Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said President Trump is no longer welcome in her state after he refused to wear a mask in public while touring a Ford manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Thursday.
During an appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer after the event, Nessel called the action “extremely disappointing” but predictable.
“The president is like a petulant child who refuses to follow the rules,” Nessel said. “This is not a joke, and he’s conveying the worst possible message to people who cannot afford to be on the receiving end of terrible misinformation, and it’s very, very concerning.”
Trump told the press during his visit he wore a mask in areas that were requested he do so but didn’t want to give the media the pleasure of seeing him in one. He said in areas where he provided public comments and spoke to press, the facility’s leadership said it was up to him if he wanted to wear one.
“I was given a choice,” Trump said. “I had one on in an area where they preferred it, so I put it on, and it was very nice.”
Nessel said Trump not wearing a mask sent a message to the American people that he doesn’t care about their safety.
“The message he sent is the same message since he first took office in 2017, which is ‘I don’t care about you,'” Nessel said. “‘I don’t care about your health, I don’t care about your safety, I don’t care about your welfare. I don’t care about anyone but myself.'”
Nessel also said state leadership should have a “serious conversation” with Ford staff about letting Trump be in publicly enclosed places without a mask in violation of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order.
“They knew exactly what the order was, and if they permitted anyone, even the president of the United States, to defy that order, I think it has serious health consequences, potentially to their workers,” she said. “Just on Monday, Ford already had a few plants they had to close down because people were testing positive again. The last thing we want to see is for this particular plant now to have to close its doors and shutter its doors again because someone may have been infected by the president. And that is a real possibility. But it also sends a message that anybody can do whatever they want because ‘look, the president did it, so why can’t I?’ It’s a terrible message to send. It’s incredibly disappointing and is very disrespectful to the people of our state.”
Michigan has had one of the strictest approaches to combating the pandemic, with some of the state’s measures being met with public protests. Michigan is also part of the handful of 2020 battleground states the president is seeking to hold onto in the November election.
Nessel said she hopes the president’s visit today will stay in the minds of voters this fall.
“I am ashamed to have him be president of the United States of America,” Nessel said. “I hope that the voters of Michigan will remember this back when November comes. That he didn’t care enough about their safety. He didn’t care about their welfare. He didn’t respect them enough just to engage in the very simple task. The painless task, the easy task of wearing a mask when he was provided one. And so, I hope we will have a new president soon enough who does respect people more than this president does.”
