washington last month, the Democratic chairman slammed Republican members for not wearing masks. And at recent rallies in Sacramento and across the nation calling for states to ease stayathome restrictions, there were plenty of proTrump signs and red “Make America Great Again” hats, but not so many masks.
It’s no surprise that masks have become a flash point, said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California.
“These days, everything is a partisan issue,” he said. “Everything is political, and that includes health regulations.”
As the Bay Area, other communities and even entire states like New York, Massachusetts and Michigan begin to require people to wear masks in public when physical distancing is impossible, there’s been push back.
A security guard in Flint, Mich., was shot to death last week in a dispute over face masks. Stillwater, Okla., dumped its mask requirements after workers in stores were threatened when they tried to enforce them. And Republican Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio on Sunday rolled back a weekold order requiring that masks be worn in stores, saying he had gone too far and that “people were not going to accept the government telling them what to do.”
That’s an argument that rings true to many Republicans, said Rob Stutzman, a GOP consultant in Sacramento.
“Republicans by nature are more focused on individual rights,” he said. “They tend to bristle when presented with government mandates.”
That attitude is echoed by the nation’s top Republican, Trump. Last month, he tweeted out messages to “liberate” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, states where demonstrators were protesting government orders shutting down businesses and requiring physical distancing and other antivirus measures.
Even after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended in April that people cover their faces to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus, the president said he wouldn’t wear a mask.
“It’s a recommendation, they recommend it,” Trump said at an April 3 news conference. “I just don’t want to wear one myself.”
Not everyone in his family agreed. His wife, Melania, posted a picture of herself wearing a cloth mask as she urged people to follow the CDC guidelines.
Trump’s recommendation also gave Joe Biden, Trump’s presumptive Democratic opponent in November, a chance to draw some coronavirus distinctions with the president.
“I don’t walk out of this house without a mask on,” he said during an April online town hall from his home in Delaware. “I don’t walk out in my yard to talk to the Secret Service without a mask on.”
But for Republicans, especially Republican officeholders, crossing Trump is something that’s likely to damage their political careers. No Republican wants to be wearing a mask while walking behind a president who is barefaced.
When it comes to masks, “the reaction to Trump may be solidarity,” said Stutzman, the GOP consultant.
As president, “Trump sets an example and in this case it isn’t a good one,” said Pitney from Claremont McKenna.
Republicans give plenty of reasons for not wearing masks. Trump says he doesn’t need to because he is regularly tested for the coronavirus. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argues that since he tested positive in March, he’s now immune. Nino Vitale, a state representative in Ohio, said that because “we’re all created in the image and likeness of God ... I won’t wear a mask.”
But as the coronavirus ravages the country, the antimask position is becoming harder to hold.
A Gallup Poll last month found that 62% of Americans were using masks, although that included 75% of Democrats surveyed and 58% of Republicans. Two weeks later, the number of people using masks had climbed to 75%.
Politicians have noticed. Vice President Mike Pence was roundly criticized when he was the only unmasked person during his visit to Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic on April 28. A few days later, he wore a mask during a tour of a ventilator factory in Indiana. “I should have worn a mask at the Mayo Clinic,” he said during a virtual town hall on Fox News on Sunday.
Even Trump seems to be adjusting his stance on masks. Although he has yet to be seen in public with a mask, he said before leaving for the Phoenix trip that he would be willing to wear one if required. He said Tuesday that officials at the mask factory had told him he wasn’t required to be masked.
However, at a Wednesday event in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that “I had a mask on for a period of time” while out of public view. “I can’t help it if you didn’t see me.” San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Dustin Gardiner, Tal Kopan and Alexei Koseff contributed to this report.