I have been mulling over the Ken Paxton situation in Texas, ever since I read this article. He has been impeached, the argument being that he has committed various crimes, which is undoubtedly true.
However, we are long past the time when Republicans care about criminal behavior by their fellow Republicans. The standard response is to portray criminal Republicans as victims of a leftist press or some other fictional bogeyman. Paxton himself has been under criminal indictment for years. It is a mystery to me why he had not gone to trial in all that time, but he hasn’t. Moreover, for all of that time until recently there has been no move to impeach him, and he has been renominated and reelected.
The article to which I’ve linked was written just before the impeachment process came to fruition. Paxton was calling for the resignation of the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, claiming that he had been drunk while presiding over a session of the House. Paxton hadn’t been impeached, but he no doubt knew it was coming.
Again, we must ponder: since Republicans don’t mind if their fellow Republicans engage in criminal conduct, precisely what do the vast majority of Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives have against Paxton. I’m not sure, but it brings to mind the old saw about revolutions eventually eating their own. You know, Robespierre and all that. The Republican Party has been taken over by a cult, and there are no doubt some within it that are not terribly happy about that. Moreover, cultists tend to fight among themselves, for deviations from the one true way are not tolerated, and the definition of the one true way tends to become a bone of contention. I think it’s entirely possible, no make that probable, that we’ll be seeing a lot more internecine fighting within the Republican ranks, especially if Trump is consigned to a position in which he must attack other Republicans, as he is currently doing with DeSantis.
Maybe I’m looking too much on the bright side, but I’m betting we’ll be seeing more of this sort of thing.
Post a Comment