Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott is under fire after issuing a proclamation calling the state legislature back into session, giving them just 24 hours to prepare, and as the head of one progressive organization called it, a “laundry list of demands.” That “laundry list” focuses on 11 issues, none of which include fixing Texas’ power grid, or the low quality of education the state allows.
Abbott, who is facing a tough re-election campaign, is in trouble. The University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Polling Project shows he should be worried about his approval rating (dropping), his disapproval rating (increasing), and perhaps worst of all, the undecideds. Those numbers are dropping, meaning he has less of a pool of voters to swing over to his side.
So the Texas governor is doing everything he can to get re-elected. That means getting fellow Republican governors to send him their National Guard units to patrol the border so he can claim President Biden isn’t doing enough to protect America, and calling an “extraordinary session” of the state legislature.
Those lawmakers will not be focused on fixing Texas’ ailing power grid, the failure of which caused not the 151 deaths the State of Texas reported, but 700, according to a study published by Buzzfeed News. That same power grid failure responsible for those 700 deaths in the winter cold is also having problems in the summer heat.
Instead, Governor Abbott is ordering lawmakers to attack transgender children, to make it even harder for Texans to vote, make it harder to get an abortion, make it harder for people to be released on bail, make it harder for social media companies to ban those who create public dangers, and ban Critical Race Theory.
Here’s how some are responding.