Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.
With the Texas Republican Party seemingly intent on trolling the state by fighting culture wars instead of passing meaningful legislation, it's always fun to see the tables turned. As happened last week to Texas Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano.
A Twitter video shared by veteran Texas Capitol journalist Scott Braddock and first reported on by the Dallas Observer captures the lawmaker calling out the made-up names of people scheduled to speak at a hearing on one the Lege's many GOP-backed bills designed to punish transgender Texans.
"Is there a Connie Lingus here?" Leach inquires in the clip. "What about Anita Dickinme? Or Holden ... Holden Midick?"
Leach continues calling the names even after a woman seated in the gallery repeatedly giggles at the series of monikers right out of a middle-school prankster's playbook.
"OK, are any three of those people here?" Leach asks, apparently still not catching on.
Nothing to say about this other than Chairman @leachfortexas handled it with grace and aplomb #txlege pic.twitter.com/VKjxpqiLxe
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) March 30, 2023
Finally, once the woman's giggles reach a crescendo, her shoulders shaking, the lawmaker adopts a scolding tone.
"You got your — you got your — you got your moment," Leach says. "I hope you enjoy it."
While Leach handled things as well as could be expected, we're still not above a little assclown schadenfreude.
After all, the Plano Republican has shown his red rubber nose and floppy shoes plenty of times. Among other things, he's co-sponsored anti-trans legislation and bragged on his website about his role in passing last session's bill aimed at making it harder for Texans to vote.
So, yeah, Jeff, we did enjoy it. Immensely.
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