One of President Donald Trump's most visible superfans told friends he was more likely to die in car crash than from the coronavirus.
Turns out, he was right, reported the Star Tribune.
Randal Thom, the unofficial ringleader of the "Front Row Joes" who've packed into the president's rallies since 2016, was killed Monday afternoon while returning to his Minnesota home after taking part in a pro-Trump flotilla in Florida's Jupiter Inlet.
"Randal always said, 'I have a better chance of dying in a car crash than I do from COVID,'" said friend Marthamae Kottschade.
She and the 60-year-old Randal Thom had been among a group of about 50 from Minnesota who had attended a celebration of law enforcement officers Oct. 10 on the White House grounds, where the president made his first public appearance after his hospitalization for COVID-19.
"He was our state's most energetic and present activist," said Mary Susan Timion, founder of the Minnesota chapter of Trump Women 2020. "We're really crushed, so we're taking it really, really hard."
Timion had set up a GoFundMe account last month to pay for Thom's travels, but that money will be used for funeral expenses instead.
Kottschade said her friend was driving home from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after flying home from Florida, and police said they found evidence of recent alcohol use at the crash scene.
State police said Thom, who was not wearing a seat belt, was driving south on Highway 169 when he struck a pickup that was also traveling south, and that 67-year-old driver survived and was hospitalized for unspecified injuries.
Thom, who gained international fame for his frequent presence at Trump events, was arrested in January 2019 after scuffling with Elizabeth Warren supporters at one of her Democratic primary events in Storm Lake, Iowa.
