In a time here in America when social distancing is demanded, our president insists on reality distancing.
A photo we blogged here on Tuesday clearly showed Donald Trump with no protective face mask taking a tour of the Honeywell plant in Arizona where face masks and other personal protective equipment against the coronavirus pandemic are produced.
The president is wearing safety goggles but no mask on his tour of Honeywell PPE manufacturing line pic.twitter.com/e6RD3BXu3n
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) May 5, 2020
The images of Trump with no face mask in the face mask factory during the COVID-19 outbreak that is killing thousands of Americans a day now sparked outrage. And the outrage was warranted. Trump should have been wearing a goddamned mask for many reasons.
Well, today, president dumbass decided to respond to criticism like he always does: lies, and a contemptuous, compulsive, murderous denial of reality.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said yes he did too wear a face mask during the Honeywell tour in Arizona yesterday but “I can’t help it if you didn’t see me.”
The stupid hurts the most, friends. The stupid, and the deaths.
Speaking in front of nurses in the Oval Office – who were wearing scrubs and gowns, but no masks – Trump was asked why he wasn’t wearing a mask at the facility the day prior.
“I actually did have one, no,” he responded, “I put a mask on—yeah. I had a mask on for a period of time.”
When a reporter said that none of the press saw him wearing a mask, Trump shot back: “I can’t help it if you didn’t see me.”
“I mean I had a mask on but I didn’t need it, and I asked specifically the head of Honeywell, ‘should I wear a mask?’ And he said, ‘well you don’t need one in this territory,’ and as you knew, we were far away from people — from the people making the masks. They were making the masks,” he said.
“But I did put a mask on and it was a Honeywell mask, actually. And I also had a 3M mask, and I had about four other masks, but I did have it on. I don’t know if you saw it, but I did have it on,” he said.
Pressed on how long he wore the mask, the President paused slightly, and responded that it wasn’t “too long.”
“Not too long,” he said, “but I had it on. I had it on back — backstage. But they said you didn’t need it, so, I didn’t need it. And by the way if you noticed nobody else had it on that was in the group.”
Video from the facility shows workers wearing masks, which the President admitted.
“The workers had them on yeah, the workers were there. Because they’re working next to each other,” he said.
READ MORE AT CNN.COM:
Trump says he did wear a mask in Arizona — you just didn't see him
[May 6, 2020, Reporting by CNN's Nikki Carvajal]
PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING:
Trump wears goggles but no mask on Arizona PPE factory tour
[Tue May 5, 2020 ]
