“One of our problems as a country, is that certain groups want to politicize all,” he stated last week at a press conference. We are currently in the midst of a pandemic. We are trying to encourage Mississippians, based upon data, evidence, and best advice from our experts, to do the right thing. But Reeves, who has been begging and coercing Mississippians for weeks to don a mask to fight the coronavirus, decided to forego the mask when Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for the second term. Reeves was one of the 1,500 people who sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the White House lawn during the president’s acceptance speech. Reeves stated that he was only partially maskless during the event. Trump has been hostile to the wearing of masks for months. He is lukewarm sometimes and hostile when it comes to them. There have been times when Trump has made wearing a mask a political issue. Reeves was making a political statement by joining the president and his supporters in refusing to wear a mask at most public and political events. Reeves made the decision not to wear the mask at White House just days after doing the same thing at an event supporting Dan Forest, North Carolina Republican governoral candidate. Forest has previously questioned the effectiveness masks in preventing COVID-19. It was essentially another political event in which politicians were making a political statement not wearing masks. Reeves participated in those events. Reeves answered a question about the political optics involved in not wearing a mask to the White House. He stated that 366 of the 1,500 people present had been at the Republican National Convention, North Carolina, four days prior to the speech. Reeves stated that everything we did today at COVID-19 was a situation in which we had to weigh the risks and the rewards. I believe this election is important enough, and (because) of our relationship with President Trump, we wanted to be there. Reeves has tried to imitate Trump at times in coronavirus update news conferences as well as on social media. He hasn’t been as at odds with medical experts as Trump sometimes seems to be. Reeves has not mentioned the possibility of ingestion disinfectants as a cure for the coronavirus. Reeves, however, has used COVID-19 to refer to it as “the China virus”, and implied that it was “unleashed,” even though there is no evidence of this happening. When asked recently about the protesters who were causing trouble for the White House by leaving President Obama’s acceptance speech, Reeves said that he was more contentious in the past. Reeves stated that there is no doubt that some of the protesters are acting in an outrageous manner. It is absurd …. I grew up in an America that allowed people to disagree on politics…while still believing we were made in God’s image. It is difficult for me to understand why some of these protesters are acting as they are.” Others might have said the exact same thing in 2010. In 2010, John Lewis, an ex-Georgia U.S. House Member and civil rights icon, was accosted by other African American members as they walked to the Capitol to cast their votes on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Media reports claim they were called “the N-word” by a group and one House member was even spit on. As it did following the speech of the president, law enforcement had to intervene. Lewis stated that “they were shouting, kind of harassing.” It’s fine, I’ve seen this before. It brought back memories of the 1960s. It was downright hatred and anger, and people being downright mean.” Lewis understood more about meanness than most. During the 1960s, Alabama law enforcement literally fractured Lewis’ skull while he marched for equal treatment.