Good day Austin:
Our governor is in New York.
This morning, accompanied by his wife and daughter, he rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, kicking off the second day of his two-day trip to New York talking up Texas, a trip paid for by TexasOne, the state’s Economic Development Corporation.
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He’s talking about Texas being the place to do business, much as his predecessor, Rick Perry, did on similar business recruiting trips, well-choreographed trips that occupied a lot of his attention, especially in his last years as governor.
Only difference is that Abbott said that Texas is even a better place to do business after his first legislative session.
At one point, he sounded almost sorry for the Big Apple.
“Frankly New York is easy picking for us.”
July 14 is Bastille Day.
But it is also the anniversary of the day in 1984 when a tree fell on Abbott as he jogged in Houston.
Two years ago, Abbott announced his candidacy for governor on July 14, talking about his literal “spine of steel.”
Immediately after ringing the NYSE bell, the governor appeared on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street.
Asked about whether Texas was suffering because of the slump in the oil economy, Abbott said:
Texas has continued to grow jobs because we have a very vast and diversified economy. We lead the nation in technology exports. We have the largest medical center in the entire world. Today in Arlington, Texas, General Motors is investing $1.4 billion in another manufacturing facility. We run the gamut as far as a broad-based economy is concerned and that’s why we’re here attracting even more businesses to Texas.
As he has in the past, Abbott declined to pick a favorite in the presidential race:
Everyone in the country is running for president. We’ve got to narrow it down a little bit.
In a series of TV appearances yesterday and today, the governor seemed in fine fettle. While the ostensible purpose of his trip was to talk up Texas, he also spent a lot of time answering questions about immigration, the border, Donald Trump and sanctuary cities, and talking down Barack Obama as the responsible party for the federal failure to secure the border and enact immigration reform, setting the stage for both Donald Trump and sanctuary cities.
There was a certain self-confidence bordering on bravado in the timing of the governor’s trip. Here he is spending two days in New York saying terrible things about the president of the United States, even as federal Special Operations forces are amassing in Texas for the launch Wednesday of the Jade Helm 15 military exercises. (Maybe amassing is not the right word, because the actual numbers are really quite small. How about “aminimassing?”)
Apparently the governor has great confidence that the Texas State Guard, which he assigned to monitor the operation, would have alerted him if they thought Jade Helm was on the verge of turning into a takeover of Texas by federal troops.
In any case, the governor will be back in Texas tomorrow and can set things straight then.
Here is an account from the governor’s office yesterday of his first day in New York.
Governor Greg Abbott spent his first day in New York City meeting with various business leaders and industry experts to discuss Texas’ economic model of limited government, low taxes and minimal regulations. While in New York, Governor Abbott made several media appearances highlighting the State of Texas’ efforts to attract new businesses by further cutting taxes, speeding up permitting processes and investing in education and infrastructure while still contributing to Texas’ Rainy Day Fund.
Governor Abbott will also attend an evening event hosted by TexasOne, the state’s Economic Development Corporation, to speak with dozens of business executives, employers, TexasOne prospects and supporters about the merits of conducting business in the State of Texas.
What follows is a review of the governor’s Monday in the media.
First stop. Fox and Friends.
There is a drug lord on the loose.
Fox: “How in the world does that happen.? To get some answers we have Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. He just met with the Mexican government a few days ago. He joins me now.”
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Uh oh. The governor has his mean look on. Very rarely seen.
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Oh. Never mind. He was just waiting for the conversation to begin.
The governor said he is concerned about the escaped drug lord. He wants Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman extradited so he can be tried and imprisoned in the United States, for the rest of his life.
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President Obama hasn’t done all he could have done, the governor says. Obama hasn’t secured the border, which is why Texas just enacted “the toughest border security program any state has ever had in the history of this country.”
Fox: The drug lord’s escape has given Donald Trump reason to say, “I told you so.” (note: the drug lord has, threatened Trump’s life – on Twitter! While on the lam!)
Abbott: ‘Trump and others have injected into the presidential race the need to talk about the border.”
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“I disagree with some of his tenor,” Abbott said of Trump.
