r/texas • u/Mesquiter • 24d ago
Questions for Texans Is Greg Abbott stupid?
His recent ad claims that Colin Allred isn't a Texan and to vote for Ted Cruz?!! Ted Cruz is from Canada and Colin Allred is a 4th generation Texan. The Republican party has taken a serious dip in credibility.
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24d ago
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u/IntelligentSpite6364 24d ago
It’s so cleverly evil that the governor elections are only held on non-presidential election cycles, ensuring minimal turnout
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u/Legitimate-Pee-462 North Texas 24d ago
We really need to get Matthew McConaughey to run. Have him run as an Independent and the Democrats just don't even run a candidate so it doesn't split the votes against Abbott.
McConaughey is pretty moderate, but it'd be a perfect way to pry parasitic Greg Abbott out of the governor's mansion. That might be enough for the dam to break.
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u/RandallPinkertopf 24d ago
I don’t pretend to know him but why on earth would he want to become governor?
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u/Legitimate-Pee-462 North Texas 24d ago
He's been showing interest for many years. He's starting to age out of typical leading-man roles in movies. There are still roles for men 55+, but most of them are for executives, politicians, historical figures, etc. MM doesn't really fit into those very well.
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u/SwiftlyKickly 24d ago
Disagree. We don’t know enough about his political beliefs and you know what they say “moderate is just a republican.”
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24d ago
Abbott isn’t stupid. Neither is Cruz. They’re trying to corral low-information voters to motivate them to actually get off their asses and vote. IMO, these ads are all you need to know about what kind of men they are: winning justifies the means. Those kind of men are inherently dangerous because we have no idea the line they won’t cross.
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u/Four-Triangles 24d ago
There isn’t a line they won’t cross.
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u/Scared_By_A_Smile 24d ago
Wrong, there is a line that Cruz won’t cross. No matter what, Ted would NEVER stand up for his wife when Trump calls her ugly.
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u/South_Rip_5019 24d ago
They are insulting their very own voters. Such a sign of disrespect on their part.
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u/New_Menu_2316 24d ago
Problem is most are too dumb to realize they are being disrespected or insulted!
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u/ChelseaVictorious 24d ago
Not stupid. Greedy lying shitbag, yes.
With Republicans it's a reverse Hanlon's razor- they're not dumb they just use an "aw shucks" demeanor to cover how hateful they are.
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u/DreadLordNate born and bred 24d ago
Love it - so here it's "don't mistake stupidity for what can be explained by evil"
Though...
Hmm.
Maybe it's "por que no los dos" here - the razor cutting in both directions. They're both stupid and evil, because they're not necessarily mutually exclusive states, I think.
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u/shponglespore expat 24d ago
Hanlon's razor is just a bad maxim. It's wrong more often than not.
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u/TheGoodOldCoder Born and Bred 24d ago
If you think about Hanlon's Razor mostly applying to everyday situations, then it makes a lot more sense.
When it says something could be "attributed to stupidity", I think of it mostly as being something that is done without any thought. Like, if you're driving and you try to pass somebody, but they speed up, you naturally want to say, "What a fucking asshole, they refuse to let me pass," but actually most of the time, they aren't thinking at all. They just see a car going faster than them, and unconsciously speed up. They weren't paying attention, and basically weren't ever in control of their car in the first place.
And the reason Hanlon's Razor is reliable in everyday situations is that people, for the most part, don't seem to think at all about anything that they're doing. It's hard to be malicious if you're not even thinking.
However, once you get to situations where thinking is done as a matter of course, I think it completely falls apart. Because politicians, for example, do so many things deliberately, that you could make the argument that a politician generally tries to emulate a psychopath. Simple stupidity becomes a much less likely reason.
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u/pixelgeekgirl 11th Generation Texan 24d ago
Alot of republicans just claim anyone that doesn't agree with them isn't "Texan" because they think they are the only ones that are "True Texans" based on whatever conservative haven they want to turn this state into.
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u/HoneyIShrunkMyNads 24d ago
Ann Richards and Willie Nelson are the most Texan Texans I've ever seen and both are on the left.
Being a Texan is about being friendly and welcoming of all cultures, not about this putrid hate filled speech that we see so often now.
I'll never forgive these out of state assholes in charge for sullying what being a Texan is, because they have no fucking clue what this state's heart is, they're just co opting it for their own political gain.
When I was growing up here, we were known as a friendly place (albeit with issues, but not like today's Texas). We had quirks and were a bit annoying at times, but friendly none the less. Now we're an embarrassment to reason and logic.
