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Making Sense Common Again: The Week in Review
By Beth Guide | Talking Purple
It’s been a week that barely fits in a single broadcast. The State of the Union, airstrikes in Iran, Texas primaries, and ongoing chaos in Harris County — there’s a lot to unpack. So let’s get into it.
The 80% in the Middle
Before diving into the issues, I want to restate the core thesis of this show: I believe 80% of Americans are reasonable, pragmatic people who want to go to work, keep their families safe, and live in peace. They may disagree on climate policy, social programs, or foreign aid — but they broadly agree on the fundamentals. It’s the 20% on the fringes, both left and right, that keep dragging the rest of us into the mud. That framing matters for everything that follows.
The State of the Union: Credit Where It’s Due
Say what you want about Donald Trump — and plenty of people do — but the State of the Union address showcased a president with a list of accomplishments. If you’re watching through a purely partisan lens, you may not like them. But if you’re watching as an American, there’s a fair amount to acknowledge.
The moment that stuck with me, though, wasn’t the policy discussion. It was the reaction to the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s gold medal — the first since I was in grammar school. That’s an extraordinary achievement. And instead of a unified celebration in the Capitol building, we had members of Congress sitting in protest while the chamber chanted “USA.” Whatever your politics, that image says something troubling about where we are as a country.
Immigration: Everybody Actually Agrees on More Than They Think
Immigration is where I think Democrats are most badly misreading the room. And here’s the thing — it’s not just a conservative position that illegal immigration is a problem. Go back and listen to Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton over the years. They’ve all said, unambiguously, that a country cannot have open, lawless borders. That was the mainstream Democratic position for decades. Somewhere along the way, that consensus got lost.
Most Americans — including many who lean left — understand the word “illegal.” They’re law-abiding people. They want their kids to have good schools, safe streets, and economic opportunity. They’re not anti-immigrant; they’re pro-rule-of-law. There’s a difference, and it’s an important one.
My own position is this: we need a viable, reviewed work visa program for people who want to come here and contribute. If immigrants want to pursue legal residency, there’s a pathway for that too. What we can’t do is pretend that the status quo under the previous administration — releasing violent offenders on their own recognizance, ignoring court orders, and abandoning any coherent enforcement policy — was a reasonable approach. It wasn’t.
On the emotional question of families being separated: yes, it’s a painful reality. But the solution is legislation, not paralysis. If a child born here is an American citizen and the parents are not, the law provides mechanisms to work through that. The right response is to use those mechanisms and, where they’re inadequate, to write better laws. That’s literally what Congress is there to do.
To the lawmakers who spent the State of the Union in protest: your job is to legislate. If you don’t like the current policy on immigration, dreamers, or anything else — write a bill. When Trump rescinded DACA, he said plainly that he’d sign a legislative solution. Both parties know how to fix this. My suspicion is that both parties prefer the issue. A solved problem doesn’t raise money or mobilize voters. That has to change.
The Real Reason Prices Haven’t Come Down
The Democratic response to the SOTU, delivered by Governor Abigail Spanberger, focused heavily on tariffs and the cost of living. She’s not wrong that prices are a problem — but I think the analysis is incomplete.
Yes, tariffs have costs that ripple through to consumers. But there’s another major driver of inflation in goods and services that rarely gets the same attention: the dramatic rise in labor costs. When minimum wage moves from $10 to $17 to $20 an hour, you cannot simultaneously keep a Big Mac at $2. That’s not a knock on workers — it’s just math. Businesses, especially small ones, absorb those costs and pass them on.
I run a small business. I know exactly what it looks like when expenses rise. I’m the first person to cut my own salary when hard times come. One-third of the American workforce is employed by small businesses — not corporations, not conglomerates, but small shops and cottage industry operations barely keeping the lights on. When we talk about the price of goods, we owe it to ourselves to understand the full picture, including what labor costs have done over the past several years. That genie is not going back in the bottle.
Safety Isn’t Partisan — But Policy Is
Spanberger also spoke about safety, and I genuinely believe Democrats want safe communities. But there’s a causality problem they haven’t fully reckoned with. You cannot simultaneously advocate for policies that allowed millions of people to enter the country without vetting, release repeat violent offenders without bail, and then campaign on public safety. Those things are in direct contradiction.
