Hollingsworth, who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, said the country’s gross domestic product is expected to fall 20% this quarter alone, and legislators have to work to improve economic conditions even in the face of what science tells us about the progression of the coronavirus. “It is policymakers’ decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say this is the lesser of these two evils, and it is not zero evil,” he said. “But it is the lesser of these evils and we intend to move forward that direction. That is our responsibility and to abdicate that is to insult the Americans that voted us into office.”

Social media users wasted little time calling the congressman out for his dangerous and selfish priorities. "Trey Hollingsworth is ‘pro-life’, y'all," op-ed writer Holly Figueroa O'Reilly tweeted. Luke Turner, page to former U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, said he is “once again disappointed” in his congressman. “How dare you tell working families that they have to go back to work and put themselves in danger, when you have been too scared to host a single town hall in three years,” Turner tweeted. Scott Dworkin, a co-founder of the Democratic Coalition, called the congressman's words "wrong" in his tweet. "The evil is actually monsters saying absurd s--- like this," Dworkin said.

A 2018 video, however, reminds onlookers of exactly why they shouldn’t be surprised by Hollingsworth’s commitment to his own prosperity. He’s serving his second term as Indiana's 9th congressional district representative. Liz Watson, the congressman’s former opponent for the seat, said Hollingsworth put up $3 million and his dad drudged up $1.5 million from a Super PAC to buy his congressional seat four years ago.

x "He's a Tennesseean who decided to waltz in here in 2016 taking advantage of the chaos of Trump to buy our congressional seat out from under us, and his singular accomplishment is giving himself a $4.5 million tax cut."



@LizForIndiana on her IN-9 opponent, Rep Trey Hollingsworth pic.twitter.com/QJFurUkD4L — The Damage Report (@TheDamageReport) September 8, 2018

“He’s a Tennessean who decided to waltz in here in 2016 taking advantage of the chaos downticket from Trump to buy our congressional seat out from under us,” she said, “and then his singular accomplishment during his term in Congress has been to give himself a $4.5 million tax cut.” He essentially “broke even,” spending $4.5 million and recouping $4.5 million, so two years later he decided to “go back and double his money,” Watson said.

In the words of MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid, let's "hope his constituents take note” this time.