When President Trump arrived at a Ford plant in Michigan on Thursday, Executive Chairman Bill Ford asked him to wear a mask, and the president said yes, Ford sources told CBS News. But during a roundtable, a tour visible to the media and a speech, the president did not wear a mask, saying he only did so for a brief period away from the press.
“On Thursday, as China played King Kong with Hong Kong; as unemployment rose to 38.6 million; as broken dams unleashed a flood in Central Michigan; as the president continued to stubbornly and recklessly claim he was taking hydroxychloroquine, causing sales to soar; as the news sunk in that if the U.S. had acted even a week sooner on social distancing that 36,000 people might still be alive; as Senate Republicans finally cemented themselves to Trump and his crazy schemes; as Trump stuck to his threat of withholding federal funds to Michigan and Nevada if those states enabled voters to vote; as a partisan know-nothing was put in charge of all our intelligence; as Trump pulled out of another major arms control pact; as Mike Pompeo basked in getting Trump to fire another inspector general (this one looking into a backdoor deal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and brazen grifting by the Pompeos), the cliffhanger president made sure the focus was on just one little thing: Would he or wouldn’t he wear a mask as he toured the Ford plant in Ypsilanti?”
The expectation was that the commander-in-chief would wear a mask for the entire visit, and Ford officials were "surprised" when he didn't, the sources said. Mr. Trump told reporters during the visit he was "given the choice" by Ford to wear one or not, but the sources said no one from Ford told him that.
Meanwhile, former Steelcase CEO Jim Hackett who had to stop doing actual work (i.e. saving the automaker), to greet Trump for what turned out to be a mini version of a reelection rally didn’t need any further excuse to distance himself from Trump. As shown in this photo, Hackett decided that 2 yards were not enough, doubling that instead to 4 yards. It’s a game of inches after all.
Of course Hackett has often shown good judgment when workplace issues are raised. Not so much when picking the head coach for that school up north when he was the temporary Athletic Director. (BTW it’s now 3,100 days since that school has beaten Ohio State, and never with his pick of a head coach who has been paid over $30 million to date.) That being said (and it needs to be said often) it was good to see Hackett keep his hands in his pockets and his face away from Trump. The guy who caused so much winning for The Ohio State University needs to stay healthy.
Finally, as we all now know, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel compared the president to a "petulant child" for not wearing a mask during the visit to Ford.