Dan Patrick: BLM Protesters ‘Hypocrites’ for Running from Sniper Bullets

Texas’s Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has a history of making inflammatory statements at inopportune moments, but his reaction to the killing of five police officers by a sniper at last night’s Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas seemingly goes far beyond what he has said in the past.

Speaking to Outnumbered host Harris Faulkner on Fox News Friday afternoon, Patrick said he blames those on social media who expressed “hatred towards police,” along with figures like Jesse Jackson and other Black Lives Matter protesters who have characterized officers as “racist” after repeated police shootings of unarmed black men.

"All those protesters last night, they ran the other way, expecting the men and women in blue to turn around and protect them,” Patrick said, his voice growing more heated. “What hypocrites!"

While Patrick said he believes in the First Amendment and freedom of speech, he added, “You can't go out on social media and mainstream media and everywhere else and say that the police are racist or the police are hateful or the police are killers.”

“I'm sick and tired of those who are protesting our police and putting their lives in danger,” he exclaimed.

When Patrick was finished speaking, neither Faulkner nor anyone else on the show’s five-person panel challenged Patrick to explain why he believes the protesters were “hypocrites” for running away from sniper fire, regardless of where it was coming from. Instead, the gabfest gave Patrick an easy opportunity to criticize the responses to the shooting from President Barack Obama and Attorney Loretta Lynch, which he said he found to be “disappointing” because they “blended too many issues together.”

“Can we talk about five people killed last night, focus on their lives and their families?” Patrick asked. “We need a president who will focus on the police, the law enforcement, the men and women, black, brown, white, Asian officers, all together who are protecting us. Let’s focus on them.”

Patrick professed a desire to bring an end to the violence between what he evidently views as two opposing communities—Black Lives Matter protesters and the police. But with his words, Patrick equated the peaceful activists on the streets of Dallas last night with a deranged killer who set out to kill as many white cops as he could.

Running from sniper fire does not make them “hypocrites.” They want law enforcement to “protect them.” What they don’t want is for police to kill them with impunity.