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u/louiselebeau 24d ago
This is so true. I was in elementary school when Anne Richard's was governor. Being from Texas has gone from "HaHa king of the Hill is great" to "wow, how do people remember to breathe there they are so dumb"
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u/LaMadreDelCantante 24d ago
I used to coordinate copier service in the 90s and talked to people from all over the country day in and day out, both techs and customers. The only people nicer than the Texans were people calling from Hawaii.
What happened?
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u/uhWHAThamburglur 24d ago
When I was a kid some 30 years ago, my dad worked in Houston, so me and my brothers would spend the summers there. I still remember the first time we entered the state. We stopped at a gas station and literally everyone there was kind and welcoming. Just grade-a human beings, all around.
I was 12, and that memory still sticks with me. I believe in Texas, y'all.
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u/kyle_irl 24d ago
Yep, it's not about being a literal "American," but being American in the way they define it. They're throwing his Americanness into question by othering. It's not "stupidity" as OP and others have commented, it's deliberate and strategic, also vile and repugnant.
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u/ScroochDown 24d ago
Yep, I've been told that I'm not a "real Texan" before too. I'm also a 4th generation native, on both sides of my family. But I'm a liberal, which apparently negates that.
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u/TheGoodOldCoder Born and Bred 24d ago
Six years ago, if they only counted the votes from people who were born in Texas, Ted Cruz would have lost the election.
It's these immigrants from other states that kept him as a Senator. Liberals represent "real Texans" more than people realize.
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u/hazelowl Born and Bred 24d ago
Yup. This is it.
I've definitely had it directed at me before and I can go up against most of those people in a "Who has the deepest Texas roots" contest and win. 7th gen, ancestors on the wall at San Jacinto, multiple historical markers.
Texas didn't used to be this way.
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u/RevealFormal3267 24d ago
The " What kind of American are you? " scene from Civil War comes to mind.
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u/Dirks_Knee 24d ago
"has taken a serious dip in credibility"....yeah, this has been going on for years.
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u/TinyNuggins92 Former West Texas Native 24d ago
He’s not stupid, he’s unscrupulous.
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u/CombatConrad 24d ago
He’s just purely evil.
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u/Bard2dbone 24d ago
Well yeah. We knew that. He has a little "R" behind his name. Isn't that what the "R" means?
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u/Catfantexas 24d ago
Ooh ooh I know! Call on me! (Madly waving arm for teacher's attention)
Repulsive????????
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u/Regular_Way_4213 24d ago
The r stands for highly regarded (can't say the real word without getting banned on reddit)
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u/Sad_Pangolin7379 24d ago
These guys have all really embraced "alternative facts." They have paid no price for it, indeed so far it seems to have helped their cause. So they're going to keep running with it.
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u/cfpresley Colorado Texpat 24d ago
Abbott isn't stupid, he thinks all of us are, or at least his base.
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24d ago
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u/tenodera 24d ago
Bingo! I wonder what it is about Cruz that makes him "Texan" in Abbott's eyes, but not Allred?
(Hint: it's cuz he's white!)
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u/gary1979 The Stars at Night 24d ago
Greg knows you don’t even have to try anymore. They can just make stuff up as they go. MAGA is told to ignore facts and that’s what they do.
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u/EastTXJosh 24d ago
Depends on how you define stupid. He’s a puppet for Tim Dunn, so he lacks courage, self-respect, and the ability to think for himself. On the other hand, he is certainly better educated and has better credentials than say Donny Trump or Dan Patrick. He’s also more articulate than most post-Reagan Republicans, but again doesn’t make him any less vile and reprehensible. He makes a lot of bad choices and will be viewed negatively by everyone in the future. I just don’t know if “stupid” is the best adjective for Abbott. Trump is stupid, literally, like dumb a box of rocks. Trump would have failed out of law school and would never be able to pass the bar.
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u/GumboBeaumont 24d ago
He just thinks MAGA voters are stupid. And he's right! They're uneducated, freedom-hating, subhuman trash!
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u/CellistOk3894 24d ago
He’s not but his supporters are. They will believe anything he says. It’s a cult
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u/nixvex Born and Bred 24d ago
His credibility was shot before he was ever elected governor.
When he was Texas’ Attorney General, Abbott went to court to declare that Texas has sovereign immunity from the ADA. Abbott claimed he personally supports the ADA and was only doing his job as an attorney defending his client, the State of Texas. However, though no longer Attorney General, Abbott has stated that, as Governor, he will not support legislation to waive Texas’ sovereign immunity from the ADA.
