Christopher Hooks

Oct 7, 2024 | prospect.org | Christopher Hooks

This article appears as part of a special issue of The American Prospect magazine on state policy divergence and aggression. Subscribe here. Goliad County, Texas, is a pleasant jurisdiction of about 7,000 people nestled in the state’s coastal plain, on an indirect driving route from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. It is generally unremarkable except for its historical sites, which recount centuries of resistance to central, and federal, authority.

Sep 12, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

Beto O’Rourke spent Father’s Day six years ago in Tornillo, a tiny settlement about an hour southeast of El Paso. The federal government had set up a tent camp for migrant children who had been forcibly removed from their parents. This was at the high point of the backlash against the Trump administration’s family-separation policy.

Sep 6, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

At the heart of Texas politics is a wheel of futility. In odd-numbered years, the Legislature meets. It works hard at looking busy. It solves the crises of the day, meeting the clamor of the right-wing activists who hold power in the state through their domination of the Republican primary. Bad thought is removed from schools, elections are saved from fraud, the border secured, property taxes fixed, lesbians and transgender people marginalized. The laws are brought back in line with God’s will.

Aug 23, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

Texans feel it’s their birthright to be at the center of everything. When it came time for Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa to deliver his state’s delegates to Kamala Harris during the roll call at the national convention on Tuesday, he began with the boast that Texas was the “nation’s biggest battleground.”You can’t blame him for trying; it’s his job to make that the case.

Jul 26, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

He first exhausted all other possible options, but President Joe Biden ultimately did the right thing for his party. I recently noted that his statements since the debate had been much too focused on his needs and self-conception instead of on the country’s best interest. But in his televised address to the country Wednesday, he finally broadened the “I” to “we” and “you.” It had been an honor to serve, he said, but “the choice is up to you, the American people.” It surely is.