Ted Lieu claps back at Trump for mocking Biden’s mask

Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) has been a persistent thorn in Donald Trump’s side ever since the president took office.

As one of the most active and vocal members of Congress on social media, Rep. Lieu has consistently spoken out against Trump on issues ranging from immigration — a personal issue for the Taiwan-born legislator — to the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections to now the massive failures of the administration to effectively deal with the coronavirus pandemic on a timely basis.

Representative Lieu continued his personal Twitter oversight of the Trump administration today with a post that called out the president’s horribly mixed messages to the public about the wisdom of wearing masks in public to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, a practice that Trump has personally dismissed through his own bad example of refusing to wear a mask even as the federal government’s own CDC guidelines recommend their usage.

Lieu’s tweet was likely all the more goring for the president by its use of a photo of a dashingly masked Joe Biden as the example of what a real leader would be doing in such an epidemic to set a proper paragon for presidential behavior.

Dear @realDonaldTrump: You retweeted the below tweet (of a very fit & cool looking @JoeBiden) to suggest people shouldn’t wear masks. At the same time your Surgeon General is telling people to wear masks to stop the virus. Stop confusing the American people. Lives are at stake. https://t.co/z98Ko5cpmp

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 26, 2020

Congressman Lieu rightfully chastises Trump for his confusing cross-purpose messaging and utter disregard for the additional infections and deaths his poor example-setting may cause.

Judging from the responses to his post, many of Lieu’s Twitter followers agree with his critique of the president and his portrayal of Joe Biden as a leader who teaches by example.

Only Trump would attempt to mock Americans protecting Americans. Also, it blew up in his face. pic.twitter.com/JX51RYEKkA

— csd (@csd) May 26, 2020

It’s hard to believe that the act of wearing personal protective equipment — in the middle of the worst pandemic the world has seen in a century — has become a political statement.

If the decision to wear a mask to protect one’s own health as well as that of anyone else one may come into contact with, however, is now a statement about whether or not you are compassionate enough to care about your fellow human beings, then we can wear our masks as a badge of honor.

Only the dishonorable – like our current president — will appear in public without a face covering until a cure or vaccine for COVID-19 is developed.