The political scandal known as Bonnghazi has, over the past couple months, slowly engulfed House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. After having outmaneuvered and marginalized right-wing provocateur Michael Quinn Sullivan and his group Empower Texans during his first term as speaker, Bonnen emerged from a successful 2019 legislative session as a dominant political force.
Then he made the confounding decision to meet with Sullivan in an attempt to turn his foe into an ally. It was a fateful—and eventually fatal—decision.
It all unfurled faster than a furious presidential tweet thread. On Monday night, top GOP House committee members and staunch allies began calling for Bonnen to step down as speaker and resign from office. The floodgates had broken. By Tuesday morning, Bonnen got the hint and announced he would not seek reelection in 2020.
