Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wore two masks when he traveled to North Carolina for a campaign stop, a cloth one overtop a paper medical mask.
Biden’s double masking was captured by the Daily Mail, which snapped a picture of the candidate as he was stepping off his plane at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
“Biden, who was photographed wearing a white mask under a Navy blue one, was joined by Hunter’s teen daughter, Finnegan, just days after her father’s emails made national headlines,” The Mail reported. “Finnegan also appeared to be wearing a white mask under a Navy blue one that read: ‘Vote.'”
Trump has repeatedly bashed Biden, asking supporters at a rally last month if they know “a man that likes a mask as much” as Biden.
“It gives him a feeling of security,” the president said. “If I was a psychiatrist, I’d say this guy has some big issues.”
In response, Biden called Trump “an absolute fool.” “This macho stuff, for a guy—I shouldn’t get going, but it just, it costs people’s lives. It’s costing people’s lives,” Biden said, adding, “Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine.”
At their first debate on Sept. 29, Trump said he was fine with masks.
“No, I think masks are OK. You have to understand, if you look—I mean, I have a mask right here. I put a mask on when I think I need it. Tonight, as an example, everybody’s had a test and you’ve had social distancing and all of the things that you have to, but I wear masks,” he said.
But then he bashed Biden.
“I don’t wear a mask like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from him and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen. I will say this —” he said before Biden interrupted.
“Well, masks make a big difference. His own head of the CDC said if we just wore masks between now—if everybody wore a mask and social distanced between now and January, we’d probably save up to 100,000 lives. It matters. It matters,” Biden said.
Later, Trump took another shot. “By the way, did you see one of the last big rallies he had? A reporter came up to him to ask him a question, he said, ‘No, no, no. Stand back, put on your mask, put on a mask. Have you been tested? I’m way far away from those other people.’ That’s what he said, ‘I’m going to be okay.’ He’s not worried about you. He’s not worried about the people out there,” he said.
Then Biden said: “He’s been totally irresponsible the way in which he has handled the social distancing and people wearing masks, basically encouraged them not to. He’s a fool on this.”