On Tuesday, as the world knows already, an 18-year-old man carried an AR-15-style rifle into a 574-student elementary school just off Highway 83 in the town of Uvalde, 90 minutes west of San Antonio. Unobstructed by police, he barricaded himself in a 4th grade classroom and unleashed hell on earth, slaying 19 children and two teachers—the worst school shooting in Texas history. After an hour, as frantic parents panicked outside, law enforcement finally killed the man.
In moments like these, maddeningly frequent, what is it we expect from our political leaders? The answer varies according to partisanship. But, generally, we want a leader who feels what we feel, who tells the truth, and who plausibly promises policies to address the problem—the first being a salve for public wounds, the second a necessity for democracy, and the third the literal job description of those in power. With Texas’ governor, you’ll get none of this, and you may as well like it, because he’s not changing.
Shortly after the massacre, Governor Greg Abbott first addressed the shooting at a news conference. In a state that had seen five other mass shootings in his tenure, four of which involved similar assault-style rifles, Abbott said—with passionless delivery—that the killer acted “incomprehensibly.” Without any specifics whatsoever, he pledged the state would “do everything that is necessary” to prevent a seventh bloodbath. Then, he stopped by a fundraiser five hours away.
