Abbott: All Power, No Mercy

Nicole Jeffords (2022)

Usually it’s animus that drives me to paint or draw politicians. In the case of Gregg Abbott, governor of Texas, it’s animus on steroids. The man, whose mouth for some reason is always open in what resembles an upside down sob, is just too cruel for school. While his face looks quite refined, even sensitive, his deeds are otherwise and he rules like a monster. Perhaps his callousness has to do with an innate sense of weakness, even powerlessness due to the accident he had in his mid-twenties when an oak tree fell on him during a jog, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Karma? Maybe.

From observation, he certainly doesn’t seem the sort who’d go in for a lot of soul-searching. What is obvious is that he likes to pick on people far weaker and less fortunate than himself. His “heartbeat” bill for instance (no abortion after six weeks in the state of Texas, even though it’s a constitutional right). Imagine being a young pregnant girl without the resources to travel out of state for an abortion. Imagine an unwanted pregnancy when you already have two, three kids and lots of bills to pay. Imagine enduring a pregnancy after rape or incest. Governor Abbott’s heartbeat bill, SB8, has no mercy.

I guess the governor likes to think of himself that way — all power, no mercy. That would make sense considering the inherent bitterness he must feel being stuck in that wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his days. The effect on his life would have been horrendous. Perhaps that’s why his mouth is so often shaped like a sob. And why he takes his own sorry fate out on helpless trans kids whose only fault is they feel they were born into the wrong body. A body more functional than our dear governor’s. Oh dear, but you can see what I mean…