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Trump, Zach Bryan, and Women in Media · The Sweet Tea Series

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There has been so much happening since our last episode. Trump was elected and won the popular vote. You have Barstow Sports, feeding with Zach Bryan. In Texas, the session is creeping up on us, and how can we stay informed when nobody feels like they can trust the media? There's so much sweet tea to spill.
• 0:18
  We gotta get started. Today, to talk about all the stuff that's going on, I have the senior editor from the Texan joining me, Mackenzie Dellullo. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Arianna. So you also, people can find you at your different podcasts, as well.
• 0:37
  You guys do one. It's called Smoke Filled Room. I've been enjoying that a lot recently. Is that one's a monthly basis, right?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, that one's monthly. It's with me and our senior reporter and managing editor, Brad Johnson, and we just go into all the details of text ledge and what's happening in the legislature statewide. Post election, we'll do some election analysis. We have a lot of fun.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It's it's really actually interesting to get all of that background information that you don't otherwise usually get from, from other types of reporting. And then if people just need to get even more of their fix from you, they can find you on, the the weekly roundup.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Weekly roundup. Yeah. That's weekly. It's our whole team. We have so much fun.
• 1:10
  Smoke filled rooms, definitely more niche. Definitely more like, it's that. It's a smoke filled room. Right? It's that politics behind the scenes.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Those are it's for the nerds who really wanna get the nerds. That's the thing. For people who like some tea. That's It's maybe why I watched it. We spill a little tea.
• 1:24
  Yeah. For sure. And then the
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: weekly roundup is essentially going over the news stories of that week. And I went to our entire reporting team, super talented folks joining me on that one.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: And the Texan is an online publication. Can you tell me a little bit more about, what you guys do?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I would love to. So we were founded in 2019, and essentially our founder Connie Burton said, hey, even in Texas, we are seeing that the media here is very left of center, that they're very biased, and they have no shame in doing so. And so what She Did is set out to found a company that would kinda go to the old school basics of what journalism is supposed to be. The who, what, when, where, present that to the reader, to the listener, and let folks make up their own minds. So we are a subscription based company that sets out to do just that.
• 2:08
  We focus on state politics and policy. So what's happening at the Capitol, what our federal guys are doing in D. C. And essentially, that's just what we cover on a day to day basis. We have a team of reporters both in Austin and throughout the state, and it's just an honor to work there.
• 2:21
  I have so much fun. We have an awesome team. We get along and have a great time, but we also just really believe in our mission
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and what we do. And I really liked where you guys fit within, like within media and journalism, because there's a lot of people who, and I like whenever they're at least transparent about it, where they come from, like, where their where their biases are and how they're gonna be framing everything. But one thing I really respect about you guys is you try to, have that unbiased take and just give people, like you said, give them the news and let them be able to decide what to do with it.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I will say too, in our like our gripe, just like you were saying, was with mainstream media is that folks don't own their biases. So in our code of ethics, we say we're right of center. Our founder is a former Republican state senator. We can't shy away from that. But we don't want you to be able to tell based on how you consume our content.
• 3:07
  We just want to be very upfront that, like, we're a right of center publication, but we don't want you to be able to tell, based on reading our articles.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Which seems like such a good, balance to be able to have and, like, have someone in the movement like that. So, I want to know, because you're a senior editor of this publication, You're like still pretty young. Like, how do you get into that position?
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you just the right
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: place, right time. So, before I
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: was at the Texan, I was running campaigns. I worked at the Capitol, was part of the legislative process, kind of one of those staffers that crawl around Austin here. That was me. And I worked for a state rep in the Capitol, ran his primary campaign, was hired to run Connie's 2018 Senate reelection campaign. And it was awesome.
• 3:53
  It was an incredible experience.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Is that the first time that you had met Connie?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Or no. And I remember this is the wild thing too, and I said this before, but she I remember in I grew up in Washington State, Seattle area, and I was watching her initial run because it was like national news that there was this Republican gonna take over Wendy Davis's seat. That's who she was at the time. And I even watched her last name.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: The seat that she took over. Yeah. So she flipped your head. For people who maybe haven't been in the political scene as long, why was that such a big deal? Like who was, oh my goodness.
