A Self-Inflicted Injury
Surprise! One of the Worst Members of Congress is From Texas
Republican United States Representative Keith Self of Texas supposedly serves as my voice in the United States Congress. I’d be better off if the seat were empty. (Photo from Keith Self’s official government website.)
Keith Self ostensibly represents me in the United States House, a fact I deeply regret every time he makes the national news (which happens with unfortunate frequency). I expect Self to embarrass me. But my 2025 bingo card did not include the far-right extremist quoting Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels during a Congressional hearing.
A Trump Republican, Self lives in McKinney, a suburb in Collin County, Texas. The county grew rich, starting in the late twentieth century, when racists fled Dallas, which is 33 miles south, because that city’s schools were becoming increasingly Black and Brown.
An Army veteran, Self served as Collin County Judge from 2007 to 2018. He retired from the County Commissioner’s Court after his third term. He got elected to Congress in 2022 in the most surreal manner possible.
Self sucks the energy from any room he enters. When he ran for the U.S. House the first time, there was little expectation that he would succeed. His platform was the standard-issue Texas Republican mix of climate change denial, racism, transphobia, and Christian Nationalism. Self claimed that top challenges facing Texas included a supposed “war on energy, the open border policy, drugs and the decline of morality” including the “proliferation of drag queen shows that target children.”
The incumbent, Van Taylor, nearly won outright in a five-way primary race that March of 2022, getting forty-nine percent of the vote. Self finished a distant second, pulling in only 27 percent of the ballots. Taylor seemed a shoo-in for re-election.
Then the far-right news site Breitbart revealed that Taylor, the married father of three children, “had had a months-long affair with a Plano woman, Tania Joya, who he had paid $5,000 to keep quiet.” The publication reported that she provided a phone screen shot purporting to be communications with Taylor and a bank record showing that she deposited $5,000 into her account.
Conservative Republicans cheating on their spouses is not unusual in and of itself. The particulars of Taylor’s adultery, however, were eye-popping. As the Texas Tribune put it, “Joya is known as a former jihadist who was once married to a commander for the Islamic State. Tabloids have referred to her as ‘ISIS bride.’”
In case the constant flood of bad news in the past decade has short-circuited your memory, ISIS — the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — was a terrorist state that quickly arose in the Middle East in 2014 because of the chaos created when another Texas Republican, President George W. Bush, invaded Iraq without provocation. Bush had no viable plan for filling the power vacuum after the overthrow of that nation’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, ISIS filled the void and many refugees such as Joya fled to the United States.
Self, who insisted in the face of all credible evidence that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, won the safe Republican District 3 in November 2022, carrying 60 percent of the vote. If Bush unleashed violent anarchy in the Levant, Keith Self became a chaos agent in the narrowly divided Congress even before he was formally sworn into office.
Self joined nineteen other Republicans in temporarily blocking the election of the presumptive Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. Self thought the California representative was too moderate.
Self held out for eleven of what turned out to be a grueling fifteen ballots before McCarthy finally was sworn in as speaker. McCarthy’s tenure in the post turned out to be the third shortest in American history, a mere 270 days, with the speaker deposed on October 3, 2023 because he worked with Democrats to avoid a potentially devastating government shutdown.
Earlier this year, Self pulled a similar stunt with McCarthy’s even more conservative successor, Mike Johnson, initially voting against the speaker when he ran for reelection and appearing to deny him the gavel before switching during the roll call in favor of the Louisiana representative.
Self said he intended his move to increase the leverage of his House faction, the far-right Freedom Caucus. “We had to go through this to reach an agreement that we were going to be strong on the Trump agenda. That's what this was all about, making sure that we will have a strong negotiating presence at the table," Self told reporters.
Self captured attention not just by sowing procedural disorder. He once again earned the national spotlight for his insulting response to a May 6, 2023 mass shooting that killed eight at an outlet mall in Allen, a suburb in his district.
This was the ninth mass shooting in Texas in 14 years. The Neo-Nazi shooter had tattoos that included a swastika and a patch with the initials “RWDS”,” which stands for “Right Wing Death Squad.”
Texas has always been always a violent state, as I wrote in an essay I co-authored in Steeped in a Culture of Violence: Murder, Racial Injustice, and Other Violent Crimes in Texas, 1965–2020. However, it’s become bloodier and more dangerous since Greg Abbott became governor in 2015. In Abbott’s first eight years as the state’s chief executive, gun deaths in the state soared 63 percent. In 2021, an astonishing 4,613 Texans died from guns, a rate of 15.6 victims per 100,000 people. (By comparison the rate was 0.24 the same year in France and 0.06 in Germany.)
Large majorities in the state want rational gun laws, with 78 percent backing mandatory background checks, 76 percent favoring limiting gun sales to those 21 and older, and 72 percent calling for a “red flag law” banning purchases to those who represent a danger to themselves and others. Self calls such laws “a knee-jerk reaction that does not stop criminals.”
