Gov. Greg Abbott Is Now Exploiting The Refugee Crisis To Raise Campaign Funds
After weeks of demonizing refugees to scare the crap out of his political base, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is now redeeming his political capital for hard cash. “Obama is attacking me for protecting U.S. from Syrian refugees who may be dangerous. Join my fight,” he tweeted, alongside a link to donate to his campaign.
When you click the link it takes you to a page with an ominous grungy graphic of Texas with the words, “BATTLE FOR TEXAS Join the fight to keep Texas red.” Under the meme is the text, “We have to win this fight. And with your help, we will. Contribute today to join our fight, keep our state red, and preserve our nation’s values.” After Abbott dropped the hammer on non-profits who assist in refugee resettlement, it makes you wonder which “values,” — certainly not religious liberty.
It is hard to decide which is worse: playing the victim card after threatening to defund religious charities willing to help refugees, or exploiting their suffering to solicit campaign contributions?
Abbott has mastered the strategy of leveraging disaffected minority groups to strike fear in the heart of conservatives, and activate their political fight or flight response. First, he came for the undocumented immigrants. Even though they make up half the state’s construction workers, and have contributed massively to the economic powerhouse of our state, their legal status, language barrier, and non-anglo appearance, make them a perfect soft target. While some Hispanics have supported Abbott and resent undocumented immigrants, Abbott’s hard line raises major concerns about racial profiling. A report by KXAN found that, “the number of drivers stopped by troopers and recorded as Hispanic has gone up annually since 2010 — from nearly 208,000 to 351,000 last year — while the number of drivers recorded as white declined in the same time period from 1.9 million to about 1.2 million last year.”
Read more: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/31391/gov-greg-abbott-is-now-exploiting-the-refugee-crisis-to-raise-campaign-funds
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