Robert Downen

a friend in Dallas got this gem of a political text today. The PAC, Texans for Common Sense PAC, is funded by Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC, of which a GOP mega donor named Tim Dunn, who you may have heard of, is a major funder of.

Scott Presler, a prominent Ken Paxton supporter who led the charge against John Cornyn over the SAVE Act, may have been complicit in illegal voting.

The DOJ is using its new Religious Liberty Commission to codify denial of the church-state wall into federal policy, and calling for dramatic expansions of public/workplace mechanisms to fight "anti-Christian bias." Gift link: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Just learned that Dennis Rodman has 70% of the records for most rebounds in a game without scoring a point - including back to back games where he put up 49 total rebounds and scored zero times. Insane stat.

Neil Bush, brother of George and son of George, says he voted for James Talarico.

UPDATE: Sid Miller went on MSNOW today to say that he did not vote for Governor Greg Abbott, who he blasted for taking money from data centers. I am struggling to find the words to describe how wild this all is.

Citing Council of American-Islamic Relations encouraging members to politically donate, Rep. Jared Patterson is pursuing a bill that would bar agents of terrorist organizations from making campaign contributions. Bill follows a unilateral move by Gov. Greg Abbott to designate CAIR a terrorist group.

The latest bit of blatant racism from Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner.

Midterms are almost finished. So are the chances that Texas Republicans debate. (Gift link).

smh they really took Detroiters off of Netflix

‼️‼️ Outgoing Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller endorses Democrat Clayton Tucker over Nate Sheets, who he accuses of being a "snake" with a porn addiction. Miller was once a close Trump ally + among Texas's most rightwing GOPers but has been critical of Abbott, data centers and the hemp ban.

As I've said before: I dont think people understand how bad the Texas GOP civil war will be if they lose even *one* statewide seat (or lose ground in the state Legislature). Moves like this will only make the battle lines weirder. Imagine a Venn Diagram of circular firing squads.

A 56-year-old Mexican man held at a federal immigration facility in Laredo was found dead in his cell Saturday morning. His family says the center would not give him medicine for diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart condition. He is the 7th person to die in ICE custody in Texas this year.

This is at least the fourth person with diabetes to die in ICE custody just this year. Many more have been hospitalized and/or reported starving themselves so they wouldn’t die after being denied care. Is anyone aware of any litigation specific to immigrants with diabetes?

A 56-year-old Mexican man held at a federal immigration facility in Laredo was found dead in his cell Saturday morning. His family says the center would not give him medicine for diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart condition. He is the 7th person to die in ICE custody in Texas this year.

BREAKING: Texas is considering selling a state park to Elon Musk, per sources. (Gift link).

BREAKING: Texas is considering selling a state park to Elon Musk, per sources. (Gift link).

Good news: This backlog has been cleared. Bad news: There is now a separate, new backlog. Early voting starts Monday. Story: www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/1...

The DOJ is using its new Religious Liberty Commission to codify denial of the church-state wall into federal policy, and calling for dramatic expansions of public/workplace mechanisms to fight "anti-Christian bias." Gift link: www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

The United States budget deficit approached $2 trillion in the 2026 fiscal year, its highest level since the pandemic, as spending on the military, safety net programs and interest on the debt dwarfed the Trump administration’s cost cuts.

Per Mark McCaig of the Texas Voice, Tim Dunn in August gave another $2.3 million to two Super PACs that have been attacking James Talarico. A very real sign of the very real trouble faced by Dunn and Paxton, who was once his most important political ally.

NEW: Texans spent decades steadily tearing down the church-state wall, claiming it is a myth meant to obscure America's true Christian roots. Now, Trump is helping them export their playbook nationally. The result: A federal bureaucracy remade in their Christian nationalist image. (Gift link)

"The map keeps expanding into deeper red territory." Key rundown of the Republican panic via Jake Sherman:

Some context: Phelan is a deep conservative but was for years the No. 1 nemesis of the far right and Ken Paxton, whose impeachment Phelan oversaw. He famously warned in 2019 that the party needed to move on from "bashing on the gay community."

“Texas has long been the testing ground for the Christian right’s policy ideas. If the past is prologue, what happens here could soon go national.”

A must-read story about how Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton trumped up fraud charges against a Muslim community - despite repeated warnings that there were "legal holes" in the case.

Church-state separation “is not some kind of idea that emerged from the ether in the nineteen-sixties ...This is something that was absolutely foundational to what it meant to be a Protestant in Texas.” — reporting from @robertdownen.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Read @robertdownen.bsky.social on how a Trump-appointed commission, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick & influenced some of the state's top minds (Dr Phil, David Barton), is working to tear down the church-state wall—and make the U.S. look a whole lot more like Texas. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

New York Times got private camera footage showing that James Talarico was indeed at his home — or not at an Ohio mental health clinic — from October 1 to 8.

Wall Street Journal reported on a 2024 New Year’s Eve celebration where Ken Paxton partied in Dubai with two fugitives and a woman who wasn’t his wife www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

😐😐😐😐

"Since late 2020, I’ve spent hundreds of days and nights in the park, both as a professional guide and for my own kicks, and never seen traces of migration, not even stray tuna cans or smoldering campfires in places they shouldn’t be."