The Fascist State Of Texas
When dissent is outlawed, resistance is the only option.
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According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of fascism is a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control, and being extremely proud of the country and race, in which political opposition is not allowed.
While we can talk about how the modern-day Republican Party, specifically Texas Republicans, check all of those boxes, today we’re going to focus on how political opposition isn’t allowed under fascism and the leaps and bounds Republicans have gone to eliminate political opposition in Texas.
The militarization of border communities and the years-long attacks on education have all been part of Republicans’ long-term strategies to eliminate political opposition, but the voter suppresion tactics, closing the polling places in Black and brown neighborhoods, sending armed militia to intimidate elderly people of color from voting, those have been some of the most effective ways they’ve eliminated political opposition, through fear.
How else do you explain how Jefferson County has a 33% Black population, but 58% voter turnout in 2024? Or how Jim Hogg County has a 93% Hispanic population, but only a 44% turnout? Yet, Roberts County, which is 92% non-Hispanic white, saw an 80% voter turnout in 2024.
You don’t think that’s intentional? You don’t think that’s part of the system of oppression Republicans have set up over the last four years?
Do Democrats shoulder some of that blame? Sure, we had shitty leadership that held on way too long. Kendall, if you’re listening, we expect the world from you. But, mostly it’s because of decades of Republican control and voter suppression, to eliminate political opposition to end up with a government, in a state where non-Hispanic whites are a minority, that looks like this:
And that’s precisely what these gerrymandered maps are about, and that explains Republicans’ reactions to Democrats’ quorum break.
Texas is mostly a non-voting state, in my opinion, more due to apathy than anything else, but consequently, as a result of decades of Republicans working tirelessly to eliminate their political opposition. And if you think it began when they took control in 2001, I’m sorry to inform you that it started long before that.
Texas is ground zero for American fascism. It started with the Moral Majority. And it started here, in Texas, in 1979. One of the leading architects for the Moral Majority was Paul Weyrich, who also co-founded the Heritage Foundation and ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).
Of course, now you have Texas Republicans in both the Senate and the House who are proud of their ties to the Heritage Foundation and ALEC, including the Heritage Foundation’s Texas offshoot, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). These legislators proudly appear at their events or brag about the awards from these authoritarian think tanks. These groups coordinate and fund anti-democratic, racially regressive, fascist policy at scale.
Over the last several years, we’ve seen a slew of plainly fascist laws enacted in Texas:
2021: Suppression of voting access. Notably, this was the last time Democrats broke quorum. Republican laws suppressed political opposition through fear, punishing access to power.
2021: Abortion bounty law. State control of bodies. Mass surveillance. Deputizing repression. Evasion of constitutional limits. This was textbook fascism.
2021: Operation Lone Star. Having a militarized police state is fascist. So is racial hierarchy and disregarding federal laws.
2023: Banning DEI in higher education. Suppressing intellectual dissent is so fascist that even Hitler did it, too. Erasing minority history? Controlling education?
I could go on. The point is that fascism was born, bred, and beta-tested in Texas. Do you want to know what fascism looks like in 2025?
It looks like Greg Abbott.
It looks like Dan Patrick.
It looks like Ken Paxton.
It looks like a GOP Redistricting Committee made up entirely of rural white Republicans drawing maps for cities they’ve never even stepped foot in.
And it looks like they’re threatening to arrest Democrats for not being complicit in the destruction of their own communities.
Because we have to understand what fascism has done to Texas.
The most recent example is the July 4th floods, when 135 people lost their lives, because of the failures of the Republican state and county governments.
In a state where one out of five children is hungry, the Governor vetoes the school lunch program, even though the money comes from the federal government.
And how many hundreds died under Winter Storm Uri? And how many hundreds have been killed every time our grid went down since in extreme weather conditions, all so Republicans’ oil buddies can pull in more profit?
And did you know that Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world? (It’s gone up since that report.) It’s safer to have a baby in many third-world countries than it is in Texas, especially if you’re Black or Hispanic, especially if you’re poor.
But Republicans want to make extra sure that teenagers can’t read books about their bodies or consent. And most of Texas still teaches abstinence-only education. Yet, Texas leads the nation in teenage occurrences of chlamydia and gonorrhea.
About 1,000 people a year in Texas die because they don’t have access to healthcare (that report was from 2019. I’m sure it’s gone up, considering all of the rural healthcare closures). Of all the states, Texas is last for access to healthcare, childhood healthcare, childhood obesity, access to mental health, childhood mental health, childhood dental health, and senior mental health.
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Needless to say, living under fascism is hardest for the least among us.
And now, we come back to the maps.
