Greg Abbott

Gregory "Greg" Wayne Abbott is the current Governor of the state of Texas, taking office in January 2015. Prior to this, he served as Texas's attorney general, beginning in 2002, and, prior to that, he was actually an associate "justice" on the Texas Supreme Court. He has been in a wheelchair since the age of 26 when he was out jogging and a tree branch fell on his back. He is also far-right and a strong authoritarian who scapegoats entire communities, and thus is among a batch of Republican governors thought of as Trumpian, alongside Florida governor Ron DeSantis and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem.
==Questionable jurisprudence==
Abbott attempted to use federal anti-terrorism law to justify denying the Texas chapter of Planned Parenthood funding through the state's Women's Health Program because there was no guarantee that such funds could not be used to fund elective abortions and because the "First Amendment does not prohibit application of federal material-support statute to individuals who give money to 'humanitarian' activities performed by terrorist organizations."Texas AG Uses Anti-Terror Law on Planned Parenthood, Dispatches from the Culture Wars The hole in this argument is that Planned Parenthood's voluntary provision of completely legal abortion services (or other, less controversial "humanitarian" services, including pap smear and breast cancer screenings) seems quite unlike real terrorist acts undertaken by Al Qaeda or even certain extremists affiliated with Operation Rescue.
==Establishment Clause follies==
Abbott (along with his political ally Rick Perry) stuck his nose in a First Amendment case after a letter of complaintFFRF letter to the Kountze ISD. ffrf.org. was sent by the Freedom From Religion Foundation to the Kountze Independent School District after the FFRF became a little concerned that the banners the football team ran through at the beginning of games might be a bit, well, proselytizing in nature.Texas Town Rallies for Christian Hegemony. Dispatches From the Culture Wars. freethoughtblogs.com, 23 September 2012. After a temporary restraining order overturned the prohibition of display of such banners, Abbott made predictable noises about how the Wisconsin-based FFRF was engaging in all sorts of "menacing and misleading intimidation tactics" and was probably going to attack Kountze with cheese-festooned tanks any day now.Texas AG stirs up wrath against atheists. ffrf.org. Abbott might think that he's well within his rights to inveigh against "secular beliefs," but one or twoFreedom of Worship. The Texas Constitution, Bill of Rights. documents seem to contradict his views on the issue.
==Dumb international incidents==
Abbott also took issue with election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe "addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities." Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights over actually coming to Texas in order to observe their 2012 election.Texas Attorney General Threatens Foreign Poll Watchers, Talking Points Memo He even threatened to prosecute any ODIHR observers who stepped within 100 feet of a Texas polling placehttps://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/releases/2012/102312abbot_letter.pdf despite the fact that the State Department invited ODIHR observers to not just Texas but to the rest of the United States as well.http://photos.state.gov/libraries/osce/242783/feb2012/FEB_16-12_USElections.pdf Needless to say, ODIHR director Janez Lecarčič wasn't in on the joke,Threat of criminal prosecution of observers at odds with established co-operation on United States elections, ODIHR Director says, OSCE web site and neither was the Washington Post (which went so far as to compare Abbott with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev).Texas, an election model for autocrats, Washington PostThe Washington Post Sees Striking Similarities Between Greg Abbott and Vladimir Putin, Greg Abbott, Dallas Observer 
In his letter to the OSCE, Abbott also stated that the Supreme Court has ruled that "Voter ID laws are constitutional". Just not the ones in Texas, though.Federal Court Rules Texas Voter ID Law Is Discriminatory, Talking Points Memo Oops.
==2014 Gubernatorial Bid==
It's early, but an article in the Dallas Observer noted that Abbott's Facebook page was displaying all sorts of posturing noise after Obama's re-election, namely referring to how "Texas remains one of the reddest states in the country and is the last bastion of conservatism"Never mind all those other southern states that voted for Mitt Romney; obviously, they don't exist and that "now more than ever Texas must lead the nation" and that Abbott will "continue to fight every day against an overreaching federal government to protect the liberties that Texans hold so dearly".
