Bernie Sanders held his first Texas rally of 2020 on Valentine’s Day at the Mesquite Rodeo arena.
Not many Democrat politicians hold rallies at rodeo arenas in Texas. Sanders nearly filled the 5,500-capacity arena in Mesquite. “I have never been to a rodeo in my life,” he told the crowd, “but I do work in Washington, D.C. and I do hear a lot of bullshit.”
Leading the pack of liberal presidential hopefuls in Texas, Sanders promised to wrangle the oil and gas industry, tackle climate change, and stump President Trump in the general election. “Not his first rodeo: Bernie the man to beat in Texas” (Austin-American Statesman), “Bernie Sanders predicts he will win Texas and Democrats will ‘transform this country’” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), “Bernie Sanders brings his revolution to Mesquite, says he’ll beat Trump” (Dallas Morning News), the headlines read after his appearance.
President Trump made a similar prediction to more than 20,000 supporters in October at American Airlines Center: “Trump in Dallas: ‘Donald Trump isn’t going to lose Texas’” (Houston Chronicle).
The Dallas Morning News’ editorial board announced it was not picking a presidential candidate to support this year. “The country is at a crossroads,” they announced in the Facebook post Sunday. “Our political debates are being driven by policy-proposal or governing principles but by assessments of political personalities. Personality-driven elections can obscure what’s at stake. That’s why this year, we’re endorsing ideas rather than a presidential candidate.”
The last presidential candidate they endorsed was Hillary Clinton in 2016. “We don’t come to this decision easily,” the editorial board wrote. “This newspaper has not recommended a Democrat for the nation’s highest office since before World War II — if you’re counting, that’s more than 75 years and nearly 20 elections. The party’s over-reliance on government and regulation to remedy the country’s ills is at odds with our belief in private-sector ingenuity and innovation. Our values are more about individual liberty, free markets, and a strong national defense.”
They weren’t alone in endorsing her. Clinton received 57 newspaper editorial board endorsements. Trump only received 2, according to Nov. 6, 2016 The Hill report.
The News has spent the past several weeks endorsing local and state politicians. So this news came as a surprise for several of their readers on social media.
Conservative Talk Radio king Rush Limbaugh made the news several times since he announced he had lung cancer. President Trump awarded him the Medal of Freedom during the State of the Union in early February. Then, a few days ago, he dropped some homophobic remarks regarding Mayor Pete Buttigieg that Trump disagreed with on-air with another conservative talk radio show host.
“They’re looking at Mayor Pete, 37-year-old gay guy, mayor of South Bend, loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage,” Limbaugh told his millions of listeners. “And they’re saying, ‘OK, how’s this going to look, 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump? What’s going to happen there? And they got to be looking at that, and they’ve got to be saying, that despite all the great progress and despite all the great wokeness, and despite all the great ground that’s been covered, America’s still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president. They have to be saying this, don’t they?”
Democrat and Republican politicians disagreed with his remarks, the Associated Press reported Friday. “It’s a miscalculation as to where the country is at,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. “I think the country is not going to disqualify somebody because of their sexual orientation.”
Trump told conservative radio host Geraldo Rivera, “I think there would be some that wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t be among that group to be honest with you.”
A Frisco church purchased $2.2 million of medical debt in Collin County and wiped the slate clean for many struggling residents, the local CBS affiliate reported Wednesday.
The Elevate Life Church has joined with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit, to identify Collin County residents twice below the federal poverty line with debts greater either than their assets or 5 percent of their annual income. “One of our words for this year is transformation,” Pastor Josh Craft told CBS DFW. “We just want to see true life change happen with people. One of the best ways to change someone’s life is to pay off their debt.”
