As The Washington Post reports, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and one-time Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain has died following a month-long struggle with COVID-19:
While it is unclear where Cain, who was 74, contracted the disease, he was among several thousand people who attended a Trump campaign rally in Tulsa on June 20, most of whom did not wear masks. Cain, who co-chaired Black Voices for Trump, was pictured maskless and not socially distancing at the event.
Cain is one of the most prominent Americans to have died of the virus, which has now claimed more than 150,000 lives in the United States. Word of his death comes amid a heightened focus on how seriously Republicans have taken advice from medical experts…
…Cain was hospitalized less than two weeks after attending Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa. He was pictured not wearing a mask at the event, and before being hospitalized, he advertised in a tweet that masks would not be required at an Independence Day celebration that Trump staged at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
“PEOPLE ARE FED UP!” Cain wrote.
We may never know if Cain contracted COVID-19 from attending that infamous June rally for President Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but the actual date of infection is a moot point. Cain was outspoken about his distrust of medical advice surrounding the pandemic and applauded Trump’s distaste for masks and social distancing:
They deleted the tweet this morning, but it’s still appearing if you click through from a link. Less than a month ago Herman Cain tweeted this. He died from COVID-19 this morning. pic.twitter.com/dDAHqA1ov8
— Greg Newkirk 🔦 (@nuekerk) July 30, 2020
News of Cain’s death comes one day after an announcement that Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert — another outspoken anti-masker — had tested positive for COVID-19. Turning Point USA co-founder Bill Montgomery died from COVID-19 complications on Tuesday.
This isn’t a coincidence; if you have followed Trump’s months-long defiance and ignored masks and basic social distancing measures, you are considerably more likely to contract the virus and suffer from its wrath. You can Tweet about COVID conspiracy theories and your strident opposition to basic science as much as you’d like, but it won’t change the fact that scoffing at medical advice makes you more susceptible to COVID-19. People are literally dying because they followed the rhetoric of President Trump.
Cain’s recent political fortunes were not positive, but he was briefly a big name in Republican political circles when he ran for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2011 — and Colorado played a role in that rise. Cain actually won the Presidential candidate straw poll at the 2011 Western Conservative Summit in Denver, which probably says as much about WCS attendees as it does Cain; the former Godfather’s boss flamed out of the race a few months later amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment and adultery.
We can only hope that Cain’s ultimate legacy is to prevent others from contracting COVID-19 by heeding the warning of his death. It might be crass to say that Trumpism is killing its adherents, but it wouldn’t be inaccurate.
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Went to a rally with a comorbidity
Didn't wear a mask
Died of stupidity
And many people, well, some people complain about Sleepy Joe playing it safe with isolation and masks.
I guess it was worth his life to "own the libs".
Imagine surviving the Jim Crow South, somehow managing to prosper, and giving it all up at the end because you wanted the approval of the dumbest racist in the world.
This is Shakesperian-level tragedy.
EXCELLENT!
Now Republicans can see that being stupid ain't worth dying for.
Some of them will still do it. They will convince themselves that Cain's death was Obama's fault. Or Hillary's. Or MSNBC/CNN. Or Soros. Or all of them conspiring to kill him. Q will expose this.
My extended South Dakota family, all white, mostly Republican Trumpers, recently held a funeral service for my ex-mother-in-law. Only 10-20% of the attendees were masked at any time, and the service was held indoors, with singers belting out hymns, standing close together.
Two of them are from SD counties with covid infection rates of over 8%. Yet they still think that only "those people" (Natives, Latinos and others of color and "poor white trash") will become infected, since those are the bulk of folks getting infected at the many meat and dairy plants.
When I questioned the wisdom of going maskless and not distancing, I was told that I was being bitchy and not grieving for the departed. One threatened to block communications. The comments on her post included claims that the virus will just disappear "after the election".
I think that they will see Herman Cain's death as just another one of "those people" who died from the virus, and won't take any lesson from it.
Last week, someone was optimistic about white women Trumpers deserting Trump in November. My experience says that they're just becoming more entrenched.
Soory for your loss- and condilences.
Also condolences hat the family griving doesn't allow for you to grieve your way.
See, the whole corona thing is a hoax – couldn't get him on Russia ot Ukraine so gotta get him on this made up virus.
after Trump is re-elected, the idiots will move on to another Russia, another hoax
I hear it on a regular basis from extended family in Arizona
Thanks for the condolences. I didn’t go to the funeral, though my kids, ex-hubs, son-in-law and granddaughter did. Just hoping all of the well-meant recklessness doesn’t result in new infections – but with 50 people attending an unmasked service, odds are someone will become a new “case”.
Sorry for the loss … and for the differing sense of priorities which results in conflict.
91-divoc website says 7 day average of "new cases/million" in South Dakota is 91, in Colorado is 101.
From my time in South Dakota, I'm thinking there certainly is a fair amount of disassociation between "us" and "them," on any number of dimensions. Unless the illness or death happens in their defined community, it could be dismissed as "different" and thus not much of a threat to them.
When will Trumpism kill Trump?