Trump uses campaign email to ask supporters to wear masks

The shift to encouraging mask-wearing was primarily motivated by floundering poll numbers, a source familiar with the President’s thinking told CNN last month, and came nearly three months after he publicly announced new mask recommendations from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and two months since he mocked his election rival Joe Biden for wearing one.

In Monday’s email, Trump highlighted mask wearing as a potential means of accelerating a return to normal life, lamenting the effects of the coronavirus using a stigmatizing and inaccurate term for the virus.

“I don’t love wearing them either. Masks may be good, they may be just okay, or they may be great,” the email continued. “They can possibly help us get back to our American way of life that so many of us rightfully cherished before we were so terribly impacted by the China Virus.”

Trump added, “My feeling is, we have nothing to lose, and possibly everything to gain, including the next chapter to our country, and to keep things open whether it be schools or businesses.”

Despite Trump’s change of message, masks have loomed as a sticking point for some of his legislative allies.