Mike Pence Praises Greg Abbott For Causing Texas Virus Surge

Vice President Mike Pence went to Texas to praise Gov. Greg Abbott for actions that led to a surge in coronavirus cases.

Pence said:

I also want to commend the governor for — for your decisive action. Reopening this economy, which began in early May, is a tribute to your leadership and the steady progress in — in putting Texas back to work. It’s something every Texan can be proud of.

But with the development of these new cases — as you said, going from 2,000 a day to 5,000 a day; positivity rate going from roughly 4 percent to 13 percent — we’re grateful, Governor, that you’ve taken the steps that you’ve taken to limit the kind of gatherings and meeting in certain places in communities that may well be contributing to the community spread that we’re seeing in Texas and in states like Arizona and Florida and California as well.

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Abbott has closed down bars, but he hasn’t limited mass indoor gathers. Abbott is not requiring masks in the states. The actions that Pence praised are what contributed to the coronavirus surge in the state. These two facts are not unrelated. States that followed Trump and Pence’s lead and quickly reopened their economy are seeing a surge in virus cases.

The administration wants to pretend like the pandemic is over, but what Pence was really doing in Texas was praising the governor for putting politics over health and making more Texans sick.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association