"I'll put a bullet in your head": Scuffle on the Texas statehouse floor after Republican calls ICE on protesters

The most important question in politics today: Will the 2024 ticket be Gianforte/Rinaldi or Rinaldi/Gianforte?

It all went down yesterday when pro-amnesty protesters showed up in the gallery of the Texas statehouse and started chanting. Mindful that the building is not, in fact, a “sanctuary” for “the undocumented,” Texas state Rep. Matt Rinaldi claims he saw some carrying signs identifying themselves as illegals and decided to call the feds. And if you believe Democrats, he made sure that the other party knew that:

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“He came up to us and said, ‘I’m glad I just called ICE to have all these people deported,’” said state Rep. César Blanco, D-El Paso, whose account was echoed by state Reps. Armando Walle, D-Houston, and Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth.

“He said, ‘I called ICE — f*** them,'” Romero added. Rinaldi also turned to the Democratic lawmakers and yelled, “F*** you,” to the “point where spit was hitting” their faces, Romero said.

“I’ll put a bullet in your head,” Rinaldi supposedly said to Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a Democrat who confronted him. Sounds like the guy was picking a fight, no? Well…

Nevarez called Rinaldi a liar on Twitter but admitted to the Texas Tribune that he put his hands on him. Here’s video of (part of) the confrontation. I think that’s Nevarez in center frame at the very beginning, pointing towards Rinaldi. He moves to the right and appears to begin pushing Rinaldi, who’s in a blue shirt and red tie.

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Dem Rep. Philip Cortez said of Rinaldi calling ICE on protesters, “[T]his is completely unacceptable. We will not be intimidated. We will not be disrespected.” Uh, who’s “we”? That’s a key point in the dispute, it seems: Cesar Blanco, a Democratic rep, told the Times that he didn’t see any protesters with signs identifying themselves as illegal. He and his lefty colleagues believed that Rinaldi called ICE because the protesters were Hispanic, full stop. Were there signs about being illegal or did Rinaldi call the feds in with the blind hope/expectation that some of the demonstrators must be “undocumented”?

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