Republicans are basically freaking out after Virginia's voters sent redistricting to the legislature, guaranteeing Democratic gains in the state's House of Representative representation. Donald Trump declared that the vote was stolen, which is utter nonsense, but which was predictable.
He will claim the same about November's election as well, which is going to go very badly for the Republicans, and he will pull out no stops to try to steal that election.
That scary predication aside, the fall's election is getting pretty predictable right now . Republican's have committed political suicide by reelecting a demented not too sharp octogenarian real estate developer to the office of Presidency, one he is not actually legally qualified to hold.
They deserve no pity, even if the country does.
One group of people who are tiresomely not worth of pity are the far right MAGA crew that likes to predict a civil war, as if they're going to storm out of their suburban homes and fight somebody. That's complete baloney. This is not going to result in a war of any kind. It might end in violence however as MAGA has already tried to subvert the last election and probably will try to do so again.
On this, there's been a substantial increase in firearms ownership by liberals, a trend that hasn't received much notice. It falls into two categories, one being political liberals who are just exercising their Second Amendment Rights. One columnist the other day noted that where there are large groups of right wing armed figures the police almost never act badly during demonstrations and is urging that left wing people do the same. It makes sense, frankly. This is a tactic that was taken by black activist groups during the 1960s and 1970s. Liberals, in my view, should do this in part because it makes sense but also in part due to the fact that right wing Second Amendment groups have rolled over like a pet dog for Trump. Indeed, in the last issue of The American Rifleman some NRA member wrote a letter to the editor arguing, well, gosh, if there's a protest, best just to stay away, you know, . . . something completely contrary to the positions of the organization in the past.
The other group are people who probably have real reason to seek self protection and tend to be in the political such as tranvestites and homosexuals. That frankly makes real sense to me. The late Charlie Kirk like to claim that tranvestites were inordinately responsible for mass shootings, which is not true, but that sort of rhetoric really does give a good reason for them to arm themselves.
The redistricting came about due to Trump insisting that it be done in Texas and Gov. Abbot agreeing to do it. The fact that other states could do the same thing apparently never occurred to the dimwits running the GOP, or at least to the chief dimwit and his Texas minions. Now the Democrats have done it twice and have gained ground in the effort, although a similar effort in Florida could change that.
Or not. Trump has lost such a following amongst Hispanics that the Texas redistricting may actually have the same effect, on a less dramatic scale, in that state.
Indeed, Texas is interesting in this regard as Republicans are howling about how a slim majority of voters can "deprive" the remainder of representation, which is an intellectually weak argument. Nobody was deprived of representation, even though gerrymandering overall is bad. Anyhow, it was the voters of Virginia who passed the redistricting plan, albeit only by a slim majority. In Texas it was done by legislative fiat, even though Democrats, not Republicans, are the majority party in terms of registration in Texas. Texas's districting outright suppresses Democratic votes, something that will come back to haunt the party in Texas.
At any rate, the GOP's actions are truly an example of the Forrest Gump observation, "stupid is as stupid does". So much so that a person is really entitled to wonder at this point how dim those in charge right now really are.
Closer to home, where the GOP remains solidly in charge but there seems to be a real chance that the Freedom Caucus is going to really suffer in the fall, the following dates need to be kept in mind.
Party Changes
The state of Wyoming passed legislation affecting when aregistered voter is allowed to change their party affiliation.
You MUST appear in person in the Elections office on or before May 13, 2026 to declare or change your party affiliation.
NO party changes at the polls on Primary Election Day.
Qualified voters who are not yet registered will still be able to register and choose their party on the day of the Primary Election.
Absentee Voting
The timeframe for voting absentee has shortened from 45 days to 28 days.
Absentee ballot request may be made by phone, mail, email, online or in person.
Your ID is required to vote in person or to pick up a ballot.
Absentee voting for the Primary Election: July 21 - August 17, 2026 Absentee voting for the General Election: October 6 - November 2, 2026
Party Affiliation for Primary Election
Registered Voter party affiliation change deadline for the Primary Election is May 13, 2026
New voter registrations may declare a party affiliation when registering after this deadline.
Candidate Filing Dates
State, County and City offices filing runs May 14, 2026 through May 29, 2026
College and School Boards, Fire Districts and Soil Conservation Districts filing runs August 5, 2026 through August 24, 2026
Absentee Voting
July 21, 2026 through August 17, 2026 for the Primary
October 6, 2026 through November 2, 2026 for the General
Election Days
Primary Election Day is Tuesday, August 18, 2026
General Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Wyoming's Voter ID Law
Effective July 1, 2021, Wyoming voters will be required to show an acceptable form of identification when voting in person. There are many ID options for you to use to prove your identity. Visit the Wyoming Secretary of State's Office website for more information.
A couple of observations.
One is that you used to be able to change party affiliation at the polls, but the state's GOP got that changed out of fear that all five of the state's remaining Democrats would change party at the poll and vote for Battling Bob LaFollette.
It's a stupid fear. Any Democrats who were going to do that did it years ago. The law actually just locks people into their current party, but the propaganda value of this lives on as the real Democrats, the Dixiecrats, like to continually complain that the GOP is backed with RINOs. It is, they are the RINOs.
Another observation is that you have to show "an acceptable" form of identification, so if you are going to vote, bring it. The Secretary of State's office provides the following as "acceptable:
WY Driver's License or ID Card
Tribal ID Card
Valid US Passport
US Military Card
DL or ID Card from Another State
University of Wyoming Student ID
Wyoming Community College Student ID
Wyoming Public School Student ID
Valid Medicare Insurance Card*
Valid Medicaid Insurance Card*
Valid Wyoming Concealed Firearm Permit
Mostly because this was the pet project of California Carpetbagger Chuck Gray, I'm going to bring my driver's license, my military ID, and my concealed firearm's permit. I'm also going to ask everyone manning the polls to see their ID's. If I have to prove I'm an American citizen, well they should have to do so as well.
