Recently, one-time 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain died after weeks of battling the Coronavirus. One of Cain’s last public appearances before his death was at Donald Trump’s recent rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Cain and many others did not wear a mask and freely intermingled amidst the ongoing nationwide pandemic, as if those in charge — meaning the Trump team — thought that they could just wish the virus out of existence, or something. This Saturday, as Trump left his golf course in Sterling, Virginia, a significant protest crowd had assembled — and someone wrote on the street in chalk: “Trump Killed Herman Cain.” It’s unclear if Cain contracted the Coronavirus at Trump’s Tulsa rally, but there’s a seemingly nonzero chance that he did.
As a report from a White House reporter on the scene explained:
‘There were several Trump supporters holding ‘Trump-Pence’ signs on one side of the street, while protestors with ‘Biden for President’ signs gathered on the opposite side. [On] the protestors’ side, ‘Trump killed Herman Cain’ was written on the road in chalk.’
Pool report: "There were several Trump supporters holding 'Trump-Pence' signs on one side of the street, while protestors with 'Biden for President' signs gathered on the opposite side. [On] the protestors' side, 'Trump killed Herman Cain' was written on the road in chalk."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 1, 2020
Cain is one of the well over 150,000 Americans who have died from the Coronavirus on Trump’s watch. Part of the chalk message connecting his death to Trump is visible in the below photo, credited to reporter Alayna Treene:
Notably enough, in a message that Trump posted to Twitter after Cain’s passing, Trump did not even acknowledge the fact that Cain had died due to the Coronavirus. The message stretched across two tweets and included a photo — it was not haphazard — but nowhere was the virus mentioned. The problem, of course, is that ignoring the Coronavirus crisis won’t make it disappear.
…the phone with his amazing wife Gloria, daughter, Melanie, and son Vincent to express my deepest condolences to the entire family. @FLOTUS Melania and I loved Herman Cain, a great man. Herman, Rest In Peace! pic.twitter.com/GNUf5jHjX0
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020