Fauci said the opening of an aggressive country that Trump fought for had backfired because people without masks were celebrated in bars and crowds.

“This is a violation of the principles of what we are trying to do, and that is social distance, wearing masks,” Fauci told NPR on Wednesday.

The reality suggested by such a warning has helped to change the debate about wearing masks.

On Wednesday, Trump offered the first signs that he understood the box he had made for himself on a mask, which according to medical experts could contain droplets that could infect people and surfaces and facilitate the spread of the corona virus.

“Somehow, I did not see it myself,” the president said in April.

Baby Trump stepped on the mask

But the problem is not whether Trump has worn a mask in person. Seeing the President lead with face masks will be a strong signal to millions of loyal supporters – especially those in conservative southern countries where wearing masks is favored and viruses are getting worse, fast.

So far, Trump, who often refuses to take risks with the support of his base – the choices faced by all presidents sooner or later – has not yet taken the risk. That it had taken him so long meant that if he finally got out of Air Force One with a mask, he would cause a commotion and he might be denied political benefits, such a step could win him earlier.

It is not at all surprising that the President has become prominent in the matter of wearing a mask. The more his political position weakens ahead of the election, the more he adopts attitudes – on issues such as viruses, race and foreign policy – that seem to appeal to his most loyal supporters.

Trump’s apostasy masked an act of rebellion against established figures and scientists and government professional officials with whom he fought an internal war since he took office. This is a natural fit for life-time outsiders who are personally and politically compelled to break the rules.

The President’s softened position on Wednesday about wearing a mask came after many of his political allies implicitly rejected his attitude, repeatedly stressing that wearing a mask was not a political act but a humanitarian gesture.

“We must not have a stigma, nothing, about wearing a mask,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican member of Kentucky, said Tuesday. In Texas, which was hit hard at the weekend, Vice President Mike Pence – who has spent weeks undermining government messages on the issue and was reluctant to fight with his boss – was supported wearing a mask. Pence still, however, does not go all in – usually saying that wearing a mask must be done in a place “indicated” by local authorities.

Some Republicans have tried to walk back to a previous silence about steps contrary to the conservative talk show dogma by finding ways to make masks wear more politically palatable. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who is a strong ally of Trump, suggested that with Independence Day approaching, Americans should show their patriotism with their faces covered in red, white and blue. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, has appeared sparkling in a checkered mask reminiscent of the red and black shirt he wore when he hiked across his country and was elected governor several decades ago.

Trump is still denying it

Trump’s apparent change in the use of masks may not be an appropriate change in his rejection of a worsening crisis and refusal to provide strong presidential leadership.

In the same Fox Business interview, he claimed that “we did everything right” on coronavirus, a pandemic which he initially ignored, then mismanaged and politicized, and finally ignored again with even more than 127,000 Americans now dead.

“We do a good job. We are credited with doing a great job,” he said, before returning his prediction based on fantasy about viruses.

“We are back in a very strong style. … And I think we will be very good with coronavirus. I think at some point it will just disappear. I hope,” Trump said.

If the President does not yet have an epiphany about the worsening situation, which has caused nearly half the country to slow down or stop their reopening plans, what can motivate him?

If noting a new infection rate, filling a hospital, and an average of 1,000 deaths per day in America cannot make him take this pandemic seriously, one thing is still possible: the impact of the disaster on hopes of re-election.

A split arises in Trump’s inner circle about whether the President should openly turn his attention to the virus that he has been ignoring for days or continue to open up the economy, sources who know the problem told Jim Acosta, Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak of CNN .

Some Trump aides, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and son-in-law Jared Kushner, are beginning to worry about the chance of re-election of the President and have urged focus on the economy. But other advisers believe he suffered severe damage amid a pandemic.

“There is a fair amount of concern,” one adviser said, describing the president as “frustrated” with recent polls indicating Biden could win the November election with a wide margin.