“Nice Staffers you have there…It would be a Shame if Something bad Happened to Them”
Since Dems went to DC to air their grievance over voter suppression laws, Texas Trump Republicans are twisting themselves into knots trying to vilify them. There’s talk from everyone from Abbott down to Brisco Big Hat Cain talking about vacations, fundraising, “cushy private jets”, so on and so forth, but the one that takes the cake is Trump Republican strategist Corbin Casteel, who said, “[The Democrats are] walking out the door right when they have an opportunity to get their staff paid when they’ve been complaining about it. It’s a double-edged sword. They may be able to hold off on the voter integrity bill but they’re also screwing their own staff.” Casteel is referring to the legislative staff, who’s paychecks stop on August 31 due to Abbott’s pocket veto of funding as retaliation for not getting his top priority bill passed in regular session. That priority to fix the power grid, you ask? No, silly, the voter suppression bill that makes it harder to vote in that state that is already the hardest in the nation to vote.
So, Abbott and the GQP are resorting to the same mob tactics as Trump – break something and then threaten the victims who don’t cave in to their demands. Abbott could fix the problem he created with the stroke of a pen, and pressure will mount on him because he’s punishing Republican staffers with the same mob tactic. We all know, including the Republicans pushing The Big Lie, that the whole “election integrity” issue is bullshit. This entire issue is a desperate effort to cling to power.
So let’s be clear who the villains are – Abbott and his enablers in the statehouse, who are taking unprecedented actions to pander to their Trump base and keep people from voting. It’s anti-democratic, unAmerican, and most certainly unTexan. They must be stopped, and that will only happen at the federal level.
Now Abbott is threatening to arrest them as soon as they come back to Texas!
Can he force them to work for no pay?:)
1Con Von Trump has always been the thick of the mobsters for a very long time. That is how he made their management style work for him. Abbott has decided he must do the John Wayne version of the Don.
2I keep asking our illustrious governor why we need an election integrity bill when Texas went all out Republican in 2020 giving us another 6 years of Cornyn. What voter fraud? So if that is true when can we ask for a recount???
Guess what. No response.
So Abbutt wants to arrest the Democratic legislators when they return from DC. Good move. With them in jail, no Dems will be available to vote against the voter suppression law. But wait. Doesn’t that mean that there still will be no quorum? Good move, Abbutt.
3I’m in the middle of reading Forget the Alamo. Several people have been moved a few notches down from the top of the pedestals where they have been residing, for good reason. As we go forward and historians review Texas Governors, Abbott has got to be near the bottom. He wouldn’t sign a law to protect dogs, why would he care about Democrats!
4SOT – Red Queens… Hobbitses and Abbuttses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAEHqgvztT8
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eobuu-IexvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
( Way far back) Furious Trump demanded leaker who revealed he fled to his bunker during protests be executed: report
5July 13, 2021
Edit: According to Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender’s bombshell book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost report: A furious Donald Trump demanded that officials in his government find out who leaked the story that he fled to his bunker during the George Floyd protests in D.C. and wanted them tried for treason and then executed. ~ full article:
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https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/trump-leaker-executed/
Heard on the tv from a TX Dem Legislator now in D.C. that Abbutt is spouting horseflys when he threatens to arrest Democratic legislators. Thats a power he doesn’t have. Someone else does. Pretty much the same goes for all the othr horse biscuits he spouts.
6“They must be stopped, and that will only happen at the federal level.”
I get that point, but does that not also imply that TX Democrats and Independents are and will remain forever impuissant?
7G Foresight @7, The very major point that you’re apparently overlooking is that 2020/1 is, like 2010 was, a critical redistricting process.
8The Democrats and Obama were very insouciant about that 2010 election, and stupidly allowed the Republicans to slaughter them back then.
We have paid a terrible price ever since, what with the Rethugs able to strongly increase their gerrymandering efforts [because of largely controlling future elections in many places], thereby insuring that they consolidated and retain an undue amount of political power.
Sandridge @8 – Thanks, your analysis of 2010 is on target, as it is about the importance of redistricting 2020/1. The TX voting deck is stacked.
The question was more of a philosophical “wonder why” the Democratic and Independent minded citizens of TX continue allow that disfunction and not turn out to vote in huge numbers, meanwhile waiting for the Feds to save the day. But, as you note, the D & I turnout would indeed need to be *huge* as the gerrymandered TX districts tilt the scale to the R side by default.
Is there a TX equivalent to “Fired up, ready to go!” that helped bring out voters for Obama? (Though yes he fell short on keeping the pressure / momentum on in in 2010+.)
9G Foresight @9, You get it.
One of the main reasons that Democrats are forever behind the eight ball and constantly weak is that ‘the base’ only seems to get fired up when there is some major issue, or especially when some charismatic leader-type can whip them into a frenzy, like an Obama or O’Rourke. Not a ‘major’ election? Meh, gotta walk the dog or bake a pizza.
Contrast with every damned Rethug from the lowest MAGAot to the top fly, every stinkin’ one of ’em is fired up 24/7, and they vote fanatically and religiously in every f’in election.
We really need to have some highly effective and motivational Democrats to pull out all the stops for these next two super-critical elections. We’re on the verge of dropping into a fascist pit of vipers if the Democrats can’t get it done.
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