The other thing is that the candidate registration date is also coming right up. It actually runs through May 29, but this year, I'd get that done by May 13 if I was going to run, which I'm not going to (probably).
cont:
And now there's a new candidate for the Senate, Sam Mead from the well known Mead family. That makes the candidates, on the GOP side (no Democrats have announced):
Harriet Hageman
Jimmy Skovgard
Samuel Mead
Mead is probably a pretty serious contender. His website, which is probably not the best way to judge things, shows him to be the best serious candidate to announce, if we disregard Skovgard, who isn't mounting much of a campaign so far.
The first flyer for Steve Freiss, running for House today, arrived in which he tries to maintain he's like Reagan and Trump, which is patently absurd in that Trump and Reagan are nothing like each other.
April 24, 2026
The State Republican Convention opened in Douglas and already has the appearance of the 7th Cavalry attempting to form a final defensive line at Little Big Horn.
Wyomingites are showing increasing signs that they're sick to death of the Freedom Caucus, but the county delegations still heavily reflect that. So, they're thinking of just violating the law and even pulling out of primaries.
The dipshittery is already in evidence, as shown by this quote:
What we as a party are moving towards is what people have been asking for decades.
Wyoming Republican Party Chair Bryan Miller.
Miller spent his career in the Air Force sucking off the government tit and then came to Wyoming on the far right "I worked for the government but I hate the government so much I still collect government retirement and am now sucking on the other government tit" platform. Given that, like most of the WFC, what he imagines what people have wanted "for decades" is based on talking to a small group of like minded, small minded, feverish minds, many of whom spent their decades somewhere else.
Basically, the Freedom Caucus is worried that the voters are going to kick it in the ass in the primary and are trying to find a way that county WFC controlled bodies can declare who the candidates in the fall will be.
That's not going to fly. Anyone can still register as a Republican and run as one if they declare themselves to be one. The GOP can't change that. What it can do, however, is break into open civil war before a general election and destroy itself.
Long-term, by attacking the primaries, it might just lead to a non partisan open primary, which would be a fantastic development.
Another proposal is that Republican candidates take a loyalty oath the GOP platform. The state platform has a barely disguised "grab the public lands" plank in it that Wyomingites hate, but the Confederates love. Showing more their loyalty to the Lost Cause, it also includes a plank that requires the state to ignore the decisions of Courts that don't go their way, something that actually is flat out illegal and which makes them into a traitorous body seeking the overthrow of the American government, although they seemingly can't grasp that.
The deluded WFC feels that they can secure their failing movement, basically, by expelling everyone else, which at the end of the day would result in a competing Republican body, which would be an outright good development, particularly now. The existing GOP is heading for a cliff this Fall and there's a strong chance it'll start to actually dissolve next year.
cont:
Footnotes:
"Thus always to tyrants", the state motto of Virginia.
I'm a Westerner and an Irish Catholic. That informs my vote pretty heavily.
When I first registered to vote Ronald Reagan was President. Marine Corps Raider veteran Ed Herschler, a Democrat, was the Governor of Wyoming. D-Day veteran Teno Roncolio, also a Democrat, was our Congressman. Republicans Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson were our Senators.
That was sort of the political landscape here at the time. More Republicans than Democrats, but there were still Democrats, and those Democrats tended to be pretty tough conservative people. Republicans were already tacking off into batshit crazy economic theories but they weren't completely bathed in them yet.
I registered as a Republican.
I didn't stay a Republican for a really long time. I don't recall when exactly I switched parties, but by the time I was at the University of Wyoming, I had registered Democratic. I stayed in the Democratic Party for a long time. I was still a Democrat when I became a lawyer and I know that I was when I was married. However, sometime after that, I couldn't stand the sea of blood the Democratic Party had become. I became an independent.
As an independent you missed the primaries pretty much, however, and starting in the Clinton era in general Wyoming Democrats began to drift over to the GOP. After all, the mainstream of the Democratic Party wasn't all that different from the traditional mainstream of the local GOP. After awhile, I registered as a Republican.
Little far right Dixiecrats like Chuck Gray like to scream that people like me are "RINOs", when in fact they're the malignant innovation into the GOP. That element hadn't entered the GOP at the time I was first in it, and didn't for a long time. Gray himself, who nobody really knew anything about, was probably the first, followed by Jeanette Ward, who served one term in the legislature before losing a bid to retain her seat. While she lost, that showed the direction things were headed in. Carpetbaggers who knew nothing about their state moved in and wanted to convert it into pre 1964 Alabama.
It's not as if the Democrats stood still. As moderate Wyoming Democrats left the party, it too became delusional. If the Republicans became increasingly fascistic or Dixiecratic, the Democrats lived intellectually in the Greenwich Villages' Stonewall Inn in 1969. It made going back into the Democratic Party an outright impossibility for people like myself, particularly as they lashed themselves increasingly to abortion and perversion.
More recently, I'll note, that seems to be wearing off. The Democrats are still "pro choice", but they don't talk much about it. For that matter Republicans who were really gung ho on being pro life have sort of lost their fire for that as well, following the lead of Orange Mussolini.
What the Republican Party, nationally, has become is flat out insane. No thinking person can be a member of it and be comfortable.
There are still good Republicans here in Wyoming. They began a big fight against the Dixiecrats prior to the legislature and largely prevailed this session, in spite of the fact that the diehard adherents of The Lost Cause were theoretically in control of the solons. That should give local Republicans who aren't literally whistling Dixie some hope.
