Herman Cain, a Republican politician who ran for president during the 2012 election cycle, has passed away. He died Thursday morning after a month-long battle with COVID-19. In late June, Cain was seen at president Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which occurred in the midst of a pandemic. The event received backlash from local officials as well as residents who feared it could be a major spreader of the novel coronavirus.
In a post on his Twitter account, Cain is seen with several other people in the Tulsa convention with no mask, sitting less than a foot from several other attendees. At the time, he was not sick with COVID-19. In the photo’s caption, Cain notes he is “having a fantastic time”. Thursday morning, after the news of Cain’s passing broke, the tweet in question was full of “I told you so” comments about Cain’s cavalier attitude to COVID in June.
Herman Cain ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2012, in the same field as Mitt Romney. However, in late 2011, Cain suspended his campaign amidst allegations of sexual harassment. Cain categorically denied these allegations, though this didn’t stop him from suspending his campaign. Following this, Cain largely retreated from the public eye. However, he was an ardent supporter of Donald Trump.
Cain often tweeted his public support for Trump under the banner of “Black Voices for Trump,” a vanishingly small contingent of black voters who support the president. Following Cain’s passing, many of his supporters on Twitter noted that they hoped his death would help others realize that responding to COVID-19 is important. The virus, which has sickened over four million Americans and killed some 150,000 others, remains a pandemic in the US.
Public opinion on President Trump has been negative nearly the entire time since he took office. In fact, Trump only barely won the White House in Electoral College votes. He lost the popular vote by some 3 million votes. Moreover, since taking office, Trump’s approval rating has never crested fifty percent.
Now, with the pandemic ravaging the US, public opinion has soured even further on the president. Only 35 percent of people in recent surveys have reported supporting the president. While older Americans worry about knee arthritis treatments and Medicare, now they also have to contend with COVID. Due to his handling of the virus, there is a serious chance that Trump might not win reelection in November.
