In a segment on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine appeared to “mask-shame” President Trump, saying that the Chief executive’s diagnosis of the potentially deadly disease serves as a “cautionary tale” for people who are reluctant to wear masks.
DeWine, a fairly frequent guest on the news program told host Jake Tapper that, “this should be kind of an alert to everybody that anybody can get the virus, even president of the United States can get the virus.”
He continued:
So we ought to use this and simply just learn from it. People who maybe have not worn masks in the past, I’m hoping that they will look at this and say the president can get it, I can get it, and it can happen to anybody.
I hope that is what happens, and that is what comes out of this. We pray for the president, and we pray for the first lady and everybody else who has the virus.
Tapper, visibly agitated, pressed DeWine, demanding the governor answer whether or not he resented individuals coming in Ohio and “recklessly risking the health of the citizens you were elected to protect.”
“It’s a pretty simple question,” Tapper said, “You were elected to protect the citizens of Ohio, and the president and his team were putting them at risk.”
DeWine reminded viewers that the president’s team recommended people wear masks and even had face coverings as handouts.
After showing a short clip of Ohio Lt Gov Husted getting booed by boisterous rally-goers for encouraging them to don masks for the duration of the outdoor event, Tapper asked, “Is that not the consequence of the president’s rhetoric against wearing masks?”
DeWine said that despite a lack of media coverage, the White House has been supportive of Ohioans throughout the pandemic, and recalled that hundreds of thousands of tests are in the process of being distributed to the states, including Ohio.
He added:
We have people not only in Ohio, but across the country who What I hope is that what we have seen with the president is a cautionary tale for people and people will understand, look, it can happen to the president, it can happen to you, and it can happen to your family. You wear a mask to help other people. And so if anything good can come out of this tragedy of the president and the White House, you know, we hope just people will look at that and say we need to wear a mask and this is what we need to do to slow this thing down. (emphasis added)
Watch the full interview here.
