Mr. Greg “Hotwheels” Abbot has been voted out of his office as governor of Texas. Will he be missed? Perhaps not.
His leadership was marked by an incredible capacity for cruelty. He planted miles of razor wire along the Texas border, some of it hidden in traps beneath the surface of the Rio Grande in order to harm and in some cases drown migrants attempting to cross into America. He wanted to build walls along the border that cut off migratory access to wildlife between Mexico and the USA. He wanted this wall manned by armed soldiers ready to fire upon anyone threatening to cross the threshold. He called for aggressive ICE action to target migrant families in public spaces, like supermarkets, court hearings, and schools, and separate them. Greg Abbot allowed the construction of massive, publicly funded compounds to house people, migrants, permanent residents, and citizens alike, in gigantic warehouses that, for all intents and purposes, function as 21st century internment camps. He called for people ensnared by ICE to be shipped to third countries of which they had no ties and with little or no due process. American citizens and other permanent residents routinely got caught up in these actions for no other reason than being brown and looking like an “illegal alien.”
All of this on Texas land, where Mexican people and other Native Americans have dwelt for thousands of years. On Texas land, where the Mexican people and countless other “aliens” continue to live and work the jobs that we all depend upon to live our modern lives. On Texas land, where these people grow the food you take for granted.
It seems even the people of Texas have come to see these actions for what they are: utter debased cruelty from a man obsessed with exercising power over innocent people. Mr. Greg Abbot will hopefully suffer more than just an election loss over the coming years, if karmic justice is to be believed in. Strung up in razor wire, dunked in a river, held captive in a warehouse without running water, and forced to witness the separation of his own family before his very own eyes… this and more are all due to a man who used to get on TV and smirk and giggle with delight at the thought of his next great cruel act.
The pendulum swings blue for now. The Republicans are going to spend billions of dollars to swing it back red. The Democrats are going to try to squeak by with as little action as possible. The Supreme Court is still packed. There are still millions of Americans for whom the lives of others do not matter. The fight is only just begun.