The Texan Podcast - Weekly Roundup - November 29, 2024

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free "Remember the Alamo" hat with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/ The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion. Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Got questions for the reporting team? Email [e-mail] — they just might be answered on a future podcast.Happy Thanksgiving! This week on The Texan’s “Weekly Roundup,” the team discusses:Trump Nominates Texans Scott Turner, Brooke Rollins for Presidential CabinetPost-Election Breakdowns, Numbers, and History: Smoke Filled Room Ep. 10PUC Crypto RuleEnd of Texas CentennialTexas Supreme Court Halts Trial Court’s Depositions of Ken Paxton, Aides in Whistleblower Suit

He's gone, but I had to finish my lead-in, so now we're just going to wait for him to return. Where'd he go? He's like, my Wi-Fi's fine. My Wi-Fi's fine. No, it's not, Brad. I'm sorry. I don't make the rules. 38-minute mark. Brad just disappears. Well, howdy, folks. If you're listening to this, it is the day after Thanksgiving, and we hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and friends and family. I'm here with Brad Johnson, Cameron Abrams, and Mary Elise Cosgrave on an abbreviated, but still fun edition of the Texans Weekly Roundup podcast. Bradley, what day is Michigan playing Ohio State? The Saturday after Thanksgiving, as it always has been.

Okay. Well, excuse me for not knowing the day that your team plays its chief rival. What day do does college football usually play? Saturday. I know.

I know. I'm just saying. And I did read your fourth reading drafts today that talked about your fourth reading draft today that talked about – your fourth reading did also say what day it played, and I had already forgotten that. So I read that this morning.

That's really the more egregious mistake on my end. But, Brad, who will win? What's your take on how the game will go? Oh, I don't think we're going to win. I think we could. We're in a down year. We won the national title. You know what? in a down year. We won the national title. You know what?

I don't care. We won the national title. We beat Ohio State three years in a row. That is what I'm going to hang my hat on. And you know what? If we get – if we sneak out a win and ruin Ohio State's season, that's just gravy on top. I think that's bad.

How many years can a school coast on winning a national championship? Do you get five years, 10 years, 20 years? At least one, and we're still within the first season. We are the reigning national champs. Until it's taken away from us in January. It's true. So I'm going to coast as long as I possibly can. Who is Michigan playing on Saturday?

Ohio State, Mary Elise. Come on. Get with it. It's rivalry week. You mentioned that at the beginning. Don't feel bad. No, Brad will be indignant if folks don't know when michigan and ohio state are playing regardless of this is the last week of most of the regular season of football that's why it's rivalry week

that's why texas and texas a&m are playing this saturday for the first time in 13 years excited about mary lee's is your family getting into college football at all? No, we're much more into the NFL. So we're big Steelers fans. My dad's side of the family is from Pittsburgh. Yeah, much more NFL. Steelers fans. Okay. Yep. Wow. Yeah.

Brad had a reaction when you said that. I don't want to know why, but I kind of do. I really couldn't tell because it's frozen on my end. Mary Lise, you know Ben Roethlisberger, right? Yes. He's from my hometown. Oh, really? Huh. Yep. Your thoughts on Roethlisberger? He seemed to have some. I mean, he was pretty good.

That's pretty good. Half the town loves him, half the town hates him here. I'm laughing because there's definitely a lag between you two and probably massive people to edit it out. But that was the funniest lagging conversation I've heard. Oh, my gosh. That was funny. And Cameron, you have a mustache.

That's really the main plot point that I think is fascinating to us. The moment Brad noticed, he made quite a deal about it when we saw your photo pop up here for the pod. Yeah, I don't think I've ever rocked a mustache before. I really can't remember if I've ever shaved everything but the mustache. So this is a first for me. The facial hair was growing out very long but very patchy. So there needed to be an adjustment. And this is what I settled on.

I got the thumbs up from Brad. So I'm thinking I'm going to keep it through the holidays, get some good reactions from the family members. I don't know if it'll stick around once I get back to the office, but for right now, it's staying around. You have a free week to do whatever you want with your facial hair with very little repercussion or comment other than right now. So exactly.

