{"id":172721,"date":"2026-02-20T10:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172721\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T10:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:32:12","slug":"driving-the-clown-car-off-the-cliff-with-texas-gop-attorney-general-hopefuls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172721\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving the clown car off the cliff with Texas\u2019 GOP attorney general hopefuls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"It'sIt\u2019s a clown car Republican primary when it comes to the Texas AG\u2019s office. Credit: Left four: Courtesy Photos \/ Right: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark. <\/p>\n

If Texas Republicans wanted to reassure the public that the attorney general\u2019s office might someday return to the boring, adult work of enforcing the law for everyone, they spectacularly failed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The GOP contenders to replace outgoing scandal magnet Ken Paxton have clambered into a ratting, shuddering, a-hooga-ing clown car of a primary where the reddest MAGA-branded nose wins and the Constitution gets shredded under the wheels.<\/p>\n

Take Texas Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, whose record suggests he\u2019s less interested in being Texas\u2019 top lawyer than its top troll. This, after all, is the guy who delighted in sponsoring Texas\u2019 \u201cbathroom bill\u201d and declared his intent to put \u201cGod back in government.\u201d While he does hold a law license, a recent Texas Tribune report revealed Middleton worked exclusively within the oil company he inherited from dear old Dad. In TV spots, he calls himself \u201cMAGA Mayes Middleton,\u201d clearly displaying his lack of original thought, not to mention a spine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s former Trump Justice Department lackey Aaron Reitz, who brings the resume of a true culture-war bureaucrat. In other words: a talent for turning the law into a billy club to swing at whatever group Newsmax is next to target. In case anyone overlooked Reitz\u2019s bigoted bullshit, he\u2019s the candidate who last week claimed, without offering a lick of evidence,\u00a0that Texas House Democratic leader Gene Wu, who\u2019s Asian American, should have his citizenship revoked for lying during the naturalization process.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, has tried to present herself as the primary\u2019s \u201crules follower\u201d \u2014\u00a0a quiet conservative eager to return law and order to the Texas Attorney General\u2019s office. While she\u2019s certainly not the most bombastic of the current crop of GOP candidates, Huffman\u2019s toxic legislative record reads like a culture-war checklist: policing bodies, stripping power from municipalities and treating civil liberties as a nuisance to be managed. Hard pass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And looming over it all is U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-San Antonio, the former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz who\u2019s doggedly determined to be an even bigger dick than his former boss. Roy\u2019s fondness for grandstanding \u2014 shutdown threats, purity tests, laughable hearings about the encroachment of Sharia law \u2014 suggests he\u2019d turn the AG\u2019s office into a permanent grievance factory, churning out lawsuits better suited for coverage in the far-right blogosphere than courtroom wins. Gosh, how nifty!<\/p>\n

What unites the pathetic souls crammed into this clown car isn\u2019t legal acumen or a desire to do right for Texans \u2014\u00a0except those who vote in the Republican primaries, or course. No, it\u2019s knuckle-dragging bigotry shrouded in a purported shared desire to espouse the virtues of small government, all while weaponizing government against marginalized groups. \u00a0<\/p>\n

None of these assclowns talks much about protecting Texans from fraud, corporate abuse or corruption. Instead, it\u2019s bathrooms, classrooms and Sharia law. If this is the field, Texans shouldn\u2019t expect a top cop, they should expect a full-time culture-warrior with subpoena power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Texas\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tAaron Reitz, who is running for Texas attorney general, issued the threat after an interview of Wu was shared online of him discussing non-white voting strength.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Texas\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe GOP culture warrior alleges the county used taxpayer money to fund its \u2018radical, criminal-loving agenda.\u2019\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Assclown\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tWas there ever any question?\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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