I thought I’d do a brief description of some of the panels I went to at the Texas Tribune Festival. The TribFest (as it’s called) is policy wonk heaven. It’s three days of panels and interviews on policy questions. While there are often some big names, there, the really interesting panels are the very, very wonky ones—on affordability policies in Texas, the situation for Texas gas and oil, what it’s like to be Muslim in Texas, health insurance policy options, new treatments for veterans with PTSD.
So, here are some interesting things that came up in the panels I attended.
Being Muslim in Texas. Fear-mongering about sharia law is still a winner for the Texas GOP, although none of the fear-mongerers bother to define—it’s a capacious and yet empty signifier. And sometimes just petty and ridiculous. One speaker mentioned that Abbott is trying to prohibit the building of ablution stations in Texas airports. The Texas GOP mini-convention had some kind of controversy about whether Muslim delegates should even be seated. And there’s a proposal to ban halal foods.
Beyond the Battlefield. This was about new treatments for veterans’ debilitating depression, PTSD, substance abuse (with the hope of it expanding) . Texas has actually been very progressive on it, although there are obstacles, and, at this point, people have to go to Mexico for it. One of the speakers was someone who has a non-profit that tries to raise money to send veterans for the treatment.
Oil, Gas and What Comes Next. Prohibiting the exportation of diesel was an extraordinarily short-sighted, clueless, and just plain ignorant policy idea. (Which is why I assume it was quietly dropped.) All the panelists agreed on that. It wouldn’t reduce prices as a whole, even of just diesel, because of transportation routes. It might reduce diesel prices in the Gulf Coast area for a few weeks, but would cause a rise in the price of all forms of oil. Refineries can’t just produce one produce, so the moratorium would simply make them reduce the amount of oil they’re refining, with the consequence that diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline would all go up in price. In addition, the US would lose the European market to China.
The chaotic nature of the current administration makes long-term planning impossible. People are dubious about investing in pricey sources of oil because the Strait might open up at any minute, and producers would be sitting on an oversupply. And producers want to keep the supply low. In addition, the ICE raids, and the fear they’ve caused (including among citizens—this was a theme at the conference), are making it hard to find crews for construction (of any kind). There’s a lot of private equity in the Permian Basin, and they want a quick turnaround on any investments.
There are some interesting possibilities, such as using CO2 instead of water for fracking, which might help reduce global warming. This was one of many panels where there was a person completely drinking the Kool Aid of technodeterminism.
How to Tell Texas’ Story. All three panelists simply assumed that the point of public history (museums, archives, trade books—no one talked about TEA standards) is to inspire people. For me, a penny dropped when I realized that. If you see the goal of history as inspiring people, then the impulse is to whitewash it, or engage in tokenism, and that explains the hostility to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or any honesty about slavery and Texas.
What Art Builds. This was just a completely feel-good panel. I loved it.
The Battle for South Texas. The consensus is that the Biden Administration didn’t pay any attention to the border, and there really were very serious problems that alienated South Texas voters. One speaker argued that they also resented being forced to vote for a candidate they didn’t have the opportunity to choose, and someone pointed out the popularity of Fox and talk radio in that area. Yet, now they are faced with the consequence of ICE raids in terms of people not being willing to leave the house, or call the police when a crime is committed, and so on. And this fear includes people who are following the laws regarding getting citizenship. One speaker said that people who aren’t worried about immigration are worried about water. The Texas GOP is promising to lower taxes, but has made it clear they intend to force a raise appraisal values. As one speaker said, “The GOP is good at marketing, but they suck at governing.” One speaker pointed out an important rhetorical problem. A lot of “left” populism is about the rich v. others, and that doesn’t land well because a lot of people want to be rich. Pro-GOP populism relies on an elite that is defined economically, but ideologically, so that populism lands better. That has me thinking a lot.
Expanding Housing Supply and Affordability in Texas. Everyone on the panel was in favor of increased building as a solution, on the assumption that more housing on the market reduces the price, thereby making housing more affordable. Adler said something along the lines of, “Everyone wants Austin to remain exactly the way it was the day they arrived.” Which, yeah. And rents in Austin have dropped 19%, but no one said anything about the possibility of overbuilding, or what percentage of this new housing is “affordable.”
Water and the Future of Corpus Christi. Yipes. This summer, Corpus Christi almost ran out of drinking water. Their reservoirs were at 7% capacity, and they were draining the aquifers, with the consequence that the water had high levels of heavy metals and so on. It had been known for years that this might happen, but people just kept kicking the can down the road. One speaker said that any City Council member who advocated instituting water restrictions much earlier was likely to lose their seat. Industry uses about 60% of the water, and the city lost seven major projects over this, and had their credit downgraded. Had the highest level of restriction been imposed, it would have affected seven counties, but there was a good rain in July. One speaker said that the Texas Water Plan (done many years ago) predicted that the major issue would be too much water. I will say that I heard several GOPpers openly talk about global warming.
The Next Disaster. At this panel, for instance. This was almost entirely about the July 4th 2025 disaster, with a brief mention that the area was again flooded in July of 2026. There were various explanations as to why notifications didn’t go out, people underestimated the seriousness of the situation, and I was a little frustrated that one person seemed to be saying there wasn’t much to be done. I was gobsmacked to learn that the position of County Emergency Coordinator has no requirements for training or certification; it’s appointed by a judge.
The Promise of the Constitution. This was bleak, not because the speakers were depressing, but because I’m not sure they were taking seriously enough what the administration is doing. One speaker did say that they think we need to stop talking about narcissism—the problem with this Administration is that it’s nihilist. Yep.
The Latino Vote. There was an article in the NYTimes that had pretty the same take as the people on this panel. One point that was made any time the question of Latino voters came up is that Latinos were taken for granted by the Dems for years, and so no real effort was made. But the GOP made the effort. It’s just very unclear.
Although there was more, my brain was full, and the panels I was thinking of attending were all going to be very depressing, so I went home at this point.