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Trump Backtracks on Masks, Calling Them ‘Patriotic’ After Allies Split

  • Long resistant, president tweets photo of ‘Patriotic’ mask
  • Public acceptance can depend on the messenger, experts say
Donald Trump wears a protective mask while visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, on July 11.

Donald Trump wears a protective mask while visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, on July 11.

Photographer: Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg

Updated on

The mask may have reached a tipping point.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday pushed to encourage mask-wearing, explicitly endorsing a measure widely seen as crucial to stemming the coronavirus pandemic, and potentially quelling a bitter debate that experts say costs lives.