“Ron, there is a retail trade group that has asked President Trump to institute federal, nationwide mask guidelines at stores across the country as the country continues to re-open,” said anchor Alex Marquardt. “Experts are saying that masks could save thousands of lives in the coming months. Do you see a scenario in which — any chance in which he would issue that?”
“I think the short answer is no, and for a revealing reason,” said Brownstein. “He is in a trap of his own construction. On coronavirus, we talk all the time about how President Trump’s base is bonded to him, immovably. He’s also bonded to the base in the other direction, that he is very reluctant to get out crosswise with a base that includes the kind of people that showed up at the Michigan capitol to protest lockdown without wearing masks and waving Confederate flags and carrying automatic weapons.”
Brownstein nicely describes Trump’s base (‘without wearing masks and waving Confederate flags and carrying automatic weapons’).
Via Trump fears his base will turn on him if he flips and calls for nationwide mask guidelines.