Claire Misfeldt
Communications Capstone
Paper D1
#BiggerinTX, #COVID19:
An Examination of Economy and Government as Ideograph between State, City, and
County Officials in Texas on Twitter
Introduction
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has transformed from a viral infection into a social phenomenon in the United States as issues of individual freedom and community action have become more apparent. States where the Republican party has the majority power, like Texas, saw high volumes of cases due to relaxed policies about mask wearing and building capacity.
However, while state representatives were more adamant about reopening the State and continuing with business as usual, Texas city officials were trying to push for stay-at-home restrictions and mask mandates. This disconnection on COVID-19 responses in Texas, especially in the spring and summer of 2020, highlights the ever growing tension between state and city governments. Part of this is due to the fact that city officials, like in Houston, are more
Democratic in terms of political party and are more willing to invoke government intervention for a crisis. Because of the differing political ideologies, conservative Texas state politicians and city officials saw more conflict than resolution in terms of agreeing how to respond to the pandemic.
Besides communications concepts surrounding narrative and new media, there is also another layer to consider when examining politicians’ twitter accounts. As well as aiding in the polarization of American politics, the COVID-19 pandemic has also provided more evidence that poor, BIPOC communities are more susceptible to government inaction. These communities are
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Paper D1 more likely to contract and die from COVID-19, possibly due to lack of universal healthcare and the fact that people in these communities make up a majority of the essential workforce. Texas state politicians pushing for no mask mandates and zero to little social distancing guidelines means that these BIPOC communities are deemed disposable as long as they contribute to the economy. Looking at how reopening policies relate to neoliberalism and necropolitics, I believe this will enrich my capstone paper by putting the reopening process in context with the assumed disposability of certain Texans.
My timeframe for looking at the tweets will range from March 13th, when Abbott declared a state of emergency and there were 50 confirmed cases, to July 10th, after Abbott stopped the reopening process and there were over 240,000 confirmed cases. I believe that this is a productive site for analysis because it examines the relationship between state and city officials that often have opposing political ideologies. There has always been discourse between the two forms of government, but these differences have taken a new form during the pandemic. When it was reported how many Texans were either contradicting and dying from COVID-19 or how many were losing their jobs, the stakes of these local to state conversations became more dire.
However, political affiliations and party goals were still present, sometimes making bi-partianship unlikely.
The first attempt at “reopening Texas” in the spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a surge in cases across the state, but mainly impacted city centers. In
Houston, mayor Slyvester Turner and Harris County Judge, Lina Hidalgo, protested the initial decision to end stay-at-home orders and mask mandates, however it was not their decision to
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Paper D1 make. Once the governor, Greg Abbott, announced his reopening process on April 17th and made the executive order to not enforce mask mandates, there was nothing that city or county level politicians could do.
Texan Political Demographic
Since 1978 (“Overview and History”), Texas has been considered to be a “red state,” meaning that the Republican Party holds the majority in all three branches of state government
(“Statewide Elected Officials) (Barragán and Morris). At first glance of the 2020 Presidential
Election results, Republican candidate Donald Trump, won most of the 254 Texan counties and with that, the state’s electoral votes (“Texas Presidential Votes 2020”). Most of the counties are
“red,” with only a few turning out “blue,” meaning they voted for Democratic candidate Joe
Biden.
However, the map that shows the blue counties are mostly urban areas, meaning there’s a greater population density in those counties compared to the rural “red” counties. Trump ended up only winning with only a 5.6% margin. For comparison, Trump won Texas by a 9.2% margin in 2016 against Hiliary Clinton (“Texas Presidential Votes 2016”). Counties with large populations, like Harris County in Houston, voted for Biden, as well as suburban counties flipping from red to blue, like Williamson County (Cai et al.). It should be noted that while
Biden made gains in urban and suburban counties, he lost many Southern border counties, an area that Texas Democrats have depended on.
About 66% of registered voters cast their ballots for the 2020 election, the highest turnout rate since 1992 (Najmabadi and Cai). Texas Democrats hope to make Texas a “purple” state,
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Paper D1 meaning that it’s a swing state where no one party is guaranteed control. However, the recent election has prompted a bill from Republicans from the Texas Senate to propose a bill that
“relating to elections, including election integrity and security; creating a criminal offense; providing civil penalties” (Texas Congress, Senate). This would mean limiting voting hours, prohibit drive-thru voting, and require proof of disability to qualify for mail-in voting, affecting the BIPOC voters as well as people with disabilities the hardest (Ura). This bill would also affect urban counties more than rural ones, areas where Republicans lost.
