The Crook, The Clown, And The Cowards
All hat, no ethics, and even less shame.
Ken Paxton, Texas’s most shameless crook, just announced he’s running against John Cornyn, and honestly, it’s hilarious. One of the most corrupt politicians in the country is challenging a guy for not being corrupt enough for today’s GOP. It’s like a burglar accusing someone of bad manners. Welcome to the Republican Party, where the only real sin is not breaking enough laws with a smile.
In the 90s, when Cornyn was Texas’ Attorney General, he wrote an advice column for parents, published in papers around Texas. Some of the topics of this advice column included, “If your child has a beeper, they may be selling drugs,” and “What is a Rave Party?” I was looking forward to this election, making fun of Cornyn for his cheesy 20th Century scare pieces, but now that the Paxton v. Cornyn fight is unfolding, there will be so much to laugh at.
At the end of the day, it won’t matter how absurd Cornyn’s 90s advice column was or that he’s been a Republican staple in Texas for almost 40 years, I’m going to put my money on Paxton in this race.
The modern Republican Party isn’t interested in policy, governance, or even basic competence. It’s the party of crooks and liars, and not even good ones. It rewards grifters, punishes cooperation, and sees public service as weakness. If you try to do your job, reach across the aisle, or, God forbid, help people, you’ll be branded a traitor. The only thing worse than being a Democrat in today’s GOP is acting like a decent human being.
That’s why Cornyn is in trouble. His crime isn’t some scandal or ethics violation. It’s that he once tried to do something bipartisan. He worked on background checks after a mass shooting. He said out loud that Trump lost in 2020. In today’s Republican Party, that’s heresy. You can get caught with bribe money in a freezer, cheat on your taxes, or commit actual felonies, just don’t say anything vaguely reasonable. That’s the unforgivable sin.
So now Paxton, who’s basically a walking indictment in cowboy boots, is the hero. Because in the modern GOP, the less you care about the law, the more qualified you are to rewrite it.
HB10 SB14 passed yesterday with Democratic votes.
Yesterday, HB10 was on the calendar in the House, but they substituted it for SB14, the Senate version of the bill. They’re calling this the “DOGE bill.” It creates a new office inside the Texas governor’s office called the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office, whose job is to make it easier to eliminate or weaken state regulations.
It gives the governor (currently a hard-right Republican) more control over how agencies write and enforce rules. It also adds more hurdles to creating new rules that protect workers, consumers, the environment, and public health.
Instead of letting expert agencies decide how to enforce laws, it hands political appointees (aka Abbott’s cronies) more power to overrule agency decisions and push a pro-corporate agenda. The bill strips away legal deference to agencies, making it easier for big business to sue and kill off rules that protect people. It’s a dream for industry lobbyists and a nightmare for regulators.
There’s no good reason any Democrat would have to vote for this bill. It lets Republicans slash public protections under the radar while calling it “efficiency.”
Yet. Check out some of the co-sponsors of this bill:
In the Senate, Chuy Hinojosa (D-SD20) co-authored the bill. And in the House, Salman Bhojani (D-HD92) co-sponsored it.
Twelve Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for it.
Why? That’s a good question. Each one of these Dems deserves the question from their constituents, “Why are they voting to protect businesses over people and corporations over workers?”
This was the only controversial bill in the House chamber yesterday, and ironically, it’ll be the first bill sent to Abbott to sign this session.
SB241 passed the Senate yesterday.
This bill further criminalizes being unsheltered in Texas. It strips away local control and empowers right-wing vigilantes. SB214 is performative cruelty, not policy. No money is being spent on housing or services. However, the state is prepared to spend money on lawyers and state police to fine, sue, or control cities trying to help people.
Three Senate Democrats voted in favor of this bill to harm unhoused individuals.
Also, SB921, which punishes working families, the elderly, disabled people, and children, passed in the Senate yesterday. This bill bans ex parte (automatic) renewals for Medicaid in Texas. It’s a federally encouraged, common-sense method that keeps eligible people from falling through the cracks just because they missed a form or letter. Even red states like South Dakota and Georgia use ex parte renewals to reduce unnecessary churn. Texas is choosing cruelty and inefficiency on purpose.
