Today in Politics, Bulletin 185. 8/4/25

… TX Gov Greg Abbott has ordered the arrest of TX State Democratic Reps who left the state to prevent a quorum on his special session to gerrymander the state: “Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans. By fleeing the state, Texas House Democrats are holding hostage critical legislation to aid flood victims and advance property tax relief. There are consequences for dereliction of duty.”

… Texas Democrats flew out of the state overnight to several different states to deny Republicans a quorum in the legislature, which prevented Abbott from moving forward with his plan to effectively eliminate at least 5 Democratic seats through a radical gerrymander. Both Abbott and corrupt criminal AG Ken Paxton were enraged and threatened harsh consequences.

… NYT: “For the House to conduct business, at least two-thirds of its 150 members must be present. There are 62 Democrats in the House, and at least 51 of them would have to take part for the walkout to be effective. The number of those taking part in the walkout on Sunday was well over that threshold.”

… TX Rep. Gene Wu, Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said they are prepared to remain out of the state until the 30-day special session has expired: “We’re leaving Texas to fight for Texans. We’re walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent. As of today, this corrupt special session is over.”

… TX Rep. Ramon Romero: “We didn’t start this fight — Donald Trump started it.”

… NYT: “Hours after the Democrats departed, Abbott responded with a further escalation, declaring that their walkout amounted to an ‘abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office.’ If they do not show up for a scheduled floor debate on the maps on Monday, Abbott said, he will invoke a legal opinion by the Texas AG and take steps to ‘remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.’ Such a move would almost certainly be challenged in court.”

… Politico’s Kyle Cheney: “Notably, the Paxton opinion that Abbott cites doesn’t actually say lawmakers who break quorum are removable — in fact it says this is a fact-specific question only resolvable by a court. The opinion also does not say it’s unconstitutional to break quorum. The opinion by Paxton explicitly takes no position on whether breaking quorum is unconstitutional because, as Paxton said, it was tied up in litigation at the time.”

… Scott Braddock with Quorum Report: “After reading the opinion he cites, Gov. Abbott is probably as wrong as he could be. The AG's opinion he cites just says courts could maybe figure out whether an office had been abandoned. It DOES NOT say that Abbott can declare Texas House offices vacant.”

… Elections and polling analyst Matt Mohn: “This would be largest expulsion of legislators in US history - superseding even the Civil War, Reconstruction, and red scares.”

… Abbott also threatened to prosecute TX Reps. for felony bribery if they accepted any benefit from someone like IL Gov. JB Pritzker, such as a flight, hotel room, or meals: “It seems to me that the only way some of the fleeing Democrats can avoid bribery charges is to not break quorum. It seems that would eliminate any potential quid pro quo connected to any payment they received to deny a quorum and skip a vote.”

… AG Ken Paxton posted on X: “Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately. We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”

… TX Dem Rep. Jolanda Jones: “I'm a lawyer. There is no felony in the Texas Penal Code for what he says. Respectfully, he's making up some shit, okay? He has no legal mechanism. He's putting up smoke and mirrors.”

… NYT: “TX Republican lawmakers could try to compel the Democratic members to return by issuing civil arrest warrants for violating the rules of the TX House, as they did during a previous walkout, or by withholding pay from the members and their staffs. The speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows, a Republican, said in a statement that ‘all options will be on the table’ if not enough members are present when the House meets on Monday.”

… There is a TX law that was recently passed by Republicans to fine members who fail to appear for a session $500 per day.

… Abbott went on Fox and tried to blame Democrats for denying aid to flood victims: “They are holding hostage legislation to provide flood relief for the victims. Our fellow Texans are being let down and not getting the flood relief they need because these Democrats have absconded. I believe they have forfeited their seats in the legislature because they are not doing the job they were elected to do.”

… Texas House Democrats issued a statement: “Breaking quorum is not a decision we take lightly. However, when Gov. Abbott chooses to withhold critical flood relief in order to advance a partisan agenda at the request of Trump, we are left with no choice. He had ample opportunity to prioritize disaster recovery earlier in the session but instead chose to play political games.”

… Most of the Democrats went to Chicago, where they held a press conference where Gov. JB Pritzker talked about his state and others retaliating if TX or other red states move forward: “This is not just rigging the system in TX. It’s about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come. They are attempting to cheat. I think we all know Trump is a cheater. So is the AG of Texas, Ken Paxton ... in so many ways.”

… Paxton was impeached after his office dropped charges against a man who provided a kitchen remodel for Paxton’s mistress. Paxton’s wife, a TX State Senator, recently filed for divorce alleging adultery.

… Rep. Jasmine Crockett was in AZ for MoveOn’s ‘Won’t Back Down Tour’ last night and announced to the crowd what was happening: “My former colleagues from the TX House - those TX Dems decided to get the hell out of TX. They decided to use whatever tools they could, and breaking quorum is where they’re at right now. And they didn’t just do it by themselves—they went to IL, where there is a governor that gives a damn. This fight is going to take all of us.”

