It is time for President Donald Trump to "cover his mouth" — with a mask, political strategist Dick Morris told Newsmax TV on Monday.
"Well, this is an odd situation, with the thing that a politician needs to do is to cover his mouth," Morris told "Spicer & Co." "In this case, it means a mask. Trump needs to wear a mask."
According to experts, the virus has been growing because people aren't wearing masks, not because states reopened too quickly, Morris added. Not only that, but if the economy shuts down, Trump's chances of being reelected will suffer, he said.
"If we don't all begin to wear masks, we're going to face the need to shut down the economy again, and maybe cancel the Republican convention in Jacksonville, and those will both badly hurt Trump's reelection," said Morris, adding masks will help protect people's health.
Trump should also resume his coronavirus task force briefings, and he should speak at them, but not answer questions, Morris said.
"He should practice doing an about-face and exit after he does his speech and let the staff and the VP take questions," he added. "Reporters use this the same way they warm up the bull in the bullfights in Spain, to annoy the bull until he gets crazy and they get a chance to kill him. He can't let himself do that again."
Taking part in the meetings will also change the public's impression he is not taking the COVID-19 epidemic seriously.
"He can do it by masking," Morris said. "You say to people, look, four or five months ago the real issue was to stay home, not wear a mask, and it's become clear now that we don't have to stay home. We shouldn't stay home. But we should wear masks."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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