Chuck Todd, one of the most well-known faces of MSNBC, came under fire Wednesday night for suggesting "the president has turned a corner" when it comes to face masks. During his live broadcast, the anchor attempted to give the president credit for wearing a mask and encouraging others to do so. Critics said that it is far too late for Trump to get any credit on this front.
Todd was discussing the president's recent change of tact when it comes to face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Last week, the Trump administration made a big spectacle of Trump's first public appearance with a face mask on, and since then he has been more enthusiastically supportive of masks in interviews and tweets. However, Trump was also spotted at a public meeting without a mask on Monday evening. Besides that, many Americans have still not forgiven Trump for the months when he was apathetic at best to face masks, against the advice of medical professionals.
Trump and other members of his administration confused the conversation around face masks for the first several months of the coronavirus pandemic. Both he and Vice President Mike Pence went without them on prominent public appointments and refused to concede to critics who said that they should set a better example. Trump also pointedly advertised that face masks were not required at his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma last month, saying that people should only wear them if they wanted to. He remarked that he himself is carefully guarded by the Secret Service, and never comes in contact with someone who has not been tested.
Many analysts have speculated that Trump's recent change of heart on face masks is only an election strategy. This lines up with an NBC News report from earlier this month, where a White House insider said that the Trump administration was preparing for a hard shift in its coronavirus messaging, in order to prepare for the election. The gist of the message was: "learn to live with it."
With all this in mind, many viewers were frustrated or even outraged to hear Todd give the president credit for wearing a face mask. Here is a look at how Twitter responded to that comment.