You would think Governor Greg Abbott would be too busy praising a failing electrical grid, enacting sweeping gun reform that allows for more guns on our streets, and trying to make abortion illegal. After all, that’s a lot for anyone’s plate. Oh, but don’t you worry, Abbott has the capability of being the absolute worst across the board and in new and fascinatingly frustrating ways.
On Wednesday, according to the Texas Tribune, Abbott unveiled new plans to build a border wall between Texas and Mexico. And while he’s still in the process of hiring a manager to oversee the wall building, he’s promised $250 million in funds by the state as a sort of “down payment” into the project that he deems absolutely necessary for Texas.
The Texas Tribune continued by explaining that the $250 million down payment will come from a disaster account based in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. But that’s only the beginning of this wall’s journey, because as soon as it’s funded, it’s moving over to the Texas Facilities Commission to actually build the wall because Abbott claims there’s a humanitarian crisis happening to the people of Texas due to immigration.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX): “I’m focused on the humanitarian crisis that Texans are suffering through. Texans on the border are suffering through a humanitarian crisis by having their lives disrupted with guns and gangs …” pic.twitter.com/FQWqOm7GRo
— The Recount (@therecount) June 16, 2021
Abbott isn’t alone in being the worst. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan, and budget writers Sen. Jane Nelson and Rep. Greg Bonnen joined Abbott in signing a document that would allow the transfer of millions for a border wall. This move by Abbott apparently came as a surprise to Democrats like Senator Cesar Blanco.
In the Texas Tribune, Blanco said, “Building a wall from El Paso to Brownsville is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security and it’s a huge waste of taxpayer money.” He continued by adding that instead of building an unnecessary wall, the state could invest more money in modern technology to detect and stop border crossings in safe ways.
But that doesn’t matter to Abbott, who knows the wall is going to cost more than $250 million and has had the nerve to ask constituents for private donations to build said wall. And according to a report from the Biden administration, border wall construction under the Trump administration already cost American taxpayers up to $46 million per mile. This report went on to say that the previous administration had “misplaced priorities” and failed “to manage migration in a safe, orderly, and humane way.”
i saw Greg Abbott trending clicked it and now i want to just never say i live in Texas pic.twitter.com/OyxtkUzjEA
— Pearl♡︎ (@mxpearl_) June 17, 2021
President Biden then issued a proclamation terminating “the redirection of funds for border wall construction” at the federal level, so we’ve got Abbott stepping in at the state level because he had to prove a point and show his party that he’s loyal to them and former President Donald Trump’s vision.
This goes to show that Gov. Greg Abbott is the absolute worst that would rather spend time building a wall to “protect” Americans than face the fact that many have questioned whether the state has authority to act on immigration by building a border wall at all, since immigration falls under the federal government’s prerogative. He’s also ignoring the fact that rolling blackouts have become a key problem in his state.
ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and the millions who depend on it in Texas are facing failings by the company and state as temperatures climb and blackouts continue to occur across the state. It’s come to the point where ERCOT is asking its consumers to conserve energy instead of facing their own shortcomings. The actual nerve!
Altogether, this is a damn shame for the people of Texas. They deserve a Governor who cares for them in times of crisis and who works hard to make sure his people never suffer from devastating blackouts that could cost people their lives. They also deserve someone who doesn’t waste millions building a wall as a vanity project to impress someone who doesn’t care for the American people in the first place.
I lived in Brownsville, Texas for 15+ years and the only thing disrupting my life is Greg Abbott. https://t.co/A187G7UDeF
— melissa (@mellyscrivner) June 17, 2021
(image: Montinique Monroe/Getty)
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