Sycophantic Hypocrites and a Border in Crisis: Daniel Miller’s Late Night Q&A From the Texas Tour

Broadcasting from a Midland hotel room between stops on the Texas Tour, Daniel Miller opened with the spectacle in Washington. The Texas House Democrats had broken quorum and flown out of state on a private jet, and Miller refused to dignify it as principled resistance. They left Texas, he said, to beg the federal government to come in and override the will of the people of Texas on elections. If that is not the definition of a traitor, he does not know what is. But he reserved equal contempt for the Republicans now grandstanding about the right to vote. With the exception of six members of the Texas House, the same legislators told their constituents they were too stupid to be trusted with a vote on TEXIT when House Bill 1359 came up. He named the triumvirate he blames for killing that bill: Abbott, Patrick, and Phelan, with their weak-willed lieutenants carrying out the order.

The through line was that begging the legislature is over. Miller laid out the two-pronged strategy the movement is running instead: a petition campaign to force the Texas question onto the primary ballot, and a full slate of candidates who will carry out the will of the people when they vote to leave. The petition needs more than 80,000 verified signatures by the December deadline, every signer’s voter status checked by hand, and he is betting on volunteers to get it done. He pointed listeners to the certified petition circulator directory and reminded them that every event on the calendar is now a signing event.

On the border, Miller was blunt. A governor who used executive power to close businesses and mandate masks has the same authority to close the border and did nothing until he drew real primary challengers. District attorneys and sheriffs on the border have been begging for meetings and getting the silent treatment, the same way the movement’s call for a TEXIT vote was ignored. When a commenter who said he lives and works on the border called Miller a liar and credited Abbott with years of support, Miller did not back down. He offered to put the border sheriffs and a district attorney on a live stream so people could hear it firsthand and decide who is blowing smoke.

Questions answered in this episode

• Are the Texas House Democrats who fled to Washington traitors, and is the speaker doing enough to punish the quorum break?
• Where is TEXIT support concentrated across Texas, and which area has the highest per capita support?
• How will the petition campaign work, how many signatures are needed, and how does someone become a certified petition circulator?
• Where does the TNM stand on the Texas border wall and Abbott’s handling of the border crisis?
• Which candidates for governor support TEXIT or at least a vote on it, including Allen West, Don Huffines, Chad Prather, and Greg Abbott?
• What is the take on Matthew McConaughey possibly running for governor?
• Is the TNM endorsing a primary candidate for governor?
• How would TEXIT affect Social Security, and where can the most-asked questions be answered?
• Can the Texas question get onto the ballot during a special session, and is filing HB 1359 there still realistic?
• How would an independent Texas keep Austin from becoming another Washington, D.C.?
• Do you have to be a registered voter to sign the petition, and does a native Texan living out of state get a vote?
• Why is the movement underdeveloped in places like El Paso, and how can someone step up as a local coordinator?