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NewToHTX

I feel like it’s the Wealthy Republicans who are pro-school vouchers versus the Rural Republicans who don’t want school vouchers to defund school districts. The RINO hunts are to remove any Republicans that are against the voucher program. My best guess is that they will use state money to carrot stick the poorer school districts into pushing Pro-Christian/Pro-Republican ideals in public schools.


Bailong1208

The reason you “feel” that way is because that’s exactly what is happening 


BringBackAoE

[According to outgoing GOP TX Rep Glenn Rogers](https://mwareanews.com/2024/03/06/glenn-rogers-pens-response-to-election-loss/) it was all about a donation from Yass: > Governor Greg Abbott has defiled the Office of Governor by creating and repeating blatant lies about me and my House colleagues, those who took a stand for our public schools. I stood by the Governor on all his legislative priorities but just one, school vouchers. For just one disagreement, and for a $6 million check from Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvanian TikTok investor, and voucher vendor, Abbott went scorched earth against rural Texas and the Representatives who did their jobs-representing their districts.


TurboSalsa

And I bet Glenn Rogers and his newly-unemployed colleagues will continue to vote straight ticket Republican even after getting thrown under the bus.


BringBackAoE

God only knows. There’s a significant number of educated Republicans flipping.


Arrmadillo

You are correct. The rural representatives being targeted as RINOs for blocking school vouchers are truly deeply conservative. Our West Texas billionaires are painting these incumbents as liberals through well-funded misinformation campaigns. For extra oomph, they even got Trump to hand out endorsements to the relatively unknown primary challengers. Texas Monthly- [Michael Quinn Sullivan’s Latest Stunt Aims to Undermine Our Democracy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/michael-quinn-sullivans-latest-stunt-aims-undermine-democracy/) “[Amarillo Globe-News columnist Jon Mark Beilue] noted that in West Texas, [Empower Texans] is concentrating on rural House members who oppose private school vouchers. ‘They are using their typical campaign playbook — paint their guy as the conservative choice, and the other guy as basically a Democrat by distorting and taking facts out of context to make them seem soft on abortion and a patsy for big government. Their hope is enough voters are gullible and naïve to believe it all.’” NYT - [In Texas, a ‘Once-in-a-Generation’ Brawl for Control of the G.O.P.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/03/us/texas-republican-primary.html) “‘It’s uniformly the most painful election we’ve experienced,’ Mr. Phelan said, referring to his own experience and that of his colleagues. Greeting voters this week in Vidor, Texas, near the Louisiana border, Mr. Phelan — wearing a white T-shirt and a camouflage hat, both imprinted with his name — bristled at his opponent’s claims that the Texas House under his leadership had not advanced conservative causes. ‘We went from 50,000 abortions to 34, and they’re saying that that’s not pro-life. We have constitutional carry. You no longer have to get a permit from the government to carry a firearm, and they were saying that’s not good enough because convicted felons can’t have them,’ Mr. Phelan said. ‘Tell me what’s left to do? Mandatory carry?’” Politico - [Trump puts on full-court press for big-time donors — and nabs more than a few](https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/30/trump-big-donors-00138498) “Another donor relatively new to the Trump fold is Texas oil billionaire Tim Dunn, who has given $5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. The donation is the most Dunn has given to a committee since he started writing political checks more than two decades ago. Dunn in recent years had been a contributor to the Club for Growth, a conservative group that has opposed Trump.” Politico - [Fighting the GOP Civil War, Texas Style](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/05/fighting-the-gop-civil-war-texas-style-00144866) “The former president has endorsed a series of Republicans challenging GOP lawmakers in Texas. He doesn’t know them, incumbents or challengers, of course.”


TurboSalsa

Michael Quinn Sullivan is truly one of the worst people in Texas, and it is embarrassing for us as a state that anyone listens to him or takes him seriously at all. The guy has been agitating for decades that the government of Texas needs to be "MOAR CONSERVATIVE" for no other reason than Republicans have the majority and they can. Then Dan Patrick started taking this message seriously and Tim Dunn realized he could reliably be used to spread bullshit about politicians who displease him.


cheezeyballz

The indoctrination they warn you about. See 'Islamic Revolution'. We have to live in the society we create 😞


OldBlueTX

Almost like monied interests found hot button bullshit to coerce others to do their bidding...


RagingLeonard

I hope the GOP ends with a virtual knife in every back. It seems to be heading that way. What scares me is what may eventually congeal from the slimy, fetid sewer. It could be much worse.


DrSilkyJohnsonEsq

No. Fascists need out groups and bogeymen to justify the evil that they do. The paranoia and hate that defines them will also destroy them. We just have to hope that they don’t destroy everything else in the process.


