Trump Threatens Government Shutdown to Build Border Wall: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We may be the most expensive stadium for a little bit but another one will come.”

—Katy ISD Superintendent Lance Hindt to the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday, shortly before dedicating the district’s new $70.3 million Legacy Stadium. The 12,000-seat stadium is the most expensive high school stadium in the U.S. (for now).

BIG NEWS

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to crowd of supporters at the Phoenix Convention Center during a rally on August 22, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.Ralph Freso/Getty

Wall Showdown
At a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened to shutdown the federal government in order to build his promised wall along the border. “We are building a wall on the southern border,” Trump said as chants of “Build that wall” broke out, according to the Dallas Morning News. “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall … One way or another we’re going to get that wall.” The threat seems to be more than a rallying cry. According to Politico, Trump has privately told advisers recently that he’d close down the government if he doesn’t get money for the border wall, regardless of the conflict that would cause within the Republican party. “The fight over the wall is likely to explode in September as the administration wrangles over a new budget, an increase in the debt ceiling, the beginning of a tax reform package and a possible resuscitation of health care legislation,” Politico’s John Dawsey wrote, adding that Trump has told his advisers that he won’t accept a deal on any other issue unless he gets money for the wall—”and it has to be real money,” one senior White House official told Politico. Although Trump hasn’t mentioned a specific dollar amount, he’s said he wants “enough to really start building it,” a person who spoke with Trump over the weekend told Politico. “He is animated about the wall,” the person added. “He cares about that more than many other things. He knows his base cares and chants about it.”

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

Dynamic Duo
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s wife, Angela, is considering a run for Texas Senate, according to the Texas Tribune. Paxton, a guidance counselor at Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco, is eying the seat in Senate District 8, which is currently held by Plano Republican Van Taylor, who’s probably going to give up his seat to run for Congress in 2018. Paxton, who has been active in state Republican politics, frequently appears at political events with her husband and on her own. She’s certainly got the charisma and showmanship of a politician—at Republican party gatherings, according to the Tribune, she often strums a guitar and sings, “I’m a pistol-packin’ mama, and my husband sues Obama.” Phillip Huffines, the chairman of the Dallas County GOP, is the current frontrunner for the Senate seat, but Paxton already has the support of four state representatives in the area, so she could shake things up significantly if she does decide to run.

Lost At Sea
One of the ten sailors who went missing after the Navy destroyer U.S.S. John McCain collided with a merchant vessel off the coast of Singapore on Monday is a Texan, according to the Houston Chronicle. The Navy has announced the identification of the remains of three sailors, but John “C.J.” Hoagland, from Tarkington, is still unaccounted for. “The first time John said he wanted to serve his country, he was five,” Hoagland’s mother, Cynthia Kimball, told KTRK. “It’s the only thing he’s ever wanted to do. He loves the military, but he loves his family. He is really a good person. He would do anything for anyone.” The accident was the second such incident at sea for the Navy in recent months. Noe Hernandez, of Weslaco, was killed along with six other sailors in June, when the U.S.S. Fitzgerald collided with a cargo ship off the coast of Japan. According to the New York Times, the Navy issued a rare suspension of ship operations worldwide following the McCain crash, and it relieved Vice Admiral Joseph P. Aucoin after his fleet sustained a total of four collisions since January, including the fatal crashes of the Fitzgerald and the McCain.

Wet Weekend
The remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey could bring some serious rain to the Texas coast this weekend. The National Weather Service says details of the tropical storm’s exact landfall location are “still very uncertain,” but it could end up along the lower to middle Texas coast around Friday, according to the Houston Chronicle. Houston, Galveston, and Southeast Texas could be in for around four to eight inches of rain, with the possibility of ten to sixteen inches in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. KTRK‘s weather team predicts the storm could bring rains similar to the amount that seriously flooded Houston sixteen years ago, when Hurricane Allison hit the city and dropped more than three feet of rain, leaving 23 dead across Texas and causing billions of dollars in damage. “We’re most likely going to see a tropical storm form late tomorrow night,” Patrick Blood, a meteorologist with the Houston/Galveston branch of the National Weather Service, told the Houston Press. “The biggest threat for Houston is rainfall.” As we wrote in May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted a rough storm season for Texas this summer.