• 4:25
  What's her name? Oh, Wendy Wendy Davis. Davis. Yeah. Thank you.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: So Wendy Davis became a national figure after she filibustered a pro life bill on the senate floor in Texas. It became this huge story. She wore her tennis shoes. Those became pretty iconic for a long time. And Connie was
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the person And like, just to, like, emphasize Yeah. More, she had the nickname abortion Barbie.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. That was her nickname. And she ended up running for governor against Abbott.
• 4:52
  But before that or right before she, exited, Connie was like, hey, I'm gonna run against you and take back Senate District 10, which is a swing was a swing district. Now it's been redistricted a little bit, so it's more solidly Republican. But at the time, it was a swing district, and Connie secured it. Like, she flipped it back red. So, and she certainly had a lot of grassroots support and still does to this day because she went into office and did what she said she was gonna do.
• 5:15
  Right? So Connie had this big following, which then, you know, folks have kind of followed her at the Texan and subscribed and supported us here because of her record. But that was the background there. So I worked for Connie on her reelection. That was in the Beto wave.
• 5:28
  So her reelect was in the Beto wave, and she was one of the 2 Senate seats that Republicans lost that year. And, I kid you not, it was like 3 or 4 days after the election. And Connie calls me and everyone's like devastated, right? Like, oh, we lost. And Connie goes, okay.
• 5:45
  We know what we're gonna do. We're gonna start a a news publication. And I was, like, what? It's been, like, 3 or 4 days. It was her and her husband.
• 5:51
  They and that's just how they are. They go to the next thing, and they're on it. And I just had such faith that they that they'd make it a success, and they have. So that's how I was the 1st employee at the Texan. Set up the bank account.
• 6:03
  Right? And I think it went for a long time. I started out just in operations and just making making sure things happened, dotting the i's and crossing the t's and just kind of being who whatever I needed to be at that moment at a start up. And, fast forward, and, now I get to work with our awesome editorial team, and we've just I'm so grateful to get to work with them.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Do you guys feel like you still have, like, the startup mentality? Oh, totally. Oh, my gosh. It's really well that you guys are located in Austin.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. Yeah. It fits. But we all do, we all wear many hats and make sure that everything gets done, and you have to be that way in a startup.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And I guess, similarly, because, you know, I'm in the nonprofit world, we're always having to wear hats like that. But, yeah, the startup people definitely feel that too. Yeah. But you mentioned you were in Seattle at the time that this was all happening, and you were saying Texas make national news.
• 6:53
  So how long were you in Seattle, and then what motivated wanting to take a bigger step in being a part of Texas?
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I grew up in in Seattle my whole life, so I was born and raised there. Beautiful area. Seriously, unbelievably gorgeous. And moved to Texas in 2017 to work the legislative session.
• 7:09
  So I got an opportunity through some contacts I'd made through Patriot Academy, which is like a legislative youth camp, essentially, a mock legislative session And, just ended up working at the capitol and having I was like, oh, I'll be here for 6 months. Right? Session's 5 months, and I haven't gone back since.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: What, so were you gonna go to any state that had an availability like that, or was there something that made you wanna go Texas specifically?
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I've always loved Texas. Oh, really? I have a special place in my heart for Texas. And now I've been here 7 or 8 years. So I really do feel just grateful to be here.
• 7:44
  But I think the Texas political scene, is a very unique scene. Right. It is a very big pond. I think other than D. C, I think Texas is the most active political pond in the country and there's so much going on and there really is a lot of play.
• 7:59
  So it was very interesting to me from that perspective. Right. There are so are so we have a 150 house reps, 31 senators, a bevy of congressmen. It's very interesting to watch all of it happen. And, there are very few states with, like, the political apparatus that Texas has, which makes it 10 times more fun to work in.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: So I noticed that you're wearing, western boots today. When did those come into the picture? Was that like a pre or post Texas style choice? This is gonna date me
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: a little bit. My my my, grandpa bought these for me when I was like 14. They still fit. So it tells you how big my feet were when I was 14. No.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I my favorite pair of boots I got in middle school, and I still wear them. Yeah. So You work. Right? Uh-huh.
