You're absolutely right about the 180 that Trump/Fauci/Surgeon General were saying back in January-March about masks. It's completely schizophrenic. It is propaganda and I would argue is purposefully being done to exacerbate the confusion and impact of the pandemic.
Indeed, and to add to the confusion, Fauci has more recently openly admitted that he “lied” to the American public in order to conserve masks for the health care workers. Strange these types think and expect that by admitting to lying, you will convince the people you are now telling the truth and should do what they say!!! If they lied then, they could just as well be lying now. They could easily have wanted to conserve masks not because they are effective, but because they were necessary to increase the fear factor for all the photo ops and msm propaganda, this was at the time all the fear-mongering coverage was taking place in hospitals with masked nurses being interviewed...
The people should at least question if believing an admitted liar without question or further research is wise when he turns around and demands you wear a mask. Apparently deception has become so commonplace and accepted that openly admitting it no longer ruins credibility (among those who accepted that credibility in the first place, at least)...
It’s truly mind-boggling the level of open deception and hypocrisy the propaganda has reached, and I for one am beginning to see absolutely none of this as a response, and all of it as intricately planned steps of a carefully planned operation. The only other logical conclusion seems to be that we have one of the most incompetent governments in the world, which I don’t buy for a second.