Sherry Sylvester sits down with Carrie Simmons, the Founder of Red State Women, to discuss how historically, conservative policies have been supported by Texan women because they benefit women. However, that appears to be eroding today. Why is that, and what can we do about it?
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In unraveling the cover-up of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, a new term emerged that goes far beyond slanting news to favor one side: “coalition media.” It goes beyond bias. Apparently there are reporters are who don’t just slant the news, they make themselves assets in moving the progressive narrative forward—including by attacking conservatives.
We saw this when we learned that many members of the media knew for a couple of years that Biden was not operating with a full deck, but they covered it up and called it a “Republican lie” because they didn’t want to do anything to help former President Donald Trump get re-elected. After the June 27 debate, when it became clear that Biden was likely to lose the election, these “coalition media” reporters worked with Democrats to switch course, reverse the cover up and generate public pressure to get him off the ticket.
Recent reports reveal that Vice President Kamala Harris had been cultivating a network of “coalition media” which allowed her to move quickly, once the switch at the top of the ticket was made. That’s why we currently have so many “news” reports insisting that Harris never was the border czar, never opposed fracking or ending private health insurance, never supported ending the filibuster to pass the Green New Deal or increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 35%.
Coalition media is not limited to the national stage, although it is not always easy to spot more locally. But a recent headline in the Texas Tribune provides some insight on how “coalition media” has worked in Texas. The headline read, “Most Texas adults support school vouchers, new survey finds.”
This poll finding was not really news—and certainly not worthy of such a headline. A majority of Texans have supported school choice for a years, but the coalition media has usually been able to obscure that fact by challenging survey wording or emphasizing that even though people may support it, the issue is not a top priority—like, say, world peace.
The Tribune headline, which was echoed in several local Texas newspapers, refers to the latest poll from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston and Texas Southern which showed that 65% of Texans support providing parents with a voucher to pay or help pay to send their child to a school other than the public school they are assigned to.
To undercut the message, the Tribune added a sub-headline assuring readers that “most respondents agreed with arguments against paying for private schools with public funds.” The pollsters did not actually include that data point in their analysis, so we assume the “coalition media” created it to suggest that the issue is still controversial.
One thing the Hobby survey found was that the coalition media’s efforts to demonize school choice was no longer potent. For starters, the Hobby poll showed that the public reaction to the term “vouchers” is not toxic anymore, even though it has long been used by the media to denigrate school choice. “Vouchers” are what the Texas media pejoratively calls education savings accounts, but the Hobby pollsters found that Texans support the concept of allowing parents to choose the best school for their child no matter what you call it.
Blacks and Hispanics are the strongest supporters of school choice, according to this survey, another particularly significant finding since the media has frequently charged or implied that school choice programs are racist.
Although the survey results echo strong results for school choice reported by the same poll in October and February, the coalition media in Texas has continued to push a narrative through this year’s elections that school choice programs are a right-wing conspiracy perpetrated by Christian zealots.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was excoriated by the coalition media for his work to ensure that opponents of school vouchers were not re-elected to the Texas House. He led a primary election coalition that defeated 15 state house members who opposed school vouchers.
The media has used Abbott’s efforts and those of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has supported school choice for decades, to push another lie—that only Republicans want school choice reforms.
Teachers unions have historically worked closely with the coalition media to explain why half the students can’t read or do math at grade level. There is an on-going barrage of “news” stories pushing the falsehood that more money would fix whatever is causing the students to fail. According to this narrative, conservative Texas leaders are refusing to supply additional funds. These stories repeatedly ignore the fact that since Abbott took office, the state has increased funding by almost $31 billion—a 23% increase adjusted for inflation. Per-student funding has also increased from $10,600 to $15,503.
The Texas “coalition media” puts forth the “Republicans are starving our schools” lie in the same way that the national coalition media now insist that “Kamala Harris was never the border czar.”
Coalition media never ask public school bureaucrats real questions, like “if $31 billion is not enough, how much would be enough?” They are apparently unaware that half the state budget already goes to education.
At least the national “coalition media” that protected President Biden had a solid political excuse—they wanted to stop Trump. What possible excuse can the Texas coalition media have for their demonization of school choice and the people who support it?
The prospects for passing school choice legislation in 2025 are good, but even when reform comes, the coalition media should be held accountable for playing a key role in pushing the interests of teachers unions over the needs of Texas children for the 30 years since the school choice war started in Texas. They must live with the fact that their actions contributed to the massive learning loss and unrealized potential of thousands of Texas children trapped in failing schools who never got an option to escape.
Every Friday morning at 8:30AM I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers in Texas, America and the world. This week, there’s lot of emphasis on the world as the week has winners and losers across the globe: Here’s the list for this Friday:
Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and the two dozen other prisoners who were released yesterday in the largest prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia since the Cold War are at the top of the winner’s list. The swap has been called lopsided because actual Russian spies and criminals were exchanged for Americans who were wrongly accused. There will undoubtedly be a price to pay for giving a win like that to Vladimir Putin, but that does not take away from the joy that an innocent Wall Street Journal reporter and an American Marine are now back in the USA, regrouping at Brooke Army Medical Center at historic Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
The news from Paris is that Team USA has a big lead in the Olympic medal race with 40 as of this morning, although China has 3 more gold medals than the Americans. There have been many stunning performances but the most memorable so far was Texan, Simone Biles, who broke the all-time gold medal record for a gymnast last night – and she’s still competing. Biles continues to prove she really is the GOAT. Another great memory was watching basketball greats Steph Curry and Kevin Durant watching the gymnastic finals and cheering Biles on.