Brief Timeline of COVID-19
As a way to understand the pandemic in terms of Texas, it’s important to understand the pandemic on a global and national scale. Tracing the start of the pandemic on this scale will paint a picture of urgency as much of the United States and the rest of the world weren’t prepared for this. However, it’s also important to do this tracing because at the beginning of the pandemic, cases were comparatively low before reopening the state. Through this tracking, it becomes apparent that while Texas Republicans were calling for the economy to reopen, the virus was still affecting more and more people.
The current COVID-19 pandemic began in Wuhan, China in early December of 2019
(Taylor) as an unidentified new virus. At the start of 2020 (“WHO’s Response”), city officials began to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to identify the new virus as a novel coronavirus. During January, travel-related cases outside of China, including the United States, started to get reported and WHO called the novel coronavirus a “global health emergency” (Wee,
Sui-lee, et al.). In February, the Trump Administration declares a public health emergency, while
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Paper D1 cases and the death toll continues to rise while the virus is given the official name, COVID-19
(“Timeline of COVID-19”). During this month, cruise ship passengers quarantine at a base in
San Antonio after a possible exposure (Lamm). At the start of March, Texas confirms its first positive case in Fort Bend county a day after the Houston Livestock and Rodeo opens. On March
11th, WHO declares COVID-19 as a pandemic (“WHO’s Response”) and former-President,
Donald Trump, declares a national emergency which allows federal funds to go towards stopping the spread of the virus (“Timeline of COVID-19”). In Texas, there are only 21 confirmed cases
(Limon).
COVID-19 in Texas
During the first week of March, major Texas events started to be cancelled, like the
Houston Rodeo and SXSW in Austin. Texas universities also begin to cancel in-person classes and move entirely online after spring break (Limon). On March 13th, Governor Abbott declares a state of emergency and announces extension of drive-through test sights for all metropolitan areas (Walters). Two days later, the first Texan died of COVID-19 (Pollock). Mayor Eric Johnson and Judge Lina Hidalgo, issue orders to close all bars and restaurants in Dallas and Harris counties, only allowing for take-out orders (Limon). Abbott doesn’t issue a state-wide shutdown of bars and restaurants, believing that the order “would drive panic and complete societal breakdown” (Abrahams). By the end of March, Abbott does issue a state-wide “stay-at-home” order where all non-essential businesses have to close down until May 4th (Svitek, “Stay
Home”). At this point, there are more than 3,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Texas (Limon)
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Paper D1 and the U.S. has the highest number of cases worldwide (Mcneil); a record that the U.S. still holds (“WHO COVID-19 Dashboard”).
Throughout April, city officials and government officials have an agreement on keeping non-essential businesses closed. On April 3th, the CDC recommends that everyone wear a cloth mask to stop the spread of the virus (Taylor, Adam, et al.). On April 17th, Abbott announced a plan to “reopen” the state (Dexheimer) later that month. At this point, most of the major Texas cities had mask mandates or responded to Abbott’s plan by implementing mask mandates. Dallas county had one in place since the 17th but they would not enforce it through a fine (Manuel),
Bexar County in San Antonio implemented one with a finable offense on the 16th (Herrara), and
Austin gave out their mask mandate by also extending the stay-at-home order for Travis County
(“Travis County Extends Stay Home-Work Safe”). However, it’s Houston’s Harris County mask mandate on April 22 that sparked outrage from Texas Republicans like Lieutenant Gov. Dan
Patrick and U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw (Despart). Harris is also the only county out of the four mentioned that has a Latina woman, Lina Hidalgo, as the County Judge. On April 27th,
Abbott gets rid of all mask mandates through an executive order and sets May 1st for the first day that businesses can open at a limited capacity.
As the month goes on, more and more forms of business can open, like childcare and hair salons, while also allowing for more people to be allowed in buildings. Masks are encouraged but not mandatory (Limon). By June, most businesses are back up to most capacity. There are also over 93,000 confirmed cases and over 2,000 deaths (Platoff). On June 16, nine Texas mayors published a letter urging the Governor to enforce mask mandates (Olivares), however
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Abbott did not issue an official state-wide mask mandate until July 2nd (Svitek, “Wear Masks”).
