An Embargo, a Senate Shakeup, and Getting Texans Off the Bench

The mailbag ran long this week, and Daniel Miller used it to connect the day’s headlines back to the work of independence. The episode opened on the fear that Washington could strangle an independent Texas with an arms embargo, and the answer was about leverage. Any squeeze runs both ways. Texas already manufactures arms and military equipment, can buy from plenty of suppliers abroad, and sits on the refineries that keep the northern states warm in winter. The state has cards to play, and probably more of them than the federal system does.

The biggest news of the day was Ken Paxton announcing a primary challenge to John Cornyn for the U.S. Senate, with early polling showing Paxton trouncing him. Miller’s real interest was downstream: Paxton going federal throws the attorney general’s office wide open, on top of the comptroller and railroad commissioner shuffles already underway. He warned supporters to watch the AG race closely, because some of the names jockeying for it would be terrible for the cause.

The emotional center of the night was a long letter from legislative volunteer John Bolano, who testified at the Capitol with only one other witness in support of House Bill 3592, the out-of-state campaign finance restriction. Bolano asked how to get TNM’s professed supporters off the bench. Miller’s answer doubled as a plea: this bill matters as much to a future independence referendum as any election integrity law, because when Texas goes on the ballot, out-of-state billionaires will blanket the state with anti-TEXIT money. Capping that spending keeps the fight one of Texans arguing with Texans. He closed with the relaunch of The Texian Partisan as the official TNM news site, and a note that there would be no coffee talk the following week.

Questions answered in this episode

• How would an independent Texas arm itself if Washington imposed an arms embargo or trade squeeze on the way out?
• Does Daniel still vote in federal elections, or has he divorced himself from federal representation entirely?
• Would Ken Paxton be better for Texas in the U.S. Senate, and who is likely to replace him as attorney general?
• Has the TNM ever used billboard companies to spread its message?
• Does Daniel plan to run for office again?
• If the Texas and federal governments refuse to honor the will of Texans, can a convention of counties enforce it?
• How do you actually get a majority of Texans to vote for independence?
• What is the TNM’s position on a federal digital dollar, or central bank digital currency?
• Can we get a layman’s breakdown of the bills TNM has been sending legislative alerts about, including HB 3592, Andy Hopper’s contingency-planning bill, and the transactional gold bill?
• Will the TNM have the muscle to get a hearing on the Texas Independence Referendum Act in a future session, and how do we get supporters off the bench?
• Which foreign country should Texas seek recognition from first once independence begins?
• With the hope generated by Trump’s executive orders, how do we make the case that this reprieve is only temporary and that TEXIT is Plan A, not Plan B?