Daniel Miller opened the year-end edition of Late Night Coffee Talk by marking a milestone the live audience helped build. What started as late-night banter in a Facebook group had become a weekly two-hour broadcast across every channel the Texas Nationalist Movement runs. This episode was the annual look back and look ahead, and 2021 gave him plenty to recount. Executive director Nate Smith joined as a guest, and producer Kara forwarded viewer questions throughout.
The centerpiece was House Bill 1359, Kyle Biedermann’s legislation to put a vote on Texas independence in front of the people. Both Miller and Smith called it the single largest step forward since the organization began in 2005. Biedermann sent a video message recounting a legislative session where leadership ran out the clock, refused to rein in the governor’s emergency powers, and let the bill stall in committee. The payoff, Biedermann said, is already arriving in the districts: incumbents who refused to sign on are now calling him for an endorsement because their own constituents are holding them accountable. Miller’s read was blunt. Their sudden ability to hear voters was cured by the election cycle, not by conscience.
From there the two walked through the year that the bill set in motion. The 24-hour virtual testimony for HB 1359, anchored in part from the Capitol press room, drew Texans from age fourteen to ninety and every walk of life. The movement hosted its first governor’s town hall, where Greg Abbott declined the invitation and his primary challengers showed up and backed a vote. Chip Roy raised the question on the floor of Congress, Ted Cruz discussed conditions for leaving on air, and a New Hampshire conversation helped seed an independence bill there too. The statewide petition under Section 172.088 fell short of the filing deadline, but with redistricting lawsuits pending, volunteers kept collecting. Miller’s closing argument: knowing what we now know about Washington, if you would not vote to join the union today, why would you ever vote to stay.
Questions answered in this episode
- What was the most important thing that happened for Texas independence in 2021?
- How is Daniel’s daughter Savannah recovering after her brain surgery?
- Why is Daniel Miller running for lieutenant governor, and how does it advance the mission?
- Did the failure to get a floor vote in November mean the bill, and the cause, are finished?
- What happened with the statewide petition, and why are volunteers still collecting signatures?
- How should supporters treat legislators who refused to back the people’s right to vote on the issue?
- With members of Congress now openly discussing a national divorce, what should Texans take from it?
- Will Daniel campaign in a Stetson, and can supporters fundraise for a cowboy hat?
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