Texas' Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott finally acknowledged that there is a serious problem as COVID-19 takes down the state's population.
It was just a few months ago that municipalities were deciding for themselves when and if they would reopen. But Abbott shut it down, saying that his orders "overrule any local jurisdiction."
In April, "Abbott and the state’s other Republican leaders have blasted local officials in Dallas and Houston for what they called overzealous enforcement of COVID-19 regulations, first zeroing in on Democratically led Harris County’s decision to fine residents for not wearing face masks, a penalty Abbott banned in his April 27 reopening order," ProPublica reported. "The fights came to a head this month with the arrest of a Dallas hair salon owner who refused to shutter her business, an act of defiance that was supported by a right-wing group that launched a GoFundMe campaign a day before she reopened that raised $500,000 before it was disabled."
In June, County Judge Nelson Wolff said that mandatory face coverings should be enforced as the state moves forward with the reopening, News4SanAntonio reported.
"Judge Wolff and I have a philosophical difference," Gov. Abbott said. "He believes in government mandates, I believe in individual responsibility. Every interview that I've had on TV, I've talked about the individual responsibility to wear a face guard to make sure you don't either transmit COVID-19 or that you don't get it and it's up to every individual in this state to make sure that we slow the spread of COVID-19."
Just a few weeks later, Abbott would flip on the idea of masks being somehow politically motivated or some kind of left-wing plot. Masks are now mandatory in all of Texas, as Republicans and conservatives turn to public health over a political battle.
It isn't a surprise that people took to Twitter to mock and attack the governor for taking so long to make the move. However, conservative came out in full force, saying he was "bowing to blue" or claiming he was letting Democrats make decisions for him.
Here are the right-wing comments:
See the pro-tweets below:
