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GOP Texas Governor Abbott's Horrible Flash Flood Remarks [1]

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Date: 2025-07-09

Callous Texas GOP Governor Gregg Abbott– He Compares Football to the Horrible Camp Mystic Disaster July 9, 2025

The Fourth of July weekend. It’s a time for camping, parades, hot-dogs, barbecues, and just plain fun get-togethers. In 2025 Texas, the July 4th weekend was anything but that. As most of us know by now, more than 100 people have been killed by flash flooding in the area of Kerr County in Texas’ Hill Country caused by the overflow of the Guadalupe River. At least 160 people are missing. Most horrible was the death toll of children and counselors at Camp Mystic, a 100-year-old Christian summer camp. https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-victims-camp-mystic-death-toll-ea38edadc7e965fb2c76c0ec46245a82

Jenna Bush Hager, one of former President W Bush and his wife, former First Lady Laura’s twin girls, choked up upon hearing the news of this disaster. She noted that her mother had previously worked as a drama counselor there. Jenna also stated that she had many friends in this camp that was hosting 750 children and was located 90 miles away from San Antonio. https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/jenna-bush-hager-laura-bush-camp-mystic

A flood watch notice was given by the National Weather Service around midday Thursday, July 3, 2025 by the National Weather Service (NWS). On July 4, around 4 a.m., the NWS issued an urgent warning that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life. By at least 5:20 a.m., some in the Kerrville area said that water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes. The floods grew to their worst when many people were asleep. https://apnews.com/article/flash-flood-texas-camp-mystic-aec918a07d3ce8ff85197922e108b13

Officials have rightfully come under scrutiny for why this camp was not alerted sooner than between 4-5 a.m. on July 4 to evacuate, especially since the Texas Hill Country in the central part of the Lone Star State is an area naturally prone to flash flooding because of its dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up. This area was known to locals as “flash flood alley.” Generations of families in the Hill Country recognized these dangers. A 1987 flood forced the evacuation of a youth camp in the town of Comfort and swamped buses and vans. Ten teenagers were then killed. https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-victims-camp-mystic-death-toll-ea38edadc7e965fb2c760ec46245a82

Local leaders talked for years about a need for a warning system for such flash floods similar to those given to Texas counties plagued by tornadoes. Kerr County sought a nearly $1million grant eight years ago for such a system, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) turned them down. Local residents additionally balked at footing the bill themselves. https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-victims-camp-mystic-death-toll-ea38edadc7e965fb2c760ec46245a82

People have also aptly blamed the loss of life in Kerr County for the lack of staffing at the National Weather Service (NWS) caused by Trump’s draconian cuts as well as local leaders who failed to act swiftly. https://www.newsweek.com/greg-abbott-texas-flooding-blame-missing-people-2096350

The Kerr City Manager blamed spotty cell phone service in some of the more isolated areas that could have gone out of service because of the weather and hindered communication between the authorities and Camp Mystic. https://apnews.com/article/flash/-flood--texas-camp-mystic-aec9181a07d3ce8ff85197922e108b13

And then, of course there is the chief executive of Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott. Gov. Abbott was the first to blame Democratic President Joe Biden for widespread power loss in Texas on the Green New Deal which never even passed Congress. He later blamed Biden for not quickly helping TX get assistance following Hurricane Beryl in July, 2024. Now, when GOPer Donald is in power, Gov. Abbott did not criticize his cutbacks. When a reporter asked Abbott who was to “blame,” he went ballistic. Gov. Abbott rebuked this reporter. Abbott stated, “You asked and I’m going to use your words, ‘Who’s to blame?’ Know this, that’s the word choice of losers.” Abbott added, “Let me explain one thing about Texas. Every square inch of our state cares about football. Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones who try to point out who is to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say don’t worry about it, we got this. We’re going to make sure that we go score again, that we win this game.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/us/abbott-blame-floods-losers-football.html

What a callous and cruel statement to make–comparing football fun at Texas “Friday Night Lights” games to the horrible deaths of hundreds of innocent children and some of their counselors at a summer camp! However, this statement coming from callous, Mr. “laissez-faire” hard-right GOP Governor Abbott should constitute no surprise. Meet Gov. Abbott.

