Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hates lots of things. The Affordable Care Act. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Deferred Action for Parents of Americans. Minorities voting. Anyone who’s to the left of Attila the Hun.
And now it seems Paxton has a new thing to add to his list of stuff he hates: Bingo.
Paxton has been suing the Ysleta de Sur Pueblo Native American tribe because — wait for it— they offer electronic bingo at their Speaking Rock entertainment center.
Bingo.
The horror.
Paxton claims that the Ysleta de Sur Pueblo offering bingo is a violation of Texas and federal law.
This isn’t likely to help endear him or other right-wingers to Native Americans because the argument that this oh-so-evil bingo is illegal is based on the notion that Native American tribes are not sovereign. Except that they are.
And even if they weren’t, it’s not exactly great optics, what with Trump— his party leader and a known white supremacist defender— keeping a portrait of Andrew Jackson on the wall of the Oval Office and making racist jokes about Native Americans every now and again (did you catch his trail of tears jab at Elizabeth Warren on Twitter recently? If not, look it up— it’s a total hoot).
Paxton is all about states’ rights. Usually conservatives couch that as “the government closest to the people governs best.” But apparently, he only really believes that if the people doing the governing (or offering the electronic bingo) are white.
So far, the court hasn’t bought Paxton’s arguments, and has taken a hard pass on instructing the Ysleta de Sur Pueblo to shut the machines down.
But Paxton doesn’t look likely to halt his lawsuit anytime soon. Just like on DACA, he’s prepared to use any legal argument he can conjure up to procure the policy result he wants, which in this case appears to be more power for the state of Texas— run by white, conservative Republicans— and less for this pesky community endangering Texas morals or whatever by offering bingo.