Thread by @cjcmichel

NEW: Texas has an outsized history of carpetbaggers coming in, posing as cosplay cowboys, and racing the state off a cliff.

And that's exactly what's happening right now with the @TexasGOP—with no end in sight to the party's madness.

newrepublic.com/article/161863…

The latest carpetbagging faux cowboy is a East Coast prep schooler, suddenly trying to pose for Texas conservatives like he's Doc Holliday.

(One of the most insane campaign ads you'll see all year: )

But this cosplay cowboy isn't the only one now claiming to be an "authentic Texan."

@chiproytx? A wealthy East Coaster and investment bank analyst, now glorifying lynching.

@DanPatrick? An East Coaster, former nightclub owner, and avatar of the @TexasGOP's authoritarianism.

Of course, these faux Texans are topped by Florida Man @AllenWest—who became the head of the @TexasGOP last year, and now won't stop calling for Texas to secede.

newrepublic.com/article/161863…

What's ironic (or not) is that while the Texas right blames the state's transformation into a swing state on out-of-staters ("Don't California My Texas!"), the state's shift is... driven in massive part by native Texans themselves.

I.e.: washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/…

And this dynamic of out-of-staters swooping into Texas, posing as Texans, and radicalizing the state's politics?

It's a phenomenon as old as Texas itself—beginning with the Texas Revolution itself.

newrepublic.com/article/161863…

.@chiproytx—who grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, and played golf at the University of Virginia—now asks if Texas joining the U.S. "remains worth it":