Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

It’s hard to imagine how Republicans’ full court press for a voter-restriction bill during the current session of the Texas Legislature could be any more of a shit show. But State Rep. Briscoe Cain is sure giving it the ol’ college try.

Last Thursday, the Deer Park Republican maneuvered a voting bill out of the committee he chairs with completely new language and without any public input, drawing a furious response from Democrats and voting-rights groups.

Cain, who provided legal help for Donald Trump’s effort overturn the 2020 presidential election, was so dead set on moving the proposal forward without public discussion that he had to try twice that day. When the morning hearing devolved into chaos, he waited until nighttime and pushed the proposal out of the GOP-dominated committee on a 5-4 vote.

In case you want an update on what's transpired with the bill since then, read this.

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2021/05/07/texas-gops-voting-restrictions-bill-could-be-rewritten-behind-closed-doors-after-key-house-vote

The move was true to form for Cain, a grandstanding Tea Partier known less for his legislative accomplishments than inflammatory statements like his 2019 tweet threatening to shoot then-presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke if he tried to confiscate Cain’s assault rifle.

Beyond pissing off Dems and civil-rights groups who wanted to weigh in on the dramatically altered voting bill, Cain’s last-minute switcheroo sets up a probable conflict within his own party.

That’s because Cain’s move gutted Senate Bill 7, a priority piece of legislation that already passed the Senate, and replaced it with his own House Bill 6, a vastly different measure that, among other things, includes provisions making it easier for partisan poll watchers to access voting sites.

Expect a food fight between the two chambers as they compete over which version of the voter restriction measure ends up on the governor’s desk. Should be fun to see how many members of Cain’s own party are willing to call him out as an assclown.