Right at the beginning of the pandemic, masks were being recommended by the CDC and everyone just sort of did it. COVID was novel and we were still trying to wrap our heads around it and being over cautious.
Weeks earlier, Trump was lamenting his polling numbers and complained that he didn’t have a “Katrina” that would rally his favorables.
Trump could have done something simple and just worn the damn mask. He could have told people that until they had better data, let’s be cautious and following the CDC guidelines.
But when he was asked point blank, he said he wouldn’t wear one.
Before that, conservatives and liberals were wearing masks. It wasn’t a “tribal” signal. But the second he said it, it was. You could tell immediately after that who conservatives were.
The funny thing is had Trump handled COVID better, he probably would have won re-election. Or at least it would have been closer.