Gov. Abbott is right to tackle the Texas border, since Biden and Harris haven’t bothered

Texans are proud to be Texans, strong and vibrant, generous of heart and spirit. We are also proud Americans and strongly defend our nation when called. We value strength, responsibility, and problem solving. We believe there is no problem too big for us to tackle.

There should be no surprise then, that Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered all means at his disposal to defend and secure the southern border of Texas (and the United States).

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Biden administration’s border czar, recently included Abbott in a list of “so-called leaders” who are “focusing on political attacks rather than solutions” to the crisis at the border. The statement is not just false; it’s ironic that the border czar and undisputed world leader of laughing in inappropriate situations should say something so completely laughable.

The Biden administration’s total failure to secure the border has forced Abbott to take action. Texas and other border states bear the brunt of the national crises of human trafficking, fentanyl and other drugs, thousands of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border, and Mexican drug cartels’ violence.

Abbott is responsible for Texas, and he is doing everything he can to keep Texans safe. The refusal of President Joe Biden and the Democrats to seriously grapple with the crises at the southern border leaves border states with no choice but to defend and secure where they can.

Harris has standing to speak on the issue of “so-called leaders” and political attacks instead of solutions. This administration excels at both.

While visiting El Paso in June 2021, Harris pledged to determine the root causes of migration. One year later, we have no report from our border czar on those root causes or how to address them. Meanwhile, we have tens of thousands of Americans dead from fentanyl overdoses, human smuggling, and illicit guns from the cartels.

Harris has offered no interim findings or policy shift to address even a single issue. Any one of these are pressing, indeed dire situations, with serious national implications. Still nothing from our border czar.

Texans are suffering greatly from this leadership vacuum. All Americans are endangered by this failure, this willful ignorance of the situation, this irresponsibility.

This lack of leadership extends to other issues, too, and we are all suffering because of Democrats so-called leadership and political attacks rather than solutions.

Once elected, true leaders address the national (or city, county, or state) reality as it is, not as it was, or as they wish it to be. The reality today is that the policies enacted at the beginning of 2021 have landed us squarely where we are now, with inflation, the border crisis and crime. The Democrats’ answer is to continue this path. Again, laughable.

This has not always been the case. President Harry S. Truman famously had a sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here,” indicating he would accept responsibility for whatever came to him. How refreshing. The type of leadership he and others brought to the Democratic Party are long gone. Today we get blame, deflection and political attacks, as Democrats ignore realities that Texans and all Americans face daily.

The time to admit the failures and return to proven, successful policies is now.

Leadership matters. Lack of leadership is destructive.

Madam Vice President, now would be a good time for that report.

Susan Wright is a member of the State Republican Executive Committee and a Tarrant County GOP precinct chairwoman. She lives in Arlington. Susan Wright is a member of the State Republican Executive Committee and a Tarrant County GOP precinct chairwoman. She lives in Arlington.