On Saturday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted by that state’s Senate in the impeachment trial that has been percolating since May. At the Hayride, Andy Hogue covers the aftermath, and — after reminding the reader that despite knowing virtually everything that was litigated in the impeachment, voters overwhelmingly went for Paxton over former Land Commissioner George P. Bush last year — he had this to say:

Legislative observers are almost universally predicting today’s decision will have significant impact on the 2024 Republican Primary. Voters now have a rare, high-profile state issue to base their decision on when choosing their next state representative or senator — how that affects an incumbent (of course) depends on the political dynamics of the district and the popularity of the member.

In the more conservative districts, activists are already sporting “RINO hunter” gear and vowing to flush out any incumbent who voted to expel Paxton. Whether they believe Paxton was skirting the lines of ethics and legality or not, many claim he won a Primary Runoff (against Bush) handily and then the general election, with almost all details of the impeachment charges known at the time. Therefore, any effort to impeach would have been viewed as treason against the voters. Some have pointed out the whistleblowers complained to the FBI as a first step with scant evidence rather than the governor’s office — and that the whistleblowers, therefore, must see the AG’s office as an extension of the federal law enforcement system. Paxton has long been a critic of the overreach of federal agencies such as the FBI, the SEC, etc.

Democrats were busy cheering the impeachment articles against “Crooked Ken,” and mirroring talking points by moderate Republicans and conservatives upset by Paxton’s handling of personnel issues in the AG’s office. Their points are included in the impeachment articles below.

The entire scenario was summed up best by those taking the stand during the trial on the Senate floor. Tony Buzbee, lawyer for the Paxton defense, was brash concerning his disregard for the process, calling it a “witch hunt,” and that allies of the Bush family were allegedly behind the scenes pulling the strings. Rep. Jeff Leach, who spoke during the closing arguments for the House prosecution, claimed that Paxton was a mentor, “brother in Christ,” and a friend (ed. note: before Leach had left the Texas Freedom Caucus and was given a chairmanship by the Speaker). He and others had succumbed to pressures such as bribery and adultery, and that it was time for Paxton to leave office, conviction or no conviction.

And, at RVIVR, Jeff Crouere notes, as Andy does, that the Paxton acquittal was one more nail in the coffin of Bush Republicanism:

Behind the scenes, the person leading the Paxton impeachment campaign was George P. Bush, Jeb’s son, and the nephew of the former President. He had lost badly to Paxton in the last election for Attorney General and was trying to oust his opponent through impeachment since he could not do it in the election.

Fortunately, on Saturday, the Texas State Senate acquitted Paxton on all sixteen charges. In his address to Texas State Senators, Paxton’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, declared that Paxton’s opponents “did not have anything.”

He said all the so-called whistleblowers against Paxton hired an attorney who was a “protégé of the Bush regime.” As he concluded his comments, Buzbee announced emphatically, “the Bush era ends today.”

By acquitting Paxton and returning one of the best Attorney Generals in the country to his position, Texas State Senators finally ended a regime which had a disastrous reign of influence over the Republican Party, the state of Texas and the country for over four decades.

It was an era marked by failure for the Republican Party and the country. Fortunately, the future for the Republican Party looks much brighter under the leadership of President Trump.

One of the most noxious aspects of the Bush crowd, from a conservative standpoint, was the abject disdain the Bushies showed toward their own voters — and that disdain became utterly pervasive as Bush Republicanism became the standard of the GOP establishment.

If you’ll remember, George H.W. Bush made it a point to emphasize the need for a “kinder, gentler America” when he ran for president in 1988 — a statement that, when he made it at the Republican National Convention that summer, prompted Nancy Reagan to ask, “Kinder and gentler than what?” At the time, Americans were setting records in charitable giving of both money and time, and American cultural and political strength — not to mention civic unity — were at an all-time high.

Coming out of that convention, Bush was considerably behind Mike Dukakis and might well have lost that race were it not for an utterly cynical ad campaign eviscerating the pointy-headed liberal governor of Massachusetts for his prisoner-furlough program.

And maybe the reaction to a Dukakis presidency, without the Bush brand being viable inside the GOP, would have put a conservative in the White House in 1992. Maybe it would have been better to lose in 1988 rather than 1992.

And maybe it would have been better to lose in 2000. Because what George W. Bush ran on was yet another insult to conservative voters — he touted “compassionate” conservatism.

Because conservatism isn’t “compassionate,” you know.

The Bush brand was all about accepting and acting upon the narratives of the left as the GOP’s establishment wing was doing two things: first, surrendering to the other side whenever possible, and, second, busily weaponizing the Left against the Right.

And this happens continually, with the Paxton impeachment as a perfect example.

Nothing Paxton did was impeachable. The Bush wing of the Texas GOP, and House Speaker Dade Phelan in particular, simply parroted a bunch of leftist gripes against Paxton — which the voters clearly told them last year were not particularly dispositive — and jumped them up into an impeachment. And Phelan depended on Democrat votes to carry the impeachment to the Senate.

But there were lots of moderate, country-club, beta-male weaklings in the Texas House who egged on that circus before the Senate finally put a stop to it on Saturday.

And why? Because they don’t like Paxton personally. They were willing to start a civil war in the Texas GOP, something America cannot afford when the Left is throwing untold amounts of money into attempts to turn that state blue, over items the voters already rejected as reasons to remove him.

It’s that contempt for Republican voters that shows up again and again.

In my state of Louisiana, we have examples of this galore. Former Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, a classic country-club RINO, endorsed the Democrat John Bel Edwards in the 2015 election after finishing last in a jungle primary with David Vitter and Scott Angelle. After Edwards beat Vitter with Dardenne’s help, he rewarded Dardenne’s treason with a job as the state’s commissioner of administration. And, for the last eight years, Dardenne has overseen a doubling of Louisiana’s budget as the state’s population and economy have shrunk in real terms.

Not just that, but another RINO, state Rep. Clay Schexnayder, crossed the aisle and sought Edwards’ help to win the House speakership with mostly Democrat votes. The dysfunction in the state Legislature that has ensued has been demoralizing to watch.

But not as demoralizing as in next-door Mississippi, where three separate times the state’s establishment has weaponized Democrats to defeat Chris McDaniel, perhaps the most outspoken and vociferous conservative in the Mississippi legislature.

Mississippi has an open primary system, and that means Democrats can vote in Republican primaries. So, in the successive Senate races that McDaniel has run, first against Thad Cochran and then against Cindy Hyde-Smith, the GOP establishment in that state has dragooned black Democrats to the polls to knock him off. Then this year, when McDaniel ran for lieutenant governor against the incumbent Delbert Hosemann — whose stewardship of the Mississippi state Senate has been a series of betrayals of the GOP base — the same thing happened.

If I wanted to belabor the point, I could recount the repeated sabotages of conservative candidates in Senate races by Mitch McConnell, many of which involved weaponizing Democrats against his internecine rivals. But you already know about that.

Enough of this. These betrayals are not acceptable, and they must stop.

And if they don’t stop, then there ought to be consequences — starting in Texas, where all the people responsible for Paxton’s impeachment need to be destroyed politically.

And Phelan in particular, who already has three announced primary challengers for next year. Best of luck to them.