Trump Is Being Dragged For Trying To Shame A Reporter Into Taking Off His Mask

Though he did briefly start wearing a mask a number of months into a pandemic he hasn’t exactly helped slow down, President Donald J. Trump has mostly been seen without one. He rarely wears them, mocks those that do (like Joe Biden), and even when he does get involved with masks there are unintended creepy results. On Labor Day, when deaths by COVID-19 approached 190,000, Trump snapped at a reporter he had trouble understanding, telling him to take off his mask. It did not go well.

As per Deadline, the president forced reporters to work on Labor Day, holding a press conference in which he spent part of the time railing against the Atlantic article that claims he called U.S. veterans “losers” and “suckers.” While he was being asked about it by Reuters journalist Jeff Mason, Trump interrupted him. He was a bit muffled, Trump told him, thanks to the mask he was wearing in an indoor room filled with people. So Trump asked him to remove it. Mason didn’t, offering instead to speak louder. When Mason asked Trump if that was better, he replied with an annoyed affirmative.

Given Trump’s, shall we say, checkered history with masks, the exchange did not go over well with those on social media.

Others pointed out that his chief rival in the 2020 election has no problem being a role model when it comes to one of the best ways to stop the spread of a highly contagious virus.

Others praised Mason for remaining steadfast — yet another reporter who’s kept their cool when bullied by a notoriously tetchy president.

It’s worth noting another thing Trump said during the same press conference: He made sure to praise a reporter who did take off their mask, which is not something one should do.

But what did Mason wind up asking Trump? Once they had finally gotten over the hump, he brought up the fact that some people are having trouble believing his denial of the Atlantic story, especially since he’d made similar comments about another veteran, the late John McCain.

Trump said he didn’t understand people who believed that, saying, “I have always been on the opposite side of John McCain. John McCain liked wars. I will be a better warrior than anybody, but when we fight a war, we’re gonna win ’em.” He added, “The story is a hoax,” which was “written by a guy who’s got a tremendously bad history.” He didn’t go into specifics, and he didn’t actually say anything about his history of demeaning American soldiers like McCain.