By Agence France-Presse
A hunkered-down Joe Biden finally emerged from his Delaware home on Memorial Day wearing a mask, signalling he is putting the coronavirus front and center during the US presidential race in a nation increasingly divided over the pandemic.
Sixty miles (97 kilometers) away in Maryland, rival Donald Trump also attended a somber Monday ceremony honoring America’s fallen, but the Republican president was maskless.
Instead he offered a defiant posture that has inspired some supporters, infuriated critics and poured fuel on the fiery debate about how to respond to the disaster.
The images frame the stark contrast between an incumbent who wants to move on from the crisis — on Tuesday he celebrated Wall Street’s stock surge — and a Democratic challenger highlighting his trust in science and criticizing the president for a bungled, inadequate pandemic response.
They also encapsulate a glaring political divide over how to respond to the deadly outbreaks and whether US states should fully reopen now or maintain lockdown status.
Throughout the 10-week crisis Trump has been bare-faced in public, and on Monday the president attended two ceremonies uncovered, even as aides, military personnel and guests wore masks or face shields.
Biden made a point of covering up, as did his wife Jill Biden.
The couple wore black masks over their noses and mouths as they laid a wreath at a veteran’s memorial near their home city of Wilmington.
Trump retweeted a message that showed an AFP picture of Biden in his mask and sunglasses with commentary that mocked the look, even as Trump’s own government advises wearing masks to slow the virus’s spread.
“Presidents lead by example, and wearing a mask helps protect others,” Biden national press secretary TJ Ducklo told AFP.
“Donald Trump should try it, because his failure to act early on producing PPE (personal protective equipment), on ramping up testing, and implementing a coherent national response to this crisis has cost thousands of Americans their lives.”
– ‘Sign of weakness’ –
Trump knows Americans are seeing the pandemic differently, and that the divide is largely partisan.
New data reported on by US media shows that the deadly impacts of coronavirus have been disproportionately felt in areas of the country that voted Democratic in 2016, like the coasts and big cities.
Several Republican-leaning areas meanwhile have been less seriously affected, deepening a partisan divide not just over how to respond to the crisis, but perception of its impact.
The mask itself has emerged as a political hot potato.
Polling shows women are strongly in favor of social distancing measures and mask-wearing.
By contrast, Trump is heavily supported by blue-collar white men, and “they regard the mask as a sign of weakness,” University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said.
As the country lurches toward the dreadful milestone of 100,000 deaths caused by COVID-19, Trump is intensifying his push to jumpstart the US economy.
“States should open up ASAP,” Trump tweeted Tuesday.
He went on the attack last weekend, firing off blistering tweets against Biden and other critics, promoting debunked conspiracies and warning states against expanding vote-by-mail options.
And in an audacious move, Trump threatened to pull the Republican National Convention, set for August in Charlotte, out of North Carolina if the state’s Democratic governor does not allow an in-person event, despite fears that such a crowded gathering would trigger fresh outbreaks.
Trump is gambling that his call to swiftly reopen America will win over undecided voters.
But May polling has shown that a majority of Americans worry that states are opening their doors too soon.
Polling also shows that more voters oppose rather than support Trump’s handling of the crisis.
