Trump Told Tell-All Authors He Refused Masks In Order To Look Strong

Donald Trump admitted to the authors of a new tell-all book that he flouted his own government’s coronavirus guidelines and didn’t wear a mask to protect against COVID-19 because he feared it would make him look weak.

The former president told Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker “about the importance in his mind of looking strong, looking healthy, looking impenetrable,” Leonnig told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi on Tuesday.

Trump ended up contracting the coronavirus in October 2020 and was hospitalized for three days with dangerously low oxygen levels.

“I will tell you that we learned in our reporting that the chief of staff, Mark Meadows at the time, counseled the medical advisers and political advisers, ‘No way, he can’t wear a mask, he’s already dug in on this, he can’t do it, because his base will basically rebel,’” said Leonnig.

Leonnig and Rucker’s “‘I Alone Can Fix It’: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year” was released Tuesday.