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New questions arise about Trump's event at Honeywell mask factory
Smart by
@theplumlinegs
about Trump, masks, self-promotion and the 2020 presidential campaign.
Link to tweet
The Plum Line • Opinion
New questions arise about Trump’s event at Honeywell mask factory
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
May 6, 2020 at 3:24 p.m. EDT
President Trump traveled to Arizona on Tuesday, where he toured a Honeywell plant that’s manufacturing N95 masks. Trump did not wear a mask during the visit, and neither did the Trump aides and Honeywell executives who interacted in close quarters with him. ... In case you doubted that this was fundamentally a campaign trip, Trump tweeted out a campaign-style video of the event that depicted him as presiding over a robust effort to generate the supplies needed to combat the novel coronavirus, which he has in reality utterly failed to do.
{snip}
But this visit raises some important questions — and potentially points to a serious dilemma for Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden. ... Here’s the dilemma: It looks likely that Trump will be doing more such trips, which means he will basically be out campaigning, while Biden is not. Trump is able to stage these trips — and is conducting them and other events maskless, sending a message of normalcy to the country — because he’s able to benefit from special access to testing. ... But this visit raises some important questions — and potentially points to a serious dilemma for Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden. ... Will Biden be able to benefit from the same? Shouldn’t he be able to benefit from the same?
{snip}
The reason this matters: Trump is almost certainly not wearing a mask at such events to send a message to the country that we’re approaching normalcy. That’s likely why Trump and Vice President Pence have been lately holding other events without masks and proper social distancing.
Another reason this matters: As David Nakamura reports, Trump and Pence are able to do this because they have special access to a rapid testing mechanism. Indeed, the White House has defended these mask-free events on precisely that basis.
It’s not surprising that Trump and his entourage have such special testing access, given that he’s president. But this still raises the question of whether Trump is exploiting this access to mislead the country into believing things are normal when the rest of the country lacks this access to testing and thus doesn’t enjoy the safety or quasi-normalcy Trump does.
{snip}
Greg Sargent
Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs
New questions arise about Trump’s event at Honeywell mask factory
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
May 6, 2020 at 3:24 p.m. EDT
President Trump traveled to Arizona on Tuesday, where he toured a Honeywell plant that’s manufacturing N95 masks. Trump did not wear a mask during the visit, and neither did the Trump aides and Honeywell executives who interacted in close quarters with him. ... In case you doubted that this was fundamentally a campaign trip, Trump tweeted out a campaign-style video of the event that depicted him as presiding over a robust effort to generate the supplies needed to combat the novel coronavirus, which he has in reality utterly failed to do.
{snip}
But this visit raises some important questions — and potentially points to a serious dilemma for Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden. ... Here’s the dilemma: It looks likely that Trump will be doing more such trips, which means he will basically be out campaigning, while Biden is not. Trump is able to stage these trips — and is conducting them and other events maskless, sending a message of normalcy to the country — because he’s able to benefit from special access to testing. ... But this visit raises some important questions — and potentially points to a serious dilemma for Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden. ... Will Biden be able to benefit from the same? Shouldn’t he be able to benefit from the same?
{snip}
The reason this matters: Trump is almost certainly not wearing a mask at such events to send a message to the country that we’re approaching normalcy. That’s likely why Trump and Vice President Pence have been lately holding other events without masks and proper social distancing.
Another reason this matters: As David Nakamura reports, Trump and Pence are able to do this because they have special access to a rapid testing mechanism. Indeed, the White House has defended these mask-free events on precisely that basis.
It’s not surprising that Trump and his entourage have such special testing access, given that he’s president. But this still raises the question of whether Trump is exploiting this access to mislead the country into believing things are normal when the rest of the country lacks this access to testing and thus doesn’t enjoy the safety or quasi-normalcy Trump does.
{snip}
Greg Sargent
Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs
9 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
the person serving Fat Don his meals in the WH has tested positive for the virus yesterday, may make this conjecture moot. Too bad.....
Nuff said. 
