Some in Texas GOP jeering at Biles’ exit
By Benjamin Wermund WASHINGTON BUREAU
U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, center, talks to teammate Alec Yoder at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Some took issue with the Texan’s withdrawal; others praised Biles’ decision.
WASHINGTON — A deputy Texas attorney general called Simone Biles a “selfish, childish national embarrassment” in a tweet as some Texas conservatives have piled on the Olympic gymnast for pulling herself out of events this week.
Many others, however, have called Biles’ move inspiring and come to her defense.
Aaron Reitz, Ken Paxton’s deputy AG for legal strategy, shared a tweet praising Kerri Strug for competing with an ankle injury in 1996.
“The great ones find a way,” the tweet said, to which Reitz added: “Contrast this with our selfish, childish national embarrassment, Simone Biles.”
As Reitz’s remarks were covered by news outlets Wednesday, Attorney General Ken Paxton called them “insensitive,” the Dallas Morning News reported. The tweet was taken down.
Reitz was one of a handful of Texas Republicans who have torn into Biles — a six-time Olympic medalist to go with five world all-around titles — even as her decision to pull out of competitions this week for mental health reasons drew widespread praise from athletes and politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Mark Davis, a conservative radio host based in Dallas, wrote a column saying her decision “reveals our softened world.”
“Sometimes you have to gut up and cope,” Davis wrote in a separate tweet. “Saying that has become abject cruelty in today’s softened world.”
Cary Cheshire, president and CEO of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, tweeted a video of a robot at the Olympics hitting a basketball shot from half court: “They will never have to take a mental health day.”
But other Texas conservatives defended and praised Biles.
“She is one of the greatest gymnasts of all time,” Matt Mackowiak, an Austin-based GOP strategist, tweeted. “We all want her to be at her full emotional and physical strength.”
“The social media rush to offer a hot take on EVERYTHING often results in some very wrong takes,” Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of the right-wing advocacy group Empower Texans, tweeted. ben.wermund@chron.com