GOP Texas governor asks for federal assistance to help with COVID-19 testing, treatment

[Ford_Prefect]

26. You have my sympathies as someone who has also had COVID although I'm fully vaccinated and boosted

Abbott and others like him have gone out of their way to irresponsibly undercut mandates for vaccination which has led to wider spread of the mutations. In effect he has insisted that there is no authority to stop the grassfire of infection yet once the state is in flames he appears to be howling for federal help to contain the same fires. This is part of the GOP strategy to blame federal government and Democrats for failures in service when they were actually caused by GOP interference and negligence. That is not hype.

Our Governor in Montana has taken the same stand with much the same result. He arrogantly insists we do nothing to protect teachers, students, and health workers through mandating. He attacks public school administrators and local government leaders who do. His foolish and dangerous libertarianism is putting everyone in the state at risk along with our largest industry: tourism.

This is part of a larger strategy begun decades ago by GOP strategists of shaming Federal authority while at the same time interfering with policy and implementation based on so-called state's rights. It also shows up as rampant anti-intellectualism in the terms of "don't believe those know-nothings in DC who are trying to control you to suit their liberal agenda."

Abbott wants it both ways as long as he can later blame Democrats for any attendant failure due to his own delays. He will do so soon enough.