Another international winner this week is the Israeli Defense Force, who took out two Hamas leaders and Fuad Shukr, a leader of Hezbollah, in Tehran. Israel is making it clear that it will no longer wait while the rest of the world dithers regarding the attacks against them. They are deadly serious about defending themselves and they are going to act.
The loser of the week is former president Donald J. Trump for his dumb comments about Vice President Kamala Harris’s race at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention. There are so many things to attack Harris on – her abject failure at the border, her flip flopping on energy policy, lying about her support for the Green New Deal, covering up Biden’s infirmity, tax increases, reparations for slavery, etc. With a list like that, why make the ridiculous charge that she may not really be black?
Granted, the NABJ panelists are big losers too. They were rude and hateful, pummeling Trump with condescending ‘gotcha’ questions, but Trump surely knew what to expect. He should have been ready and capitalized on it.
Fox News Anchor Harris Faulkner came out of the NABJ panel a winner for pushing Trump to answer real questions, demonstrating to the black journalists at the conference how a real journalist should actually behave. And the look on ABC’s Rachel Scott’s gob smacked face when Trump asked her to define DEI is also priceless. Trump gets points for showing up and Faulkner says he connected with the audience on several issues, but the only clip that matters is Trump attacking Harris on her race — an unforced error as Trump loses the week with 94 days until the election. Watch the entire panel HERE if you haven’t seen it.
More losers are the men and women who signed up for White Dudes for Kamala and White Women for Kamala which organized this week, making it clear how Democrat policies are totally rooted in racial and identity politics. White people on zoom calls were directed to never challenge or correct a biracial or person of color and to remember how much white people have to “learn and unlearn.” It seems to go without saying that Vice President Harris will choose a white man as her running mate. Wonder if he will have to sign on to those rules?
As great as the Paris Olympics have been, the French organizers make the losers list by reminding the world what we really hate about European sensibilities. In addition to the awful anti-religious drag queens in the opening ceremony, a great report in the Wall Street Journal details France’s intention to impose their “climate vision” on the athletes. First, their food plan was to reduce animal proteins and substitute “sustainable catering,” drastically reducing the amount of meat that was available. After athletes (who are all in training, remember) started trekking out of Olympic village to get real food, Olympic leaders almost immediately rolled it back, bringing in a ton of meat and eggs.
The Olympic Committee also decided not to install air conditioning for anyone but the para-athletes, because they say air conditioning is bad for the planet. However, instead of creating some kind of green standard, the decision made the Paris 2024 games a “Bring Your Own Air Conditioning” event as most countries had mobile units shipped in to ensure their athletes could sleep comfortably.
Finally, of course, there’s the awful decision to let men box against women at the Olympics. This is a big controversy but it shouldn’t be. Two so-called women boxers have “Y” chromosomes. That should be the end of it.
The Hobby School of Public Affairs sponsored by the University of Houston and Texas Southern are on the winners list for releasing a survey revealing that 65% of Texans support school choice. These pollsters aren’t the first to find that Texans support parental choice, but they are winners because they clearly asked the question without attempting to manipulate the response. They learned that whether you call them “voucher programs” or “education savings accounts” Texans in every demographic group and political party support providing education funds so that parents can choose the best school for their child. The only demographic group where a majority is not in favor is “white Democrats,” the same group, as one of my TPPF colleagues pointed out who supported segregation after the Civil War and continued to oppose public school integration for decades.
Sen. Ted Cruz is also winner this week for his bill to require schools to report all funding and curriculum materials that come from foreign countries. The Chinese Communist Party invests billions in American education and the first step in pushing back against that is transparency. Good for Cruz.
And what about Keller ISD where the school board intervened after school officials had required that students who painted pro-Trump murals on their parking spots remove them. (Seniors at Keller High School pay $200 for a reserved parking space and they are allowed to paint it.) When the School Board got word of the anti-Trump ruling, they reversed it, stating students could say whatever they wanted as long as it was polite. What is ironic about this is that while Texas high schools must assist in helping 18 year olds register to vote, many young Texans don’t vote because they say they don’t have enough information. Slapping down kids who are excited about casting their first ballot is absolutely the wrong way to go.
The next few days will be filled with speculation over whether Vice President Harris will choose Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate, risking the ire of her progressive base, or somebody else. Betting odds are on Shapiro but who knows. The weekend will be filled with pundits offering their two cents on the choice.
Fortunately, Team USA Men’s Basketball will play Puerto Rico tomorrow, which should be fun since they have promised the run-up the score. Team USA Women’s Basketball will play Germany on Sunday. And Track and Field started today!
USA! USA! Have a great weekend.
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
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Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Every Friday morning at 8:30AM I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers. Since the first presidential debate 29 days ago, each week has been filled with historically (and politically) unprecedented events that make awarding a clear thumbs up or thumbs down challenging. It is simply too soon to say what the impact will be of much that is happening now, but here’s how it looks to me this Friday:
The week began with President Joe Biden announcing that he would not seek re-election, certainly a rousing call for a thumbs up around our nation and the world as he had repeatedly demonstrated he no longer had the cognitive strength to do the job. But the fact that he made the announcement on Twitter (X) with no video statement caused hours of speculation on social media that perhaps he was no longer alive. This resulted in the Biden team inviting cameras to photograph him getting out of his car and getting on Air Force One, as we all watched, like citizen paparazzi. Then, the President gave a speech from the Oval Office, telling us he is not going to run for re-election, echoing the words of John F. Kennedy that “the torch has been passed to a new generation.” However, he never really explained why he was handing off the torch. His team denies it is related to his health, because, of course, if he’s not together enough to run, can he be together enough to be president? Team Biden also vehemently rejected the suggestion that he was forced to step aside because it appeared he would lose the election.
