Abbott Insults CNN Star with Football Yarn
as Decoy to Dodge Accountability on Flood Capitol Inside
July 8, 2025
Governor Greg Abbott sought on Tuesday to head off scrutiny of the state's role in the deadliest flood in Texas in 100 years when he insulted a national reporter with a canned football analogy and claim that attempts to appropriate blame are the "language of losers" that champions like himself do not speak.
Abbott served up the gridiron comparison in a prepared response to a question from CNN's Jake Tapper at a press conference in Hunt on potential culpability in the aftermath of the flash flood in the Hill Country where he said that 161 people were still missing and feared to be dead.
As the death toll skyrocketed to 111 with close to 90 fatalities in Kerr County alone, the Republican governor appeared to anticipate the inquiry when he began unfolding a piece of paper in his lap with the answer before the celebrity journalist finished the question. Tapper raised the specter of an investigation into the cause of the disaster and the failure of authorities to warn campers in the area of the potential dangers they faced along a stretch of the Guadalupe River that's notorious for flooding due to the terrain and climate.
Abbott initially indicated that local officials would have the answers that the CNN veteran were seeking. Then the governor launched into an explanation of how popular football is with Texans from the Friday night lights at high school games to the college and professional levels.
Abbott's remarks appeared to be contrived as a red herring designed to dodge accountability for the state's rapidly growing vulnerability in the fallout from the cataclysmic event that's mushroomed in the past 24 hours in a way that's increased the focus on the state's part in the disaster.
The governor was stung on Monday night by revelations that the Texas Department of Emergency Management rejected separate requests from Kerr County in the past eight years for federal disaster funding for an alarm system in the area hit hardest by the flooding. The money would have come from a pot of federal funds that Democrat Barack Obama made available to local governments for flood prevention and recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey.
Kerr County officials say Abbott had encouraged local communities to take advantage of the federal disaster funds with application for grants. The governor oversees the TDEM as the leader of the state's executive branch. Abbott has had TDEM Chief Nim Kidd by his side at daily updates for the media on the flooding aftermath. Both Abbott and Kidd have declined to answer questions on the TDEM snub of the Kerr County bid for assistance that officials there said was needed to protect children at a half-dozen summer resident camps near the fork of the river where it's been most unpredictable.
Abbott told Tapper that the inquiry was "the word choice of losers" before likening the catastrophe to the mindset of football players on the best teams.
"The losing teams are the one that try to point who's to blame," Abbott said. "The championship teams are the ones that say `don't worry about it, man, we got this.' The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions. What Texas is all about is solutions."
Tapper a critique of the insulting reply on Tuesday afternoon during a show that he has on the cable news station. "Despite sensible and logical questions about this tragedy and where the blame may lie," Tapper said, "the Texas Governor just minutes ago suggested that asking about who is to blame is 'the language of losers."
Tapper used the segment to rehash emerging details that have magnified the spotlight on the Texas governor and state officials who've refused to discuss anything that would put them in a bad light.
"We don't think that questioning officials in the Texas government about warnings that were not heeded and advice from experts that was not taken, we do not think that is the language of losers," Tapper added.
Abbott could find it impossible to skirt scrutiny that will be magnified substantially with the Texas Legislature and state emergency officials under a microscope like many have never experienced in the special session that kicks off in Austin on July 21.
more to come ....
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