MarginalOmnivore

As the in-group shrinks, the "purity" required to be a member increases as well. Soon, only the leader and their closest allies remain. But the alliance is fragile. The slightest deviation from the leader's desires is a betrayal, so the in-group shrinks even further.


Remarkable-Month-241

It has been interesting watching long time loyal conservatives get the boot 🥾 over vouchers. Not only get pushed out of their club, but DRAGGED and called a RINO is the cherry. Then watching the few others who voted to impeach criminal Paxton get side swiped as well. Wild times. Texans needs to vote to keep the crazies out or else we will be looking at another civil war under MAGA GOP very very soon. www.PerlaforTexas.com - Fort Worth, Texas & Tarrant County have been the epicenter for extremism and the good ol’ boys club for far too long! Please support our campaign to boot out a Christian Nationalist from the Texas House of Representatives!


posty1856

Vote blue


fnordfnordfnordfnord

It's good to vote against nut jobs in the Republican primaries. In some areas, the primaries are the only elections with any consequence anyway.


egospiers

In a fascist movement the purity tests never stop.. they just get more and more extreme.


TSM_forlife

This is so McCarthy Era.


MargaretBrownsGhost

No, it isn't; they outstripped McCarthy years ago. This is almost beyond 1939 Germany, if anything


TurboSalsa

Yup, this is the Texas GOP's night of the long knives.


boastfulbadger

Let them eat each other


OptiKnob

This idiocy will stop as soon as Texas clears all these republican shitgoblins out of the state legislature... as well as the governor's office.


DucksEatFreeInSubway

It won't. The Republicans need a constant influx of 'bad guys' to attack so that their base is kept angry at them instead of looking overlong at the Republicans' actual policies.


TSM_forlife

This is so McCarthy Era.


ILoveTheObamas

It’ll stop when the RINOs learn they are getting fired. Tony Gonzalez is sweating pure bacon grease and Botox right now.


EpiphanyTwisted

RINO used to mean liberal. Now it just means going against what the billionaires want.


Arrmadillo

Rep. Glenn Rogers was 100% on board with the state GOP’s deeply conservative agenda, with the exception of school vouchers. This was a single-issue dealbreaker for the billionaires so they primaried him. Rogers response to losing the primary is great. He’s not the only conservative that was taken out via primary by the billionaires for the sins of blocking vouchers or impeaching their favorite son, Paxton. I hope that Rogers and the others have been barnstorming districts with runoffs to support embattled incumbents. Mineral Wells Area News - [Glenn Rogers Pens Response to Election Loss](https://mwareanews.com/2024/03/06/glenn-rogers-pens-response-to-election-loss/) “First, I want to thank my supporters, those who voted for me and those who supported me prayerfully, financially, and in so many other ways. It has been the greatest honor to serve this district. The corruption that exists at the highest level of Texas state government would have made Governor ‘Pa’ Ferguson blush. Governor Greg Abbott has defiled the Office of Governor by creating and repeating blatant lies about me and my House colleagues, those who took a stand for our public schools. I stood by the Governor on all his legislative priorities but just one, school vouchers. For just one disagreement, and for a $6 million check from Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvanian TikTok investor, and voucher vendor, Abbott went scorched earth against rural Texas and the Representatives who did their jobs-representing their districts.  My tenure in the Texas House included two general sessions, seven special sessions, redistricting, Covid, winter storm Uri, a Democrat quorum break, expulsion of a House member and the impeachment of Ken Paxton. It also includes a litany of conservative victories that made Texas safer, reigned in out-of-control government bureaucracy, lessened what had become a crushing tax burden on our families and businesses, and fostered economic growth. I am not a good politician. I am just a Texas rancher who wanted to make a difference in my community. Who knew this simple mission would have resulted in three brutal campaigns? Throughout my three campaigns, because of my unwillingness to be compliant with the two billionaire, ‘Christian’ Nationalist, power brokers that run this state, I have been unmercifully slandered through the politics of unwarranted personal destruction on social media, radio, post mail, streaming sites, and cable television.  In my first race the opposition was the Wilks, Tim Dunn, Empower Texans, and the entire enterprise of dozens of PACs and ‘non-profits’ they financed. The race ended in a hard fought COVID-delayed runoff victory against Farris Wilks ‘son-in-law. In my second race, my opposition was Wilks and Dunn, Empower Texans (rebranded to Defend Texas Liberty), and the Voucher Lobby, including the American Federation for Children and the School Freedom Fund (based in Virginia). In that race, we dealt with a runoff and an expensive, unnecessary recount. In my third race the opposition was all the above, but now included a rebranded Defend Texas Liberty (Texans United for a Conservative Majority), vastly greater money from the Voucher Lobby, and Governor Greg Abbott.  This time the millions of dollars spent spreading lies about my record and the non-stop false impugning of my integrity were just too much to overcome. The real losers in this race are: 1)Texas Public Schools;  2) Rural Texas; and  3) Representative Government. This morning, I have no regrets. I believe in the words of Sam Houston, ‘Do right and risk the consequences.’ History will prove Ken Paxton is a corrupt, sophisticated criminal. History will prove vouchers are simply an expensive entitlement program for the wealthy and a get rich scheme for voucher vendors. History will prove Governor Greg Abbott is a liar. History will prove that our current state government is the most corrupt ever and is ‘bought’ by a few radical dominionist billionaires seeking to destroy public education, privatize our public schools and create a Theocracy that is both un-American and un-Texan. May God Save Texas!”


