Texas Governor Gregg Abbott: Creating Crises as a Political Strategy

Texas has received considerable attention lately for experiencing back-to-back crises – the energy crisis that resulted over 50 deaths and significant damage to the state’s infrastructure;  a second crisis that is creating mass confusion among Texans by lifting the mask mandate; and a third crisis by falsely claiming that the recent surge of migrants at the Texas border will accelerate the spread of COVID-19 into in the future.  Interestingly, what these “crises” have in common is that they have been generated as a direct consequence of Gov. Abbott’s poor leadership.  Let’s review the facts.

The Energy Crisis: In the case of the recent energy crisis, it is the general consensus of energy experts that the breakdown of the state’s energy providers resulted directly from the state’s inaction to require energy system providers to winterize their equipment in preparation for extreme weather conditions. Pat Wood, a former chair of Texas’ Public Utility Commission testified Thursday at a Senate hearing that the misery suffered last month as blackouts left millions of Texans freezing in the dark for days could have been averted — if the state and its utilities had heeded a decade of advice to prepare for extreme weather.[1]. Federal regulators warned state lawmakers a decade ago that Texas needed to weatherize its power plants and grid.  In fact, in its 2020/2021 Winter Reliability Assessment, the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) warned of:  

“…the potential for extreme generation resource outages in ERCOT due to severe weather in winter and summer, and the potential need for grid operators to employ operating mitigations or energy emergency alerts to meet peak demand.”

While most of the members of the Public Utilities Commission have resigned, they were appointed by Gov. Abbott. Rather than accept some responsibility for the crisis, However, Gov. Abbott opted to shift blame to the renewable energy sector, which was widely disputed by energy experts.

The COVID-19 Mask Mandate Crisis:  On March 2, 2021 Gov. Abbott announced that the state mandate requiring masks was lifted, thus increasing the capacity of all businesses and facilities in the state to 100 percent. The announcement was met with considerable rejection by the medical community and created considerable confusion among Texas residents and business establishments. 

In Gov. Abbott’s judgment, Texans had made sufficient progress in terms of recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations, and safe practices related to COVID-19 that justified relaxing the mask requirement.  However, recent statistics by Johns Hopkins University  [2] show that Texas has one of the lowest vaccination rates at 9 percent and a high vaccine positivity rate of 13.4 percent.  In addition, the Texas Department of Health reported that Hispanic mortalities from COVID-19 were four times higher than the rate for whites, while Black mortality rates were twice as high as the rate of whites. [3]    In a surprise action, Gov. Abbott also threatened to block the distribution of vaccines allocated to Dallas County because local public officials were planning to target vaccines to the more vulnerable Black and Latino zip codes. [4]  Gov. Abbott’s indifference to these mounting mortalities has created a second crisis for Texas Latinos and Blacks who already experienced greater exposure to COVID-19 due to their jobs, housing arrangements, and limited access to vaccination sites.  

In anticipation of criticism that the lifting of the mask mandate would lead to increases in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and mortalities, Gov. Abbott addressed this dilemma by creating a third crisis by falsely claiming that the surge of migrants at the Texas border would lead to a rise in the spread of COVID-19. 

Migrant Surge Crisis: Gov. Abbott recently accused the Biden administration of callously releasing sick migrants into Texas and increasing the spread of the virus.  As Gov. Abbott commented on a conservative talk radio program recently: “We’ve got our own challenge with COVID-19….only to be challenged with the influx of people coming in from the border who could be increasing the spread of COVID-19. The Biden administration must stop this illegal immigration program they’ve opened.”  [5]

In response to Gov. Abbott’s new “crisis,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki countered that Gov. Abbott was trying to deflect attention from the catastrophic power outages that left many Texans freezing for several days and resulted in many deaths.  Psaki also pointed out that Abbott has refused federal funds that Texas, local governments and nonprofits could use to test all migrants for the virus. Several public officials in South Texas confirmed that migrants entering the U.S. through their border were routinely quarantined and tested for COVID-19 prior to entry and release. 

Historically, the flow of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. has been a challenge to several past administrations and is not a new phenomenon. During the Trump administration, many asylum seekers were denied entry into the U.S. and forced to wait in Mexico during the application process for asylum. Also, the Trump administration closed many of the organizations that had the responsibility of matching migrant children with families in the U.S. Consequently, what appears as a recent “surge” includes thousands of families that were denied entry into the U.S. by the policies of the Trump administration.   

In creating the fictitious crisis of immigrants spreading COVID-19, Gov. Abbott is following the Trump playbook for the “immigration and crime crisis” that was effective in convincing nearly half of Americans that immigrants make crime worse. However, studies addressing this issue in Texas [6] and throughout the U.S. have confirmed that immigrants commit fewer crimes, on average, than native-born Americans [7,8]. Figure 1 below shows the results of a large-scale analysis relating violent crime rates and growth of the immigrant population in 200 U.S. metropolitan areas.

