Republicans, look what your party is doing
Texas seceding from the union. Repealing the Voting Rights Act. A veritable ban on bipartisanship. And, oh yes, continued cheerleading of the “Big Lie” contending that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
How many rank-and-file Texas Republicans out there — the folks who may pull the lever but don’t necessarily pull the strings — really feel this list reflects their priorities? Most people want government, and those whom we elect to represent us in it, to be sensible, functional and somewhat realistic in its goals.
Yet, these items were among the extreme positions approved as part of the platform of the Republican Party of Texas at its six-day convention last week.
And they weren’t even the half of it. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a four-term incumbent and senior member of the Senate GOP, was roundly booed for having the audacity to lead bipartisan negotiations for what would be the most meaningful, if minor, step toward gun reform in more than a decade.
Before uttering even a word, Cornyn was nearly shouted off the stage, derided as a “RINO” — Republican In Name Only — for working on a bill that most Americans support.
U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, once seen as a rising star in the party, was physically accosted at the convention by members of the Proud Boys.
One of Crenshaw’s assailants called him a “traitor” who should be hung for treason. Crenshaw’s apparent crime? Supporting sending military aid to Ukraine and having the gumption to call out “grifters” in his own party.
And Gov. Greg Abbott? He didn’t even enter the building, not surprising since so far he hasn’t been able to win the support of either of the primary opponents he trounced in March. His ephemeral presence for brief remarks on Thursday at a bar across the street from the convention center seemed to suggest he knew exactly the kind of reception he might have to contend with. In an earlier introductory speech, Matt Rinaldi, the Texas GOP chairman, notably praised other Republicans — including another presidential hopeful, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — but never once mentioned Abbott.
Forget Kumbaya moments and serious policy debate. This was a full-on circus.
Just how far would the party activists take the GOP of Texas off the rails? Well, we encourage you to carefully read the mission statement drafted at the convention. It reads much like a document from a dystopian alternate reality, calling on the Legislature to create a referendum on secession for November 2023.
As we noted, it wants a full repeal of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. It adopted language treating homosexuality as an “abnormal lifestyle choice” and rejects “normalizing” transgender individuals. And it endorses abolishing the Federal Reserve and for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations.
Some of these positions aren’t new. And state party conventions generally tend to swing to the extreme. But when those extremes threaten to take over, as they have in the GOP, it’s time for the rest of the party to apply some discipline, or at least to attempt a course correction.
That doesn’t seem to be happening.
Where are all the reasonable card-carrying Texas Republicans, who must be embarrassed by their party’s convention? How much of this kind of nonsense are they willing to tolerate?
Surely, there’s room in Texas for a Republican Party that disassociates itself from threats of violence against officeholders who stray from even the strictest party lines.
How can the party of George W. Bush and his father, for that matter, have changed so much in so few years?
We have to wonder whether Bush, the former governor and president who advocated for a bigger GOP tent and more moderate positions on issues such as immigration, would have made it out of the building unscathed.
There were just 8,000 people at the convention last week. They are but a tiny fraction of the nearly 6 million who cast ballots for Republican candidates in Texas in 2020.
We’re asking those Texas Republicans who want their party to truly reflect their views to reject the noise coming out of their party’s convention. Don’t just ignore it, counter it. And don’t just speak out, get involved.
And to those GOP candidates who seem to have so angered the fringes, we say good on you. Keep doing what you think is right. We wish you’d do it more often.
Some of that work, as in the guns compromise championed by Cornyn, could truly be lifesaving.
Hard-right activists and conspiracy theorists turned the convention into chaos.