Take advantage of the time yeah well i wish i could grow in a full beard but i can't it grows in like till about here and then there's a gap and then it grows in and then it gets really thick on my chin but nowhere else so it it just looks horrible so this is the best i can do okay okay well it's looking you know we're as a fan so that's really all you need to know i am you understood like a pump to the heart for those who aren't watching on youtube um okay well gentlemen and lady,

let's jump in to the news of the week. Cameron, we finally have a full Trump cabinet, I think. And a couple of Texans made the list this week. Pretty notable names, too familiar to a lot of folks. Tell us about two Texans that were tapped. Yeah, like you mentioned, cabinet is filling out. Seems as though all the nominations have been made so far. I think they're just waiting on a couple that are remaining, at least ones that are going to require Senate confirmation. were Scott Turner. Some might be familiar with him because he was a member of the Texas House from 2013 to 2017. He actually made a run at Joe Strauss to be the House Speaker.

Turner did end up losing that run for House Speakership, but sort of got on the Texas stage statewide with that sort of run. And he has made a name for himself also being appointed previously during the Trump administration, the first Trump administration, to head the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. So he's been a part of the federal government before. He's a former NFL player. And now he's going to be nominated to be the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD. So HUD does have a big budget. The 2025 presidential budget has requested $72.6 billion for HUD and $185 billion over the next 10 years. So lots of money, as is always with these federal departments. Another Texan that was recently announced is Brooke Rawlins. She was tapped to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary. People might be familiar with Rawlins. She was the president of TPPF.

She's been the president and CEO of America First Policy Institute. so very much in the Trump world as part of those two organizations. And there was a couple of Texans that were floated, specifically Sid Miller. A lot of rumors thought he was going to be part of the Trump administration. It looks like Trump has gone in a different direction, but staying within the state of Texas here. And again, these federal agencies, large budgets, $213.2 billion for 2024 for USDA. And it oversees almost 30 different federal agencies and offices. So a very major part of the federal government is the USDA. And just to recap for people who haven't been tuned in over the past few weeks, other Texans that are going to be a part of the upcoming, or at least

nominated to be part of the upcoming Trump administration, John Ratcliffe, former Texas congressman and director of national intelligence has been selected to be the director of the CIA. And then also Texas's richest resident, Elon Musk, he's going to, him and Vivek Ramaswamy are going to be heading up a brand new unofficial department, let's say, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOJ. So Texans is going to be an important facet of the upcoming Trump administration. I'll be interested to see, especially with how we brought this up last week, RFK Jr.'s appointment to HHS and how he is going to want to shake up the agricultural and food systems here in the United States, how much Rollins is going to be working together with him on that. And then I also think it's gonna be interesting to watch Scott Turner as affordable housing has become

a major issue for people across the country. It's been a major issue here in the state of Texas. We've seen over the past year, Abbott make multiple statements about issues related to housing affordability. So we'll see if Turner being a Texan in the Trump administration as part of HUD is if there's going to be an even greater focus on the state of Texas making housing more affordable. So some interesting developments here. Absolutely.

And wild to see some of these names, you know, recycled too, right? I mean, these are folks who had a big hand in the last administration just in different ways. And very interesting to watch them enter this new administration with bigger roles. So definitely keeping an eye on that. Cameron, thanks for breaking that all down. Bradley, let's plug our own podcast here.

On Monday, we released an episode of Smoke-Filled Room where we really broke down all the election results from November 5th. We talked about in-depth data, looked at South Texas, took a look at how Texas has fared statewide for the last, I don't't know 20 years or so which was fun to kind of see okay folks all the time are saying texas is a swing state it's nearing it's going to turn blue this and that well here's what the numbers say and here's when it got closest

to doing so and here's where it is now so um we had a great time talking through all of that i definitely encourage folks to go check it out if you want kind of a nerdy approach to what happened on election night. Brad, anything I'm missing? No, I think it was a good deep dive and check it out if you're interested in that. I think I'll add one thing that we didn't get to talk about because I didn't have the exact numbers at the time, but there are about nine Texas House districts that I think will probably be either will be targeted by Republicans next cycle

or could be based on the way Trump performed. A lot of them are in South Texas, but I'll read them off here. You can also read the list in fourth reading this week. HD35 Oscar Longoria is the Democrat from Mission. Trump won his district by 6.8%. Sergio Munoz, also in South Texas, Democrat from Review.

