Apparently, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott likes his fast food with an extra helping of identity politics.
On Monday evening — hours after Chick-fil-A announced it would no longer fund a pair of Christian groups criticized for being anti-LGBTQ — the governor tweeted a link to a news report on the decision and added, “I’m headed to Bill Miller’s tonight.”
It’s easy to infer that Abbott’s sudden hankering for Bill Miller Bar-B-Q’s mass-produced ‘cue stems from a tweet by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, this summer identifying the Alamo City’s largest donors to President Donald Trump’s re-election. Balous Miller, Bill Miller’s owner, was among them.
The switch in brand loyalty marks an abrupt about face from Abbott, who this summer looked like he was all in with Team Chicken Sammich. The governor tweeted in July that he’d signed a new law dubbed the “Save Chick-fil-A Bill” while pictured with staffers holding cups from the Atlanta-based chain.
That controversial measure — passed after San Antonio declined to give an airport concession contract to Chick-fil-A — bans government entities from taking “adverse action” against businesses based on their affiliation with religious groups. Critics warned that the law provides legal cover for companies to engage in religious discrimination.
The clap back over Abbott’s latest fast food tweet didn’t take long. While some on Twitter applauded the governor, others called out his apparent hypocrisy for saying businesses should be able to do whatever they want, then getting pissy after what they want didn’t conform to his culture-war agenda.
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This article appears in Nov 6-19, 2019.
