Arkansas governor: Trump, all leaders need to ‘be truthful and realistic’

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said Sunday that President Trump and all leaders need to “be truthful and realistic” when giving guidance on any crisis, including the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Arkansas governor told CBS’s “Face The Nation” that the president’s lack of mask wearing “makes it confusing” for Americans. 

{mosads}“I mean he’s made it very clear that wearing a mask is important,” he said. “I saw him wearing a mask going into polls yesterday. But, obviously, with the rallies, there are confusing messages there.”

He added that the president and “leaders in crisis, always need to do two things.”

“One is to be truthful and realistic,” he said. “And everyone knows that we are going through a very difficult crisis, and it is going to likely get worse as we go into the winter.”

“Secondly, you’ve got to give the American people hope, and that is the vaccine that the administration’s working incredibly hard for.”

Hutchinson acknowledged that the Trump administration is “working hard” on a vaccine, but added “the communication s to what we need to do is an important part as well.”

NEWS: Arkansas’ Republican Gov. @AsaHutchinson says @realDonaldTrump’s messaging on masks “makes it confusing” as to what to do in mitigating the impacts of #COVID19

He says POTUS and leaders in crisis need to do two things: “be truthful and realistic” and give people “hope” pic.twitter.com/HF4H0tLjqo

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 25, 2020

The U.S. has recorded more than 8.5 million coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and almost 225,000 related deaths.