37-34A Greg’s Folly: Governor Abbott Gets Hoisted on His Own Petard

Greg Abbott, the right-wing hack who is governor of Texas, probably doesn’t know what a “petard” is, but he’s now been hoisted by a big one. “Hoist on a petard” is a Shakespearean phrase referring to a bomb maker being blown sky high by his own creation.

Abbott’s bombastic saga began last year, when he noticed that high tech billionaires were waving political cash at lawmakers who’d help them build massive AI data centers across America. Sniffing a quid pro quo bonanza, Abbott shoved his way to the front of that money hustle, loudly proclaiming that, By Gollies, he would make Texas the “epicenter of AI development.”