Jim Hightower has seen Texas politics from the ground up for more than half a century. From editing the progressive Texas Observer to serving as the state’s unlikely Commissioner of Agriculture to writing syndicated columns and books, he has been both a participant and a savvy and often funny observer. And he’s still at it! (Photo: Jesse meeting with Jim Hightower at Austin Beer Garden.)
Jesse sat down with him at an Austin brewpub for a wide-ranging conversation about the Lone Star State’s political past, present and future, the Democratic Party’s corporate money problems, and why “populism” — a word and idea Hightower has long embraced — has circled back into the political mainstream.
Also: A series of court orders across the South throw roadblocks (however temporary) in MAGA’s political path. And a look at why the South was slow to adopt the Yankee idea of Thanksgiving.
Show Notes:
JimHightower.com
“Court order striking down Texas redistricting map upends plans for candidates across the state” The Texas Tribune
“Judge temporarily blocks National Guard deployment in Memphis” Tennessee Lookout
“Florida judge temporarily blocks transfer of downtown Miami land for Trump’s presidential library” Associated Press
https://apnews.com/article/trump-presidential-library-lawsuit-3b0caabee97baeed57913b8256e927ac
“Appellate Court rejects Florida attorney general’s request in Trump library case” Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article312903190.html
“For Decades, Southern States Considered Thanksgiving an Act of Northern Aggression” Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/thanksgiving-pumpkin-pie-culture-war
Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation
“How Thanksgiving, the ‘Yankee Abolitionist Holiday,’ Won Over the South” Serious Eats