These mid-decade gerrymandered maps weren’t just political maneuvering. They were a direct attack on the very idea of representative government. Over 10,000 Texans submitted written testimony against them. Thousands more showed up in person, waited for hours, and poured their stories into that microphone. Black and brown Texans. Poor Texans. Young Texans. Urban Texans. All pleading with the Republican majority, “Do not erase us.”
And who was in favor? A few dozen. Maybe a 1% total, including online submissions. But the GOP didn’t care. They planned to pass the maps regardless of what Texans said. Because that’s how fascism works. Not through consensus, but through brute force. No amendments. No debate. No compromise.
If Democrats had stayed in the chamber, those maps would’ve passed today. The Republicans would’ve had a quorum. They would’ve allowed no dissent. No floor debate. Just a rubber stamp. Just state-sponsored silencing of political opposition, again.
But they didn’t stay.
Fifty-seven House Democrats broke quorum today.
And in doing so, they didn’t just delay a vote. They made a choice. They chose to disrupt the machinery of fascism. They did what anti-fascists do by denying legitimacy to an illegitimate process.
They refused to let a gerrymandered minority government disenfranchise the majority in silence. They knew that showing up would have made them complicit. And so they said no.
In this moment, in this era, that’s what anti-fascism looks like.
It doesn’t always look like protest signs and street marches. Sometimes it looks like 57 exhausted legislators refusing to be props in the GOP’s play.
And for that, they deserve our support. Because if we’re going to survive this version of Texas, we need to stand behind anyone brave enough to say, “Not in my name. Not on my watch.”
And the six House Democrats who stayed behind?
Terry Canales (HD40)
Oscar Longoria (HD35)
Armando Martinez (HD39)
Joe Moody (HD78)
Sergio Muñoz (HD36)
Richard Raymond (HD42)
The expectation is that we go all Jerry Maguire on these six Democrats. And maybe that’s the result, but I want to hear their excuses first. Do they have a spouse in the hospital? A dying parent? Were they blackmailed? Personally threatened? Let’s give them a chance to explain before we automatically accuse them of capitulating to fascism.
But if their rationale turns out to be that they stayed to work with the fascists who were planning on taking our rights, we need to remind them what Madeleine Albright said in Fascism: A Warning.
“Appeasement only emboldens the bullies.”
And the Senate?
Y’all will be happy to hear this. Today, I saw Senator Johnson and Menendez in an Instagram video. They were on an airplane headed to be with House Democrats in Chicago. I also saw Senators Eckhardt and West in pictures with Democrats on social media in Chicago or Albany (I didn’t save them, and now I’ve forgotten).
The Senate Chamber convened today, and a Senate Committee met, but I didn’t see any Democrats. Not one. That doesn’t necessarily mean all 11 Senate Democrats have broken quorum. The Senate stood in recess on Friday, gaveled in today for three minutes, and then stood in recess again, the video/camera angle never panned out to the full Senate.
Classic stall tactic, and Dan Patrick could be hiding whether they have a quorum or not. That would make every Democrat in Texas happy if every Senate Democrat were gone. I’ll keep trying to figure it out. But if the Senate doesn’t have a quorum, they can’t go forward with debates, with votes, with committees, with anything.
Fascists criminalize dissent.
Not only has Greg Abbott issued arrest civil warrants for the missing Democrats (not enforceable outside of Texas), but he’s also directed the Texas Rangers to criminally investigate Democratic lawmakers for exercising a peaceful, legal political tactic of breaking quorum to stop a fascist redistricting plan. He’s threatening them with felony bribery charges simply for accepting donations while standing up to an illegitimate power grab.
This isn’t about ethics. It’s about obedience. This is what fascism looks like in practice. Criminalizing political dissent, weaponizing law enforcement against your opponents, and using state power to send a message to comply or else.
Greg Abbott is a fascist. And if we don’t start saying it out loud, he’ll keep proving it every damn day.
If you’re mad, good. Stay mad. Then get loud. Because this moment demands more than outrage. It demands resistance. And if you want to be anti-fascist, do what those Texas Democrats did. Refuse to be complicit.
August 23: Last day of special session
November 4: Constitutional/TX18/SD09 Election
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
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Did you put Abbott in Santa Anna's uniform in front of the Alamo? Good job.
I notice how Trump is silent while Abbott spearheads the fascism. Trump's a coward. He's letting Abbott take the fall if Texas Democrats beat him. Trump is pretty good at realizing when he's vulnerable. When we win, Trump will say he doesn't know Abbott. Maybe he brought him coffee once.
Yuck--That pic of everyone making a heart sign with their hands. Surprised Lois Kolkhorst wasn't front and center. What is Larry Taylor doing there?