Figure 1: Immigrant Population and Violent Crime by U.S. Metro Areas 

Note: Study analyzed violent crime rates and immigration levels in 200 U.S. metropolitan areas

Following are the conclusions reached by the study investigators who represented four universities:

“In 136 metro areas, almost 70 percent of those studied, the immigrant population increased between 1980 and 2016 while crime stayed stable or fell. The number of areas where crime and immigration both increased was much lower — 54 areas, slightly more than a quarter of the total. The 10 places with the largest increases in immigrants

Clearly, fabricating a crisis to generate hysteria can be politically beneficial to public officials, especially during a time when many Americans readily embrace the various distortions of reality promoted routinely by public officials.  Ethically speaking, however, the voting public deserves to know the truth and reject the hysteria that often accompanies political campaigns.

Gov. Abbott, it is time for you to show some courage and accept responsibility for your poor judgment in these areas.   Your administration presided over the decisions regarding the energy crisis that led to the deaths of many Texans and caused significant damage to the state’s infrastructure. Your administration blocked the allocation of vaccines to vulnerable Black and Latino communities in Dallas County. And your administration lifted the mask mandate despite objections by medical experts, an action that is likely to increase the mortality rates of Texas Blacks and Latinos.   

In planning for the Texas gubernatorial race that begins in 2022, let’s hope that voters will remember the series of “crises” that Gov. Abbott has manufactured to shift attention away from his failure in leadership.  

Reference Notes

[1] Gillman, T.J. and Thompson, E. (2021, March 11). U.S. Senate hearing focuses on Texas’ overdue need for grid upgrades after Arctic blast triggered blackouts.  The Dallas Morning News, Accessed at: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/03/11/after-texas-blackouts-senate-probes-need-to-prepare-grid-for-extreme-weather/?outputType=amp 

[2] John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center,  Accessed at: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/texas

[3] Morris, A. (2021, February 2).  Report highlights disparities. The Dallas Morning News,   https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-dallas-morning-news/20210202/281522228766766

[4]  Krause, K. and Morris, A. (2021, February 21). Texas officials cut number of COVID-19 shots for Dallas residents, county says. The Dallas Morning News, Accessed at:  https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2021/02/20/texas-officials-cut-number-of-covid-19-shots-for-dallas-county-residents/

[5]  Gillman, T. J. (2021, March 3). Abbott-Biden tilt continues. The Dallas Morning News, Washington Bureau, Accessed at https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=80998d0b-9ca9-4aa4-b5d6-6bb7a9150f6b&appid=3565

[6] Nowraster, A. (2018, February 26). Criminal immigrants in Texas.  The CATO Institute, Accessed at: https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/irpb-4-updated.pdf

[7] Kurbin, C., Ousey, G.C., Reid, L., and Adelman, R. (2017, February 11).   Does immigration lead to more crime?  Not according to data. Newsweek, Accessed at:  https://sports.yahoo.com/news/does-immigration-lead-more-crime-101002691.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGmvQhce8atAQZLKo9yOU-zQP_Hj8rmKABZIl8UeaEeGDftMTccfpJLMG1Qgv_nhl4B6beW7ihnkKrzJhS-EcxKS6wILtLXj7HUH1c1-iUz50sZvS8yASNWwOuL0siZgRcRN1gBtFNR1nIgPZPOg9p5XH_bedrESZSlfcsgIYAgU

[8]  Flagg, A. (2018, March 30). The myth of the criminal immigrant. The Marshall Project. Accessed at:  https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/03/30/the-myth-of-the-criminal-immigrant

For Texas Latinos and Blacks, wearing a mask is a life or death issue.

 

For a number of reasons, Texas Latinos and Blacks would be wise to reject Gov. Abbott’s recent announcement to lift the mask mandate and open up all businesses.

In the first place, the announcement has stunned medical experts, local public officials and various other stakeholders who have been trying to promote the use of masks to mitigate the spread of the virus. For example, Dr. Anthony Fauci recently described the decision as “inexplicable” while Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins called it “unfortunate.” Public officials in South Texas called it “hypocritical.” With little exception, the decisions by the Texas governor as well as several other states to lift the mask mandate was considered premature and a threat to the progress made thus far in vaccination rates. In my opinion, Gov. Abbott’s decision presents a potential danger that is likely to accelerate the COVID-19 death rates of Texas Latinos and Blacks.

Secondly, Gov. Abbott has been acquiring a habit for poor decision making. For example, Gov. Abbott’s decision on the mask mandate follows other questionable decision making that allowed energy providers the option of weatherizing their equipment for extreme weather conditions.  An estimated 40 deaths have been traced to the energy crisis thus far, while damage to the state’s water supplies and infrastructure has been devastating to many communities.  Rather than take responsibility, Gov. Abbott opted to blame the non-renewable energy sector for the crisis -- a tactic that was roundly rejected by energy experts. Texas lawmakers are still struggling to find a solution to the devastation caused by the energy crisis and the best path forward for ensuring that the crisis is not repeated.

