Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Calls to Reopen Country: ‘There Are More Important Things Than Living’

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick doubled down on his previous suggestion that senior citizens will need to risk their lives to save the U.S. economy on Monday, telling Fox News host Tucker Carlson that “there are more important things than living.”

Patrick told Carlson on March 23rd that he would risk his own survival if that meant that younger generations could live in a prosperous country following the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m not living in fear of Covid-19, I’m living in fear of what’s happening to this country,” Patrick told the Fox News host, prompting a backlash.”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 and grandchildren. And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”

On Monday, Tucker asked Patrick if he felt vindicated due to the current state of the economy, which has essentially shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic. Patrick claimed he did, adding that he was sorry he was correct.

Patrick then went on to question the science in regard to the coronavirus, pointing out the several changes in death toll predictions.

“I mean, at the end of January, Dr. Fauci, who I have great respect for, said this wasn’t a big issue. Three weeks later, we’re going to lose 2 million people. Another few weeks later it was 1 to 200,000,” Patrick said. “Now it’s under 60,000. And we’ve had the wrong numbers, the wrong science and I don’t blame them, but let’s face reality of where we are.”

The lieutenant governor then claimed that the death toll in Texas was not large enough to justify an economic shutdown, and explained that a ratio of 500 deaths to 29 million people was not large enough to “crush” the average worker and, ultimately, the entire country.

“What I said when I was with you that night, there are more important things than living, and that is saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us,” Patrick continued. “And I don’t want to die. Nobody wants to die but we’ve got to take some risks and get back in the game and get this country back up and running.”

CNN’s Chris Cilllizza analyzed Patrick’s claims and deemed them “illogical,” pointing out that despite his attacks on data surrounding the coronavirus, the science has been accurate, specifically with regards to the high level of transmissibility.

Watch above, via Fox News.

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