Hypocrite!
People don't like being told what to do.
Democratic leaders sometimes get noticed not wearing masks.
It is hard to be consistently good.
This blog has made the point repeatedly that the most powerful political language is body language. I argue that the denoted words of a political actor are almost irrelevant, and the only thing that matters is the visible policy actions they take, combined with the emotional signals they project when they take them. Words don't matter as much as physical body movement, tone, posture, demeanor. People want to know what makes politicians angry or happy or fearful, not what their policies are. People infer the policies from the direction of the emotion. My saying denoted words don't matter at all would overstate my point, but only slightly. Actual words mean something, but actions and revealed emotions speak louder than words. Much louder.
Hollywood celebrities are perceived as being on the blue team. They were photographed at the Emmy awards crowded together, indoors, maskless. The media could not help but notice. It fed a meme, that Hollywood stars are elitists who don't think the rules apply to them. Worse, they required the hired help at the award ceremony to wear masks, but celebrities did not require it of themselves. It was proof positive of elitist hypocrisy. People noticed.
Nancy Pelosi was photographed without a mask when she got her hair washed. California governor Gavin Newsom ate dinner at a fancy restaurant without a mask. Oregon governor Kate Brown was photographed outdoors near her security detail, all maskless. Mistakes happen.
Democrats are taking the hard path. They say people should be virtuous: Get vaccinated, wear a mask, social distance. Do it for your own health and for the health of others. Be good. And because "being good" helps everyone, the public must be good. Therefore, we mandate it.
People resent mandates and they resent rule-makers. Regardless of party or position, we want rule-makers to follow the rules. Democrats howled when they discovered that Donald Trump lives and spends like a billionaire and paid a total of $750 in federal income taxes, less in taxes than a person living in near poverty. We pay burdensome taxes and he doesn't. Unfair. Inconsistent. Hypocrite.
One does not need to be a Fox-viewing Trump supporter to resent mask requirements. The San Francisco Mayor, London Breed, publicly urges SF residents to avoid big gatherings, yet she was noticed and called out for dancing maskless at a crowded club. Her response: "We don’t need the fun police to come in and micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing,” Even the rule-makers resent the rules.
Trump made a virtue out of being bad. Darned right he breaks the rules, and he is proud of it. He sold himself as the guy sticking a thumb in the eye of the Democratic elitists and Deep State tyrants and the fun police with their PC rules about what to say and think. He whipped off his mask and would not be photographed with one. He said it was about freedom, and he sold that idea to his supporters. It was an easy sell. Everyone resents the "fun police" a little, and maybe a lot. The GOP approach makes it easy to be consistent. If you choose to wear a mask, it is because you are considerate, a sign of virtue. If one chooses not to wear a mask or get vaccinated, it is a sign of independence and courage. Either way is on-brand. "Do your own thing" is a "win-win" message.
Democrats have a lose-lose one. People are on the lookout for cracks in the facade of virtue. Eventually, in a world where everyone has a camera, and where political leaders are always "on," someone will slip. The slip de-legitimizes the person promoting virtue and the causes they promote. It is body-language proof of hypocrisy.
Democratic "slips" as regard masks go a long way toward justifying the Republican message on COVID as illegitimate over-reach. Ninety-nine percent compliance is not enough. People saw photographs. They saw body language.