• 8:37
  Well, yeah. And boots can last forever if you
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Take care of in Texas. I definitely had to have them taken care of and
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: So you had these pre Texas. You really have been into the Yeah. To that kind of thing. I know. Apparently.
• 8:48
  And you're also a country music fan too. Right? I am. Did that start? Like, when did that part start?
• 8:53
  Well, I think folks are what
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: they don't realize about Washington is over half the state is very agricultural and rural. So there is a big country music scene up there. We have an awesome, venue called the Gorge Amphitheater that's, like, in the middle. It's it's awesome. So there's certainly a lot of, country music fans up there.
• 9:09
  But I think that's, you know, it only amplified once I came to Texas. And you have all the access that we have in Austin to awesome venues and artists. And I mean, Austin's a crazy music city, so it definitely amplified once I got here.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Well, the reason I wanted to bring it up yesterday, we had a conversation and I didn't even realize that there was this drama happening with Zac Brian. Yeah. And that's partially because I'm not in the country music scene. But, and also just like, there's been a couple of other things going on in the news recently. But, okay, you brought this up.
• 9:38
  I did some research, and I did not realize that there's been a whole feud between Zach Bryan and, well, now, Barstow Sports kind of got
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: pulled into it. What is happening there? Thank you. I'm so glad you asked. So, Zach Bryan, country music artist, he's touring stadiums.
• 9:54
  Right? So there are only a few people touring stadiums right now. So that tells you how big he is in not just the country music scene, but just the music scene at large.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: My husband and I, I
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: would say are, we were really big fans of his. We, like, loved Zach Bryan, and his music. And his whole vibe is very, like, Oklahoma boy, you know, homegrown kind of vibe, very wholesome kind of vibe. Certainly, in his lyrics, he'll talk about his, difficulties with certain things, but he's very like, that's kind of his whole vibe is Oklahoma boy. We love his music.
• 10:26
  He was dating this girl who works at Barstool, Brianna. We were talking about this before we recorded La Puglia. La Puglia. I don't know how to say her last name, but it came out a couple of weeks ago that he had offered her $12,000,000 to sign an NDA to not talk about their relationship, which an astonishing number. And folks were like, how could he afford to pay your tour?
• 10:48
  He's obviously a huge deal. Well, I think he earns what, like $1,000,000 per per tour stop. So he's doing just fine. And then, of course, questions then were raised about, okay, what could have gone on during this relationship for a $12,000,000 NDA to be warranted? What could have happened?
• 11:06
  And she essentially said on a podcast that there are a lot of videos I have. There's a lot of things that happened in the relationship, and she talked about a lot of what happened. I think she also held a lot back. She's at this point said she's not going to release any of the videos or anything like that, and she just wanted to be able to share her story. I think what's particularly interesting in this, obviously, the $12,000,000 is a fascinating thing in and of itself.
• 11:27
  But what's also interesting is that she works for Barstool headed up by Dave Portnoy, and that whole apparatus immediately just went after Zac Brian. So diss tracks have been real like, multiple diss tracks have been released.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah. What the first one actually came out election day, but I think it may have been part of a larger thing. It was called Small Man. Yeah. But you can't access it on the other, like, music streaming services now because apparently there were copyright things.
• 11:51
  Yeah. And I do believe the copyright part because they came right back out with another diss track called Country Diddy. And if you don't know about the Diddy stuff, you're living under a rock and I don't need to. Oh, yeah. Exactly.
• 12:03
  It's horrible. But part of that, I think, was because of the, that was related to the abuse allegations. Right? And and to be clear, I think a lot of what she was saying was emotional abuse. But then I think at one point, she'd even said that he had, like, thrown something at her.
• 12:16
  At her head. Yeah. Yeah.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So there's a there's a lot to the story, but I think we don't know a lot of it, which I think is purposeful. But, watching that whole apparatus, like you said, release Country Diddy and Smallest Maiden, which is a play on the Taylor Swift song, Smallest Maiden Who Ever Lives. Like, it's really interesting to watch all these dynamics at play. It's very and to what I'm also curious too.
