While speaking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that older people are ready to risk their lives so that the American economy can get back to business as usual after being heavily impacted by the spread of COVID-19.

"No one reached out to me and said, as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance for your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren? And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in," the Lt. Gov. said. "I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me, I have 6 grandchildren, that, what we all care about, and what we love more than anything are those children... and I want to live smart and see through this but I don’t want the whole country to be sacrificed."

Patrick, who's a Republican, made the comments after Trump talked about wanting to rollback the shutdowns that have impacted much of the nation. Public health officials have warned that social distancing is crucial in the fight to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

"Our country wasn’t built to be shut down," Trump said. "America will, again, and soon, be open for business. Very soon. A lot sooner than three or four months that somebody was suggesting. Lot sooner. We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself."

You can check out Patrick's concerning comments below.

Tx Lt Gov Dan Patrick says grandparents would be willing to die to save the economy for their grandchildren pic.twitter.com/wC3Ngvtsbj — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) March 24, 2020

Unsurprisingly, the alarming comments from Patrick didn't set well with people who disagreed with allowing the death toll from coronavirus to rise so that the economy could get back on a better footing.

My dad is a 66yo Polish immigrant who went into Marines at 17& fought in Vietnam. He's a small business owner. My 65yo mom works in Yosemite. They are human beings, and not disposable! Fuck You Dan Patrick 🤬🤬🤬#TrumpLiesAmericansDie https://t.co/KDdoEPjCUI — ABitOfSky 🌄 (@Prof_Tweeper) March 24, 2020

This is the way Dan Patrick thinks. It’s ok if people die as long as we don’t hurt the economy.



He’s up for re-election in 2022. Let’s be prepared and get rid of this a-hole. https://t.co/2Mt7ivEP83 — Dr. John Biggan (@Biggan4Congress) March 24, 2020

Infinity War is trending because Texas Republican Lt Gov Dan Patrick's solution for Coronavirus is the same as Thanos' plan in Infinity War: Let the weak die off so the rest of us can be prosperous.



What does it take for people to realize that the Republican Party does not care? — JRehling (@JRehling) March 24, 2020

This is going to get people killed.



Ignore partisan idiots like Dan Patrick and Donald Trump, and listen to what scientists and experts are telling us about #COVID19.



Stay home. https://t.co/bDDBv1AXur — Julie Oliver (@JulieOliverTX) March 24, 2020

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is willing to die to save capitalism. I’m not. I’m ready for capitalism to die. pic.twitter.com/2y4eWOByGk — Ryan Knight 🌹🌅 (@ProudResister) March 24, 2020

I cannot adequately express how angry & depressed I am about comments today from people like Dan Patrick, Larry Kudlow, and the President himself suggesting that this disease is no biggie and we ought to get back to normal soon - contrary to all evidence from abroad. 1/ — Michael Li 李之樸 (@mcpli) March 24, 2020

"We can do more than one thing. We can do 2 things"



Dan Patrick apparently things one of those things is avoid a global depression and and the other is kill grandma and grandpa https://t.co/iQMBj1QDAc — Shannon4OH (@ShannonFreshour) March 24, 2020

The truly scary thing about this is that Dan Patrick is expressing the sort of euphoria that comes when people surrender to a cult leader's thought-command.



"My heart is lifted tonight by what I heard the president say" https://t.co/8APrmM9PaT — Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 24, 2020