On Monday evening, Donald Trump left the Walter Reed Medical Center, made a whole show of toxic masculinity, desperate to prove himself 'stron,' boarded Marine One, and upon return to the White House, unmasked himself on a White House balcony. But cameras at the White House caught a man winded, run down, short of breath, gasping for air, despite being on a powerful steroid and a myriad of other treatment, including highly experimental ones.
Trump looks like he is gasping for air pic.twitter.com/4k2v4Jxlir
— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) October 5, 2020
Joe Biden -- the major party presidential candidate who has taken COVID seriously and taken precautions to protect himself and those around him, and thankfully continued to test negative -- also had an event on Monday evening: he appeared in a Miami townhall with NBC News and took questions directly from voters.
In the townhall, the former Vice President address a range of issues, but the contrast between him as someone who has the capacity to listen to scientists and protect Americans and Donald Trump as a self-absorbed jerk willing to put their own loved ones at risk just to appear macho and project a tough-guy image.
As if designed to dismantle Donald Trump's carefully crafted strongman image of the president returning to the White House and taking off his mask, pretending to show that he - Donald Trump - isn't afraid of COVID, Biden pounced on the real purpose of wearing a mask: not out of fear for oneself but to keep those around us safe. Our masks protect our friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers. Protecting those around us, Biden said, should be viewed as a patriotic duty.
Not only did Biden draw a sharp contrast with Trump, in less than a minute, Biden demonstrated what the job of an American president is: it is not to be selfishly concerned with their own image, gain, or health, but to be predominantly concerned with the safety, health, and protection of ordinary people who do not have access to the White House medical team and a presidential suite at Walter Reed to care for them when they fall ill. Biden, without having to say it explicitly, brilliantly laid out for all to see that Trump is only concerned about himself, while he, Biden, will be a president for everyone.
And this is the message that Americans are flocking to, tired of the self-obsessed drama of Donald Trump.
Wear a mask. pic.twitter.com/TSuLuzAXEB
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 6, 2020