Texas Republicans Hang With Nazi! Ken Paxton On Revenge Tour! We Are Not Surprised.
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Texas Republicans Hang With Nazi! Ken Paxton On Revenge Tour! We Are Not Surprised.
Your Texas GOP follies update!
It’s a madhouse down in Texas, where state Republicans are squabbling while Gov. Greg Abbott is trying to pass his horrible far-right agenda in a special session. Abbott — a noble name that he continually besmirches — wants to dismantle public education by sending all the state’s schools money to parents for private school vouchers. He’s also obsessed with beefing up “border security,” most likely in the least humane ways you can imagine.
This is a time when all evil people should unite, but instead House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick got into a rhetorical (for now) slap fight Monday.
The Texas Tribune reported this weekend that out-and-proud white supremacist Nick Fuentes spent several hours Friday chilling with Jonathan Stickland, owner of right-wing consulting firm Pale Horse Strategies. Chris Russo, founder and president of Texans for Strong Borders, was there as well. Also in attendance was two-time killer Kyle Rittenhouse, who’s whined in the past that President Joe Biden “defamed” him by suggesting he was a white supremacist. However, this is the company Rittenhouse keeps.
Matt Rinaldi, chair of the Republican Party of Texas, was seen entering the offices of Pale Horse Strategies while Fuentes was inside. Rinaldi later denied knowing Fuentes was in the building. People always claim surprise that Fuentes was at their gathering. It’s like he jumped out of a cake, which is also racist.
“I completely condemn that guy and everything he stands for,” Rinaldi said. “I would never in a million years meet with that guy.”
Sure, Fuentes is easy enough to disavow but Republicans can’t seem to extend their disgust to their colleagues who willingly meet with this known Nazi. Rinaldi refused to “make assumptions” about Stickland or Pale Horse.
Stickland is also the head of Defend Texas Liberty, a far-right political action committee that donates millions to Texas Republicans, including Dan Patrick who accepted a $3 million contribution from the group during Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial. Phelan, who’s not a fan of the group, demanded that elected officials return “every single cent” they’d received from Defend Texas Liberty in support of Paxton. Phelan, who’s almost respectable, tried to hold Paxton accountable for his many and obvious alleged crimes and has condemned the equally corrupt Senate Republicans who acquitted Paxton.
Phelan said Monday, “There is no excuse to keep tainted funds from an organization that provides a platform for hatemongers, sexual predators, racists and Nazi sympathizers.” He noted the awkward and repulsive timing of meeting with Fuentes “when we are witnessing heinous attacks on our Israeli allies by Hamas terrorists — the most egregious assault on Jewish lives since the Holocaust.”
This apparently shocked and appalled Patrick, who accused Phelan of politicizing the “atrocities in Israel” for his own “political gain” — again, that’s politicizing the “atrocities in Israel” by saying Republicans shouldn’t meet with Nazis.
“I didn’t think even Dade Phelan would stoop this low,” Patrick declared in a statement. “He has now absolutely hit rock bottom. His latest political stunt is disgusting, despicable, and disingenuous. With nearly 1,000 dead and over a hundred kidnapped, anyone who would use the war in Israel for their own political purposes is revolting, repulsive, and repugnant.”
Patrick demanded that Phelan resign in disgrace. He disavowed Fuentes, claiming his “antisemitic rhetoric” has “no place in the United States.” Yeah, OK, but Pale Horse headquarters is a place in the United States.
From the Houston Chronicle:
Hours later, Defend Texas Liberty PAC said it opposes Fuentes's “incendiary views” and accused Phelan of trying to “combine Defend Texas Liberty PAC with Nick Fuentes." The short statement did not explain why the white supremacist commentator reportedly spent several hours at the office of the group's leader, former lawmaker Jonathan Stickland.
Meanwhile, AG Paxton is on a roaring rampage of revenge against the Republicans who failed to remove him from office. Paxton reportedly plans to file criminal complaints in each of the House impeachment managers’ eight home counties. He claims that his political opponents violated a new anti-doxxing law when they released documents that had not been brought up at trial. The documents reportedly include his home address.
“The impeachment managers clearly have a desire to threaten me with harm when they released this information last week,” Paxton said, adding that his family has received violent threats. We don’t support this, although he’s probably lying so that’s a relief.
From NBC News:
The documents also made public emails between Paxton’s contractor and Nate Paul, the campaign donor who the House impeachment managers said bribed him with home renovations. In the emails, Paxton's contractor shared updates and photos of the work being done on Paxton's home, with Paul, a real estate developer.
Paxton’s attorneys said he paid for the renovations with a six-figure wire transfer. House prosecutors had alleged that was a cover-up payment made only after Paxton's own staff reported him to the FBI for alleged bribery.
So Paxton wants to LOCK ‘EM UP for releasing information demonstrating his criminality. It’s like peak “Dallas” in Austin.
The media has presented this ongoing “Republican civil war” as a schism between far-right extremists and more moderate, but still very conservative politicians, but the war isn’t ideological in a traditional sense. Phelan and even US Sen. John Cornyn have been attacked as RINOs because they demonstrate some respect for the rule of law.
Nonetheless, Republicans fighting Republicans is good news for anyone who’d suffer under their awful policies.
[Texas Tribune / Houston Chronicle]
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Texas Republicans Hang With Nazi! Ken Paxton On Revenge Tour! We Are Not Surprised.
"Phelan and even US Sen. John Cornyn have been attacked as RINOs because they demonstrate some respect for the rule of law."
The "ideological" divide in a nutshell. With extra nuts.
Ta, Stephen. What. the. actual. fuck. The R party in TX has gone full Nazi.