Herman Cain and How We Talk About Covid Deniers (Who Then Get Covid)

Herman Cain (R-GA)

There are too many famous people who die for me to write obituaries on this blog for all of them-it's not a matter of respect, it's a matter of this being a one-man operation, and so I don't write obituaries for more than a handful of individuals (and even then I feel like I occasionally have to make cuts based on time in a particular week).  This article, however, is not going to be an obituary, but rather it's going to be a discussion about something really tragic, and something we need to figure out the correct way to deal with as the Covid pandemic continues to spread-how to we speak respectfully about people who openly defy the face mask and social distancing rules (even though they have the means and ability to not flout these rules through their own personal fame or wealth), and then pay the price for it?

If you haven't seen in the news, this has become increasingly common, most notably with former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.  I'm not going to sugar-coat Cain's legacy; I have spoken in the past with the passing of Margaret Thatcher & John McCain that politicians are not entertainers or artists-they don't leave aside a body of work that's easy to appreciate even if they have complicated personal lives.  I think it's dangerous to eulogize people as "essentially good" when the only reason for their public awareness is through their policies, some of which were considered damaging or misguided.  I'm not going to do that with Herman Cain, but I will admit that the way he passed was tragic.

The politicization of face masks and social distancing by the Trump administration (and many members of the Republican Party) has been one of the most horrifying things that I've ever seen.  It is proven (we've seen it both in science and in other countries) that social distancing and face masks, until there is a vaccine or a cure for Covid-19, is the only way to prevent the disease from spreading & infecting others.  This has been something that the Republican Party has refused to believe, including Herman Cain.  While the tweet has since been deleted, Cain on July 1st applauded the decision by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to not mandate masks at a rally she did with the president in Rapid City, and he was photographed at the June 20th Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, without a mask on.  While there is no way to know for sure whether Cain contracted the virus at the rally on June 20th, he was diagnosed with Covid-19 nine days later, and died four weeks after that.  It is safe to assume that even if he didn't, this sort of casual approach to Covid-19 put Cain in serious jeopardy of dying from the disease that eventually took his life.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Cain isn't the only major Republican who has had this happen.  Rep. Louie Gohmert recently was diagnosed with Covid-19 after refusing to wear a mask at a committee hearing; days later, Rep. Raul Grijalva (who did wear a mask at the hearing), was also diagnosed with Covid-19.  Again, we can't say without a shadow-of-a-doubt that Gohmert gave Grijalva the disease, but his refusal to wear a mask put Grijalva at significantly increased risk to contract the disease he is now battling.

It is a struggle in these situations to not say "I told you so" or to go to the opposite end & admonish people who said "I told you so," and I don't think either side is right, but I do think both sides have a point.  Death is always tragic, preventable death more so, but Herman Cain had thousands of devoted followers, followers that looked to him for leadership; Louie Gohmert represents hundreds of thousands of people in Congress, and unlike almost every American, has the power to not just work to help stop the disease through his individual actions, but also has a vote to help end the Covid-19 pandemic through his role in Congress.  These men have platforms to provide real change, and they also have the financial and job wherewithal to avoid contact with Covid-19.  Herman Cain was a wealthy multi-millionaire who easily could have spent the next year in his house without ever having to work or pay a mortgage payment; Gohmert certainly could have worn a face mask, and could've insisted that most of his work (and his staff's work) be done remotely.  Neither of these men are doctors in an ER or grocery store workers or postal workers where they are needed in person on the front lines...neither of these people are theater performers or restaurant servers or gym trainers whose work is dependent on being there in-person.  They actively have found ways to make other people, including themselves, more vulnerable to the spread of this disease.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how we need to find some semblance of balance if our leaders won't when it comes to handling Covid-19 and public shaming.  But that doesn't mean we lose our right to be angry when our leaders don't behave well, and they suffer the consequences for it.  I don't have enough good karma stored up to admonish a dead man with an "I told you so" and I think it's gross for people to gloat on social media about Cain being wrong...but I cannot pretend that he didn't put himself and others at risk with his actions.  Covid-19 is scary, it's something that we all should be petrified of contracting, and if you (especially if you're a leader or being very open on social media about it) are out there making others more vulnerable, the attacks you are getting should be taken personally, because they come from a place of fear.  Not only fear that you'll make one of our loved ones (or ourselves) sick with this disease, but also that you'll be the next Herman Cain-someone who realized too late that Covid-19 is a health issue & a public crisis we have to beat, not a political issue to try to win clicks.