Trump won that district, HD36, by 5.8 points. Aaron Gomez, an HD38, Democrat from Brown, Trump won that district, HG36, by 5.8 points. Aaron Gomez, an HG38, Democrat from Brownsville, Trump very narrowly lost by 0.7%. HG39, Armando Martinez, Democrat from Weslaco, Trump won his district, HG39, by 2.5%. HD40, Terry Canales, Democrat from Ennberg. Trump won his by 0.04%. Very slim margin there. HD41, Bobby Garrett, Democrat from Mission. Trump won his by 1.7%. Richard Paney-Raymond, Democrat from Laredo, HD42.

Trump won it by 0.7%. Richard Penny Raymond, Democrat from Laredo, HD 42. Trump won it by a half percent. HD 74, which we saw a big clash on election night over this one. Democrat from Eagle Pass, Eddie Morales. Trump won his district by 14.7%. And then this is a sneaky one, kind of different from all the others. This is in Harris County, HD 144, Marian Perez, Democrat from Houston. Trump won her district by 2.9 points. A lot of these that I listed off didn't have any opponents, including Marian Perez. So, you know, that's kind of setting the table for where Republicans conceivably could flip some seats next time around. Obviously, they won't get all of these. It just is not going to happen. But, you know, there it is. Absolutely. Well, folks, if you want, like I said, a deep dive, check out Smoke Filled Room.

That's one episode. And we went into a lot of this kind of information and had a good time doing so brother thank you let's stick with you the state's utility agency issued a rule relating to crypto mining in texas what does it say i was just gonna ask i was just gonna ask some questions about what you what you guys might have talked about, but we don't have to do it. Oh, I'm so sorry. Definitely do that. I totally missed that. I thought we were just like, we're just moving. No, not me to ignore you. Remote podcasting is not without its hiccups. It's all good. I was wondering what your guys's thoughts are because we saw what midterms looked like in 2022 when trump wasn't on the ballot there wasn't a red wave and if with trump in the in office in two years when we're going to be seeing

midterms again do you guys anticipate there could be a red wave since Trump did pick up these huge gains in many Democrat strongholds, Democrat-leaning counties? Do you think people can anticipate a red wave to actually come to fruition during the next midterms? Typically, some level of backlash electorally against whoever is the incumbent in the White House against their party. So, you know, that is possible that we actually see it swing the other direction, depending on how things go. But if things go fairly well, obviously, that won't happen. But, you know, one thing we'll have to watch for is whether, especially these South Texas gains for Republicans, whether they're just Trump gains and therefore don't come when he's not on the ballot,

or if they are actual Republican gains. You know, South Texas, you know, Rio Grande Valley is one talked about a lot. South Texas overall, though, a lot of the counties are not red counties. They just went for Trump. And you look at the elected officials in a lot of these places, the local ones, and they're all Democrats still. And I just read off a bunch of state rep seats that are all Democratic. So, yeah, that's what I think is so interesting about this past Trump election is because if you look at the AOC district, Trump won AOC's district or made massive gains, rather. So within New York City, in AOC's district, she's one of the most progressive members of Congress, saw gains for Trump. So there were split tickets for Trump AOC voters. It's just an interesting mix of what a Trump voter is. Will that translate to down ballot? Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

What is this Trump voter going to look like in two years and four years? It's still a mystery It's it's very interesting to see. Yeah There's still momentum that has to be capitalized on at that point will be two years into an administration and having You know someone in the like Brad was saying someone in the White House is entirely different than somebody making promises on a campaign trail So it'll be very interesting to see to like how voters feel about all these different cabinet members and the things they're doing in the executive branch, but also just the Trump administration at large, right? This is going to be very interesting to see if a lot of this pro-Trump sentiment in more independent circles continues, because at that point, Trump will still be in office. So there's a lot to consider there. And I'm very curious to see what it will look like. I think in Texas, it will tell us a lot about those South Texas counties to see when Trump's not on the ballot, how those how those counties fare in terms of Republican voter turnout.

