It was quite the hate-filled weekend for Texas Republicans, who met in Houston for their first in-person since 2018. These guys were so mad they even booed their own guests. GOP Senator John Cornyn delivered boilerplate conservative remarks Friday, yet was roundly jeered because the crowd believes he’s coming for their guns. (He’s actually just promoting the most tepid gun safety legislation.)
\u201cUS Sen John Cornyn gets viciously booed during much of his speech here at the Republican Party of Texas Convention. Here\u2019s his closing remarks and the cascade of boos.\u201d— Jeremy Wallace (@Jeremy Wallace)
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Saturday, some far-right assholes confronted GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw at the convention. They shouted “Eyepatch McCain!” at him and said “Dan Crenshaw is a traitor! He needs to be hung for treason!” These extremists consider the former Navy SEAL who lost an eye in Afghanistan a “traitor” because he opposes Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Crenshaw later tweeted, “This is what happens when angry little boys like [right-wing social media activist Alex Stein] don’t grow up and can’t get girlfriends.”
But that was just the start of the GOP’s fascist fun and games. Earlier in the week, the party advanced a resolution declaring the 2020 presidential election a fraud and that Joe Biden was an illegitimate president. This is how Civil Wars begin.
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The roughly 5,100 convention delegates voted on a platform Saturday that mostly rejects modern democracy and human rights. It’s the manifesto of a failed state. There’s the standard opposition to any gun control laws. For instance, the platform argues that potential mass shooters between the ages of 18 to 22 are “most likely to need to defend themselves.” There’s no proof for this but they’re not done yet: The younguns might also need to buy guns quickly “in emergencies such as riots.” The inevitable race war is the ultimate impulse gun purchase environment.
The new platform calls for:
Requiring Texas students “to learn about the humanity of the preborn child,” including teaching that life begins at fertilization and requiring students to listen to live ultrasounds of gestating fetuses.
Amending the Texas Constitution to remove the Legislature’s power “to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime.”
Treating homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” language that was not included in the 2018 or 2020 party platforms.
Deeming gender identity disorder “a genuine and extremely rare mental health condition,” requiring official documents to adhere to “biological gender,” and allowing civil penalties and monetary compensation to “de-transitioners” who have received gender-affirming surgery, which the platform calls a form of medical malpractice.
Changing the U.S. Constitution to cement the number of Supreme Court justices at nine and repeal the 16th Amendment of 1913, which created the federal income tax.
Ensuring “freedom to travel” by opposing Biden’s Clean Energy Plan and “California-style, anti-driver policies,” including efforts to turn traffic lanes over for use by pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit.
Declaring “all businesses and jobs as essential and a fundamental right,” a response to COVID-19 mandates by Texas cities that required customers to wear masks and limited business hours.’
Abolishing the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank, and guaranteeing the right to use alternatives to cash, including cryptocurrencies.
Several Never Trump conservatives, who were Republicans until literally 2017, were seemingly shocked the GOP would smear queer Americans as “abnormal” or refuse admission to Log Cabin Republicans. The Washington Post furthered this lopsided narrative: “The rhetoric on gay rights in particular represents a reversal after years of growing comfort within the Republican Party with equal rights for gay Americans.” Mike Pence was the previous vice president!
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The GOP’s openly hostile treatment of gay and trans people is ghoulish but predictable. Thanks to gerrymandering and voter suppression, Republicans no longer fear political backlash and have no need to placate right-leaning MSNBC viewers. The only elections that matter are the primaries, where extremists fight it out over who’ll hurt marginalized groups the most.
According to Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, “This year, even the absolute worst case scenario has the GOP winning statewide, increasing its number of US House seats, boosting its Texas Senate majority by a seat, and maintaining the 83 seats it held in the 2021 Texas House.”
The Texas GOP platform also demands a full repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and proposes a referendum in the 2023 election for Texans to vote on whether the state should “reassert its status as an independent nation.” They’re definitely preparing for another Civil War. No wonder they want their 18-year-olds armed and ready.
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