Daniel Miller brought Late Night Coffee Talk on the road this week, broadcasting from a hotel in Waco in the middle of a ten-day campaign swing for lieutenant governor. The throughline of the night was defiance of the consultant class. Miller recounted being told by political insiders to stop streaming while campaigning, to change how he dresses, to watch what he says, and above all to stop asking the one question he has asked at the front of meetings for years: who here is ready for Texas independence. He told them to pound sand, and reported that a packed room in Sherman erupted when he asked it anyway. No PACs, no paid consultants, no paid block-walkers. The wager, he said, is on the people of Texas, not a paycheck.
He walked through two events that moved the needle on TEXIT. The first was the TNM virtual town hall featuring three Republicans seeking the gubernatorial nomination. Greg Abbott was the first candidate invited and declined; Allen West, Don Huffines, and Chad Prather took the questions, which Miller noted were a different set than the usual forums ask. The second was the Ted Cruz clip making the rounds nearly a month after it was recorded, in which a young man asked the senator the Texas question and Cruz did not reject it. Miller’s read: the headline is not the Joe Rogan punchline, it is that a sitting U.S. senator answered with not yet instead of no, that the college crowd cheered the question before Cruz even spoke, and that CBS, USA Today, and others covered it while name-checking the TNM without the usual slurs.
With Veterans Day the next morning, Miller closed the issues segment with a tribute to those who served, including his late father, a Korean War veteran, and his son currently in the Army. He tied it to the claim that roughly 40 percent of the TNM’s declared supporters are prior service. Then he made his pitch for the Take Texas Back campaign, the slate of challengers being recruited against every legislator who refused to advance Kyle Biedermann’s House Bill 1359. The count was past 57 candidates, and Miller predicted the most challenged primary in Texas history, with the TNM backing only Take Texas Back slate members.
Questions answered in this episode
- How would an independent Texas handle veterans benefits after TEXIT?
- Did the town hall candidates address the defunding of the police in Austin?
- How much can the lieutenant governor actually change the direction of the state?
- How would Texas protect itself, and guard against balkanization, after independence?
- Will the TNM be endorsing candidates in the upcoming primary?
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