O’Rourke appeared at Netroots Nation Friday in a conversation with Brian Beutler. We got a good taste of what was to come when O’Rourke swatted away Beutler’s opening question about Sydney Sweeney, characterizing that controversy as a luxury we don’t have right now. “Sydney Sweeney, after we save the country. For now, focused on America,” O’Rourke responded.
Beutler wisely moved on to the Texas redistricting fight. As I previously posted, O’Rourke’s Powered by People organization is being targeted by Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, for helping the Texas Dems stay out of the state, prevent quorum and keep the Republicans from rigging Texas’ congressional map. The MAGA plan is to give themselves five additional House seats. That would likely ensure Trump and his MAGA bootlickers retain control of the U.S. House.
“These motherfuckers are panicking right now,” O’Rourke said. That's because there will be a check on Donald Trump’s lawlessness if they don't steal the new seats. “We’ve got to make sure that we are not afraid and we take this fight to them and we win it with whatever it takes,” he added.
As you might have guessed already, there was zero pussyfooting around from this guy.
O’ROURKE: They are betting that our side is going to give in and give up. That we are the old Democratic party that was more interested in concession and compromise – and even in some cases, you know, older Democratic leaders like maybe the minority leader in the Senate bending the knee and submitting to these guys rather than saying, “The hell with that, we’re going to fight you tooth and nail, whatever it takes to make sure that we are ruthlessly focused on stopping your power grab and making sure that we win power ourselves." And then, when we have power, as my friend Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin says, we drive that car like we stole it. We run the tables on these guys, every single issue that we care about. So, we’re not going to let Ken Paxton frighten us, intimidate us.
The country wants to see a fight. Everyone who’s bent the knee, everyone who’s conceded to Donald Trump – Tim Cook giving him the golden iPhone two days ago. I mean, enough of that stuff, right? We need to stand and fight. This is a moment of truth.
If we fail right now in the breach, if we do not win power in 2026, the consolidation of authoritarian control in the hands of Donald Trump will be nearly unstoppable. … So all of us must do all we can with what we have where we are.
If Congressional Dems had even half the fighting spirit of Beto O’Rourke, we’d be in a much better place.
You really must watch the whole thing. You’ll be glad you did.
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Update: A GOP judge has temporarily blocked Powered by People from funding the Texas Dems. I believe the Texas House Democratic Caucus is still allowed to help them.
