They Don’t Love Texas They Love The Sound Of Their Own Voices

Republicans hijack a mental health bill to rant about genitals, again.

House Dean Senfronia Thompson (D-HD141) scolds Steve Toth (R-HD15) for lying and twisting the meaning of a bill.

There are only 12 days left of this legislative session. Thank goodness, because I am SO over these ridiculous Republicans. How ridiculous are they? Yesterday, a bill came up to expand and enhance the state’s loan repayment program for mental health professionals in Texas. And the Brainworm Brigade (led by Steve Toth, this time) turned it into a fight about children’s private parts.

Ridiculous and sick.

If you have to see it to believe it:

God forbid we do something useful in this state.

SB646 is a bill about loan repayment for mental health professionals, literally just a program to help get counselors into schools and rural clinics where they’re desperately needed. We’re talking about counties where there isn’t a single licensed psychiatrist, where kids in crisis have nowhere to turn, and where suicide is one of the leading causes of death for teens.

But instead of addressing that, Rep. Steve Toth and the Brainworm Brigade decided to hijack the conversation and turn it into a fever dream of “social transitioning,” cross-sex hormones, WPATH conspiracies, and the horror of school counselors doing their jobs.

Seriously. They spent almost an hour ranting about a bill that doesn’t say a single thing about gender identity, trying to amend it with unrelated junk, accusing school counselors of “preying on children,” and straight-up fearmongering about mental health professionals. One guy even called the entire counseling profession “brainwashed.”

It was vile. It was unhinged. And it was a deliberate effort to sabotage a bill designed to help kids not die.

There’s the campaign messaging you’ve all been waiting for.

Especially for the Democrats who plan to run for the State Legislature. While most legislators are focused on trying to make Texas a better place to live, Republicans are hyper-focused on children’s genitals.

The GOP frames Democrats standing up for the civil rights and liberties of all as “child mutilators” or “sex perverts.” If you’re running for office, there are tons of clips of Republicans trying to insert stupid culture war shit over children’s private parts into unrelated bills. This is far from the first time they’ve done this.

Meanwhile, Democrats held the line with facts and logic, patiently explaining, again and again, that this bill had nothing to do with gender identity. It was about helping kids.

But the Republicans didn’t care. Not about facts. Not about rural families. Not about suicidal teens. Just another opportunity to stir up fear and scapegoat vulnerable kids for political points.

It’s grotesque.

Texas Republicans have turned the Capitol into a theater of cruelty, where every child in crisis is just another prop for their hate-fueled culture war. They hear “mental health support” and immediately jump to genitalia. They hear “counselor shortage” and think “groomer conspiracy.” They can’t fathom a policy that exists to help people without twisting it into a weapon of fear.

They are obsessed. Obsessed with controlling kids’ bodies. Obsessed with policing identity. Obsessed with manufacturing moral panic so they don’t have to answer for the actual crises, like why rural counties don’t have basic health infrastructure, or why kids are dying by suicide.

It’s a deep, festering rot. These people don’t care who they hurt, as long as it keeps the donations rolling and the headlines hot.

Speaking of Brainworms and headlines….

Brian Harrison (R-HD10) gets called out AGAIN for his performative behavior.

There’s something about the way that Harrison talks that gets under my skin. He’s pompous and performative. And yesterday, he was at it again. After five straight minutes of Harrison saying, “Look at me, look at me,” Trey Martinez-Fischer took to the back mic and asked, “Are you done making your video?”

I went to Harrison’s Twitter to check. He’s posted this exact video ⬆️ to his Twitter feed 12 times in the last 24-hours. He doesn’t care about governing. It’s all about clicks and views. And the Brainworms standing behind him only feed his narcissistic behavior.

Under normal circumstances, I would tell you that Martinez-Fischer embarrassed Harrison, but I don’t think you can embarrass someone who has no shame.

The best thing that came out of his “Look at me” rant was this 20-second clip of him telling the truth about Texas and taxes:

Now, if I had a PAC, I would be playing this video ⬆️ in other states to discourage the carpetbaggers from moving here purely on Republican politics.

Because he’s right about this one thing, Texas has one of the highest tax burdens in America. Mostly, it’s because Republicans are stupid. They think, “We’ll cut government spending,” and underfund programs like education, without a clue in the world that cutting state spending leads to higher tax rates at the local level.

And let’s talk more about that “cut government spending” nonsense. Because it’s one of the biggest cons the Texas GOP has ever pulled. They scream about “fiscal responsibility,” slash state budgets, then act shocked when everyone’s property taxes go through the roof and basic services collapse.

When the state cuts education funding, local school districts are forced to raise your property taxes to keep the lights on and pay teachers. That’s not theory. That’s exactly what’s been happening for years. Texas now ranks near the bottom per-student spending, and your school taxes are through the roof.

When the state cuts healthcare programs, counties and hospital districts pick up the tab. That’s why your local taxes fund emergency room visits, mental health crises, and indigent care, because the state refuses to expand Medicaid or invest in community health. And guess what? That ends up costing more.

When they gut water infrastructure, local governments are stuck paying for boil notices, busted pipes, and flood recovery, after the damage is already done. And surprise, that’s more expensive than prevention.

When they shortchange public safety, cities must increase spending to cover the gaps. And then Republicans turn around and accuse them of being “radical leftists” for funding police and EMS… with the very dollars the state refused to provide.

And when they cut housing assistance or transportation funds, your local sales tax must stretch farther. Your bond elections. Your toll roads. Your debt.

So no, “cutting government spending” doesn’t lower your taxes. It just shifts the cost to the people who can least afford it, while billionaires get tax breaks and oil lobbyists.

And all of this is being done by people who have no clue what they’re doing.

Take this (one-minute) clip featuring Mike Olcott (R-HD60). He’s just slapping amendments onto bills with no clue what they do.

Or this (three-minute) clip featuring Carrie Isaac (R-HD73). She’s writing laws for people outside of Texas.

Are Republicans stupid?

Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps it’s all just cosplay for the cameras.

Maybe they know exactly what they’re doing when they get up there and spew nonsense about “groomers” and “social transitioning” and “radical counselors” while blocking mental health bills and posting clips of themselves to Twitter twelve times a day. Maybe they’re not dumb. Maybe they’re just deeply cynical.

Because here’s the truth: they don’t give a single solitary fuck about Texas.

Not about our kids. Not about our schools. Not about rural hospitals shutting down or families drowning in property taxes. Not about the power grid. Not about poisoned water or failing bridges or underpaid teachers.

They don’t care about governing. They care about performing for Fox News, for their donors, for the algorithm. They care about outrage clicks and fundraising emails. They care about being seen “fighting the woke left,” even if it means fighting mental health counselors and dead teens.

They are actors in a right-wing reality show. They show up to committee hearings with conspiracy theories and Facebook-ready soundbites. They slap each other on the back for blocking basic funding. They lie, spin, and posture like their job is to troll, not to lead.

And while they’re busy faking the dumbest culture war you’ve ever seen, real Texans are suffering.

So whether they’re actually stupid or just pretending to be, it doesn’t really matter because the result is the same. A government that is broken on purpose. A legislature that functions like a circus and a state that’s left to rot while its so-called “leaders” chase clout.

They don’t love Texas. They love the sound of their own voices.

• June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.

• June 3: The beginning of the 2026 election season.

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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