One of the funniest things that can happen on TSMSFKA Twitter (The Social Media Site Formerly Known As Twitter) is when a person tries to get snotty with you, and trips and faceplants in the attempt. For instance, when a person says nothing of substance, but also declares ‘your an moron’ and you get to correct them, saying, ‘it’s ‘you’re a’ moron, moron.’ And while this author has mostly stopped caring about Adam Kinzinger, it is hard not to laugh when he attempts to get all big, calling someone else an idiot, while getting basic history wrong. And that is exactly what he did yesterday morning:
You didn’t join the union. You lost the war. Idiot https://t.co/QL1yCd5xoz
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) January 26, 2024
Of course, that is also already Community Noted and while Community Notes have been flat out wrong in the past, we think this one is fine, but it is a little milquetoast. Do we have to fill in the whole history? How originally Texas was part of Mexico, but rebelled against their oppressive government and was briefly its own country? Then, eventually, Texas joined the Union in 1845.
So, for those keeping track, that means Texas actually won a war and then voluntarily joined the Union. What Kinzinger was probably referring to was when Texas and several other states later rebelled against the Union, precipitating the Civil War, which Texas and the rest of the Confederacy eventually lost.
Seriously, this author has lived in Texas at two points in his life and we feel pretty confident that this is just basic historical knowledge. We don’t even think the Community Note needed a citation. It could have simply said, ‘Duh.’ We wouldn’t expect everyone in America to know all the ins and outs of that war, but we expect most Americans to know that Texas successfully rebelled against Mexico, became its own country, and then joined America. And we expect most Americans to know the basic story behind the Alamo. After all, there were two movies made about it, and we happened to think the 2004 version was actually pretty good, even if it didn’t do particularly well in the box office.
As for Paxton’s argument, his discussion is perfectly reasonable. We don’t think it is correct to think that the Constitution was ratified by states, or joined by any of them. While it is convenient to say, as we did above, that Texas joined the United States, the better way to think of it is that the only true sovereigns of Texas, the people, decided to leave Mexico, to briefly form their own country, and then chose to join America. But however you describe it, they did join America with certain understandings contained in the Constitution. And what does the Constitution say about this problem of our open border?
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Well, for one thing Article IV, Section Four says:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion[.]
The Constitution also empowers Congress to ‘[t]o provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions,’ (Article I, Section 8), and allows for the suspension of Habeas Corpus in times of invasion (Article I, Section 9),
And Article II, Section Three says this about the President: ‘he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.’ And Good L—d, Biden definitely isn’t doing that.
And while the Supreme Court correctly ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), that the militia clause of the Second Amendment is an inoperative preamble, it still says that ‘[a] well regulated Militia’ is ‘necessary to the security of a free State.’ This has no legal effect, but it tells you what the founders imagined would happen once the Republic was set up—that militias would literally be used to wage war to protect individual states from all enemies, domestic or foreign.
That is the context in which the Texans—and other Americans—became part of the United States.
In any case, let’s get back to pointing and laughing at Kinzinger:
Wait....are you serious?
— Tactical Wisdom (@DolioJ) January 26, 2024
I mean you're allegedly a Commissioned Officer and you don't know the history of the United States?
Like, for real??? https://t.co/KVn5ZXQcW0
https://t.co/OETDAfJ5lJ pic.twitter.com/62RS7nm5au
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) January 27, 2024
Narrator: Texas actually joined the union. Idiot. https://t.co/SYYNtE0WrV
— The Dank Knight 🦇 (@capeandcowell) January 26, 2024
When you aren’t content with simply being ignorant of history and have to prove you failed Google as well. Didn’t he just move to Texas? https://t.co/fo9XHLNUXW
— Bleu Cheque (@VERBAL_CHANCLA) January 27, 2024
Well, we Googled around, and, yes, he did apparently just move to Texas:
Kinzinger jokes he could 'potentially' run one day to unseat Ted Cruz - The Hill https://t.co/cTpWEPDKl2
— O (@O19928734) November 3, 2023
In fact, the article states that he moved to Houston. You know, the city named after Sam Houston, who led the Texians (as they were called back then) to victory at the Battle of San Jacinto and twice served as the President of Texas. All of which makes it even more embarrassing that Kinzinger didn’t know any of this history. Certainly, you aren’t required to know anything about a state before moving there, but how about showing at least a little intellectual curiosity? A person who actually seeks to learn throughout his or her life might say, ‘Gee, who is this Houston guy my city is named after?’
