A Face-Saving Proposal for Donald Trump

There is one piece of good news on the COVID front.  As the disease is increasingly spreading in red states, many Republican leaders are starting to endorse wearing masks.  Their numbers include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and even Sean Hannity and Steve Doocey on Fox News. 

And, after all, wearing masks makes sense, particularly from a Republican perspective.  Do you hate shutdowns?  Do you want businesses to be free to operate and make profit.  Good news!  We can curb the virus without shutting down -- by wearing masks.  Do you hate government interference in your life?  Well good news!  In countries like Japan and Hong Kong, government as been inactive and the initiative of private citizens has beaten back the virus -- by wearing masks.  Masks can truly be seen as the less intrusive and disruptive alternative to a shutdown.  So what is the problem?

The problem seems to be that Donald Trump has made masks a culture war issue and refusal to wear masks a test of loyalty.  It is hard to say why.  Maybe he thinks he looks foolish in a mask.  Maybe he just can't admit something really bad is happening on his watch.  Maybe division and polarization are so vital to him that just can't give up the habit.  Maybe:

Trump is literally incapable of admitting error, even implicitly, which means he will never go on TV and declare that everyone should wear a mask. Quite the contrary: he’s more likely to double down and declare that mask wearing is ridiculous and useless. He’s probably the only person in America who could effectively deliver the mask message to the people who really need it, but he refuses to do so.

What are the chances that Donald Trump will yield to pressure, if not from Congressional Republicans, then at least from commentators on Fox News?  I have no idea.  He has been known to yield to pressure before -- to admit that Russia hacked the DNC, for instance, or to condemn neo-Nazis at Charlotteville -- but invariably he seems to snap back. 

But have no fears.  I have a face-saving out for him.

Face shields.  Think of the advantages.  They give protection against COVID, but they aren't masks.  They are more comfortable and easier to breath in than masks.  They allow people to see your face, which seems to be a big issue for some mask opponents.  They allow Trump to show his face and avoid his fears of looking foolish in a mask.

But above all, face shield allow you to protect against COVID while still making a culture war issue of it.  Donald Trump can denounce masks as the work of the devil and praise face shields to the sky.  Can anyone doubt that Republican opinion leaders from Congress to Fox will promptly fall in line and make face shields the new test of party loyalty.  Suddenly you can make a political statement, not by whether you wear a mask or not, but by whether you wear a mask or a face shield.  Culture wars can continue to rage, even as everyone takes measures to beat back the disease. 

Hell, I would even urge liberals to get irate about face shields if it will just convince Trumpsters to wear them.