Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez invoked the death of recently departed conservative businessman Herman Cain on Tuesday, in an effort to dunk on President Donald Trump.
What are the details?
Perez and DNC CEO Joe Solmonese sat for an interview with Politico Playbook, and were asked for their thoughts on President Trump continuing to make campaign stops while presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has largely remained at home in Delaware.
Solmonese answered that the president was “pulling a political stunt” and “causing crowds to gather” amid the coronavirus, while Democrats are “going to continue to have a thoughtful and impactful conversation with the American people.”
According to Politico, Perez “interjected” with his own thoughts on Trump’s Tulsa rally in June, which was attended by Cain before he passed away July 30 from complications from COVID-19. As USA Today noted, “it is unknown if he contracted the virus at the event.”
“Was that a good model for how people should conduct themselves?” Perez asked. “Ask the family of Herman Cain.”
What was the response?
In reaction, Dan Calabrese, the editor of Cain’s website, told the outlet that Cain had “traveled extensively in the weeks prior to his infection, and could have been exposed on flights, in various hotels or any number of other places.”
“For Tom Perez to make that statement that he did is a ghoulish attempt to exploit a man’s death for political advantage while pretending unconvincingly to care,” he added. “And the last thing Herman’s family needs is to be bothered with gratuitous nonsense like this while still grieving.”
Republican National Committee spokesperson Mandi Merritt also reacted to Perez’s remarks, telling Fox News in a statement, “It’s completely disgusting that DNC chairman Tom Perez would stoop to the level of using a grieving family to score cheap political points.”
Cain was the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza for several years and then served as the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City before running for president in 2012 as a Republican. At the time of his passing at the age of 74, he was the co-chair of Black Voices for Trump.