Evan Mintz stop platforming Kenny Webster challenge

In the event that this subject line means nothing to you, here’s some context:

Evan Mintz is the opinion editor at the Houston Chronicle. I have written for him, I know him to be a fine person, and a passionate gardener like me.

Kenny Webster is a Houston-area conservative AM-radio talk show personality who fancies himself a comedian. He is not funny, and as a lifelong comedy fan myself (WILL FERRELL WAS THE BEST MAN AT MY WEDDING BECAUSE I LOVE COMEDY THAT MUCH) I will call myself an expert on the subject. Kenny Webster is a local Greg Gutfeld, a Kill Tony wannabe, and that ain’t comedy, it’s just insults and trolling.

At some point, Evan and Kenny became chummy. Curious, I watched Evan’s interview on Kenny’s radio show last year. Kenny repeatedly tried to lob hacky insults about Democrats and Evan played a very even-handed, “Ok, but…”

They’ve become so chummy that Evan has given Kenny some choice opinion slots in the past year:

There are SIX MORE editorials by Kenny Webster by my count.

Alas, while I was working on this post, Webster was once again given space, this time to defend ICE and John Whitmire in the utterly indefensible murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on Tuesday.

From what we've been told, he was in the country illegally. ICE had every right, and every reason, to pick him up. According to the agents on scene, he ignored commands and used his vehicle in a way that put them in danger.

I will never understand how these BOLD, AMERICAN MEN who believe in FREEDOM and THE AMERICAN WAY are like “hey, let’s just calm down a second and wait to see if our militarized government oppressors who have been empowered to hunt down people in our streets are in the wrong here.”

Anyway.

I understand that the Houston Chronicle has struggled like every other newspaper. I am dismayed as a former nine-year employee of the paper (2001 until my layoff in 2010) to see a website with maybe 40 percent turnover of stories every day, and so much reliance on articles about restaurant openings and closings and lists of things. The bylines are largely from people seemingly just out of college, and few stay for long.

(It is still a step above TV news outlets, which is why I continue my monthly digital subscription. I also pay for subscriptions to the Austin-American Statesman because I have a client in Austin, and one to the Dallas Morning News that I want to cancel, but have to call them to do so, which is bullshit. I also give a monthly donation to the Texas Tribune. Guys, I believe in journalism. I’m not rich, and my for-fun budget that I spend on journalism is dwindling FAST, but I’m still putting in my share.)

Last week, the Chronicle Op-Ed section published this opinion piece by Webster that caught my eyeballs and made me frustrated enough to write this post:

The bio really says it all on what kind of expert Webster is in this race: “Kenny Webster can be heard weekdays on KPRC 950 in Houston and dozens of other radio stations around the country. He’s also the executive producer of the Walton and Johnson radio network and a touring stand-up comedian.”

The headline and accompanying social graphics/posts are pure ragebait for clicks. I hope the number of clicks made someone feel good about themself, because it’s not going to garner any goodwill with conservatives who still refer to the city’s paper of record as “the Comical” in every Facebook comment. It’s not going to lead to subscriptions. Maybe some web ad placements from Patriot Mobile came in, but probably not. So what’s the point of all of this?

I understand that an opinion section should present a variety of viewpoints, but I contend that it’s dangerous and stupid to platform MAGA. There are no facts in their dangerous opinions, it’s all rotten vibes. Old-school media folks keep clinging to this “we must consider both sides” raft while conservatives are shooting holes in it to gleefully watch journalists drown. I don’t get it. Stop playing nice with these guys like they’re not going to stab you in the back when you turn away.

As for the content of Webster’s op-ed, it’s the same old misleading rhetoric: vegan, six genders, not a real Christian. Then he tries to be a serious policy thinker:

Now let's talk taxes. You know, that thing that normal Texans actually care about? Talarico has voted against real tax relief like it personally insulted his vegetarian taco. Back in 2019 he said no thanks to a bill that would have made it harder for local governments to raise your property taxes without asking permission first. He also voted against slamming the door on a state income tax in the Texas Constitution. Nothing says "I'm fighting for working families" quite like letting Austin treat your paycheck like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Sure, James Talarico wants the state government that YOUR party has run for 30 years to…spend your tax dollars. This state doesn’t run without money, so what is he even talking about? That said, Texas Democrats would much prefer we use these tax dollars on expanding healthcare access:

Texas remains one of the 10 non-expansion states. This means the state has not expanded Medicaid to cover low-income childless adults and those earning up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level. Consequently, over 700,000 low-income Texans are trapped in a "coverage gap.”

fully funding public schools:

Even with the financial investments from HB 2, school leaders are struggling to keep their staff employed.

“I can’t sit here and say that with the certain funding that we receive, we’re doing great, because we aren’t,” Salazar said. “We live, figuratively speaking, paycheck to paycheck.”

and improving community infrastructure:

The Texas House, under former Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, sought to address crisis communication failures at the local and state level last year.

After a disastrous state response to the Panhandle Wildfires, which destroyed more than 1.2 million acres and caused more than $1 billion in economic losses, the Texas House launched an investigation and proposed solutions. State Rep. Ken King introduced a bill to provide grant funding for rural community emergency alert systems and streamline and improve first responder communications. It passed the House with bipartisan support, with 16 Republicans voting against it, only to die in the Senate Finance Committee.

Instead, the 30-year buffet eaters are spending those dollars on private school vouchers for the wealthy:

The applicant pool, while not fully reflective of the families who will ultimately receive voucher funds, indicates that taxpayer money will mostly flow to families who, before the program, had already committed to having their children educated in a private school or home-school.

During the 2025 legislative session, state lawmakers and advocates touted vouchers as a benefit for low-income families and students with disabilities fed up with inadequate public schools. Of all applications, 63% came from middle- to high-income families — 27% of them making at or above $165,000 per year for a household of four.

and subsidizing an oil and gas industry that has no real future:

Jensen said the Legislature missed a major opportunity to rein in wasteful subsidies and address climate change and environmental justice by failing to exclude fossil fuel projects from eligibility under Chapter 403. “They should have limited it to companies that actually need the abatement and promise something extraordinary and novel,” Jensen said — like semiconductor and electric vehicle plants — “not more crappy jobs in a dying industry.”

and lining the pockets of Republican donors:

We identified eight companies that received non-competitive, emergency contracts from the state, most of which were tied to recent disasters such as COVID-19, hurricanes, or border security. In each instance, a company, its owners, or its executives donated large amounts to Gov. Abbott through his Texans for Greg Abbott PAC. After making the donations, the companies and their subsidiaries received one or more contracts, some for tens of millions of dollars. Donations were made by companies, their subsidiaries, their political action committees (PACs), their officers and executives, as well as the spouses of their officers and executives.

and developing Christian-based public school curriculum that’s riddled with errors:

Texas will pay up to $8.4 million to fix thousands of errors in its Bible-infused Bluebonnet curriculum.

The Texas Education Agency signed the contract in May to cover the replacement and disposal of books, worksheets, teacher guides and other materials after identifying more than 4,200 errors, ranging from missing commas to incorrect answer keys and factual errors.

And on and on and on.

I am asking that Houston’s paper of record stop platforming this deeply unserious, rizz-less dork who regurgitates Fox News talking points. He is only around because “let’s give the other side a say,” but surely there are deeper thinkers around? Are there any serious Republicans left? Do Republicans really only have clowns to defend their wretched beliefs? Houston must have a David Brooks out there somewhere.

That would be an opinion piece I could gleefully ignore.