| Texas Governor Greg Abbott's decision to end a statewide mask mandate is turning into as big a political disaster for the Republican as its implementation was eight months ago. The move, announced over bowls of guacamole and chips in a Mexican restaurant in Lubbock on Tuesday, was immediately assailed by Democrats as an attempt to distract Texans from the sweeping blackouts that killed dozens and caused billions of dollars in damage just two weeks ago. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Democrat who leads the state's largest city, decried the lifting of the mask order and other anti-virus restrictions as an attempt to deflect from "systemwide state leadership failure" over the storms and urged Abbott's fellow Republicans who control the state legislature to blunt the governor's emergency powers. U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration was pleading with the states not to relax Covid-19 limits even before Abbott moved, took the criticism up a notch, calling it "Neanderthal thinking" and "the last thing — the last thing — we need."  Texans protest Governor Greg Abbott's mask mandate in Austin in October. Photographer: Thao Nguyen It's hard to overstate how deeply divided Texans have been over anti-pandemic measures since Abbott reversed course from an early reopening in the spring of 2020 and imposed a new clampdown in July. Many of the small-business owners and entrepreneurs who were Abbott voters in the past felt betrayed when his orders forced them to shut or curb capacity to untenable levels. But Abbott's latest move also creates a new burden for companies, retailers, restaurateurs, gym owners and other establishments. They now must decide whether to maintain masking and social-distancing rules, or let them lapse. Either way, a significant cohort of customers are likely to be peeved, setting the stage for ugly public confrontations. For his part, Abbott is putting a brave face on it. The day after his Lubbock announcement, he took to Twitter to tout another daily record in statewide vaccinations (229,000, if you're keeping count). The replies weren't kind, with some mentioning Beto O'Rourke, the Democrat who came close to unseating Senator Ted Cruz in 2018 and is considering a run for governor. "Your political stunt will costs lives," one person tweeted. "Beto 2022."—Joe Carroll | 
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