Yesterday, as Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, and a bunch of other far-right goons took a stage to give a press conference about the massacre in Uvalde, he told 21 grieving families, “It could have been worse.” You can see that clip below or the entire press conference HERE.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]Imagine your child’s bullet-riddled body has barely been recovered from the crime scene, and this is what you hear from the governor.
This was the same press conference where Beto O’Rourke confronted the GOP sycophants. But, unfortunately, every Republican on that stage showed more anger over Beto’s interruption of their photo op than they did about the 19 murdered children in Texas.
Perhaps Abbott’s comment was a preemptive strike to the criticism he knew would come due to how the shooter could walk right into the school and stay there for 40 minutes before being killed.
It could have been worse. Thoughts and prayers.
Nineteen small children lost their lives, their bodies so riddled with bullets that the only way to identify them was through DNA. For every parent, aunt, uncle, and older sibling, these last few days, our thoughts have been consumed with these babies slaughtered in Uvalde. We’ve thought about our children and family members, as we’ve hugged them tight and given them extra love.
“It could have been worse” was not the reassuring, comforting, or empathetic words that the families of Uvalde needed to hear.
During that same press conference, Abbott called the shooter “pure evil.” Undoubtedly, everyone in America agrees with that sentiment. But isn’t it also evil to have the power to prevent another massacre like this from happening and to choose to do nothing about it?
Greg Abbott and the rest of the GOP will do nothing to prevent another massacre of children from happening again. Instead, they’ll talk about mental health and refuse to expand Medicaid. They’ll talk about God and then use their religion to strip away constitutional rights.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]As 19 families were picking out child-sized coffins, Abbott told them, “It could have been worse.”
This is what failed leadership looks like. Abbott was up on that stage, showboating for a photo op, afraid to say anything that would hurt his A+ NRA rating. And as this press conference was happening, a few hundred miles away in Richardson, Texas, a teenager was arrested for bringing an AK-47-style pistol to his school.
Vote because your life and the lives of your children depend on it.
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