RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: How can Abbott serve all of America?

Gov. Greg Abbott made a mess of Texas. Now his ego — which is the size of, well, you know what — seems to be telling him that he could do the same for the entire country.

It’s the worst kept secret in the Southwest that Abbott wants to run for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. The Texan would be a long shot in a field of GOP hopefuls that is likely to include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and even former President Donald Trump.

But don’t sleep on Abbott. He’s good at politics. He’s just bad at governing. Look at his dreadful record in Texas. My mother’s home state was a pretty nice place to live before Abbott got his incompetent mittens on it.

For instance, lower taxes and less regulation is a nifty campaign slogan. But, when put into practice, this approach to governing can be calamitous.

Texas’ electric grid is as unpredictable as the weather in a state known for boiling hot summers and icy cold winters. The GOP-controlled Electric Reliability Council Of Texas — which operates the electric grid and manages the deregulated energy market for 75 percent of the state — works on the Goldilocks principle. ERCOT seems to function only when the weather is not too hot or too cold but just right.

Look on the bright side. Abbott’s tenure as governor has done wonders for the furniture industry in Texas. In the winter of 2021, when temperatures plunged and ERCOT collapsed, folks were breaking down tables and chairs to burn in their fireplaces in order to keep warm. If you’re the governor of Texas, why rail against immigrants and try to keep out the Third World when you can just implement boneheaded policies that transport Texans into the Third World?

Abbott’s decisions are usually politically driven, dictated not by what’s best for Texans but by what he thinks will best accomplish his political goals.

The governor gives new meaning to the concept of “limited government.” His form of government is “limited” to serving only certain segments of the population. There are more than 29 million Texans, and I bet at least a couple thousand feel like Abbott has their backs. Who these people are, I have no idea.

Not Texas women, whose right to control their own bodies is not respected by Abbott or the Republican state legislators who passed House Bill 1280 — a “trigger” law, which Abbott signed in July 2021. That legislation was written to outlaw almost all abortions in the state in the event that Roe vs. Wade were overturned. Now that the landmark ruling has been scrapped by the Supreme Court, women in Texas who need an abortion have to flee the state.

Not LGBTQ Texans, who have been targeted by hateful laws banning transgender youth from participating in sports and proposals prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation or transgender identity in public schools. Abbott ordered state officials to investigate the parents of transgender children who allow their child to undergo gender-affirming treatment. And, recently, Texas Republicans adopted a party platform that describes homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice.”

Not immigrants in Texas, a state that couldn’t survive without them. As a border state governor, Abbott must think that outrageous stunts — such as his recent directive authorizing the Texas National Guard and state troopers from the Department of Public Safety to arrest undocumented immigrants and transport them to the U.S.-Mexico border — is his ticket into the 2024 presidential sweepstakes. According to a recent study by Texans for Economic Growth, in 2019, immigrants accounted for 21.9 percent of the Texas workforce.

And certainly not those parents in Texas who worry about school shootings in a Wild West state with a macho gun culture. Last week, reports said that of the 21 funerals held for the 19 students and two teachers killed in the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Abbott’s schedule doesn’t show him attending a single one. But he did call a news conference the day after the shooting where, along with other Republican officials, he claimed the cops did a great job.

A report by a Texas House committee and released police body-cam video, shows that the opposite is true. The cops bungled their response to the crisis. Yet Abbott never set the record straight or apologized for moving forward with bad information — presumably to get in front of the news cycle.

The question is not whether Abbott is qualified to be president. It’s whether this underachiever is even fit to continue in his current job as governor of Texas. If I were handing out a report card, I’d give him a “C” — for clown.

Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.