My God. @AdamKinzinger is truly the dumbest person on x. https://t.co/MSicRRzaYl
— FreedomKat1974 (@FreedomKiki28) January 27, 2024
That’s quite a thing to say and … we are inclined to agree.
Dear Texas. You never joined the union. Sincerely,
— Patriotski Páwel Yájlć 🇺🇸 (@pyajlc) January 27, 2024
- lying Adam, (in tears)
Don’t argue this fact. He knows he’s right. 🤡 https://t.co/aixddmTDiR
Sad to see how Trump Derangement Syndrome can turn a once tea party elected Congressman(@AdamKinzinger) into an open-borders neocon. https://t.co/fn3gz0mlSW
— Mayor Trent Staggs (@MayorStaggs) January 26, 2024
We honestly wonder if he knows what the term ‘Tea Party’ referred to. Did Kinzinger think it referred to a little girl’s playtime?
Delete this nonsense https://t.co/6isMl4Zinh
— Justa Puppet (@Anewhomestar) January 27, 2024
We’re honestly surprised that he didn’t. But we did take a screenshot just in case.
How did this crying turd ever get elected to anything? https://t.co/OJFOFvduLA
— Harriet Baldwin (@Harriet85630192) January 27, 2024
And this person didn’t apparently detect the error:
No, Democrats wanting slavery lost the war. Republicans won that one, genius. https://t.co/pKod11e1nv
— Jane Public (@JanePublic55) January 26, 2024
Was your laptop up too high on the dining room table and you couldn't reach it to actually research the state of Texas especially since you claim to live here now?
— 🇺🇸 Army Vet 🇺🇸 (@armyrw8767) January 26, 2024
Adam I’m a fan but Texas voted to join the US before the civil war
— James Wood’s burner profile (@Nats2024) January 26, 2024
Who’s gonna tell him?
— Viral Congress (@ViralCongress) January 26, 2024
We all are.
Oh, I would put @KenPaxtonTX ‘s intellect up against yours anytime, pal.
— Matthew Marsden (@matthewdmarsden) January 26, 2024
If you are going to take a cowardly shot at the best AG in the country, at least be man enough to tag him.
You are so weak, it’s embarrassing.
Certainly, Paxton has a better grasp of history.
Wait, I thought Texas joined the Union because it was having a hard time protecting its borders from Mexico. We joined the Union before the Mexican-American War.
— CommonBeard (@cs_patriot) January 26, 2024
To be fair, at one point Mexico tried to ban immigration of Americans into Texas, before the Texas Revolution. They felt Americans were a bad influence with our belief in freedom, and the right of rebellion. In short, the Mexican government felt that with too many Americans coming into Mexico, that it was a tantamount to an invasion by people who would change the culture of the region and even possibly serve as a fifth column in the future. And, to be fair, they weren’t wrong.
That history naturally has no application to any issue today, right?
Umm every state joined the Union voluntarily
— Maverick (@MJay29er) January 26, 2024
Drinking too much of that free Ukrainian vodka again?
— John Mattingly (@SgtMattingly) January 26, 2024
We were wondering that, too. The post was written at about 8:00 a.m. yesterday … so … probably!
After all, as they say, its always five o’clock somewhere.
Of course, we are joking. We have no idea if he was drunk. But if we were Kinzinger, we think we would rather have people think we were drunk instead of the other logical explanation: Kinzinger is amazingly ignorant and incurious.
So, Adam, you can plead ‘drunk’ and save some face—but make people think you are drinking waaaay too early for a Friday morning—or just let people think you are kind of a moron. The choice is yours.
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