Before this, however, he does pause his reopening process (Champagne, “Pauses Texas
Reopening”) and orders bars to close down while restaurants have to operate at half capacity.
Abbott also formed a COVID-19 task force to monitor cases and help increase testing, but drew criticisms from Democrats by not including any local officials (Svitek, “Bars to Close Again”).
By Abbott’s mask order, there are over 175,000 confirmed cases in Texas (Limon). By July 10th, there were over 240,000 confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths (Champagne, “Texas Morgues
Fill Up”). At the end of the month, there almost 400,000 cases and more than 5,000 deaths
(Rocha).
The Pandemic and the Texan Economy
Abbott’s reasoning for reopening Texas as early as he did was so that small businesses could open back up and not suffer anymore losses. The initial shut-down of non-essential businesses like bars and restaurants saw a loss in revenue and an increase in unemployment as many were laid off (Livingston). Houston residents also suffered a major loss in employment as oil and gas prices dropped by 25% in a single day (Takakshi and Chapa), hitting the energy sector of the city. Because of its location on the Gulf Coast which allows for offshore oil drilling,
Houston is a major hub for non-renewable energy. By April 17th, the unemployment rate was reported to be 4.7%, but estimates from analysts said that the could be as high as 10% (Ferman).
Over one million Texans applied for unemployment at this time.
Before the reopening process, many Texas Republicans called for the economy to reopen so business could go back to the way it was before the pandemic. On March 23rd, Lt. Gov.
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Patrick stated that he would risk his own life if it meant reopening the economy (Schrer). The day after Abbott announced that he was going to begin the reopening process, there was a protest in front of the Texas Capitol to lift all social and economic restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the virus (Dexheimer). From his own party’s perspective, the reopening process would be too slow. However, Texas Democrats criticized the reopening process, citing the opening of movie theaters and shopping malls as unnecessary (Svitek, “Restart the Economy”).
So did the economy get better in that brief time between May 1st and July 2nd? Has the economy improved overall now that the reopening process began again in October?
Simply put, no. The unemployment rate is still “near Great Recession-levels high,” at
7.2% as of February 1st (Novak and Freeman). The rate of unemployed Texans has gone down throughout the pandemic since the initial shut down, but it has not been a steady downward trend and is instead going back and forth between higher and lower rates of unemployment. This group of people, generally speaking,were also more likely to work at least one low wages job before the pandemic. In America, the vast majority of job loss affected those who made less than 20 dollars an hour (Ang). At the same time, billionaires grew their wealth by estimately 57%, including Elon Musk, who recently moved to Texas for the lower property taxes (Rapier) and made 128.9 billion dollars during the pandemic (Ang).
Local officials in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio tried to enact laws allowing for paid sick leave back in March, but were met with opposition by state officials (Samuels,
“Sick Leave”). These laws would have protected Texans who needed to stay home in case they caught the virus and potentially stop the spread, which only infected about two dozen Texans at
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Paper D1 the time. This is not the first time that Abbott has collided with local officials. Before the pandemic, there was discourse around ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft in 2017 (Samuels,
“Ride-Hailing”) and property taxes in 2019 (Najmabadi and Roldan). Local officials wanted more regulations for ride-hailing apps and higher property taxes, but Abbott signed orders vetoing the local government’s orders on the matter.
Despite the high levels of unemployment, Abbott was named the best governor in the nation for his “fiscal conservatism” and “free-market policies” by a group of conservative economists (Aguirre). The group ranked all the United States governors based on tax policy, state spending, handling of COVID-19 funds, union regulations, education policies, and health and welfare spending. Many high-profile Texan politicians, like Beto O’Rourke, have called for
Abbott’s resignation because of his pandemic response, but no local officials commented on the ranking. This study came out just a month before Texas was the first state to hit one million cases
(Weber) and the unemployment rate was at 8.1% (“Unemployment Rate, 8.1 in November” the highest it’s been since the initial shutdown in March.
Winter Storm Uri and The Second Reopening
Since Texas is mostly controlled by the Republican Party, that means that much of the market is privately owned instead of regulated by the government, including the power grid. In
February 2021, a massive winter storm hit Texas and the company that controls the state’s power grid, ERCOT, failed to prepare for the event despite the warnings (Douglas et al.). Almost 70% of Texans lost power when temperatures hit below freezing, half of Texans had their access to clean water shut off, and at least 111 people died due to hypothermia (Bohra). This led many
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Paper D1 people to criticize the unregulated energy market in Texas, since there not only wasn’t enough power but also there was an upcharge for energy during this crisis (Pollock and Douglas).
