In a striking interview with Tucker Carlson, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared his state’s preparedness for a potential conflict with federal authorities. The bold assertion on Friday followed the recent Supreme Court ruling favoring the Biden administration’s decision to open the Texas-Mexico border.

“If the administration declares that it plans to federalize the National Guard of the state of Texas, your National Guard, what will be your response?” Carlson asked.

“Well, first, I’ll be shocked,” Abbott said. “That would be a bonehead and move on his part, a total disaster. For one, as you might imagine, we are prepared in the event that that unlikely event does occur to make sure that we will be able to continue exactly what we’ve been doing over the past month.”

Abbott also confirmed the presence of armed state employees on the border, in addition to the National Guard from other states. “We do have other armed state employees on the border as we speak right this minute.”

The Texas Governor revealed his unfruitful attempts to communicate with Joe Biden, saying, “I met him on a tarmac in El Paso and talked to him directly about what was going on. I handed him altogether eight different letters, he has refused to ever respond.”

Nearly all Republican governors in the US have expressed their support for Governor Abbott in his contentious dispute with the federal government regarding border management. A statement, published on Thursday on the website of the Republican Governors Association, condemned the policies of the Biden Administration and affirmed that Texas possesses the constitutional authority to protect its borders.

Looking forward, Abbott believes that “this will all come to an end on January the 20th of next year.”

“I believe a new president will be sworn in, a president who will actually enforce the immigration laws of the entire country, not just the Texas border, but New Mexico and Arizona and California and the Canadian border.”

Abbott has been especially vocal, mobilizing the Texas National Guard and suing the federal government for interfering with state-level border security measures. The move has drawn criticism from Democratic leaders, who accuse Abbott of political grandstanding and endangering both U.S. citizens and asylum seekers.