But with the current national Trumpites in control, the line has been drawn.
For years people like Dixiecrat Chuck Gray, or Dixicrat Bextel, have claimed that the Republican Party here was infiltrated with Democrats. Well, it was. They're the Democrats. Democrats from 1960 Alabama. They just don't know it. But the screaming lunacy that they've espoused does have an effect after awhile. Yell at people that "you are a RINO" for long enough, and they'll take it up.
I'm remaining registered in the GOP. Chuck Gray's efforts to disenfranchise voters has been enough for me in and of itself not to change registrations. Frankly, if I was to take a run at the House of Representatives, and I've thought about it, I would switch parties as right now that would give a person a place in the November election no matter what. But I'm not going to do that. I'm old, worn out, and very tired.
So I'm remaining in the GOP in no small part so that I can vote for the decent primary candidates, of which there are some right now.
At this point, merely stating that you are "pro Trump" will be enough to cross my vote for you off the list. At least three House candidates are promising to be Trump's biggest lover, and they're all of the list. I hope I run into some of them during their campaigns. I probably will.
And I've already quit giving MAGAs in my midst slack. Frankly, since the start of the assault on Iran, that's been easy, as the "never war" MAGAs can't explain that one without sounding like hypocrites, and they know it. Even a few have begun to look as if Valentines to Trump weren't a good idea.
But in the Fall. I'm not voting for any Republicans for anything.
That won't exactly be easy. So far here only one candidate from the Democratic Party has signed on to run for a statewide office. He has my vote even though I like the only Republican whose announced for the same position. And just because I'm not voting for a Republican doesn't mean I will vote for Democrats. In my state house district a really decent Republican holds the seat and a young woman from the Democratic Party has announced against him. She's already on the sea of blood ticket. I can't vote for her, but I won't vote for the Republican I've voted for many times before.
To vote for Republicans in 2026 you have to accept that a low IQ, deranged, octogenarian should have complete dictatorial control over the Federal Government, can start major wars on his own, can demolish parts of the White House as he has the tastes of a bordello owner, can cause the hiding of files on a major pedophile ring, and can have a domestic army occupy the streets. It also means you have to be willing to sacrifice the environment of the planet for scientific denial. You have to be willing to endorse lies at a never before seen rate, which makes you a liar yourself if you do.
When Woodrow Wilson, after campaigning on keeping us out of war, committed us to the greatest one in the world's history at that time since the Napoleonic Wars, he was faced with the problem that his pacificist Attorney General was of the view that National Guardsmen could be Federalized only to spats within the United States. That's what kept them on the border, but not over it, during the Punitive Expedition.
But somebody came up with the brilliant idea that as the U.S. was introducing conscription, the entire Guard could just be conscripted. . . so it was, on August 5, 1917, specifically.
ICE already acts like an occupying military force, and it dresses like one. It's familiar with weapons, as we all know. If troops are needed for boots on the ground, draft them en masse.
I'm not joking. Those who signed up for ICE had to be comfortable with MAGA extremism. Let them go fight for MAGA. Draft them into the Army, and if boots are going in, send them.
I'll note I've seen a similar idea posted elsewhere:
I feel the same way here. I'm tired of the rah rah MAGAs who are were against war until Trump was for it, and support anything that Trump supports. Over half of the American public feels Donald Trump is a demented twat waffle. Let those who admire him go fight and if necessary die for their beloved. They portray Trump as a hero. . . well here's there very own chance to be one themselves.
Let the Trumps go first. Barron is of military age and, based on the life history of his family, is more likely to be a boil on the butt of humanity than something benefitting it. Service would do him, and his two brothers, and heck his sisters good. Maybe the Trump family will pull itself out of the world it lives in and inflicts on the rest of us if they see a little of the rest of it that isn't so rich and gaudy.
Let them go fight, and if necessary die, in their father's war.
And the same for Wyoming mega MAGA Trumpites. Chuck Gray is still young enough to serve and hasn't had a real job a day in his life. He's not married and doesn't have any dependents either. Here's his chance. He can come back a veteran, maybe a hero, or, if in a body bag, well, there won't be a widow or orphan. Reid Rasner already has the crewcut, and he's single too. Let him go put his life on the line for Donald. He talks might big, let him put his mouth, and his body, where his words are. Yes, there's risk involved, but if that risk isn't accepted, well the words were just that.
Chuck and Reid, a recruiting station is a near as the mall.
And then there's all the "I'm a veteran" candidates out there who on the far right in Wyoming. Well, if there's one thing being a veteran qualifies you for its military service. Brent Bien. . . your chance to show us your mettle once again awaits. . .
Shoot, let non veteran John Barrasso go. Heck, make him go. He's been practicing the Patton "war face" for years. Yes, he's a geezer, but I'm confident if he asked Donny, Donny would let him go and shortly forget who he was.
Most Americans didn't want this war. Most Americans shouldn't have to fight in it. Perhaps only those who are willing to volunteer for it within the service right now should have to. We let servicemen with moronic objections to vaccinations out of the service during the Biden Administration. We should let those who have no desire to fight and die for whatever we're fighting and dying for now get out, if they don't want to serve. Their ranks can be filled by MAGA, ICE, and Trumps.
But it won't happen.
ICE will simply carry on as it is, until 2027. MAGAs will continue to support any dumbass thing Trump spews out of his decaying brain. People who have connections with Epstein Island will go on doing what they do.
And if we're still in it by fall and its turning to shit, well 9 out of the 10 "Trump was always right" crowed will deny they ever saw anything in him. They knew, they'll claim, he was a fraud all along.