Less than a month after the storm on March 2nd, and while many Texans were still dealing with the aftermath, Abbott announced that he was getting rid of the mask mandate and capacity limits on businesses (Svitek, “End Mask Mandate”). Not only was this decision criticized for the fact that hospitalization rates were still high and vaccination rates weren’t at herd immunity levels, but many believed that Abbott was trying to distract people from the impacts of the winter storm. Again, while local government officials, like Hidalgo, were the harshest critics to Abbott’s decision.
Ideographs
An ideograph is any word that can be used to reinforce the ideology of a given group.
First theorized by Michael Calvin McGee in 1980, he describes an ideograph within the framework of political power.
“An ideograph is an ordinary-language term found in political discourse. It is a
high-order abstraction representing collective commitment to a particular but equivocal
and ill-defined normative goal. It warrants the use of power, excuses behavior and belief
which might otherwise be perceived as eccentric or antisocial, and guides behavior and
belief into channels easily recognized by a community as acceptable and laudable” (15).
In other words, ideographs have the ability to give words new types of meanings based on ideological interpretations that go beyond basic definitions. This can also influence the actions of a particular group, as an ideograph reinforces the belief system of a group.
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Examples of the Ideograph
Twitter (And False Information) as the Medium
Even before the onset of new media technologies politicians have always utilized mass media to help boost their campaigns and approval ratings. This is no surprise considering that mass media stories from major news networks can help “integrate and homogenize our society”
(Graber, 2) and essentially reaffirm the larger American hegemony. However, media stories don’t solely rely on media technologies such as T.V. networks anymore, thus changing the way the media story is perceived by a larger audience. Marshall McLuhan states this in his idea that
“media is message,” (2) meaning that the “medium [that communication is given] shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and interaction” (9). Whereas before, there were a few select ways to get news, like T.V. programs and newspapers, there are hundreds of outlets that claim to be a reliable news source. Now with social media platforms like Twitter acting as a news source for many Americans, the information is conveyed in a strikingly different fashion.
This medium of news reporting has the ability to produce personalized news stories and has a tendency to publish factually inaccurate reports. “The vast amounts of diverse information produced by new technologies permit people to create their own information diet” (Graber, 358).
The more likely you are to click on an article that displays inaccurate information, the more likely you’ll be recommended to articles that contain similar false information. In 2020, this spread of false information has become so grand that some scholars are calling it an “infodemic” referring “to the phenomenon where an overwhelming amount of information transmitted about a
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Paper D1 problem obfuscates the identification of a solution to the problem” (Lin, 1). While Twitter is attempting to combat the false information spread on the platform with new terms of policy
(Hope, 1), there was still damage done at the beginning of the pandemic. Information about mask wearing social distancing was ignored by state representatives in Texas leading the high volume of cases.
New Media and the 2016 Election Season
The way politicians have interacted with social media platforms like Twitter has drastically changed since former president, Donald Trump’s win in 2016. That year saw a shift in
Twitter usage for political campaigns, yet Republican candidates were more likely to sparingly use the platform in favor of older forms of mass media communication like T.V. (Smith et al.,
22). The Democratic candidates were using their social media platform less as a way to promote themselves and more as an avenue to engage with the American public (21). This strategy seemed to work, especially with Hillary Clinton who was utilizing the platform more than other
Democratic and Republican candidates.
However, Trump’s engagement on Twitter surpassed Clinton’s and it can be argued that his constant and consistent use of the platform is what allowed him to eventually win the 2016 election. Not only that, but Trump’s strategy with the platform involved “negative campaigning,” that attacked institutions as well as other candidates and “self-glorification,” that set him apart from career politicians (Kayam, 166). His account seemed to be run by him (164), instead of a team of social media strategists, which enforced a greater parasocial bond between Trump and his Twitter followers. When he retweeted or responded to a follower, it felt like more of a
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Paper D1 genuine response from Trump himself (166). His actions would go on to influence the way
Clinton used her platform after winning the Democratic primaries, shifting to what some called an “uncivilized” way of political campaigning (Zompetti, 53). Still, Clinton was projected to win the 2016 election and when Trump won instead, many mass communication scholars had to rework the way they approach new media technologies (Schmierbach, 667). The outcome of this election changed the way that politicians would continue to use social media as a way to engage with the American people.
