There is a lot that has Republicans divided right now. Is it actually good to demand the pope stay in his lane? JD Vance thinks so. Catholics aren’t so sure. Is it actually good for the president to post a picture of himself as the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Evangelicals aren’t so sure. Is there some irony in a president who campaigned on opposition to forever wars launching attacks that kill the leadership of a powerful country of 93 million? There may be. Are young Republicans and right-wing influencers too antisemitic, or, in fact, not antisemitic enough? Opinions among the increasingly Groyperfied class of up-and-coming GOP staffers vary.
It’s against this backdrop that we have Josh Kovensky’s piece this morning, which finds Republicans in Texas doing a hard pivot to Bush II-type freakouts about “Sharia law” as a way to get the base energized and juice turnout in Texas’ Republican primaries and runoffs — and, they hope, ultimately in the midterms. With so much dividing Republicans, Ken Paxton, Greg Abbott, activists throughout the state and beyond have found it prudent to take their bigotry back to the basics and focus on a ginned up claims of a fake Islamic threat. Texas’ Muslims are the collateral damage.
This piece follows another, related Josh K. dispatch from Texas, looking at conservative influencers’ attempts to stoke panic around a growing Dallas-area Indian community. (To support more of this on-the-ground journalism, become a member!)