And those swing those quote unquote swing voters who turned these districts red, what that will look like for them. If they'll continue to vote Republican or if they'll continue to vote Republican, or if they'll kind of continue to split their ticket, that will be a huge question. Yeah, because if I can make one more comment, because over the weekend, I listened to this really interesting conversation with Libertarian Party officials and major voices within LP National. And because there was many figures within the Libertarian Party that put their endorsements out for Trump this last election and many who were encouraging their listeners and followers to vote for Trump. And what I was hearing was it was Trump had made promises to

the Libertarian Party and Libertarian aligned individuals, whether it be freeing Ross Ulbrich or being pro Bitcoin, things like that. And now that Trump is going to be in the office, looking at Libertarians or maybe independent-minded individuals, if Trump can't continue to make promises to get their votes, how will Congress members or Texas House or Texas Senate members make promises to independent-minded folks, moderates, libertarian individuals, make promises to them to maybe build their coalition for people who are now more willing to vote Republican rather than abstain from voting or voting third party or voting Democrat in the past. So I think we could be seeing some interesting alliances popping up again.

We saw the interesting alliances with Trump. Maybe we'll see that start trickling down, whether it be federal races or state races. Yeah, absolutely. This next election is going to tell us a lot. And I'm excited to check it out. And Texas is going to be a big storyline for sure. Well, thank you. That was really good discussion. Bradley, we're coming back to you on the puc now that i've now that i've not ignored cameron's raised hands like a dweeb um so talk about the cryptocurrency mining operation in texas and the state's utility agency having hands and issuing a rule relating to that specifically so this this rule that the public utility commission put out is in tandem with legislation passed by the tex Texas legislature last year, but the regulatory rules finally now finalized as of last Thursday, I think.

So cryptocurrency operations, Bitcoin, any of the other random ones will now be required by law to register as large flexible loads in terms of the ERCOT grid. And what that means is establishing itself, whatever the operation is, and it's anything that requires more than 75 megawatts of electricity usage at any given moment. Classifying as a large flexible load will allow them, first of all, to be known where they're at, the state to know exactly where and how much electricity is being pulled from these facilities but then it'll allow them to participate in the demand response program where you know when the the supply and demand of the ercot grid get tight allows these facilities to shut off that are they're quick operational they can shut off very quickly they don't don't require a whole massive process that provide that allows

the grid itself to use the electricity it otherwise would have used for these prioritize that for households specifically other critical infrastructure operations and then it allows if they're participating then these uh entities to sell electricity back into the grid at higher price so you know the whole system is based on these price signals and incentives counter incentives and this is an incentive for these companies to shut down their operations during times of tight grid conditions, not only the potential to make good money, which some have in the demand response program, but also to save money on the back end in electricity costs. ERCOT's electricity price fluctuates. And so when the grid conditions get tight, it's based on supply and demand, the price goes way up, which is econ 101. And so these facilities can avoid having to pay those

costs and shut off for, you know, two hours on a hot evening in August or July. You know, it works out for the benefit of everybody so um this rule ideally will help um help the states in its grid main its main power grid deal with tight grid conditions more easily um and you know it's part of it's a response to this massive influx of these kinds of not just cryptocurrency mining facilities, but also data centers that use a lot of electricity for their computing operations. So that's the latest update. It's not, we knew this was going to happen. The question was just when and how much, basically basically where they're going to draw the lines

but any facility that does not register as a flexible load under this rule uh it will pay 20 up to 25 000 per violation per day so that's a lot of money or potentially a lot of money in fines um you know that's the the stick to the demand response programs carrot on this. And so, you know, I think it'll be followed pretty tightly. We'll see if the legislature feels it needs to do anything more next session. It's possible we've seen Lieutenant Governor Patrick especially talk about this, but I think they're still trying to figure out which avenues they want to go if there is anything else that needs to be done. Yeah, absolutely. Bradley, thank you. Mary Elise, you've been so patient. We're coming to you now, my dear.

We're writing a myriad of different Texas history themed articles this week, and one that you wrote will be published on Friday, which marks the anniversary of the end of Texas's centennial exposition. Tell us about it. It was in celebration of Texas's 100th birthday. It's independence from Mexico. It was the first World's Fair. And then it was hosted in Dallas, Texas. Really interesting celebration of Texas culture. But check out that piece on Friday.

