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Trump Campaign Manager Debuts Trump-Branded Face Mask; Twitter Critics Flip

The irony of the reelection slogan "Keep America Great" on required protective gear amid a pandemic was not lost.
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President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign manager, Brad Parscale, tweeted images Thursday of “Keep America Great”-branded face masks.

The irony was not lost on many Twitter users, who pointed out the president persistently dismissed the threat of the coronavirus, leading to a severe outbreak in the United States that has claimed more than 75,000 lives. The production of these promotional masks seems a particularly absurd move given the administration’s failure to help provide adequate personal protective equipment for health care workers and Trump’s own refusal to wear a mask at events despite safety guidelines.

Trump said Thursday he and his staff would be tested daily for coronavirus after a military aide with whom he’d interacted had tested positive for the virus. Parscale said the image of him wearing the mask was shot at the White House “pre-covid results”:

Walking into the @WhiteHouse today pre-covid results. #maga @realDonaldTrump face mask. More coming soon! pic.twitter.com/fn16W8YFP5

— Brad Parscale - Download our Trump 2020 App today! (@parscale) May 7, 2020

Those wanting a different color! pic.twitter.com/Dqww6Ya7l8

— Brad Parscale - Download our Trump 2020 App today! (@parscale) May 7, 2020

A campaign representative told HuffPost that the campaign is giving the branded masks away.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the campaign was ordering Trump-branded masks in an effort to connect with older voters who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 and are increasingly supporting presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. These masks would be given away at events in return for donations, the Journal reported.

In a bizarre twist, a similar scenario played out in a February episode of “Saturday Night Live,” in a mocking skit featuring a top administration official proposing “Make America Great Again” masks made in China.

This was literally an SNL skit.https://t.co/8tlbVDw2PO pic.twitter.com/PBMep2f1ol

— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) May 1, 2020

Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence ― whose name was also featured on the mask ― have faced backlash in the past two weeks for not wearing masks in public.

And Parscale has been the subject of scrutiny this week for collecting $38.9 million from the president’s reelection committees between January 2017 and the end of March.

Here’s how Twitter users responded to the new product:

I’m not sure what’s worse — that you’re brazenly hawking campaign merchandise from the White House, or that you were dumb enough to put KEEP AMERICA GREAT on the medical protective gear we all have to wear now. https://t.co/qGQ7Cv2XLI

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 8, 2020

Reminds me of that time we sold Obama-branded PPE during the Ebola cris—oh wait, of course that didn't happen because it's insane.

— Ezra Mechaber (@ezramechaber) May 8, 2020

Gotta say, I didn’t have Trump branded plague masks on my apocalypse bingo card. https://t.co/U90Hzfnkdg

— Leah McElrath 🏳️🌈 (@leahmcelrath) May 7, 2020

Talk about leaning into it. #TrumpGrift #TrumpDeathGrift https://t.co/vInkjXwf2I

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) May 8, 2020

Were these made in China?

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) May 7, 2020

This story has been updated with comments from the campaign.


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