• 12:37
  He's such a big artist, and I think he he still taps into this, like, underground country music artist thing where he's like, I'm Zac Brine, like, I'm chill.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: But he's still in stadiums. He's one of the
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: biggest things right now in music. I'm curious to see if this in any way affects anything he does because it this is, definitely far more reach for somebody that has been wronged by a rock star than just a random girl who dated somebody. Right? She has a platform, but I don't know that it will. I'm just curious to see how that all goes.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It'll on tour. So I because I was just looking up, like, the news stories last night about this, and there's still stuff being published because it's, like, kind of an ongoing, like, feud happening or so, like, whoever's making comments or releasing whatever song video. But on Reddit, and just for some background, she her nickname is chicken fry. Yeah.
• 13:25
  I think because of some, like, older video back whenever Vine was around, I think, or how she got that. But there was someone on Reddit who was just like, I don't have space in my brain for someone named chicken fries, so this is not gonna affect how I feel about it. That's unfortunate. So he might come out of this still having, still being sailing out stadiums, but I guess we'll we'll see whatever gets released.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think, I mean, a lot of people in the music industry or just entertainment have had horrible things come out about them, and it's still been just fine. Right? Like, Chris Brown comes to mind.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: And I guess, remember, you have someone like Diddy coming under the scrutiny that he has right now. Everything in comparison looks significantly less than than what's happening there. Yeah.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: For sure.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: But the other reason I don't think that this came up on my feed was it's been just all politics, because right now Trump is staffing in the White House. And, you know, again, he won with the popular vote, so that's gonna potentially change how, how he how comfortable he feels governing in for America. But one of the reasons I wanted to have you on the show is I wanna hear your thoughts about how a Trump presidency could potentially impact Texas.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I think right now, it's a lot of number crunching just in terms of the election results. Right? Because we saw an unbelievable margin increase. And I think folks knew Texas was going to go red.
• 14:42
  I think Republicans in the state were pretty confident in a lot of their races, but there's still concern in some of these swing districts. Trump won all 4 Rio Grande Valley counties. All 4. And if you look past back at the last 10, 20 years, like, there are, you know, depending on the math you do, there's like 11 to 14 border counties. For a long time, Republicans would get like 2 or 3, maybe 4 border counties.
• 15:07
  This time, I think they got 11 out of our count is 13. They got 11 out of the 13. Unbelievable to see that. Now Cruz, of course, underperformed Trump a little bit. So if you look at the map and it's red, and you that's Trump winning those areas.
• 15:20
  So if you flip it over and you see Cruz, but Cruz still outperformed anything he's ever seen in that south Texas area. Republicans are still seeing unbelievable returns. And Cruz, you know, love him or hate him, is certainly considered one of the more unpopular statewide elected Republicans. That's just kind of the the reputation that he has. And he still outperformed by so much more than we've seen in previous cycles.
• 15:45
  Cruz won the Hispanic vote by 6 points. 6 years ago when he was on the ballot, he won it or he lost it by 29. That's a 35 point swing. It's it's wild to watch this happen. There are seats that Democrats in the house, like the Texas house, where, I'm thinking of HD 74 specifically, where it was like, okay.
• 16:04
  No. This could be close, but, you know, this is a relatively solid
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Would you mind giving me the reach for that versus that?
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Yes. That's Eagle Pass area.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Right? So that's, again, near the border. And, Eddie Morales is the state rep from there, a Democrat. And, it got very close. There was a while where we thought that there was going to be a flip there when I think Republicans were like, yeah, we you know, we'll put more effort into it next time, was kind of the attitude.
• 16:30
  So, in terms of what Trump means, now, of course, is also is curious in that can this surge of Republican, you know, momentum and enthusiasm bleed over 4 years from now when somebody else is on the ballot and not Trump? I think this tells folks, especially national Democrats eyeing Texas, to say, can we go spend a bunch of money and maybe get somebody elected on a statewide ballot as a Democrat? We've just not seen that be possible at this point. And I think this election proves that that, that effort is more difficult even than they expected. Republican the the margin went from like 20 down to like 4 or 5, and then it's back up to 14.
• 17:08
  So it's it's kind of a tough uphill battle for Democrats.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The Rio Grande Valley, especially, like, I know for years, people are like, well, you know, the Republicans are saying we could flip it and that they're conservative anyway. But, so I went to college starting in 2018, and I'm from the Rio Grande Valley, so that's where I was from. But one of the ways that I used to describe it is like, oh, you know, on the, like, electoral map, that blue dot at the bottom? That's right.
