Texas Lt. Governor: 'There Are More Important Things Than Living'; Ohio State Rep: "Death is Inevitable"

You've got to give Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick credit for staying on message — even when a lot of people think his message is nuttier than a goddamned PayDay bar.

After drawing national derision last month for telling Fox News that elderly people should be willing to die during the pandemic to save the economy, the former right-wing radio host is beating the same drum.

Once again, on Fox News. And, once again, to host Tucker Carlson.

During a Monday appearance on the network, Patrick defended his comments, saying the country's economic devastation during lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 left him "vindicated."


"When you start shutting down society and people start losing their paychecks and businesses can't open and governments aren't getting revenues ... I'm sorry to say that I was right on this," said Patrick, a Republican.

As if that smirking bit of I-told-you-so-ism wasn't enough to win friends and influence people, Patrick doubled down on his sentiment that it's OK if people die, so long as we keep business and Wall Street humming along.

The national lockdown was a mistake, he argued, saying that leaders listened to the "wrong science" and “wrong numbers." As evidence, he pointed out that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had downwardly revised his estimated death toll and only 500 Texans have so far been killed by the disease.

"There are more important things than living, and that's saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us," said Patrick, 70.

"I don't want to die, nobody wants to die, but man, we have got to take some risk and get back in the game and get this country back up and running."

In Ohio, Republican State Rep. Nino Vitale, who lays claim to some of the worst opinions to ever come out of statehouse, appeared at one of the Columbus protests over the weekend demanding that Ohio reopen the economy immediately. Those protests included fringe and hate groups and at least one anti-Semitic sign.

Vitale, who had previously written a letter to DeWine arguing that "you cannot control the circle of life" and contending that restaurants are trusted not to spread botulism so they should be trusted to not spread the coronavirus, trumpeted death's inevitability as a chief reason the government shouldn't overstep by acting to ensure public safety and health.

Republican State Rep. Nino Vitale attended today's protest at the Ohio Statehouse and gave an interview w/polemicist Ohio Gun Owners group.

Vitale: gov't should not work to protect Ohioans' lives because death is "inevitable." pic.twitter.com/DnHMvRioVB

— Tyler Buchanan (@Tylerjoelb) April 18, 2020

In an interview with Cheddar yesterday, Vitale cited a Los Angeles Times article published this week on two reports that have not yet undergone peer-review indicating the infection totals in California are far larger than previously known as evidence the coronavirus is no more deadly than the seasonal flu.

Mortality rate data and estimates are changing by the day as studies are conducted and reports are released, but as the chief scientist of Los Angeles County’s public health department told the LA Times, "the county was averaging 50 deaths from coronavirus a day, eclipsing cardiac disease as the top killer."

"When do we stop all this during flu season?" Vitale said. "We don't. It's a risk."


On Facebook yesterday, Vitale was sharing a video of a "hot mic" catching a White House staffer telling a reporter that they'd been vaccinated against the coronavirus.