GOP Governor Greg Abbott (67) is currently serving his third-term as Texas’ chief executive. Wichita Falls, TX native Abbott was raised in Dallas County TX’s Duncanville. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Texas (UT) in Austin and a law degree in 1984 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville,Tennessee. In 1984, a falling tree injured him while he was out running. As a result, Abbott became a paraplegic and has used a wheelchair ever since. https://www.almanacofamericanpolitics.com , 2024, National Journal, 2023, p.1745. After doing a stint in private practice, then GOP Gov. W Bush appointed Abbott to fill a vacancy on the Texas Supreme Ct. in 1995. Abbott won re-election twice to that post, but resigned in 2001 to run for TX Attorney General in 2002. He was re-elected to that post twice and served in it from 2002-2015. As TX Atty. General, he sued the Obama Administration more than two dozen times. He bragged that as Atty. General, his job consisted of “going to the office in the morning, suing Barack Obama, and then going home.” https://www.almanacofamericanpolitics.com , 2024 National Journal, 2023, p. 1745. His lawsuits against Obama ranged from challenging Obamacare, going against abortion reform laws, trying to uphold voter IDs which hurt the poor and minority voters, and challenging environmental regulations. In 2025, Abbott successfully argued before the Supreme Ct. to keep a Ten Commandments monument on the TX Capitol grounds. When GOP Governor Perry stated he would not run for another term in 2014, Abbott ran to replace him. He defeated Dem. State Senator Wendy Davis who unsuccessfully filibustered a bill to ban most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy 59%-39%. He pounded her as being too close to Obama, who was unpopular in “Red” TX. Abbott featured his Hispanic mother-in-law in ads and won roughly 44% of the Hispanic vote. https://www.almanacofamericanpolitics.com , 2024, National Journal, 2023,pp. 1745-1746. He easily won a second term against Dem. Lupe Valdez, 56%-43%. In 2022, Abbott won a third-term against well-known Dem. Beto O’Rourke 55%-44%. In 2018, then little-known O’Rourke lost to U.S. Sen.Ted Cruz by just 3 points. https://www.almanacofamericanpolitics.com , 2024 National Journal,2023, pp.1746-1747. In 2024, Abbott announced he would run for a fourth term in 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Abbott

As governor, Abbott has a solidly conservative record. In still strong “Red” TX, he easily won reelection. Even though a deadly storm led to severe power outages in his state in 2021, most of his constituents did not blame him for not fixing previous power grid problems that made this crisis worse. As a GOP governor with a laissez-faire philosophy of not looking out for problems or fixing them until disaster strikes, such action is no surprise. Even after this winter power storm, Abbott did not require gas pipelines to be winterized, a callous pro-business action. He strongly supported heartless Donald in his first administration and Donald endorsed callous Abbott for reelection in 2021 over several possible GOP rivals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Abbott Abbott signed an anti-abortion bill that banned the procedure at six weeks with no exceptions for rape and incest, quite callous again to many women who didn’t know they were pregnant at that early stage. This bill also allowed private citizens to sue anyone who helped with abortions. https://almanacofamericanpolitics.com

Again, how cruel and callous can Abbott get? Abbott also showed callousness in the immigration area. In a cruel stunt, “Operation Lone Star,” he sent 14,000 migrants from TX to Democratic-led cities, including Philadelphia, New York, and D.C. https://almanacofamericanpolitics.com Abbott vetoed a bill that would have made people eligible for parole for having been convicted of certain crimes before age 18. He also vetoed a bill that would have made it illegal to chain up dogs without giving them access to drinkable water and shade or shelter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Abbott Cruel and callous even to animals. You get the idea.

Texas still retains the harsh attitudes of many of its original Southern settlers. It also clings strongly to the laissez-faire idea that people facing hard luck have to pull themselves up by their “own non-existent bootstraps.” It should, therefore, be no surprise that Gov. Abbott and his GOP legislature in this “Red” trifecta would not try to better warn and aid people in this flash flood Kerr County region. Until they vote callous Abbott and his majority uncaring “Red” legislature out and demand more money for flood protection, Texans will continue to suffer from similar future disasters.

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