The US President took to social media and said, “We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance.”
He took to the microblogging site to post the pic nearly three months after the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested wearing masks in public.
“There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favourite President!” he added.
In the pic, Trump is seen wearing a mask with a presidential seal during his visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre earlier in July. It is the first and only time the leader wore a facial mask covering in public after refusing to wear one in public since the pandemic broke.
The US President’s transition to mask is likely to be motivated by stumbling poll numbers, a source close to the President told CNN, as per the ANI report.
His aides have tried hard to get Trump to wear a mask, saying they could have “MAGA”, “Trump-Pence 2020” or even the American flag printed on them. But he steadfastly refused and only wore a mask once in public.
However, the leader met the campaign aides at the White House last week, where he was told that even internal numbers showed Americans did not approve of his response to the contagious outbreak.
Trump’s decision to wear a mask in public at Walter Reed came after a lot of pleading by aides, according to a presidential adviser, as he was asked to set an example for his supporters by wearing a mask on the visit.
On his visit to Ford plant in May, for example, Trump said he wore a mask on parts of the plant tour where reporters were not allowed, saying he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”