Texas Governor Greg Abbott endorsed Donald Trump for president during a visit to the Rio Grande Valley on Sunday. The two men were in Edinburg, along the Texas border, to serve meals to state troopers and members of the Texas National Guard stationed on the border.

The meal service is an annual event with Abbott, which focuses on troops and guardsmen who carry out Operation Lone Star. It’s an initiative that Abbott began in March 2021 to provide border security since President Biden would not. Since then, Texas taxpayers have paid billions of dollars to carry out the work of Operation Lone Star. Texas is left to fend for itself by the Biden administration. After Abbott and Trump helped feed the troops and guardsmen, they held a campaign event.

They spoke near sections of the border wall that Trump promised to build during the 2016 presidential campaign. Governor Abbott said that Trump would secure the border as he did when he was in office.

“We need a president who is going to secure the border,” Abbott said. “I’m here today to officially proclaim my endorsement for Donald J. Trump to be president of the United States of America again.”

Abbott’s endorsement adds to the six other governors who have endorsed Trump. They are Mike Dunleavy, Governor of Alaska, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Governor of Arkansas, Jim Justice, Governor of West Virginia, Henry McMaster, Governor of South Carolina, Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota, and Tate Reeves, Governor of Mississippi. Abbott is in his third term as governor. His endorsement is seen as a reciprocal endorsement, as Trump endorsed Abbott’s re-election.

The endorsement was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the governor and the comments are brutal.

Today, I am proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for President.

Now more than ever, America needs a President who will secure the border and prioritize national security.

President Trump is the clear choice to get the job done. pic.twitter.com/gvM7sQH41Q

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 19, 2023

Texas is not one of the first primary states. Voters go to the polls on March 5, 2024, Super Tuesday.

“It’s a tremendous honor to get that endorsement in particular,” Trump told Abbott from a makeshift stage near the runway of the South Texas International Airport in Edinburg, with a couple of hundred supporters watching on.

Trump told the crowd that Abbott has stepped up since he left office and done what he can to secure the border. He noted that Abbott has built some segments of a state-owned border wall and has deployed state troopers and the Texas National Guard to the region. Trump said if he wins again, he’ll step up the federal government’s role so Abbott can focus on other issues.

“I am going to make your job much easier,” Trump said, speaking to Abbott. He added, “Walls work.”

In Texas, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, (R-Austin), and former Congressman Lamar Smith, (R-San Antonio) have endorsed Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has been a stellar partner to Abbott when it comes to the southern border. DeSantis has answered the call for help every time Abbott asks red state governors for personnel and equipment.

The events were in Hidalgo County, a very Democrat part of the state. Both Abbott and Trump lost that part of the state in their last elections. The atmosphere is improving for Republicans, though, and it is smart to give the area attention. For example, Trump won 28 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton in 2016 in the county. In 2020, he won 41 percent against Biden.

With the Biden border crisis a top issue in the election cycle, especially in South Texas, the location for Trump was the right move to make. Trump was in Houston two weeks ago for a fundraiser hosted by an oil and gas service company, but he held off on the endorsement until Sunday.

There was one odd moment reported on Sunday from Trump’s campaign event in Iowa on Saturday. Trump mocked a supporter who yelled, “We love you.”

Mr Trump responded and said: “Thank you. Doesn’t sound like my kind of a lover but that’s ok.”

“You got to see this guy”, Mr. Trump said as he ridiculed the man at his campaign rally.

It sounds like just a lame joke but that kind of thing always gets noted in press coverage, because, Trump. Biden has been ugly against those in his audiences – challenging a critic to a push-up contest, telling men he would meet them out back in his younger days, calling one man “Fat”, and so on. Yet, Biden is the kindly old grandpa and Trump is a stark raving mad lunatic. Go figure.