.@TexasGOP convention opens with video of @GovAbbott giving vocal defense of mask mandate, executive power during pandemic
Abbott: “Now I know that many of you all are frustrated — so am I. I know that many of you do not like the mask requirement — I don’t either. It is the last thing that I wanted to do — actually the next to the last. The last thing that any of us want is to" shut Texas down again.
Abbott: "Each day the facts get worse. ... If we don't slow this disease quickly, our hospitals will get overrun and I fear it will even inflict some of the people that I'm talking to right now."
Abbott: "Many of you say my orders are unconstitutional. But remember: I was the attorney general who fought" for your rights at SCOTUS. "I will never abandon the Constitution and I haven't here."