When he finally spoke, the left-wing media compared him to George Washington, I suppose because Washington also stepped aside when he didn’t have to. As far as I can see, there is no other resemblance. In the end, it was a big losing week for Biden.
After he resigned, almost as an afterthought, Biden announced that he has endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, for president. Kamala got all the delegates she needed to secure the nomination in a day or so after pulling in the all-important nod from George Clooney and the big donors who call the shots for Democrats. The only holdouts were the Obamas who don’t think she can beat Trump and wanted a mini-primary, but they lost that fight. They joined Team Harris this morning. The Vice President earned enough political points to make it to the winner’s column this week, but her policies continue to make her a big loser. When she was in Congress, she was the most liberal U.S. senator – farther to the left than Sen. Bernie Sanders. For starters, she supports the Green New Deal, and wants to phase out gas-powered cars by 2035 while ending fracking and off-shore drilling. She also wants to decriminalize illegal border crossings and eliminate private health insurance in favor of Medicaid for all.
Her biggest outrage this week was her failure to greet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his arrival in Washington and then boycotting his speech to Congress, opting to speak to a gathering of sorority sisters instead. Her office issued a statement condemning the anti-Israel protesters who burned American flags and hoisted a Palestinian flag over the iconic Union Station in response to Netanyahu’s speech, but Harris is desperately trying to have it both ways. She is clinging to her sympathetic statement this spring that the protestors are “showing exactly what the human emotion should be in response to Gaza.” Harris is on the losers list and with 102 days left until the election, she could easily make that list 14 more times with her left-wing policies.
That said, add me to the chorus telling Republicans that it is a mistake to think they can beat Harris by showing videos of her cackling word salads. Although Donald Trump says crazy things too sometimes, voters support the former President because they agree that we must secure the border, support law enforcement, reform education and ensure American energy independence. Harris opposes all that and unlike Biden, she’s focused. Voters need to know that.
That’s why Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance is on the loser list this week for his statement that the country is run by a “bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.” He called out Vice President Harris in his hateful attack, which was a right-wing version of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” swipe.
Granted, Vance made the comment before he knew he’d be on a presidential ticket where Republicans are already running 11 points behind Democrats among women voters only a couple days after the Dem’s put a woman at the top of their ticket. Trump is winning big with men, but there are more women than men in every age category. Elections always come down to the math.
The teachers unions were out in full force in Houston this week for the American Federation of Teachers convention. Their leader, Randi Weingarten, jumped up and down on stage in the Bayou City, screaming that former President Donald Trump is a fascist and an “existential threat to democracy,” a tired charge that isn’t working for Democrats. Weingarten and the AFT are the same people who closed down schools nationwide for over a year, causing a massive learning loss that many children will never recover from. She ended her screed by proudly announcing that they are the first union to endorse Kamala Harris for president. The term “loser” hardly seems adequate to describe it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a big winner this week for his speech to Congress where he demonstrated his steadfast commitment to winning the war against Hamas and calling those Americans who march against Israel “idiots.” The fact that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it the “worst speech” ever given in the House Chamber actually lends to Netanyahu’s credibility. (That comment puts Pelosi on the losers list, by the way.)
Perhaps Netanyahu’s speech struck such a chord because during the last thirty days in America, we have become very aware of the constant media attempts to distort reality. We were told that our aging president was on top of his game, then we saw the debate. Next we were told that even Democrat leaders knew for years that Biden was not functioning well and had to go. Then, he insisted he wasn’t going anywhere. Then he was pushed out, but the actual push was covered up too. After that, Biden made a speech in which he said virtually nothing about why he was stepping aside and the media called him the best president in our lifetime. So hearing Netanyahu stand up, tell it like it is – calling idiots, idiots, was a nice respite before we return to the recreating of Kamala Harris, who, we are now being told was never the “border czar.” Huh?
Americans continue to be united in their belief that the Secret Service’s failure to prevent the attempted assassination against former President Trump is an outrage. The resignation of Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle, who showed little remorse regarding the failure, didn’t reassure Americans that things are going to change. Suggestions going forward that both political campaigns refrain from holding rallies outside is another bad sign.
Happily, after all the “historically unprecedented” nationwide drama of the last month, Americans will almost surely be united by the Paris Olympics which start today and will create many winners for Team USA. Dozens of Texans are competing in the summer Olympics including Simone Biles who needs one more medal to break an all-time record for gymnasts and Texas golfing great Scottie Scheffler who is on his first Olympic outing. Sprinter Gabby Thomas who graduated from Harvard but moved to Austin to train, is also someone to watch.
At the very least it will be a distraction while we wait for Harris to announce her vice presidential pick. Have a great weekend.
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Sign up to receive this in your inbox every week at www.texaspolicy.com/9thandCongress.
Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers. This week the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee grabbed almost all the awards in the final tally. I was in Milwaukee for a couple days, but also viewed the Convention as it was designed to be experienced—via television and digital media. Here’s who won and who lost:
Former President Donald Trump is the big winner for the week, having put on a political convention that will rank among the best ever staged. (I haven’t missed one since 1988, so I am speaking with some authority.) The whole event was super charged by the fact that Trump survived an assassination attempt last Saturday. Liberal CNN commentator Van Jones said that he had not felt such enthusiastic energy from a crowd at a convention since 2008, when Obama was nominated.
The convention was choreographed perfectly to reach out to demographics that normally don’t engage in politics or pay attention to political conventions. There were a bunch of people identified as EDAs, “Every Day Americans,” on the schedule, along with dozens of more prominent but non-conventional convention speakers, notably social media influencer Amber Rose on opening night and Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock last night, just to point out a few. To contrast how amazing this was, some will remember when Republicans thought that having Clint Eastwood talk to an empty chair would engage voters.
The inclusion of the Gold Star Families whose loved ones were killed at Abbey Gate during Biden’s botched pull-out of Afghanistan was an unforgettable moment at the Convention as they repeated the names of every soldier that was killed and the delegates repeated them back. So were the remarks by the parents of Omer Neutra, who is currently being held hostage in Gaza, reminding people of the grim results of Biden’s foreign policies.
Melania Trump is a stunning winner this week. Her letter on Monday talking about her fears when her husband was shot and reminding Americans that every single “politician is a man or a woman with a loving family” was the first expression of the unity message conveyed by the Trump Convention. The rest of Trump’s family—his children and grandchildren—helped underscore Melania’s message and helped humanize Trump. His granddaughter Kai, who golfs with him, was terrific!
Texans had a great week at the Convention too—speeches by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who helms the largest city in the country run by a Republican, was an important message for urban voters. Our always electric junior Sen. Ted Cruz’s speech reminding convention watchers that outrages resulting from Biden’s open border policies that seem to occur “every damn day” was also show stopper.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s convention speech was tremendous. As the Governor who bused thousands of migrants to Democrat sanctuary cities, he has a national profile now. He showed the entire country the impact of a giant influx of illegal immigrants, demonstrating how border security became the priority issue for all Americans.
Wrapping up my highlight reel is Ambassador Nikki Haley, who may have given one of the most important speeches at the Convention, reaching out to swing voters and reminding them that they didn’t have to agree with Trump on every issue to vote for him because “we have a country to save.” There were a few boos in the Convention Hall, but they didn’t show up on TV even as her body language made it clear voters don’t even need to like Trump to vote for him. Her best riff contrasted Trump’s foreign policy record with Biden’s, saying “strong leaders don’t start wars, they prevent them.”
Florida Gov. Ron De Santis gave a fiery endorsement speech causing many in the Convention Hall to wonder why the knock on him was that he had no passion or charisma. De Santis gave one of the best lines of the week, describing the Biden White House as the “Weekend at Bernie’s” presidency as he laid out the choice for voters between strength and weakness.
Donald Trump’s Speechwriter clearly is a winner, having written a brilliant speech. The best line will resonate for the next four months—“I am running to be president of all America, not half of America,” something his opponent cannot say after his frequent attacks on “MAGA” people.
Unfortunately, after the first 30 minutes or so he went off on script and reverted to his long and rambling campaign rally speeches which, as one focus group member reported afterwards, are “very negative.” It’s has long been inexplicable that someone who understands media, entertainment and business as well as Trump does can’t manage to stop talking once he’s closed the deal. The positive spin, of course, is that the current president lacks to stamina to be able to talk for 92 minutes.
That said, the fact that Trump didn’t do as well as he could have doesn’t erase the fact that he did well enough to accomplish his mission and maybe wrap up the election. John King at CNN has an Electoral College map that shows that Trump went into the Convention with enough electoral votes to win and could be looking at a 330 electoral vote wrap up. The only relevant question in politics is “compared to what,” and Trump and his unified convention underscored the contrast with Biden and the dysfunctional Democrats.
Hate to drop another Van Jones quote, but this makes the point: “A bullet couldn’t stop Trump. A virus just stopped Biden.”
You would think that whoever Trump selected for his vice president should have made the winners list this week, but Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance didn’t do it, although I’m not ready to pronounce him a loser. “Hillbilly Elegy,” was a transformative book for many and his re-telling of his American dream story will be powerful on the campaign trail, but like many conservatives, including some Texas business leaders who spoke to the Houston Chronicle, I have concerns. Here in the Lone Star State, we understand how critical it is to have conservative economic policies to ensure that every Texan prospers. So when we hear talk from Vance about raising taxes on corporations, increasing the minimum wage, beefing up regulation and bolstering support for labor unions, it is a worry.
He is a brilliant guy and his convention speech was solid, bolstering his youth and his “dad” credentials. However, it was not as good as speeches given by Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Doug Burgum, Gov. Ron DeSantis or Gov. Glenn Youngkin—four other options Trump had to choose from, all of whom bring more to the table politically and experientially than Vance. Gov. Abbott and Ambassador Haley were two other wild card vice presidential options for Trump that would have been game changers if he had chosen either one. But Trump went with Vance, who will now be stomping for the ticket in the rust belt “blue wall” states that need to be nailed down for Republicans to win. If he’s successful, it will complete a political re-alignment that appears to be underway in the country.
The saga of the biggest loser of the week, President Joe Biden, is Shakespearian, kind of a combination of King Lear and the death of Julius Caeser. Poor guy, sitting at his beach house with COVID-19, learning the tough lesson that the Democrat machine giveth and it taketh away. I am sympathetic to an elderly man who doesn’t want to give up his life’s work, but Democrats should have thought about that when they shut down any way to challenge him in the primary and pretended that his cognitive decline wasn’t a problem, when, as we are learning now, they all knew that it was a serious issue.
