- The Washington Times - Tuesday, May 5, 2020

President Trump visited Honeywell’s mask-making factory Tuesday, but the choice of music raised some eyebrows.

A clip posted to YouTube by the PBS NewsHour shows Mr. Trump walking through the Arizona facility without a mask to the song “Live and Let Die.”

The song was initially a hit for Wings as the theme to the eponymous James Bond movie and was remade by Guns N Roses in 1991. It was the latter version that echoed through the factory as Mr. Trump talked to Honeywell executives and workers.

Liberal commentators called the music choice — the song was once banned by Clear Channel in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — bizarre and insensitive, given the magnitude of the coronavirus crisis, which has killed more than to 70,000 Americans.

“It’s hard to believe this clip is real,” wrote Aaron Rupar of Vox.

It was unclear whether the music was the choice of the White House or Honeywell, but the Guns N Roses song is frequently played at Trump campaign rallies.

As the clip posted by PBS begins, the music is “The House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals, a hit from the 1960s British Invasion. The subsequent song was “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John. Those songs also are often played at Mr. Trump’s rallies.

In the clip, Mr. Trump is not wearing a mask and neither are most of the nearby executives and government officials accompanying him. The Honeywell line workers are wearing masks, though.

According to the White House, Honeywell had told Mr. Trump that he and other visitors need not wear masks.

The clip does show him wearing protective eyeglasses.

• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.

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