NEANDERTHALS MAY BE A MINORITY, BUT THEY ARE AMERICANS TOO: Be careful who you call Neanderthal, Mr. President.

No sooner did Abbott make wearing masks voluntary rather than mandatory in Texas, than Biden accused him of thinking like a Neanderthal, as though that were something bad.

The Neanderthals (Homo Neanderthalensis) are all gone now. But before they disappeared about 40,000-50,000 years ago, they survived on this planet for nearly 100,000 years.

They came from Africa and lived in Europe and Asia for thousands of years before modern humans (Homo Sapiens) followed them out of Africa.

They were skilled hunters who used spears to kill woolly mammoths. They had fire, buried their dead. They had families and lived in small villages.

They failed to compete with the Homo Sapiens newcomers, however. But they inbred with them until the Neanderthals slowly became extinct.

Perhaps many students would be aware of the fate of the Neanderthals if Biden stood up to the teachers’ union and opened schools instead of mumbling into his mask and running away every time the subject comes up.

If so, Biden and the Democrats have their work cut out for them if they really consider themselves the big tent party of inclusion, unity, open borders, no borders, illegal immigrants, minorities, majorities, diversity, clarity, civility, ethnics, ethics, equity, equality, justice, racial justice, injustice, social justice, real justice, no justice, accountability, transparency, integrity, liberty, freedom and free stuff.

So why not reach out to the now ridiculed Americans with Neanderthal DNA, apologize for the racial smear and bring them into the big tent?

For all we know, Biden himself may be walking around with Neanderthal DNA.

Gov. Abbott, in the name of transparency, should demand that Biden get tested, not for COVID — he’s already gotten his shots — but for Neanderthal ancestry.

I’d say that at this point he’s functioning more on the level of a Homo Habilis, but it’s not clear how much ability Biden actually retains.