Examining the dwindling GOP holdouts’ arguments against mandating masks
U.S. health officials are almost universally in agreement that wearing a mask can slow the virus’s spread. If everyone in the United States wore a mask in public, the virus could be under control in one to two months, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Robert Redfield recently said,describing masks as “one of the most powerful weapons we have” to slow the virus.
So why is there still Republican opposition to mandating that Americans wear masks? Here are four driving factors.
1. Trump made it a culture war.
It’s a battle he’s losing, according to new Washington Post-ABC News polling, which shows that 80 percent of Americans say they wear masks all or most of the time when they are around others in public. But as is standard in Trump’s culture war battles, there’s a sizable chunk of the population that’s listening to him and agreeing with him. The same Post-ABC News poll found 66 percent of Republicans say they wear a mask all or most of the time.
Kemp issued an executive order banning municipalities from mask mandates just hours after he met with a maskless Trump in Atlanta. Kemp’s office declined to comment on whether the two discussed masks.
First-time offenders of Abbott’s order will receive a written or oral warning. Those who violate the order a second time will receive a fine of up to $250. Every subsequent violation is also punishable by a fine of up to $250. The order specifies that no one can get jail time for a violation.
2. A mandate is government overreach.
When Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) issued a mandate Wednesday to wear masks in public, she made it clear she was doing so reluctantly, saying: “You shouldn’t have to be ordered to do what is in your own best interest, and in the best interest of those you know and love.” Alabama’s Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth immediately criticized the mandate as a big-government one, saying it should be up to localities rather than states: “I think a ‘one size fits all’ is the wrong approach for Alabama,” he said.
Kemp has used this rationale in the past as a reason not to mandate masks, saying the mandate is a “bridge too far.” That’s harder to square with Kemp’s current approach, arguing that the state should set the rules for cities and counties.
“Our civil rights are being trampled,” a Joplin, Mo., resident told her city council recently as it debated a mask mandate. It failed. “We just want to return to normal.”
Ronny L. Jackson, a former White House physician who is on his way to representing Texas in Congress next year, said this week on Fox News: “I don’t particularly want my government telling me that I have to wear a mask. So, I think that’s a choice that I can make.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has been asked regularly in briefings why Trump won’t mandate mask use despite health pleas from public officials. Her response is consistent: that the CDC guidance recommends them but doesn’t require them.
Translation: It’s the safe and smart thing to do, but the White House position is that the federal government shouldn’t be in the business of forcing citizens into it.
3. Mandating masks is hard to enforce.
While arguing for masks, a Florida hospital official said on CNN this week that they see a number of younger patients coming in defiant about wearing masks: “A lot of the young people are saying: ‘So what if I get it? If I get it, it doesn’t mean anything.’ ”
Other state officials aren’t convinced that a mask is worth the hassle and thus resist mandating them.
“For me, I need to see the absolute 100 percent scientific data that either all masks work for everybody, or that only certain types of masks work for certain types of folks,” Georgia state Rep. Micah Gravley (R) told The Post.
It seems those who don’t want to wear masks really don’t want to, which officials of all stripes worry will lead to unnecessary conflict. But for some Republican officials, that’s reason enough not to mandate them.
For reference, here’s how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has decided to enforce a mask mandate for some counties with high cases, via the Texas Tribune:
First-time offenders of Abbott’s order will receive a written or oral warning. Those who violate the order a second time will receive a fine of up to $250. Every subsequent violation is also punishable by a fine of up to $250. The order specifies that no one can get jail time for a violation.
4. Mandating masks could create a political backlash.
This is closely tied with No. 1, Trump’s push to make people question masks.
Trump responded: “It could be, yeah. It could be.”
He appeared to hint at concerns that a portion of his and Trump’s base thinks, like the president, that mandating masks is some kind of political betrayal: “There’s some people that just do not want to wear a mask. I’m sensitive to that from a political environment of having people buy into that and creating other issues out there,” Kemp said. “But it’s definitely a good idea.”
