Keith Self Quotes Joseph Goebbels & Tim O'Hare Moves To Erase Minority Districts

Texas Republicans keep proving the point.

Apr 03, 2025

I wish I could stop writing about Republican racism, but they keep handing me new material.

Today, in Congress, Keith Self (TX03) quoted Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda. Promptly to be called about by Texas Congresswoman Julie Johnson (TX32). Watch:

It honestly doesn’t matter what the quote was or what point he thought he was making. Normal people don’t go around quoting Nazis. Full stop. When someone reaches for Joseph Goebbels to back up their argument, they’ve already lost the plot… and revealed much more about themselves than they probably meant to.

But, get a load of this… Keith Self has made headlines before for quoting Nazis. Apparently, this is a regular thing for him.

Meanwhile, in Tarrant County, Judge Tim O’Hare held his mandatory public hearing on redistricting today.

O’Hare wants to redraw the precinct lines mid-decade, hiring a right-wing law firm with a shady track record. Local Democrats say the goal is clear: weaken the voting power of Black and Hispanic communities and make it easier to unseat the county’s two Democratic commissioners. In other words, if you can’t win the game, change the map.

You can find the full Commissioner’s Court hearing HERE if interested.

While many people from the community came out to speak on this issue, Bishop Mark Kirkland, senior pastor at Greater Saint Mark Ministries in Fort Worth, perfectly laid out what this issue was all about:

What he was talking about was the barrage of Republicans from the Tarrant County GOP and True Texas Project, who testified in favor of O’Hare’s move to racially gerrymander the Commissioner’s Court, and draw out the two Black Democrats. As one supporter said, “It’s not about race, they just don’t represent our values.” 🙄

Arlington and Southeast Fort Worth are both blue areas represented by the two Black Commissioners. Yet, the Republican members of the Court want to remove that representation.

Tim O’Hare’s level of disrespect toward Commissioner Simmons, and his overall vitriol toward the minority communities in Tarrant County, has been well known and well documented, including on Lone Star Left:

And now that Matt Krause has been elected to the Commissioner’s Court, O’Hare has been emboldened.

Listen to how he speaks to her:

Simmons questioned why O’Hare hand-picked a controversial right-wing law firm without input from the rest of the court or a competitive process. She asked how many “phases” this $30,000 contract might lead to. O’Hare’s response? Pure arrogance: “I don’t answer to you.”

Let that sink in. A sitting county judge, questioned by an elected official representing thousands of residents, outright refused to be held accountable.

The conversation spiraled from there, with Simmons pressing for transparency and inclusion in a process that would impact hundreds of thousands of voters. O’Hare, visibly irritated, dismissed her questions, mocked her concerns, and ultimately shut down the exchange by saying he wouldn’t be “cross-examined.”

In typical Republican fashion, O’Hare is silencing voices that don’t align with his agenda.

Simmons advocated for transparency, community involvement, and fairness. What O’Hare delivered instead was disdain, deflection, and disrespect.

And that, more than anything, tells you exactly what kind of map he wants to draw.

This fight is far from over, and residents in Tarrant County aren’t going to take it laying down. Another testimony I want to highlight is rising star and Tarrant County Young Democrats spokesperson, Carrington Sneed:

And the Texas Legislature is still in session...

Do you want to guess what Republicans are up to in Austin?

If you said, “more racism,” you would be right.

An alert that went out a few hours ago from the Texas House Democratic Caucus:

House Democrats held a press conference today alongside Asian Texans for Justice and other advocates to denounce this blatant attack on immigrant communities. HB 17 would restrict land ownership based solely on national origin. A move that not only echoes the darkest chapters of American history, but one that’s also been repeatedly struck down in courts as unconstitutional.

But Texas Republicans are going full steam ahead anyway, because it’s not really about passing good policy, it’s about fearmongering, stoking xenophobia, and turning marginalized communities into political scapegoats.

Whether it’s quoting Nazis, redrawing maps to suppress Black and brown voters, or reviving land bans rooted in racist paranoia, Republicans in Texas aren’t hiding what they’re about. They’re putting it in bold, underlined, and passing it out at press conferences.

And we need to keep calling it out.

I’ll have a full update on the Texas Legislature for you tomorrow. There’s plenty more.

It’s been a busy week between the chaos in the Tarrant County Commissioners Court and the mess over in Collin County. Today, lawmakers in Austin laid out the rules for the upcoming budget debate and officially scheduled SB1, the budget bill, to be heard on April 10.

And yes, Brian Harrison and his buddies are already busy turning the whole thing into another episode of political theater…because what else is new?

Also, don’t miss Friday’s podcast. I'll be speaking with Kendall Scudder, the new Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. I’ll be asking him directly about his vision for the party, how Democrats plan to fight back in 2025, and what it’s going to take to win.

Stay tuned.