Well this makes things crystal clear.

For Texas Democrats, it’s all about the power, stupid. And if they can’t win elections to get that power? 

Then they’re taking their ball and going not home — but to Illinois. You remember Illinois? The state that has a legendary history for stealing elections? Apparently the Texas Democrat legislators are now swarming the state for a tutorial in election stealing and power-grabbing.

Newsweek reports the story this way:

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to remove what he calls “derelict Democrats” from the state’s House of Representatives if they fail to return by Monday afternoon.

The threat came after numerous Texas Democrats have left their home state and traveled to Illinois in an effort to prevent the state legislature from holding a vote that would approve Republican-backed redistricting maps.

In a letter to the Democrats, Abbott wrote: “Real Texans do not run from a fight. But that’s exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did…rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business.

Well beyond the immediacy of these shenanigans is the message Texas Democrats have now sent to the rest of the country: 

Democrats are not about principle, they’re about power, stupid.

Message received.

The first to get that message was, as noted, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. His answer was plain: Get back here and do your job or you will no longer have that job.

Well bravo to Gov. Abbott. 

Can the governor actually strip these renegades of their jobs? Jobs which they presumably fiercely campaigned for? Jobs for which they assured their prospective constituents they would do?

For those not familiar, here is the what the Texas state Constitution says about their legislative jobs: 

                        ARTICLE XVI

                        GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 1. OFFICIAL OATH. Members of the Legislature, and all other elected officers, before they enter upon the duties of their offices, shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:

“I, ……, do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of of the State of Texas, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this State;”

Suffice to say, refusing not only to show up at the state Capital and do their jobs as legislators but actually fleeing the state to avoid doing them is a direct violation of their oath of office under the Texas Constitution.

Which is to say, Gov. Abbott is well within his rights to remove them from their legislative jobs — jobs which they have noisily insisted they not only refuse to do but have actually fled the state to avoid doing.

What is the resolution to what can only be called a Democrat coup d’etat? It is for these legislative coup participants to return and do their job. And if they don’t want to do that — then they should quit and leave their legislative duties to those who are willing to do the job. Understanding that if they are on the losing end of a vote, their task is to win the next election.

That would be called “democracy.”

And by the bye? For all those Democrats who spent months saying President Trump was a “threat to democracy”?

Now we know, thanks to Texas Democrats, who the real threat to democracy is in Texas. 

It’s Democrat state legislators.