Donald Trump says he looks like Lone Ranger in a mask and likes it

After long resisting wearing a mask in public, Donald Trump says it makes him look like the Lone Ranger — and he likes it.

‘It looked like the Lone Ranger’: Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

After long resisting wearing a mask in public, Donald Trump said on Thursday AEST he thinks it makes him look like the Lone Ranger — and he likes it.

“I’m all for masks. I think masks are good,” the President told Fox Business. “People have seen me wearing one.”

Mr Trump’s comments came a day after congressional Republicans suggested that he wear a mask in public to set a good example for Americans.

“If I were in a tight situation with people, I would absolutely,” he said.

Mr Trump has long resisted being photographed in a mask. In early April, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures were difficult to maintain.

Mr Trump undercut the CDC guidance by flatly stating that he wouldn’t be following it, suggesting it would be unseemly for the Commander in Chief to wear a mask as he meets with heads of state.

On Thursday, he sounded a different tone, saying: “I had a mask on. I sort of liked the way I looked. OK. I thought it was OK. It was a dark black mask, and I thought it looked OK.

“It looked like the Lone Ranger. I have no problem with that, and if people feel good about it, they should do it.”

In recent days, many Republicans and members of the White House coronavirus task force have been more outspoken in advocating for Americans to wear face masks in public settings as infections have surged in huge swathes of the South and West. The presumptive Democrat presidential nominee, Joe Biden, said last week that he would pursue a federal mask mandate, if elected.

Mr Trump criticised Mr Biden for wearing a mask while he is some distance away from his audience and for speaking through the covering at times. “When there’s nobody around, I don’t see any reason to be wearing it,” Trump said in a told America This Week.

White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway noted on Thursday that Mr Trump was regularly tested for the coronavirus, as were his aides.

Only one image has surfaced of Mr Trump wearing a mask. He donned it for a behind-the-scenes tour of a Ford factory in Michigan in May.

AP