Trump visits mask factory in Arizona as coronavirus spreads
President Donald Trump visited an Arizona face mask factory Tuesday, using the trip to demonstrate his determination to see the country reopen even as the coronavirus remains a dire threat. At the same time, the White House said it hopes to wind down its virus task force in the next month.
At the airport, Air Force One parked next to dozens of grounded commercial airliners with covered engines and taped-over probes and vents. Trump was to spend less than two and a half hours on the ground in Phoenix touring the Honeywell factory and holding a roundtable on Native American issues. But aides said the trip would be worth the nearly eight hours of flight time as a symbolic show that the nation is taking steps back to normalcy.
The White House was been engaged in discussions about winding down its coronavirus task force, which has already been meeting less frequently, Vice President Mike Pence said at the White House. “I think we’re having conversations about that and about what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work and for the ongoing efforts to take place on an agency by agency level,” Pence said. He said the group could wind down its work by early June.
“The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors. We have to open,” Trump declared as he left Washington on a trip that was more about the journey than the destination. “We did everything right. Now it’s time to get back to work,” he said.
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