Failed Democratic presidential candidate Robert “Beto” O’Rourke accused Texas Republicans of being a “death cult” over their response to the Wuhan coronavirus.
The criticism comes after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said there’s no statewide shutdown coming as long as coronavirus numbers trend in the right direction.
O’Rourke wished the state had someone like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (who forced nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients, resulting in more than 6,000 senior deaths), someone he claimed was “guided by the facts and the science and the truth,” instead of Abbott.
The governor is “choosing to allow people to die when he could choose to allow county judges to save their lives,” he argued, calling it “one of the most craven, callous failures of leadership that I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”
Of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, O’Rourke pointed to an appearance on Fox News where he discussed the importance of getting back to work, and “back to living,” instead of sacrificing the country.
“My message is that, let’s get back to work, let’s get back to living, let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick told Tucker Carlson in March.
“In other words, let’s get on with the dying, knowing full well that it will be those frontline workers making $7.25/hr ... it will be African-Americans, it will be Latinos ...who will be doing the dying,” O’Rourke said.
“This is a death cult. The Texas GOP,” he added. “Only they want you to do the dying, and that is exactly what’s happening in Texas right now.”
Ultimately Beto is just not a smart person https://t.co/eHkKJc8a0H
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 22, 2020
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