Texas politics is a sordid mess right now. The GOP has been in entrenched for quite some time, but there are Republicans and then there are MAGAs. And that has led to massive confusion in recent years and it doesn’t look like the confusion is going to get sorted out any time soon.
Greg Abbott is not a popular governor. He was booed when he got up to speak. He didn’t say anything, but he did mention Donald Trump’s name 27 times in a speech that last less than six minutes. The number 27 must have mystical value to Texas Republicans, we don’t know. We only know that that is the exact same number of times that Ken Paxton has claimed to have sued Joe Biden “in 27 months.” Intriguing statistic that, since Biden has only been in the Oval Office for 12.
Back to Abbott, the two clips below are Texans booing at the sound of his name and then him preventing the mob from getting wilder by intoning “Donald J. Trump” 27 times as though it was an incantation against evil — which it might be, since this is the cult we’re talking about. (Maybe MAGA children chant “Donnul Jay Twump” in their tiny voices when falling asleep. I wouldn’t know. In my day we hoped the boogey man wouldn’t get us, we didn’t call out his name.)
Greg Abbott getting booed when introduced at the Trump rally last night. pic.twitter.com/TWvjkMyJTh
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 30, 2022
Isn’t that an amazing reception? They must have gotten their utility bills.
Abbot was booed over "the Wall" & immigration. pic.twitter.com/CUL4CD8xCp
— Lo Sivad #ArrestTrumpNow #EndTheFilibusterNow (@losivad) January 30, 2022
Here is :45 seconds of Abbott’s six-minute speech. Watch him abase himself as he discards any of the dignity of his office and turns into a carny barker for the main event, Abbott is in trouble with Texans politically, obviously, but he’s hoping that if he just says the magic words over and over, they will act as a shield. I mean, you can’t hit hit him with a tomato when he’s reciting the Holy MAGA catechism, can you?
Greg Abbott realizes that the only way to keep the MAGA crowd from booing him is to just keep saying, ‘Donald J Trump’ over and over again. So he does. pic.twitter.com/wzQ3csB5cE
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 30, 2022
Then there’s this poor schmuck, who got neither VIP seat nor invitation to speak, Dan Crenshaw. He did it to himself. He dared to say out loud that he didn’t think Trump could unite the country, which is only stating the obvious, but you don’t do that and get honored by this crowd. And certainly not by the Dreamsickle Deity himself.
One Texas politician, whose district is just a few miles away, was completely ignored by the cult leader last night. No speaking slot. No VIP seat. Not mentioned at all when everyone else was getting a shout-out. Sad really. pic.twitter.com/2CB1zt32Wy
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 30, 2022
Republicans from other states were getting shout outs, while Crenshaw was ghosted, even though he was standing right there. Trump even did a shout out to Jason Ravnsborg, the attorney general of South Dakota who ran over a man last year on a dark road. He’s been asked to resign by Kristi Noem and he might get impeached by the state senate. That’s probably why Trump acknowledged him, a fellow impeachee, if there is such a word. Trump sees him as a soul mate.
Finally, if you’re wondering about the image at the top of this post, it was put there by anti-MAGAs. You have to admit it’s appropriate, since Trump did in fact call for “protests like we’ve never seen.” Forget about January 6, that was the audition. Trump wants to see some incredible performances now. And he just might. That’s the terrifying part, now that the panacea of pardon has been dangled.
Trump is making it very clear that his followers need to do anything, and he means anything, to get him back in office. And then he’ll protect them and pardon them. This is recruiting for a revolution on live television and who else would do it but Mr. Television himself?
I read on another site that the Mango Messiah stumbled through his speech, mispronouncing words and stringing together contradictory points.
Hopefully, this is a harbinger of his increased irrelevance. He only holds these rallies in small towns. The same people travel to attend. If enough of the attendees were Texans, Abbott getting booed may be a sign that his days as governor are numbered.
I feel no sympathy for Transformer wannabe Dan Crenshaw. Admitting there are grifters in the rethug party cannot be forgiven.
I read in the paper today, that Abbott leads O’Rourke by 11 percentage points in a recent poll.
The poll was done by UT Tyler and the Dallas Morning News. Despite everything, Abbott seems to still be popular in this state. I have no clue why. Admittedly, he has done everything to act like tRump.
Where the f is Merrick Garland? Where is Biden?
Strange as it may seem to you, they’re *doing their jobs*. They don’t feel that they need to be on TV all the time.
I am tempted to something I have never done before, vote in the republican party primary here in Texas. There are so many crazies running from the maga crowd that the more of them on the final ballot may actually give Democrats a chance to break through. I am thinking West for governor, Gohmert for AG. Miller for Ag, oh wait Miller is the incumbent. Never mind the crazies are already running the government.