All of this may come off as beyond the pale saber-rattling until you realize that a gubernatorial election (or another run for Texas AG, at the very least) is in the offing in 2014. It also panders nicely to fringe political groups like the Texas Nationalist Movement and other pro-secession types who then linked a petition (created by the TNM) to secede to Abbott's Facebook wall.Texas Nationalist Movement Would Like to Secede Now, Please, Dallas Observer
He did end up running for governor in the 2014 midterms and (surprise, surprise) flattened opponent Wendy Davis 59%-39% (perhaps billionaire Peter Thiel's cash helped,Donor Lookup - Peter Thiel. OpenSecrets. though perhaps he never needed it). Mere hours after being elected, he's already promised to sign open-carry handgun laws and to continue to defy the government's current stand on same-sex marriage. Unsurprisingly, he has been worse than Rick Perry.
==Abbott's Tenure as Governor==
For the first few months, Abbott said very little and simply kept spouting the usual nonsense until he was one of the many idiots who thought the United States military's Jade Helm operation was an excuse to invade Texas. And then from there, it started snowballing.
Shortly after, in mid-2015, scientists at OGE at the University of Oklahoma released a report that supported a direct link between fracking and an exponentially-increasing frequency of earthquakes in the state. Oklahoma's government responded by implementing a bill to prevent towns from imposing any kind of fracking regulation. Down in Texas, the city of Denton passed an ordinance that prevented fracking within city limits, and within a week, Abbott signed into law a bill that prevented Texas cities from banning fracking in any sense. Like any real Republican governor, his COVID response neatly straddles the line between stupid and murderous. He would get another chance to fiddle while Rome burned during the power crisis of February 2021 (damn wind turbines! It's not the deregulated power grid, it couldn't be!).https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/02/17/texas-abbott-wind-turbines-outages/
===Allowing a record number of mass shootings===
There comes a time when your inaction becomes complicity. Under Abbott's governorship, from 2015 through 2022, a grand total of six massacres happened on his watch - the Dallas police shooting in 2016, the Sutherland Springs church shooting in 2017, the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, the El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019, the Midland-Odessa shooting in 2019, and most infamously, the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. By contrast, Rick Perry, his immediate predecessor, "only" had two mass shootings on his watch - the first Fort Hood shooting in 2010 and the second Fort Hood in 2014."Texas has had eight mass shootings in the past 13 years, while lawmakers have steadily loosened restrictions on carrying firearms," Mandi Cai, Texas Tribune Abbott responded by praising the police response to Uvalde,"Gov. Greg Abbott, After Yet Another Texas Mass Shooting, Focused on Praising Police—as Questions Emerge About Their Response," Time blithely saying the slaughters "could have been worse,""Greg Abbott Is Full of Shit," Gus Bova, Texas Observer doing nothing to stop unfettered access to firearms,"Greg Abbott Once Promised to End School Shootings, but After Uvalde His Tone Has Changed," Texas Monthly and in fact loosening gun restrictions instead, including passing a "permitless carry" bill allowing Texans to carry handguns in public without any training or permits."“Astounding”: Texas GOP repeatedly responded to mass shootings by loosening gun laws," Salon
===Banning Covid-19 vaccination requirements===
Through executive order, Abbott banned government agencies from requiring individuals to get vaccinated or provide proof of vaccination. Public and private entities receiving state funding are prohibited from denying entry to individuals based on their vaccination status, but all nursing homes and living facilities can still require inoculations for their residents. He even threatened to issue fines of up to $1,000 on those who fail to comply."Texas Gov. Abbott threatens fines again against local officials and businesses that enforce mask mandates, vaccine requirements," Robert Towey, CNBC 
