Hard Hitting Conservative Commentary by Gary M. Polland
Volume XXIII Number 14 – November 18, 2024
Thoughts This Fortnight
By Gary Polland
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
GOP ROLLS IN TEXAS
We have lots of heroes in the 2024 election. President Trump, Senator Cruz, Governor Abbott, Senator Paul Bettencourt, and Justice elect Maritza Antu. The list contains elected officials who worked hard, raised money, and selflessly helped other candidates.
Two on the list may be unexpected. Ladies first – Maritza Antu, a former prosecutor, defense attorney, wife and mother dedicated herself to recruiting outstanding attorneys to run for the 1 st and 14 th Court of Appeals. She worked hard to raise money and do the political things necessary to win and she did.
Senator Paul Bettencourt never says no when asked for political help and is involved on conservative issues, saving the taxpayers money, and is the leading voice to push for GOP local victories. It would be nice if we could clone him.
LESSONS OF PROGRESS AND HOW TO MAKE THE FUTURE BETTER
In Texas, progress in legislative elections, progress in local judicial elections, and oh so close to county-wide victories for District Attorney, County Attorney, Tax Assessor, and Sheriff.
Here is TCR’s postmortem. Hats off to Chairman Cindy Siegal who worked hard, recruited candidates, and raised money in a thankless job. TCR says thanks.
So, in hindsight, what else should we have done?
Better Financial Assistance. Except for Steve Radack, our candidates for Sheriff, County and District Attorney were underfunded. They all needed more money to define their opponents, while explaining why the GOP candidates are better prepared, and philosophically aligned with the goals of fighting crime & good government.
Implement a Better Ground Game. In close elections, GOTV can make the difference.
Significant Mail and Internet Program. Voter contact matters and all resources can be helpful.
Recruit Candidates in Every Race. Even when some of the Democrat incumbent judges were highly respected and no Republican wanted to take on, the respected Democrats were beaten in the primary last spring & they all ended up losing the Democratic primary.
JOE DANNA – WTF?
At the eleventh hour, failed Republican Sheriff candidate Joe Danna blasted GOP Sheriff candidate Mike Knox over a bogus accusation. Dana violated Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment – “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”
This unacceptable act should disqualify him from ever being a GOP candidate in the future. The act flushed our chances to remove an incompetent left-wing sheriff in Harris County.
TCR Newswire
By Marc Cowart
Managing Editor
A SWING AND A (BIG) MISS
Conventional wisdom says you should always go on top. Unfortunately for Iowa pollster Ann Selzer, that’s a goal that she missed as much as she missed the outcome in Iowa for the 2024 election. Selzer, who has been a pollster since 1987, not only missed forecasting the winner correctly (she picked Harris to win) but also missed the final outcome by a staggering 16 points!
Following the embarrassing miss, Selzer announced her retirement, although she stated that she had planned her exit from the field prior to the 2024 gaff.
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP MAKES TWO HISTORIC APPOINTMENTS
President-elect Donald J. Trump has wasted no time in making staff and cabinet-level appointments since his landslide victory on November 5 in which he won 312 electoral votes, exceeding the necessary 270 by a staggering 42 votes by all objective standards. Two of Trump’s appointments are historic.
The first is his appointment of Susie Wiles as his White House Chief of Staff who will be the first female to hold that position. Trump said Wiles is “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected.” So much for the left’s characterization of Trump as a misogynist.
Trump’s second historic nomination is that of Marco Rubio for U.S. Secretary of State, which makes him the first person of Hispanic descent to hold the office.
LARA TRUMP FRONTRUNNER FOR RUBIO’S SENATE SEAT
In the wake of Senator Marco Rubio’s historic nomination for United State Secretary of State and the U.S. Senate vacancy thereby created, Lara Trump appears to be the frontrunner for appointment by Governor Ron Desantis to fill the vacancy. Trump, who is married to President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump, has served as Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) since March 2024. Lara Trump has already announced publicly that she will gladly accept the appointment should Governor Desantis offer it.
To view Lara Trump’s bio, visit https://gop.com/about-our-party/rnc-leaders/.
FULL LIST OF TRUMP APPOINTEES THUS FAR
- White House chief of staff: Susie Wiles
- Secretary of State: Marco Rubio
- Attorney General: Matt Gaetz
- Deputy attorney general: Todd Blanche
- HHS secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- U.N. ambassador: Elise Stefanik
- “Border czar”: Tom Homan
- Defense secretary: Pete Hegseth
- Secretary of veterans affairs: Doug Collins
- National security adviser: Michael Waltz
- Interior secretary: Doug Burgum
- White House counsel: William McGinley
- Solicitor general: Dean John Sauer
- Secretary of homeland security: Kristi Noem
- CIA director: John Ratcliffe
- Director of national intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard
- EPA administrator: Lee Zeldin
- FCC chairman: Brendan Carr
- U.S. ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee
- U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York: Jay Clayton
- Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy
- Deputy chief of staff: Dan Scavino
- Deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser: Stephen Miller
- Deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs: James Blair
- Deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel: Taylor Budowich
- Presidential Personnel Office head: Sergio Gor
- White House communications director: Steven Cheung
- White House press secretary: Karoline Leavitt
- Secretary of Energy: Chris Wright
CARTOON OF THE WEEK
COMMENTS OR STORY IDEAS
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About Your Editor
Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as “the most successful county Chairman in America” by Human Events – The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his twenty-eighth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. For the last twenty-three years, he has edited the Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the previous 20 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections, and city elections, all to assist conservative candidates. Gary also for 20 years cohosted Red, White and Blue on Houston Public Media TV 8 PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history and for the last two-plus years Gary has been a regular commentator on Fox 26-Houston’s “What’s Your Point” airing Sunday’s at 7 a.m. Gary serves on the Board of Directors of American Values, a national pro-family, pro-faith, conservative organization supporting the unity of the American people around the vision of our founding fathers and dedicated to reminding the public of the conservative principles fundamental to the survival of our nation. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.
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