Gov. Greg Abbott slammed President Biden for describing Texas’s decision to roll back mandatory mask-wearing as “Neanderthal thinking.”
“Two things, Brian, first, it obviously is not the type of thing that a president should be saying,” Abbott told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade Thursday on Fox & Friends.
“But second, he kind of said it on the worst day he could have. Because the same day he said that, in Texas, the Biden administration was releasing illegal immigrants into our communities who had COVID,” he continued.
It was reported this week that 108 migrants in Texas who were released by Border Patrol had tested positive for the virus and were allowed to travel farther into the country.
“The Biden administration was spreading COVID in south Texas yesterday because of their lack of constraint, of testing, and quarantining people who came across the border illegally. The Biden administration was exposing Texans to COVID. That is [a] Neanderthal-type approach dealing with the COVID situation.”
Abbott’s comments came after Biden criticized Texas and Mississippi leaders for rolling back mask mandates.
“I think it’s a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody realizes by now, these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because the way in which we are able to get vaccines,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday.
“The last thing we need is the Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your mask, forget it,” he added.
.@JoeBiden responds to @GovAbbott of Texas and Gov. @TateReeves of Mississippi lifting COVID-19 restrictions.
“I think it’s a big mistake…the last thing we need is neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine.” pic.twitter.com/9WucBXdWN8
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 3, 2021
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Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also slammed Biden’s remark, saying, “Mississippians don’t need handlers.”
President Biden said allowing Mississippians to decide how to protect themselves is “neanderthal thinking.”
Mississippians don’t need handlers. As numbers drop, they can assess their choices and listen to experts. I guess I just think we should trust Americans, not insult them.
— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) March 3, 2021