Neoliberalism and necropolitics
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the politics of disposability amongst BIPOC communities in the United States. Not only were these communities more likely to die from the virus than white communities, but BIPOC were more likely to lose their jobs or have their wages decrease significantly (Crockett and Grier, 89). This isn’t the only instance of a virus disportionately affecting BIPOC communities more than white ones (Hull et al., 1740), however this pandemic response has been unlike any other in the past, with states ordering stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19. While the virus can infect anyone regardless of race, it’s institutionalized forms of oppression that can account for the higher rates of COID-19 mortality in the U.S.
“As states loosen or lift shelter-in-place restrictions, falsely pitting ‘the economy’ against
public health, policy research must explore differential access to resources for recovery.
Racialized disadvantage is often built into institutional routines for distributing resources
that may appear to be race neutral” (Crockett and Grier, 89).
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The idea that the economy matters more than public health guidelines aligns with the concept of the neoliberal state where “freedom [...] reflects the interests of private property owners, businesses, multinational corporations, and financial capital” (Harvey, 7) instead of the vast majority of the public. Like how in Flint, Michigan, access to clean water was cut off from the community to “simultaneously make and save money” resulting in the entire population suffering from lead poisoning (Sze, 56). Neoliberalism is essentially the disposability of certain populations in order to preserve economic privatization.
State reopenings during the pandemic via government intervention contrary to the advice of public health officials demonstrates Neoliberalism’s influence on current government actions.
By having an active role in this reopening process that ignores public health, the Texas state government is participating in necropolitics. Based on Foucault’s concept of biopower where the sovereign exerts regulatory control over a population (139). In other words, the state controls whether a population lives or dies. Achelle Mbembe expands on the death principle, stating that governments hold “unlimited power of destruction” (15) that is exerted in favor of the marketplace and lets their citizens suffer. “They henceforth make power over the living- or again, the capacity to voluntarily alter the human species- the absolute form of power” (14). This is power that is not based on the welfare of the state but rather on the protection of the wealthy, which in turn allows for certain groups of the population to die.
Methodology
For my analysis, I will look at the Twitter accounts of Texas Governor, Greg Abbott,
Houston Mayor, Sylvester Turner, and Harris County Judge, Lina Hidalgo. I will be focusing on
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Paper D1 three time periods early on in the pandemic; when a State of Emergency was declared on March
13th, when Abbott announced the reopening process on April 17th, and when Abbott paused this process on June 25th. In addition to looking at these three dates, I will also extend the data collection time frame to a week as a way to capture reactions that occurred after these events. So the data collection times are March 13th to March 20th, April 17th to April 24th, and June 25th to July 2nd.
I will be looking at how each politician utilizes the word, “economy” as an ideograph and how this aligns with their respective parties’ agendas. This will allow me to understand how other concepts of neoliberalism and necropolitics are part of this discourse in terms of how each politician views the purpose of the economy. I will also be looking at how the economy is evoked in these tweets even when the word itself is not used, for example when the tweet is about supporting local businesses. While I will be gathering all tweets from these timeframes, I will only analyze those that directly or indirectly mention the economy, mention the impact of community during the pandemic, or engage with the reopening process. I will also take note of when a politician decides not to engage with current events and in turn, deflects focus away from said event.
My questions are as followed:
How does political party ideology affect how “economy” is brought up?
How is public health tweeted about? Is it separate from the economy?
How is personal responsibility during a pandemic tweeted about? When is it brought up and for what purpose?
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What is explicitly stated in the tweets and what’s implied in terms of reactionary tweets?
How do the two lower level city officials interact with the state official?
Greg Abbott Tweets
Texas State of Emergency Called: March 13-March 20
On the day that Abbott declares a state of emergency for Texas, he does not actually tweet anything this day. The next day, he makes two COVID-19 related tweets. One is about restocking supplies and the other is about getting more doctors on staff. March 15th includes five related COVID-19 tweets, all either about calling something unacceptable then making a promise to fix it, announcing new testing sites, or spreading information about who is at the most risk of contracting the virus. He tweets three things on March 16th, one about small business loans, another about extending driver’s licenses, and the last one is about his order to waive
STAAR testing requirements. All of these tweets respond to possible hardships for Texans during this beginning period of the pandemic.
