TEXAS REPUBLICANS SHOW HOW PARTISAN THEY REALLY ARE

 

                                 …The Texas Speaker of the House, Dade Phelan

 

Phelan has gone too far as a partisan Republican

 

It’s pretty amazing that the Texas House Speaker is going so far as to sign separate arrest warrants for each of the Texas House Democrats.  It’s only for those that broke the Texas House members quorum against voting on their ridiculous voting rights bill.

While the Democrat lawmakers would not be jailed if arrested, but they may be brought into the Capitol by law enforcement.  That is, once the warrants are delivered to the House sergeant-at-arms, yet to be served.

It is unclear exactly how many House Democrats have returned to Texas since 57 fled to Washington in mid-July.  It was an exodus that once again blocked passage of new voting restrictions. In Washington D.C., the Democrats that stayed continue to advocate for federal voting rights protections from the U.S. Senate.  Unfortunately, the senate is headed for their Summer break through August.

In anticipation of a possible Senate vote on a narrower elections-and-ethics bill, approximately 26 of the Texas Democrats have vowed to remain in Washington “for as long as Congress is working and making progress” on the issue of voting rights.  By staying in Washington D.C., they are keeping themselves outside the reach of Texas law enforcement.

Texas state Rep., Celia Israel (D) did return to her home in Austin, but not to the House floor. She said Tuesday night that she did not fear being arrested.  But she acknowledged that the state House chamber was in uncharted waters.  “I think they’re bluffing. Do they really want to arrest a woman of color?” Israel said in a phone interview. “They’re just thumping their chests.”

But by signing the arrest warrants, the Texas Speaker is showing he does mean business.

Asked whether she would be on the House floor Wednesday morning, Israel responded, “Hell no.” She said a legal team was working on the House Democrats’ case, with “punching and counterpunching happening by the hour.”

In a session that can last up to 30 days, Israel said, “every day that we don’t have to deal with these far-right policies is a good day.”

The quorum had been broken previously, but never in Texas have lawmakers had to be rounded up and taken to the state’s House or Senate chambers by law enforcement, Israel said.

“We’ve never been down this road before,” she said.

State Rep. Mary González, a Democrat who returned to the House floor, said she hopes Republicans do not move forward with an effort to arrest her colleagues.

“In recent times, the Texas House has had some difficulties,” she said in an interview Tuesday. “I’m hoping that we don’t get to a place where we do arrest warrants, because I think that’s another step in changing the culture of the Texas House. I’m not sure that’s a direction that would be most helpful in this moment in time.”

It is disgusting what the Republicans in the Red states are doing to restrict the voting rights of any Americans on the false basis of voter fraud.  Unfortunately, that’s what is happening mainly because the former U.S. President continues to falsely claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

I think it is amazing that due to the right wing TV networks and social media is continuing to keep 40% of the country believing the former president’s claims.

I only hope the Justice Department under Merrick Garland or the D.A. in the Southern District of New York, can find enough evidence that they can charge Donald Trump with a federal and/or a state crime.

That at least could keep the former president from even thinking of running for the U.S. presidency in 2024.

Copyright G. Ater 2021