• 17:32
  So, like, if they asked where it was, especially, like, yeah, because, like, it was 2018, so this was past the presidential, but during, the Cruz Beta, like, it was around that time. So that was really easy when people were looking at maps and it was coming up. I was like, oh, that's the the blue dot. That's how you can find where it was. Which county are you from?
• 17:49
  Hidalgo. Okay. Yeah. Lots of lots of
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: change in Hidalgo this time.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. But then a star Star County did flip red. Right? Yeah. All 4.
• 17:56
  Yeah. Yeah. So Star County was, well, but that's I was saying for, like, the Texas seat as well. Was that Star County that flipped? Oh.
• 18:03
  Oh, gosh. I'm not remembering. All that to say, like, the valley is just one big metroplex of its well, it's like a I always say, like, it's kind of like a suburb without, like, the main city, but I guess it's McAllen, maybe it's Prunzel. Yeah. All that to say, like, you're all in that area
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: as an aggregate.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Right? Yeah. But it it is really just weird to see that that was a change that happened. I don't know what's gonna happen after that, but I can no longer use the blue dot as my point of reference where I'm from. I know.
• 18:29
  Yes. Reporters were
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: saying that it it's not maybe too soon to call these new voters Republican voters.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Right. There might just be Trump voters.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Right. Fair. But there, regardless, is a down ballot Republican swing. So there are very, you know, there's a lot of hope for Republicans in those areas. And I think regardless, a lot of these places have turned red.
• 18:47
  It's just about the margin.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Right. How much? So a lot of that that we've like discussed now is about like how what it looks like for getting people in office. What do you think like Trump being in, like it's really funny. Trump is becoming president at the same time Texas session is starting.
• 19:03
  Do you think that like his presidency in any way influences the things that we might see during session? Or, how like how is it gonna influence the lives of Texans having Trump in the White House?
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I mean, half of the attorney general here in Texas, Kim Paxton's job in the last 4 years has been suing the Biden administration. That will change as soon as Trump is in office. So that is immediately something that will change from a state level perspective. But in terms of the legislative session, I think we're gonna see a lot of different conversations about how Trump's, quote unquote, mass deportation plays itself out.
• 19:33
  What role the states play in that, I think, will be very interesting. There's a lot of plans floating around right now and a lot of, different ideas as to what that could look like, but that would be a big one. Right? I mean, that would take a lot of resources. Who's gonna who's gonna front that resource?
• 19:47
  Ask. I also think, I mean, this is tough, but with Trump in the White House, it does change the conversations about other social issues. I think, school choice being the governor's, you know, big legislative priority for the last three and a half, 3 years, really turns some pressure onto Republicans' cycle to pass something, whether it is a super strong school choice proposal or something weaker that is kind of bracketed down. And, actually, let's dig into the school twisting
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: a little bit more, because if I'm not mistaken, we have like the biggest freshman class of legislators in Texas that we've seen in a long time. Right? And was that tied to that was I mean, I think it was tied directly to school choice, wasn't it? Absolutely.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: There I mean, there were so many different factors at play in this primary, And that's what is interesting about Texas. Oftentimes, you decide who's gonna return to the capital or come to the capital as a new rep in the primary. Right? There are not a ton of swing districts that are decided in November. March is really March and May are really the big ones.
• 20:45
  Right.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Because the districts are red. The question is who is going to be in that? Exactly. Or they're blue. Right?
• 20:50
  So they're
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: redistricted in that way, but a lot more red districts in Texas, of course. You're exactly right. So I think that will be,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I would say we've known
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: who the incoming freshmen for most of these districts have been for months. And we had a few that were decided on November 5th. But, school choice was a huge talking point. The governor poured 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars into the primary. So in an attempt to get school choice friendly candidates elected and to replace a lot of these members, there were of the targets and a lot of folks even retired before the primary because they're like, this is gonna be a bloodbath.
• 21:22
  Like, I'm out. Fair. And, yes. Same. Totally fair.
