Veronica Escobar Calls Out Texas Governor Greg Abbott On Aug. 3 Anniversary

Two years ago today a man drove hundreds of miles across Texas to murder people he didn't know. He did that because he believed the rhetoric of GOP elected officials who told him that the border between Texas and Mexico was being overrun and invaded by immigrants from Mexico and Central America. The calm of the Cielo Vista Walmart filled with peopled doing some Saturday morning back to school shopping was shattered by the sound of gunfire. 23 people ultimately died in the aftermath of that attack and more than 20 more were wounded.

Tuesday morning, El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar spoke to the media about the attack and why it happened. She didn't mince words when she said that the attack was the result of racism, racism that has always been prevalent in American society. Escobar said it used to be hidden or whispered about has now "been given permission to be out in the open."

As you can see from the video, Escobar also called out by name Texas Governor Greg Abbott for his own rhetoric against immigrants and the situation in our own backyard. She said that Abbott would have blood on his hands if he continues with his "hateful, xenophobic, racist rhetoric." Escobar also called Abbott and people like him "our greatest national security threat."

Harsh words, but it was those words that the man who killed 23 people in the Cielo Vista Walmart heard from GOP politicians that he wrote down in his manifesto before he slaughtered innocent people. Did Greg Abbott kill those people in our Walmart? No. Has he stopped demonizing immigrants who look like the people that murderer from Dallas targeted? No. Abbott knows what he's saying and he knows who is listening. I'm glad Congresswoman Escobar had the guts to call him out.