In recent weeks Governor Abbott has found himself at conflict with the White House. The tension was caused when Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to raise barbed wire across the border with Mexico. President Biden denounced the actions, and the case was brought forward to the Supreme Court. Last Monday the court ruled that the Border Patrol had the right to dismantle the wire put up by the National Guard.
Despite the ruling, the Texas National Guard has seemingly ignored the ruling, and have continued to raise wire. Two days later Abbott accused the White House of breaking with the states constitutional right to protect their borders from an “invasion”. The tension only got worse when Biden issued that he would nationalise the Texas National Guard if they continued to ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling.
On Monday Abbott said, “This is the No. 1 issue in America. Americans want a secure border. If Joe Biden federalises our National Guard, that would be the biggest political blunder that you can make, and that’s why I think he will not do it,” in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.
It is not the first time that the state has gone head to head with the President. Last year when immigrants were allowed en masse to enter into the country. Texas started to put numerous amounts of these immigrants on buses heading toward states like New York. Even then Abbott was stating that the reasoning for transporting the immigrants without approval was Texas’ constitutional right to defend itself from an “invasion”.
Despite the ruling and the threat of nationalising the state National Guard, Abbott has shown very little in terms of standing down. In the same interview with Sean Hannity, Abbott thanked his fellow GOP colleagues for their support and said, “half of American now is standing against the Biden administration.” His confidence in standing against the government has even led him to talk about a plan the state had in the case that the federal government sent in federal troops.
This growing disregard shown by Abbott has led some on the fringe to increase their calls for an independent Texas. Whilst Texan independence is very unlikely, the effects it will have on the presidential election can not be denied. The GOP will likely place the vote as one for states rights, while painting the Democratic party as a direct attack against the autonomy of the state of Texas.
In all, the current tension shows how more and more political officials seem to be disregarding the federal government. As once fringe ideas now seem to be gaining attraction from political leaders who then introduce the wider public to the ideas.
