‘Why Weren’t You Ready?!’ Don Lemon Goes Off on TX Gov Abbott for False Claims, Blame Shifting on Widespread Power Outages

CNN’s Don Lemon unleashed a long, damning indictment of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s phony excuses and buck-passing over the widespread blackouts that have left millions without power amid brutal winter temperatures that have killed dozens.

During his Wednesday night show, the CNN host repeatedly called out Abbott and others for his failure in leadership.

“Texans are suffering right now. And they’re suffering due to a massive failure of the power grid that was not designed to withstand this kind of weather at all,” Lemon explained. “People are freezing because there are problems across the board. The governor admitted that today. But not before going on Sean Hannity last night.”

Lemon then highlighted Abbott’s widely panned appearance on Hannity the night before, where the Texas governor singled out for blame failures of wind turbines and renewable energy for the days of rolling outages. In fact, those resources make up just one-tenth of the state’s electrical generation, while natural gas, coal, and nuclear infrastructure — which were not properly winterized against the prospect of record low temperatures — are the main culprits for the millions without power.

“S he told on himself right there. 10%. Come on, man. 10%,” an exasperated Lemon said. “He’s making stuff up as he goes along to try to shift the blame and also capitalizing on division in this country. So what is failing right now? What is failing right now is the majority of the power source. And that power comes from what? Oil and gas. Weatherizing this equipment is voluntary in Texas. And guess what they didn’t choose that option.”

Wind power is minuscule compared to that,” Lemon added. “So Governor Abbott, where is the fuel to heat homes all across Texas? Where is it? Where is it? Where’s the fuel to keep gas stations up and running, Governor Abbott, instead of politicizing it on conservative TV. Where is it? Or to keep food and household supplies on supermarket shelves. Where is it? Because a lot of those shelves are empty right now.”

“Why weren’t you ready?!” Lemon demanded, echoing an outraged Texan whose home had seen indoor temperatures fall to 32 degrees. “Even let’s just say you’re right about the wind turbines, and you’re not. But shouldn’t you have been ready?”

Lemon then hit Abbott for trying to duck responsibility by accusing the state’s electricity regulatory body, ERCOT, of incompetence.

“So here’s what president Harry Truman famously said, that ‘the buck stops here.'” Lemon recounted. “In other words, on his desk. Greg Abbott is not familiar with that saying. Maybe he and his administration should have kept on top of ERCOT to make sure that the grid would withstand winter storms and the blast of Arctic air across most of the state. Maybe so, right? Governor. Buck stops with him.”

“Now millions of people are suffering in freezing temperatures. No relief in sight. For days,” Lemon added. “Most of the state’s power grid is not connected to the national grid. Republican lawmakers made that decision over the last few decades to keep federal regulators at bay. That’s why they did it. So they didn’t want to regulate it. Didn’t want regulation. Don’t want nobody telling them what to do. Now it sure looks like oversight was needed there, right? Sometimes you don’t know more than the generals. Or the experts.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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