Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on 1370 Talk Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. With less than 60 days to go in the Legislative Session and two Texas teams in the Final Four tournaments this weekend, the already-hectic pace is approaching light speed. Here’s who made the list:
Winner: Texas Parents, Texas Kids
Every step on the road to Education Savings Accounts for Texas is a big win for parental rights and Texas students. The Texas Senate passed Education Savings Accounts early in the session and the Texas House Education Committee passed the bill out this week, so it’s on to the House floor for a full vote. If you know anyone who is still weighing the facts, give them this checklist put together by TPPF.
Loser: The Tesla Takedown
Progressives may be gloating that they managed to defeat Elon Musk’s candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court this week, but in terms of swaying public opinion their way, the whole notion of torching perfectly good cars is just not selling with the American people. Last weekend’s national demonstrations against Tesla dealerships drew hundreds, not even thousands, in a country of nearly 375 million people. In terms of pressing priorities, making Elon Musk a tiny bit less rich is just not high on the list of normal people.
Sure, there are reports that Tesla sales have plummeted since Musk took over DOGE and started cutting spending for the Trump administration, but that doesn’t mean anything either. Teslas were always a virtue-signaling luxury item that primarily appealed to progressive tastes. It wouldn’t take many self-righteous lefties to cause sales to dip.
Compare that to the way Americans toppled Bud Light from the top of the beer charts. Folks simply decided to buy a beer that didn’t have a man pretending to be a woman in the commercials. No marches were needed.
The tepid Tesla Takedown is one more sign that what used to be called the “protest movement,” is over in this country. The anti-Israel, pro-Hamas marches that have been happening since Israel was attacked in 2023 have had no impact on American support for Israel, which remains at almost 80%. Instead, the demonstrations have provided a wake-up call to anti-Semitism on American campuses.
Progressives hold protest marches all the time, because they don’t seem to know what else to do. They are gatherings of the same frequently misinformed people who apparently do not work and don’t have anything better to do. They can’t even be bothered to come up with an original chant. How many times do we have to hear “Hey hey, ho ho INSERT WHAT YOU DON’T LIKE HERE, Has Got to Go.” Note to the left: Nobody is paying attention.
Winner: Ted Cruz on Trump’s Third Term
There’s no way to know if President Trump is serious when he says he is considering a third term, but Texas Sen. Ted Cruz minced no words last week when asked about it, telling NBC News: “The 22nd Amendment is clear and unequivocal.”
America went through one of its darkest and most stagnant periods in recent history under former President Joe Biden and Trump’s engagement with the country, his high energy and focus are such a stark contrast that it is easy for some to say that they never want him to leave. But when asked, almost 70 percent of Americans believe, like Cruz, that the Constitution has served us well on this and we should stick with it. Here’s the 22nd Amendment:
“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
Loser: Cory Booker and Everyone Who Had to Listen to Him
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, used to be a kind of good guy. When I lived in New Jersey decades ago, he was elected mayor of Newark at least in part because he supported school choice. But Mayor Booker is not the same guy as Sen. Booker, who decided on Monday that it was time for his “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” moment, so he decided to break the U.S. Senate’s filibuster record. Sen. Booker wasn’t fighting for any principle or policy—he just wanted to prove that he could talk for 25 hours straight.
In yet another sign of how bad things are in the Democrat party, Booker is now seen by some as the leading contender for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2028 as a result of the stunt. Go figure.
Winner: Tilman Fertitta
President Trump nominated Houstonian Tilman Fertitta to be his ambassador to Italy, and his confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C., this week was a hit. Introduced by both Texas U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, Fertitta is expected to be easily confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Fertitta, who owns the Houston Rockets, has a lot to celebrate this week. He chairs the Board of Regents at the University of Houston, which made it to the Final Four and is playing for the national championship this weekend.
Loser: Equality Texas Anti-DEI Poll
Equality Texas, the group that is fighting to let men play women’s sports and put drag shows for kids in public libraries, among other things, released an astonishing poll this week.
According to its data, 52% of LGBTQ students surveyed at Texas colleges and universities said they considered leaving whatever Texas institution they attended after Texas’ anti-DEI law passed in 2023. Even worse, according to Equality Texas, 78% said they’d considered leaving the Lone Star State entirely.
Equality Texas reports that it only surveyed 23 students and they provided no information on how that 23 was selected. So let’s do the math: 78% of 23 means that 18 of the 1.6 million Texas college students are thinking of leaving Texas because of DEI. What about faculty? There have been frequent warnings that Texas DEI law will drive away potential faculty members. However, the Equality Texas survey reached out to 21 faculty and staff members and found that 25% of them said they had “considered” leaving Texas—so that’s 5.25 people.
Winner: Men’s Final Four in San Antonio
The University of Houston is the only Texas team that made it all the way to the NCAA Men’s Final Four in San Antonio. The Cougars play Duke at 8 p.m. Saturday. For many fans, the fact that all four No. 1 seeds—Florida and Auburn are the other two teams—made it to the Final Four is one more sign that dramatic changes in college sports have pushed many schools out of the real competition. More than a few people wonder if the NIL, the portal and big money schools getting all the good players has resulted in an NCAA tournament with few upsets and no Cinderella teams. If you have not read TPPF board member Cody Campbell’s cutting-edge analysis on the current threats to college sports, read it here now.
UPDATE! The University of Houston defeated Duke in the Final Four game last night. After being down by 9 points with 3 minutes to go, they pulled off what the Houston Chronicle called “a comeback for the ages.” They will play Florida for the national championship on Monday.
Winner: Texas Women in the Final Four
The Longhorns will play in the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa on Friday night going up against their nemesis, South Carolina, at 6 p.m. The Longhorns beat another Texas team, TCU to get the ticket to Tampa. Texas famously ended South Carolina’s 57 game winning streak in February, but the Gamecocks got a revenge win over Texas in the SEC Championship tournament last month. The University of Connecticut and UCLA are also playing on Friday.
The women’s championship game is on Sunday night and the men’s game is on Monday. Let’s root for both Texas teams to come home with trophies.
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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