Biden says Trump's trying to be 'macho' after president mocks him for wearing mask: 'He's an absolute fool'
Joe Biden has complained about President Donald Trump being "macho" after the latter mocked him for wearing a mask on Memorial Day.
The former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee donned a black mask coupled with his signature sunglasses on May 25 as he arrived to pay his respects at a veterans' cemetery. However, Trump suggested that his 2020 challenger was only wearing the mask to be "politically correct," The Sun reported.
"He's a fool. An absolute fool to talk that way," Biden told CNN of the president. "This macho stuff, for a guy — I shouldn't get going, but it just, it costs people's lives. It's costing people's lives."
"Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine," he continued. "I mean, every leading doc in the world is saying we should wear a mask when you’re in a crowd."
The former vice president proceeded to compare Trump to "guys" from his school days. “It reminds me of the guys that I grew up with playing ball," Biden reminisced. "They’d walk around with a ball in their hand, but they didn’t like to hit very much."
Trump was addressing reporters at the White House when he attacked Biden, saying he wanted "to be politically correct."
However, Biden brushed off Trump's comments, saying: "No. I just want to wear the mask."
Biden's comments came a day after his first public outing after spending two months at his Delaware residence due to the Covid-19 pandemic putting a halt to in-person campaign events. The former vice president and his wife Jill wore black masks as they laid a wreath at the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
Fox News host Brit Hume tweeted a photo of Biden's face in the mask following the event, with a snarky comment that read: "This might help explain why Trump doesn't like to wear a mask in public." Trump later retweeted Hume.
The president has sparked controversy by not wearing masks, including during his visit to a Ford factory tour in Michigan last week. When asked about it, he said he'd worn one during a private portion of the visit but took it off later because he "didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it." He also didn't wear a mask during a trip to a Honeywell factory in Arizona earlier this month. Ironically, the plant was manufacturing masks for Covid-19 at the time.
During a recent press briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said it was "peculiar" for Biden to wear a mask outdoors considering he doesn't wear one all the time at home.
"It is a bit peculiar, though, that in his basement, right next to his wife, he's not wearing a mask. But he's wearing one outdoors when he's socially distant. So I think that there was a discrepancy there," McEnany said during White House press briefing on May 26.
During his conversation with CNN, Biden also responded to Trump and his re-election campaign's frequent attacks labeling him as senile or playing without "a full deck."
When asked how he would respond to such attacks by Trump, Biden said, "Watch me."
"Look, I mean, talk about a guy who's missing a step," he said of the president. "He's missing something, man."