SpaceX lift-off and Bibles stories in schools: This Week in Texas Politics

TEXAS - This Week in Texas Politics saw a South Texas blast off for Donald Trump, a back-out that resulted in Ken Paxton being left out, and a few surprising political pivots and resets. 

FOX 7 Austin's Chief Political Reporter Rudy Koski and our panel of analysts take a look at some of the top stories from this week.

RUDY KOSKI: Looking up and looking ahead seemed to be a recurring theme in This Week in Texas Politics. Let's get the headlines from our panel, and we'll start with Brad Johnson from the Texan News. Brad, what's your headline for the week? 

BRAD JOHNSON: The pre-Thanksgiving news rush has hit us hard. 

RUDY KOSKI: Political analyst Karina Kling, what's your headline for the week? 

KARINA KLING: State Board of Education pretty split on a Bible-infused curriculum.

RUDY KOSKI: Ken Paxton filed another lawsuit, no surprise there. But this time he sued Dallas this week for decriminalizing lesser marijuana offenses. He has launched similar fights with several other Texas towns with mixed results. Brad, you know, are you seeing any kinds of signs that all this could trigger a new type of debate in the state legislature when they reconvene? 

BRAD JOHNSON: I see this more as a continuation of the long-running debate of local control versus state sovereignty. Now, on the marijuana issue, I actually see a different kind of debate brewing about the different strands of not exactly marijuana, but the other stuff. And there are Democrats that are on board with some regulation of this kind of thing.  

RUDY KOSKI: Ken Paxton made another headline somewhat. It looks like Paxton missed out again on being Donald Trump's attorney general. The President-Elect is saying, now that Representative Matt Gaetz has bowed out, he's tagging in, the former attorney general from Florida. Did it surprise you, Karina? 

KARINA KLING: Yeah, I think I mean, watching from here in Texas, and we've been talking so much about which Texans might follow Trump in his administration and a lot of talk surrounding that. But I don't know that it was a big surprise. And maybe after Trump saw what happened with Matt Gaetz, he just wanted a safer pick. Texas may just be losing out. And, you know, Trump's still going to have a lot of allies here in Texas, and maybe he wants it that way to be able to fight here on the ground. 

RUDY KOSKI: President Trump was here in Texas, in south Texas, looking up into the sky as Elon Musk was launching another rocket, his test launch of the Starship rocket. But things also, somewhat, did a Presidential pivot west with Texas offering part of a newly acquired border ranch as a possible location for a federal deportation detention center. Meanwhile, the state put more border buoys into the Rio Grande.  

KARINA KLING: You know, the devil is in the details. And we'll see kind of how all of this comes together. Obviously, what Trump is wanting to do is going to be met with a lot of legal challenges, like what happened last time. He implemented a lot of these measures, but he's got Governor Abbott's support. 

RUDY KOSKI: Governor Greg Abbott may have signaled that he's doing a slight pivot away from the border by issuing several executive orders this week intended to address security threats by China. Brad, do you think that this new China syndrome could be the new political boogeyman that Republicans need now that the Republicans have the border? 

BRAD JOHNSON: The other thing that caught my mind in this was. You know, in four years there's going to be a presidential race with a lame duck sitting Republican president. And Governor Abbott, his name is definitely going to be in the mix. And you can guarantee he's got his eye on that. 

RUDY KOSKI: Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced this week that he wants to make combating dementia a legislative priority. Brad, this idea could be modeled after the Cancer Institute research funding that happened a couple of years ago. You agree with that? 

BRAD JOHNSON: This is the state trying to find another avenue on which it can attract investment into a different area of health care. 

KARINA KLING: I think, you know, the money issue is going to be the biggest hurdle in trying to get this over the finish line. 

RUDY KOSKI: A controversial legislative mandate reignited the old Texas textbook Wars. The state school board this week discussed offering a new reading curriculum for grades K through five. That includes Bible studies. Brad, three Republicans initially voted against this plan. Do you think that there'll be kind of backlash the way that we saw with the school choice to fight within Republicans? 

BRAD JOHNSON: Pam Little, one of those Republicans, sent me a statement and she pointed out that the reasons she voted against this were had to do with the program's content being overwhelming, just overwhelming and across the board in the amount of time they have to go through. Ultimately, I think while there may be some backlash and some attempt to primary the State Board of Education, it's just so such small potatoes. 

KARINA KLING: I mean, I think that something else that needs to be pointed out, too, is, yes, these are optional, but there is some funding, I guess, attached to them, too. And while it's minimal, a lot of schools are struggling. And so might be a way to say, hey, boost our funds a little bit. 

RUDY KOSKI: All right. Great discussion. You can see the full discussion on the Fox 7 YouTube page and on Fox 7 Local. So, let's wrap this week up with just one word and we'll start with Brad. Brad, your word for the week. 

BRAD JOHNSON: Gobble, gobble.

RUDY KOSKI: All right, Karina, give me a word. 

KARINA KLING: I was going to say education, but now I know I'm hungry. So let's say Turkey. 

RUDY KOSKI: All right. And that wraps up another week in Texas politics.