While a Fox News poll shows Democrats neck and neck with Republicans statewide, the Texas GOP is forgiving all their internal bad blood from top to bottom and starting a push to do almost anything rural voters want even if it's potentially bad for almost everyone else. In that spirit, we'll take you to an old school tent revival fused with a professional wrestling pay-per-view event. And in that vein, Republican leaders pull back on plans for electricity transmission followed by some advice for Uncle Paul Bettencourt about his Trump impersonation. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music for the show is by Checkmayne in Houston. 

Noah Smith is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize–winning economist, bestselling author, and longtime columnist known for translating complex economic theory into sharp, accessible commentary.

Excellent, harrowing reporting from @marisakabas.bsky.social here. I’m proud to be a subscriber of The Handbasket https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/exclusive-daniel-moraff-graham-platner-alleged-sexual-assault https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/exclusive-daniel-moraff-graham-platner-alleged-sexual-assault?utm_source=www.thehandbasket.co&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=exclusive-political-operative-behind-graham-platner-s-rise-accused-of-sexual-assault&_bhlid=bff0171c8a3f1880bdbdb0309e4c1be1c0ded78b

I am very ashamed to live in a country where people will wake up with the terror that the secret police are coming to...

There’s an even more sinister angle to Johnny Depp’s ongoing “comeback” tour as the new Scrooge—it’s a Paramount production and part of a slate...

Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe serves as chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and as a professor at Texas Tech University.