Amazing. Mary Elise, thank you so much. We have a lot of fun articles in that same vein, and we'll talk about one more on this podcast. So make sure and check them out. Okay, Bradley, what seems to be the final large development in a very long running whistleblower act suit involving the office of the attorney general came down last Friday. So a week from this releases, what happened? The depositions of attorney general Ken Paxton and three of his top aides have been halted by the Texas Supreme court, which sided with the agency's argument from earlier in the year that its January concession of the case concluded

the dispute. This stems from the whistleblower suit under the Whistleblower Act, that's the title of it, in which four former OAG employees alleged abuse of office, misconduct by Ken Paxton as attorney general, particularly dealing with Austin real estate developer, Nate Paul. There's a lot of legal inner workings going on behind the scenes. Paul is subject of his own investigation and indictments right now. There is, of course, the mysterious grand jury that started in San Antonio, I think has since been moved to Austin, that hasn't issued any indictments about anything so far. And maybe it doesn't at all now that the Trump administration is going to take over in about a month and a half, but it's all about the same kind of stuff. And this suit is a civil suit alleging wrongful termination of these four former employees who alleged these, you know, made these allegations of misconduct. But in January, the Office of the Attorney general essentially conceded the case said,

and we're not disputing any of the facts here. And that's that. So the case, the dispute is no more. So the maneuver was obviously to try and just stop this and prevent anything further, whether it's depositions, which had been ordered or something or further fact discovery of,

of a different kind. And the maneuver ended up working. The Texas Supreme Court was persuaded by this ultimately. They ruled on Friday, while we agree with the former employees that OAG's concessions do not preclude all discovery, we agree with the OAG that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering the depositions of these four witnesses without considering that the only fact issue on which those witnesses are likely to provide information, the OAG's ability or liability under the Whistleblower Act is now uncontested.

And so that's really the only development that remains to be seen. Unless something wild happens, some strange maneuver that I'm not aware of manages to reignite this. It sets an interesting precedent, you know, like in a case where the primary purpose is for depositions in discovery. Right now, the OAG and Paxton won. This dispute had been going on for years, stemming from back in 2020 when the whistleblowers went to the FBI. Obviously, it hit its apex with the impeachment. That didn't get Paxton. This isn't going to get Paxton.

And so they're kind of just left empty-handed. And that's exactly as the office of the attorney general wanted it their their maneuver worked and it sets a any line of precedent i think the only other thing i'll add is that this was a per curiam opinion no judges signed their name onto this justices of the court signed their name onto this the only note is that justice evan young did not participate in the decision i think that's probably because he was not on the court when this first started and he was appointed i forget when but a couple years ago by governor abbott so it uh yeah the whole whistleblower suit seems to be going out with a whimper

pretty wild that this um saga we've been following for so long, specifically to this case I'm talking about, just like you said, it's kind of wrapped up, at least in our minds, for our knowledge here at this point. So I'd encourage folks for all the details we have, you know, from start to finish, the information on this case, I'd certainly go check that out at the texan.news.

And Brad, thanks for wrapping that up for us. I've already teased the fun history content we have coming out this week, so make sure to go check that out. One will be published on Thanksgiving Day, so it's out right now. It's a conversation between our assistant editor, Rob Lausches, who writes our Texas history newsletter, Precedented Times, and Justice Ken Wise, who is in and of itself a Texas history expert. And so it's a wonderful conversation about some Thanksgiving topics and how Thanksgiving is celebrated today in the U.S. and also taps into some fun at Texas History as well. So a super fun 30 minute conversation. I'd encourage

folks to go listen to Cameron. One of the stories that you wrote for us in the same vein of Texas history has to do with the JFK assassination, secret service reenactment, walk us through and plug your story quickly. Yeah, as everyone knows, the infamous JFK assassination happened in Dallas on November 22nd. But what many people don't know is there was actually just a few days later a reenactment of the assassination. So I detail as best as I can. The information regarding the reenactment is rather sparse. So I had to do some digging here. I hope everyone enjoys the look back because there's

some interesting photos i link um some interesting nuggets that i found in the warren commission report that referenced the reenactment so people are interested in the jfk assassination this is exactly what you're looking for so go check it out absolutely cameron thank you folks let's move on to tweeterie for this week cameron, this one also, we had some really awesome Tweeter-ys this week. Matt Gaetz on Cameo. Have you not seen this? No, I haven't seen it. So, after he withdrew his name from being in consideration for the

U.S. Attorney General position position he has since re-emerged more powerful than ever on cameo where he is now charging people 550 for videos where he's giving people pep talks, giving holiday wishes, life advice. So for anyone interested, they can go on Cameo, search Matt Gaetz, and ask him to read out your message. And his bio on Cameo says, I served in Congress. Trump nominated me to be U.S. Attorney General. That didn't work out. That's hilarious.