Fortunately, every Democrat voted against SB921.
The Senate also passed SB609, a Trojan horse for culture war enforcement. It gives the state more power to police public schools, charter networks, and educators who don’t enthusiastically carry out controversial mandates. Expect it to be used for ideological compliance rather than academic improvement.
And once again, Senate Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for this garbage.
Speaker Burrows tells the Brainworm Brigade, “No more stupid questions.”
For weeks, Brian Harrison (R-HD10) and his merry band of brainworms have been clogging up the back mic with questions that would get you kicked out of a high school debate club. Every time a bill hits the floor, here comes Harrison, itching to ask some smug, bad-faith hypothetical that has nothing to do with the legislation and everything to do with feeding his own Twitter clips.
Well, Speaker Burrows finally had enough.
Parliamentary inquiries are not open mic night for the far-right grievance caucus. No more hypotheticals. No more vague gotcha questions about bills that aren’t even on the calendar. No more wasting everyone’s time so a handful of cranks can grandstand for ten likes and a quote-tweet from Blaze TV.
Most of the House is sick of Harrison and his flunkies, on both sides of the aisle. He’s not there to legislate. He’s there to perform, obstruct, and play purity police while the actual work of governing grinds to a halt.
That’s why Harrison introduced HR823 today to vacate the Speaker of the House.
This is some real funny shit.
My favorite part was when he said, “I’m not here to fight for Brian Harrison’s interests,” the entire House erupted with laughter. Harrison responded, “Let them laugh, let them scoff.”
In response to Brian Harrison’s motion to vacate, Cody Harris (R-HD08) motioned to table. So, the entire body voted on whether to table Harrison’s motion. The only people who voted against the motion to table were Brian Harrison and David Lowe (R-HD91).
Shoot it directly into my veins.
How will Harrison ever recover from this humiliation? My bet is on Twitter, while claiming he’s the only one fighting for Texas. 🤣
So, now that Harrison has not vacated the Speaker, he’s not allowed to use the back mic to ask stupid questions, and 50% of his Committee assignments have concluded for the session. He’s running out of time to get in front of a camera.
This is the Republican Party in 2025.
Ken Paxton is the frontrunner, Brian Harrison is the clown, and the rest are too scared or bought off to do anything about it. Meanwhile, Democrats are crossing the aisle to pass pro-corporate bills, criminalize homelessness, and vote for culture war garbage with a smile. It's a circus, and unfortunately, we're all stuck under the tent.
Texas doesn’t have to be like this. We don’t have to accept a legislature where the loudest buffoons get the spotlight, the crooks climb the ladder, and the people doing actual harm skate by because they’re boring about it. We can call it out. We can name names. And we can make sure voters know exactly who sold them out.
Whether it’s Paxton running for Senate, Harrison trying to be a martyr, or Democrats helping pass right-wing bills while pretending their hands were tied, none of them deserve a free pass.
The good news? They all desperately want your silence.
So don’t give it to them.
April 22: Early Voting Begins
April 29: Early Voting Ends
May 3: Local and County Elections
June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.
June 3: The beginning of the 2026 election season.
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Michelle, I have to be honest I haven’t had the time I need to digest all the great information I get from you. I’m working on the GOTV for BCDP. I do have a question: have you seen/read Thom Hartman’s opinion on why Democrats lost. It’s voter purge and suppression. It is enough to make me not vote! JK. I really couldn’t but I know many Latinos will. They don’t have the fight in them. I was raised by a Mother that would constantly say in Spanish “Things left alone God will take care of”, 🥲. God made me too stubborn for that. 😬
Anyway, any advice on what to do for next year’s primary. Like encouraging young people to not only protest but to also vote! I am discouraged. 🫤 Thank you so much for your time. 😁
I wonder if Harrison will primary Jake “Lay Z Boy” Ellzey. If he does boy will we have fun with CD 6. With quacks like Harrison and Paxton on the top of the ticket we can have major fun because they are a joke. I know I can flip many voters in our rural counties and get out the vote for Dems in Irving and Mansfield because we can talk about kitchen table issues while those guys are whack jobs who only care about themselves.