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LINA HIDALGO, the far-left Harris county Judge, appears to be in trouble. They

Lina Hidalgo @LinaHidalgoTX

I expect this political exercise to continue through Election Day. She’ll have me indicted. Or name a “special prosecutor”—an illusion of independence since those are still beholden to the DA. She did that before in a political prosecution that went nowhere. I’m not deterred. https://t.co/M9tT1wC0Bn

ChelleD713 @ChelleD713

@HoustonPubMedia @linahidalgotx be careful they will come directly for you next.

The immediate concern is a COVID-related contract she gave to political allies a couple of years back.

At first glance, it appears to be garden-variety political patronage. This isn’t an endorsed behavior; it’s just not unusual. Politicians have been funneling tax dollars to political allies since time immemorial.

Hidalgo’s decision to receive such scrutiny two years after suggests other forces are at play. That Harris County DA Kim Ogg obtained her position with significant assistance from George Soros bolsters this hypothesis.

Speculation about why Ogg, left of the left Democrat, would move on Hidalgo, left of the left Democrat, might center on the open-seat Mayoral race in 2023. Various openings in ‘24 and ‘26 follow that up. The current effort against Hidalgo might be pre-positioning for those contests.

It also might just be personal, with Hidalgo as the actual target or serving as the scapegoat for the real object of Ogg’s ire, Rodney Ellis.

For whatever reason, however, there’s a lot of infighting among Harris County D’s. This could prove advantageous for Republicans. While it has become a bluer shade recently, Harris remains a purple county.

GEORGE W. BUSH said more than he intended.

Beckson @BecksUtd11

Former President George Bush: “The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq.....erm I mean of Ukraine.”

Sigmund Freud would have a field day.

AXIOS is pushing a bogus line about Democrat prospects in November.

Suggesting that the current batch of Republican candidates winning primary elections are some new variant of Republicans is laughable. In the past few weeks, GOP victors aren’t all that much different than those who have come before.

They’re, of course, being labeled far-right Republicans. It’s not an accurate label in many, if not most, cases, but journalists have a limited playbook when it comes to defining the right, especially if they want to have any impact on perception.

Despite Axios’ hope, Republicans aren’t likely to vote Democrat in the fall. The country is locked on destructive policies at home and abroad.

Self-assured predictions that Republicans will vote Democrat are undermined within the article making that suggestion. If Republicans are unwilling to support Democrats publicly, it’s not unlike a strong or widely held position.

Anti-MAGA, whether it is from the left or the right, is just a grift at this point.

At large, candidates appear to be judged on their positions and personalities. To the extent that the winners happen to be endorsed by Trump, he has a history of apparently relying on incumbency or polling to pick his endorsees.

Related: NY DEMS devolve following the redistricting debacle

TESLA has been delisted from S&P’s “ESG investing” index following Elon Musk’s criticism of the concept. This is almost certainly retaliation, and it’s to Musk’s credit that he’s willing to endure it.

The TEXAS TRIBUNE is closer than ever to its “diversity goals.” LOL. Yet, nobody in their newsroom dissents from the narrative for some strange reason. It’d be more impressive to hire someone who refused to use the euphemism “gender-affirming care” to describe transgender lunacy.

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THU brief 5.19.22