RICK PERRY HATED DEMOCRACY BEFORE TRUMP DID

Here's a news story from 2011:

After six years of fierce partisan battling, the legislative war over voter ID in Texas is officially over.

Gov. Rick Perry signed the voter ID bill into law this morning. The legislation requires voters to present one of five acceptable forms of photo ID—a drivers license, military ID, passport, concealed handgun license or a special voter ID card provided free of charge by the state. Gov. Perry designated voter ID as an “emergency item” early in the session, giving it particular priority as lawmakers rushed it through the legislative process.

Note that the law let Texans vote with a concealed handgun license but not a student ID. It was in limbo for a couple of years because Section 4 of the federal Votings Rights Act was still in effect and required preclearance of such electoral changes in Texas, but when the Supreme Court struck down Section 4, the law went into effect -- until a federal judge held that it "creates a substantial burden on the fundamental right to vote, has a discriminatory effect and purpose, and constitutes a poll tax." That ruling was stayed, and eventually the law took effect with modifications.

I'm pointing this out so we're not surprised at the news today about Rick Perry:

Members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol believe that former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry was the author of a text message sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows the day after the 2020 election pushing an "AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY" for three state legislatures to ignore the will of their voters and deliver their states' electors to Donald Trump, three sources familiar with the House Committee investigation tell CNN.

... Multiple people who know Rick Perry confirmed to CNN that the phone number the committee has associated with that text message is Perry's number....

As I always say, Donald Trump didn't turn the GOP into an anti-democratic party. The GOP has been opposed to democracy since at least the era of George W. Bush and his obsession wih voter fraud. Trump vastly increased the level of anti-democratic aggression, but pre-Trump Republicans were already with the program. Some have preferred to create a veneer of legitimacy about their anti-democratic activities, which would explain why Republicans in the states resisted Trump's efforts to steal the 2020 election after the votes were in and counted, but they're all fine with the notion of putting a thumb or two on the scale to ensure Republican victories. So it's no surprise that an old-school Republican like Perry was involved in this.