Diamond died on Monday. Diamond, whose real name was Lynette Hardaway, reportedly passed away at her home at the age of 51. If you aren’t familiar with Diamond, she was part of the African American MAGA duo, Diamond and Silk, who have spent the last seven years carrying Donald Trump’s water. By that, I mean perpetuating his lies and conspiracy theories. They have become celebrities on the extreme right for their role as being two of the very few blacks who support Trump’s racist movement.
One of the primary missions of Diamond and Silk since the beginning of the pandemic has been to spread the misinformation that Covid is a hoax and that the vaccines are dangerous. No one knows how many people have fallen prey to these lies, but according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, if you are a Republican or if you live in a red state, your odds of dying from Covid are exponentially greater than if you are a Democrat or living in a blue state. The reason? The misinformation and lies being spread by the MAGA right that are discouraging people from being masked and vaccinated. That’s the thing that makes Diamond’s death so ironic. She was fired from FOX for spreading misinformation about the virus and now, Covid has killed her. The “hoax” she so loudly proclaimed, has taken her life. Such a waste. Such a needless death.
An estimated 100,000 people have reportedly died from Covid who didn’t need to die. They died because of right wing politics. They died because they chose to believe people like Trump and Diamond and Silk instead of scientists and epidemiologists. It’s crazy. It’s nonsensical that these people are putting their own lives, not to mention the lives of vulnerable and immunocompromised people they come in contact with, at risk over a lie created to score political points. The brainwashing is mindboggling.
A few months ago, I took a trip to Phoenix to visit a friend. I called an Uber to take me to my friend’s home. Despite the blue wave that took several of the state’s high offices in November, Arizona is a red state. When my Uber arrived, I was masked when I greeted the driver. I wear a mask everywhere I go that is an indoor setting. I have a three-month-old granddaughter who can’t be vaccinated yet and has zero immunity. With all the Covid, flu and RSV going around, if I bring her something it could be deadly. I don’t take the risk.
When I got into the Uber, I noticed that the driver wasn’t masked. He said to me, “I’ll wear a mask for this trip if you want, but you don’t need to worry. My wife and I take our Ivermectin every day.”
My jaw dropped. I’d forgotten that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Or then again, maybe I was. Ivermectin is a horse de-wormer that the right has been touting to get immunity from the Covid virus. So, to be clear, this Uber driver and thousands more like him, would rather take a horse medicine with zero effect on the Covid virus than the FDA approved vaccine that is, without question, not only saving lives but keeping the infected from severe illness. I wanted to tell that guy all of this but, I figured it would be a waste of breath. Like I said, these people are brainwashed. There was no way I was going to de-program him on the short drive to my friend’s home.
Lest you think that this nonsense is relegated only to states like Arizona, we have some of those science denying fanatics here. A friend of mine here in the Bay Area has horses. He told me that on a recent visit, his veterinarian told him that she must lock her Ivermectin in a safe because people are actually breaking into the offices of vets to steal it! Again, mindboggling. Just go to CVS or Walgreens and get the damned shot.
There should be a special place in hell for those spreading this misinformation. They are literally killing people. I’ve read stories of unvaccinated Trumpers on their deathbeds who are shocked that they are dying from the virus because they believed the lies. The people at Fox News are the biggest hypocrites. They have discouraged people from employing Covid protocols from the beginning, yet Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham et al are ALL vaccinated themselves. It’s a company mandate for everyone going into the Fox News building. Talk about a case of “Die as I say, not as I do.”
I take no pleasure in the death of Diamond. In fact, as much as I despised her rhetoric, her death makes me sad. It didn’t have to happen. I only wonder how many people she convinced to follow in her deadly footsteps.