Most people crossing the border illegally are not criminals. But unchecked mass migration — especially of predominantly male populations from cultures with very different norms around gender and legal authority — creates real risks that cannot be wished away with good intentions. You don’t have to be anti-immigrant to acknowledge that. You just have to be honest.
Iran: Solving Problems vs. Appeasing Them
The airstrikes in Iran are still developing as of this recording, but I want to frame my view on them. The Iranian government is not a rational actor in the Western sense. It is an extremist theocracy whose hostility toward the United States, Israel, and the West is rooted in a religious and ideological framework that predates modern geopolitics — stretching back, if you want the full picture, to the split between the tribes of Abraham thousands of years ago.
You do not negotiate durably with that kind of adversary by putting $150 billion on a pallet at an airport and hoping they’ll behave. That’s appeasement, and every student of history knows where appeasement leads. Iran cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. That isn’t a conservative or liberal position — it’s a basic assessment of what a nuclear-armed extremist regime would mean for global stability.
I’m also going to say what needs saying about the members of Congress who rushed to make TikToks and TV appearances criticizing the strikes before the situation had even resolved: the reason you weren’t briefed in advance is because you cannot be trusted to keep classified information confidential. That’s not an accusation — it’s a demonstrated pattern. If you want a seat at the table on national security, earn it by acting like the stakes are real.
Texas Primaries: A Party Eating Itself
Closer to home, the Republican primary landscape in Texas — particularly in Montgomery County and Harris County — is getting messy in ways that concern me.
Let me be direct about the “RINO” problem. The term has lost all meaning. It’s being thrown at reasonable, solutions-oriented people whose only offense is that they won’t sign onto every litmus test a faction has invented this cycle. John Cornyn? Sure, have that debate. But calling local officials RINOs because they won’t play along with a good-old-boys network that has its own corruption problems? That’s not conservatism — that’s tribalism.
The Republican Party’s great strength right now is the coalition Donald Trump has built: broad, results-oriented, and focused on outcomes rather than ideological purity. The worst thing Texas Republicans can do is fracture that coalition from within by insisting on a “conservative blood test” that has more to do with loyalty oaths than with actual policy results.
Colony Ridge deserves special mention here. This is a sprawling, problematic development in Liberty County that has drawn national attention as an illegal enclave. What doesn’t get said enough is that conservative money helped build it. Candidates who want to run on immigration enforcement while their donors built Colony Ridge have a credibility problem. Actions speak louder than bumper stickers.
Harris County: The Stakes Are Real
On the Harris County front, Commissioner Rodney Ellis and the Democratic majority on Commissioner’s Court just voted to abolish the County Treasurer’s position — an elected position, currently on the primary ballot. I’m still working through the legal mechanics of how that’s possible, but the message is clear: remove the financial oversight, and who’s watching the money?
This is why I’ve been supporting Orlando Sanchez for Harris County Judge. He has the governing experience, the financial background, and the institutional knowledge to actually unravel what has become a deeply dysfunctional county government. He’s the only candidate in that race I believe can both beat Anise Parker in November and hit the ground running on day one.
In CD2, I remain firmly in Dan Crenshaw’s corner. The flooding issues in Kingwood are complex, ongoing, and require a representative who has taken the time to understand them — not someone parachuting in from Montgomery County armed with Harvey talking points from six years ago. The dog park situation resolved the right way, and I know that’s because of relationships and advocacy that have been built over years. That’s what effective representation looks like.
For county party chair, I believe it needs to be Michelle Boussard. We need a big-tent party built on constitutional principles, not an exclusionary club built on ideological tests. And for the Senate race, I believe Wesley Hunt is both the most electable candidate in November and the right person to take on Jasmine Crockett. A Paxton-Hunt runoff is what I’m hoping to see come out of Tuesday.
Go Vote
If you’re in Harris County, Tuesday matters. Flooding policy, financial oversight, congressional representation, and the long-term direction of the county Republican Party are all on the line. Get to the polls.
And as always — there’s your side, there’s my side, and then there’s the truth. I’m just trying to find the truth.
Beth Guide hosts Talking Purple, a centrist political commentary podcast now with over 2 million views. New episodes drop weekly.