• 21:26
  But I think that, there were only 2 ish Republicans, typically rural Republicans, who opposed school choice in the primary who, survived. And, you know, it was a huge influx of money from Abbott and others to get those folks elected. Now, of course, can Paxton's impeachment was also a big point of contention. There was a lot of different factors at play in the primary, but I'd say school choice and that entire push, especially after the legislative session, was a huge part of that and probably the leader in getting those folks elected. And at the because Sweety is, part of
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: the Texas Public Policy Foundation and school choices, Like, school choice is our bread and butter. That's what I talk about all the time. Yes. So what other issues do you think are, gonna be making the making headlines for you guys during session? During session.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: I it's interesting because I I was just talking about this with our team the other day. Usually, we go into session and we're like, okay, these 12 issues are gonna be pretty big. I feel like it will be a less policy heavy, like big issue heavy session than we've seen in a little while. I think school choice is gonna suck a lot of the air out of the room. I think, the Chinese land ownership issue will certainly take up some of that as well.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Actually, we haven't had a chance to speak about that at all on the show. Would you explain that a little bit?
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So essentially, there's this movement to ensure that, any sort of Chinese encroachment on Texas land ownership can be held at bay, specifically citing ties to the CCP. That's the concern. Right? Because a lot of some land has been bought up around military bases.
• 22:57
  They're they're just concerns about that, foreign land ownership. It's not just Chinese land ownership. And so that's a big part of the concern. It's just ensuring that, you know, folks can buy land and, with priority put in place. And so that was a huge point of contention last session, and it did not make it even past a house committee.
• 23:16
  And that was, certainly something that the speaker of the house, state Phelan, became very, he received a lot of criticism for. He appoints the committee chairs, and so there is certainly criticism that he faced after that bill failed to pass because it was a big priority for a lot of Republicans throughout the state, and you can see why. So we'll see. But it's definitely something folks have talked about a ton in the interim, and we'll continue to watch that one.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Right. And like, this is just, I guess, some background knowledge during the interim because Texas, legislator only meets every other year for half the year, basically. And then between that time, there's still committee hearings going on. So there have been hearings, about that issue during the interim. Right?
• 23:54
  Yeah.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: It's like fact finding is basically how I'd put it. So there's no bill before the committee that they can actually pass in the interim. The the session itself is a 140 days. So it's basically from, you know, 2nd Tuesday in January through the end of May. And, you know, folks get as much passed as they can during that period.
• 24:10
  And occasionally, the governor will call a special session for which is a 30 day extra add on at the end of the session, that he can time however he wishes and add whatever he wants to the agenda, but the legislators can only address what the governor does on the call. So that can always be added on. But in terms of the interim itself, no bills are heard before. It's really just a fact finding mission where committees are hearing different, testimony from witnesses, experts, and that's exactly what happened with the Chinese land ownership bill.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Right. Well, with all of this stuff coming up and, if people wanna be able to stay informed about it, where's somewhere that they can go?
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, Texan. Texan's a good resource for all of that. And we have a lot of we're very focused on the legislature because it's it is so important. And Texas is an unbelievable player on both the national stage and the world stage in terms of our economy.
• 24:57
  So it's very important to know what's going on. So follow the Texan, not the Texan news.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: We're on I hear you might even get a special newsletter if you're if you follow them. Oh, yeah. Ariana, crazy you mentioned that.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: We have, subscribers get access to newsletters from our entire team. So we have 5 different newsletters that go out weekly. We have 3 that go out monthly. Even some Texas history stuff, which is, I think, something our readers really, really love. But all of our reporters contribute to that, and it's so fun.
• 25:23
  And only subscribers get access to that. Also our podcast, like you were mentioning, Smoke Filled Room and Send Me Some Stuff, both of those monthly podcasts go out first to subscribers. So they can get you know, you get access a couple days after they go live, but you get first access if you
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: subscribe. That's awesome. So, yeah. So that's a good place to find news. To find the background on policy and research, you can always go to texaspolicy.com.
• 25:45
  Thank you so much for taking time to join me today. Oh, thanks.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: And I hope
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: we can have you back eventually, maybe at the end of session to do a little recap. A recap of everything that happened. Yes. Yeah. But thank you so much.
• 25:55
  And, everyone, thank you so much for joining us. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Next time, we'll probably be moving into Christmas mode. So thank you so much for joining, and I'll see you next time.