On Saturday, outgoing GOP chair Abraham George addressed two Muslim delegates from the stage, whom members tried to expel from the convention because of their ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group the GOP and Gov. Greg Abbott have deemed a terrorist threat.Ken Paxton:
“I would strongly advise you to leave our caucus,” George said. “There is a Democrat convention happening in a couple weeks. Join them.”
“There’s no place in America for you”
On Saturday, the last day of the convention, Hussein attended a panel from the Judeo-Christian Caucus moderated by Dr. Rick Scarborough, a former Southern Baptist pastor and the president of Recover America, an organization to engage ministers and pastors in politics.
Speakers told the audience that immigrants who don’t believe in Judeo-Christian values will erode those values and create problems for America. Scarborough accused Muslims of lying to win political power.
“You’re going to find Muslims that aren’t being antagonistic or mean, at least not publicly. But I’ll guarantee, if they get power, they’ll cut your head off as believers of Christ,” he said.
Rick Scarborough delivers the morning invocation at the start of the second general session at Republican Party of Texas convention on Friday. Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune State Sen. Bob Hall, an Edgewood Republican, also repeated the accusation that Muslims are “required by Sharia to lie” in order to “stay below the radar of being aggressive.”
Hussein was appalled by what he was hearing. From the back of the room, he objected, declaring that attendees have heard lies about Sharia throughout the convention. He was practicing Sharia at that very moment, he said.
“When they tell you that we’re compelled to lie, they are putting your Texan neighbors in an impossible position where nothing that we can say or do can absolve us from the crimes that they are accusing us of,” Hussein told the crowd. “That is not just, the Bible commands you to be just, and that is not American.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton, speaking Monday at a tele-town hall, said the GOP will have a pre-midterm convention in Dallas this September, bringing President Donald Trump to Texas for a high-profile event ahead of the November election.Be careful what you ask for.
The Republican National Committee has publicly discussed plans to host a first-of-its-kind gathering for a midterm election year and explored Dallas as a host site. The convention will gather GOP politicians and candidates months before the November election and place Texas — where Republican Paxton and Democrat James Talarico are locked in a competitive Senate race — at the center of the national conversation.
“I know that we are having the midterm convention in Dallas in September,” Paxton said, according to CNN. “I know that we anticipate [Trump] coming to that and speaking.”
The RNC, which has yet to officially announce the convention or its location, declined Tuesday to address Paxton’s comments. And the Paxton campaign declined to comment further on whether Paxton was referring to the RNC midterm convention and whether Dallas had been confirmed as the location.
The midterm convention will occur once primary season has concluded in all states but before early voting begins, according to a source familiar with the plans, and will be announced by Trump on Truth Social.
RNC representatives toured Dallas’ American Airlines Center in late February, the arena’s general manager told CBS News earlier this year.
Nationally, the GOP has struggled to mobilize the president’s coalition in years when Trump was not on the ballot, and leaders have described the midterm convention as an opportunity to parade the party’s stars onstage before voting begins.
RNC Chair Joe Gruters has referred to the convention as “Trump-a-palooza” — tying the candidates to the president, who was able to turn out legions of low-propensity voters in 2024 en route to the White House, but whose approval rating has since slipped deeply underwater.
Republicans hope to fire up the party’s base and essentially put Trump on the ballot, with the idea to engage lower-propensity voters. Candidates in tough or important races will be highlighted, the source familiar with the convention said, giving them a platform to address a national audience as races heat up.
Talarico, a state representative from Austin, and other statewide Democratic candidates will need strong turnout in blue Dallas County and an overperformance in suburbs throughout the Metroplex to flip Texas — and a midterm GOP convention centered around a president with lagging approval ratings could motivate Democrats to turn out as well.Paxton's campaign, so far, consists of suing Act Blue:
Attorney General Ken Paxton must drop his lawsuit against ActBlue, the political donations platform primarily used by Democratic candidates, a Boston federal judge ruled Thursday in a decision that cited the Texas Republican’s “well-known history of filing retaliatory lawsuits.”Which I quote only because it’s so significant that the courts are recognizing prosecutorial abuse. Once that door is forced open, it stays open.
ActBlue sued Paxton in early May, alleging that the series of investigations and litigation he had initiated against the company was politically motivated.
District Judge Richard Gaylore Stearns agreed, alluding to the fact that Paxton resumed an investigation into ActBlue the day after Democratic state Rep. James Talarico announced he had raised $2.5 million within 24 hours of appearing on late night host Stephen Colbert’s show. Paxton and Talarico, at the time vying for their party’s respective U.S. Senate nominations, are now facing off in the November general election.
As I was saying, Paxton’s campaign so far consists of suing Act Blue right after Talarico won the Democratic primary; calling him “Talafreako,”
Which Talarico claimed as his own; and, now, urging Trump to come to Dallas in September. Where Paxton plans to ride Trump’s non-existent coattails?🚨NEW MERCH DROP🚨
— Team Talarico (@TeamTalaricoHQ) May 28, 2026
Ken Paxton has started calling James “Talafreako” — so we put it on a t-shirt.
Get your very own I’M A TALAFREAKO shirt today: https://t.co/iV4gmTsZTh pic.twitter.com/gihZiJzhr2
Future’s so bright…. 😎
It seems like a long time ago when W Bush was running that "compassionate conservative" play doesn't it. It made sense, many "traditional" /conservative values cut across race/religion lines.
ReplyDeleteOnce Trump proved open racism was not a dealbreaker (which may well be his one actual accomplishment, depending) compassion and decency became dealbreakers. At least as far as R primary voters are concerned.