Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Viral Photo Of Beto Confronting Gov. Abbott During Press Conference Has Twitter In Awe

Viral Photo Of Beto Confronting Gov. Abbott During Press Conference Has Twitter In Awe
CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images; ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images

A viral photo of Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke interrupting incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott's press conference has people on Twitter in total awe and hoping even more for his victory in November.

The press conference was held in response to the deadliest school shooting in 10 years at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school Tuesday.


Flanked by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and leaders of the local police force that waited an hour to enter the school while onlookers begged them to intervene, Abbott predictably pledged to do absolutely nothing about the shooting.

Instead, he simply blamed it on "the status of mental health in our society," a repeatedly disproven theory.

Like most Americans, O'Rourke has simply had enough.

He interrupted Abbott's performative press conference to rail against his inaction before being shouted down and forcibly removed from the venue by police.

And one photo captured the moment perfectly.

People were floored by the powerful image.


During the press conference, Abbott offered no solutions whatsoever, instead appealing to Texans to help comfort the families of the victims. He also asserted "there was no meaningful forewarning of this crime," a claim that is false.

O'Rourke did not hold back in his words to Abbott, whom he excoriated for "doing nothing."

You can watch the exchange below.

O'Rourke called the Uvalde tragedy "totally predictable" and told Abbott:

"The time to stop the next shooting is right now and you are doing nothing."

The Republican crowd onstage immediately erupted in invective, with Senator Cruz calling O'Rourke "pathetic" and another man calling O'Rourke a "sick son of a b*tch" before leveling Republicans' favorite accusation every time a mass shooting happens--that O'Rourke was trying to politicize a tragedy that is inherently political.

When they were finished hurling profanity-laden insults at O'Rourke, members of the party that claims to stand for moral values, personal accountability and freedom of speech had O'Rourke forcibly removed by police.

So he simply held his own press conference outside.


There, he placed blame for the shooting squarely on Abbott's shoulders, invoking his inaction on the 2019 El Paso mass shooting as a precursor to Uvalde.

"[T]hese kids died because the governor of the state of Texas, the most powerful man in the state, chose to do nothing."
"After every one of these, he holds a press conference just like this – and I wish to hell when he came to El Paso that someone would have stood up and held him to account and confronted him and shocked the conscience of this state into doing something."

O'Rourke went on to rail against Abbott's record on both gun-control laws and access to medical care that would help improve the "status of mental health in our society" on which Abbott blamed the Uvalde shooting.

"He's refused to expand Medicaid, which would bring $10 billion a year, including mental health care access for people who need it."
"He's refused to champion red flag laws..."
"He's refused to support safe-storage laws so young people cannot get their hands on their parents' weapons."

O'Rourke then called upon Texans to join him in fighting gun violence in the state and across the country.

"Why are we letting this happen in this country? Why is this happening in this state? Year after year, city after city..."
"...I am going to do something and I'm not alone. The people of Texas are with us, the majority of people in Texas are with us. Well, we've got to stand up to this."
"We just can't accept this theater or business as usual, and accept the next shooting."

On Twitter, many felt O'Rourke's response to Republican inaction was nothing short of heroic.










And many felt Beto's actions made the hypocrisy and fecklessness on the part of Abbott and the Republicans leading his press conference all the more glaring.






Texas has some of the laxest gun laws in the entire country—which itself has the laxest gun laws of any developed nation on Earth.

Abbott is an outspoken supporter of the National Rifle Association.

Both he and Senator Cruz are still slated to speak at an NRA convention in Houston tomorrow.

More from Trending

Jesse Watters
Fox News

Jesse Watters Dragged After Adding Another Mind-Boggling Rule For 'Real Men'

Fox News host Jesse Watters, who is apparently an authority of what it means to be a manly man, gave jazz hands to make a point about how "real men" should or shouldn't wave.

The target of his ridicule was Tim Walz, the enthusiastic Democratic Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate who often greets the public by raising both hands in the air to wave.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of crowd at town hall and Rep. Mike Flood
@MorePerfectUS/X; KETV NewsWatch 7

GOP Rep. Goes Viral For His Response To Crowd Chanting 'Tax The Rich' At Town Hall

Nebraska Republican Representative Mike Flood was criticized following his incredulous response to a crowd that chanted "Tax the rich!" during a town hall meeting.

The Columbus High School auditorium hosted the town hall on Tuesday evening, drawing "nearly 380" attendees, according to local network KETV Omaha. The event was lively, with Flood facing both sharp criticism over Trump administration policies and some appreciation for showing up in person.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Awkward Typo In Elon Musk's Bizarre 'Education Department' Trump Meme Is A Total Self-Own

Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked after he celebrated President Donald Trump's executive order to begin to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) by posting a meme of Trump at the department's grave, only for an awkward misspelling to get all the attention.

Polling indicates that eliminating the Education Department is largely unpopular, with 60% of registered voters opposing the move, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted March 6-10. Support stands at 33%, with opposition particularly strong among Democrats—98% oppose it, while just 1% support it.

Keep ReadingShow less
JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Dem Governor Reveals Trump's Bonkers Demand In Exchange For Equipment During COVID

Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker revealed during a speech this week that he clashed with President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration after Trump promised necessary medical equipment during the COVID pandemic on the condition that Pritzker praise him publicly.

Five years ago, the United States was grappling with the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country had entered shutdowns that had severe economic consequences, leaving businesses and industries on the brink of collapse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Scrabble tiles spelling the word scam
Scam spelled with scrabbles on a wooden table

People Break Down How They Realized An Entire Industry Was A Total Scam

We unfortunately live in a world where scams are on the rise.

Thankfully, some of them are pretty easy to detect, such as an automated call from the IRS telling you a warrant is out for your arrest, or an email claiming to be from Amazon or the USPS asking for your credit card information, only to look closer and see the email address is a yahoo account.

Keep ReadingShow less