Good morning, 

It’s tempting to simply dismiss the goings on in Washington as more political theater, but it is far more serious. We are witnesses to an attempted coup being staged in slow motion.

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, September 27, 2019
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• In a new commentary, Jim Ellis describes why Texas is the key to determining whether the Republicans will have a chance to reclaim the U.S. House majority in 2020.
     
• Travis County residents can look forward to higher tax bills next year, while their county officials are looking forward to higher salaries. Jacob Asmussen has the details.
     
• Add State Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) to the list of Texas lawmakers not seeking re-election in 2020. He has served in the Texas House since 2003.
   
• Special thanks to Dustin Matocha for getting the new “subscriber portal” launched! You’ll now have a lot more control over what emails you get and how often, as well as update your email address and other contact information. Check it out: subscribe.empowertexans.com.

Time For Texans To Act

The so-called “whistleblower” at the center of the Democrats’ most recent impeachment attempt has been revealed to be a career CIA employee who had been embedded in the White House. The entire narrative of the complaint has been disproven by the actual conversation President Trump had with the Ukrainian president. But the Democrats are not letting facts get in the way; they have a presidency to topple.

This is a reminder that the federal bureaucracy resents the Constitution and believes the government belongs to them – not the people.

Indeed, the transcript notes from the conversation between the two presidents explains why the so-called “intelligence community” is attempting to overthrow Donald Trump’s administration.

On their call, the president asked the new Ukrainian leader to look into “CrowdStrike.” That’s the shadowy company with alleged Ukrainian ties hired to “investigate” the hack into the Democratic National Committee’s computers. And, of course, there is the matter of former Vice President Joe Biden having used the resources of the U.S. government to compel a former Ukrainian government to end the investigation into an oil company for which Biden’s son was paid $50,000 a month to lobby his father’s administration.

Yet the establishment media, angry that Americans have tuned them out, are one-upping each other’s lies in an attempt to depose a president who was elected without their permission. We are watching bureaucrats in the federal bureaucracy and their puppets on Capitol Hill betray our Constitution. They have declared war on our nation’s duly elected president, and by extension our Republic.

What are we going to do about it?

Texans like to brag about what staunch conservatives we are; every Republican gets elected vowing to fight for us. It’s time for them to man up and get to work.

At a minimum, Texas’ Republican-majority congressional delegation should use the Rules of the House to shut down the chamber’s operations and all committee activity until this attempted coup by the deep-state operatives and Democrats is stopped. Saying they are “fighting the Democrats” without doing so is mere sloganeering.

Our 23 House Republicans should set aside the hunt for district pork, and focus their energies on shutting down the coup. This is not time for congeniality or bipartisanship.

It’s easy to talk about “defending the Constitution” in esoteric policy discussions on cable TV that end with a cocktail party. Now is the time to use the power granted them by us, the people, to actually do it.

More is now required of Bill Flores, Brian Babin, Chip Roy, Daniel Crenshaw, Jodey Arrington, John Carter, John Ratcliffe, Kay Granger, Kenny Marchant, Kevin Brady, Lance Gooden, Louie Gohmert, Mac Thornberry, Michael Burgess, Michael Cloud, Michael McCaul, Mike Conaway, Pete Olson, Randy Weber, Roger Williams, Ronald Wright, Van Taylor, and – yes – even Will Hurd.

In the Senate, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz must stand up and be counted like never before; there is no time for being “senatorial.” There isn’t time to work behind the scenes.

Texas’ federal officials – and especially the Republicans – need to hear from you.

This is not the time to reflect on the president’s perceived foibles, wring our hands that he says things some people don’t like, or uses his Twitter account in an unorthodox way. 

Now is the time to recognize we are in a war for the future, with nothing less than our Constitution and Republic at stake.