Only the dead, Santayana tells us, have seen an end to war. It's a pretty good guess that no Trumps and no fire breathing MAGA politicians are going to see war at all. They're okay with Trumps war, but not so much that they'll ever seek out to fight in it.
Not that this is a surprise. Trump has always felt that servicemen are schmucks. He's loyal to no one other than himself, and perhaps to those who have something over him. The dead, well, you know, that just happens.
Californian Rachel Rodriguez-Williams likely wasn't around when far right paranoia caused the constitutional amendment which set this situation up, so she isn't personally to blame for the abortion ruling.
But the Republican Party in Wyoming, is. Like the Soviet submariner officer, in The Hunt For Red October, what rank and file Republicans ought to be saying is "You arrogant ass, you killed us!"
The WFC, we'd note, is still attacking UW's budget.
The Bextel Bucks hearing commenced with Bextel using the Confederate Caucus claim that "there's Republicans pretending to be Democrats in here" as some sort of excuse before Art Washut graveled her down.
In her defense, that's true. She is one. So is Bear. So is Allemand. So are all the of the Freedom Caucus. They're not Republicans, they're Dixiecrats through and through.
Nazi Party members attending the Bamberg Conference approved Hitler's motion to make his position absolute, thereby establishing the Führerprinzip.
The Trump administration essentially operates under the same principal, and indeed is run in much the same way.
The conference also ended inter party feuding, which had existed up to that point and which in fact would for some time.
The conference also confirmed its 1920 twenty-five point program.
Translated, it stated:
The program of the National‑Socialist German Workers’ Party is a schedule. The leaders refuse to draft new goals after the ones listed in the program are achieved, solely for the purpose of enabling the party to continue to exist by artificially increasing the dissatisfaction of the masses.
1. We demand the union of all Germans to form a Greater Germany on the basis of the people’s right to self-determination.
2. We demand equality of rights for the German people with other nations; and abolition of the peace treaties of Versailles and St. Germain.
3. We demand land and soil (colonies) for the sustenance of our people and settlement of our surplus population.
4. None but members of the Volk (a people; large tribe) may be citizens of the state. None but those of German blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the Volk. No Jew, therefore, may be a member of the Volk.
5. Whoever has no citizenship is to be able to live in Germany only as a guest and must be regarded as being subject to foreign laws.
6. The right of voting on the state's government and legislation is to be enjoyed by the citizen of the state alone. We demand therefore that all official appointments, of whatever kind, shall be granted to citizens of the state alone. We oppose the corrupting custom of parliament of filling posts merely with a view to party considerations, and without reference to character or capability.
7. We demand that the state commit itself to providing, first and foremost, opportunities for its citizens to earn a living and make a life for themselves. If it is not possible to feed the entire population of the state, then members of foreign nations (non-citizens) must be expelled from the Reich.
8. All further immigration of non-Germans must be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who have immigrated to Germany since 2 August 1914, be forced immediately to leave the Reich.
9. All citizens must have equal rights and obligations.
10. The first obligation of every citizen must be to work, either mentally or physically. The activities of the individual must not conflict with the interests of the general public, but must be carried out within the framework of the whole and for the benefit of all. We therefore demand:
11. Abolition of work-free and effortless income. Breaking of interest-slavery.
12. In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice of life and property that each war demands of the people, personal enrichment due to a war must be regarded as a crime against the people. Therefore, we demand ruthless confiscation of all war profits.
13. We demand nationalization of all businesses which have been up to the present formed into companies (trusts).
14. We demand that the profits of large companies shall be shared out.
15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.
16. We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation, immediate communalization of the great warehouses and their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost consideration of all small firms in contracts with the state, county or municipality.
17. We demand land reform adapted to our national needs, the creation of a law for the expropriation of land for public purposes without compensation. Abolition of land tax and prevention of all land speculation.
18. We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.
19. We demand the replacement of Roman Law, which serves the materialistic world order, with a German common law.
20. In order to enable every capable and hard-working German to attain higher education and thus enter into leading positions, the state must ensure the thorough expansion of our entire public education system. The curricula of all educational institutions must be adapted to the requirements of practical life. An understanding of the concept of the state must be achieved from the very beginning of schooling (civics). We demand that children of poor parents who are particularly gifted intellectually be educated at the expense of the state, regardless of their parents' social status or occupation.
21. The state must ensure the improvement of public health by protecting mothers and children, by prohibiting juvenile labor, by promoting physical fitness through the legal establishment of compulsory gymnastics and sports, and by providing the greatest possible support to all associations involved in physical education for young people.
22. We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.
23. We demand legal action against deliberate political lies and their dissemination by the press. In order to enable the creation of a German press, we demand that:
a. All editors and employees of newspapers published in the German language must be members of the race;
b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the state to be published. They may not be printed in the German language;
c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications or any influence on them and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the common good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life and the closure of events that violate the above demands.
24. We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. The party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any particular denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and outside us and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our people can only come about from within, on the basis of:
Public Interest Over Self-Interest
25. For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unconditional authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The formation of corporative chambers and professional chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation.
The leaders of the party promise to stand up for the execution of the above points ruthlessly, if necessary at the cost of their own lives.
Munich, February 24, 1920 — signed Adolf Hitler.
In 1928 an item that was causing controversy was amended:
In response to the mendacious interpretations of point 17 of the NSDAP program by our opponents, the following statement is necessary:
“Since the NSDAP stands on the principle of private property, it goes without saying that the passage ‘expropriation without compensation’ refers only to the creation of legal possibilities to expropriate land that has been acquired unlawfully or is not managed in accordance with the interests of the people, if necessary. This is therefore directed primarily against Jewish real estate speculation companies.”
Munich, April 13, 1928 — signed Adolf Hitler.
