"He's a fool, an absolute fool," former Vice President Joe Biden said of President Donald Trump's refusal to wear a face mask. "Every doc in the world is saying you should wear a mask when you're in a crowd." Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, didn't raise his voice and smiled often. But he pulled no punches. "Presidents," he said, "are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine."
It was
Biden's first in-person interview since the pandemic forced him off the
campaign trail two months ago, and CNN aired it moments after Trump gave
another one of his bizarre, conspiracy-laden, self-aggrandizing presentations
on the White House grounds. The two performances had much in common: both
outdoors, on a beautiful late-spring day, both candidates campaigning, dressed
the part. But the content, in case anyone forgot, was a reminder of how
different the two men are.
Trump's
statements were his by-now-familiar blend of lies, boasts, misdirection and
insults. He had gathered the media for an event touting a deal to lower insulin
costs for seniors. "Insulin. So many people. So necessary," he said,
straying from his prepared text with chopped sentence fragments and
non-sensical musings. "I don't use insulin. Should I be? Huh? I never
thought about it."
Older
voters are telling pollsters they prefer Biden, so that's no doubt why Trump
declared, "we love our seniors," and claimed he will always protect
medical coverage for pre-existing conditions even as his administration is in
court trying to do away with Obamacare, the program that at long last expanded
Americans' access to health insurance.
The
President repeated his latest vile distraction: He again promoted the
thoroughly unfounded claim that MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, a former Republican
Congressman who is fiercely critical of him, may have been involved in the
death of an aide in his Florida office 19 years ago. The death of the woman,
who had a heart condition, was ruled an accident. On the same day the widower
of the woman pleaded for an end to the use of his dead wife's memory for
political games, Trump unapologetically did it again, "Very
suspicious," he said.
It was
another shameful performance; the kind Americans have been observing for more
than three years. The kind that has put Biden ahead in the polls, which is
possibly the reason Trump again claimed -- falsely -- that mail-in ballots
would lead to large-scale fraud. Without mail-in ballots, millions of Americans
afraid of possible infection at polling stations in the midst of a pandemic may
not feel able to vote in November. Trump attacked the media, "Sleepy
Joe," and gushed about what a great job he's done fighting the pandemic
that on his watch has killed almost 100,000 Americans. It would have been many
times worse, he bragged, if he hadn't done such a great job.
But the
President's approach to the pandemic is a chaotic mess of contradictions. After
retweeting a post from a Fox News personality mocking Biden for wearing a face
mask at a Memorial Day event, Trump this time disparaged a reporter who asked
about it. Trump told the reporter to take off his mask for the follow up
question. The reporter said he would keep it on and speak louder instead,
"Okay, good," Trump sniffed, "you want to be politically
correct." Doctors and federal guidelines urge Americans to wear masks; the
President refuses to do it, and mocks those who do.
Biden
was asked if wearing a mask is a sign of weakness or strength. He said it's a
sign of leadership. "A president's got to lead by example," he told
CNN's Dana Bash. "This macho stuff is costing people's lives." Bash
and Biden were sitting 12 feet apart. Bash said that they wore masks whenever
they got any closer than that.
Biden
punched hard at Trump, but the former vice president also did a credible job of
acknowledging his mistakes. After an interview in which he joked that
African-American voters who don't support him aren't really black, Biden again
apologized, saying there's nothing wrong with admitting a mistake, especially
if he's hurt someone. "If I say something offensive, I should apologize.
Biden's
brand is decency. But Americans want more than that, especially now. They want
a leader who will take them safely out of the current calamity. We need to
reopen the economy smartly, he said, we cannot separate economic well-being
from health. "There are ways to reopen rationally," to "put
people in a position where they don't have to risk their lives to make a
living."
Biden
managed to come across as simultaneously strong and polite. If Trump watched
the interview, you can bet he hated it. All those references to his phony
masculinity, to his lies, to his foolishness, hit the mark. Let's see how Trump
vents on Twitter.
Biden
was smiling, but he raised the temperature in the race. Voters who watched both
events saw the contrast, almost side by side. If you liked one of them, you
couldn't possibly like the other.
***More:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/opinions/biden-mask-trump-ghitis/index.html
***Frida
Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist.
She is a frequent opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to the
Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. Follow her on
Twitter @fridaghitis.
The
opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author.