No, the fiercest rivalry in Texas politics is the one between the staunchest conservative Republicans and the GOP lawmakers who dare lean a bit towards the center. After Saturday’s complete acquittal of Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, that culture-war-within-a-culture-war is sure to grow more heated. Paxton himself, after the Texas House elected to impeach him in May by a lopsided vote of 121-23, called out his opponents.
“Texas voters now know that Speaker [Dade] Phelan and the corrupt politicians he controls are more focused on political retribution against conservatives than the welfare of the people,” Paxton said in a statement released on the Friday before Memorial Day. Immediately following his acquittal, his thoughts haven't changed much from May, but this time, for some reason, he brought the current president into it.
"The sham impeachment coordinated by the Biden administration with liberal House Speaker Dade Phelan and his kangaroo court has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, disrupted the work of the Office of Attorney General and left a dark and permanent stain on the Texas House," Paxton said in the Saturday statement.
Make no mistake about it, the AG wasn’t aiming his ire at the woefully outnumbered Democratic Representatives, but at those who ostensibly share the same designation on their voter register cards as he does. If anything, the second-most bitter rivalry, especially now, is between the state House and Senate, especially after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, only moments after Paxton’s acquittal, blasted the House for setting the impeachment proceedings into motion in the first place.
So, for now, Democrats in Texas are like the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters — they play on the same court, but few really expect them to win, or to be particularly competitive for that matter.
A major hint pointing to the upcoming in-party battle was provided during the trial on a few occasions. Repeatedly, witnesses were asked if they are “a RINO,” meaning, did they consider themselves to be “Republicans in name only.” That’s part of the mental gymnastics Paxton and his supporters throughout the Texas government have to perform. Democrats are nowhere near strong enough in the state to be a threat to someone as powerful as Paxton. His only play is to sling mud just a little to his left, not all the way.
“The results are a travesty." – Texas Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas.
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Texas Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Democrat from Dallas, was one of the jurors. Throughout the trial, Johnson was visible to viewers as he sat just behind whichever attorney was questioning a witness. He didn't like what he saw from his vantage point, however, and also took issue with the party in-fighting taking place.
“The results are a travesty. The Office of the Attorney General has been removed from the boundaries of political ethics,” Johnsons noted in a statement released on Saturday. “The House demonstrated clearly and unequivocally that Paxton used the office as his own private law firm for private purposes.
“The defense tried the case with the aim not of persuading members of the court of Paxton’s innocence, but of convincing far right Republican primary voters that their ideological world was threatened by conviction, so that they, in turn, would threaten the political careers of the Republican members of the Senate.”
Jonathan Strickland, the former state rep from Tarrant County who made his name thanks to far-right-wing, cartoonish antics, was among the first on X (formerly Twitter) to emphasize the line that had already been drawn in the sand, stating, “Today the campaign to completely rid Texas of RINOs begins.”
The once-powerful, and still very Republican, Bush family was also the target of Paxton's defense team during the trial. Seeking to have the family of former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and former Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush serve as a moderate, left-leaning avatar, Paxton built a straw man that his followers have been all too happy to tear down.
Charlie Kirk, the Pride flag-hating leader of conservative group Turning Point USA, posted, "The Bush regime ends today," to X, as if a member of the Bush family had been one of the House managers or prosecution attorneys.
Republican state Rep. Steve Toth, one of the 23 House members who voted against impeaching Paxton in May, also took a virtual victory lap on Saturday after calling for Phelan to resign, posting to his X timeline, “Shame on the Texas House and Speaker Dade Phelan’s attempt to undermine the will of Texas voters.”
And surely you didn’t think Paxton’s favorite president was going to miss out on the RINO hunting did you? On Saturday, Donald Trump congratulated Paxton, who led lawsuits seeking to overturn the 2020 election Trump lost to Joe Biden, writing on his Truth Social account, “It is time that Speaker Dade Phelan resign after pushing this disgraceful sham.”
The Lone Star GOP civil war may not have just begun, but is clearly far from over. Even the New York Times has taken note of the familial feud, opening a recent article by summarizing what Texas voters have to look forward to. Unsurprisingly, it's what has been happening for years, only now it’s far more out in the open.
“The impeachment trial of Ken Paxton that ended in his acquittal on Saturday was about more than the fate of the Texas attorney general,” the Times wrote. “It was also the most dramatic flashpoint in a yearslong struggle among Republican leaders in the Legislature over control of the party and the future direction of the state.”
