DONALD TRUMP has claimed in an interview he is “all for masks” despite previously being quoted making comments to the contrary.
The US President told Fox Business: “I’m all for masks. I think masks are good. People have seen me wearing one.”
“If I were in a tight situation with people, I would absolutely.”
Mr. Trump has previously avoided being photographed wearing a mask and, in early April, said he not be following the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended that people wear cloth face coverings in public settings.
At the time, the President argued it would be inappropriate for a world leader to wear a mask while meeting with fellow heads of state.
However, with Trump under pressure from Republican lawmakers to set a good example for Americans, he appeared to have changed his stance.
During the interview with Fox Business, the President struck a markedly different tone on the subject, even going as far as suggesting he looked like “the Lone Ranger” when wearing a mask.
He said: “I had a mask on. I sort of liked the way I looked. OK. I thought it was OK. It was a dark black mask, and I thought it looked OK.
“It looked like the Lone Ranger,” he added, in reference the TV series about a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West.
“I have no problem with that, and if people feel good about it, they should do it.”
Despite a surge in the number of new cases of coronavirus in the US, Trump continued to reject the idea of it becoming a federal mandate to wear masks and insisted it was a matter of personal choice.
He also continued to champion the idea that coronavirus will eventually “just disappear”.
Trump said: “I think we are going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that, at some point, that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.”
