A Mess With Texas

Texas Republicans tried to prove they're not crazy, but the elephant in the room had something else to say.

HOUSTON, TEXAS — I’m at the Texas state Republican convention in Houston, and I gotta tell you something. These people are crazy.

America is at war, inflation is rising, health care is unaffordable, but they’re in here complaining about socialism, Sharia law, too many Muslims, too many people voting, and, apparently, too many states in the union.

Governor Greg Abbott rolled in here and told the crowd that they are the “patriots” standing between Texas and “Bernie Sanders socialism.” (They love calling everything socialism. But they love their Social Security checks even more.)

Then, I kid you not, an elephant came into the convention hall and pissed on the floor. What are we doing here?

Seventy percent of Houston is Black, Asian, or Hispanic. It has a Democratic mayor. Democratic members of Congress. And it voted for Kamala Harris. If Republicans hate “Democrat cities” so much, why do they come here for their conventions?

Texas Republicans have a scandal-plagued, impeached, and indicted nominee for US Senate. But they’re in here holding sessions like “Don’t Sharia My Texas,” which they say is the “playbook to win” elections. They want more restrictions on abortion. They’re trying to make it even harder to vote. And they have a plank in their platform that Texas has “the right to secede” from the union.