A coalition of progressive academics has bought matching airtime so Texas can sit with what President Donald Trump's political group just said to it.
Trump's political group is spending $10 million on Texas Senate ads. A coalition of progressive academics has bought matching airtime for six-second pauses asking Texas how it feels. Texas has been split into six processing zones with feelings intake lines.
The first spot is booked for Monday night, inside a Houston sports broadcast, right after a truck commercial. President Donald Trump's political group is spending $10 million on ads in the Texas Senate race. It is his first major midterm money move. It is also, in the view of six tenured academics, an intervention Texas never consented to.
On Monday the Coalition for Electoral Aftercare announced a matching $10 million buy. After every Trump ad, Texas will receive a six-second pause. The screen goes soft grey and a calm voice asks one question: "Texas, what came up for you just now?"
"Ten million dollars of unsolicited feedback is a lot to hold," said Dr. Pilar Wenceslas-Oyelaran, the coalition's clinical director. "We are not here to tell Texas what to think. We are here to make sure Texas has somewhere to put it."
The mechanics are careful. Texas has been divided into six processing zones, each staffed by a regional facilitator. Every zone gets a feelings intake line, open around the clock. Callers are promised that nothing they say will be used against them. The coalition concedes this is a first for a Texas election.
Let us be honest about what an attack ad is. It is a boundary violation with a music bed. A Senate race is a relationship, and Texas did not ask to be discussed in the third person for thirty seconds at a time. When one party spends $10 million talking about you, the least the room can do is check in.
"Denial is a stage. Resistance is part of the process. We have budgeted for both."
Some Texans, the coalition acknowledges, may find the pauses intrusive. This is expected. Dr. Wenceslas-Oyelaran describes the state as "early in its journey" and asks viewers not to pathologise their own discomfort. "The grey screen is not judging you," she said. "The grey screen is holding you."
Texas responds
Not everyone is ready to be held. Dale Whitcomb, who speaks for the Lone Star Media Buyers Guild, confirmed his members sold the airtime and would sell it again. "We'll sell anybody six seconds," he said. "I've watched the tape six times. I still don't know who it's for."
The coalition heard that. It thanked Mr. Whitcomb for naming his confusion out loud. It then added a seventh facilitator, assigned exclusively to media buyers, because they are also part of the system and the system is what is hurting.
Election night has already been planned. Whatever Texas decides, the coalition will read a statement affirming that the decision is valid and that Texas is allowed to want what it wants. The reading will happen whether or not Texas is listening. That, the coalition says, is what holding space means.
At current rates the coalition has roughly six weeks of space left. After that, Texas will have to hold itself. Dr. Wenceslas-Oyelaran is confident. "Every state is ready when it is ready," she said. "We just wanted Texas to know that someone noticed it was being talked to."
