Coronavirus US live: Trump appears without mask at Ford plant despite policy

Ford Motor Company: We asked Trump to wear a mask

A spokesperson for Ford released a statement saying that Trump had worn a mask during part of his visit to a Michigan plant, but that he later removed it.

Ford’s executive chairman personally encouraged Trump to wear a mask, the company said.

“Bill Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived. He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The President later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit.”

Trump praises Henry Ford’s ‘bloodlines’

It’s not particularly surprising that Trump might praise Henry Ford during his visit to a Ford plant in Michigan. But Trump’s particular phrasing has raised some eyebrows, given that Ford was a notorious anti-Semite who used his wealth and influence to spread dangerous lies about Jewish people.

He talked about the company’s “bloodlines” and Ford’s “good blood.”

PBS has an interview with a scholar who provides more context on Ford’s anti-semitism and its impact:

In 1918, Henry Ford purchased his hometown newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. A year and a half later, he began publishing a series of articles that claimed a vast Jewish conspiracy was infecting America… As one of the most famous men in America, Henry Ford legitimized ideas that otherwise may have been given little authority.

Trump on reopening churches and America’s ‘incredible comeback’

Wrapping up a speech at a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan, Trump promised that he was working on plans to allow churches to hold Sunday services again, and “you’re going to see something come out very soon.”

As the reported death toll nears 100,000, the president said the country was ready to bounce back.

“This country is poised for an epic comeback,” Trump said. “This is going to be an incredible comeback. Just watch. It’s already happening.”

“Americans who need and want to return to work should not be vilified,” he said, likely a reference to the harsh public reactions to the predominantly white Americans who have staged large and sometimes volatile protests in Michigan and other states. For many Americans, he said, especially those who work with their hands, “working remotely is just not an option.”

In states like Georgia that have already begun to reopen, the numbers of coronavirus cases are going down, Trump claimed, “and very substantially down.”

But as The Atlantic’s Ed Yong has explained yesterday, there’s a weeks-long lag between the time states make decisions, and the time those decisions translate into more or fewer cases. “May’s declining cases are the result of April’s physical distancing, and the consequences of May’s repopenings won’t be felt until June at the earliest,” he wrote.

Delivering remarks at the Ford plant, Trump repeated the false claim that he was named Michigan Man of the Year before taking office.

CNN has a thorough debunking of that claim:

Trump started telling versions of the Man of the Year story two days before Election Day in 2016, when he was making a successful effort to win a state no Republican presidential candidate had carried since 1988.

Journalists tried and failed to figure out what he was talking about. (For one, the state does not have an official Man of the Year award. For two, Trump had never lived in Michigan.) …

Then a former Republican congressman from Michigan, Dave Trott, contacted CNN and other news outlets to solve the mystery.

Trott offered a convincing explanation: Trump was talking about his speech at an event Trott had organized, a Lincoln Day dinner for Republicans in Oakland County, Michigan, in 2013.

There, Trott said, Trump gave a ‘rambling’ address resembling the one he says he did — and Trott gave him a framed copy of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and other gifts. But Trott did not give him any Man of the Year award, and nor did anyone else.

Trump said he thought his reelection campaign would be able to start holding outdoor rallies again “sooner rather than later.”

“We got to get back to the rallies,” Trump stold reporters while touring the Ford plant in Michigan. “I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”

Trump said his campaign would look for “big, outdoor” venues to hold the events. “I don’t wanna have a stadium where you’re supposed to have a person, then seven empty seats,” the president said.

Again, public health experts have urged caution when relaxing social distancing guidelines, which have prohibited large events like rallies, out of concern about a potential surge in coronavirus infections.

Trump showed off the mask he allegedly wore in the “back area” of the Ford manufacturing plant, although he was seen maskless when taking questions from reporters.

“I like it very much,” Trump said of the mask as he displayed it to reporters. “Honestly, I think I look better in the mask,” the president added, saying he took it odd because he was about to deliver a speech.

Asked about Trump not covering his face despite a company policy to do so, the Ford chairman said, “It’s up to him.”

Trump claimed that he had worn a mask “in the back area” of the Ford manufacturing plant but not while he was visible to the reporters who traveled to Michigan with him.

“I had one on before,” Trump told reporters. “I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”

Asked why he took the mask off, the president argued it was “not necessary” for most of the tour because he is regularly tested for coronavirus.

But public health experts have previously said even those who have previously tested negative for coronavirus should still cover their faces, as the CDC has recommended.

Trump is now participating in a listening session with African-American leaders at a Ford manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which has been repurposed to produce ventilators for coronavirus patients.

During the listening session, the president is sitting in front of a backdrop with the slogan “Transition to Greatness.”

Trump has repeatedly said in recent weeks that the US is “transitioning to greatness” in an effort to put the emphasis on the country’s very gradual reopening, even as the coronavirus death toll approaches 100,000.

Alumni of presidential campaigns have said the slogan is an attempt to deflect attention away from Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, which has been widely criticized, and downplay economic distress as he seeks reelection.

Nearly three quarters of social media users think Trump should be banned or suspended from platforms for spreading false information about coronavirus.

According to a Morning Consult poll of 2,044 social media users, 37% say Trump should be banned for spreading such information, while 36% say he should be temporarily suspended.

There were marked partisan divisions in the polling results. While 23% of Republicans said the president should be banned, 47% of Democrats said the same.

Twitter announced last week that it would apply a new label to tweets containing misleading information about the pandemic.

However, the platform chose not to apply the label to multiple tweets from prominent Trump allies citing a press release that falsely claimed hydroxychloroquine has shown to be an effective treatment against coronavirus.

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale was one of the people circulating the statement from a widely criticized anti-vaccine group.

Trump lashed out against Fox News over Twitter, complaining that the network “is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd,” which of course is not actually the job of a news outlet.

The president said some Fox News hosts and commentators, such as anchor Neil Cavuto and former DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile, “repeat the worst of the Democrat speaking points.”

Cavuto expressed alarm earlier this week when Trump said he has been taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus, even though the FDA has said the anti-malaria drug should only be used as a potential coronavirus treatment in hospital settings.

“If you are taking this as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus, or in a worst-case scenario you are dealing with the virus and you are in this vulnerable population, it will kill you,” Cavuto said Monday. “I cannot stress that enough. This will kill you.”

Trump responded to Cavuto’s concerns by retweeting allies who called the an “idiot,” “foolish,” “gullible” and “an asshole.”