Phelan Posts AI Recording that Mocks AG
to Show What Bill Patrick Killed Tried to Do
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August 16, 2026
Outgoing Texas House member Dade Phelan - a former speaker who'd been the chief architect of Ken Paxton's impeachment in 2023 - got in a parting shot on Saturday night when he repost an AI video mocking the state lawyer who's the Republicans' nominee for the U.S. Senate here this year.
But the outgoing lawmaker from Beaumont had a legitimate reason on paper for circulating the 1:07 minute video that surfaced the day before on TikTok where it received two million views by Friday night. Phelan pointed to the video as an example of what he was trying to prevent with legislation that he shepherded through the House last year before it's burial in the Senate without a hearing or a vote.
"As AI evolves it becomes increasingly difficult for voters to differentiate between real & fake images or videos," Phelan said in a post on X. "My HB 366 would have required campaign political ads & anyone being compensated to work on their behalf to include a disclaimer stating "AI generated", "images did not occur in reality", etc. This issue must be resolved soon for election integrity & the voters."
The measure in question - House Bill 366 - would have prohibited the use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns in Texas without disclosure that the content in a video or photo made with AI never happened and isn't real. Violations of the law that Phelan proposed last year would have been punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine as high as $4,000.
"As AI evolves it becomes increasingly difficult for voters to differentiate between real & fake images or videos," Phelan said in a post on X. "My HB 366 would have required campaign political ads & anyone being compensated to work on their behalf to include a disclaimer stating "AI generated", "images did not occur in reality", etc. This issue must be resolved soon for election integrity & the voters."
Phelan didn't mention in the social media post that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had killed the AI restrictions measure single handedly during the 2025 regular session when he refused to refer the bill to a Senate committee after it cleared the House on the final day of April. Patrick appeared to despise Phelan partly as a result of his role in the Paxton impeachment that ended with a Senate trial over which the lieutenant governor presided as the judge.
But Phelan had alienated the powerful Senate president during his first term as the speaker in 2021 when he refused to bow to Patrick's demands on a proposal that would have required an audit of the 2020 election in Texas where President Donald Trump had won by 6 points with 52 percent of the vote. Patrick, who served as Trump's state campaign chairman in all three White House bids, teamed up with Paxton and the president in an attempt to oust Phelan in the GOP primary election in his home district in 2024 when he eliminated the candidate they'd supported in a runoff.
After trying and failing to beat Phelan at the polls in 2024, Patrick found a way to exact some payback when he killed a package of campaign reforms that former speaker conceived and guided out of the House in 2025.
Paxton got a taste of revenge that year when several Phelan lieutenants were defeated in the primary election or subsequent runoff vote by candidates who the attorney general had recruited. The primary bloodbath that the impeachment had triggered and fueled prompted Phelan to pull the plug on a campaign for a third term as the speaker in late 2024 when Republicans on his leadership team rallied behind Dustin Burrows as his replacement in the dais at the start of the regular session in 2025.
While Phelan left Patrick's name out of the post on the legislation that had been dead on arrival in the Capitol's east wing, a simple process of deduction would point to the lieutenant governor as the Texas leader who could have prevented the AI video making fun of Paxton but failed to do so with the killing of HB 366 before senators had the chance to make the call. By passing on the opportunity to crack down on the use of artificial intelligence as a political weapon without disclaimers,
The video that Phelan put up on social media features someone who looks like Paxton in the face with a body that's similar to Trump's own physique. The Paxton character is armed with a drink on a deck at a ski resort while a narrator says he earns $153,000 a year and owns 15 homes.
"Nobody knows how - especially not him," the narrator says before the video shows Paxton in a swimsuit by a swimming pool where he shrugs in response to the question while holding up a fruity drink with a bamboo umbrella sticking out of it. Then it shows Paxton decked in business suit when he leans over and whispers to a man in a suit. "How many of these can I claim as my primary residence?" the Paxton figure asks. The video cuts to a scene with people hiding under desks in an office setting.
"His employees respect him so much - eight of them personally called the FBI. He fired four. It only cost Texas $6 million," the narrator says as the video shows Paxton shredding papers when he sticks a middle finger in the air for the camera.
"He united Texas so well that Republicans and Democrats voted together to impeach him," the storytellers continues.
"He once held a press conference about his scandals. He answered zero questions - and set his personal best in the 40-yard dash," the narrator says as the video shows Paxton running as fast as he can off a stage where he'd been conducting the media briefing before flying out a back door.
"His wife filed for divorce on biblical grounds. So he honored America's 250th birthday in London - the country we specifically left," the narrator relates in a reference to Paxton's trip to Europe with a girlfriend during the Fourth of July weekend.
The video says a Texas town that's not identified asked Paxton to intervene on its behalf in an attempt to stop the development of a data center there. "Six months and $450,000 dollars later he's still deciding," the narrator adds before the video shifts a scene that's pattered on the famous beer commercial with the most interesting man in the world.
"He is the most corrupt politician in the world," the video says in reference to Paxton. "I don't always need a lawyer. But when I do, even he votes for the other guy. Stay loyal my friends."
The video was referring to Paxton's former criminal attorney - Dan Cogdell - who defended him in a securities fraud case and during the impeachment proceedings. The video ends with the door slamming behind Paxton in his office. "Dan?" Paxton looks around and says.
The Phelan legislation cleared the House on a vote of 102-40 with most of the chambers most conservative members voting no.
more to come ...
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