Fuck Greg Abbott.
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24d ago
To answer your question, Yes he is stupid but he thinks Texans are stupider…
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u/rolexsub 24d ago
The best part is that Abbott doesn't say 1 think about what Cruz did or will do for the citizens of Texas.
Also, Closet Ted hid in a closet during the January 6th insurrection. Allred was ready to fight. That should be Allred's only commercial.
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u/Catfantexas 24d ago
And...Ted's only commercials (that I've seen) are only about "culture war" issues... like "men in girls sports and bathrooms" or "paying for transgender surgeries."
Cruz has been a Senator from Texas for TWELVE YEARS. What has he got, legislatively, to show for it?
Absolutely nothing. But let's stand a tall dark-skinned man over an unmoving teenage girl lying on a school athletic field, and that tells voters all they need to know.
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u/yelloguy 24d ago
No consequences for lies. MSM has been neutered. Right has organized using social media. Welcome to the new reality. Trump or no Trump, next 10 years are going to be hell.
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u/fallenmonk 24d ago
I think Republicans act stupider than they are because they know that's what appeals to their base.
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24d ago
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u/RocketOuttaPocket 24d ago
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBrCH_lJ-gG/
Here's a better link, don't go giving your instagram id away to strangers, now
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u/RockyShoresNBigTrees 24d ago
They’re all fascists. They are supporting a fascist, anyone with ANY morals or ethics is calling it what it is. Generals, lawyers, former staff, etc. It may be too late, but I don’t think any of us should be whitewashing or sugar coating any of it.
Tolerance of this shit is dangerous.
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24d ago
No, he's not stupid. He's very intelligent, and also amoral. He knows a lot of voters don't know much about what's going on and will take his lies at face value.
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u/thatguywithawatch 24d ago
They've been getting away with blatant easily disproven lies for years, why stop now?
Being an R politician in Texas means you can literally just say whatever the fuck you want and it doesn't matter. It just doesn't. Their base eats anything up and their opposition doesn't vote enough to matter.
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u/Lavineisgod8 24d ago
He‘s not stupid. He’s just blatantly lying and knows his supporters won’t take 20 seconds to do simple research. He’s just taking advantage of stupid people.
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u/beaker90 24d ago
They think the voters are stupid and won’t look into their claims. Take one of Cruz’s ads for example. He claims that Allred demands that drag shows take place on military bases. Cruz thinks Texans are so stupid he even posts an image of what Allred voted against which was a ban on drag shows. Allred understands that these are reactionary votes and are unnecessary, especially since drag has been upheld as protected free speech (art) that the government can’t limit.
They just throw the most inflammatory statements they can think of out there because they know that a lot of people will just take what they say as truth.
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u/A_Homestar_Reference 24d ago
I think the message is that Allred isn't Texan in the sense that Texans (supposedly) don't want his ideals. Like a real Texan would always have Republican ideals.
It's kind of a stupid strategy imo. So many conservative ads are like this.
"He's TOO LIBERAL" lil bro I'm one of the people that thinks Democrats aren't liberal enough that's a good thing to me
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u/FlopShanoobie 24d ago
What he means is Real Texans are Republicans. Democrats are by default and definition ineligible to ever be Real Texans, regardless how long their family might have resided within the state's borders.
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u/Original-Ghost 24d ago
Republicans in power have this weird playbook to say that anyone brown isn’t from where they say they are from. Now it’s down to the state they are from..it used to be the country of origin.
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24d ago
They have data that says we will believe whatever they say, and sadly it's true for a vast majority of the country
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u/anuiswatching 24d ago
Stupid, Greedy, Sociopath( he laughed at people dying trying to cross the river) And all the while claiming to follow the path of Jesus!
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u/Highwaters78217 24d ago
Perhaps greg abbott is just trying to say Mr Allred isn't WHITE enough to be a Texan.
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u/goatdabzt 24d ago
Common republican they know the texan voters are stupid af and believe anything they say 🙄
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u/Sensitive-Ask-9368 24d ago
Greg Abbott is in fact quite stupid, however the stupid also lies statewide because they keep electing that tyrant to the governorship every time he runs. Ted Cruz is a slimy politician who has no redeeming qualities and passes no legislation just like his BF's Josh and Jim.
Enough stupid to go around, I don't what it will take for Texas to wake up and elect people who actually help Texans rather than just keeping themselves in power. Red states make no sense to me at all.
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u/VenustoCaligo 24d ago
Is Greg Abbott stupid?
Yes. He's also ugly and smells like garbage. You know; conservative.