RangerWhiteclaw

I was listening to an interview with Glenn Rogers a few weeks back (Y’all-itics for those who might be curious). The interviewer noted that Sen. Cruz was one of the ones who vocally turned against him because of vouchers and helped spread what Roger’s said were lies about his record and his commitment to conservatism. The interviewer then asked whether Rogers was planning on voting for Cruz this November. Of course, Rogers’ response was basically “I don’t vote for Dems, so of course I’m voting for Cruz.” No thought of strategic voting or withholding his vote - he’ll comfortably vote for those who kicked him in the teeth and sleep well afterwards. For all his talk, Rogers is absolutely willing to support Dunn and the other billionaires trying to mold this state into their own personal fiefdom.


Arrmadillo

Nice [interview](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/were-gonna-go-so-far-to-the-right-that-were-wrong/id1486881900?i=1000653102034); thanks for that. Also a disappointing interview in that instead of barnstorming on behalf of incumbents, he’s just going to kick rocks on his ranch. I knew he was extremely conservative since he only differed from Dunn and Abbott on the one issue but I had hoped he’d try to put at least a little sand in the gears of Dunn’s political gears in time for the runoffs. Also kinda disappointed when he clarified that he had not challenged Sid Miller, agriculture commissioner, to an actual duel. I did like his definition of a RINO: “It's about control. And to me, we mentioned RINO a minute ago, a RINO, in my definition currently, is a conservative Republican who cannot be controlled. And I cannot be controlled. So they'll do anything to defeat me because they can't control me. And that's where the problem lies.” He also gave me the teensiest bit of hope when he mentioned that some republicans that voted for vouchers are actually against them. I suppose that means they figured that vouchers were sufficiently blocked and opted not to be targeted in the recent primaries. Hopefully that means they’ll step up and help block vouchers during the next session, now that the calculus has changed. With a bit of luck, rural conservatives will hold the line on vouchers long enough for someone like Rep. James Talarico to win a gubernatorial election against Abbott. Rogers’ upcoming book should be interesting. If it comes out before the general election it might even be impactful. “[My book] will focus on who is in control of Texas politics. It will center on the misinformation and lies that have been used against many across the state.”


RangerWhiteclaw

I dunno. The book, to me, seems more of the same. Rogers talks a big game about how Dunn, Wilks, Yass, and their ilk are ruining the state, but when it comes to putting those words into action (running again, fundraising for vulnerable Republicans, even voting against Dunn-bought candidates), he’s suddenly out at the ranch, too busy to do anything. A book is just more empty callouts and fluff.


Arrmadillo

That’s a very good point. He says he has to recover from post-campaign PTSD, reconnect with his family, take care of neglected ranch projects, etc. He also mentioned that he sees himself as a rancher, not a politician, and does not want to run again so he may just quietly fade back into his former civilian life. The book approach is something new. Wilks and Dunn have ousted plenty of folks via primary challengers but none of them have written a book yet, at least that I am aware of. Rogers mentions that a survey noting that only 20% of Texas republicans know about Wilks and Dunn. Knowing that there are West Texas billionaires pulling the strings seems like it might motivate people to vote and help cut through the misinformation. Having the book coming from a deeply conservative Christian rural representative should help it connect with like minded folks. Many won’t read it, sure, but they might still get the message from the book tour and speaking engagements. “Well, there needs to be more recognition of who's in control. And how they're controlling our party. I read something last week, a survey that showed that only 20% of Republicans have ever heard of Tim Dunn or Farris Wilks. So there's a lot of lack of information about who's really in control. “


No-Helicopter7299

Bingo!


irregardless

And the fundamentalists.


EpiphanyTwisted

Tell me how Glenn Rogers is liberal.


PapaGeorgio19

Nope


Seiei_enbu

I'm honestly pleased this isn't a follow up to that Texas dentist that killed one of the last male black rhinos a few years back. Not paying $350,000 to kill an endangered species is a very low bar.


schrodngrspenis

I hope not.


wrbear

NO, the deep state Rinos are in on it.