Texas Lt. Governor Doubles Down on Racist COVID Claim
Dan Patrick sought to blame Democrats and unvaccinated Black Americans for Texas’ surging case counts.
Screenshot/Twitter
Amid growing outrage over comments he made blaming Black Americans for Texas’ surging coronavirus case counts, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday blamed “Democrat social media trolls” for the backlash. Speaking to Laura Ingraham on Fox News Thursday night, Patrick said, “The COVID is spreading, and most of the numbers are with the unvaccinated. Democrats like to blame Republicans on that. Well, the biggest group in most states are African-Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them voted for Democrats.” The claim is not true: the numbers of unvaccinated white Americans dwarf those of unvaccinated Black Americans. In a statement issued the next day, Patrick attempted to shift the focus from his initial remark on the “biggest group” to rates of vaccination: “Democrat social media trolls were up late misstating the facts and fanning the flames of their lies. Federal and state data clearly indicated that Black vaccination rates are significantly lower than white or Hispanic rates.”
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blames unvaccinated Black people for Covid spread in his state pic.twitter.com/CfwajqECLM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2021
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.