As the health crisis continues to worsen across the United States in the face of a global pandemic, President Donald Trump and his allies are hinting at a willingness to scale back crucial social distancing efforts designed to slow the spread of the highly contagious virus.
Health experts nearly unanimously agree that the 15-day period of isolation touted by the Trump administration isn't sufficient enough to curb infections.
But the economy is one of Trump's main talking points in favor of his reelection. With markets tanking and unemployment skyrocketing as businesses close their doors, Trump is reportedly frustrated that efforts to keep people alive are interfering with economic growth.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick apparently shares that frustration. Patrick claimed in a recent Fox News interview that there are numerous grandparents and seniors who would be willing to die in order to preserve the economy for their grandchildren.
Watch below.
Tx Lt Gov Dan Patrick says grandparents would be willing to die to save the economy for their grandchildren https://t.co/wC3Ngvtsbj— Andrew Lawrence (@Andrew Lawrence) 1585009294.0
Patrick said:
"No one reached out to me and said, 'as a senior citizen are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children or grandchildren?' And if that's the exchange, I'm all in."
"And that doesn't make me noble or brave or anything like that, I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country—like me, I have six grandchildren—that, what we all care about and what we love more than anything are those children. And I want to live smart and see through this, but I don't want the whole country to be sacrificed."
He continued with a call to Americans to "get back to work, get back to living."
People were deeply unsettled by Patrick's apparent willingness to "kill grandma" to shore up the economy.
The same people who pretend to care about fetuses want my parents to die so that Carnival Cruise lines can hit its… https://t.co/GDGyw5YLri— Tom Brennan (@Tom Brennan) 1585022762.0
Know what's more important than my 401K? Keeping my parents around as long as possible so that my kids can know and… https://t.co/lLkkZwodd1— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸 (@Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸) 1585030037.0
.@DanPatrick you are crazy. If you are willing to die in order to save the current occupant of the White House fro… https://t.co/2awlVEITlN— Fred Guttenberg (@Fred Guttenberg) 1585019707.0
So much for pro-life. https://t.co/n3twqmPv1R— James Martin, SJ (@James Martin, SJ) 1585055074.0
Patrick said this on the night of the Affordable Care Act's tenth anniversary.
The ACA was signed into law by former President Barack Obama. During Obama's 2008 campaign, Republicans falsely claimed that "death panels" would be created, where seniors would have to make their case in front of doctors who would ultimately decide whether they lived or died.
Who would have thought Republicans would begin endorsing similar panels ten years later?
These are the same people who cried about death panels back in the day. These people will literally kill you if it… https://t.co/oVW7LI0gsg— Thomas Kennedy (@Thomas Kennedy) 1585019840.0
Republicans lied about "death panels" to scare elderly Fox News watchers into believing Obama Care was going to kil… https://t.co/sgNDWJ13jI— Thankful Thinker (@Thankful Thinker) 1585034815.0
Imagine being an old person in America right now who voted for the GOP they you they were Pro-Life. Because they wa… https://t.co/3ABCsn2nFF— Richard Hine (@Richard Hine) 1585060719.0
2010 GOP: we can’t have universal healthcare because it would mean death panels for grandma. 2020 GOP: what does g… https://t.co/2aE3MSrVuF— Jamal Abdi (@Jamal Abdi) 1585021448.0
Astonishing.