Texas Mayor Resigns After Saying 'The Weak Will Perish' Amid Snowstorms
Texas Mayor resigns after telling citizens to stop asking for help amid the snowstorms
Millions are going on day three without power as devastating winter storms in Texas continue to wreak havoc across the Lone Star State and although moments of crises are typically when governments step in and help the constituents who cannot help themselves, one (now former) Texas mayor leaned real hard into his Republican roots during this tragedy, writing a scathing (and since deleted) Facebook post stating that “No one owes you or your family anything; nor is it the local governments responsibility to support you during trying times like this.”
CNN reports that more than 3 million people in Texas are without power still amid freezing cold temperatures. In an attempt to stay warm, The Huffington Post reports that people are putting themselves at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning by running their cars for heat or are burning themselves in an attempt to use wood-burning stoves. Despite all this, Colorado City, Texas Mayor Tim Boyd has resigned amid incendiary social media posts that went viral, calling upon citizens to “sink or swim” and to stop complaining about their lack of electricity.
“The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!” Boyd wrote in the Facebook post. “I’m sick and tired of people looking for a damn hand out! If you don’t have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe. If you have no water you deal with out and think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family.”
Calling people “lazy” if they are freezing, he added that “only the strong will survive and the weak will perish.”
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to provide for anyone that is capable of doing it themselves!” he continued. “We have lost sight of those in need and those that take advantage of the system and mesh them into one group!! Bottom line, quit crying and looking for a handout! Get off your ass and take care of your own family!”
He also blamed socialism in his tirade, which makes me wonder what he thinks his job was as the mayor? To not do anything for his constituents?
Anyway, he resigned (or rather he claimed he resigned before he wrote that post, which is odd, but okay?) and released a follow-up post, seemingly clarifying the first screed.
“I won’t deny for one minute what I said in my post this morning,” he said. “…But if I had it to do over again I would have just kept my words to myself and if I did say them I would have used better wording and been more descriptive.”
“I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout,” he said.
Now that he’s no longer employed and his wife has been fired from her job due to her association with him, it’s unclear if he’s going to take his own advice and “get off your ass and take care of your own family.”