It's interesting reading in that you could see where the NASDP was headed, but they were not there yet. It's also interesting to read how much of MAGA would be comfortable with this, although they wouldn't be comfortable with all of it. The NASDP was a populist party.
At this point, I frankly don't think a lot of the MAGA rank and file, and even some of its upper ranks, would really disavow association with the Nazis all that much.
A play, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, premiered at the Ambassador Theater on Broadway, which is remarkable in more ways than one, one being that this was well before the collapse in the economy that is so often figured into the novel, but which the novel anticipated as a moral collapse.
The incite of the novel, accordingly, can hardly be appreciated today, and indeed should be reread today, given the current times.
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
The Great Gatsby.
Representatives of the governments of the UK and France, which nearly went to war in 1918/1919 over the fate of Syria, signed a treaty of friendship on behalf of the British Mandate for Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. Notably, the native populations for both areas had utterly no desire that either European power be there.
Four members of the illegal Black Reichswehr were sentenced to death for politically motivated murders in Germany.
A banquet was held at the Hotel Astor to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the National League.
H.E. Buechner’s proposed Wyoming state seal. The next two prosed ones featured topless women. One was briefly adopted by a Governor, who liked the topless figure, but a lot of people weren't too keen on it.
This is the main university that educates our kids in Wyoming. They don’t have three other choices like they do somewhere else. This is what we have. This body is sending the message to the people of Wyoming, our own people, ‘Don’t stay here. Don’t come here.’”
Ogden Driskill.
Driskill is exactly correct. This is what he was discussing:
I want to first note that I've really struggled with this entry, as I didn't want to sound condescending. I've probably failed, but I don't mean to be, if I have.
Thing is, I think the WFC, which is responsible for this looming disaster, is a bit condescending.
I was in attendance of a gathering of legislators this past week, most of whom were experienced legislators outside of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, one new member who was outside of it, from a teaching background, and horrified by what they were doing, and one new member who was clearly way out to sea and three was a demeanor perhaps best characterized by ultra befuddlement. One of the long time members of the salons, in referencing this story, let slip the truth in full, before retreating on it. He noted the members of the Joint Appropriations Committee are largely new, now that the WFC has seized control of the legislature, which is against the norm, and that they aren't from here.1 Some, he noted "haven't even been to university", before he went on to qualify that as being fine, "but".
Not all of these people are members of the Freedom Caucus, but a majority are. Driskill isn't and Sherwood definitely isn't. Bear, Allemand, and Pendergraft are.
What does the Freedom Caucus have against UW?
They favor ignorance.
That no doubt sounds harsh, and it is, but it's very much the case.
Spend any time around Wyoming Freedom Caucus members at all, and you'll find that they are generally poorly educated themselves, or they have very narrow educations. That doesn't mean they are dumb, although at least one of these guys is about as sharp as a spoon. Those who are educated, were not educated here, although quixotically, John Bear, who is a major figure in this movement, was educated at CSU and has a degree in economics.2
You can generally figure out how these by looking up their legislative biographies and doing a slight bit of digging. Take, for example, the well respected conservative, but not Freedom Caucus, Driskill:
Campbell, Crook, Weston Counties Republican
Senate District 01: Senator Ogden Driskill
Leadership:
2023-2024 President of the Senate
2021-2022 Senate Majority Floor Leader
2019-2020 Senate Vice President
Years of Service:
Senate: District 01, 2011-Present
Spouse:
Rosanne
Children:
3
Grandchildren:
3
Education:
Hulett High School-Diploma, 1977
Casper College-AA, 1980
University of Wyoming-,
Occupation:
Rancher and Tourism
Civic Organizations:
Wyoming Stockgrowers Assn
Partnership of Rangeland Trusts
Land Trust Alliance
Bear called Driskill a "doofus" the other day, which is particularly unwarranted. Driskill is pretty far from a "doofus".
Driskill went to Casper College and obtained an associates degree, and apparently attended, but did not graduate from, the University of Wyoming. He didn't list a religion, but a little digging reveals he's an Episcopalian.
Let's look at another 1977 high school graduate, Bill Allemand, who is in the WFC.
Natrona County Republican
House District 58: Representative Bill Allemand
Years of Service:
House: District 58, 2023-Present
Birthplace:
Casper, Wy
Children:
4
Grandchildren:
6
Religion:
Christian
We have a "don't vote for list" coming out, and Allemand is on it. He's anti access to public lands. Based on a recent news story, he has an odd relationship with alcohol, as he was picked up for drunk driving and indicated, according to the news, that he says he drinks while driving to address stress, or so the newspaper stated he stated.
Anyhow, no education is listed at all.
His campaign site notes he graduated from high school in 1977 and moved to Kansas to run a trucking company. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's a pretty narrow weltanschauung that might give you. No spouse is listed, which probably represents a divorce, although he could be widowed. He lists his religion as "Christian".
Allemand was one of the legislators who revealed to have been given a script for a hearing this past week, with that being excused on the basis that he's green in the legislature.
He's on his second term. . .
Let's look at the Democrat.
Albany County Democrat
House District 14: Representative Trey Sherwood
Minority Caucus Chairman
Leadership:
2025-2026 House Minority Caucus Chairman
2023-2024 House Minority Caucus Chairman
Years of Service:
House: District 14, 2021-Present
Religion:
Lutheran
Education:
Leadership Wyoming-, 2009
University of West Georgia-Public History/Museum Studies, 2004
Piedmont College-History/English, 2001
Occupation:
Director, Laramie Main Street
Civic Organizations:
Laramie Public Art Coalition
Trinity Lutheran Church
Hmmm, she has two degrees focusing on history, and she lists her religion as Lutheran.
Okay, what's up?
