The Texas GOP’s Sara Legvold Problem

Ever heard of Sara Legvold? She’s a diminutive, older Cuban-American woman from Roanoke, Texas. She loves animals and small dogs. She’s also friendly with fascists and white supremacists, supports apartheid and is a nearly bottomless fountain of paranoid racism. And for two years, she’s proudly served as an elected member of the Republican Party of Texas’ Executive Committee. She’s served as an elected part of the leadership team of the state GOP—even after they realized who she was, and what she believed.

In the wake of the theatrics at the state GOP convention in Fort Worth earlier this month, observers and moderates in the party are asking—what happened? Those who can see the future of the party clearly know that it must change to have a future, but conservative intransigence on immigration is getting stronger, not dissipating. The forces keeping the state GOP a racially and ethnically monolithic party are ascendent, not in decline. And with the rise of Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton, the Christian right has a stronger hold on the party than ever, squeezing out younger and centrist voters.

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Here are some things that Legvold believes. In just the last couple months, Legvold has characterized Muslims as “vermin,” “threats” and breeders and cheered the efforts of the British fascist party Britain First. She expressed her belief that Muslim fighters in Syria are selling the blood of exsanguinated Christian children for “$100,000 per bottle.” She calls New Jersey Governor Chris Christie a “fat POS” and a “Muslim Dhimmi,” calls for GOP House Speaker John Boehner to be jailed for collaborating with President Obama, and calls for Bowe Bergdahl to be executed.

She warns her friends about the specter of racial violence—she links to a World Net Daily article, headline: “House torched in black-on-white revenge attack,” and exhorts like-minded friends to pack heat and “make sure your aim is true and deadly.” She indulges in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, crediting Russian President Vladimir Putin with taking action against the Rothschild banking family.

She urges “real Americans” to stand up to “crimmigrants” who want to latch on to the “government teat.” On the question of gay people, she quotes from a blog approvingly: “Homosexuals have a lot in common with the little dogs people like Paris Hilton hold in purses: they’re generally vain, generally high maintenance, and their bark is always far louder and more obnoxious than their bite.” Homosexuality, she says, is a precursor to socialism.

More at http://www.texasobserver.org/texas-gops-sara-legvold-problem/ .