Kamala Harris clarified Joe Biden’s national face mask mandate that he plans to put in place if he is elected president in November.
Biden, who is campaigning from his beach house in Delaware, has previously said he will order a nationwide mask mandate if he is elected.
But the former vice president’s running mate says the Democrats’ plan for a national mask mandate is “a standard” and no one will be punished for not wearing one.
“It’s a standard,” she said in a sit-down interview Today’s Craig Melvin. “I mean nobody is going to be punished. Come on”
Harris admitted mask-wearing isn’t fun, saying, “Nobody likes to wear a mask. This is a universal feeling, right? So that’s not the point – ‘hey, let’s enjoy wearing masks,'” she said. “No, the point of this is that we are responsible people who love our neighbor, we have to just do that right now.”
“God willing, it won’t be forever,” she added.
But all indications are that the mandate will go into effect if Biden is elected president. The Democrats’ are pushing face mask mandates at least until vaccines are available, which is expected to be in the 1st quarter of 2021.
Harris also explained she and Biden plan to campaign together during the weakening pandemic.
“You know, Joe, that’s one of the things that he and I have in common. We love to interact with people,” she said.
Harris said she and Biden plan to campaign “in every way that we can in a way that will be safe for the people we are meeting with, right?”
“It would be irresponsible of us to try and pack people into a situation where they cannot safely social distance,” she said.
She seemed to be referring to President Donald Trump’s packed RNC speech on Thursday night, where 1,500 invited guests mingled on the White House’s South Lawn.
Very few RNC attendees wore face masks or social distanced.
“And that’s one of the problems, frankly, with the way Donald Trump conducts himself,” Harris continued. “Because it really, it appears to be more about the people around him and himself, doing what is necessary to feed his ego, as opposed to what is necessary to feed the needs of the American people.”
Biden also commented on Trump’s packed RNC speeches on a fundraising call from the comfort of his beach home on Thursday evening.
Biden said the Democratic ticket wants to campaign in-person in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Arizona after Labor Day, which is next weekend.
Biden, who has been dubbed “The Manchurian candidate” by some on social media, said if he and Harris do travel, there would not be “irresponsible rallies” like Trump’s well-attended events.
“I’m a tactile politician,” he said. “I really miss being able to, you know, grab hands, shake hands, you can’t do that now.”
“We’re going to do it in a way that is totally consistent with being responsible, unlike what this guy’s doing,” Biden said of Trump. “He’s on the White House lawn tonight, first of all, violating the Hatch Act, virtually throwing every major rule in the dustbin.”
“So what we’re working on is how I get out. I’m going to be traveling throughout the country where I can do it consistent with the state rules about how many people can be assembled,” Biden said.
