Some South Texas Latinos who have voted Republican in the last couple elections are throwing their MAGA hats in the trash after President Trump posted an AI-generated image clearly depicting himself as Jesus Christ while getting in a fight with the head of the Catholic Church over the war in Iran. Plus: The immigration fight playing out now in Houston is coming to cities across Texas as Gov. Abbott threatens to defund police departments that don't cooperate closely with ICE. Evan Mintz, Opinion Editor at the Houston Chronicle, checks in about that. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music for the show is by Checkmayne in Houston.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick raised eyebrows this week by going further than any other elected Republican has this year in describing the challenge faced by his party in the general election. Patrick even went so far as to say the Texas House majority is possibly in play. And yes he took a shot at yours truly as well. Plus, we'll head out to Far West Texas with Forrest Wilder, senior writer at Texas Monthly, so that he can fill us in on the latest in the fight over a proposed border wall through the Big Bend region. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music for the show is by Checkmayne in Houston.

We're not even really getting into the heat of the runoff elections yet and Gov. Abbott already seems to be slamming the door shut on any effort to expand gambling in Texas next session. The news comes right as Mark Cuban announces he regrets selling the Dallas Mavericks to the owners of Las Vegas Sands. Meantime, Texas House Democrats gathered for their retreat in Houston where there was an emotional send-off for a veteran of the caucus, Rep. Chris Turner. In North Texas, Republicans gathered for CPAC were warned about a "Talarico Takeover of Texas." Plus: A tribute to Texas Capitol veteran Ray Sullivan, who we lost to lung cancer this week. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music for the show is by Checkmayne in Houston.

Should there be a "Top AI Slop" award for campaigns in Texas? It sure seems like it. We'll get into that plus Tony Ortiz at Current Revolt checks in from CPAC in DFW. And yes, we'll address what Rep. James Talarico said about meat. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music is by Checkmayne in Houston.

Crashing out: There are new calls for Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo to resign after she claims she was "manhandled" by Houston Rodeo staff. That's not likely to happen but some sharp Quorum Report readers were quick to point out that officeholders crashing out at rodeos is now a bipartisan tradition in Texas. You know what else is bipartisan? The growing pushback to the rapidly expanding data center industry in Texas and around the nation. Let's get into it. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music is by Checkmayne in Houston.

Now that he's the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Texas, national Republicans – and the ones around here – are wastin' no time working to define him as a "far left" Austin liberal. He’s trying to get ahead of that but Republicans are using Talarico’s own words to prove it. Meantime, Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton spent most of their week wondering if President Trump is about to shut down their GOP runoff by endorsing one of them and demanding the other quit the race. Plus, Tony Ortiz at Current Revolt stops by to talk about the confession by Congressman Tony Gonzales that he did in fact have an inappropriate relationship with his staffer who later committed suicide. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music is by Checkmayne in Houston.

Reporting from Deep East Texas this week: A Texas Senate race here is intriguing because it's the only such race in which Little Gov. Dan Patrick isn't overtly trying to hire a specific senator. We'll explain. Plus, bossman Harvey Kronberg checks in about how the primary and general election could completely change the math in the Texas House for Speaker Burrows, who's made the decision to govern by caucus instead of coalition. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music is by Checkmayne in Houston.

Reporting from San Antonio this week: Big John Cornyn says the future of the Republican Party itself is on the line in this primary season that now features a former Senator buying Jeffrey Epstein's ranch and Sid Miller's opponent turning a debate into a public confessional about alcoholism, porn addiction, and infidelity. Meantime a Congressman faces allegations of an affair with a woman who later committed suicide and the Democrats are at each other's throats after a pretty boring interview was deemed "too hot for TV." It would be hard to believe all that happened since our last show, but this is Texas. Our producer is the famous Evan Sherer and the original music is by Checkmayne in Houston.