About two weeks ago, Karen Kolb Sehlke posted a rant on Facebook claiming the COVID-19 pandemic was “media driven” and “controlled by the radical people in powerful places.” She said abortion was far more serious a problem. She declared the government response the “beginning of socialism.” And she acted like the stock market’s crash was part of that plan.

… You don’t need hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and Lysol. You need common sense, a sense of direction, faith, a will to fight, and of course guns!

Sehlke died this week, apparently of COVID-19.

A GoFundMe page on her behalf explained how she tested positive for the virus and it “caused her to go into Kidney failure and septic shock.” But perhaps after her hypocrisy came to light, the page was revised to remove those references, before being disabled altogether (maybe to avoid comments).

The screenshots live on.

March 14th: *posted COVID-19 hoax, anti-socialism rant on FB* April 2nd: *died of COVID-19, family asking for GoFundMe donations* I post this not to mock Karen Kolb Sehlke's death, but to underscore the tragic risk one takes when taking this pandemic for granted. #RIP #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/MAKYAYVyGx — Sunn m'Cheaux (@sunnmcheaux) April 4, 2020

For skeptics who asked for further proof this isn't a hoax, I get it. It's just too on-the-nose that a Trump supporter named "Karen" died of the "liberal hoax" she dismissed in a FB post days earlier. It speaks volumes that it's so unbelievable, yet real. https://t.co/C0RGNfstoN — Sunn m'Cheaux (@sunnmcheaux) April 4, 2020

As that Twitter user rightly says, the point isn’t to mock someone’s death. It’s to emphasize how serious this pandemic is. The people trying to defend Trump’s irresponsibility by downplaying the virus aren’t just hurting themselves; they could hurt all of us.

Stop listening to them and stop voting for Republicans. It’s a matter of public health at this point.

(via Joe. My. God.)

