At the Texas GOP Convention in June, Rep. Dan Crenshaw was harassed by members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing operatives, and his staff accosted, for showing support for Ukraine funding and for supporting expanded background checks for 18-21-year-olds in the wake of the Urvalde shooting. It's pretty bad when Crenshaw looks like a rational Republican, but it's an indication of how extreme Donald Trump has made the party.

To add insult to injury, Kevin McCarthy called out Twitter for a Marjorie Taylor Greene ban but certainly did not come to Crenshaw's defense against the right-wing Trump cultists flooding the GOP. The platform born from that convention shows just how extreme Texas has become, joining its sister extremist states of Florida and Arizona.

Remember the old Domino Theory of Communism? Well, it applies to fascism and the GOP these days. More states will follow suit in the coming months as we head toward the midterms in preparation for 2024, when the Trump cultists attempt to return their king to power.

Joining The Unhinged Fringe

The Texas GOP platform has catapulted the state into what we call the Unhinged Fringe. However, much as with the party itself, this promises to metastasize until it is fringe no more as more and more Trump-infected states follow suit.

The most disturbing position it takes is its assault on the democratic process:

“We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.”

It is clear that the fringe elements in the state party now dominate the thought processes. There are 14 positions listed as threats posed by the United Nations, a preoccupation with both "Drag Queen Story Hour" and "parental rights." It would be easy to laugh these off if they weren't becoming a preoccupation with the GOP as a whole, but they actually are.

When polled, 63% of Texans said that democracy isn't working well in the U.S. today, signaling that they are okay with a move to authoritarian rule as long as, of course, it applies to the right segments of undesirables living in Texas.

Other positions in the platform state "we oppose all efforts to validate transgender identity" (#144), "homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice" (#143), and that "America is 'one nation under God' founded on judeo/Christian principles" (#205).

There is also a list of to-dos to ensure election integrity, such the repeal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Apparently, there's the prevailing belief in Texas that giving anyone but white people the vote protects "election integrity." What it actually amounts to is voter suppression, ensuring that people of color, the poor, and other unsavory minorities, who do not vote Republican, do not get to vote at all. This nefarious practice is being used across other GOP-run states as well.

You can access the Texas GOP platform here or download a copy of it using the button in the far-left column.

There are two divergent views of Governor Abbott in Texas. For some far-right, Trump-loving conservatives, Abbott hasn't done enough to deliver on their so-called conservative values. He has moved right on abortion, guns, his attitude toward LGBTQ+ and transgender people, but that's apparently not enough for them, and they are seeking an even more virulent right winger to lead the state.

For others, Governor Abbott isn't just a failed governor, he's a danger to those he leads. The February 2021 grid failure in Texas resulted in 700 deaths, according to a report by BuzzFeed News. This is hundreds more than what was reported by the state. More disturbing is how some of those people died.

In a state that does not require carbon monoxide monitors in their homes, many resorted to heating up the house by running their cars in attached garages, causing scores of carbon monoxide deaths as reported by a ProPublica investigation.

Over the past ten years, politicians have blown three chances to fix the Texas power grid. Since Abbott has been governor since 2015, he's part of that failure as well.

Abbott's mishandling of the Coronavirus pandemic was another indicator of his danger to the public. As of this writing, there are 89,049 deaths in Texas from COVID-19. Yet, throughout the pandemic, he did what was most politically expedient for his reelection chances.

In his own best interest and in order to assuage his far-right constituents, Abbott played chicken with Texans' health, first by issuing an executive order banning mask mandates, then issuing another to prevent mandatory vaccines.

Launching the war on women and wading into the culture wars to please the far right

Greg Abbott did not wait for the SCOTUS ruling on abortion. In May of 2021, he signed into law a draconian bill banning abortion after six weeks, without exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Many women don't even know that they are pregnant at six weeks. It's hard to figure out if Abbott was ignorant about biological reality (explained thoroughly in this article) or if he just didn't care as long as his long-term political needs were taken care of. Moreover, provisions of this bill created abortion bounty hunters to enforce this law. Once the SCOTUS ruling was handed down, abortion became illegal in Texas based on a law that pre-dated Roe.

Abbott didn't stop there. Transgender youth became his next target for his culture. Although bills banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth had been previously considered, but not enough votes existed for it to pass.

As a stop-gap measure, Attorney General Ken Paxton was called upon to declare that such treatment constituted child abuse under existing law, using his power to "interpret" law until overruled by another branch. Therefore, in just four days, Abbott outlawed gender-affirming care for trans minors, and required everyone to report this care to the state or face criminal prosecution. Full-on fascism and authoritarian rule are in vogue in GOP-run states these days.

Thankfully, civility has prevailed, even if only temporarily. The Travis County District Court granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) from investigating families who are supporting their transgender children with medically necessary health care. We shall see where it goes from here.