The Florida Republican senator, who clearly has national ambitions, thought he had found an easy win when he came across a video of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arriving in the Philippines — masked and wearing a face shield.
“Our @SecDef is vaccinated,” Rubio tweeted along with the video. “But he arrives in the Philippines wearing a mask AND a face shield Embarrassing COVID theatre.”
Boom. Roasted. Take that liberals and your virtue signaling!
Except that, well this — from Politico defense editor Dave Brown:
“From the embassy: ‘The Philippine government has mandated that everyone must wear full-coverage face shields together with face masks while in public places. Local governments continue to implement additional requirements to slow the virus’ spread.'”
Oomph. Actually, OOMPH.
Brown just played Vince Carter to Rubio’s Frédéric Weis. (If you know, you know.)
The problem here — aside from Rubio being wrong — is that he is desperately trying to throw red meat to the Republican base that he needs for both his 2022 reelection race and a possible 2024 presidential run.
And the way to do that — since Trump has politicized mask-wearing (and mask not-wearing) — is to blast a Biden Cabinet member for, uh, being careful in the face of a highly transmissible strain of a virus that has killed more than 610,000 Americans.
Which, even if Austin wasn’t in keeping with the masking regulations from the Philippine government, would be a dumb argument.
But given that, Rubio’s self-own is particularly painful.
The Point: Wearing a mask isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of concern and care for those among us who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons. Rubio, a sitting US senator, should know waaaaay better.
