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CNN unintentionally confirmed that conservatives are firmly positioned in Texas and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.

That’s the primary takeaway from last weekend’s hatchet job on donors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks.

According to CNN, Dunn and Wilks have spent money against elected officials they felt were pursuing policies, not in the public interest. Agree or disagree with the wisdom of those decisions, but it’s hardly revolutionary.

Each holds fairly conventional Christian views on human sexuality that the network presents in the most ominous terms possible.

For the most part, however, the piece is marked by a flawed understanding of the players.

Valoree Swanson has been on the outs with parts of the conservative movement since her coughing fit derailed an election integrity bill in 2019. Swanson then became a bitter-ender for Dennis Bonnen.

While we're on the subject of Swanson, her so-called “Save Women’s Sports” bill was a toothless misdirection that conservatives mocked.

Dan Patrick runs the Texas Senate. When push comes to shove, Dan Patrick has shown that he answers to no one but Dan Patrick.

Given these shortcomings, it’s difficult to take any purported ‘analysis’ seriously.

The truth, of course, is that conservatives are a faction within the body politic of Texas. Like all factions, they have organizations that pursue their factional interests. Agree with those factional interests or not, their existence is unremarkable.

It’s called politics.

What’s most noteworthy, however, is that the piece happened. They don’t attack you if they don’t fear you.

EDUCATION continues to trend in a promising direction.

A Texas House interim hearing attracted over 100 speakers in favor of parental rights. While those speakers were stonewalled, that’s not unexpected. The educrat bureaucracy usually dominates these sorts of events.

(Background: An “interim hearing” is when legislative committees meet while the legislature is out of session. They can discuss issues and take testimony, but they can’t advance legislation. They’re usually dog and pony shows (apologies to dogs and ponies) and, thus, a waste of time.)

The degree of pushback against the educrats is unusual and potentially game-changing.

Then there’s this:

Corey A. DeAngelis @DeAngelisCorey

it's time for Texas to fund students, not systems.

In other words:

Brad Johnson @bradj_TX

The governor meeting with school choice activist @DeAngelisCorey is a pretty strong indicator that Abbott plans for now to be a driving force in the "stronger, swifter, more powerful movement advocating school choice than ever seen in the history of the State of Texas." #txlege

Corey A. DeAngelis @DeAngelisCorey

it's time for Texas to fund students, not systems. https://t.co/C6B2zjwqre

Scott Braddock @scottbraddock

School vouchers: The fight of the 2023 session. Write that down. #txlege

Corey A. DeAngelis @DeAngelisCorey

it's time for Texas to fund students, not systems. https://t.co/C6B2zjwqre

The respective tweet authors have dueling political lenses, revealing that both the right and left see this issue trending in the same direction.

Especially Braddock. While he might be personally loathsome, Braddock is well plugged in among the anti-parent crowd. The sense of resignation in his comment thread suggests this whip is closer to 76 votes in the House than ever.

Promises from Abbott aren’t worth much, but he’ll be forced to deliver if he’s sufficiently boxed in. The past 48 hours suggest that the process is underway.

TED CRUZ is likely to kick off a firestorm following a DMN story about his position that the government shouldn’t regulate the private activity of adults. Cruz gave this answer in a discussion of whether state legislatures or the federal courts are the proper constitutional venue.

A couple of points:

Cruz was asked a direct question and gave an immediate answer. To the degree that he took a position (pun intended), he’s a stand-up guy (pun, likewise, intended).

Cruz has been making the underlying point (state leges good/fed courts wrong) since his first run for U.S. Senate. Indeed, as the DMN article points out, Clarence Thomas made the same point in his original “Lawrence” dissent.

None of this is new.

What is new, however, is a SCOTUS majority poised to recognize the distinction. This could put the Texas legislature on the spot.

That said, Cruz’s unilateral concession was dunderheaded as a matter of political strategy. The emergence of this issue has given conservatives more leverage over the LGBT lobby than they’ve had in a long, long time.

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WED brief 7.26.22