According to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the actions President Donald Trump has taken since the novel coronavirus first appeared in the United States earlier this year prove that he is “pro-life.”

Keep in mind that Graham said that even though the American death toll as of today stands at 77,000.

According to Right Wing Watch, during an appearance on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Graham told Family Research Council ​President Tony Perkins that the president wouldn’t be urging an end to the national lockdown unless he thought it was safe to do so. And he then added:

“I believe if we’d let it run its course, Tony, you’d have a couple million people dead right now. Look, 70,000 people [have] died with us locking the whole world down, so the president put life—he is pro-life in the real sense of the word—he put life ahead of his economic success. The economy came to a grinding halt—not because of anything bad about the economy—to save lives. Now we’re trying to balance how to turn it on. I think he’s done a really good job.”

Here’s the problem with Graham’s absurd remarks: Just because there aren’t a million people dead doesn’t mean we’ve been successful in our battle against COVID-19. We still lead the world in the number of total cases and deaths, which is a dubious distinction that doesn’t exactly suggest honoring every American life.

Also, let’s not forget that Trump himself repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the virus, referring it to as a Democratic “hoax” and assuring the public it would magically disappear. He almost had to be dragged kicking and screaming into taking any real action, and by the time it did, the damage was done.

Graham is trying to curry favor with Trump because he’s running for reelection to the Senate and his chances of winning look shaky. But if 77,000 dead Americans is “pro-life,” then those words don’t mean a damn thing anymore.

Featured Image Via NBC News