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 is the last list before Election Day and the only thing we know for sure is not to believe anyone who says they are confident about the outcome on Tuesday night.
What we do know is that data guru Derek Ryan reports that 7.5 million people had voted in Texas as of Wednesday. Almost 2.5 million of those voters have a Republican history while 1.6 have a Democrat voting history.
Here’s who made the list this week:
Winner: Texas Women Voters
Of those 7.5 million Texas early voters, 52% are women, while 44% are men, indicating an eight point gender gap. Democrats view this as a positive sign for them because they believe women who vote are protesting the Republican position on abortion, but Republicans see these women voters as a good sign, noting that polls show the economy, border security and crime issues are their priorities. The GOP also believes that their closing attack ads that highlight Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for the transgender agenda—attacks Harris has not responded to—will persuade women voters to vote for Trump. Polls make it clear that the transgender agenda is a losing issue.
Winner: The White House Office of Stenography
Ann Sands, Director of the White House Office of Stenography, chided the White House Press Office this week for doctoring the official transcript of President Joe Biden’s recent remarks to make it appear he did not call supporters of former President Donald Trump “garbage.” According to Sands, the move by the Press Office to release a doctored transcript was a “breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between Stenography and the Press office.” Sands noted that the Press Office can withhold official transcripts, but they cannot change them.
Not only did I not know that “spoliation” was a word, I had lost hope that there were any bureaucrats left in Washington who possessed the kind of ethics and vigilance that Sands exhibited this week. Her final plea to the White House Press Office was an admonition that they have given an official transcript to the American public that is different from what will be placed in the National Archives. The country is lucky to have someone with a work ethic like this who is, literally, taking notes and has a larger perspective than next week’s election.
Loser: Insulting Voters, Part 1
Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle spent the last week attacking Black men for supporting former President Trump. The former president has repeatedly noted that a decline in African-American support for Harris “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.” To win them over, Obama told black men they were probably sexist and not comfortable with a woman president.
Insulting people to get them to vote for you hasn’t worked for Democrats in the past. After Hillary Clinton was defeated in 2016, Michelle Obama accused women who voted against Clinton—and millions did—of self-hatred. “You don’t like your voice, you like the thing you are told to like.” Insults usually don’t work if you are trying to get someone to like you.
Loser: Insulting Voters, Part 2
Almost as big as Biden’s “garbage” insult was Texan Mark Cuban’s slam against Trump this week saying “you never see him around strong, intelligent women” — denigrating not only Trump’s wife Melania, but dozens of women who have worked and continue to work with the former president. The backlash has been massive.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and former Texas Public Policy Foundation CEO Brooke Rollins, who now heads the America First Policy Institute, have both called the Trump White House the most women friendly in history. Sanders notes that she was the first working mother to ever serve as White House Press Secretary and Rollins, who was rearing young children when she served as Trump’s Domestic Policy Advisor, has frequently described how the former president made sure her work for him did not interfere with her caring for her children and family.
Winner: Pictures worth a Thousand Words
One of the most important rules of political communication is “show it, don’t say it.” The contrast of these two images with Vice President Harris who made a speech in front of the White House this week, makes that point vividly clear.
Former President Donald Trump dons an orange reflector vest and rides in a garbage truck
Former President Trump does a shift at McDonalds
Loser: Puberty Blocking Drugs
The New York Times reported this week that a doctor who prescribes puberty blockers for children has completed a $10 million taxpayer funded study that shows the powerful drugs have no impact on the mental health of the child, despite being touted as essential to prevent suicide. Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy says she will not release the report because she believes it will be “weaponized” by people who oppose giving puberty blockers to children.
The “people who oppose giving puberty blockers to children” is just about everyone. Recent polling shows that almost 70% of Americans do not want children subjected to cross-sex hormones or mutilating surgeries in the name of changing their gender.
TPPF championed legislation last session to end this hideous practice in Texas. Importantly, most European countries, where these programs began, have abandoned them too, because, at best they don’t work and at worst, they are extremely harmful. It’s not exactly clear how a trans advocate doctor can withhold a report taxpayers paid for, but this is one more piece to add to the huge pile of evidence that the trans-agenda is not good for children and it is time for the country to move on.
Winner: Photo Voter ID
So far, nobody in Texas has complained that they are required to show a photo ID in order to vote, and the latest Gallup Poll shows that almost 80% of Americans believe it is a good idea. Democrats, including those in Texas, continue to insist that requiring a photo ID to vote is an attempt to suppress the vote.
Democrat states like California make sure no one can accuse them of voter suppression. According to the California Secretary of State’s Office, “in most cases you will not be required to show identification” in order to vote. If you are voting for the first time, you simply have to prove your address—an old utility bill will work, but no ID is needed.
My colleague, Chuck DeVore, joined me on the Sherry Sylvester Show this week and we discussed whether America should keep the Electoral College or elect the president by the popular vote. One of the arguments Chuck made against using the popular votes is that states don’t monitor who can vote in the same way. You can listen to the podcast here.
Winner: How About those Dodgers
They wrapped it up in five games after an amazing comeback, and now it’s in the history books.
Losers: New York Yankees fans
The two Yankee fans who ripped the ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove in Game 4 were beyond disheartening. In this election year, in our polarized country, sports has been an oasis for everyone, a mostly politics free zone, starting with the Olympics this summer and rolling into the terrific college football season we are having this year. Sports has been a place where we scream for our teams and relish the competition, without the vitriol that currently permeates too much of our lives. Those Yankee fans, like the UT fans who threw garbage on the field the other week, bring ugliness into one of the only refuges of shared community we have left. It has to stop.
Speaking of the Longhorns, they have a bye this week. The now No. 10 ranked Texas Aggies will take on the South Caroline Gamecocks at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow night.
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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