Why Does Everyone Hate Bryan Slaton?

Slaton is a politician without allies in the legislature and it's all of his own doing.

During the last legislative session, none of Bryan Slaton’s bills were passed, nor did they even make it to a committee for consideration. Slaton will face similar challenges in the upcoming legislative session, and once again, none of his legislation will get air time.

Slaton’s extreme views and aggressive style have alienated him from most of his colleagues, leaving him without any allies in the legislature. Moreover, his tendency to make outrageous statements and engage in attention-grabbing stunts has only made him more unpopular.

Slaton came into the 87th Legislature in 2021 as a single-item politician.

That single item was the genitals of transgender children. His hyper-focus on sexualizing LGBTQ children was downright creepy. He tried to insert amendments to hurt trans children in around a dozen bills, most of which had nothing to do with LGBTQ children. You can read more about it and see some of the videos HERE.

Republicans and Democrats alike were appalled by Slaton’s fixation on this issue, which they saw as cruel and unnecessary. Slaton’s lack of support within the legislature meant he could not get any traction for his proposals, and his colleagues did not take his extreme views seriously.

This was further compounded by several more far-right bills, which made national headlines, including his proposal to give the death penalty to women who obtain an abortion.

Slaton was left isolated and ineffective in his role as a legislator.

Outside of the legislature, Slaton gallivanted around with domestic terrorist groups.

This is Texas Freedom Force (TITFF) has been labeled an extremist militia by the FBI. However, they are much worse. During the 2020 Civil Rights uprising, TITFF joined forces with Proud Boys and 3%ers to commit a racial hate crime against Black and brown people in San Antonio.

They presented a picture of that incident to Slaton as a gift.

TITFF has recently teamed up with the Aryan Nation and Patriot Front to attack Drag Shows. TITFF are Bryan Slaton’s biggest supporters.

Slaton has shown himself to be the most extreme in the Texas House, not only by his legislation but also by his interpersonal ties outside of Austin.

The “wife” issue.

How Bryan Slaton met his wife is one of the least well-kept secrets in Austin. Before marrying Slaton, his wife had an account on “FindLoveAsia,” a dating website that promotes itself as an alternative to Thailand and Philippines mail-order brides.

Don’t get me wrong; people should find love in any way possible. Still, since Slaton seeks to legislate the romantic relationships and sexual identities of others, he doesn’t get the luxury of having us look the other way.

The original journalist who posted this information on Twitter soon deleted it after being bullied by another journalist who said spouses should be off-limits. Under normal circumstances, I might agree, but since Slaton wants to put the government in every bedroom in Texas, his bedroom should be included. Bryan Slaton is a fascist, and we don’t fight fascism by looking the other way.

This month, Slaton introduced a bill to give tax credits to the “Biblical Family Unit.” Meaning hetero-couples who reproduce. Gay couples, single parents, and renters need not apply. It also should be noted that most homeowners in Texas are white.

In 1933, Hitler and the Nazi regime promoted the “Law for the Encouragement of Marriage,” which provided financial incentives to newlywed couples, such as loans and tax breaks. In addition, the regime initiated the "Lebensborn" program, which encouraged Aryan women to have children with SS officers or other "racially pure" men. Finally, the regime created propaganda campaigns to promote traditional gender roles and to glorify motherhood, portraying women as "child-bearers" and promoting the idea that having children was a woman's most important duty.

Representative Slaton’s legislation is remnant of Nazi Party policies.

Then a few weeks ago, while giving a speech to a church group, Slaton talked about how he admired Martin Luther because he broke into a convent, helped a woman escape, and married her.

These issues are only the tip of the iceberg regarding Slaton’s values and beliefs.

Slaton’s radical views about family and marriage are harmful and discriminatory but pale compared to his views on race.

Last session, he filed one of the most racist bills, which says a lot in what Texas Republicans deemed the “most Conservative Legislative Session” in recent history. This bill would have protected every Jim Crow-era statue in Texas, telling Black people in rural counties for the next 50 years that they could have no justice there.

Luckily, that bill never made its way to the House floor, but Slaton blamed Democrats for that and included it as his reason this year to ban Democratic chairs.

He retweeted the fascist Charlie Kirk group, Turning Point USA, and discussed banning CRT, conflating it with Marxism.

When Republicans do this, we should always push back by asking them to define these words. Of course, they won’t be able to, but it’s important to point out that the overall Republican consensus on CRT is Black history. They want to ban Black history from being taught in schools to whitewash the legacy of white supremacy in this country.

However, equality is perceived as oppression for mediocre white men like Slaton.

In Slaton’s book, equity and diversity are both attacks against the “white man,” an absurdity repeated by basement dwellers all over America.

This year, Representative Slaton has taken up the plight of the white nationalist group “texit.”

Texit is the far-right Conservative movement to turn Texas into a white ethnostate. It has roots in violence and domestic terror, and nearly all its leaders have promoted white supremacist views.

Like the rest of Slaton’s bills, this bill won’t pass. It won’t even make it to a committee.

The people deserve to know his intent. Aside from the radical, bigoted, and harmful ideology Slaton has pushed, one might say that he intends to break away from the federal government. However, that wouldn’t explain his comments on TV yesterday.

When the reporter told him that the Supreme Court had already decided on Texas secession, Slaton told her the Supreme Court got it wrong, just like they got slavery and abortion wrong.

The clip quickly went viral, most people understanding that Slaton was taking a pro-slavery position. However, some pointed to the Dred Scott case, suggesting that maybe Slaton meant the Dred Scott decision was wrong.

But that’s not what he said.

He could have referred to the United States v. The Schooner Amistad, a SCOTUS case the United States Supreme Court decided in 1842. The decision affirmed the principle that enslaved individuals who had been illegally enslaved had the right to fight for their freedom.

In fact, SCOTUS decided on more than a dozen slavery cases in the 1800s. Of course, there’s no way of knowing which case Slaton was referring to, but knowing Slaton’s already fanatical stances on race, we can only assume.

Why does he talk that way?

I will never forget listening to George Zimmerman apologize to Trayvon Martin’s parents in 2012. Not because of the apology or anything specific he said but because of his tone and speech pattern. Zimmerman spoke in a controlled way, flat and monotone. His apology was cold and unemotional, and each word seemed meticulously chosen.

His tone and the way he spoke stuck with me because it was so inauthentic and impersonal but unique. People don’t speak this way. Bryan Slaton talks this way.

It’s odd. Listen to him speak on the House floor or in interviews. His speech is controlled, flat, and monotone. Listening to him will give you a feeling of inauthenticity. Surely, a psychiatrist or sociologist could explain it better, but it’s very off-putting.

There isn’t just one thing to point to with Representative Slaton. His obsession with trans children, weird biblical views on marriage, and overt racism contributed to his becoming a one-man island. Shunned by all of his peers, Slaton has become an outcast within the political sphere. Nonetheless, Slaton remains committed to his beliefs. His continued presence in the political arena is a testament to the power of ideology and the persistence of the human spirit, for better or worse.

"The Texas Legislature is the finest form of free entertainment ever devised." - Molly Ivins