Monitoring the Situation (10/13/25)

SREC fail, fundraising, out of control Austin PD.

Here are several stories that we’re monitoring, or have monitored, just for you.

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Op-Ed: Weekend SREC Fail

The Abraham George-led Republican Party of Texas and SREC chose to preserve the status quo after refusing to enforce Penalty 3 (ballot removal), a procedural tool Party members now see as a waste of everyone’s time.

First reported exclusively by Current Revolt, the RPT/SREC received a phone call from The White House directing them not to apply ballot removal penalties to lawmakers who were censured.

It was a total RINO victory. Most members of the Texas GOP seem to understand the problem, but it seems every plan to overturn the status quo is botched in its execution.

Many people were saying that removal from the ballot would have been financially impossible for the poorly-funded Texas GOP to prevail in court battles. However, if that is true, and nothing would come of this effort, then one would expect them to pass it quickly, as passing something that sounds good but has no actual effect is a hallmark of Texas Republican lawmakers.

This is the first indicator that the SREC is not as much about politics as much as it is about autism.

The idea that efforts to reign in state lawmakers would “tarnish” Trump’s legacy doesn’t even make sense, and could easily be dismissed with this statement we wrote for RPT Chairman George:

Good afternoon. As Chairman of this organization, I stand before you at a turning point. After long counsel and careful measure, we have reached a big decision. The sabotage of our state by RINOs and their countless scams has been something party leadership has worked tirelessly to correct. Today we chose a path that keeps faith with our grassroots and opens the wide horizon before us. President Trump will go down as the greatest President in American history. However, an error by his auto-pen endorsement team led to the delivery of these certificates to the likes of Giovanni Capriglione and others who did not live up to the Party’s values. Therefore, the Republican Party of Texas is moving ahead with penalty three for certain officeholders. To our team, our partners, and our neighbors, thank you for your trust as we set out on this new trail. Our purpose is plain, our stride is steady, and our eyes are on the road ahead. We are going all in for Texas.

Would there be many more questions to answer? I doubt it.

Nothing the SREC can do can harm Trump, and the idea that they could is so goofy that I have no words. Although, clearly I do have words, so what is the other option then?

The only other option is a radical reform to campaign finance rules in Texas and imposing much lower limits. Texas is one of only a few states to have no limits to campaign contributions.

This idea of low limits on donations opens a can of worms beyond what we can cover here, but the reason Penalty 3 even came up is clear. The most informed and involved Republican voters still cannot overcome the money and tricks of entrenched Republicans unless a mistress shows up on TikTok to tell the story. The options available are give the SREC the ability to deal with the worst of the worst, or take the radical step and deal with the unintended consequences of campaign finance reform.

Many people are saying despite The White House intervening on the vote, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway as the SREC lacked the votes needed to impose the ban:

From a comment on Erin Anderson’s Facebook post:

Despite Chairman Abraham George, the RPT as a whole, and most of the SREC threatening reps with ballot removal all year, the threats came up empty as not a single rep was removed from the ballot. A massive failure by the party.

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Current Revolt is Fundraising

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Current Revolt is not beholden to special interest groups or billionaires, which is great but that means we exist purely off paid subscriptions and small-dollar donations.

Thank you for reading!

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Austin Police Officer Sucker Punches Man in Face

Via ATXVideos on X:

According to KVUE, the Austin Police released a statement regarding the video:

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis:

“After reviewing the video footage, I share the community’s concern and take this matter very seriously. The office has been removed from patrol and placed on restricted duty pending a thorough investigation.”

Hey out of control police are a pain but how about Austin’s new million dollar logo?

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