Well, with the Freedom Caucus people we tend to find that they're not well educated, or that they have very narrow educations, although there are exceptions, such as Bear. And they tend to list their religion as "Christian".
So am I "anti Christian"?
Not at all. I am a Christian. But what I find interesting about these listings is that what they tend to mean by Christian doesn't mean being a member of the Church founded by Christ or one of the original dissenting churches that recognized the Catholic Church as the original Church, as the Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church, Episcopal Church and Methodist Church all did, but sought a reformation of it, by their claims, but rather being a member of a Church that claims a Christian view and was founded by an identifiable human being, who was probably an American or where the church was highly developed inside the U.S.3
Take John Bear, for instance, one of the exceptions, as he's well educated. A while back I read a story on him, which included a terrible tragedy his family endured (and it was terrible). It noted he's a member of the Evangelical Free Church. The The EFCA was formed in 1950 from the merger of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association, so it has its roots in Scandinavian Protestantism outside of the Lutheran Church, the latter of which was the official state religion up until after World War Two, and which was imposed upon the Scandinavians by force against their will (they wanted to remain Catholic). Indeed, the Swedish Evangelical Free Church is a Baptist Church and all Evangelical Free Churches adhere to Radical Pietism It's what adherents of its sort of views call a "Bible Believing Church" which means that they reject the first 1500 years of Christianity largely because they are unaware of it and therefore, ironically, they do not believe in all of the Bible.
Let's look at another WFC member:
Campbell County Republican
House District 03: Representative Abby Angelos
Years of Service:
House: District 03, 2023-Present
Birthplace:
Buffalo, WY
Children:
3
Religion:
Christian
Education:
Wright Jr Sr High School -, 1998
Occupation:
Women’s Ministry Director
Again, no education listed save for high school, and religion is listed as "Christian".
The charmingly named Angelos would suggest that somebody in her husband's family was Greek, but apparently lost their faith in the Apostolic faith somewhere along the way, which is a danger in the Orthodox community as it does not seem to share the Catholic canon of mandatory attendance. It's also a marked feature of the agricultural community, quite frankly, as it was difficult for isolated ranchers to attend Mass or Divine Liturgy, and so they lost their original faith or became very loose in adherence to it.4 In its place a sort of loosely organized Christianity sprang up, with many Christian tenants ignored not really grasped.
John Ford gave a really nice portrayal of Western frontier Protestantism in The Searchers, even though Ford was Catholic. Indeed, he gives a nice and very sympathetic portrayal of it in several films, with this one being the best perhaps for the simple reason that the Ethan character in the film is irreligious. Another really good one is given in Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee, in which the Protestant minister is one of the combatants. Peckinpah was raised in a very strict Presbyterian household. Wayne, who became a very late in life Catholic convert, was in another frontier minister film that does a good job with the topic, The Shepherd of the Hills. In any event, Ford's observations are very keen i the way that only somebody who is religious themselves can be about another religion.
Digging in a little shows Angelos to be a member of Gillette's "Family Life Church", which claims to be "non denominational" even though there's utterly no such thing. So, no doubt, it's a "Bible believing" do it yourself church that likely has a very poor understanding of Christian history, theology, and perhaps even Christianity. Indeed, it's website claims its "Christ centered" which any Christian church would have to be without claiming to be.
Here's another example:
Laramie, Platte Counties Republican
House District 04: Representative Jeremy Haroldson
Speaker Pro Tempore
Leadership:
2025-2026 House Speaker Pro Tempore
Years of Service:
House: District 04, 2021-Present
Birthplace:
Wheatland
Spouse:
Lori Haroldson
Children:
2
Religion:
Christian
Education:
Bismark State College-Power Plant Technology, 2006
Global University -Biblical Theology , 2016
Occupation:
Pastor
Civic Organizations:
Platte County Chamber of Commerce Chairman of Board
Rural Advancement Board Member
Platte County Ministerial Association former President
Haroldson is a WFC member. He has an education, but it's basically a technical school type education, which is definitely an education, but not a liberal arts education. He's an Assemblies of God pastor, which is a Pentecostalist "Bible believing" Protestant Church that's popular, for some reason, with rural communities.
Um, okay, so what?
The first real attacks I heard on the University of Wyoming were by the fellow who caused this event to come about:
I guess that's not entirely true, as the movement that caused Kirk to show up was active before that. Frankly, it was mostly amusing at first, as it was a collection of young (men) people who organized to complain about how liberal the University of Wyoming was while attending it. The prime mover of that organization is somebody I heard holding forth in a casual setting once, addressing a group of people he assumed to be uneducated, and he really held forth on how liberal professors were poisoning the minds of young people, a common theme of people in the Kirk orbit.5
Now, there's a lot to dig into this group of folks and their overall world outlook.6 We'll do that elsewhere, and that doesn't relate to this at all.
So, what's the point?
Just this, while individual members of the Freedom Caucus are educated, or are not members of a do it yourself sort of poorly catechized Christianity, that theme runs through the entire group, and it runs through the entire Charlie Kirk branch of Protestantism. And as they are poorly educated in general, to include religion, they don't trust education, as its adverse to what they want to believe.
Educated people generally have open minds, which does not preclude them from being conservative. William F. Buckley, for example, or George F. Will, are certainly well educated and conservative. Generally, however, educated people are more likely to embrace some ideas that are "progressive" or "liberal", or which are neither but which people very entrenched on the right regard that way, or they are at least likely to have nuances or exhibit tolerance.
A good example of that with well formed Catholics is is that climate change is caused by humans and we need to do something to arrest, and reverse it. You can definitely find well educated people who dispute this, although it's a declining number.