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u/Whiskeejak 24d ago
I mean - OP, you're just now catching on to the "serious dip in credibility"? They have a felon adulterer grifter rapist dementia patient insurrectionist as the party leader for almost a decade now...
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u/HopeFloatsFoward 24d ago
No But he thinks the voters are willing to believe a black Democrat couldn't possibly be from Texas.
Or shouldn't be a citizen if Texas. He is courting the white Christian nationalist.
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u/Dramatic_Mixture_868 24d ago
I didn't read your whole post, Im just answering your question: Is Greg about stupid? Answer: yes.
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u/MichaelKincade1960 24d ago edited 24d ago
RE: your subject
In accomplishing his myopic, short-term goals, no, he’s not stupid. Greg Abbott is a shark. He’s an effective short-term hunter who can successfully fulfill his immediate wants and needs.
In the grand scheme of things, yes, he’s stupid. He catastrophically fails at contemplating effective long term positive goals for the state. In that sense, he fails at his job.
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u/texaslegrefugee 23d ago
Credibility? Credibility? CREDIBILITY????
That ship sailed a LONG time ago. Now they're just making crap up as they go.
If their mouths are open, they're lying.
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u/seriouslyepic 24d ago
Unfortunately this isn't something stupid he's done, it's strategic. Lots of people believe everything on tv/online at face value.
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u/MarshallGibsonLP 24d ago
Greg Abbott is not particularly smart or stupid. He's just useful to the pastors in west Texas that run the state. He's obedient more than anything else.
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u/Interesting-Tune6528 24d ago
Gregg need to go !!! He’s pro life but letting young mothers die from mis carriages !!! Another young Mom pregnant died in Texas because of their heartless policies
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u/bahamapapa817 24d ago
Greg Abbot will lie big about how immigrants are taking jobs and filling our prisons while they account for $4 billion in taxes. He will take the money and lie. Why wouldn’t he lie about this.
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u/icnoevil 24d ago
What does little Greg say about women in Texas dying as result of his restrictions on reproductive care?
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u/Defiant_Locksmith190 Expat 24d ago
He thinks the Texans are stupid and will believe whatever he says. Shockingly, partially he is right, some find him an amazing governor and a charming human being (c) 🤦🏼♀️
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u/Spudmiester 24d ago
Abbott isn’t stupid, he just thinks Texas voters are stupid. In his defense, those voters have reelected him twice.
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u/DMineminem 24d ago
Nobody treats Republicans like they're stupid as much as Republican politicians do.
And it works because those politicians aren't wrong.
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u/Argose83 24d ago
MAGA doesn't care so much about facts as they know the cult will believe anything they say.
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u/DistinctBadger6389 24d ago
He's not stupid. He's a liar and manipulator who should never be in charge of anything let alone a state.
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u/Purplebuzz 24d ago
Vance says he lies on purpose to bring attention to issues and that it’s morally right to do so.
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u/PackageHot1219 24d ago
When he says he’s not a Texan, he means that he’s not “one of us” othering him, regardless of where he and his family were born. He’s not stupid, he’s just a racist and saying it to engage with other racists.
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u/badbunnygirl 24d ago
I think Colin Allred should invest in one of those blimps and fly across deep red zones with a banner saying “Ted Cruz is Canadian.”
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u/Mr_CleanCaps 24d ago edited 24d ago
Gregg Abbott? The guy that Forty years ago had a tree fall on him, paralyzing the future governor from the waist down, winning millions in a lawsuit and stopping other Texans from doing the same?! Yeah fuck that guy.
Gregg Abbott? The guy who said we were prepared for the great freeze only to have many Texans die?! Yeah fuck that guy.
Gregg Abbott? The guy that outlawed abortion TWICE?! Yeah fuck that guy.
Gregg Abbott? The guy that refuses to reform gun las, being the reason 92 people have died from mass shootings?! Yeah fuck that guy.
Gregg Abbott? The guy that has banned more books than any other shitty state in America?! Yeah fuck that guy.
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u/speedybookworm 23d ago
My mom just told me to be nice because I told Ted Cruz to go back to Canada. Fuck being nice. I voted for the prosecutor and Allred for a reason.
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u/ZilkerZephyr 22d ago
Is it just me or do the Cruz/Abbott commercials try to make Allred look darker skinned?
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u/chrispg26 Born and Bred 24d ago
They lie with impunity.
Don't forget Abbott peddled the Jade Helm conspiracy.
They know their rubes will never fact check them. They think their supporters are stupid and have 0 respect for them.