On March 17, Abbott activated the National Guard to “help respond” to COVID-19. He tweets about this and his decision to waive unemployment instevistagion, making it easier to apply for unemployment benefits. Within the set timeframe, the last day Abbott tweets in on
March 18th. The first tweet is promoting the “MealFinder Map” which would allow kids to still receive meals despite schools shutting down during the first lock-down. The second tweet is a picture of a sign that says “Gov Abbott & Staff because of you 40 unemployed people are working again” while Abbot’s response is “Excellent news.”
Reopening Economy Announcement: April 17-April 24
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The day that Abbott announced his first reopening process was on April 17th. That day, he tweeted out two reminders for his conference about the process. There was also another tweet that day about maintaining safe pandemic practices while also “leading the charge to get the
Lone Star State back to being a top 10 economy in the world.” Other than one non-pandemic related post, Abbott doesn’t tweet again until April 20th. The most notable one is about a San
Antonio restaurant owner “leading the way to get Texas restaurants back open for business,” in light of Abbott’s reopening plan.
On April 21st, Abbott holds a second conference about reopening and promotes it on
Twitter. He tweets that “nearly half a million jobs [are] waiting to be filled. We’ll get to work
ASAP…& we will do it safely.” The next day, there’s a tweet about safely reopening hair salons and indoor shopping centers, stating that “this must be done in ways that prevent the spread of
#COVID19.” Along with these measures, Abbott also tweets about new testing sites, another aspect of the reopening plan to ensure accurate case numbers.
Reopening Paused: June 25-July 2
After announcing the statewide mask mandate and pausing his reopening process that would expand the capacity of bars and restaurants, Abbott only tweets one thing within this time frame. “CHINA!!! AGAIN!!! This must end.” The tweet links an Apple News article that has now been removed from the website and therefore, I was unable to read what the article was about. Again, this is the only tweet Abbott posts after announcing a new statewide mask mandate and announcing that he has to pause his reopening process.
Sylvester Turner Tweets
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Texas State of Emergency Called: March 13-March 20
For the first few days after Abbott declares that Texas is under a state of emergency,
Houston Mayor Turner does not tweet anything. On March 16th, he announced that bars and restaurants would have to close indoor seating and only do togo orders, saying it “is in the best interest of our resident’s health.” He tweets out multiple times that many essential businesses, like Walmart and H-E-B, have posted new job openings. The next day, he tweets about a meeting the Houston City Council held where it was decided that the city would extend the declaration for a public health emergency.
On March 18th, there’s a tweet about limited business openings, telling employers to otp for work-from-home policies. The ones most worthy of note were the ones where he and the city council voted to indefinitely extend the date of the “proclamation of a local state of disaster” and a letter to the U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and former Senate Speaker, Mitch McConnell, asking for federal financial assistance. The 19th is the last day that Turner tweets within this timeframe and there are a total of fourteen tweets. The most notable of those tweets are one about how the virus affects everyone no matter one's socioeconomic status and the other is thanking Governor Abbott for the “measures” he’s put in place for the state of emergency.
Reopening Economy Announcement: April 17-April 24
Like for the last timeframe, Mayor Turner doesn’t tweet for the first few days. The first set of tweets comes on April 20th, where there’s a tweet supporting local restaurants and three about a new addition to Turner’s COVID-19 team, Marvin Odum. “I am asking Mr. Odum to focus on the following: How to restart the economy… Strategies should we see uptick in
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#COVID19 cases…[and] How to focus on our underserved communities and work with my task force.” One of those tweets states that “I know the work we are doing can not be done by one single person.” The next day, there’s another tweet about supporting local businesses, like restaurants that are doing togo orders.
On April 22nd, Turner made twelve COVID-19 related tweets, with three of them commenting on the continued use of masks and one saying “if we open up too soon we could possibly undo the process we made.” There are twelve tweets in reference to COVID-19 made on the 23rd and one tweet about supporting local coffee shops, again another specific reference to a type of local business. Many of his tweets are encouraging people to still wear masks and one is about the rise in reported cases. Most of the tweets seem to be responding to the fact that the State will reopen soon and that he’s encouraging people to still follow the CDC guidelines.
On the last day within this timeframe, Turner tweets once about continuing to support local restaurants.
Reopening Paused: June 25-July 2
On June 26th, Turner made nine related COVID-19 tweets. Out of those tweets, three of them talked about the recent surge in cases, two mentioned the death toll, three urgered
Houstonians to continue wearing masks, and one thanked Greg Abbott for closing all bars and restaurants. These tweets also mentioned how “under resourced” communities were hit harder.
