For months, Texas Representative Louie Gohmert has been walking around the Capitol without a mask, complaining about having to wear a mask, and talking about how he thinks masks are unnecessary.
Last month, he said he didn’t need to wear one because he gets tested regularly so he knows he doesn’t have the coronavirus. In May, he said the only way he or any other members of Congress could get the virus was from the media, despite the growing number of staffers that were testing positive at the time. He once claimed there was a German disinfectant that could kill the virus for 14 days, which is not true. He also reportedly berates his own staff for wearing masks.
Well, now it turns out that anti-mask, pro-conspiracy-cure Gohmert has, in fact, contracted COVID-19. Shocking.
If you thought that testing positive for the virus might change his outlook on it or the importance of masks, you would be wrong. In announcing he’d tested positive, the 66-year-old representative used the racist term “Wuhan virus” to describe his situation. He also blamed masks for the fact that he’d contracted the virus.
“I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t been wearing a mask so much in the last 10 days or so, I really wonder if I would have gotten it,” he told The American Independent.
In his own video statement posted to Twitter, he elaborated on that idea, saying he touches his mask a lot when he wears one. “I can’t help but wonder if that put some germs in the mask,” he said.
In another interview with East Texas Now, he said, “I can’t help but wonder … if I injected the virus into my mask when I was moving.”
— darth™ (@darth) July 29, 2020
Making things even worse, Gohmert insisted on telling his staff about his diagnosis in person. The same staff he reportedly yells at when they wear masks.
Louie Gohmert telling each staff member in person he has Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/lkCh8Qru9D
— Krister Johnson (@KristerJohnson) July 29, 2020
HE BROUGHT HIS STAFF INTO A ROOM WITH HIM TO TELL THEM ALL HE HAS COVID AYFKM?
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 29, 2020
“so i am sure u are wondering why i have gathered u all here together in this small unventilated room without allowing u to wear masks…well i have some news to share…”
— darth™ (@darth) July 29, 2020
Gohmert tested positive during a visit to the White House ahead of a planned flight to Texas with Donald Trump. He and Attorney General Bill Barr were seen arriving together to the hearing room for Barr’s testimony before Congress yesterday, both without masks.
Another thing to think about is which members shared the mic after Gohmert questioned Barr.
He is the 4th most senior GOP member of the Judiciary Committee and therefore among the earliest Republicans to question Barr.
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) July 29, 2020
(via , image: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)
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