Trump's anti-mask crusade is coming back to bite him

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-masks-politics-joe-biden-election-2020/index.html

 President Donald Trump's refusal to set an example by wearing a face covering, despite growing evidence that it may be one of the most effective ways to slow America's increasingly disastrous coronavirus pandemic, was always a political statement.

Now, as the clinical and electoral damage builds from a resurgent virus that is close to racing out of control after another record day for new cases on Wednesday, the President may be edging, very slowly, toward a rethink.

Yet Trump's position has left him increasingly isolated even from the Republican leaders who have facilitated his unchained presidency, as public health officials and local and state leaders of all political stripes plead with Americans to cover up in public so the country can heal itself.

Far from becoming a mark of strength and defiance, Trump's isolated crusade against masks-- he dubbed himself a "LONE WARRIOR" in a recent tweet, is now emblematic of his denial of a fast-worsening national disaster, a botched federal government response and his refusal to take even the most basic steps to save American lives.

Trump's mask apostasy is an act of rebellion against the establishment figures and scientists and professional officials of the government with which he has been waging an internal war ever since he took his office. It's a natural fit for a lifelong outsider who is personally and politically compelled to break the rules.

The President's slight softening of position Wednesday on wearing a mask came after many of his political allies implicitly repudiated his stance, stressing repeatedly that wearing a mask was not a political act but a gesture of humanity.

"We must have no stigma, none, about wearing masks," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on Tuesday. In hard-hit Texas over the weekend, Vice President Mike Pence -- who has himself spent weeks undermining government messaging on the issue and is loath to get crossways with his boss -- backed wearing a mask. Pence is still, however, not going all in -- typically saying that mask wearing should be done where it is "indicated" by local authorities.

Several of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and son-in-law Jared Kushner, have begun to worry about the President's reelection chances and have urged a focus on the economy. But other advisers believe he has suffered severe damage amid the pandemic.

"There is a fair amount of concern," one adviser said, describing the President as "frustrated" by recent polling indicating Biden could win the November election by a wide margin.