From Under the Rubble of Yet Another Major Texas Defeat, a New Democrat Leader Emerges

Art Acevedo is currently Houston’s chief of police. While other Texas cities, most notably Austin and Dallas, defunded their police, Houston did not. The Democrat-run city, which is the largest in Texas, slightly increased its police budget.

While Austin and to a lesser extent Dallas allowed rioting to plague their downtowns far too long over the summer, Houston and San Antonio, Texas’ second-largest city, did not. Both of those cities kept the rioting to a minimum. San Antonio allowed its police to protect key sites and monuments, including the Cradle of Texas Liberty, the Alamo. Austin was the scene of a protest-related shooting, among other senseless violence allowed by the feckless city council.

Despite polls and media claims for the umpteenth time that Texas was finally in play to go blue, once the votes were counted, it did not. Trump won easily, Sen. John Cornyn won reelection easily, and down-the-ballot Democrat and media darling Wendy Davis lost yet again, despite relocating to and running in a very favorable district for her and outspending her opponent by about 3 to 1. It seems Texans really don’t like candidates who run here on funding from California on a platform of ending the Texas miracle. Fancy that.

Acevedo, a Democrat, wasted no time in blasting his own party for yet another stinging loss in the Lone Star State. He blamed Austin’s city council first, which is very interesting given the fact that before he was police chief in Houston, he was police chief in Austin. He knows the city well.

Acevedo tweeted:

Texas Democrats can thank “socialist democrats and defund the police crowd” led by @GregCasar, @JimmyFlannigan and the rest of the AustinCity Council. Fact, Americans and Texans want better policing, not de-policing, and they don’t want anything to do with any form of socialism.

— Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) November 4, 2020

“Texas Democrats can thank ‘socialist democrats and defund the police crowd’ led by @GregCasar, @JimmyFlannigan and the rest of the AustinCity Council. Fact, Americans and Texans want better policing, not de-policing, and they don’t want anything to do with any form of socialism.”

Reaction from the left is about what you’d expect. No introspection at all. Many tweeted back at him with sick burns and the like. Twitter seems to turn everything into a playground insult contest, when it’s not censoring actual facts and suppressing real stories.

Acevedo is a Hispanic with a long career in law enforcement who has always been accessible to media, and who has spent enough time on the streets in more than one Texas city to understand things a whole lot better than bitter tweeters from wherever they are that isn’t Texas. But they won’t be persuaded by the experience, or the badge, or anything else. They’re smarter than the rest of us despite following the failed and discredited faith of socialism and being unable to process cause and effect when their own policies meet the real world.

Austin’s decision to defund the police has coincided with a massive spike in certain crimes, most notably homicides. Local media did manage to report that story.

Acevedo is probably looking at the election returns in Texas today and noticing that about 40% of the state’s Hispanic voters went for Trump, who also flipped 94.5% Hispanic Zapata County from blue to red. Something is going on. The Democrats have counted on the rise of the Hispanic vote to hand them Texas eventually. But it may just be that the Hispanic vote here counters the Republicans’ losses in the suburbs.

Look for Acevedo to run for something before long. Mayor of Austin, perhaps, or Houston. The state legislature is certainly not beyond reach, and neither is Congress. Assessing him as a candidate with whom I disagree on several issues is easy — he’d be formidable. He could exploit several issues to present himself as a new kind of Democrat — we’ve heard that before, in 1992 — who will be tough on crime but easy on social issues, pro-jobs, and generally able to handle himself in any media situation. The uniform and the badge provide instant credibility. He can sting the leftist Democrats from the center without giving much away to the right, other than gun control and the border, which are unlikely to hurt him if he selects his hunting ground appropriately.

Democrats would listen to Acevedo if they’re wise. That’s a huge “if.” Expect more sick burns on Twitter.

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