what is there to celebrate?

WASHINGTON — As America locked down this spring during the worst pandemic in a century, inside the Trump White House there was the usual defiance.

The tight quarters of the West Wing were packed and busy. No one wore masks. The rare officials who did, like Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser, were ridiculed by colleagues as alarmist. Sometimes even mocked and demeaned.

President Donald Trump told staff wearing masks in meetings to “get that thing off,” an administration official said. Everyone knew that Trump viewed masks as a sign of weakness, officials said, and that his message was clear. Take it off or be ridiculed.

“You were looked down upon when you would walk by with a mask,” said Olivia Troye, a top aide on the coronavirus task force who resigned in August and has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. "There was a surreal sense of defiance in the face of scientific facts."

In public, some of the president’s favorite targets were mask-wearers.