President Donald Trump claims wearing masks is about being “politically correct” during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) doesn’t seem to agree.
“There’s no stigma attached to wearing a mask,” McConnell said on Wednesday during an event in Kentucky, according to Politico. “There’s no stigma attached to staying six feet apart.”
The GOP leader said that he himself wears masks in order to set a “good example.”
He asserted that wearing masks, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended to prevent asymptomatic people infect more vulnerable and older people, is “not too much to ask of a younger person,” who are less likely to experience the more life-threatening aspects of the virus.
“Just because you’re 21, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a responsibility to other people, even though your chances of having a problem are pretty slim,” said McConnell.
“I think the more we can say that the better,” he added.
McConnell is the latest conservative to clash with Trump on wearing facial coverings, a guideline the President has publicly flouted while disparaging it as a “politically correct” measure, fueling the notion that wearing a mask is merely an anti-Trump stunt.
On Tuesday night, Fox News host Sean Hannity urged viewers to “please wear the mask,” as have GOP governors to their constituents.
