Email from Tarrant County Republican Party Also what drone strikes on the cartels and a Texas gas station have in common   Contribute Today to Prepare for 2026! Nicolas Maduro and an American Gas Station You may have seen that the Trump Administration eliminated a Venezuelan drug smuggling boat in international waters. You may have seen that the Administration put a bounty on the "leader" of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. But did you know that a prominent Texas gas station is part of the story? The Trump Administration does not consider the Maduro Regime legitimate, but rather as a narco-terrorist state working with the Tren de Aragua cartel. We wanted to give you more information on the Maduro regime, as Trump has begun to escalate the conflict against it. Apart from illegal drug money from gangs like TdA, the majority of income funding the Venezuelan government comes from their state-owned oil company, PDVSA. But did you know that the American gas station Citgo (the one with the red triangle) is entirely owned by the Maduro narco-state? They even have an oil refinery in Texas. But the Venezuelan government, under socialist leadership, has fallen into disrepair, including its state-owned oil industry. The nation has defaulted on so many debts that a Delaware judge is now auctioning off the Citgo brand in an attempt to recover $19 billion in debt owed by Venezuela. Things aren't looking good for the failed narco-state. Many of these adversarial nations (propped up by state-owned oil) have operations in Texas and can harm the industry through poor leadership. As we've reported before, CCP billionaire Sun Guangxin, who owned vast swaths of land and a large oil company in Texas, recently lost his oil company in a court-enforced bankruptcy. Pemex, the state-owned oil company propping up the Mexican economy, frequently loses oil to cartel members (and American collaborators) trafficking the oil to sell illegally in Texas. The Maduro-owned PDVSA is no exception. It even has a 10x higher workforce injury rate than Mexico-owned Pemex. Socialist state oil companies may cause trouble for Texans, but they also cause problems on a geopolitical scale. Venezuela notoriously traffics drugs into America to poison our citizens. But a lesser-known fact is that their former Vice President and Minister of Oil Tareck El Aissami is connected to terrorist groups and has been sanctioned for facilitating Hezbollah-linked drug networks. Because Maduro is an enemy of the US, the Venezuelan narco-state relies heavily on our enemies like China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba, giving them a foothold in America's backyard and access to many times more oil than in American reserves. While some conservatives may be concerned at the prospect of escalating force against Maduro, it's important to keep in mind that these actions are necessary for preserving American security. Rather than another forever war, action against Maduro is a return of the Monroe Doctrine, with the American military once again being used to support American interests in our backyard. For example, Venezuela formerly supplied massive quantities of oil to Caribbean nations, and is still closely allied to communist Cuba. While Venezuelan exports have waned due to American sanctions, China has stepped in. The Caribbean and Central America are under serious pressure to accept Chinese influence as an attempt by our enemies to maintain control over our backyard. Replacing Maduro and retaking the Panama Canal are great initial steps to making the western hemisphere safe again. Hopefully, Trump will keep going! Closed Primaries Lawsuit Filed The Republican Party of Texas took a major step this week to close our primaries. A lawsuit has been filed against the State of Texas and the Texas Secretary of State seeking to return a right of association to the Republican Party, allowing it to restrict primaries to registered Republicans. The lawsuit follows the passage of Rule 46 at the last RPT Convention in San Antonio. If you've been around party politics for any length of time, you know this is a big issue. An overwhelming number of Republican primary voters support closed primaries, but the Legislature has yet to deliver. The situation is developing, but we will be following the lawsuit closely and hope for success! You can read more about the story HERE. Abbott Is Getting Foreigners Off the Road Governor Abbott has taken action to ensure truck drivers speak English. The plague of unqualified, uncaring, foreign truck drivers who cannot even read our road signs has been a tragedy. Stories appear in the news regularly of a foreign truck driver, often with little to no English competency, taking an unwarranted action on the road that results in the death of Americans. Your roads are no longer safe and foreigners are at fault. Abbott has ordered DPS to strictly enforce English fluency for truck drivers in Texas. This is important because Texas is the number one state in America for semi drivers who do not speak English. No one is more at risk on the road than Texans. The Trump Administration set new English fluency rules for truckers in the spring (overturning an Obama rule that kept them on the road). But not every state was enforcing these rules. Texas is now enforcing them and taking foreign illiterate truck drivers off our highways. This is a step in the right direction. The foreign takeover of the American trucking industry has not only endangered and killed Americans but has also taken away one of the few stable blue-collar career paths for American citizens. It is a good start to require English fluency. Perhaps one day we can also deport these foreigners and return the trucking industry to American citizens. You can read more about it HERE. Austin is the New Cracker Barrel Usually, you will find us criticizing the City of Fort Worth for promoting leftism and wasting absurd amounts of taxpayer dollars. But this week's fiasco in Austin merits attention. The City of Austin recently announced a new logo that has managed to receive universal hate. Conservatives hate it not only because it is ugly and meaningless slop, but because it has cost the City nearly a million dollars. Even liberals hate it for its ugliness. Even Reddit, known for being a leftist echo chamber, universally mocked the new logo. Even worse is that the previous logo was perfectly fine. It dripped with symbolism that paid homage to Stephen F. Austin, to his Christian heritage, and to the University of Texas. It incorporated the colors of Texas and of America. It was a great logo. But, at the expense of a million taxpayer dollars, the City of Austin got the Cracker Barrel treatment. Some may call it the Cracker Barrel-ification of Austin. Fort Worth - please do not do this! You can read more HERE. Share The Roundup with Friends! Thank you for reading The Roundup, the #1 newsletter for conservatives in Tarrant County. If the Roundup has been valuable for you, please consider sharing it with friends! You can share the Roundup on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Email using the buttons below. 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