I think all of this craziness is happening in Texas because it is on the verge of becoming a battleground state. What you see is a backwards, overly conservative state. In reality, it's as diverse as it's ever been and it's leaning more left that it ever has. Over the past decade, people from other parts of the country have been moving here in droves, which has been shifting demographics to the left. Greg Abbott and GOP leadership's behavior is a reaction to the turning of the tide. He's trying to energize his base to combat a challenging election year (especially after snow-pocalypse). The GOP would like nothing more than to reverse what has been happening over the past decade. For all of the non-Trumpists to move away from Texas is exactly what the GOP wants.