#abbott#border#texas#political#stunt #trucks #betoorourke
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's latest attempt to garner national attention and trigger the libs was always likely to blow up in his face. Now it's apparent that Abbott's effort to one-up fellow Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis went a bit too far — seemingly upsetting everyone from Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) to truckers to the Trump-supported agriculture commissioner in Texas.
Abbott "is taking actions to move migrants without adequately coordinating with the federal government and local border communities," said CBP chief Chris Magnus said this week, after the governor's pointless and sadistic decision to bus newly arrived migrants all the way from Texas to the front steps of Fox News' Washington, D.C., studio.
As Amanda Marcotte points out in today's edition of her Standing Room Only newsletter, the basic premise behind Abbott's political stunt was that ordinary people in the nation's capital and other "sanctuary" states or cities would be horrified by the idea of immigrants arriving where they live. In other words, it reflects a deep-seated belief that everyone is xenophobic deep down inside.
Yet somehow Abbott managed to anger the Border Patrol twice in one week.
The CPB, along with the Texas Trucking Association, which recently endorsed Abbott for reelection, has also spoken out against Abbott's decision this week to introduce lengthy new inspections for commercial trucks crossing the border from Mexico. That too was a stunt, built around the claim that the Biden administration has an "open-border" policy and is permitting illegal drugs and human traffickers to flow into the country unrestricted.
The entirely predictable result was massive delays for trucks loaded with legitimate imports from Mexico, which is the source of much of the fresh produce Americans consume every day, along with numerous other products. "The current situation on the border simply cannot be sustained," the Texas trade group said in a statement, calling on an end to Abbott's blockade before the "economy endures further irreparable damage."
Which was pretty much the whole point of Abbott's stunt in the first place.