Trump’s Mask

The first thing the president did when he arrived at the White House, newly released from the hospital, was take off his mask. Irresponsibility can be a limitless feature, once mastered with ease and practiced for a length of time. A person can be more irresponsible today than they were yesterday. And Donald Trump is not only irresponsible, he is also reckless.

When the president tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be admitted to the hospital, he left behind a long list of infected people. They had all passed through the presidential residence several days earlier to take part in an event where face masks were the exception, hands were shaken, and kisses and hugs were given away freely, as if that were reasonable. One of these cases was that of the White House press secretary, who appeared before the press to confirm that Trump was infected, and did so without wearing a mask. Days before, in another press briefing, she was asked why she was the only one in the room not wearing a mask. Her answer—keeping with the Trumpist manual—was that wearing it is not mandatory, but a personal choice. She has tested positive, along with other associates and reporters.

The list of irresponsible people is long, including presidential advisers and senators. They must have all felt untouchable to a virus that, at any moment, can even reach someone following sanitary measures to the letter. However, if a person ignores these measures, their chances of falling ill are high, and the chances of taking down everyone around them are huge.

However, Trump does not give in. Immersed as he is in a desperate campaign against both his rival and the polls, he allowed himself to leave the hospital in order to wave at the hooligans supporting him at the entrance, forcing the two secret service agents who escorted him to quarantine. And when he chose to discharge himself, he tried to persuade his supporters that this was not a demonstration of his thoughtless management of the health crisis, but a show of physical strength, and therefore—according to his childish mentality—he should continue leading the country. The fact that he advises people not to be scared of a disease that has killed more than 200,000 American citizens, is an assessment in itself.

During the first debate between the two presidential candidates, Trump mocked Joe Biden for never taking off his mask in public, calling it “The biggest mask I’ve ever seen.” This is just one more caricature of a grotesque presidency, in which the inhabitant of the White House has achieved the absurd goal of establishing that the clearest difference in such a polarized country is that Democrats wear face masks and Republicans are reluctant to do so.