Rep. Louie Gohmert Tests Positive for Coronavirus

East Texas U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, who has shunned mask-wearing during the pandemic because he's Louie Gohmert, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Gohmert was due to travel back to Texas on a campaign trip with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, but a pre-screening test for that trip came back...

By Patrick Williams

July 29, 2020

We hope U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert isn't getting ready to sneeze. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

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East Texas U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, who has shunned mask-wearing during the pandemic because he's Louie Gohmert, has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Gohmert was due to travel back to Texas on a campaign trip with President Donald Trump Wednesday, but a pre-screening test for that trip came back positive, Politico reports.

At 66, Gohmert is in a high-risk age group for the virus.

According to videos posted online, Gohmert attended the House Judiciary Committee roasting of Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday and at one point walked near Barr while neither man wore a mask.

The Observer has in the past taken joy in following some of the arch-conservative Trump supporter's more extreme positions. In February, for example, he was one of just four House members to vote against federal anti-lynching legislation. Just last week, he introduced a resolution that would essentially require the Democratic Party to change its name because of its historical positions defending slavery and Jim Crow.

“As outlined in the resolution, a great portion of the history of the Democratic Party is filled with racism and hatred," Gohmert said in a published statement last week. "Since people are demanding we rid ourselves of the entities, symbols, and reminders of the repugnant aspects of our past, then the time has come for Democrats to acknowledge their party’s loathsome and bigoted past, and consider changing their party name to something that isn’t so blatantly and offensively tied to slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination, and the Ku Klux Klan."

Schadenfreude has its limits, at least among decent people, so we wish him good health. Besides, while we generally disagree with everything Gohmert stands for, says or does, the resolution seeking to outlaw the Democratic Party's name is a pretty wicked bit of smart-assery. We're fans of that.

Barr was being tested for the virus Wednesday, according to news reports, even as the White House seeks to curtail federal funding for testing those not scheduled to be near the president.

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Patrick Williams is editor-in-chief of the Dallas Observer. Before joining the staff in July 1997, Patrick worked for the Southern Illinoisan, Amarillo Globe News and San Antonio Express-News. As editor-in-chief, he oversees the newsroom and guides the coverage of both the Dallas Observer’s printed publication and online website.

Contact: Patrick Williams