===Anti-abortion bounty hunters===
A new set of anti-abortion laws in Texas would ban abortions, even in cases of rape, at six weeks, and allow any U.S. citizen to sue Texas-based abortion clinics, doctors, and "anyone who aids in an abortion." If successful, the petitioner, who does not have to reside in Texas, will "receive an $10,000 award and the cost for attorney’s fees." Pro-choice advocates worry that "this cash prize may create a new cottage industry of aggressive antiabortion bounty hunters.""New Texas law opens up abortion bounty hunting," Nicole Goodkind, Fortune
===Threatening to arrest political opponents===
When Texas Republicans forwarded a bill that would restrict voting, Texas Democrats fled the state, depriving Abbott of a quorum required to actually conduct business in the state legislature. Frustrated with being unable to limit democracy for the time being, Governor Abbott threatened to use Texas House rules to arrest the Democrats, force them back to the state capitol, and get a quorum to restrict voting rights."Texas governor threatens to arrest lawmakers who fled state," Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Las Angeles Times"Texas House Democrats flee the state in move that could block voting restrictions bill, bring Legislature to a halt," Alexa Ura and Cassandra Pollock, Texas Tribune In May 2021, when Democrats walked out to prevent the voting restriction bill initially, Abbott vetoed a section of the state budget that funds the legislature for the two-year budget cycle that starts September 1."Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes funding for Texas Legislature and its staff as punishment for Democrats’ walkout on elections bill," Cassandra Polluck, Texas Tribune Abbott's veto "threatens the livelihoods of 2,165 legislative staffers and individuals working at legislative agencies" who will lose their salaries and potentially cause a brain drain for the state legislature."2,100 state workers caught in the crosshairs of Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto of Legislature funding," Heidi Pérez-Moreno, Texas Tribune
===Pardoning convicted murderers (due to racist politics)===
On July 25 2020, during a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin Texas, a man named Garrett Foster was shot at and killed by a man named Daniel Perry. The incident started when the vehicle Perry was driving turned on the street (Congress Avenue) where the BLM protesters were marching. According to Perry, some protesters, including Foster (who was armed), started beating on his vehicle. Perry claimed that he killed Foster in self-defense after purportedly Foster raised his rifle."Army sergeant says he's the one who shot a protester to death in Austin" by Brian Dakss, CBS News, 2020 July 31
Even within the initial reports, other observers saw what happened quite different. For instance, multiple witnesses reported a possible reason protesters were beating on his vehicle — the vehicle had driven through through the protester crowd beforehand. Some witnesses in fact described Perry as shooting before Foster."Law firm representing Fort Hood soldier in fatal shooting" by Acacia Coronado, AP News, 2020 July 31"Witness to Austin Black Lives Matter shooting says ‘the driver incited the violence’" by Madeline Holcombe and Jennifer Henderson, CNN, 2020 July 28 In addition, some witnesses maintained that Foster never raised his gun at all. "Judge denies motion to drop case against driver who fatally shot Black Lives Matter protester" by Katie Hall, Austin American Statesman, 2021 August 5 Eventually in July 2021, due to these contradictory accounts, a jury indicted Perry on charges of murder, aggravated assault, and deadly conduct."Army sergeant indicted on murder and aggravated assault charges after fatally shooting Austin protester Garrett Foster in 2020" by Resse Oxner, Texas Tribune, 2021 July 1