So if anyone's looking for Christmas gifts, maybe for the Texan office, you know, I would love a Matt Gaetz cameo shout out to the Texan. And by the Texan office, Cameron means Cameron. That's what he means. That is wild. Have you guys ever used Cameo for anything before?

Never. No. My friends have. Kind of wild. It's fun. They got a Nick Adams one and then a didn't isn't george santos is that his name when he doing that yes oh yeah he most certainly is i feel like he was the trailblazer in that regard um i've only used it for my dad. My dad, we grew up in Seattle. My dad was

always told he looked like a mariner Brett Boone. Like he was, he's been on flights and like stewardesses would give him free stuff because they thought he was a mariner and he thought he was Brett Boone. And he's like, I'm not Brett Boone. And they would be like, no, it's okay. We know you're not. Wink, wink. Like we'll play it chill. And so I got Brett, I found Brett Boone and he's like I'm not Brett Boone and they would be like no it's okay we know you're not wink wink like we'll play it chill and so I got Brett I found Brett Boone on Cameo and for Father's Day like a couple years ago got him to do a message to my dad it's like Tom I hear you got mistook for me a lot and sorry about that and all this stuff it was really funny that's that's amazing and then for for one of my friends right around the time we were both getting married, we got a cameo. The actress who plays Susie in Marvelous Mrs.

Maisel, we got her to do a cameo for us too, which was super fun. Yeah, a blast. I just want to say that I will the the candidate who promises to execute a turkey live on tv on the white house lawn for president i think that is an acceptable uh campaign platform on which to run and turkeys do not deserve any mercy they are the dumbest birds that hath ever existed and they deserve a a quick and um i wouldn't say painless but slightly painful death in full you have a would you would you have a preferred method for this president to execute this turkey oh man now that's are we talking bring out the shotguns everyone like has a little hunt on the white house lawn are we talking bring out the gallows you know uh i think bring out you know uh someone with a halberd or just a giant axe yeah bring it down and ye old medieval days yeah they walk out with the big black hood

on and then right before they swing the axe they pull the hood off and it's actually the president yes i i like that it's like a big reveal yeah yeah um no enough with pardoning. This is silly. Slaughter them on the White House lawn. Yeah, and then they can do a whole demo with how to prepare a turkey to eat, how to remove the feathers, and how to cut it and prepare it. And they can do some different cooking methods. Make it a whole day. Yeah. I like this you guys uh this took a very dark turn to end this uh we're feeding hungry people here yeah they're turkeys that's what they're for i think brad is just pro eliminating like you know stupid animals

biological balance be darned uh any animal who's uh according to brad has a less than sufficient iq i think that's really what we know about brad in the years that i've worked with him is that he just wants to get rid of all the animals he deems to be particularly stupid um he values intelligence in animals above all else, apparently, which is funny because they're animals. The biological balance is humans survive. And we have outwitted these dumb animals. All of you. I'm not asking them to write a treatise on government or anything.

Or, you know, solve the quantum mechanics. Just don't be so dumb that we have to force you to procreate pandas. Okay, you're just talking about pandas. Yes, I know. Or be so dumb that you literally drown yourself in puddles, turkeys. I'm not asking a lot here. I think it's really, I think, you know, the only thing dumber than a turkey is a hypothesis. Folks, we're going to go ahead and end this podcast and count our losses now.

We appreciate you tuning in. We hope that this was listenable after all the technical difficulties we endured. Shout out Maslin for the recording and editing of this. And we will catch you next week. Thank you to everyone for listening. If you enjoy our show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you want more of our stories, subscribe to The Texan at thetexan.news. Follow us on social media for the latest in Texas politics.

And send any questions for our team to our mailbag by DMing us on Twitter or shooting us an email to editor at thetexan.news. Tune in next week for another episode of our weekly roundup. God bless you and God bless Texas.