Courtesy Photo / Office of the Governor
Gov. Greg Abbott surrounds himself with stern-looking men and women in uniform.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his handler — veteran GOP political consultant Dave Carney — have seized on that new reality, especially when it comes to immigration and the border.
In the latest of those Bay-worthy blockbusters, the Republican governor held a press conference Wednesday during which he announced the "unprecedented" move of busing migrants straight to Washington, D.C. as a gift to the Biden White House.
Surrounded by stern-looking men and women in uniform, Abbott said he was forced to take that shocking step because Biden is phasing out the pandemic-era emergency order enabling authorities to turn away asylum seekers at the border.
However, in a news release emailed two hours after the presser, the governor's office layered in some significant fine print to Abbott's proclamation. Namely, that to board one of those buses, a migrant must first volunteer to be transported to D.C.
That buried caveat drew ridicule from both right and left. For conservatives, it was a sign that Abbott was chest beating rather than, well, actually beating on the migrants themselves. For Democrats, it was a sign of the governor's willingness wade further and further into the territory of Trump-style demagoguery.
Amping up the theatrics
Either way, it should come as little surprise given Abbott's history of immigration-related theatrics.
First, there was the governor's bullshit San Antonio news conference at which he peddled false claims that kids were being molested inside a temporary migrant shelter, then there was his laughable "steel wall" of DPS and Texas Guard vehicles to deter border crossers.
But both of those pale to Operation Lone Star, which is burning through $2 billion a year to position 10,000 service members in South Texas. Recent media investigations also reveal that Abbott and his surrogates played fast and loose with numbers that purport to show how many drug smugglers and gang members the costly deployment has rounded up.
All the histrionics tie in with Abbott's bid to make border security his priority campaign issue.
However, the latest annual Texas Lyceum poll suggests that they're not exactly helping the governor pull ahead of Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, who trails him by just two percentage points. That's in contrast to Abbott's 13-point blowout over Lupe Valdez four years ago.
We're still six months out from the election, which is reason to view the Texas Lyceum numbers with a little skepticism. Even so, the poll also sheds valuable perspective on what Texans are concerned about going into the contest.
According to the survey, one in four cite an economic concern such as affordable housing, rising property taxes and inflation as the state's most pressing issue. That compares to one in five who cited immigration or border security as the most important issue.
Four in 10 Texas adults rate opportunities for home ownership in their area as “poor” or “terrible.” More than half said the cost of necessities such as housing, food and utilities is either “poor” or “terrible” where they live. Further, only 27% of Texans now believe their children will be better off economically than they are.
Culture war issues over kitchen table concerns
That wasn't lost on Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at The University of Texas at Austin. In comments to the Texas Standard, he said O'Rourke's showing in the poll likely reflects Abbott's focus on appeasing party loyalists rather than the majority of Texans.
"[The poll] was right on the heels of a hard and bitter-fought Republican primary in which the governor and pretty much every incumbent Republican up and down the ballot, was pushing these issues that were very important to Republican primary voters, but obviously failed to hit the mark," Blank said. "The broad general electorate is much more focused on kitchen table issues right now."
In Hollywood, when you have nothing of substance to offer, theater-rattling explosions, car crashes and gunfire can put asses in seats and money in the box office. However, the Texas Lyceum poll raises questions about how effectively epic-scale bombast can win over voters — especially those who feel their real concerns are being ignored.
Stay on top of San Antonio news and views. Sign up for our Weekly Headlines Newsletter.
