The Texas House Democrats fled the state again, this time to deny a quorum over congressional redistricting, and Daniel Miller spent the top of this Late Night Coffee Talk pulling the whole spectacle apart. The short version: the Department of Justice sent Texas a letter claiming the maps drawn last session would not pass constitutional muster, Trump saw an opening to lock in five more Republican seats ahead of the midterms, Abbott added redistricting to the special session call, and the Democrats did what they have done before. They got on a chartered plane, filmed fundraising videos on the tarmac, and left.
Miller refused to let the Republicans off the hook for the theater. He reminded viewers that Dustin Burrows became Speaker only because Republicans broke their own caucus quorum, and that a coalition speaker who went soft on the Democratic caucus all but invited this walkout. Now the stakes are real. Unlike 2021, there are penalties on the books, and Abbott has filed a quo warranto against Democratic Caucus chair Gene Wu as a test case. Miller walked through how badly this could spiral if federal marshals try to drag Texas legislators out of Illinois or California, and landed on his core point: as long as Texas remains in the union, Texans will keep getting pulled into fights like this. Redistricting has been a federal cudgel against Texas since the state was placed under Section 5 preclearance in 1975.
From there he took questions on fear, foreign policy, privacy, and how counties actually get organized. The recurring theme was resolve. Doing the right thing because it is right, refusing to let fear or outside opinion dictate the mission, and keeping the main thing the main thing.
Questions answered in this episode
- What is your view on the House Democrats abandoning their duties and breaking quorum during the emergency session?
- How long can the quorum breakers stay out of state, and can Abbott actually fire the AWOL representatives?
- With all the new executive orders, won’t Trump and the federal government simply fight or forbid Texas independence since Texas money matters too much to them?
- As a tax lawyer I show people the law and they still comply out of fear. How do you help someone overcome that fear for the sake of future generations?
- How many independence movements are active across the United States right now, and are new ones launching?
- What are your thoughts on writing stronger privacy protections, online and offline, into the Texas Constitution?
- How much money would it actually take to win independence, and what does current polling show?
- What happens to Social Security and federal benefit payments after independence?
- When will a county group start up in or near Amarillo, and how does a county actually get organized?
- What is the TNM’s stance on foreign policy toward Israel?
Comments have moved. The real debate about Texas independence now happens with thousands of Texians in the app.
Get the TEXIAN app