Former presidential candidate Herman Cain died this week at the age of 74 due to complications from COVID-19. Shortly after his death was announced on Thursday, leftists and anti-Trumpers immediately jumped at the opportunity to blame Trump for his death, given that Cain attended the president’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this past June.
Though there is no evidence that Herman Cain contracted COVID-19 from Trump’s Tulsa rally – not to mention the fact that the rally led to no spike in cases throughout Tulsa – media outlets and blue checkmarks on Twitter either inferred or outright blamed the president for Cain’s death.
“The prominent conservative businessman was hospitalized weeks after he attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 20 June, where he served as a surrogate for the Black Voices for Trump committee,” the Independent reported. “Cain had been critically ill with Covid-19 for several weeks, after being admitted to hospital in early July and receiving oxygen.”
“I feel bad for Herman Cain and his family. But I don’t feel bad for his selfishness, his mocking of a deadly disease, nor convincing others that it is safe to go maskless. I refuse to have sympathy for those who put my family in danger. Wear a motherf***ing mask,” tweeted Tony Posnanski.
“Herman Cain is dead. He didn’t wear a mask. Louie Gohmert didn’t either. He’s asymptomatic. Who knows who he’s killing. See a theme? They’re #DyingForTrump,” tweeted filmmaker Chip Franklin.
“Herman Caín thought Covid was a hoax, scoffed at wearing a mask. Died of Covid. Bill Montgomery, co-founder of pro-Trump, Turning Point USA, scoffed at virus. Died of Covid. Rep. Gohmert refused to wear a mask. Has Covid. See a pattern? Covid doesn’t care about partisanship,” tweeted Ana Navarro-Cardenas.
“Herman Cain attended Trump’s Tulsa ‘rally’ with 6000 others. Few wore masks. All cheered wildly as Trump bragged about his conquest of the West Point ramp and drinking water with two hands for 45 minutes. Cain contracted the virus soon after. Today, he is dead. It wasn’t worth it,” tweeted former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt.
“Just the facts – Herman Cain went to the [Trump] TULSA SUPERSPREADER rally – no mask. The campaign squashed people close so the crowd would look bigger. They cheered for their President for hours. Cain tested positive for COVID nine days later. Now Herman Cain is dead,” tweeted Mika Brzezinski.
As already noted, no evidence has been presented indicating that Herman Cain contracted COVID-19 from the Tulsa rally, though it is possible he contracted it from not wearing a mask in other areas. A study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research found there was no noticeable spike in COVID-19 cases following Trump’s rally.
“No evidence that COVID-19 case growth grew more rapidly in Tulsa County, its border counties, or in the state of Oklahoma than each’s estimated counterfactual in the weeks following the campaign rally,” said the study, based on data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Difference-in-differences estimates also provide no evidence that short-run COVID-19 case rates grew faster in counties that drew relatively larger shares of residents to the event,” the summary said. “We conclude that offsetting behavioral responses to the rally — including voluntary closures of restaurants and bars in downtown Tulsa, increases in stay-at-home behavior and displacement of usual activities of weekend inflows, and smaller-than-expected crowd attendance — may be important mechanisms.”
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