Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
Poor Matt Rinaldi.
First the Texas Republican Party chair had to explain himself for showing up at the offices of far-right political action committee Defend Texas Liberty on the day it hosted white supremacist and Adolf Hitler enthusiast Nick Fuentes. (After a bombshell Texas Tribune report on the meeting, Rinaldi disavowed Fuentes and denied he knew the controversial media figure was in the same office even though the pair's visits reportedly overlapped by 45 minutes.)
Next, Rinaldi — who was bankrolled by Defend Texas Liberty's chief funders while he served in the Texas House — faced pressure from Speaker Dade Phelan to return $132,500 the Texas GOP received this election cycle from the PAC. (Rinaldi responded by lobbying petty insults at Phelan and calling on him to step down.)
Now, amid an escalating war of words, Phelan has turned the tables and called for Rinaldi's resignation. "If we're to 'root out this cancer' [of antisemitism] as Lt. Gov. [Dan] Patrick states, those efforts begin with Matt Rinaldi's resignation as Chair," Phelan wrote on social media.
Predictably, Rinaldi again tried to change the subject, this time accusing Phelan of being drunk while presiding over the House — a flimsy claim first aired by indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton shortly before the House began impeachment efforts against Paxton on corruption charges.
"Dade Phelan's beer goggles have prevented him from seeing the truth," Rinaldi fired back in his best middle school lunchroom-ready response.
For all Rinaldi's attempts to shift the discussion by trading in infantile verbal jabs, he's repeatedly proven himself to be a Fuentes-adjacent figure.
For example, Chris Russo — the guy who drove Fuentes to the meeting at Defend Texas Liberty's office — is the president of Texans for Strong Borders, an anti-immigrant group that days prior partnered with Rinaldi in calling for the state legislature to pass draconian anti-migration measures, according to a report by online news organization Just Security.
It's time for Rinaldi to stop dealing in cheap insults, stick to the subject and truthfully address his connections with Fuentes.
If he can't, then reasonable Republicans — assuming there are any left — have no one but themselves to blame for the letting this assclown further stain their party.
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