Well, honestly, I was always going to watch the Texas proceedings anyway. But a couple recent comments from the Texas GOP have me wondering... why all the tough talk?
With one elector planning not to vote for Donald Trump and another resigning, the proceedings will likely draw national attention once they get underway at 2 p.m. Monday in the Texas House chamber. It's a less-than-ideal situation for the state GOP, which is making a push to ensure there are no further defections as the state's 38 electors are inundated with last-ditch pleas to revolt against Trump.
"Our electors signed an oath to support the nominee when it was obvious that Mr. Trump would be our nominee," Texas GOP Chairman Tom Mechler said in a statement Wednesday, one of two that day that had sharp words for potentially anti-Trump electors. "We expect that our electors will honor their pledge. To cast a ballot against the will of the voters after signing an affidavit promising to do so, is to refuse to accept the outcome of an election.”
www.texastribune.org/...
Two things here. One is that the Texas GOP Chair feels it necessary to remind his flock of their "commitment". The other is the bald faced lie told to try to justify support for Trump, when he says "Our electors signed an oath to support the nominee when it was obvious that Mr. Trump would be our nominee."
Obvious that Trump would be the nominee? When the Texas electors were selected at the state's GOP convention May 12-14? Let's take a spin in the wayback machine to see what was going on in the world on May 12, 2016.…
THU MAY 12, 2016
In Washington, D.C., presidential candidate Donald Trump is slated to meet today with Republican Party leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, as the party faces a growing split over whether to support the presumptive presidential nominee. Ryan has said he’s not yet ready to support Donald Trump, whose calls to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, to build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border and to ban all Muslim immigrants and visitors from entering the U.S. have caused widespread backlash.
m.democracynow.org/...
So we all know how Trump and Ryan kissed and made up. But let's not anyone pretend that Donald Trump was the rock solid nominee of the Republican party when electors all over the country agreed they'd vote for the Republican nominee in the Electoral College, either before or after May 12.
Here's another Texas Republican, also courtesy of the wayback machine taking us to May 4, 2016:
Donald Trump is the death of the Republican Party
"No! I will not do it. My children, my family and my country cannot accept that Donald Trump represents me — a true Republican. Donald Trump is a disgusting blight upon the American Experience. He is hateful and ugly and a disease to be eliminated. I will not vote for him, and I will work tirelessly to ensure that he is never the representative of the Republican Party that I stand for."
Jason Villalba
State representative, R-Dallas
www.tribtalk.org/...
T-DAY minus 3. Cross your fingers and hope we don't all die.