A Media Whore And An Oil Whore Go Toe-To-Toe As The GOP Civil War Rages On

The GOP Circus: Texas Republicans embroiled in a most entertaining Civil War.

Over the last month, pro-Ken Paxton forces, funded by West Texas billionaires, have pushed a false narrative that Democrats control the Texas House. Of course, as much as we wish that were true, it is not. So, what’s the point?

Far-right Republicans didn’t get everything they wanted passed, and the GOP base only responded to the blame game on Democrats. But since Republicans control the House, they have nothing left to do but call the GOP members they don’t like “secret Democrats” and “Democratic conspirators.” And, of course, their low-informed base falls for it, hook-line-and sinker.

Ken Paxton being impeached by a Republican majority? Blame the Democrats.

No vouchers implemented? Blame the Democrats.

Vaccines still allowed in Texas? It’s all because of the Democrats!

Let’s pretend that the GOP doesn’t have an 85-64 control and that they’ve been in power for decades, and blame every Republican failure on the left. We’re seeing the peek of the anti-intellectual movement on the right. But it’s so delicious because, in the long run, it will hurt Texas Republicans and give Democrats a leg up.

It all started with West Texas Rep. Dustin Burrows calling Ellis County Rep. Brian Harrison a media whore (paraphrasing).

He’s absolutely right. Harrison, a labradoodle breeder by trade, spends a lot of his free time on NewsMax talking about COVID-19 vaccines, the border, or whatever the Conservative hot-button issue is at the moment. Harrison loves being in front of the camera.

How did it all start? Since July, Harrison has not shut up about how the House Calendars Committee killed a ban on vaccine mandates. The Chairman of the House Calendars Committee is Dustin Burrows.

Burrows remained silent about this attack for months. Then, this week, he let loose.

Burrows accused Harrison of being a DC bureaucrat with ties to Dr. Fauci and part of the Covid lockdowns. Harrison responded with a video saying President Biden was trying to bring back lockdowns with the help of Democrats and “liberal establishment Republicans in Texas.” While he didn’t call out Burrows by name, we all know who he meant.

Bring in the peanut gallery.

All of the bickering opened up a perfect opportunity for other Texas Republicans to throw their two cents in—namely, Collin County Rep. Jeff Leach.

Could this Republican infighting get more scrumdiddlyumptious? Why yes, it can. Montgomery County Rep. Steve Toth also had to get his say.

Now, this is entirely separate from Toth’s argument with Denton County Rep. Jared Patterson this week.

Of course, they argued about how Democrat the Texas House was in the 88th Legislative Session.

There isn’t enough popcorn in the world.

The biggest reason why this is so laughable is because all of these Republicans suck. Toth, Leach, Harrison, Burrows, and Patterson all vote for horrible, harmful policies. They vote the same on banning books, stealing reproductive rights, privileging guns, gaslighting about so-called CRT, and harming LGBTQ people. They’re all the same.

Now that West Texas billionaire Tim Dunn has planted the seeds of “secret Democrats” and “Democratic enablers,” they are ripping each other to shreds, all pointing to one another as an “undercover Democrat.”

With Paxton’s impeachment only days away, we can expect this behavior to escalate. This is great for Texas Democrats, who can use this dysfunction to their advantage. September is shaping up to be an entertaining month.

I never saw anything funnier than Texas politics. - Molly Ivins