how ruinous this pandemic will be to the Republican Party.

From opening up prematurely. How many new cases and deaths before he admits he screwed up? trump and Abbott will continue because trump wants to stop anything more getting to the American people . No more direct checks , nothing , except him getting more because he's nearly broke. Abbott will follow his demands and help prevent money getting to those who need it the most.

But he listened to his campaign donors over everyone else.

especially with few tests, and people being bold and stupid, not wearing masks.
Forcast for Texas...More sick, more deaths.

If they had the chance to vote for a Democrat and live, or vote for a Republican with a guarantee of getting the worst form of the virus and dying tomorrow, they will choose the Republican every time. Logic has nothing to do with it. If a Republican runs over a three year old child while drunk in an SUV, he will get off by way of claiming self-defense. It's hard to explain, and hard to understand. Only when enough people have been in the position of the parents of that three year old will things change--and they ARE changing.

But it is a VERY slow process.