MSNBC’s The ReidOut did its part on Thursday night to contribute to the liberal media’s shameless dancing on the grave of the late Herman Cain, suggesting that a sizable segment of the right don’t believe he died from the coronavirus and used him to trash Americans living “in that bubble” of “stupidity” who’ve refused to take the pandemic seriously.
Host Joy Reid pivoted to Cain’s passing after suggesting Senate Republicans wouldn’t stop President Trump from trying to delay the election, giving her “condolences to his family” even though he went to Trump’s June 20 Tulsa rally.
Reid left any decency in the rearview mirror as she constructed quite the strawman of the how the entire right side of the aisle views the virus as something that wasn’t serious.
Her example? The Republican candidate in the race to replace the late John Lewis in Georgia’s Fifth District, which Cook Political Report has pegged at D+34:
[T]here are people in the Republican — on the Republican side, on the MAGA side, who are still refusing to accept it is coronavirus, that that is the reason he has died. Angela Stanton King, who is running for John Lewis's seat — she’s running in John Lewis's district in Georgia tweeted this today: “All the celebrities and Democrats catch COVID and magically heal. But Herman Cain is dead! I swear I hate it here. I was right there with him. We were perfectly fine. This is a WAR!!!” She was one of the people picked that was at the rally as well. What does that mean? And if she hates it here, does she mean in Georgia, in the district? What do you make of that tweet?
Yes, the district where Republicans didn’t field a candidate in 2018 or 2014 and fetched 15 percent in 2016. That speaks volumes about the GOP!
Like a good faux Republican, former RNC Chair and MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele dismissed the tweet and remarked that “Cain was a buddy of mine” so “I appreciated every moment I had — I got to spend with him and my heart goes out to him and his family for this loss.”
But like Reid, Steele threw his friend’s memory overboard to attack the GOP, seeming to tie him in with a “bubble” of people immersed in “stupidity” (click “expand”):
The reality of it is for those who don't think this is serious, that those who think this is some made up, you know, China virus that was imported into the country, you know, live — live in that bubble and you will die in that bubble and that’s — that's all that can be said. Folks, we cannot — we cannot stop you from being stupid.
We put the information out there. We've tried to educate and inform. We've got the best and brightest scientists in the country that have been summarily dismissed by this administration and particularly this President. In fact, you know what the realities are because you've had family members and friends who have been sick and dying since this thing began, so I can't help your stupidity at this point. That's your risk. It won't be mine. So, my heart goes out to the fallen, who have not listened, but at the same time for those who are, take carry, wear the damn mask.
Instead of ending on a positive note about Cain as a man, Reid smugly insinuated he may have contracted the virus at the Tulsa rally (despite there being no official word on whether that was the case):
And by the way, Mr. Cain as well as all the other people there, signed a waiver, so obviously the Trump campaign understood they needed to make them sign a waiver that if they got sick or worse they wouldn't be liable, the administration and campaign wouldn't be liable, so just note that before you go to the next rally.
MSNBC’s dancing on the grave of Herman Cain was brought to you by (and thus supported by) advertisers such as but not limited to Allegra, Ancestry, and Sandals. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from July 30, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
July 30, 2020
7:27 p.m. EasternJOY REID: And, you know, meanwhile on the Republican side, Michael, Herman Cain passed away, and we — we — you know, condolences to his family. He attended Donald Trump's Tulsa rally back in June — on June 20th. We have a picture of him smiling there with a lot of other black Trump supporters and making — you know, or — this isn't that particular picture, but there's another picture of him there. There he is with lots of supporters. Now that he has passed, there are people in the Republican — on the Republican side, on the MAGA side, who are still refusing to accept it is coronavirus, that that is the reason he has died. Angela Stanton King, who is running for John Lewis's seat — she’s running in John Lewis's district in Georgia tweeted this today: “All the celebrities and Democrats catch COVID and magically heal. But Herman Cain is dead! I swear I hate it here. I was right there with him. We were perfectly fine. This is a WAR!!!” She was one of the people picked that was at the rally as well. What does that mean? And if she hates it here, does she mean in Georgia, in the district? What do you make of that tweet?
STEELE: I don't know what the hell that means. I — I don’t have — it makes no sense. We're at war? We're at war? Look, Herman Cain was a buddy of mine. I appreciated every moment I had — I got to spend with him and my heart goes out to him and his family for this loss. The reality of it is for those who don't think this is serious, that those who think this is some made up, you know, China virus that was imported into the country, you know, live — live in that bubble and you will die in that bubble and that’s — that's all that can be said. Folks, we cannot — we cannot stop you from being stupid. We put the information out there. We've tried to educate and inform. We've got the best and brightest scientists in the country that have been summarily dismissed by this administration and particularly this President. In fact, you know what the realities are because you've had family members and friends who have been sick and dying since this thing began, so I can't help your stupidity at this point.
REID: Yeah.
STEELE: That's your risk. It won't be mine. So, my heart goes out to the fallen, who have not listened, but at the same time —
REID: Yep.
STEELE: — for those who are, take carry, wear the damn mask.
REID: Amen to that. And by the way, Mr. Cain as well as all the other people there, signed a waiver, so obviously the Trump campaign understood they needed to make them sign a waiver —
STEELE: Yes.
REID: — that if they got sick or worse they wouldn't be liable, the administration and campaign wouldn't be liable, so just note that before you go to the next rally.
