Law A La Carte: Abbott's Session Agenda Is Heavy On GOP Red Meat

DALLAS, TX — As the special session gets underway today, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott seems determined to do to Texas law what Gen. William Sherman did in his Civil War "March to the Sea" — leave nothing but destruction behind.

For anyone who isn't politically aligned with the governor, it's a scorched-earth policy that could require generations of recovery.

Abbott may be governor of all the people of Texas, but he isn't representing them — and in terms of the general population, they return his affection by about the same proportion. In a recent poll, Abbott stands in a statistical dead heat against actor Matthew McConaughey, with the film star at 38 percent popularity and the governor at 39 percent.

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Don't forget that this special session agenda appears in public view the very day before CPAC — the Christian Political Action Conference — arrives in Dallas. And while Abbott has received the blessing of ex-President Donald Trump for re-election, the governor is not on the roster of those invited to speak at the event, which runs Friday through Sunday. Trump, former Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert will all get stage time instead.

So Abbott is gilding his far-right bona fides before the Legislature, where he is the Big Enchilada. But if his buffet of social issues was a meal, nutritionists would point out that it contains nothing but red meat for his base.

On the bill of fare of his special session proclamation: a so-called "election integrity bill" that is being assessed as a return to Jim Crow-era restrictions; handicapping transgender kids in school sports competitions; tightening the screws on what instructors can teach about America's halting success at achieving racial justice; and a ban on censorship of conservatives by social media outlets.

Add to that the governor's weaponizing the border crisis, his success in putting more guns on the streets (which might help explain how 31 people were shot in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the Fourth of July weekend) and the severe restrictions he's put in place on how a woman governs her body.

CPAC may be revving up to be a Trumpalooza over the weekend, but Abbott understands that in Austin, he's the Ringmaster General. He'll weather the next three days of stories being about other conservatives (including his newly declared challenger on the right, Allen West), knowing that the special session, with all the dust it will raise over the coming weeks, is sure to eclipse the competition.

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