The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said Trump is fueling a cultural opposition to wearing masks when "every leading doctor in the world is saying we should wear a mask when you're in a crowd." (Photo: Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill Biden, at a veterans memorial in Wilmington, Del./The New York Times)
CNN
Biden blasts Trump for mocking face masks
Joe Biden called President Donald Trump “an absolute fool” on Tuesday for sharing a tweet that mocked the former vice president for wearing a mask Monday at a Memorial Day ceremony.
In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash in Delaware — Biden’s first in-person interview since being knocked off the campaign trail by the coronavirus pandemic — the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said Trump is fueling a cultural opposition to wearing masks when “every leading doc in the world is saying we should wear a mask when you’re in a crowd.”
“This macho stuff, for a guy — I shouldn’t get going, but it just, it costs people’s lives. It’s costing people’s lives,” Biden said. Trump’s position amounts to “stoking deaths,” he said.
He added: “Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine.”
The comment comes as Trump has sought to politicize the wearing of masks during the coronavirus crisis. Trump himself has not worn a mask during factory tours in recent weeks, even as public health experts have recommended wearing them.
Biden made his comments the day after his first public outing following two months at home in Delaware as the coronavirus pandemic has spread, forcing a halt to in-person campaign events. The former vice president and his wife Jill on Monday wore black masks as they laid a wreath at the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
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