As I am writing this, it looks like he will have to step aside, even as his team insists that he is “in it to win it.” Even if he wasn’t twisting in the wind, Biden would have made the losers list for his panicked promise to remake the Supreme Court and his forgiveness of a billion more in student loan debt, even after the courts blocked his last loan forgiveness vote seeking scam.
Here in Texas, my old boss, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a winner too, for keeping the pressure up on CenterPoint for their massive failure in the wake of Hurricane Beryl in Houston and for launching a special senate committee on tropical storm preparedness. He is pushing to make sure that Texans are never left without power for days again.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is a big loser. Every new thing we learn about the security failures at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania reveals how shabby her operation was on the ground. And her handling of the questions for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle since the shooting has been abysmal. Perhaps taking a cue from the President, she refuses to step aside. Biden should take a cue form Trump and tell her “you’re fired!”
Judge Aileen Cannon is also on the winners list for dismissing the confidential documents papers charges against Donald Trump. For those who think Judge Cannon’s action was partisan, read her ruling and then talk to any lawyer friend you have close by. The appointment of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith was clearly unconstitutional.
Let’s add Tarrant County to the winner’s list for ending a contract with a program called “Youth Advocate Programs” because of its DEI policies. Kudos to county officials for paying attention to the details on these contracts.
Finally, just so you know, Bud Light remains a loser, still reeling from the boycott launched last year when the company used Dylan Mulvaney, a boy who dresses like a girl, to spearhead an advertising campaign. Formally the number one light beer, they had slipped to No. 2 but now they are in the No. 3 position.
That’s it for now. Have a great weekend.
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Sign up to receive this in your inbox every week at www.texaspolicy.com/9thandCongress.
Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Every Friday morning I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers in public policy, politics, sports and culture in Texas, America and the world. After wading through the post-debate fog for the last couple weeks, here’s my list for the week ending July 12.
The “Big Boy” Press Conference at the NATO Summmit last night turned out to be a winner for both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Biden wasn’t great, but he did well enough to demonstrate that his brain doesn’t always operate as it did at the debate, although he did reveal he’s limited to about 3 talking points on any issue before just saying “anyway” and trailing off. The 15 days since the debate have been terrific for conservatives who are not only basking in the vindication of having known for a couple years that President Biden frequently performs a taco short of the full enchilada platter. Now, of course, many in the media admit they actually knew it too and we are watching them flail, stunned that a New York Times Editorial would not convince Biden to step down. Then, they up the ante, figuring that surely an op-ed from George Clooney will get him to acquiesce.
Apparently these people have never watched how a “king slayer” operates on “Game of Thrones.” A knife to the gut is the only thing that reliably gets a king off the throne and a figurative knife to the gut will be required here. Biden said in his press conference that polls would have to show he has no chance to win. It is doubtful such a poll exists or will ever exist. The country is evenly divided. Biden will lose if his cognitive decline costs him a couple more points among swing voters than Trump’s bogus conviction cost him. Because of our polarization, a seismic shift either way is unlikely. If Biden stays in, he will almost certainly be within “striking distance” until November. New polls come out all the time, like the new NPR Marist poll this morning that shows Biden running two points ahead of Trump. The President is not going to pay any attention to the polls.
For a Texas historical minute on this, ask the people who tried to get former Lt. Governor David Dewhurst to step aside after current Lt. Governor Dan Patrick beat him by double digits in the 2014 GOP primary. Polls were commissioned to show Dewhurst he didn’t have a chance of closing the gap. He ignored them. Patrick trounced him in the run-off by 30 points. That’s what is meant by a knife to the gut.
Speaking of Lt. Governor Patrick, he’s on the winner’s list this week for his handling of Hurricane Beryl while Governor Greg Abbott is out of the country. Although the Houston Chronicle will always quibble, Patrick, who is one of the best elected communicators in the country, provided Texans with hour by hour updates and kept the state informed and connected to Texas’ emergency disaster management resources. Of the many mistakes Biden made this week, one was picking a fight with Patrick about disaster declaration, a move which allowed the Lt. Governor to appear on local television all over the state calling the president incompetent or forgetful.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy is also on the winner’s list this week for his legislation strengthening prohibitions against non-citizen voting. Most Democrats voted against it and it will undoubtedly die in the Senate. Still, Republicans were right to pass this bill because it has already caused Democrats to pull out their old talking points in opposition to requiring a photo voter ID to vote. They call it racist. Photo Voter ID, of course, has the support of virtually everyone regardless of race or ethnicity so this attack is one more blow to identity politics and Democrat credibility.
Vice President Kamala Harris is on the loser list even though she clearly has a better chance of becoming president now than ever in her life as many Democrats believe it would be better to have the word salad queen, known for accomplishing nothing during her tenure in office, than the tragically failing Biden. However, it is important to remember that since October 7, Harris has repeatedly demonstrated that in the Middle East, her sympathies are with Hamas, not Israel. This past week she said the protesters on American campuses are demonstrating “exactly what the human emotion should be as a response to Gaza.” No, Madame Vice President, they aren’t. The only response to the Hamas attack on Israel is unequivocal outrage, not support for the terrorists who perpetrated it.
