Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced plans to launch undercover investigations targeting left-wing and transgender groups.
Paxton denounced the yet-to-be-named targets of his investigation, claiming they pose a threat to public safety as potential perpetrators of “leftist political violence.” He accused anti-fascist and transgender advocacy groups of orchestrating violent attacks nationwide, citing a handful of incidents involving transgender suspects and the September shooting of Kirk, whom he described as a “martyr.”
“Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people,” Paxton said in a statement.
“There can be no compromise with those who want us dead,” he added. “To that end, I have directed my office to continue efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells. To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming.”
Paxton indicated that the investigations will build on President Donald Trump’s executive order, issued last month, seeking to designate “antifa” as a terrorist organization. The order claimed that politically motivated violence was being organized by left-wing groups, which Trump accused of masterminding actions to disrupt law and order and of funding violent actors who carry out such plans. He vowed to dismantle all “networks, entities, and organizations” he alleges are promoting or enabling violent action or attempting to intimidate Americans, including federal officials.
Critics of the Trump administration argue that Trump’s claims of left-wing conspiracies to incite violence are unsubstantiated, noting that officials have “cherry-picked” isolated incidents to exaggerate the alleged threat while overlooking violence committed by right-wing extremists. They contend there is no evidence connecting these disparate cases, but that Trump’s framing seeks to justify future crackdowns on political dissent and infringements on Americans’ constitutional rights.
The Trump administration is also rumored to be considering a plan to classify some transgender suspects as a subset of the Bureau’s newly created “Nihilistic Violent Extremists” (NVE) category.
Meanwhile, the right-wing Heritage Foundation has urged the FBI to establish a new domestic terror category for “Transgender Ideology-Inspired Extremism.” On its face, the label could apply to anyone who highlights the harms transgender people face from discrimination or who argues that restricting transgender rights constitutes “violence” or threatens the community’s existence. Civil rights advocates warn that Paxton’s rhetoric, echoing national efforts by Trump and his allies, could further inflame hostility toward transgender people.
Paxton has not clarified how the Texas investigations will proceed. Moreover, a recent shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas and Kirk’s murder — which Paxton cites as motivation for his actions — appear to have been carried out by individuals, Joshua Jahn and Tyler Robinson, who were not affiliated with any political party and had no known ties to political groups.
Paxton has a long history of using his office to target transgender people and their families. He has also embraced anti-gay positions, pledging to defend Texas’ now-defunct sodomy laws in court to ensure they remain on the books.
Any investigations launched by Paxton’s office are likely to deepen a growing climate of fear among transgender Texans, many of whom already view their civil rights and access to public spaces as being at risk. In a recent Dallas Morning News survey, 85 percent of transgender respondents said they live in near-constant fear, and a majority have chosen another state to move to if conditions worsen. More than half said they have already begun saving money for a possible relocation.
At 56, I've seen plenty. Never, of course, have I seen the federal government so batshit bonkers, so desperate to assert itself into every nook and cranny of American life, from the critical to the comical. Take that, Colbert and Kimmel! Gotcha, plaque mentioning Transgender participation at the Stonewall Inn! We're gonna get you, sandwich guy!! We're deporting Bad Bunny! To… ahem… Puerto Rico?
What do you call this clinical level of desperation? Stephen Miller.
We've got masked federal goons playing tough in cities far and wide. Are these Proud Boys? Oath Keepers? Three Percenters? Quite likely, but who the hell knows? Aside from Kristi "Canine Killer" Noem, Tom (sub)Homan, and their colleagues, presumably.
The Turning Point USA co-founder, who once declared Pride a “sin” and opposed LGBTQ rights, was killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin's bullet during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
The 31-year-old was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, an organization advocating for conservative politics and education on high school and college campuses.
At the time of the shooting, Kirk, who appeared on campus as part of his "American Comeback Tour," was taking questions from people in the crowd while seated at a "Prove Me Wrong" table in the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus, according to The Associated Press.
Jack Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and the Republican nominee for New Jersey governor, recently aired a digital ad attacking Democratic opponent U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill for backing the state’s LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum standards. Established under a 2019 law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy (D), the standards require middle and high school students to learn about the political, economic, and social contributions of LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.
The premise behind the law is based on the belief that teaching students about figures like Bayard Rustin, Harvey Milk, and Alan Turing helps reduce bullying of LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming peers.
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