Political Theater In The Republican Party Of Texas May Cause Popcorn Shortage
The Texas Republican Party is at a crossroad. Their growing divide has long-term implications and consequences in Texas politics.
There isn’t enough popcorn in the world to process the levels of depravity that the GOP Civil War has sunk to. Have you enjoyed watching the trainwreck that the Republican Party of Texas has become? I know I sure have, and there is no indication of it letting up anytime soon. They’re killing their party, depressing their base, and will ultimately push the state further left. This is great for us!
Yesterday, we saw a bitchslap of epic proportions when Tony Tinderholt took to the back mic to use the parliamentary inquiry process to ask Dade Phelan when he plans on apologizing to Ken Paxton for impeaching the crook.
Phelan *basically* said, “Bitch, quit asking stupid fucking questions and go sit your stupid ass down.” It was amazing. You can watch that exchange here:
If you missed the parliamentary inquiries from Tinderholt earlier this week that were confrontational and out of line, you can see them here. This was from Monday:
Tony Tinderholt has received over $100,000 from Tim Dunn and the Defend Texas Liberty PAC in the last few years, and he’s 100% Team Nazi. And while he didn’t get a chance to argue with the Speaker in front of the cameras, he quickly took to Twitter to call Dade Phelan a “tyrant.”
Other Tim Dunn sycophants also took to social media to repeat the same.
It’s incredible what the far-right GOP members call “free speech.” Like when they spread racism or threats of violence on social media and get banned, they call that censorship. They think, “I can say and do whatever I want, whenever I want, no matter if it’s appropriate or not.” That has to do with the entire level of corruption and self-entitlement of the Conservative Party.
But let’s break down what happened so no one is a victim of their gaslighting.
On Monday, Tinderholt made three separate inappropriate parliamentary inquiries regarding Ken Paxton. Although the Senate was paid off to acquit Paxton, there was plenty of evidence they could have convicted him on. Phelan and other House members have not backed away from Paxton being corrupt and deserving of impeachment.
On Wednesday, Tinderholt filed a resolution apologizing to Paxton. It’ll never get seen or heard, but he did it to appease Tim Dunn and the rabid right. The only Republican who signed onto it was J.M. Lozano.
On Thursday, Tinderholt attempted to make parliamentary inquiries about the Paxton impeachment. Phelan reminded him of the rules regarding parliamentary inquiries and demanded he stick to the rules, using parliamentary inquiries regarding legislation or the pending proceedings.
Tinderholt immediately broke the rule, and Phelan said because you continue to break the rules, come up to the parliamentarian or the chair before asking any more parliamentary inquiries on the back mic. So, Tinderholt can still ask Phelan questions. He can’t do it on the back mic to be disruptive or create sound bites.
Immediately, from Tinderholt and the others on Team Nazi: “Phelan is a tyrant. Phelan is censoring Conservatives. Phelan is taking away free speech.”
The absurdity of Tim Dunn Conservatives and their gaslighting games is evident.
They ignore that Tinderholt repeatedly violated established parliamentary rules, leading to Speaker Phelan’s reasonable request for compliance. The cries of “tyranny” and “censorship” are an attempt to deflect from their disruptive behavior.
This week, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick put out a statement about the Defend Texas Liberty PAC on behalf of Tim Dunn.
This statement also let Phelan and others know Patrick had no intentions of returning the money. Patrick again condemned Nick Fuentes and said Tim Dunn stated Jonathan Stickland made an oopsie.
He called it a “blunder.” A seven-hour meeting, which was actually the second meeting, was just a tiny little mistake. The language in this statement was weak, just like the statement the Defend Texas Liberty PAC put out earlier this week. It was worthless.
Questions remain unanswered. Why did they take a meeting with a known nazi? And why do they directly employ someone (Ella Maulding) who espouses Fuentes’ politics and has direct ties to him?
The only blunder Tim Dunn is pointing to is the blunder of getting caught. Remember, this is the same man who told Joe Straus he could not work with him because he was Jewish. Meeting with the white supremacist Nick Fuentes for seven hours is not a blunder.
The Defend Texas Liberty PAC’s ties with Texans for Strong Borders further prove their deep ties with white supremacy.
Only days before the Nick Fuentes meeting, the Texas GOP and the Defend Texas Liberty PAC joined with Texans for Strong Borders to call for an anti-immigrant special session agenda, using the white supremacist rhetoric of "invasion."
Other signers of this letter include:
True Texas Project
Texas Eagle Forum
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
Young Republicans of Texas
Cooke County Conservatives
Denton County Conservatives
Texans for Strong Borders' two Tiktok spokespersons are both Nick Fuentes acolytes. One has pro-Nazi social media and is part of the white supremacist European-American Community. You can read more about that in Amanda Moore’s eye-opening article: “The Texas GOP Can't Get Enough of Nick Fuentes.”
Texans for Strong Borders was an early source of anti-Colony Ridge propaganda. The post below is from July. This organization is tied to Nick Fuentes and has used violent and racist rhetoric. This is an alarming sign that white supremacist ideology is becoming a mainstream anti-immigrant policy in Texas.
For the last few months, far-right Republicans have called a Hispanic Community in Liberty County an “illegal safe haven.” They have implied that the entire community consists of undocumented immigrants. Yet, none of them has provided evidence or proof to support that claim. Houston Public Media finally debunked their lies last week and included statements from Republican lawmakers who went and visited the community.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped Texans for Strong Borders or their allies from using propaganda involving Colony Ridge.
You’ll have to remember that Chris Russo from Texans for Strong Borders was chauffeuring around Nick Fuentes when he was in town.
Tim Dunn and the Defend Texas Liberty PAC fund Texans for Strong Borders.
Texans for Strong Borders said on a social media post, "We must follow in the footsteps" of "men willing to give up their lives" and that borders require "battles and bloodshed." Rhetoric that is a call to violence. This is who the Texas GOP's current partner is in anti-immigrant policy.
The anti-immigrant Texas advocacy group has extremist white supremacist ties. There’s no doubt about it. For so many Texas politicians saying associating with Fuentes is disqualifying, Texans for Strong Borders should have no role in policy making.
If you look at all these groups and organizations who have been caught associating with Fuentes but also put out white supremacist statements before that, they all have one thing in common. They are all funded by Tim Dunn and Ferris Wilks.
It should be noted Ken Paxton has still not released a statement denouncing Nick Fuentes or the Defend Texas Liberty PAC.
More criticism is coming from Republicans, further splitting the Republican Party of Texas into two distinct groups.
The Texas Voice, which is a Texas Republican blog, published earlier this week how the True Texas Project has a years-long record of posting antisemitic content on social media, as well as content attacking the Republican Party on racial issues. And how the Defend Texas Liberty PAC has contributed $47,000 to True Texas Project entities since 2022. Then, they added how State Representatives Brian Harrison, Nate Schatzline, and Texas GOP Chair Rinaldi are scheduled to participate in an upcoming True Texas Project event.
Then, the Texas Republican Initiative said, “True Texas Project President Fred McCarthy has said many times that he thinks the GOP and Trump are insufficiently supportive of white people.”
The Republican Party of Texas is burning, and the match was lit from the inside.
There are 26 days left of this special session. They haven’t got anything done yet. The dysfunction is very public for all the world to see. This will hurt Republicans in Texas in the 2024 election. More please? Stay tuned.