FRI brief 12.10.21
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Today’s Stories
THE GRID, at least on paper, should be an issue Democrats effectively ride till the election in 2022.
Of course, “effectively” assumes they choose to act like a credible opposition party. Historically, this has been an unreliable assumption.
Case in point: If the Democrats wanted to make this issue stick, Kelcy Warren would be a household name by now. The fact that he’s not epitomizes the failure of Democrat messaging.
Considering Democrats have yet to sustain the issue effectively and weaponize it in a way that will lead to victory, there’s little reason to believe they’ll do so now.
By the time the election rolls around, the issue will have lost most of its staying power. For as much as the freeze might have sucked, by the time November 2022 rolls around, it will have been nearly two years in the past.
As far as the GOP is concerned…meh.
The Texas Senate passed some half measures during the regular session that Dade Phelan and Chris Paddie killed on the other side of the Capitol. While the events of last February are unlikely to repeat, hoping the law of averages covers your policy failures isn’t exactly inspiring.
Ted Cruz’s BITCOIN mining proposal may or may not be a good idea, but it’s the only suggestion anyone has made that stands out.
Going over the top on this issue might look like embracing Sen. Bob Hall’s longstanding call to protect the grid against an attack by a foreign adversary. Abbott and the rest of the GOP haven’t displayed an appetite for bold action.
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY has a new poll of Texas voters.
Its results are consistent with other recent polling that suggests a general election environment that will be at least as bad, if not worse, for Democrats than 2010. Specifically, they have Joe Biden at 33% job approval and Bobby Francy O’Rourke at 36% favorable.
As a point of contrast, during his presidency, Barack Obama never fell below 37% approval among Texas voters. Obama was usually closer to 40%.
Asked to choose the most urgent issue facing Texas today, the Texas-Mexico border tops the list (33 percent), followed by the economy (11 percent), abortion (9 percent), COVID-19 (8 percent), and election laws (8 percent).
This is also consistent with polling of Texans over the decade UT has been tracking voter sentiment.
The question is too abstract regarding the specific issue of vaccine mandates. When asked, most polled say they are against anyone being fired for deciding not to be vaccinated.
Quinnipiac, notably, did not poll the GOP primary.
ERIC JOHNSON, the (Democrat) Mayor of Dallas, calls out departing Lite Guv candidate Matthew Dowd over his condescending attitude toward the African-American community
Johnson was always one of the more talented Democrats in the legislature. For someone like him to oppose this sort of reasoning inside the party is highly revealing.
Dowd’s logic is a textbook example of what his former (Republican) boss once called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” (AC)
TRUMP is reportedly hunting "disloyal" Republicans ahead of the 2022 primaries.
While there have been some notable retirements in the face of opposition to Trump, it’s unclear at this point how effective the hunt is going. The effort, on the whole, can’t be deemed impressive at this point, but that is subject to change.
There are a handful of Republicans who’ve been vocally disloyal to Trump. There’s a much larger contingent of Republicans who have been silent and would be vocally critical of 45 if it weren't a political liability. Finally, there are Republicans who have vocally supported President Trump but will turn when given a chance.
The Republicans in these latter categories are more dangerous to Trump, and his agenda than the tip of the iceberg Trump is targeting.
Axios, the outlet reporting on Trump’s targeting, doesn’t get anywhere close to the mark with its “One big question.” Republicans will sweep to majorities in 2022 with or without Trump, and as was the case in Virginia, the GOP establishment will work to spin wins away from Trump.
Trump is basing support or opposition over refusal to support his overturning of the 2020 election. A more intelligent approach would be looking at inactivity before the election and supporting or opposing candidates who failed to counter act “fortification” efforts for Biden adequately.
VACCINE MANDATES from the federal government “supersede state orders,” it’s why Texas needs a legislative solution.
Now is a good time for a special session to nip this festering issue in the bud. The Biden administration has floundered in its ham-handed persuasion campaign whose poster child looks as if he emerged from a 1980’s David Bowie film.
Courts have been handing the administration defeats, and this week the Senate voted to overturn the federal mandate. In the macro (global), authoritarian orders are leading to revolt.
Meanwhile, this morning, a PR campaign for restoring 313 funding cropped up in the Austin lobby’s mouthpiece. This suggests business lobbyists likely have intel another special session is forthcoming, and they’re trying to influence the Governor’s call.
STATE GUARDSMEN, serving on the border, have gone unpaid, according to an investigation by Texas Scorecard. Further evidence that Greg Abbott is more interested in political posturing than doing the job of Governor.
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