The Texas House just made a mockery of the First Amendment—and in the most embarrassing way possible: by pretending it was about “election integrity.” House Bill 366, which passed on Tuesday with support from a bunch of clueless Republicans who apparently have never read the Constitution, makes it a crime in Texas to share political memes or AI-generated content without a government-mandated disclaimer. Texas—the supposed bastion of freedom—is now trying to put warning labels on jokes.
And leading the charge? None other than scandal-ridden former Speaker Dade Phelan. You might remember him as the guy who tried to take out Attorney General Ken Paxton with a bogus impeachment effort and got humiliated when the Texas Senate threw out every single article. Now he’s back at it, using the legislature to protect himself from mean memes on the internet.
https://twitter.com/Carlos__Turcios/status/1917365270424818032
Let’s break this down. HB 366 makes it a Class A misdemeanor—so, a real crime—for any political campaign or group that spends over $100 to distribute AI-generated or “altered” media that doesn’t carry a disclaimer saying “this didn’t really happen.” And guess who gets to decide how those disclaimers look? The Texas Ethics Commission. Because nothing screams “free speech” like forcing people to follow state-approved label formats before posting a political joke on X.
Today, the Texas House of Representatives passed RINO Dade Phelan’s bill to CRIMINALIZE political memes.
The bill would imprison people for 1 year if meme does not have a disclaimer.
I have no words. Here is the vote. pic.twitter.com/oEIMofhNYs
— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) April 30, 2025
Media outlets and service providers are exempt from the law (for now), but that’s just lipstick on a pig. The real target here is grassroots political speech—the kind of viral, in-your-face memes that get shared by regular Americans calling out corruption. You know, the stuff that made Phelan the butt of every drunk-Speaker joke in Texas.
Let’s not forget, this is the same Dade Phelan who was officially censured by the Texas GOP in 2024 for betraying Republican values and trying to kneecap a Trump ally. And after public outrage hit a boiling point, Phelan was forced to step down from his role as Speaker in December. So now, with the clock ticking on his political relevance, he’s helping Democrats muzzle dissent.
The backlash has been fierce—and deserved. Texans are calling this what it is: unconstitutional, un-American, and flat-out stupid. One commenter said it best: “Speech (and memes) should not be infringed. This is the road to totalitarianism.”
If Texas Republicans don’t wake up and repeal this disaster before it takes effect in September 2025, they might as well hand over the Lone Star State to the censors.
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