Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is worried President Trump’s campaign events will contribute to the spread of COVID-19 but isn’t too worried about Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign events.
Speaking to Anderson Cooper on Tuesday evening, Whitmer said Trump’s visit this week is “distressing.” She didn’t express the same level of concern about Biden’s Wednesday visit, saying that the campaign “is scrupulously following the science” and that “they want to keep their supporters and the general public safe.”
The governor said that events like the one the Trump campaign plans to hold “threaten all that sacrifice that we’ve made” to stop the spread of coronavirus in Michigan.
“I don’t doubt that there will be people who want to show up at that [Trump] event and will take the lead from the man himself and drop their guard and could subject themselves to COVID-19.”
Michigan requires that masks are worn indoors and in outdoor spaces where social distancing isn’t possible.
Whitmer, a Biden campaign chairwoman, said she is concerned that the Trump campaign would encourage attendees not to wear masks. In July, Trump said he supports the use of masks and later called wearing one a “patriotic act.” Masks, hand sanitizer, and temperature checks will also be given to every attendee at the president’s campaign event in Michigan.
Biden has called for a three-month national mask mandate to stop the spread of COVID-19, describing donning the mask as a civic duty and saying “it’s not about your rights” when it comes to wearing a face covering.
Biden’s campaign events have been small, socially distant gatherings, often with only reporters in attendance. The former vice president has been a fierce critic of Trump’s coronavirus strategy, saying he would be wiling to institute a national lockdown.
Sarah Hasse, the Trump 2020 assistant press secretary, told the Washington Examiner that “throughout the pandemic, Gretchen Whitmer has proven herself to be a power-hungry hypocrite, establishing rules for others that she refuses to obey herself.”
She added that Whitmer’s “double standard on President Trump and Joe Biden traveling to Michigan has nothing to do with coronavirus and everything to do with partisanship.”
