In Break With Trump, Sean Hannity Just Told A Surprising Truth About Face Masks

Breaking with President Trump on the issue of face masks, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity had some stern words for Memorial Day partygoers during his Tuesday evening broadcast. The TV personality’s comments came in response to a viral video of a holiday weekend celebration at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, where individuals were seen without face masks and ignoring social distancing guidelines.

"Look, I understand these are young people. Experts keep saying over and over they are at [a] much lower risk. But, if they do get this — and again, there's no mask-wearing here that I see, not much at all; I see no social distancing — but if they get the virus and then are in contact with older and more vulnerable Americans that could be a disaster for others," Hannity said.

"That's why, in a short period of time — it's only temporary — if you can't social distance, please wear the mask," the commentator lectured. "Do it for your Mom, your Dad, your Grandma, your Grandpa."

Hannity’s comments came after a holiday weekend during which Americans seemingly disregarded the advice of the nation’s leading health experts and spent time in public recreation areas in close proximity to one another without masks. As coronaviruses cases continue to rise in 17 states, health officials have warned such actions risk a potential second wave of infections if Americans don’t follow social distance guidelines.

For his part, Hannity was trying to reinforce the message.

"You don't have to listen to me. I'm not a doctor," Hannity acknowledged. "But, we also need to use some common sense. You need to be cautious, take precautions, because we don't want it to spread to vulnerable people. We've seen what happens when we do."

The comments by Hannity, a vocal supporter of President Trump, seemingly come in contrast to those of his fellow Fox broadcaster, Brit Hume. On Monday, Hume, the senior political analyst for Fox News, mockingly tweeted a photo of presidential candidate Joe Biden wearing a face mask at a Memorial Day commemoration ceremony in Delaware. “This might help explain why Trump doesn’t like to wear a mask in public,” Hume tweeted Monday evening. The White House also mocked the former vice-president, with President Trump subsequently retweeting Hume’s social media post. And on Tuesday, President Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, also seemed to downplay the importance of wearing a face mask in public.

Not every GOP leader was following the President’s lead, however. Republican leaders such as Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota have appealed to their constituents to put public health interests above politics. “I would really love to see in North Dakota that we could just skip this thing that other parts of the nation are going through, where they’re creating a divide — either it’s ideological or political or something — around mask versus no mask,” Burgum said at a news conference last Friday.

Yet with America crossing the sobering threshold of 100,000 deaths from the lethal coronavirus pandemic, the issue of face masks remains a major national fault line, and an increasingly partisan one. A recent poll by CNBC/Change Research found that while more than 9 of 10 Democrats say they are wearing face masks in public, less than half of Republicans say the same.

As America heads into a deeply divisive presidential election, on Tuesday Sean Hannity gave a brief reminder that there are some things that transcend partisanship. So regardless of whether you are a Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN viewer, or none of the above, perhaps take heed of what Hannity said – maybe just this once. And even if you don’t think you need to wear a mask, to paraphrase Sean Hannity (something many of us might never thought we would do):

If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your parents and your grandparents.