The right-wing slugfest to replace Jim Inhofe has a new challenger!
Fresh of Markwayne's announcement that he will toss his golden monkey wrench into the ring, T.W. Shannon – a popular right-wing nut job in the Oklahoma GOP – officially announced he's running for US Senate... again.
Here are the details via his hometown news channel – KSWO:
Former Oklahoma Speaker of the House and Lawton native T.W. Shannon has thrown his hat into the ring for the U.S. Senate seat that’s soon to be vacated by Sen. Jim Inhofe...
Shannon served as the Oklahoma Speaker of the House until 2014 when he stepped down to run against James Lankford for former Oklahoma U.S. Senator Tom Coburn’s seat.
He has since served as the national chairman of Black Voices for Trump.
After he was named Oklahoma Speaker of the House early last decade, I remember drinking beers with a rank and file Republican lawmaker from Tulsa at an alcohol lobbyist's event at the 51st Street Speakeasy. I asked what he thought of T.W. He paused for a second, gazed into the air like a semi-nude mermaid floated before him and slurred...
"He's going to be president someday."
Sure, I think the lawmaker was kind of drunk, but that's how some people in the Oklahoma GOP viewed him. I think some of them still do.
Since then, Shannon ran a very unsuccessful bid for US Senate in 2014, being topped by James Lankford by a 20% margin.
From there, he settled nicely into a cushy gig as a bank president for the Chickasaw Nation. I say cushy gig, because they apparently gave him lots of PTO to travel the country and appear on leggy right-wing news outlets...
And Conservative events...
In case you can't tell, T.W. is very active on Instagram. He pushes everything from anti-science memes...
To standard nostalgia...
To even weather stuff...
Okay, so his weather stuff isn't too far off, but the rest of his feed is just your stereotypical mix of right-wing trash and propaganda, that, in all likelihood, TW actually believes and buys hook, line and sinker. Hell, he's so far to the right he even occasionally tags Qanon stuff in hashtags:
Let's be honest. Messages like the ones above will be very appealing to most Trump voters and Oklahoma Republicans. If some of them can get over their extreme racism, T.W. Shannon seems like he has a solid chance to earn their vote and win this race.
Then again, this isn't going to be an easy fight. He's about to get into a bare-knuckle head-to-toe octagon battle-a-thon against a cast of characters like a well-funded Markwayne Mullen – the embodiment of the right-wing Trump bro.
You also have a guy like Nathan Dahm. He has no shame, and can also count on the backing of the homeschool and pentecostal crowd.
And don't forget about Mr. Mysteriouso himself – Luke Holland. He's so memorable that I literally had to look his name up for that previous sentence.
You also have to wonder what Jackson Lahmeyer is going to do. Will God tell him it's a better idea to fight for an open Senate seat as opposed to one held by an incumbent with a huge campaign war chest? The lord works in mysterious ways.
I guess we'll continue to monitor the right-wing race for this open seat. Stay with The Lose Ogle. We'll keep you advised.