After the Allen shooting, Self did not call for legislation but (along with a host of other right wing local politicians) offered the usual empty, policy-free cliches in response to the latest gun-related tragedy.
Predictably, Rep. Keith Self offered empty thoughts and prayers after a mass shooting in his Congressional district.
Self posted on the site formerly known as Twitter, “Our prayers are with the victims and their families and all law enforcement on the scene.” Jeff Leach, who represents Allen in the state Legislature, posted on social media, “[P]lease pray for all those involved and affected.” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, meanwhile, said, “Please also join us in prayer for the victims’ families and friends along with the residents of Allen.”
The gun control group Moms Demand Action expressed exasperation at the predictable performative grief. “As our country mourns after another mass shooting, one thing is clear: we deserve #MoreThanThoughtsAndPrayers from our lawmakers to end this crisis,” the organization posted.
Self snapped when, during an interview, CNN reporter Paula Reid said, “Many people argue that prayers aren't cutting it.” Self said, “Well, those are people that don't believe in an almighty god who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives.”
Unlike the Allen shooting victims, Self was able to move on from the horrors of that day. There were, after all, new people to offend.
This past March, Self misgendered Delaware U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride during a meeting of the Europe Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which he chairs. Self insisted on introducing McBride, the first openly transgender member of the U.S. Congress, as “Mr. McBride.”
McBride responded by saying, “Thank you, Madame Chair.”
Another member of the subcommittee, Bill Keating of Massachusetts, insisted that Self reintroduce McBride. Self repeated his transphobic insult. As the Texas Tribune reported the exchange:
“Mr. Chairman, you are out of order,” Keating, incredulous, shot back. “Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I’ve come to know you a little bit. But this is not decent.”
Self attempted to continue the hearing as Keating went on to say that the hearing would not continue with him “unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way.”
Self then adjourned the hearing.
Self confused everyone in April during a hearing with the longwinded name “Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Need for First Amendment Safeguards at the State Department.”
Self grilled Nina Jankowicz, the former head of President Joe Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board. Biden established the board under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security as a means of countering online Russian propaganda. The body operated only from April 27 to August 24, 2022. Self and others on the right framed the initiative as an attempt by Biden to stifle conservative views on issues like the Russia-Ukraine war.
Self veered the conversation widely off course as he made a disturbing historical comparison that minimized the horror of the Holocaust. He grilled Jankowicz, asking her if the government should “have a role in enforcing free speech.” He then wrapped up by quoting Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
“I’m going to leave you – and I’ll yield back a little bit of my time – a direct quote from Joseph Goebbels: ‘It is the absolute right of the state to supervise the formation of public opinion,’ and I think that may be what we’re discussing here,” Self said.
Self’s comparison of Jankowicz to Goebbels provoked outrage from a fellow House member from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Julie Johnson (a Democrat from Farmers Branch.)
“When you’re quoting Joseph Goebbels about state -- the role of state in the public debate, we have a big problem,” she said. She later told a reporter for WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Dallas, “There’s no excuse for quoting a Nazi on the House floor. Representative Self chose to invoke Joseph Goebbels . . . to make a political point. That’s not taken out of context. That’s a choice. And I called it what it was: dangerous, offensive, and alarming. Let me be clear: if you’re quoting Nazis in Congress, you’ve already lost the argument.”
Self shot back on Elon Musk’s “X,” doubling down on the idea that Jankowicz’s work in the Biden administration was somehow comparable to the Nazi propaganda machine of the 1930s.
“I was referring to the philosophy of Nina Jankowicz, the former head of Biden’s Disinformation Governance,” he said. “Probably best not to throw stones when your party supported funneling millions of dollars through Biden’s State Dept. to shape public opinion.”
Self comparing Jankowicz to a war criminal who incited murderous violence against Jewish people during the Hitler regime is not merely a grotesque exaggeration, it’s hard to swallow coming from someone who has shown undying fidelity to Trump and his war on free expression.
Trump infamously banned the Associated Press from White House press briefings because the news service refused to bend to his decree that the Gulf of Mexico be referred to as ‘the Gulf of America.”
Self signed off as Trump has withheld or threatened to withhold about $12 billion in federal funds from some of the top institutions of higher education in the country (including Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton University). These funds were withdrawn, apparently partly because the schools’ administrations did not crack down on demonstrations for Palestinian rights with sufficient vigor to please Trump.
Meanwhile, Self enthusiastically endorsed the brutal arrests of twenty-one peaceful protestors at the University of Texas at Dallas who raised their voices against the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. (I wrote about the heavy-handed crackdown at UTD here). Self compared the UTD protestors, who used no weapons other than words, to terrorists.
“Pro-Hamas riots have taken American universities hostage this week, where vile antisemitic havoc has been on full display,” Self said in a press release. “Texas universities must not be allowed to dissolve into anarchy, and I applaud the decisive action taken by local law enforcement to detain individuals engaged in criminal activity at the University of Texas at Dallas campus. Civil society must be maintained.”
