Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick delivered an impassioned argument that it is ‘idiotic’ to send social workers to resolve domestic conflicts rather than police officers.
The Republican raised his voice on Monday as he decried proposals he warned could get social workers killed. He also demanded that people “wake up” and “get angry” over calls to defund the police.
“They send social workers out there, they’re going to get social workers killed,” Patrick said during an interview on Fox News. “As the chief of police in Seattle said earlier this morning, when you cut back their funding of police out there, it puts the other officers in harm’s way. What kind of support do the Democrats want to give to law enforcement in this country? It’s none.”
Patrick said activists who call for defunding police departments treat them as “robo-cops,” not as people, and began listing cases in which officers were fatally shot in the line of duty.
“America better wake up. And while they didn’t start this fire, Joe Biden and the Democrats are aiding and abetting this,” Patrick said. “I’m so tired of this mob and these people on Facebook and Twitter attacking our police. I proudly wear our state trooper’s shirt today,” the Republican continued, referring to an instance in which social media users attacked the daughter of a slain police officer who wrote “Blue Lives Matter” in an online post.
Patrick decried the Black Lives Matter organization as “socialist,” insisting that the phrase it has taken as a name means all black lives, including those who work in law enforcement and have been victims in inner-city violence.