There are two tweets about COVID-19 on the 27th, one about the death toll and one about the high number of cases. There’s a larger emphasis on which populations are getting hit the hardest in these tweets.
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On June 29th, Turner publicly called out three businesses that didn’t shut down after
Abbott ordered them to do so while also praising businesses that complied with the state order.
There is also a direct reference to the May 1st opening where Turner tweets out “I said in the early part of May that we were opening too soon.” And another one, “The tools that cities and counties had at the beginning were working. I am asking our state government to return many of our tools so that we can continue to blunt the spread of #COVID19.” The tweets this day also reference the impact the pandemic has had on low-income and immigrant communities, and how he pushed for testing in those areas. While thanking Abbott for pausing the reopening process,
Turner is still critical of the fact that Texas reopened at all.
Turner replies to a tweet on June 29th that criticized him for canceling the GOP
Convention in Houston, using it as a way to criticize Abbott..“Easier for a reporter to criticize me than the Governor who is the political head of the Republican Party in not cancelling a state
Republican Convention. Something is wrong with that picture.” July 1st was the last day he posted within the time frame and he posted eight COVID-19 related tweets, which mainly focused on following CDC guidelines.
Lina Hidalgo Tweets
Texas State of Emergency Called: March 13-March 20
The same day that the Texas state of emergency is declared, Judge Hidalgo only posts one tweet and it’s about thanking the U.S. House of Representatives passing a COVID-19 relief bill that would include free testing and extended pay sick leave. Three days later on March 16th,
Hidalgo tweets twice about the pandemic, one about flattening the curve and the other is
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Paper D1 thanking the energy company, Centerpoint, for temporarily agreeing to not shut off energy due to an incomplete payment. The last day she tweets in this timeframe is on March 18th, one about the rise of COVID-19 cases in Harris County saying, “your actions today have life-or-death consequences tomorrow. Stay home unless you absolutely have to be out.”
Reopening Economy Announcement: April 17-April 24
The day the reopening plan is announced, Hidalgo only tweets one thing and that’s thanking a Harris county resident for gifting her a homemade mask. She also uses this tweet to thank everyone else for doing what they can to “#FlattenTheCurve.” The next day, her two tweets seem to address the reopening announcement more directly. One is about making testing more accessible so those who know they are sick can stay home while “healthy folks can go to work.” The second tweet is about the death toll in Harris County saying that “[s]ettling back into complacency could be catastrophic.”
On April 20th, Hidalgo tweets about the newly appointed COVID-19 Relief+Recovery
Czar, Texas House Representative Armando Walle. “While we’re focused on human life, Rep.
Walle will lead efforts to rebuild our economy and ensure no one falls through the cracks.” On
April 22nd, Hidalgo announced her thirty-day mask policy, an alleged response to Abbott’s reopening policy. Stating that this is “a critical period in our fight against an insidious & invisible killer. This is no time to let our guard down.” The second mask tweet shows what constitutes as a mask and what materials are needed to make a mask.
Reopening Paused: June 25-July 2
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Paper D1
On the first day in this timeframe, Hidalgo references the surge of cases that occurred after the reopening process began. “We can’t have such disregard for human life & our economy as to say let’s fill our base & surge ICU beds before not taking meaningful action… Let’s have respect for the lives of everyone in our community.” The next day on June 26th, Hidalgo quote tweets an infographic from her office stating that Harris County is at a severe and uncontrolled spread of COVID-19. This tweet emphasizes staying at home and everyone doing “their part” to keep other Texans safe. On June 30th, Hidalgo announced that she was under a self-imposed quarantine after being exposed to someone with COVID-19. While tweeting about it, she emphasized the CDC guidelines for staying at home. The next day she tweets that her test result came back negative, but she will stay under quarantine until after the fourteen day period.
Government and Economy as Ideograph
As stated in the methodology, I’m regarding other words and phrases that can be tied to the economy back the overarching ideograph of the economy. Both Abbott and Turner frequently utilized the phrase, “small business” which falls under this criteria. And, because Abbott and
Turner operate on different levels of government and are part of different political parties, they utilize the phrase in ways that reflect their opposing ideologies.
For Abbott, reopening Texas was framed more as a status symbol, a bragging right to say that his state was bouncing back from the pandemic more than other states were. While less than a month before he announced his plan, and back when he first called for a state of emergency,
Abbott’s tweets regarding the economy were about keeping the public safe. Posting tweets about small business loans and easier access to unemployment benefits in the state of emergency
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Paper D1 timeframe are all about creating a sense of community to help each other through a pandemic.
