Yesterday, longtime right-wing attack dog and quack doctor Steve Hotze directed his fake outrage machine at Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo for implementing measures that will speed economic recovery while allowing citizens within the region to stay safe.
Who Started the Mask Hysteria?
Hotze, known to enjoy more common mind-altering substances, made sure to hawk his own personal coronavirus elixir at an anti-mask rally while simultaneously declaring COVID-19 a hoax. Other well-known and wannabe GOP players like Congressman Dan Crenshaw and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick were piling on with mask hysteria. Even Houston police officer, and Fox and Friends guest, Joe Gamaldi decided to join the whining circle. All of them triggered over declaring that masks be worn as a safeguard.
Hysteria notwithstanding, this is the latest in a number of orchestrated demonstrations backed by so-called conservative networks around the country. Despite these over-hyped provocations, the vast majority of Americans continue to support these public health measures.
Why all the extra attention on Judge Hidalgo and an order that has already been similarly enacted across the state?
The demagoguery leads back to race-baiting GOP whisperer Allen Blakemore. Blakemore is Dan Patrick’s chief political consultant. He has worked closely with Hotze and the Conversative Republicans of Texas pay-to-play slate-card racket. He is also a paid consultant for Gamaldi’s union. One might expect it is Blakemore who is boosting Gamaldi’s apparent ambitions to be a rising star inside the right-wing, off-the-edge punditry class.
Why is the GOP arguing against strategies that would expedite opening up businesses?
The answer is Judge Lina Hidalgo. While others are failing to lead, she is taking charge. While Governor Greg Abbott dithered and delayed, she was busy setting up systems to curb misinformation. Hidalgo is earning a reputation as a reasonable, common-sense but tough-minded elected official.
None of Blakemore’s politicians have much control over the coronavirus response – it is Abbott and Trump who are supposed to be running the show. And since it is now being widely acknowledged that both are failing to lead, Blakemore and his creations have turned their attention to trying to hang onto their ever-diminishing power within Harris county.
Harris County Democratic elected officials are using empirical evidence and the informed opinions of medical experts while the GOP continues to view the coronavirus response as a political game. Putting people’s lives at risk is a tactic they easily embrace.
So, what has really made Allen Blakemore and all these supposed strongmen go wimpy over facemasks? A powerful, bold, smart, thoughtful, solutions-based Latina leading Harris County.
