Brit Hume: Joe Biden looked ridiculous, didn't need to wear his mask to Memorial Day event
President Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden trade barbs over wearing masks during coronavirus pandemic; reaction from Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume.
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Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume told "The Story" Tuesday that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden looked "ridiculous" by wearing a black face mask when he made his first public appearance in more than two months on Monday.
"He is with his wife, with whom he's been quarantined for, what, 10 weeks? Something like that. Nine weeks?" Hume told host Martha MacCallum. "He's not a COVID carrier. So the idea you're wearing a mask to protect someone else doesn't seem to apply here, especially the fact that [he] is outdoors, where there's very little empirical data indicating that the virus spreads very easily outdoors ..."
BIDEN WEARS MASK AT MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY, AS HE LEAVES HIS HOME FOR FIRST TIME IN TWO MONTHS
"If you look at all the other video of the event," Hume added, "he [Biden] sat well in his six-foot range for nearly everybody he comes in contact with, and you really don't get it by simply passing somebody."
Hume tweeted Monday evening that Biden's masked appearance "might help explain why Trump doesn’t like to wear a mask in public." The president retweeted that tweet, causing a minor furor.
"It's amazing to me that this issue of whether to mask or not mask has become a huge flashpoint," Hume said. "And it's breaking down on the same lines that every controversy around this whole COVID-19 outbreak has broken down. And that is, it's largely political.
"People who tend to be conservative and/or support Donald Trump tend to think that the danger of this outbreak has been overblown. And people who think it's absolutely terrifying and we're all likely to die, I think, tend to be people who do not support Mr. Trump and are not conservatives. And that's just the way it goes. And it's remarkable because, you know, there's a lot of hard data out there that one can look up and read."
Biden blasted Trump for not wearing a mask in public during an interview on CNN Tuesday.
“The president’s supposed to lead by example," Biden said. "I watched the president yesterday wearing no mask – and some making fun of the fact that I wore a mask. The truth of the matter that I think you’re supposed to lead by example."
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Hume disagreed, arguing that Biden was not in a situation that merited wearing a mask.
"I don't think it makes much of an example to wear a mask ... in a situation where nearly all the data we have indicated that is not necessary. And on top of that, it looks absurd," Hume said. "And of course, you know, as vain as Donald Trump is -- I mean, think of what he goes through every day to prepare himself to be seen.
"You know, he goes through this whole ritual with his hair, [which] he sprays into submission and he's got it combed up in a certain way so that it covers his forehead. He's obviously very, very concerned about his appearance. A lot of people don't think he has very good taste. But this is the way he wants to look and he cares a lot about it and doesn't like to look any other way."
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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