Self also so far has had no objection to Immigration and Customs Enforcement declaring in a since-deleted social media post that part of its mission is to prevent “illegal” foreign ideas from entering the country:
Keith Self claimed that the Biden administration was threatening free speech. He so far has said nothing about ICE blocking “illegal ideas” at the border. (Screen capture from the Huffington Post.)
ICE boasted on social media, and then thought better of it, that it would shield Americans from a new Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sneaking over the national borders: illegal “people, money, products, products, and ideas.” We have a clue what Trump and his allies like Self think are forbidden thoughts: Palestinian nationalism, and support for an end to the Israeli bombardment in Gaza and displacement of the Arab population in the West Bank.
A federal judge forced Secretary of State Marco Rubio to answer why the administration arrested Mahmoud Khalil on March 8. Khalil was a leader in last year’s Gaza protests at Columbia University. Federal authorities imprisoned the student and sought his deportation. Rubio submitted a one-and-a-half page memo in response to the judge’s demand.
NBC News reported on April 10 that Rubio cited “an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952” and argued that even though Khalil’s “past, current or expected beliefs, statements, or associations . . . are otherwise lawful," the provision allows the secretary of state alone to ‘personally determine’ whether he should remain in the country.” Rubio continued:
The foreign policy of the United States champions core American interests and American citizens and condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective.
By antisemitic, Rubio means any comments critical of Israel.
Like many far-right "free speech warriors,” Rubio and Self only defend the right to say things they agree with.
We therefore can expect Self to say nothing as the Department of Homeland Security has launched a pogrom, revoking student visas for twenty-seven international students each at the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Arlington, nineteen at the University of Texas at Dallas, eleven at the University of Texas at San Antonio, six at Texas Woman’s University, three at Texas Tech University, nine at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley, and “multiple” students at Southern Methodist University and the University of Houston, according to numbers compiled by Inside Higher Education and the Dallas Morning News.
Late on April 10, the Morning News confirmed 110 visa revocations, but the number is undoubtedly higher. As Marcela Rodrigues reported:
Mike Rosen, UT Austin’s assistant vice president for media relations, said in a statement that the school could not release details or the number of students impacted.
“The university can confirm that the visa status of multiple international students has unexpectedly changed in recent days,” he said.
(Note: On April 11, Inside Higher Ed updated their database. The publication confirmed that two students at UT Austin and ten at the University of Texas at El Paso discovered that their visas had been cancelled, bringing the confirmed total of international students in Texas impacted by this racist campaign to 122.)
As Kimmy Yam wrote for NBC News, “Attorneys and advocates say it seems as though people who have protested in support of Palestinians, those with previous arrests and those with certain political social media posts are the likeliest to have been swept up.”
Of course, the “previous arrests” could be merely the flimsy pretext Homeland Security and the State Department are using to deport students for expressing Constitutionally-protected viewpoints.
The Associated Press explained the thin rationale used for passport revocations at one Texas school. “At Texas A&M, officials who looked into why three students had their status terminated said they had long-resolved offenses on their records, including one with a speeding ticket.”
The consequences of losing a student visa are severe. According to Fortune magazine, “Students stripped of their entry visas are receiving orders from the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country immediately — a break from past practice that often permitted them to stay and complete their studies.”
Self stays silent as international students living in or near his Congressional district have their speech rights trampled upon. Meanwhile, he’s hiding from constituents who wish to vent about the chaos wreaked by Elon Musk and the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), which has been slashing vital government services in an alleged search for waste and fraud.
The unelected Musk and his minions have slashed the payrolls at the Social Security Administration, where the staff was already stretched thin. The result has been chaos. Self is an enthusiastic supporter of DOGE, so much that he supported a similar crusade for the Texas government.
He’s endorsed a reactionary Collin County car dealer, Don Huffines, for state comptroller. Huffines is running on support for a Texas DOGE initiative. (When Huffines unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022, he refused to fire a white nationalist from his staff when the man’s racist online life was exposed by the press.)
Self’s constituents are considerably less enamored of DOGE and Musk.
They heckled him during a March 1 town hall that drew 300 residents. The audience greeted the representative with boos, downturned thumbs, signs that said “Dump Musk!” and “Do Your Job!” They chanted, “Do your job.”
Self did not react well. He subsequently claimed that the protestors were paid by a shadowy leftwing conspiracy and cancelled a subsequent “Koffee with Keith” get-together on March 15 in Greenville because (he claimed), he had been threatened with violence.
It’s no surprise that the congress member called off a meeting with voters. Self doesn’t want to hear from anyone unless they agree with him. To him, the First Amendment is conditional upon agreement with his reactionary ideology. Besides, he has more important business, like insulting trans men and women and disrupting the lower chamber of the House.
Self’s extremism, sadly, is not unique in Texas politics. In my next post, I will discuss the cozy relationship too many Texas Republicans have with actual Nazis. They don’t just quote Goebbels, they meet with Holocaust deniers, invite white nationalists to strategy sessions, and use symbols from the Third Reich to promote their ideas.
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