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This episode of The Covfefe Chronicles digs into the devastating floods that swept throughout Texas this month, leaving at the very least 120 useless, dozens of youngsters amongst them, and over 170 individuals nonetheless lacking on the peak of the catastrophe. The water might have receded, however the political wreckage is laid naked for everybody to see.
Within the wake of this catastrophe, what have our political leaders supplied in response? A flood of “ideas and prayers.”
Governor Greg Abbott signed an official “Day of Prayer” proclamation, calling the destruction “apocalyptic” whereas asking Texans to show to God as an alternative of questioning why their state stays so weak to lethal flooding.
Senator Ted Cruz, who has a behavior of skipping city throughout crises, was on trip in Europe whereas his constituents drowned. When pressured to reply, he expressed hole needs that the victims had evacuated sooner, ignoring his personal position in slashing funding for catastrophe preparedness and climate forecasting.
In the meantime, Donald Trump despatched his customary prayers whereas skipping any point out of how his administration gutted the very federal applications designed to foretell and mitigate such disasters. He did, nevertheless, find time for a go to to Camp Mystic, a summer season camp lengthy favored by Texas’s elite and donor class.
What Texans witnessed isn’t a tragic shock. It’s the logical results of a political playbook that has been perfected over a long time: Minimize the security nets. Slash FEMA budgets, starve flood prediction programs, name it “large authorities,” and hand the financial savings to billionaires and oil corporations. Blame another person. Democrats. Mayors. Scientists. Even God. Present up for the funeral. Subject solemn tweets. Bow heads for the cameras. Ship teary proclamations with out spending a dime to stop the following disaster.
This newest flood catastrophe can be a microcosm of America’s broader method to local weather change: deny it exists, defund the science, ignore the warnings, after which maintain prayer rallies within the wreckage.
This episode is a livid indictment of performative piety in politics and the best way officers disguise behind religion language whereas refusing to make the investments that might save lives. It calls out the ethical laundering that occurs each time elected leaders commerce actual motion for empty slogans and PR stunts.
It’s a wake-up name for Texans and all Individuals dealing with a way forward for extra intense, extra frequent disasters. Whereas politicians tweet Bible verses, the ambiance retains warming, the oceans preserve rising, and working-class households preserve paying the value with their lives.
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