Exclusive — Sen. Roger Marshall: Mental Health Problems Are Bigger Threat to America than Coronavirus

Marshall
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“Mental health is a better bigger threat to this country right now than the coronavirus is,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said, referring to psychological damage driven by lockdowns and shutdowns, on Wednesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

“This is the worst shape the mental health of our youth has ever been in,” Marshall said. “My daughter’s got two little kids at home. I’ve got to tell you — she’s stressed, I‘m stressed, my wife is stressed — because we know we know our kids should be in school. We’re stressed that our kids aren’t learning, right?”

“The mental health of this country has never been worse,” he continued. “I think the mental health is a bigger threat to this country right now than the coronavirus is, mainly because we’re just whipping the heck out of this virus right now.”

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Marshall noted how Democrats and the broader left regularly frame their ideological positions as scientific.

“The Democrats use the [phrase] ‘follow the science’ as a political weapon,” he stated. “They decide their policy, and then they tell the CDC go find some facts that would back this up, right? The opposite of the way it’s supposed to be.”

“What I was taught as an obstetrician was to apply the science. … We [need] common sense to be able to apply the science locally. … Look, there are times in your community when maybe we need to send the kids home, but for the most part, [the] chances of a child having a serious life-threatening infection from this virus is, I don’t know, a one-in-a-million type of situation. Seniors, on the other hand, it’s just the opposite.”

“Our country will not be back to normal until our kids are back in school,” he added.

Marlow said, “We’re acting as though there’s just as much risk [for a child] as a 70-year-old who’s got diabetes and lung issues. It’s just not the case. Why are we doing this to ourselves? Do you have a theory on why we’re doing it?”

Marshall replied, “This is a political weapon, and the president and his party are kowtowing to the the teachers’ union, and I want to stop right there and say thank you to all the teachers that are back in school. There are a lot of great teachers, and I’m so grateful. Education is one of the cornerstones [and] pillars of my life. What makes America great is our education system, but the unions, I think, don’t even represent their own folks.”

“They have a chance here to stick it to people,” he said of teachers’ unions opposing school openings. “They want to be paid to not work. That’s not American. Most of the teachers I talk to want to work. They want to get back to school. They want to do their job, and I will contend that there is a safe and responsible way for kids to be in school right now. We need some flexibility for local school boards and superintendents to make the decision on a day-to-day basis.”

Marshall went on, “Again, this use of the of the words ‘follow the science,’ they keep changing the science, they keep moving the goal posts [on] what the science is predicting and saying. Clearly the science says there’s a safe and responsible way to get our kids back in school, and the consequences are so low to the children.”

“They’ve politicized the future of our children,” concluded the senator from Kansas.

Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

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