Difficult to tell with politics whether it means something or not, but that's generally because in politics a lot of things mean what people want them to mean. What is happening with Texas right now is typical Greg Abbott, and very typical for Texas establishment style politics. Okay, not the establishment of the Republican Party, Jonah. This is why I should have written that post years ago explaining the term I use in my inner monologue for pols like Abbott: Godfather Republicans. What they do is take something extremely minor with near zero consequences, invent a fig leaf legal justification for it, then promote it as though it were world-changing. In Texas, that means dog whistling to the secessionists, even though everybody knows they are a tiny minority and Abbott would vigorously deny it were he challenged directly on his intentions, at least in private. Abbott has done this exact kind of thing for years, and he's very comfortable with it.
But this sort of political brinkmanship to gain notoriety has the same sort of consequences in the end that Trump's lies about the 2020 election did, and continue to do. Texas pols for years have told voters that they will do something about immigration when every single one of them knows the Texas state government has no jurisdiction over an international border and immigration policy. I myself sat on a panel of candidates for the Texas state house at a tea party meeting and listened to the other two guys, both incumbents, one of whom was my primary opponent and the other a respected, even by me, conservative, tell that audience the Texas state government was doing this and that and the other thing in response to an illegal immigration question. But of course, all the things they said were within the legal jurisdiction of the state government...and had nothing to do with illegal immigration. I told that audience the truth. The Texas government has no legal authority over immigration policy. If you don't like current policy, you need to elect a federal executive who will enforce current law, because the Texas state government can't do a damn thing about it. This was in the early 2016 primary season. And you know what happened? The lone libertarian in the audience came up and shook my hand afterwards brimming with enthusiasm as though I had just advocated for open borders, and the moderator of the panel discussion came up and told me flatly something to the effect of, "If you want to make it in this business, blah blah blah." That's how Godfather Republicans think. Voters are idiots and cannot make distinctions like what are federal powers and what are state powers. So when you are asked about immigration in Texas you say something which is technically correct but sounds like you want to get tough on the border, even though you can't. So you promise the wind and hope voters won't blame you when it inevitably escapes your grasp. But you really, really need to make a big show about trying. And that's what Abbott is doing right now. But what happens when the wind reaps the whirlwind?
Twelve years ago, I wrote this about immigration policy in the book. People on all sides need to be very careful how they proceed. Posturing has consequences, and the really big problem I have with defenders of the actual establishment, Jonah, is that your guys have been doing the exact same things that you castigate Trump for doing for decades. They were just more eloquent and their fig leaves had enough surface area to cover the nasty bits. But they are just as responsible for promising things they can't deliver and frustrating the voter base as Trump has been, perhaps more so. And the fact that I wrote this in 2012, well before Trump, shows that he is not the only problem here. This supposed "responsible governance" that Godfather Republicans have been preaching for decades has never actually happened over immigration policy. They are constantly saying, "We need to govern." Well...they aren't, and they haven't been. Trump is a symptom of that failure to govern responsibly; not its cause.
"Quite simply, both political establishments have very good reasons for maintaining the status quo. The Democrats know that Hispanics vote approximately 70:30 in favor of them. Therefore it’s in their best interests to grow the Hispanic population in this country as fast as possible. Illegal immigration allows that. Even though illegal immigrants can’t themselves vote, their children born here will be U.S. citizens and can vote when they grow up. Democrats have worked long and hard to cultivate racial minorities, and any crackdown on illegal immigration would ruin their reputation, since of course they aren’t actually doing much in the way of positive help for the Hispanic community. Republican business interests, on the other hand, know that many of their businesses hire illegal immigrants because of their cheap labor. Illegal immigrants are already illegal. They do not have to be paid minimum wage. Businesses do not have to pay payroll taxes for them or comply with any other federal regulations required for legal workers. As a result, it is also in the best interests of business to get as many illegal immigrants here and working as possible. As a result we have two very strange bedfellows conspiring together to undermine the rule of law."
"The social consequences for our country if we fail to deal with this problem could not be more severe. If not dealt with, the illegal immigration problem and the chaos on the border could destroy everything recognizably unique about the American dream. Illegal immigrants looking for their promised land will only find themselves murdered and exploited by drug lords in the midst of political upheaval perpetuated by Democratic race- baiting and Republican exploitation. The sly subversion of law will allow the cartels to slowly overrun and control large portions of the United States filled with people far more loyal to their country of origin, their race or the cartels than a legitimate government or the American nation. The melting pot will be destroyed, and the United States turned into a fractious and simmering bowl of barely suppressed violence and crime. Two different kinds of citizen will exist, legal and illegal, in a country whose founding document declares all men are created equal. No one can forget what happened when we failed to deal with the slavery problem in a responsible manner. Expectations created but irrationally and unjustly withheld spell out a recipe for total political and social disaster. There is a solution to all this, but it will require a leader with the cajones to see it through. If we make the hard choices now we can solve this problem before it gets completely out of control. We have no choice. It must be done or the United States of America will rip herself in half."
