Michael D'Antonio is the author of the book "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success" and co-author with Peter Eisner of "The Shadow President: The Truth About Mike Pence." The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author. View more opinion articles on CNN

(CNN) Who was that unmasked man hovering dangerously close to everyone at the Mayo Clinic? It was Vice President Mike Pence, doing his best imitation of President Donald Trump's super-troll leadership style.

More importantly, he was publicly demonstrating that whatever personal strength he possessed when he agreed in 2016 to be Trump's understudy has now pathetically withered.

Michael D'Antonio

To recap Tuesday's travesty: Pence was hosted by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for a rare high-level visit to the frontline of the pandemic that has killed nearly 60,000 Americans in two short months .

The Mayo Clinic tweeted that Pence and his team were told ahead of time that the clinic required visitors to wear a medical mask to protect others from the slim, but real, chance that they carried the Covid-19 virus (the clinic's tweet was subsequently deleted).

Everyone Pence met wore one. But he did not. And it makes me wonder if flashing this choice for the press may have been one reason he made the trip.

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