Texas economy has politicians bragging
AUSTIN — American politicians might cringe at a comparison to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, especially amid the special counsel investigation of Russian interference in U.S. elections.
Not in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott has welcomed such comparison, often boasting in speeches that Texas has a bigger economy than that of Russia, making him more powerful than Putin.
At his inauguration Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick chimed in.
“We’re the 10th largest economy in the world — $1.6 trillion — larger than that of Russia,” Patrick said. “They have Putin and I have Abbott.”
The crowd cheered. Texas’ GDP does exceed that of Russia, a country that counts millions more residents. As of 2017, the Texas GDP topped $1.65 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Meanwhile, Russia’s came in at $1.58 trillion that year, according to World Bank data.
Abbott often highlights the point, including at an October campaign stop in Williamson County, north of Austin.
“The economy of Texas is so large we don’t compare our economy to other states, instead we compare our economy to other countries,” Abbott said, before ticking off a number of countries with smaller GDPs, including Australia and Russia. “And that makes me more powerful than Putin.”
The comparison is an effective tool to make a point about the robust Texas economy, but when it comes to power, that hinges on what country you choose, said Rice University political scientist Mark Jones.
“Russia is a large, powerful country,” Jones said. “To say Texas has a bigger economy than Spain doesn’t resonate nearly as well as Russia, the former evil empire that we hear is interfering in our election.”
Putin and Russia are most often in the news now as special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into election meddling presses on. Texas hasn’t been immune. Federal officials included the state on a list of more than 20 that they said were targeted in 2016 by Russian government cyber actors “seeking vulnerabilities and access to U.S. election infrastructure.”