Former President Barack Obama is on the loser list for so many reasons, but these stand out for this week: (1) picking Joe Biden as his vice president (2) picking Hillary Clinton instead of Biden to run as his successor in 2016 (3) consequently, not having the clout to tell the current President he needs to step down (4) greenlighting George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed telling Biden to drop out, as if Biden, or anyone would care what some actor thinks. Now we hear that Obama’s team is behind the “get rid of Biden” movement. Is says something that Democrats view Obama as the best leader they have.
Nikki Haley is on the winner’s list for releasing her delegates so they can vote for Trump and reiterating that Biden is not competent to serve. And, in case anybody wondered, she also noted that Harris “would be a disaster for America.” Remember that Biden’s cognitive decline was a key talking point of Haley’s presidential campaign which ended in March. Apparently, the national media who claimed they were shocked by Biden’s performance in the debate, didn’t hear Haley when she repeatedly said Biden didn’t have the mental clarity to do the job.
And how about that George Stephanopoulos? First, he was going to provide the Biden interview that would either put the post-debate doubts to rest or provide proof that the debate was not a one-off. It did neither because everyone knew the interview was edited and nobody trusts Stephanopoulos or ABC. Then, he “accidentally” got caught on camera saying he doesn’t think the President can make it for four more years. Apparently, he couldn’t get Biden to demonstrate that during the interview. He’s a loser.
Carrollton ISD is a winner for standing up against Biden’s proposed Title IX rules requiring public schools to treat gender identity as if it were a race or ethnicity– with all the pronouns and gender neutral bathrooms that come with that. Governor Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton had already told school districts to ignore the regulations, but Carrollton asked for the injunction as well, knowing they are risking millions in federal education dollars. Last week they got it.
Let’s put “a Threat to Democracy” on the losers list this week. The “threat” is losing its potency for all but the most rabid. Democrats and their media allies are currently tearing themselves apart to stop the re-election of former President Trump because they insist he is a “threat to democracy.” Polls repeatedly tell us that if Americans believe democracy is endangered, (which is a big if) they view Democrats to be as big a threat as Republicans. An Ipsos Poll recently found that 38% of voters believe Republicans will protect democracy and 38% believe Democrats will. This CBS/YouGov Poll chart below phrases the question a little differently but shows the same thing:
Finally, WNBA star Caitlin Clark is on the winners list again this week for becoming the first WNBA rookie to score a triple double, after tying the record for double-doubles last week. This phenomenal athlete is also quite a jokester. Take a look at her postgame response to breaking a new record here.
Anyway…that’s it. Have a great weekend.
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Sign up to receive this in your inbox every week at www.texaspolicy.com/9thandCongress.
Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
The country awakened this morning following the worst debate performance by an incumbent president in television history to find that we are basically back in the same place we were before last Thursday night. Polls taken immediately following the debate show that almost 70 percent of the country say Trump won the debate, but most of the head to head polls taken since the debate show Trump with the same slight lead he had before the stammering Biden said “we finally beat Medicaid.”
The media has been driving the train to get Biden to drop out but the President and his party are saying no to that. Dr. Jill Biden is pledging to fight on, so we are now seeing a revised narrative from the legacy media. After insisting last week that Republicans “used misleading videos to attack Biden…” because of his age, we are now being told that while Biden is clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed, Trump lied about virtually everything during the debate. Their bottom line is that even though Biden can’t string two sentences together, he’s better than Trump.
A six column headline in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal screamed “Falsehoods Mark Trump’s Debate Night.” CNN’s so-called “Fact Check” said Trump lied 30 times during the debate. As usual, the legacy media is using the term “lie” pretty loosely. Most voters who listened to Trump heard much of what he said as truth. Take a look at the “Fact Check”:
Abortion – WSJ and CNN said Trump falsely claimed that “every legal scholar” wanted Roe v. Wade overruled. Granted you can never say “everyone,” but it is worth noting that legal minds across the political spectrum, including the liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsberg, have long expressed strong reservations about the notion that a right to an abortion is somehow enshrined in the Constitution. Trump cogently laid out the argument for leaving the issue to individual states. Serious people will not score that as a lie.
Immigration – WSJ and CNN also hit Trump for suggesting that illegal immigrants are collecting public benefits, noting illegals wouldn’t qualify for Social Security or Medicare. Their loud objection misses the point. Americans can see that illegal immigration has resulted in massive drains on public resources. Just ask New York City Mayor Eric Adams who has budgeted $12 billion for 2024 after spending $10 billion in 2023 for a mere 175,000 illegals who have been bused from Texas. Talk to the people in South Texas or Southern California where hospitals, health clinics and schools buckle under the strain of massive numbers including 7.2 million more who have entered illegally since Biden rolled back Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” and other border security policies. Taxpayers are paying billions for illegal immigration and they know Trump is telling the truth about that.
January 6 – Clearly the media expected that re-litigating January 6 during the debate would be a slam-dunk for Biden, but Trump used it as an opportunity to remind the country about the violent and destructive protests that have been going on since the October 7 attack on Israel as left-wing pro-terrorists protesters denounce Biden’s policies in Israel. January 6 was an awful day in our history, but destructive protests at Columbia University and across the country have been going on for months now, culminating in the images of blood red hands on the White House gates put there by pro-Hamas protesters calling out “Genocide Joe.” Before that, Black Lives Matter protests destroyed portions of Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis and New York with virtually no media outcry. That’s what Trump said during the debate and nobody believes it is a lie.
