President Donald Trump dismissed former Vice President Joe Biden’s proposed nationwide three-month mask mandate to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
“Sleepy Joe rejects the scientific approach in favor of locking all Americans in their basements for months on end,” Trump said, using his favorite nickname for Biden.
“Every single American should be wearing a mask when they are outside for the next three months at a minimum,” Biden said at a press event on Thursday afternoon.
But Trump criticized Biden for playing politics with the coronavirus pandemic.
“To Joe, I would say stop playing politics with the virus,” he said. “Too serious. Partisan politics has no place here.”
Trump questioned whether Biden even knew what he was proposing, questioning whether a president even had the power to order such a mandate.
“If the president has the unilateral power to order every single citizen to cover their face in nearly all instances, what other powers does he have?” Trump wondered.
Trump also cited problems with actually enforcing a mask proposal.
“He does not identify what authority or how federal law enforcement could enforce it,” Trump said. “Why we would step on governors of our country?”
Trump said that each state was experiencing different phases of the virus and said that a widespread national mandate was not necessary.
It’s up to the governors and we want to have a certain freedom,” he said. “At the same time, we realize that each state is different and is facing unique circumstances.”
The president also mocked Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) for refusing to take questions at their press conference on coronavirus recommendations.
“That’s why he refused to take questions, he couldn’t answer any of them,” he said.
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