Gov Goes 0-8 in Biden Bashing Letters
and Says Migrants Controlled El Paso
Capitol Inside
January 15, 2023
Governor Greg Abbott contended late last week that migrants had taken over downtown El Paso after effectively admitting that the state is getting nothing in return for repeated pleas for federal help that he's packaged in relentless attack rhetoric and demands that he's directed at President Joe Biden.
"I have now provided eight letters to the president of the United States asking for assistance for the state of Texas," Abbott said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. "And to each of those eight letters, he's refused to provide any assistance whatsoever."
Abbott didn't indicate whether he would persevere with the letter-writing strategy that clearly isn't working based on the statistics that he shared with Tapper. But Abbott's persistence with tactics that have failed to get results has raised the specter that they've been designed to fail from the outset.
The exchange on CNN appeared to spotlight a fundamental question that the Texas governor should be facing. Is Abbott serious about federal aid to help the state deal with surging migrant rates.? If the answer is affirmative, is he willing to lose the brass knuckles and make a realistic pitch for federal emergency resources with the kind of thoughtful and intelligent diplomacy that Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has employed with the president with excellent results when Florida has been in times of crisis?
Abbott sought to dramatize claims about an invasion at the Rio Grande when he suggested to Tapper that the federal government in apparent concert with local leaders had allowed migrants to take over in downtown El Paso before Biden visited the Texas border city earlier this month.
"They had completely overtaken all the streets - not all - they had overtaken many of the streets of El Paso in ways where control had been ceded to those who had come from another country," Abbott asserted.
After being torched by Tucker Carlson last month on Fox News for the state's flashy but ineffective policies at the border, Abbott used the conversation with the less confrontational CNN commentator to defend the inflammatory rhetoric that the Texas leader has used to portray immigrants who have traveled to Texas to seek legal asylum in the U.S.
When pressed on the deceptive nature of the term invasion to describe surging migrant rates, Abbott sought to clarify his position. Tapper told Abbott that he'd given the false impression that migrants had come to the U.S. with the intent to harm the people here. While the governor didn't deny the observation, he said that he's talking about drug cartels when he claims that Texas is being invaded. Abbott said cartels are "perpetuating" the invasion that he says is under way.
"The drug cartels are invading the United States of America - and if Americans don't know that - they need to wake up," Abbott declared. "That could destroy us as a country. And it's Texas - not the United States - that's stepping up and trying to do something about it."
But Abbott has shown no interest in working with the current White House on immigration. Based on the CNN appearance, the governor has no plans to abandon the strategy of disrespect, ridicule and insults despite its repeated failure to achieve the desired results.
"Texas has been left alone like some frontier outpost for us to have to grapple with ourselves the record breaking volume of millions of people coming across the border each year. And yet, if this is not an invasion, what is?" Abbott said.
more to come ... |