Economic Policy – CNN and others quibbled about Trump’s characterization of the deficit and the timing on inflation, but polls show that Trump has a double-digit advantage over Biden when it comes to handling the economy. Many polls reflect the findings of this recent Ipsos Poll which reported only 16% of Americans believe they are better off economically under Biden than they were under Trump. Biden can keep trying to convince voters that isn’t true, but they believe he’s the one who is lying, not Trump.
Taxes – Critics also say Trump was wrong when he said Biden plans to quadruple tax rates, but they don’t deny that Biden not only says he wants to raise taxes, he is also committed to letting the Trump Tax Cuts expire in 2025. Maybe tax rates under Biden in a second term would only double or triple – but the salient point is that he wants to increase them – Trump wasn’t lying about that either.
The legacy media must hate the findings in a CBS poll released yesterday which reported that, on reflection, “voters widely believe that in the debate, Trump presented his ideas more clearly, appeared more presidential, inspired more confidence [and] explained his policies better…”
I spoke to Texas Tribune Editor in Chief Sewell Chan on Friday morning following the debate to get his take on the debate and his media outlet’s coverage of Texas issues. Conservatives have many issues with the coverage of public policy by the Texas Tribune, but my purpose wasn’t to debate him, but to provide insight on his view of Texas and the world.
While we mostly see journalists these days who are thinly veiled advocates for progressive views, I believe Sewell is a man of principle who has an exemplary resume in journalism. He’s leaving Texas to become the Executive Editor the Columbia Journalism Review. I think you’ll enjoy our conversation. Listen here:
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Sherry Sylvester is joined by the Texas Tribune’s Editor in Chief and recently appointed Executive Editor of Columbia Journalism Review to discuss the Presidential Debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump… and, in particular, how the journalistic “powers that be” react and report.
Listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.
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Every Friday morning at 8:30AM, I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers. We run the gambit from public policy and political trends to sports and culture in Texas, America and the world.
Here’s my list for the week ending June 28.
The big winner, of course, is former President Donald Trump, who didn’t have a great night at the first, and maybe the only, presidential debate of 2024, but still was good enough to trounce President Joe Biden, proving once again that the only relevant question in politics is “compared to what.” CNN’s Flash Poll immediately following the debate found that 67% of those watching believed Trump won the debate, while only 33% of those watching thought Biden won. This flipped the numbers from 2020 when 60% thought Biden had beaten Trump in the opening debate to only 30% for Trump. CNN’s pollsters also found that 14% are reconsidering their vote after the debate.
CNN’s reputation was also on the line last night and although many of their colleagues in the mainstream media disagreed I am counting CNN and it’s moderators as winners too. Jack Tapper and Dana Bash, came in with truckloads of anti-Trump bias, but with some notable exceptions on questions to Trump, they managed to pull off as balanced a debate as anyone expected the mainstream media to be able to manage. You do have to wonder why they decided to employ a split screen throughout the debate, making the lost and unfocused face of Biden all the more prominent.
That said, the so-called “fact checks” conducted by CNN and the Associated Press were loaded with bias, labeling everything Trump said as untrue, regardless of the facts. Meanwhile, they glossed over many of the looney statements Biden made including his frequent statements regarding the numbers of people coming into the country illegally and his denial of the economic state of the country.
Americans will be unpacking last night’s show in the days to come as Democrats ponder whether Biden was so bad that he has to be removed from the ticket, but whatever they decide, at this point, it looks like the debate could be a gamechanger. We won’t know for sure until we see more polling next week.
Hillary Clinton wasn’t in the big debate last night but she is a big winner this week for endorsing Jamaal Bowman‘s opponent in the Congressional race in suburban New York. Bowman, a squad member who was been outspoken – to say the least – against Israel was defeated by George Latimer who went after Bowman for his blatant anti-Semitism. Bernie Sanders and AOC were backing Bowman, but Clinton took the other side. Clinton moved to New York in order to run for the U.S. Senate and lives close to the district.
Texas is also a big winner again this week for adding more jobs than any other state in the union over the past 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Governor Greg Abbott announced this week that 316,700 new jobs had been created in Texas, news that falls into the “same old, same old” category for people who are paying attention, but we should never forget that our state is the economic engine that helps keep the entire country afloat despite everything Biden has done to slow down prosperity and growth, particularly in the oil and gas industry.
A big loser this week is Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services who pressured an international group of health experts to take the age requirements out of the guidelines for children to receive sex change procedures including puberty blockers and surgeries. Getting the World Professional Association for Transgender Youth to back off was not easy because many European countries have stopped physical interventions for children suffering from gender confusion because the data show it isn’t effective. However, emails reveal that Levine pressured them to drop the requirements that children be at least 18 because of the political implications in the U.S. where the left still needs to keep progressives in line.
The New York Times has admitted that “…several countries in Europe, including Sweden and Britain, have recently placed new restrictions on gender medications for adolescents after reviews of the scientific evidence. In those countries’ health systems, surgeries are only available to patients 18 and older.”
Two more losers are Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg who announced this week that he has dropped the charges against most of the protesters at Columbia University, despite property damage and days of disruption in New York City. Back at home the Travis County District Attorney Delia Garza also dropped charges against most of the protesters who were arrested at the University of Texas in late April and early May. Both Bragg and Garza both cited lack of evidence and suggested police officers should not have been on campus.
