Abbott in East Asia during entirety of Hurricane Beryl for economic trip

AUSTIN, Texas — As the worst of Hurricane Beryl hit the Houston metroplex, flooding several areas of Texas' biggest city, Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated his overseas trip in East Asia, missing the entirety of the historic hurricane that traveled into Texas.

Gov. Abbott left on Friday for an eight-day trip to Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, in an effort to promote Texas' economic opportunities in East Asia. The same day he left, Texas issued disaster declarations for 40 counties across the state, leaving Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the state's second-in-command, in charge.

On Monday, Abbott assured Texans on social media that he "remain[ed] in regular contact with [the Texas Department of Emergency Management] & state officials."

Earlier that day, Gov. Abbott shared a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, after a "very productive afternoon in Seoul." The post, shared in the early morning hours in local Texas time, was criticized for its poor timing by some on social media.

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"Uh, hey, man... you think your timing is appropriate?" one user wrote.

"Maybe now isn’t the best time to brag about how awesome your trip is," another said.

"The Governor's traveling schedule is determined far, far in advance, and, ultimately, these are decisions that need to be made within his administration at a given point in time," Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project, said. "The State has had a lot of issues over the last number of years dealing with natural disasters, and I think the voters are concerned. So, when an elected official and the leader of the state is out of the state when an impending tropical storm is bearing down on one of the largest cities, it's reasonable for voters to ask where he is."

"If his first priority was being Governor of Texas, he would be here during a Category One hurricane in the largest city in the state," Scott Braddock, the editor of the Quorum Report, a Texas political newsletter, said. "But his ambition seems to be national and global. He wants to be on the world stage right now."

In his first of so far three press conferences regarding the state's response to Hurricane Beryl, Lt. Gov. Patrick briefly noted Abbott's absence on Friday, only to say that he and Abbott "have been in touch, and, in his absence, I am the acting Governor, whenever he is out of the state or out of the country. And I will be overseeing the operation."

Gov. Abbott is expected to return from his overseas trip on July 13.