<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty</p>
<p>Two decades after Texas Gov. <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/keyword/george-w-bush">George W. Bush</a> was elected president on a “compassionate conservative” platform, Texas Gov. <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-governor-greg-abbotts-pardon-of-daniel-perry-would-be-wrongand-dangerous">Greg Abbott</a> is going out of his way to stress <em>un</em>compassionate conservatism.</p>
<p>The latest (and arguably lowest) example occurred on Sunday, when Abbott described a slaughtered family of five as “<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-gov-greg-abbott-calls-francisco-oropesas-alleged-shooting-victims-illegal-immigrants?ref=home">illegal immigrants</a>.” (It should be noted, <a href="https://twitter.com/cespina1998/status/1652879068168159233">at least one of the victims may have been a permanent U.S. resident</a>.)</p>
<p>By stressing the citizenship status of the victims, Abbott—who was announcing a $50,000 reward for information about the alleged gunman—seemed to be suggesting that their lives didn’t matter as much as the lives of <em>real </em>Americans. As Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, tweeted, it felt like an attempt to “<a href="https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1652892860293976064">dehumanize the victims</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/only-an-asshole-would-tweet-like-texas-gov-greg-abbott-did">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty
Two decades after Texas Gov. George W. Bush was elected president on a “compassionate conservative” platform, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is going out of his way to stress uncompassionate conservatism.
By stressing the citizenship status of the victims, Abbott—who was announcing a $50,000 reward for information about the alleged gunman—seemed to be suggesting that their lives didn’t matter as much as the lives of real Americans. As Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, tweeted, it felt like an attempt to “dehumanize the victims.”