A big loser this week is Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal who is seen laughing at a Fox News chyron noting that a Ecuadorian migrant was arrested for raping a 13-year old New York City girl. Appearing on MSNBC, Jayapal was asked to compare the chyron’s of MSNBC, which read “Soon: Biden announces legal protections for undocumented spouses of citizens” and CNN, which read “Biden announces new protections for some undocumented spouses” to Fox News which announced the rape. Jayapal laughed to demonstrate that she believed it was obvious Fox News was using scare tactics regarding crime and illegal immigrants. For those who are victims of crimes at the hands of illegals, including the family of Jocelyn Nungaray, who was recently killed in Houston, the only appropriate response is outrage – laugher is heinously callous.
Finally, a big win for Texas as Blue Bell ice cream announced this week that their Oatmeal Cream Pie ice cream is back by popular demand. I am not a fan but apparently many people are. Is this a great democracy or what?
Have a great weekend.
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Sign up to receive this in your inbox every week at www.texaspolicy.com/9thandCongress.
Follow me on X @sylvester1630 and follow my podcast, the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Shortly after it was announced that 79 people had been arrested during the anti-Israel protests at the University of Texas at Austin in April, university officials and police reported that 45 of those arrested had no affiliation with UT.
Subsequent arrests of campus protesters in Austin and around the country had similar metrics—a substantial percentage of those arrested were not students or faculty at the universities they were targeting. At Columbia University in New York City, ground zero for campus protests, estimates of the percentage of non-students ranged from 30 to 40 percent.
The term “outside agitators” surfaced in the daily news narrative in Texas to describe those non-students. Many journalists leaped forward to remind us that during the civil rights marches in the 1960’s, politicians from the South invariably blamed the protests on “outside agitators,” because they believed (or they wanted us to believe) that African Americans were happy with segregation and the discrimination that was still in place. It was one of the evil lies of segregation.
The Austin American-Statesman published a Politifact on “outside agitators” around the time of the anti-Israel protests, but it was a national piece that didn’t mention the University of Texas. While it reports the large numbers of non-students that had been arrested elsewhere as a result of the protests, including a couple with links to known terrorists, it also attempts to frame the characterization in political terms—conservative lawmakers say “outside agitators,” while leftists call the term outside agitator “silly” and “a tried and tested police tactic.”
Politifact uses the term “outside agitators” to suggest a link to the civil rights marches in the 1960’s and today’s anti-Israel protests, but that’s wrong. Civil rights marches were about ending discrimination against African-Americans. The pro-Hamas protests demonstrate a hatred of Jews.
Many of the protesters who testified before the State Senate Higher Education Subcommittee on May 14 contemptuously dismissed the notion that the protest was motivated by “outside agitators” or anything other than the righteous student outrage against America’s support for Israel.
The Senate subcommittee hearing, which focused on the protests, anti-Semitism and the closing of DEI offices on Texas college campuses, drew 147 people to the Texas Capital to testify. 34 identified themselves as some kind of organizer, though they provided little information about the groups they represented or who they were organizing for. Many were not students.
On May 8, Fox News reported that pro-Hamas propaganda justifying violent action, along with organizing booklets and buckets of rocks had been found on campus by “school officials” as the police were cleaning out the encampments. The news report included footage of some of the materials including a booklet titled “Notes from the Resistance.” Language from the booklet that was visible in the footage read:
“Reject the normalization of the Zionist entity and its agents. Embrace THAWBIT and all forms of Palestinian resistance. This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the THAWBIT and the Palestinian movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly. This material aims to build support for the Palestinian war of national liberation which is through…armed struggle.”
If you look up THAWBIT you will find it is sometimes called Palestinian Red Lines, including the claim that Jerusalem is the capitol of Palestine, and that Palestinians have the right to violent resistance to “reclaim” land in the nation of Israel.
Another booklet that was visible in the footage was called “Glory to Gaza” which celebrates the death Jews through over 2,300 rocket strikes. Glory to Gaza also affirms that Palestinian resisters have no interest in a “two state solution, co-existence or ending apartheid.” Instead, they want to eliminate Israel and reclaim Palestine “from the river to the sea.”
The news report also showed materials from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a confirmed terrorist group that threatens civilian Jews.
Paul Edgar, Associate Professor of UT’s Clements Center for National Security told Fox News the documents repeatedly called for the elimination of Israel through violence. “That’s about as extreme as you can get,” he said.
KVUE in Austin reported that weapons including guns, mallets and chains were found at the encampments and a representative from the Texas Department of Public Safety told the Senate subcommittee that officers found buckets of snowball sized rocks, photos of which appeared in news reports. Several who testified at the Senate Sub-Committee hearing contemptuously dismissed those allegations.
The Texas Bureau of the Daily Mail revealed the names of half a dozen protesters who were not students who had been arrested, including a former third grade teacher at Becker Elementary School in Austin.
UT initiated an investigative process to determine possible disciplinary action earlier this month for students who were arrested, but it is not clear if the university or a law enforcement agency is investigating the non-students who were arrested. Amazingly, it doesn’t appear that any major Texas media outlet has asked about the non-students who comprised at least half of the people who were arrested. It is not clear why they have been written out of the story.
Were the non-student protesters just Austin hangers-on? Were they random activists, the kind who are always in search of a protest? Or were some of them affiliated with the national groups that were coordinating campus protests across the country?
Finally, if pro-Hamas propaganda materials advocating violence were found on the UT campus during the protests, as Fox News reported, did it belong to UT students or “outside agitators?” And whoever it belonged to, where are those people now?
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Institute and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
