Cornyn, ca$inos & the rino cabal

This week, Anthony argues that the old political order is being broken in real time — in Washington, in Austin and inside the Texas GOP.

This is not a scattered episode. It has three major lanes:

1. The establishment is losing control

Anthony opens with Trump’s endorsement of Ken Paxton and frames it as a turning point in the Texas Senate race. His position is blunt: Paxton was already positioned to beat John Cornyn, but Trump’s endorsement makes it “game over.”

He connects that to a larger national pattern: Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky and now Cornyn in Texas. Anthony’s view is that Trump is helping dismantle the “moderate RINO” establishment, and the same shift is happening in Austin.

His repeated emotional note here is victory: “Hallelujah.” He sees grassroots conservatives finally beating the donor class.

2. The donor class is being exposed

This is where Anthony gets specific and heated.

He spends significant time on what he describes as the “gazillionaire cabal” in Texas politics: Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Associated Republicans of Texas and major donors who he says fund Democrats and moderate Republicans while trying to defeat real conservatives.

He names the pattern: big donors pour money into establishment candidates, defend moderates, attack constitutional conservatives and try to keep control of the Legislature.

His core complaint is not just that they spend money. It is that they use that money to stop grassroots conservative priorities, including:

• Banning taxpayer-funded lobbying
• Reducing property taxes
• Stopping predatory gambling
• Fighting school indoctrination
• Protecting conservative policy wins

He frames this as a power struggle between ordinary conservative activists and a small class of wealthy political gatekeepers.

3. Predatory gambling becomes the main policy battlefield

The second half of the episode turns into a focused policy interview with Destin Sensky, executive director of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.

Anthony and Destin dive into:

• Casino interests are trying to expand gambling in Texas
• A $500,000 donation to Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright
• Why casino groups would care about a Railroad Commission race
• The Texas Lottery scandal
• The argument that the lottery is already predatory gambling
• The push to make anti-gambling a Republican Party of Texas legislative priority
• The connection between gambling, big business and political influence

Anthony’s line of attack is that casino operators are not just selling entertainment. He frames them as predatory corporate interests trying to buy their way into Texas politics.

Destin gives the episode its policy structure by laying out three major priorities Texans for Fiscal Responsibility wants advanced at the Republican Party of Texas convention:

1. Eliminate the maintenance and operations portion of school property taxes, eventually moving toward eliminating property taxes.
2. Ban taxpayer-funded lobbying.
3. Abolish the Texas Lottery and prevent expansion into other forms of predatory gambling.

During this week’s episode, Anthony is energized because he believes the grassroots are winning. But he is also warning that the same powerful forces are already regrouping around new issues, especially gambling.