Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden sported a face-obscuring combination of black mask and black sunglasses during a Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremony, triggering an avalanche of memes and derision from the Trump camp.
The former vice president ventured outside his home for the first time in more than two months to lay a wreath at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware, on Monday. Along with his wife and a Secret Service detail, Biden wore a black face mask, the color presumably symbolizing mourning. Coupled with his trademark black aviator sunglasses, however, the get-up left little of his face visible.
Trump supporters seized on the rare appearance by the candidate, who has only been seen by video link from his basement studio since March 15, amid what would normally be peak campaign season. The contrast between the president, who has infamously refused to wear a mask while conducting business largely as usual (minus the large public rallies he was holding before the coronavirus hit), and the mask-encased Biden was too much for some.
Me on yesterday’s livestream:
‘Only a complete idiot would wear a mask outdoors’
Many were quick to reference Biden’s latest “gaffe,” in which he let out that African-American voters who didn’t pick him in November “ain’t black”…
The Biden campaign had Joe’s mask retro fitted with a ball gag under his mask to prevent any other, uh racist “gaffes”. Don’t worry, he complied willingly. lol 😅😂🤣#JoeBidenIsRacistpic.twitter.com/0Wu5NeTWdY
Indeed, the candidate said very little to reporters beyond “it feels good to be out of my house” and an admonition to Americans to “never forget the sacrifices these men and women made.”
Others joked about his wandering nose, also hidden beneath the mask. “Sources tell me They put some women’s shampoo by the nose so he won’t smell anyone,” one user snarked.