… The new gerrymandered map is so bad it puts Crockett’s house outside her own district.

… Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) on MSNBC: "This idea of fining legislators - and now I'm starting to hear about the governor or the Speaker of the House trying to expel lawmakers from office - is deeply unconstitutional and it is part of a worrying trend. It's the kind of authoritarian thing that we think about in other nations and is clearly unconstitutional."

… The new TX Republican map combines Casar’s district with Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s.

… Some of the TX Dems went to NY where Gov. Kathy Hochul also held a press conference: “If Republicans are willing to rewrite the rules to give themselves an advantage, they're leaving us no choice. We must do the same. I'm exploring every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible. The playing field has changed dramatically, and shame on us if we ignore that fact and cling tight to the vestiges of the past. That era is over. Trump eliminated that forever. We are at war. That's why the gloves are off, and I say bring it on.”

… Q - Do you think the independent redistricting commission should be disbanded? Hochul: “Yes. I'm tired with fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back. With all due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process. And to think we're gonna do this with a purity test - we're sick and tired of being pushed around.”

… CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: “Whatever Texas does will be neutered in California.”

… AG Pam Bondi directed DOJ to act on Tulsi Gabbard’s referral and conduct a criminal grand jury investigation into whether Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, James Clapper and others committed treason or some other crime when the govt issued a report stating that Russia attempted to tamper in the 2016 election.

… Fox: “Pam Bondi directed her staff Monday to act on the criminal referral from Tulsi Gabbard related to the alleged conspiracy to tie President Trump to Russia, and DOJ is now opening a grand jury investigation into the matter. It is unclear who is under investigation and what charges could be in play given statutes of limitations for much of the activity from nearly a decade ago have lapsed."

… Trump: “Last weeks Job’s Report was RIGGED, just like the numbers prior to the Presidential Election were Rigged. That’s why, in both cases, there was massive, record setting revisions, in favor of the Radical Left Democrats. Those big adjustments were made to cover up, and level out, the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement. MAGA!”

… After his reprehensible performance on the Sunday shows where he knowingly lied for Trump by questioning the validity of the jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Kevin Hassett walked it back on CNBC after he was blasted by experts. Q - Do you think we are starting to see a real slowdown in the jobs market? Hassett: “Yeah, I think the jobs numbers were slower than we expected. It does suggest there is less momentum than we thought. So yeah, I would say it’s little bit weaker, but that was before the Big Beautiful Bill so we are super optimistic moving forward.”

… NBC: “CBO says the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will create $718 billion in additional debt-service costs, which brings the law's overall red-ink projection up to $4.1 trillion.”

… Hassett even admitted that revisions in the numbers does not mean there is fraud, as Trump has claimed: “One of the explanations for revisions is they have more complete data - so it is likely the revisions are a better read of the data if the data are not being manipulated.”

… Financial editor James Surowiecki: “But Trump said the job numbers were fake. Very interesting that Hassett is backing away from his absurd take yesterday that there was something dubious about the BLS' revisions. Someone must have reminded him they were squarely in line with the ADP numbers.”

… Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer was asked her opinion on Trump firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, who falls under her department: "It is my job to support the president in this issue.”

… We tracked down podcaster Charlamagne’s comments to Lara Trump that got Trump to rage-post about him yesterday. This is what he said on Lara’s Fox show while Trump was watching: “I think this Epstein thing is going to be a way for traditional conservatives to take their party back from Trump. I think all the child rape stuff is going to take you down.”

… Trump raged on Truth Social while watching Sen. Elizabeth Warren say this on CNBC: “Trump ran for office saying he'd lower costs on day 1. Cost of groceries are up, cost of housing is up, cost of healthcare is up. And where is Trump? He's passing a signature bill to throw people off their healthcare so he can do tax cuts for billionaires.”

… Trump posted this: “Elizabeth Warren is a LOSER! She lies about everything, including the fact that she is an Indian. She’s NOT. She’s no Pocahontas!!!”

… Then a few minutes later: “Ask Pocahontas the real questions, CNBC!!!”

Just wanted to let everyone know my vacation this year begins Saturday - we will be in Quebec for 8 days next week. We like to experience nature and culture on trips rather than tourist bubbles, and are going to some remote small villages and national parks. I didn’t take vacation last year because I took a few days off to move from FL to Maine, so not much rest in that one!

So no Bulletins next week as I get a little bit unplugged for a week. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) joined Crockett at the MoveOn event: “So in the budget that Trump just signed into law, there is $170 billion for the DHS. And about $70 billion of that is going to ICE. One of the major issues with this admin is all of the companies and special interests that are benefiting. Two major private prison companies gave a lot of money to get Trump elected to office. They have made record profits since Jan, and it is expected that detention center capacity may quadruple with the quotas that Trump has in place.”

… Crockett: “Listen, Donald Trump is a piece of shit. We know that. But in a