The decision by @VP Pence to refuse to wear a mask at the Mayo Clinic today is all too apt a symbol of some very deep and troubling problems. A short thread: (1/5)
First: Not wearing a mask sends the message that it’s OK not to wear a mask, even in a place where medical authorities order the wearing of masks. That’s bad. And irresponsible. (2/5)
More deeply, he’s exhibiting the attitude that rules don’t apply to him. *Everyone else* needs to wear a mask, but he doesn’t. Why not? No practical reason; just ‘cuz I hold high office. It’s an attitude of aristocracy and out of place in a democratic republic. (3/5)
I wish the Mayo Clinic had just said he couldn’t come in. Sorry, Mr. VP: we don’t let unmasked people into the operating theater, and right now we don’t let them in at all. Surely you understand that. (4/5)
I get that it takes courage to bar entry to the VP. But the absence of that courage, in a hundred little ways, is what lets people who don’t respect the rules become a law unto themselves. I wish Mayo had modeled the right behavior. (5/5)
