Who’s that snowflake?
Former Vice President Dick Cheney — a staunch conservative Republican — isn’t politicizing the wearing of face masks.
“Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK” wrote his daughter Liz Cheney, accompanying a photo of her 79-year-old dad looking the part of an outlaw in his cowboy hat and mask.
The Wyoming congresswoman hashtagged the photo she posted to Twitter: #realmenwearmasks .
Both Cheneys are conservative hawks, though their advocacy of face masks, which health experts say will help minimize the coronavirus pandemic that has killed 120,000 Americans, puts them at odds with hard-core right-wingers like President Trump who choose not to wear facial coverings.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said that wearing a mask in public to combat the spread of the coronavirus is a sign of leadership and called Trump a “fool” who was “stoking deaths” for suggesting otherwise.
Trump retweeted a post that made fun of a photo of Biden in his mask.
“He’s supposed to lead by example,” Biden said.“It’s just absolutely this macho stuff. It’s cost people’s lives.”
Coronavirus is especially dangerous to the elderly and those with preexisting medical conditions. The former vice president has a long history of cardiovascular problems that began with his first heart attack at 37.
In 2012, he had a heart transplant.
“One thing about being macho is being fearless,” said Melanye Price, a political science professor at Prairie View A&M University. “But that fearlessness comes at a cost for every single person around you.”
Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Mitch McConnell have also pushed for Americans to side with science and don masks.
The White House argues that Trump is regularly tested for coronavirus, as are the people around him.
However, the example the president sets has been blamed for inspiring an anti-intellectual movement that stands to make the pandemic longer and more deadly.
Vice President Mike Pence often forgoes masks as well.