When blue states like Washington, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts were hit with coronavirus in large numbers, Republicans from President Donald Trump to Fox News were vehemently opposed to mask wearing. But now that coronavirus is surging in red states, like Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia, they’re changing their tune – and pretending they’ve always supported mask wearing.
“If Americans submit to wearing masks,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked one month ago, “what other rights and freedoms can be taken?”
Fast forward to this week.
Here’s Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell:
The President of the United States still refuses to wear a mask in public, and has made clear he remains vehemently against them, but his son, Donald Trump Jr., on Tuesday out of the blue declared mask-wearing is no big deal.
“You know, I don’t think it’s too complicated to wear a mask,” Jr. told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview discussing the upcoming GOP convention.
Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney Wednesday said that President Trump should tell Americans that wearing a mask “is the best thing you could possibly do,” and suggested he “start wearing them to send that message.”
“Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy seemed to mock RNC chair Rona McDaniel on Tuesday for her apparent continued opposition to mask-wearing – and her defense of the President’s refusal as well.
“I think that if the president wore one, it would just set a good example. He’d be a good role model. I don’t see any downside to the president wearing a mask in public,” Doocy said. “MAGA should now stand for ‘Masks Are Great Again.’ Let me give you some marketing advice right there.”
Here’s uber-conservative Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee:
Unofficial Trump advisor, Fox News host Sean Hannity, acts like he’s always supported mask-wearing – even though he called the coronavirus crisis a hoax. In fact, as Yahoo News reported in April, Hannity suggested “the pandemic might be a ‘deep state‘ plot to hurt the economy or, at another point, claiming concerns over the novel virus was a ‘new hoax‘ designed to ‘bludgeon’ Trump.”
Now, coronavirus is real and “masks work.”
This week we’ve seen Vice President Mike Pence wear a mask. In fact, the White House posted this image of the VP at a rare coronavirus task force meeting Tuesday:
Not all Republicans are on board.
Like President Donald Trump.
And Senator Rand Paul.