This is just pathetic
While times of crisis tend to be true tests of leadership, with sometimes unlikely faces rising up to the challenge, the winter storm that hit Texas is not only tragic, but an embarrassing failure on the part of Republican leadership. Conservative pundits are scrambling for an excuse as to why Ted Cruz was right to flee the state when it needed him the most, but they’re hoping you forget the narrative in the first place when you argue back.
For decades, people like Cruz or Gov. Greg Abbott argued about government being the problem and not the solution and now they’re in a crisis where the only way out is a strong, coordinated federal response, so all they can do is shift the blame and lie about the severity of the issue. This is also coming from the same leadership that ridiculed California after its own blackouts and opposed sending relief to the east coast after Hurricane Sandy.
Although President Biden quickly sent the requested relief to Texas through FEMA, state leadership has failed so disastrously that he’s working through a chain of local and municipal leaders – mayors and county commissioners to assess the situation on the ground and get aid delivered directly to the places that need it the most, communicating over the last week with these leaders through an open channel.
Even though FEMA has delivered 60 generators to the state to be used by hospitals without power, many of these are still waiting in airports. As disastrous as the GOP’s handling of this crisis has been, it’s only just the latest in a pattern of poor disaster responses and should be treated as such. This is why they shouldn’t be given back either house of Congress in 2022.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making