Political Theater at the Border

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I hadn’t heard about the new stunt Greg Abbott was pulling on the southern border until yesterday. Wow, what a maroon.

In case you hadn’t heard yet — Abbott has ordered that all commercial trucks crossing the border into Texas have to be inspected by Texas authorities to be sure they aren’t carrying drugs or undocumented people. Aren’t the trucks already being inspected by federal Customs and Border Protection people? Why yes, they are! And after they get the federal inspection trucks must go through another inspection by the state of Texas. According to the El Paso Times, this is causing delays of ten hours to two days at some checkpoints.

I’m seeing no indication that the Texas inspections have caught anything the feds missed.

So trucks full of avocados and auto parts are unable to get through, and this is likely to result in food shortages and drive up prices. Thanks loads, governor. Josh Marshall wrote,

The chaos has been so immediate and extreme that Abbott has garnered substantial pushback even from state Republicans. State Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on Tuesday attacked Abbott’s new policy as “political theater” and “economy killing action.” “Your inspection protocol is not stopping illegal immigration. It is stopping food from getting to grocery store shelves and in many cases causing food to rot in trucks — many of which are owned by Texas and other American companies. … The people of Texas deserve better!”

I question what the people of Texas “deserve,” since collectively they hava managed to be mostly a thorn in all our sides for some time, but let’s go on … the other little stunt Abbott is pulling is to send busloads of migrants seeking asylum to Washington, DC, to be unloaded in front of the Fox News station there. The migrants have all been processed by CBP and are free to travel. Apparently righties think it’s wonderfully fun and clever to dump the “illegals” so near the Capitol building. Paul Waldman points out that this is not causing any problems in DC, and no one there seems to care. Several of the migrants were happy to get a free ride to Washington.

5 thoughts on “Political Theater at the Border”

  1. Texas used to run an ad promoting tourism. The slogan was "Texas! It's like a whole other country!"

    I was, and remain, completely in favor of Texas becoming a whole other country. It would mean deportation would be available. 

    2

    • Question for you, sir. Governor Abbot announced he was pulling this stunt to punish the federal government for changes in Title ??, Trump's policy that refused entry and forced immediate deportation.

      So if the delays are, by the governor's admission, not related to any legitimate cause in an area TX has jurisdiction, are they liable for damages and excessive costs that result from the tantrum?

  2. Conservatives only care about immediate impacts, and do not allow any thoughts for consequences.

    "Hey Abbott,*" this applies to you.

    You hoped to capture millions of undocumented immigrants.  Ok, maybe not millions, but thousands.  Though to listen to RepubliKKKLANS, they seem to think, and sometimes act, like it's millions of people streaming across our borders on a daily basis.

    But you didn't find masses of people, did you, asshole?

    All you did, Gov. Abbott, was create massive truck jams!

    I hope the truckers and companies they haul for sue the living shite out of Abbott and Texas.

    *This is funnier when uttered or yelled by the late, great Lou Costello.  Also, Bud Abbott was much funnier than this this soulless political hack, Gov. Greg Abbot!

  3. Simple solution: give Texas back to Mexico. Not that Mexico deserves the trouble, but their government could refuse and then Texas is free to be on its own.

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