It gets confusing when you get to social issues, which is why I think we've seen Catholic fellow travelers with some of these groups, who are not part of these groups.7Abortion is a good example. Catholics have been opposed to abortion since day one, but how have been joined by right wing protestants. A lot of well formed Catholics are also opposed to the death penalty, and have been for a long time, but you won't find this to the case with right wing Protestants as a rule.
And we could go on and on. Lots of "conservative" Catholics are also pretty concerned about the environment, which puts them on the left in that area. Plenty of Catholics have real formed opinions against starting wars, any war, which also puts them on the left, although that's not universally true. You won't, however, hear Protestants debating on whether a particular action comports with the Just War Theory.
And finally, as a rule, Catholics are huge on education. The Big Bang Theory, after all, is our idea, as is the roots of the theory of evolution. Quite a few people in the far Evangelical right would insist that those are fibs.8
In short, some of the things taught in universities, but certainly not all, run contrary to what the far right of the Evangelical movement holds, particularly, but not exclusively, in regard to science. Indeed, this very topic comes up frequently for Catholics as somebody will ask us if we believe in science or religion, and we look baffled, and say, well, both, which is true. The far right in Evangelicalism however, can't. And because the evidence in science is frequently irrefutable, it does in fact cause a crisis for those who are deep into it when they start to study it.
That's not all of it however.
In the debate on hacking money away from the UW block grant, it was clear that, in spite of what was said, that the feeling was that UW has some liberals lurking in the woodpile that need to be smoked out. Indeed, this is so much the topic of far conservative angst that the very conservative Claremont Institute has published an entire article on it. There are specific courses that they detest, often having to do with things they regard as Woke, and they don't like Wyoming Public Radio, which is housed at UW. One of the legislators, Haroldson, compared it to Pravda, which is absurd, but which reflects a long held conservative distaste for media and general and public media in particular, as they regard it as biased. It's regarded that way as its reporting is straightforward and it'll cover unpopular topics.9]
You won't find too many Freedom Caucus members listening to NPR's Science Friday.
In contrast, you will find some, I'd guess, that listen to an Evangelical radio station in Casper which unironically runs a really long item by a guy who is adamant that the world is only 5,000 or so years old and who likes to go to National Parks and confront the science lectures of Park Rangers with that. He conceives of them being overawed, when in fact it's clear that they think he's an anti scientific nut.
And that gets to the heart of it in general. Folks in the Freedom Caucus are afraid of education, as people learn that the world isn't 5,000 years old, that evolution is real, and that climate change isn't a fib. They can't stand that as it deeply upsets their world view. Evolution, the age of the Earth, and climate science aren't a threat to Catholics, the Orthodox, or mainline Protestants as they accept that faith can be informed by science. It is a a deep threat to "Bible believing" Christians as they can't reconcile any of those things with the literal text of the Bible, even though they're perfectly content to flat out ignore big chunks of the Bible that Apostolic Christians in fact take literally.
The other thing that these groups are flat out ignorant on is history.
This often comes through in economic debates or in campaigns. Listen to them, even though most of them aren't from here, Wyoming came about when hardy pioneers crossed the barren plains and carved out a civilization from the raw wilderness.
Which is bull.
Well, not completely bull, but at least partially bull.
In reality, Wyoming was a major benefactor of the American System in which the Federal Government heavily invested in the economy to give private enterprise a start. The US removed the original inhabitants of the land by armed force, subsidized the building of the railroads, guarded the trails with Federal troops, and gave away land with bare minimum proof of effort. In 2026 the US would never do any of that, but its legacy, including the completely absurd legacy that the owners of land that was given away solely for agricultural purposes now own the minerals, including the oil and gas, below where the grass grows.
Now, I'm a huge fan of history, including Wyoming history, and I'm an agriculturalist as well as a lawyer, and I wish I'd lived back when you could homestead. More than that, if I could have lived when free and company trappers were the only European Americans out here, I would have loved to have done that. But none of that should mean that we take a They Died With Their Boots On view of history let alone our own state. Frankly, the repeal of the Homestead Act after Franklin Roosevelt saved the state and made it was it is, and we ought to be grateful.
Finally, the other thing that's going on is a guerilla campaign in the Culture Wars. College campuses really are more liberal than any other American institution, followed probably only by the Bar.10 Even this, however, isn't very uniform.
As noted here before, I came up in the sciences. By and large, people in the sciences couldn't, at the time, be characterized as left or right. I've heard that certain Charlie Kirk acolyte rail against "liberal professors", but that's because he was a political science major. Who did you think you were going to find there? Other than sociology, that's no doubt the most likely to be left wing major that there is. It's also a major that only leads to teaching or the law, so in a way its a self refining pool of people. People with political science degrees will generally find that the professors are center to left of center. Lawyers as a rule are center to left of center, even if they didn't start out that way, as they have to work with real people. Far right lawyers, of which there are some, aren't going to probably do very well in a profession where your clients are basically in the category of desperately needing help.
Universities, it might be noted, have become more liberal since the Second World War, that being another impact of WWII that I failed to note in my large post on that topic. The reasons were several fold, the first being the massive government investment in universities, which were providing necessary technological knowledge, and manpower, as universities were training needed professions as well as directly training officers. An officer during the Second World War was much more likely to have come out of a university than a military academy. This relationship kept on right after the war and it still exists today.
But beyond that, the GI Bill sent thousands of men to universities who would never have otherwise gone.
All of this created a new condition in which universities started taking in government money, and then became dependent up on it to a degree. It shifted the center of gravity in various academic fields, but not all of them, away from liberal arts degrees that were fairly narrowly focused to much broader ones. This expanded existing degree programs as well. Having said all that entirely new fields were not created anywhere as much as people like to think. CU, for example offered political science classes all the way back to the 1910s, although the department was created in 1957.