However, the last tweet from Abbott during that time frame contradicts this communal mindset and begins to represent his normal tweeting behaviors. The tweet where he posts the sign that thanks him and his team for making sure people are “employed again.” This tweet signals that
Abbott will do what it takes to keep the economy going, but will have little regards to the larger issue of the pandemic.
So, after his announcement, the economy more closely resembles the conservative ideology, that in which economic growth and prosperity must always continue without the interference of the government. His tweet announcing the plan included the phrase “leading the charge to get the Lone Star State back to being a top 10 economy in the world,” which signals the status of Texas rather than the health of the people. The tweets that follow in this timeframe also fits the idea that the government will reopen Texas, but it is on the people to not only keep the economy going but also to keep themselves from getting sick. Abbott does say that Texans are still expected to follow CDC guidelines, but it’s their choice not to. Ultimately, Abbott’s tweets about the economy do fall in line with the conservative belief that the government should be involved as little as possible.
Responsibility is framed differently by Turner and Hidalgo, who tweet about a team effort on keeping the virus from spreading. The largest difference between them and Abbott’s tweets is the inclusion of “we,” emphasizing that the government officials, and by extension the government, need to help with keeping the virus from spreading. This coincides with liberal
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Paper D1 ideologies in which government involvement and intervention is encouraged so that underserved populations are not left to fend for themselves.
The economy is also not a separate entity to Turner and Hidalgo. The one time that
Turner explicitly uses the term, “economy,” he is announcing a new member of his Houston
COVID-19 task force whose job it is to “restart the economy” while also “focus[ing] on our underserved communities.” In Turner’s tweet, he makes the connection between the economy and the people, signaling that reopening the economy too early could make people get the virus who would otherwise be more protected. Considering that this tweet is made after Abbott’s reopening announcement, he’s acknowledging that this decision is going to cost lives and rejecting the neoliberal implications of reopening the economy.
Hidalgo mentions the economy a lot more than Turner in her tweets, but it’s the same idea that the economy doesn’t impact everyone in the same way. In a similar tweet where
Hidalgo is appointing a COVID-19 czar, she makes sure to mention that this person’s position within the government will be to focus on the economy and the impact it could have on certain populations. “While we’re focused on human life, Rep. Walle will lead efforts to rebuild our economy and ensure no one falls through the cracks.” Again, this tweet is made shortly after
Abbott’s announcement, and follows much of the same patterns as Turner’s tweet, which makes sense considering that they’re both from the political party. Hidalgo’s tweet following this one is also the one where she makes the thirty-day mask order, the one that drew intense criticism from
Texas Republicans and would eventually be overruled by Abbott’s order to lift all mask mandates.
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Paper D1
When cases do go up and the reopening process is paused then shut down altogether,
Abbott’s only tweet referring to China deflects from the ramifications of his reopening plan.
While Hidalgo doesn’t mention Abbott in any of her tweets around this time, Turner does for multiple tweets, placing blame directly on the governor. While this can be attributed to the fact that Turner tweets the most, the most probable reason to those tweets is due to the fact that
Houston saw a surge in cases because of the reopening. That, coupled with the tweets that detail which members of the population are dying from the virus, and it becomes clear that Turner is pointing to the neoliberal issues of Abbott’s decision; one he did not take the responsibility for.
I argue that Abbott’s tweets represent the conservative ideologies surrounding economy and government, but that ultimately it’s what harmed many Texans. For the sake of making
Texas a “top ten economy,” Abbott shows little consideration for the population. Turner and
Hidalgo at least try to engage with Houstonians by encouraging a group effort to stop the virus and recognize that not everyone gets affected by it in the same way. Because of their liberal ideologies, economy and government are utilized and expressed differently in their tweets.
Conclusion
As vaccine rates continue to rise, it may seem that the pandemic is nearing its conclusion.
However, what this pandemic has made apparent is the overwhelming disadvantages of certain populations in terms of exposure to the virus and economic loss. It’s important to remember the context of these tweets, that while Abbott was shifting blame to China, Turner was blaming him for the high volume of cases in Houston. Tensions between state and local governments in Texas
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Paper D1 are still there, and as the political demographic begins to shift, city and county officials hope that
Abbott will no longer be in office.
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