Funeral services were held today in Washington, D.C., today for the late Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who passed away earlier this week in his sleep.

Dole was 98.

A who’s who of dignitaries, celebrities, and prominent media figures were in attendance for the ceremony, including President Joe Biden, who gave a speech:

The president, accompanied by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, sat in the front row, where they were joined by former President Bill Clinton. Former Vice Presidents Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, and Mike Pence sat in the row behind. Dole’s widow, former Sen. Elizbeth Dole, was escorted to her seat for the service by Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Also at the service were numerous Senators from both political parties including Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Cruz was quietly sitting in his seat while proceedings took place, but his appearance greatly triggered some of the “Usual Suspects” because he happened to be one of the few there who was not wearing a mask.

Reporter Kait Walsh, who works for WPRI 12 in Rhode Island, was watching the event via a live feed and made sure to point out Cruz’s maskless status in her reporting:

Interesting to see who is in attendance at Bob Dole’s funeral. Among those I spotted, Labor Sec Marty Walsh and NBC’s Savannah Guthrie who is sitting next to Tom Hanks. Oh, and Ted Cruz…not wearing a mask.

— Kait Walsh (@KaitLouiseWalsh) December 10, 2021

The problem is, though, that there is no mask mandate now in D.C., which another Twitter user explained and which Walsh appeared to be surprised to find out:

Correct! Looks like it ended in May, based on their website. Stands out because only he and someone else aren’t wearing one (these days, that stands out!), but yeah, he doesn’t need to legally wear one.

— Kait Walsh (@KaitLouiseWalsh) December 10, 2021

The most recent mask mandate actually ended on November 22nd, per order of Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser:

Today, Mayor Bowser announced that on Monday, November 22, the District’s indoor mask mandate will be lifted. Instead of following a blanket mandate, residents, visitors, and workers will be advised to follow risk-based guidance from DC Health that accounts for current health metrics and a person’s vaccination status. Updated guidance will be posted on coronavirus.dc.gov in the coming days. DC Health reminds residents that the strongest protection against COVID-19 is to get vaccinated, and encourages all people, regardless of vaccination status, to consider their risk factors and surroundings carefully when choosing layered mitigations strategies (e.g., wearing a mask, social distancing).

Unfortunately, Walsh wasn’t the only one. Yale professor Howard Forman went nuts after reading a tweet from The Bulwark’s favorite unhinged leftist Molly Jong-Fast on Cruz being one of the few at the service not wearing a mask:

That Ted Cruz feels the need to politicize the pandemic at a funeral is absolutely consistent with the disgusting man he has proven to be.

We need leaders who make challenging decisions in SUPPORT of the public, not in support of personal ambitions. https://t.co/btEHF7fU6y

— (((Howard Forman))) (@thehowie) December 10, 2021

It would seem to me that it wasn’t Cruz who was politicizing masks here. Instead, it was all the people who took the time to make a political issue out of it, like Walsh and Forman.

Now it could be that the Washington Cathedral has some sort of mask requirement. I’m not sure. If they did, it may have been that Cruz talked to someone there and got the okay to go in maskless. I don’t know. But it’s rather telling that instead of focusing on the life and legacy of a patriotic American like Bob Dole that so many were leftists were instead obsessing over Cruz attending the funeral without a mask.

Think they had the same reactions to Joe Biden’s continued flouting of his mask rules and CDC guidelines? That was a rhetorical question, of course. We all know the answer to that one.

Flashback: The One ‘Jill Antoinette Biden’ Photo That Perfectly Illustrates Blazing White House Mask Hypocrisy