On April 7 2023, Perry was found guilty of murder."U.S. Army sergeant found guilty of murder in 2020 shooting of Austin protester Garrett Foster" by William Melhado, Texas Tribune, 2023 April 7 In addition to witness reports that contradicted Perry, repeated social media posts made between 2019 and 2020 showed that Perry expressed a strong desire to "kill a few people", "get paid for hunting Muslims in Europe", and "push the pedal to the metal" (read: run over) protesters, as well as expressing other racist sentiment about Black Lives Matter. The social message postings cast severe doubt regarding his supposed "self-defense" claims."Unsealed documents from the Daniel Perry case show he made comments on social media about killing protesters and Muslims, Houston Chronicle reports" by Taylor Romine, Ashley Killough, and Ed Lavandera, CNN, 2023 April 14"TIMELINE: The latest with the Daniel Perry case" by Jala Washington, Abigail Jones, and Julianna Russ, KXAN, 2023 April 13"Daniel Perry, convicted of murder, wrote of wanting to kill protesters, Muslims, Black people, new court docs show" by John Wayne Ferguson, Neena Satija, and Staff, Houston Chronicle, 2023 April 13""Holy s**t": New docs reveal racist messages by man Abbott wants to pardon in BLM protester killing" by Gabriella Ferrigine, Salon, 2023 April 14
Naturally, this conviction infuriated the long-time kingpin of racism on Fox News, Tucker Carlson, who took to his show to whine about the decision."How Gov. Greg Abbott’s rare pardon announcement shows Tucker Carlson’s continued influence" by Michael Williams, Dallas Morning News, 2023 April 14 In a demonstration of the political power of Carson's whines, although Abbott (per Texas law) did not have the power to directly pardon people, shortly after the Carlson show, Abbott requested (with unusual language, as if telling how the Board should decide) for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to review the case... even though the sentencing process was not yet completed, and the appeals process not yet exhausted."What we know about the Daniel Perry case and what happens next after Texas’ governor says he wants to pardon him" by Alisha Ebrahimiji, CNN, 2023 April 14 On May 16 2024, after the board (unsurprisingly) recommended a pardon, Abbott officially pardoned Perry."Texas Governor Pardons Man in Fatal Shooting of Protester in 2020" by J. David Goodman, New York Times, 2024 May 16 The move, unusual for a governor normally considered "tough on crime", was widely criticized as pure naked politics"With tweet about a pardon, Gov. Greg Abbott injects politics into Texas’ criminal justice system" by Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune, 2023 April 13 and even criticized for being part of the continued normalization of racist vigilante justice among Republicans and the far-right."Greg Abbott's BLM pardon: Vigilante justice is always about racism for the right" by Heather Digby Parton, Salon, 2023 April 12
===Banning abortion after six weeks===
Governor Abbott signed into law a bill that bans abortion after six weeks. Most women don't know they're pregnant until the sixth week, effectively banning abortion as a whole throughout the state of Texas while also putting up bounties for those who do abort their embryos. In addition, there are no exceptions for rape or incest."Texans Are ‘Scared, Confused, Angry’ As Extreme Abortion Ban Goes Into Effect," Sara Boboltz, Huffington Post
===Kidnapping transgender minors===
Abbott ordered Family and Protective Services to investigate all trans children in Texas and to potentially prosecute their parents as "child abusers." He also instructed all teachers, doctors, and caregivers to begin "reporting" any trans kids they see. If they do not, they will lose their jobs.Jo Yurcaba (March 1, 2022). "Texas has 'initiated investigations' into trans kids' families, lawsuit says". NBC News.Tweet of his order That means you are now a "groomer" just by your trans kid merely existing. This has also led to many social workers to quit their jobs, bringing already-struggling child protective agencies in the state to "the brink of collapse" as staff who resigned felt they may bring "politically motivated" harm on families with loving parents.Eleanor Klibanoff (April 11, 2022). "Distraught over orders to investigate trans kids’ families, Texas child welfare workers are resigning". The Texas Tribune.Stephen Paulsen (April 7, 2022). "Social workers are quitting over Texas’ anti-trans child care order". Courthouse News Service.Lauren McGaughy (August 31, 2022). "Investigating parents of transgender youth has agency on ‘brink of collapse,’ staff warns". The Dallas Morning News.