Thirdly, although national improvements in COVID-19 elated hospitalizations and mortalities have been made recently, a recent picture of Texas COVID-19 mortality rates are alarming and should encourage Latinos and Blacks to reject Gov. Abbott’s recent order to lift the mask mandate.  As shown by Table 1 below, Hispanics (133.9 rate) were four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites (35.2 rate), while Blacks (72.5 rate) were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than whites.  

Table 1:  COVID-19 Mortality Rates in Texas by Race-Ethnicity

Gov. Abbott recently launched an extensive media campaign to announce his decision to lift the mask mandate as the best way to revive the Texas economy, but appears indifferent to the differential impact that this decision will have on Latino and Black COVID-19 mortality rates.  Instead, Gov. Abbott is now blaming President Biden for allowing new migrants to spread the virus in the U.S. as reflected in a Dallas Morning News story:

“The Biden Administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID into Texas communities” [1]

 

Despite this claim, Gov. Abbott has failed to accept federal assistance to test migrants entering Texas for the virus. Public officials and community organizations in South Texas that routinely process migrants for entry into the U.S. countered that they quarantine and test migrants for COVID-19, and do not allow entry of any migrants that test positive for the virus. They felt that Gov. Abbott was using inflammatory language about immigrants that fuels hate crimes such as the recent incident where a lone gunman killed 23 people and wounded dozen more in an El Paso Walmart.  The shooter was motivated by the desire to “stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Lastly, Latinos and Blacks should not be blamed entirely on a lack of interest in getting vaccinated as they have  experienced barriers in accessing vaccination sites in Texas, which have been often located in wealthier white communities.[2], [3].   In addition, Gov. Abbott acted in bad faith when he threatened to withhold vaccines allocated to Dallas County when public officials announced a program to expand vaccinations to zip codes that included vulnerable populations like Blacks and Latinos. [4] The impact of these practices on vaccination rates has been noteworthy.  A recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation examining vaccination rates in 35 states [5] revealed the following about Texas (see Table 2 below):

·       Only 7 percent of Blacks were vaccinated which was lower than their share (12%) of the population.

·       Only 23 percent of Hispanics were vaccinated which was lower than their share (40%) of the population.

·       The percentage of whites that were vaccinated (51%) was higher than their share (41%) of the population.

Across the 35 states included in this report, the vaccination rate among Whites was over two and a half times higher than the rate for Hispanic people (13% vs. 5%) and nearly twice as high as the rate for Black people (13% vs. 7%).

Table 2:  Race-Ethnicity of Texas COVID-19 Vaccinations, Cases, and Deaths, March 3, 2021

Race/Ethnicity	Percent of Vaccinations	Percent of Cases	Percent of Deaths	Percent of Total Population (2019)
Black	7%	19%	10%	12%
Hispanic	23%	41%	46%	40%
Asian	7%	1%	2%	5%
White	51%	38%	42%	41%
Missing	12%	1%	-	2%
Total	100%	100%	100	100%

, March 3, 20213, 2021

In my opinion, Latino and Black business, civic and religious leaders should launch an aggressive campaign to counter Gov. Abbott’s recent decision about the mask mandate and make Latino and Black residents aware that they are likely to face an increased risk of exposure and death from the relaxation of the mask requirements.  Latino and Black Texans should be encouraged to reject Gov. Abbott’s mandate and show continued discipline in wearing the mask. Of course, we all die eventually but it makes little sense to accelerate our death because our governor lacked the will to continue the mask mandate a bit longer as recommended by the medical experts.  

 

Reference Notes

---

[1] Thompson, E. and Corchado, A. Gov. Abbott blames immigrants for spreading COVID in rhetoric that advocates dismiss as xenophobic. Dallas Morning News, Accessed at  https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/03/05/gov-abbott-blames-immigrants-for-spreading-covid-in-what-advocates-dismiss-as-rhetoric-at-its-best/

[2] Morris, A.  (2021, February 2).  Report highlights disparities – but proposals targeting effects on minorities months away.  The Dallas Morning News, Accessed at: https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-dallas-morning-news/20210202/281522228766766

[3] Goodnough, A. and Hoffman, J.  The wealthy are getting more vaccinations, even in poorer neighborhoods. New York Times, Accessed at:  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/health/white-people-covid-vaccines-minorities.html

[4]  Choi, J. (2021, Jan. 21).  Texas threatened to reduce vaccine supply to Dallas County over plan to focus on 'vulnerable' ZIP codes.  The Hill.   Accessed at: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/535294-texas-threatened-to-reduce-vaccine-supply-to-dallas-county-over-plan-to

[5] Ndugga, N., Pham,O., Hill, L., Artiga, S., and Mengistu, S. (2021, March 3).  Latest data on COVID-19 vaccinations Race/Ethnicity. Kaiser Family Foundation, Accessed at:  https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/