Jim Hightower's Radio Lowdown

What’s Under Sid Miller’s Thousand-Dollar Hat?


Listen Later

The agriculture commissioner of Texas, Sid Miller, is the one top official in our state willing to take a bold stand against racial discrimination. Miller proudly went to court in April, challenging a new government program that he considered discriminatory against a particular group of disadvantaged agriculture producers. Namely, his group – White farmers and ranchers!
Yes, Sid asserts that the program – which directs some long-overdue loan relief to Black, Latino, Native American, and other food producers who’ve been grossly discriminated against for generations by agricultural lenders – amounts to reverse-discrimination against privileged Whites like him.
So Sid, a rancher and former rodeo performer, is braying and snorting through his big white cowboy hat that the way to stop racial discrimination is to let White discriminators also get anti-discrimination money from the Feds. That’s what passes for logic when you’re wearing a $1,000 hat like Sid struts around in. But, as a real cowboy once told me, “It ain’t the hat, it’s the head.” And right there is Miller’s problem – he’s got a thousand-dollar hat on a 10-cent head.
However, he’s not the actual “thinker” behind this screwball legal claim. That distinction goes to another Miller, one named Stephen. He’s a Trump political operative, anti-immigrant extremist, and a fanatical promoter of White nationalism – one who specializes in frivolous lawsuits. Indeed, Stephen wrote Sid’s plaintive legal plea to provide “racial justice” for rich and powerful White ranchers like him, and just days before filing the suit, Stephen set up a political front group called America First Legal Foundation to push the case.
You’d think this ridiculous racial bigotry would be laughed out of court, but the case has gone to a hyper-partisan, right-wing judge who has backed such Republican legal ploys in the past. So, yippy-ti-yi-yo, off to another right-wing rodeo we go!
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Jim Hightower's Radio LowdownBy Jim Hightower

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

338 ratings


More shows like Jim Hightower's Radio Lowdown

View all
The Rachel Maddow Show by Rachel Maddow, MS NOW

The Rachel Maddow Show

36,758 Listeners

Political Gabfest by Slate Podcasts

Political Gabfest

8,471 Listeners

Democracy Now! Audio by Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! Audio

5,785 Listeners

The Nation Podcasts by The Nation Magazine

The Nation Podcasts

432 Listeners

Ralph Nader Radio Hour by Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader Radio Hour

1,203 Listeners

The Intercept Briefing by The Intercept

The Intercept Briefing

6,114 Listeners

The DSR Network by The DSR Network

The DSR Network

1,796 Listeners

Stay Tuned with Preet by Preet Bharara

Stay Tuned with Preet

32,342 Listeners

The Hartmann Report by Thom Hartmann

The Hartmann Report

1,357 Listeners

Gaslit Nation by Andrea Chalupa

Gaslit Nation

3,958 Listeners

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer by Civic Ventures

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

1,502 Listeners

The Al Franken Podcast by The Al Franken Podcast

The Al Franken Podcast

8,412 Listeners

Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner by Crossover Media Group

Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner

2,938 Listeners

Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson

Letters from an American

6,221 Listeners

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich by Robert Reich

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich

258 Listeners