Trump Says It Is ‘Patriotic to Wear a Face Mask When You Can’t Socially Distance’

After months of refusing to wear a mask in public, Donald Trump recently broke that trend and on Monday, he tweeted that “many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance.”

Trump posted a photo of himself wearing a mask, and wrote, “We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!”

The president has had a contentious relationship with masks and in an interview on Sunday, he shot down any speculation that he would declare a national mask-wearing mandate, telling Fox News’ Chris Wallace, “I want people to have a certain freedom and I don’t believe in that, no.”

President Trump first appeared in public wearing a mask on July 11, when he visited Walter Reed hospital. Prior to that visit, he said in a Fox News interview, “I think it’s fine to wear a mask if it makes you feel comfortable.”

But, for months, Trump stayed away from wearing a mask in public. On May 25, he retweeted Fox News’ Brit Hume, who posted a photo of Democratic nominee Joe Biden in a mask with the caption, “This might help explain why Trump doesn’t like to wear a mask in public. Biden today.”

And Biden has sought to attack Trump on his hesitancy to wear a mask.