One Cheer For Chris Christie?

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Chris Christie is getting a lot of kudos for this:

I’m reluctant to be churlish about this since Christie is, finally, telling people to wear a mask. At the same time, he’s still playing coy. He didn’t contract COVID-19 at the White House because he didn’t wear a mask, he contracted it because no one else was wearing a mask. He’s just afraid to say so because that’s an implicit criticism of Donald Trump.

Does that matter? Am I just being churlish? Yes it matters, and no, I’m not just being churlish. The problem here is that Christie is fooling people into thinking they can avoid the coronavirus if they wear a mask, and that’s plain wrong. What he should be telling people is that they can avoid the coronavirus if they refuse to attend functions where everyone is going maskless. This is, perhaps, a more difficult message and a more partisan one, but it’s also the one that can actually save lives.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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