Sanctuary cities?
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Were it not for the failures of the Obama administration, Abbott said, “We wouldn’t even be talking about sanctuary cities.”
We have to elect a president who will do a good job of securing the border, passing immigration reforms and that will get rid of all these sanctuary cities-based issues. You would not have people seeking sanctuary if we had an effective immigration plan, if we had an effective border security plan, and Americans are going to remain frustrated until we have an effective immigration and border security plan.
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Meanwhile, on how great Texas is:
We have no personal income tax, no corporate income tax and now we have cut the business franchise tax by 25%. We have sped up the permitting process and we are elevating our education system so that we will have the best workforce in the United States of America.
Next stop: the Steve Malzberg Show on Newsmax TV.
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During my tenure as attorney general, the office I held before I was governor I sued the Obama administration 31 times. Listen, I didn’t want to have to do it and I shouldn’t have had to do it, but I had to do it, because he repeatedly, time after time, violated federal law, violated the United.States. Constitution. The last lawsuit I filed against him was in December of last year when I filed a lawsuit against his immigration amnesty order.
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The amazing thing. The star witness in our case was Barack Obama.
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I’ve got to say, Malzberg is an incredibly empathetic host. Look at the parallel body language.
Then it’s back to Fox News, Cavuto Coast to Coast.
More on Trump.
I would say the tenor Donald Trump has used is not the tenor I would use. It is important to remember that the only reason we are talking about this is because Washington, D.C., has totally failed America in doing its job to secure the border.
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More on Texas:
We have the most diverse economy in the United States of America and there is a reason for that. It’s because of the low cost of doing business and the high standards of the workforce. Businesses are flocking to the state of Texas.
Next it’s The John Gibson Show on Fox News Radio
More on sanctuary cities:
First we need to understand there is only one reason why sanctuary cities is even an issue and that is because the federal government has failed to do its job to protect our sovereignty and secure our border and to come up with a meaningful and effective immigration system. If the federal government had done those three things, we wouldn’t even have sanctuary cities right now.
In Texas this session:
Sanctuary city legislation was offered up. It did not pass, But again, going back, we focused on the key thing that must be done to stem this tide from the beginning. It’s a matter of triage, if you would, it’s a matter of setting priorities from the very beginning. And the first and foremost thing we must do is to secure the border to prevent the cross-border unauthorized immigration taking place to begin with.
And so Texas is leading the way to do that. But frankly, none of this is going to be solved unless and until the federal government does its job and comes up with an effective immigration system and an effective border security system.
What about Trump saying that Perry failed to solve the border problem during his 14 years as governor?
What Gov. Perry did do is Gov. Perry did call for the elimination of sanctuary cities. Gov. Perry did send the National Guard to the border, and then I picked up the baton and passed the most sweeping and toughest border security plan that the United States of America has ever had.
So Perry did take it a step in the right direction and I’m in the process of finishing off that.
On Texas being the No. 1 state in the nation for people to move to.
I’ve got to tell you. If you look at the numbers, it’s quite astonishing. As far as people moving to states. Texas is number one in the nation for people to move to.
As far as moving out of states, New York is dead last. People are moving, fleeing New York, more than any other state, because of the high taxes, high regulation, high cost of doing business, high cots of living, and it’s the exact opposite in the state of Texas. So frankly, New York is easy picking for us.
But isn’t he worried that bringing all those folks to Texas from blue states might turn Texas blue?
I don’t and I have specific evidence why I don’t worry about that.
First, if you are a person who is dependent on government, the last place you would leave is California and the last place you would go to is the state of Texas.
The state of Texas does not promote programs that create a state of dependency on government. We expect people to be independent and to work for living.
Second, Abbott said his campaign for governor had, in its polling, found that about 15 percent of voters had moved to Texas recently from California, and about ten percent from New York, but “about two-thirds of people who moved to the state of Texas were conservatives and voted for me for governor, and there’s a reason for that.”
The people who are seeking independence, who are seeking opportunity, who want to start a job, they are fleeing states like California and New York and they are fleeing to the great state of Texas.
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