The ambush, impeachment, and removal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was a shocking and undemocratic assault on the will of Texas voters. Paxton won reelection by 800,000 votes last November, yet merely one legislative chamber of Texas was able to override those votes with a scheme hatched in secret and sprung as a last-minute surprise. Imagine if Congress could force the removal of a president by secretly plotting an impeachment, and suddenly executing it a few days later without a single public hearing. The American people would not stand for what the New York Times called “unexpected . . . as of a week ago there was little public indication that an impeachment could be imminent.”
Who really plotted this unprecedented theft from voters remains a closely guarded secret. Donald Trump led the way by Truthing his opposition. Trump wrote, “Hopefully Republicans in the Texas House will agree that this is a very unfair process that should not be allowed to happen or proceed—I will fight you if it does.” While Trump was quick to speak, other so-called conservatives remained silent.
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who was elected by pandering to Democrats, “kept this under wraps until the end, there wasn’t a lot of time for Paxton’s defenders to react,” observes Rice University political scientist Mark Jones. It was obviously improper to deprive the voters of an elected official without first informing the public and hearing from them. As pointed out during the brief debate on the Texas House floor, there was no justification for concealing the plot to remove Paxton from office until shortly prior to the vote. Paxton has been the leader in litigating against open borders and other unlawful policies of the Biden administration, and two months ago he opened an official investigation of Pfizer over its Covid-19 vaccine.
As it turns out, the Swamp can’t just be found in Washington, D.C. Swampy tactics like those that enabled Ken Paxton’s ouster are employed at even the reddest of statehouses. Preventing voters from having a voice is not statesmanship; it is cowardice. The RINOs in the Lone Star State should be treated as such.
