Texas' race for railroad commissioner — a statewide office that, despite its name, regulates the oil and gas industry rather than railroads — has erupted into a national scandal after racist social media posts from Republican nominee Bo French drew widespread attention, prompting veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove, a former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, to say he would be voting for the Democratic nominee, Jon Rosenthal. President Donald Trump responded by attacking Rove as a "RINO" — Republican In Name Only. According to conservative New York Times columnist David French, the episode is a prime example of a Republican Party spinning out of control.

Although Bo French had been posting racist comments on social media for a long time, the current scandal erupted over the weekend, when he reacted to a Texas victory in a college football game by lamenting that many of the fans were non-white. On X, Bo French posted a photo of fans and wrote, "I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn't believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined."

Writing in his New York Times column, David French argued that "(Bo) French's 'problem' was obvious. He wasn't an Ohio State fan angry that Texas won; he was a Texas fan angry that those students were who they were." He added, "Before I go any further, you need to know that this is nothing unusual from Bo French. He's one of a seemingly endless number of vicious bigots lurking within the modern right, but he stands out from the rest, even so. As Robert Downen wrote in Texas Monthly, French has 'called for the rounding up of all Muslims.' French has also posted, 'OK boys, it's time to go round up all the Chinese and send them packing!' and has called for America to be like Rhodesia, an African nation every bit as gross, violent and racially repressive as apartheid South Africa. So, no, Bo French does not merit the benefit of the doubt."

David French stressed that the scandal underscores a problem extending well beyond Bo French himself: MAGA Republicans who flaunt, rather than try to hide, their racism.

He cited Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Turning Point USA — the conservative youth organization Charlie Kirk co-founded — the executive producer of "the Charlie Kirk Show," who wrote: "America was ~80% white 40 years ago. Now it's ~50%. The demographic replacement of America is happening at a historic, truly insane pace. It's not racist to notice." David French also noted that Jack Posobiec, a MAGA influencer with an immense following, posted, "Defend @bofrench like the Alamo." And he pointed to Steve Deace, a Christian talk show host, who asked: "Why is it a bad idea to import so many people from India? Just 2.3 percent of India is Christian."

David French observed that some Republicans have vehemently condemned Bo French, including Rove and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

"The battle lines of the post-Trump Republican Party are being drawn," David French argued. "There will be a renewed push to return the party to a degree of normalcy and integrity. There will be a fight against the racists and bigots of the populist right. But 10 years of Trump have changed the party, from the grass roots to its think tanks to the White House itself."

He cited Jeremy Carl, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank, who wrote on X that Republicans who condemned French "weren't prepared for the ferocious and justified pushback they got, because the New Right is not willing to assume the supine beautiful losers posture that characterized the American right for decades on questions of immigration and national identity."