===Migrant buses===
As reported by New York news sites, Abbott was pissed that the Biden Administration revoked Article 42, the Trump era pandemic measure used to expell migrants without the option for asylum. In response, the Texas governor said he would put immigrants on buses and ship them off to D.C., which he followed through on but had to make the program voluntary and requested by cities and counties."First bus of migrants arrives in Washington, D.C., from Texas under Abbott’s new controversial plan" Andrew Zhang, James Barragán, and Jason Beefermen, Texas Tribune
===Shipment Clog===
On April 6, 2022, Greg Abbott ordered the Department of Public Safety to begin enhanced inspections of all commercial vehicles crossing into Texas from Mexico, despite already being inspected by Federal authorities, for the same reason mentioned above.Governor Abbott Takes Aggressive Action To Secure The Border As President Biden Ends Title 42 Expulsions The results were immediate, such as commercial traffic falling 60% on the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, which usually saw 3,000 commercial trucks, and given that these commercial trucks carry $60-$70 million worth of daily goods and services, these inspections could lead to shortages."Delays, closures and chaos mount at Texas-Mexico border crossings from new state inspections" Texas Tribune Things only got more chaotic after truckers on the Mexican side blockaded the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in protest."International trade halted at Texas border crossings as truckers protest Greg Abbott’s new inspections" Texas Tribune It even got to the point where even Texas Agriculture Commissioner, and fellow Republican, Sid Miller told Abbott to cut it out!"Predicting food shortages, Sid Miller calls on Gov. Greg Abbott to stop new vehicle inspections at the border" Texas Tribune Things have only gotten "slightly" better since then.Gov. Greg Abbott eases state inspections at one commercial bridge, as trade remains snarled across the border" Texas TribuneGov. Greg Abbott announces deals with two more Mexican governors to halt Texas’ vehicle inspections at the border Texas Tribune
===Criminalizing abortion===
Emboldened by Abbott's bullshit, a Texas district attorney in Starr County arrested Lizelle Herrera, a woman who performed an abortion, and charged her for "the death of an individual by self-induced abortion." Amid national backlash, the District Attorney, Gocha Allen Ramirez, dropped the charges once it became clear there was no Texas state law that Herrera specifically broke."Under Pressure, Texas DA Drops Murder Charge Against Woman in Abortion Case," Julia Conley, Common Dreams
===Dehumanizing the entire LGBT community===
Time after time, history shows that if you concede on the first group, you're done, because it won't just be that one group who is consigned to suffering and death. Abbott has also demonstrated he is far from afraid of targeting vulnerable minorities if it gains him approval from reactionaries. The Texas Republican Party, by vote, with Abbott's blessing, declared on their platform that homosexuality is an "abnormal choice" and that they oppose any efforts to "validate transgender identity". They called for a ban on medical transition until the age of 21 and also, a ban on non-medical transition before the age of 17 (supposedly, to protect children from grooming)."New Texas GOP Platform Declares Homosexuality 'Abnormal Lifestyle Choice'," Huffington Post
They also want to keep conversion therapy legal, prevent transgender people from changing their legal gender, ban same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws, enforce Bible teachings in school, and pass bathroom bills. They also want to officially hold an unconstitutional vote in 2023 to secede, and presumably from there, execute homosexuals and transgender people. Not that they haven't tried that many times.https://texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/6-Permanent-Platform-Committee-FINAL-REPORT-6-16-2022.pdf
Certainly horrific, but it's up to you whether it's something to actually be concerned about.
==Other weird shit==
The day after Obama's re-election, Abbott made some comments on his Facebook page pandering to in-state wingnut secessionist organizations like the Texas Nationalist Movement.Texas Nationalist Movement Would Like to Secede Now, Please Dallas Observer As governor, he hasn't brought back up the idea of secession, and secessionist fervor has generally died down around the country. At least, for now.
In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling narrowing the scope of the Voting Rights Act in June 2013, Abbott seemed quite gleeful about imposing Texas' voter ID requirements (i.e., the same ones previously mentioned above) and — as usual — made it all about Texas vs. The Federal Gummint (as embodied in this case by Eric Holder and the Justice Department).Texas Advances Voter ID Law After Supreme Court Strikes Down Voting Rights Act, Talking Points Memo
==Jade Helm conspiracy theory==
In 2015, Abbott gave the veil of respectability to the Jade Helm 15 conspiracy theory by calling out the Texas State Guard to monitor the military exercises, stating:
==References==
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