So here's the one area that they have a point on. In some fields, not all, some professors, not all are fairly liberal, because that's where they can find a professional homes. Prior to World War Two, and even more, prior to World War One, that's where a certain type of tweedy right wing academic found a home, funded as it were by old money that funded the universities. Now it's sort of flipped.
But how many professors is that really?
My academic experience is quite a while back, but even at that time some of the things the populist right regards as "woke" were around. I don't think I had a single undergraduate professor that I'd regard as left wing, but then again, my major was in a hard science. In law school I can think of a single professor that I'd regard as slightly left of center, but there were quite a few students who were very left of center. Those students were in the political left when they got there.
Indeed, thinking again of my undergraduate years, just after the Siberian land bridge closed, there were a fair number of students in the hard sciences that were left of center. I'd guess that there was probably a single student I knew, a grad student, who was definitely in the political right. Most of the rest of us were not.
And that's some the Freedom Caucus needs to consider.
It wasn't our university education that made us geology students slightly left of center. Were were slightly left of center going in. That doesn't mean we were flaming radicals either, I'd note. But we weren't right wing populists. We were pretty cautious, as budding scientists, about right wing views on many things, and now that I'm approaching four decades out, my views have returned to the same as they were on politics for the most part. Indeed, they've evolved hardly at all there. They have evolved on social and religious views, where I've become more conservative over time, but at the same time, I've become more learned on the same topics, which has driven that.
Which is why the Freedom Caucus needs to get a little education itself. It's grasp of the history of the state and its economics is abysmal. They need more of the opening of Red River and all of Little Big Man and less of the end of They Died With Their Boots On.
The University of Wyoming is the state's only four year college, in part because it fought tooth and nail to keep there from being any others. Hurting UW is an ignorant thing to do.11
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.
Flannery O'Connor.
Footnotes
1. While I'll note in this that most of the members of the WFC are ignorant in one way or another, they're certainly not stupid, and they're doing what contestants for the English crown used to do in the early Medieval period. They've seized the treasury, and therefore are, they hope, in control.
2. Bear is a CSU graduate and Navy veteran. He's originally from Missouri.
3. They would no doubt not see this, this way, but that's because they tend to be unaware of the highly developed written history of the early Church and the vast number of writings from it.
4. This is very common in the West and I've known some Catholic ranching families that lost their association with the Church in just this fashion. After a time, they don't even know that a generation or two back, they were Catholic.
This sort of thing is described in Patrick McManus' memoir in which he notes that his family lived so far out in the sticks that he was actually relatively advanced in years, age 4 or 5, before he was ware that his family was Catholic. He did remain Catholic.
5. It turns out that he was pursuing a political science degree with the goal of going to law school. It's amusing in part because political science professors tend to be liberal and come by it naturally. If you have Francoist views, as this fellow turned out to have, you aren't going to be a poly sci professor. Lawyers are, moreover, almost uniformly left of center to center, so he's setting himself up for an unhappy life.
6. The real exception to all of this is Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, who is a well educated Californian and a Catholic.
But this in and of itself is interesting. I'd defer to Fr. Joseph Krupp on this, who has discussed how for many years the pro life movement was exclusively Catholic, and then all of a sudden protestant groups started showing up. It had an influence on Catholics in that movement, which ironically helped fuel the Trad movement, although its certainly not the sole reason for it.
Catholics who are fellow travelers with Evangelicals in politics are really naive on what that means as many of these "Bible Believing" Protestants have no clue whatsoever that the Bible is a Catholic book or that Catholics are the original Christians. Rooted in the Black Myths, many of them instinctively really hate Catholics, which will come back to haunt Catholics at some point.
7. See footnote 1.
8. The US is a Protestant country, however, and you can find plenty of Catholics who have adopted heavily Protestantized views on nearly anything, often unthinkingly.
9. The comparison to Pravda is not only absurd, but ironic given that the news organs of the Trump regime might be fairly compared to the Volkische Beobacher.
10. You'll find a lot of conservative lawyers out in the practicing lawyer world, but you won't find very many MAGA ones. There are some, but they're a minority.
Interestingly, when Liz Cheney got into trouble with the electorate here because of her views, the lawyers were really in her corner. I never heard a single lawyer criticize Cheney, and lots of them were very vocal in their support of her. I'd get rare comments from out of state lawyers, who were usually surprised by the stoney silence such comments made, assuming as they did that all Wyomingites hated Cheney.
Lawyers never did, and for that matter, most professionals didn't either. That's still the case, and frankly most of the professional community, including ardent conservatives, are not happy with any of the state's Congressional delegation.
11. For years I thought I saw this coming, I'd note, but not where it actually came. I thought it'd be the law school that would get attacked.
Law schools tend to regarded as liberal by default, and populists tend to hate the law as it restrains them from doing what they want to do, right up until the forces of nature whip around on them and they need protection from the law. Frankly, I fear we're getting there very quickly as Trump's unhinged nature is starting to provoke violent resistance to his programs, and the populist insurrection on January 6, 2020, has given Trump's most radical opponents a blueprint. If the cabinet or Congress doesn't force Trump into the nursing home soon, I suspect very soon that the administration may experience its own January 6 event.
Anyhow, I thought for years that the legislature would turn on the law school, but it hasn't. It might be because, up until very recently, there were quite a few lawyers in the legislature.
That's no longer true, and the lousy quality of some of the legislation that gets passed shows that. Lawyers belong in the legislature. Indeed, there's been a recent effort by some of the legal associations to recruit them back into it, without much success.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Anyhow, the law school probably averted this by doing a good job of making itself irrelevant. The UBE has really damaged it, and the practice of law in Wyoming in general.
