Greg Abbott, part-time Texas governor and full-time social media tough guy, took a break from doing anything about actual problems to hop on X and issue a warning to protesters demonstrating against immigration enforcement. In a post that screamed “I watch too many tactical YouTube channels,” Abbott promised to arrest protesters who “cross the line” — then capped it off with a Proud Boy battle cry: “FAFO.”
Translation for the uninitiated: he means “Fuck Around and Find Out” — a phrase that’s gone from white supremacist meme to militia merch staple. Super cool that our state’s top elected official is drawing messaging inspo from groups that have been charged with seditious conspiracy. And while lots of people use the phrase now, hate groups were the ones who injected it into the mainstream.
“Peaceful protesting is legal. But once you cross the line, you will be arrested. FAFO,” Abbott wrote, confirming that we do, indeed, have a badass over here.
Abbott’s warning comes after days of protests in cities across Texas and California, sparked by a new wave of immigration raids. Demonstrations in Los Angeles were used as a pretext for the Trump administration to send 2,000 National Guard troops — and, just for spice, 700 Marines — to patrol the streets without California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s consent. It’s an extremely rare move; the last time it was done without the state’s consent was to protect civil rights marchers in Alabama. (Newsom, not thrilled with this move, responded by suing.)
Back in Austin, hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the state Capitol on Monday to protest ICE raids. Things stayed peaceful until law enforcement decided to get spicy with the tear gas (which, periodic reminder, is a chemical weapon that’s banned in war). Police also used pepper spray, pepper balls, and the classic tactic of falling off a motorcycle near protesters before launching crowd control measures in response to… not much.
At least two people were detained in Austin, while Dallas, San Antonio and Houston saw a similar pattern: protesters gathered, police escalated, and chaos ensued. In each case, crowds marched in solidarity with undocumented immigrants who are being rounded up by the feds in the latest episode of “What Unconstitutional Thing Is Trump Doing Now.”
That nuance, of course, didn’t make it into Abbott’s post. Instead, we got a threat wrapped in a four-letter acronym that’s more at home on a Punisher bumper sticker than in the vocabulary of an elected official.
Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Public Safety logged on to remind everyone that Texas is a “law-and-order state,” as if that hadn’t been painfully obvious once the tear gas started flying.
So if you’re in Texas and thinking of exercising your First Amendment rights, just remember: you might be met with a militarized police response — and a governor who thinks tweeting threats is a leadership strategy.
