Former Vice President Joe Biden wore a mask for a remote interview with a local Wisconsin ABC affiliate on Monday, for reasons that remain unclear.
The mask is meant to prevent transmission of coronavirus to other people within a close radius, but Biden and reporter Brittany Schmidt from Green Bay’s WBAY appeared not to be in the same room. Schmidt was maskless.
The interview appeared to be carried over Zoom or similar remote conferencing technology.
Biden was speaking from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, after touring the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry and delivering a speech attacking President Donald Trump.
The speech itself had been “socially distant,” with no one in attendance other than the press, who were required to sit within circles marked on the floor. Biden wore a mask for that, too.
Though Biden has said he would, if elected president, let science guide his response to the coronavirus pandemic, there is no science that suggests a risk of transmitting coronavirus over the Internet.
Symbolism, rather than science, appeared to guide Biden’s use of the mask as a prop, as he attacked Trump, suggesting that the president was placing his own supporters in mortal danger at campaign rallies.
“We just watched him hold an indoor rally with thousands of people, many of whom weren’t wearing masks despite the clear evidence that we’re putting everyone of those people’s lives at risk,” Biden said.
The former vice president appeared to be referring to Trump’s recent rally in Henderson, Nevada, last week, which was held indoors. President Trump has said the state’s Democratic governor left his campaign no choice after denying permission for the use of outdoor venues.
Trump’s campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said: “If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States.”
In the interview with WBAY, Biden dodged a question about whether he would participate in Democrats’ court-packing scheme.
Democrats are talking openly about adding new Supreme Court seats and filling them with liberal justices if they win the Senate and the White House in November.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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