According to MSNBC Deadline host Nicolle Wallace and New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay, President Trump's refusal to wear a mask is just more proof that he has "disregard for human life" and that the only thing that matters to him is his own ego.
Wallace began by asserting that Trump is "a fool and he's a bully" and cited an example of him allegedly, "trying to bully a journalist out of wearing a mask to protect himself and his family."
To show how terrible that was, Wallace created a hypothetical, "Maybe there's a 5-year-old pediatric cancer person in their circle. Maybe there's a loved one who is particularly susceptible. I mean, who does that?" Wallace then answered her own question with another question, "Who tries to shame someone out of wearing their mask so they can hear them?"
Wallace's suggestion to Trump not being able to hear a reporter through a mask was that, "the President get a hearing aid." There's also a world of difference between refusing to wear a mask around at-risk individuals and refusing to wear one on the golf course, but that would not provide the media the opportunity to call Trump a fool.
Gay then said that wearing a mask should not be partisan. She then tried to come up with a comparison, "even more than that, you wouldn't walk outside of your door and go kick your neighbor in the shin and for me, that's the equivalent of refusing to wear a mask when you're around other people."
For Gay, this fit a pattern of behavior, "I just think it really does track for me with the president's other disregard for human life, and other -- and respect for others. Anybody other than himself -- his ego for some reason is ahead of the well-being and safety of the country and his refusal to model that behavior I think unfortunately is a terrible example for those Americans who, for whatever reason, still trust the president. It's a real, it’s a real failure of leadership on top of many failures."
That's quite the statement coming from a member of the New York Times editorial board, which ran a corporate op-ed in late March entitled, "Make Abortion More Available During the Pandemic - Not Less."
Here is a transcript for the May 27 show:
MSNBC
Deadline: White House
3:10 PM ET
NICOLLE WALLACE: So Mara Gay, he's a fool and he's a bully. He was trying to bully a journalist out of wearing a mask to protect himself and his family and I go back to something that the governor in North Dakota said, you don't know why people are wearing a mask. Maybe there's a 5-year-old pediatric cancer person in their circle. Maybe there's a loved one who is particularly susceptible. I mean, who does that? Who tries to shame someone out of wearing their mask so they can hear them? I would suggest the president get a hearing aid, Mara Gay.
MARA GAY: Well I mean, Nicolle, you worked for a Republican administration. I mean I think we can agree this should not be a partisan issue and even more than that, you wouldn't walk outside of your door and go kick your neighbor in the shin and for me, that's the equivalent of refusing to wear a mask when you're around other people. You don't know how this virus is going to impact you or your family or your neighbors or your friends. I'm young and healthy and I got really sick myself. I just think it really does track for me with the president's other disregard for human life, and other -- and respect for others. Anybody other than himself -- his ego for some reason is ahead of the well-being and safety of the country and his refusal to model that behavior I think unfortunately is a terrible example for those Americans who, for whatever reason, still trust the president. It's a real, it’s a real failure of leadership on top of many failures.
