The Texas meme queen strikes again.
The San Antonio Spurs will face off with the New York Knicks this Wednesday for the team’s first trip to the NBA Finals in a dozen years, and the city is buzzing. But like an uninvited party guest or a fairweather fan, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott decided he wanted in on the excitement too.
Even though he seems to send his Texas Guard troops to San Antonio more often than he visits himself, the Republican governor wanted to take credit for the Spurs advancing to the Finals, or at least identify himself with it in some way.
Much like his prior memes depicting himself as a superhero and a Mean Girl, the governor shared AI slopaganda Sunday evening depicting himself in a heroic light — this time as a Spurs player mid-air, defying the laws of physics and dunking on Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who’s sporting a Knicks uniform.
Never mind that Abbott’s wearing a dark Spurs away jersey in the image even though the upcoming game is here in San Antonio, which means the team will be in white home jerseys. Never mind that Hochul and Abbott inexplicably have the same jersey number.
Never mind that the only sign in the crowd says “Texas this state” for some reason, as if that makes any sense. And never mind that the crowd seems to be made up of a bunch of clones of the same exact guy.
In his meme dreams, Abbott can do anything, and he’s always on top.
Predictably, President Donald Trump features in the AI image as he laughs at Abbott’s gravity-defying feat. The president is sitting next to a seat that says “Go Spurs Go” — even though he’s a well-known Knicks fan.
He’s a New Yorker after all, and that’s his home team. So perhaps Abbott or his meme team could have done a little research before the attempted bootlicking.
Even so, it could be a good thing if Trump shows up courtside at Frost Bank Center to support the Knickerbockers, since many believe he’s a jinx. The last time the Knicks were in the finals was 1999, when they lost to Los Spurs in five games.
However, in Abbott’s mind, this isn’t just a rematch between teams, but a settling of a grudge between two powerful states whose leaders have opposing ideologies.
Based on what we know about the politics of both Spurs star Victor Wembanyama and franchise president Gregg Popovich, we doubt this image was a slam dunk with the team itself.
To be sure, Abbott isn’t the only politician using AI to cash in on Spurs-mania to push his own political narrative or siphon off some of their buzz.
Former city councilman and failed mayoral candidate Manny Pelaez inexplicably does it all the time.
Whether we like it or not, this is an era of AI propaganda, and right now, seemingly everyone wants a piece of the Spurs.
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