A little over a year ago, I made the decision to become a Republican. 

As the mayor of Dallas, Texas, I knew this defection would put a target on my back for Democrat leaders, who tried to mock, ridicule and minimize my rationale. But I knew I was making the right choice because Democrats’ priorities were all wrong. 

Looking back, Democrats should have taken my shift as a wake-up call. After all, I left the Democrat Party for the same reasons many people of color have left and will continue to leave: the chaos, financial hardship and cultural rot Democrat policies have spread across our nation.  

TRUMP HHS COULD REVERSE BIDEN-HARRIS POLICIES ON GENDER TREATMENTS FOR MINORS

President-elect Donald J. Trump understands these concerns, which is why Democrats lost and why he won. So, it didn’t surprise me when Trump was re-elected president with unprecedented support from young, Hispanic and Black voters. 

You see, my former colleagues in the Democrat Party just don’t get it. Trump speaks to our hopes and aspirations, not just our fears of liberal mismanagement. Like most Americans, we aspire to wealth, homeownership, quality education and the freedom to live our lives. We want law and order, lower taxes, peace through strength and leaders with resolve. And we’re not anti-immigrant but oppose open borders and illegal immigration that strains our social services and allows a criminal element into our communities. 

This is because, more than anything, the citizens of our cities desire to live in safe neighborhoods.  

That was what we cared about in the working-class Black – and yes, Democratic – community that raised me. But as a mayor, I began truly questioning my political alignment when Democrats embraced the “defund the police” movement. Dallas Democrat leaders stood silent when liberal protesters came to my home, while my children were inside, and demanded I stop supporting our police department. I stood firm and called for even more investment in public safety with a goal of becoming the safest major city in America. As a result, Dallas is now in its fourth-straight year of violent crime reduction. 

This is part of why the election was not an anomaly. Trump made history by breaking the Democrats’ real blue wall: their grip on racial identity politics, which they’d used to maintain power for decades.  

But we all saw clearly what the Democrat Party has become these last four years. Under President Joe Biden, borders opened, inflation surged and disorder flourished in Democrat-led cities. Democrat leaders indulged wealthy liberal activists’ excesses at the expense of hard-working families wanting an efficient government that protects but does not burden them. 

Americans expressed their frustration with the status quo, not just in rural communities but urban centers, too. Trump made efforts to engage voters in places Republicans of past decades had written off, like the Bronx, the metro-Detroit area and Milwaukee. Unlike Democrats, who took these communities for granted and merely paid lip service to inclusivity, Trump assured these communities they were integral to a stronger America. 

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The consequences were clear: a noticeable shift from Democrats towards Trump in traditionally blue areas. Trump improved his performance in places like Chicago and Philadelphia and was the first GOP presidential candidate to win Miami-Dade County since 1988. His support also grew in New York, even in the Democratic stronghold of New York City. 

The Trump movement’s impact extended to other contests as well. In California, voters supported propositions to increase penalties for theft and drug crimes. Even in liberal San Francisco, voters rejected chaos and chose a new path. 

Like most Americans, we aspire to wealth, home ownership, quality education and the freedom to live our lives. We want law and order, lower taxes, peace through strength and leaders with resolve. And we’re not anti-immigrant but oppose open borders and illegal immigration that strains our social services and allows a criminal element into our communities. 

To put it plainly, voters are sick of a Democrat Party that prioritizes pandering over policy, political correctness over political action, and concern with personal identity over individuals’ real needs.  

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President Trump’s mission is easy to understand: he wants to Make America Great Again. And he’s a leader who understands that to achieve this goal, we must have great cities. He has shown that he cares about solving problems in urban America, and as president his policies will help lead a revival of our country’s great cities, making them safe and prosperous again. 

And through the new administration, working-class individuals will again feel at home in America’s cities – and in the Republican Party. I know I do.  

The Oklahoma City Thunder picked up its third loss of the season to the Dallas Mavericks, losing 121-119.

In a game where the Thunder struggled all night, they gave themselves the opportunity to win with under a minute to play. The ball rolled the right way for them and multiple players hit clutch shots, but it was not enough in the end.

OKC’s inability to rebound the basketball put them behind 66-58 at halftime and in a hole in general the entirety of the matchup. Maverick center Daniel Gafford grabbed six first-half rebounds and finished with 12 total. A combination of him and forward PJ Washington allowed the Mavericks to out-rebound the Thunder 53 to 29 the entire night.

The Thunder trailed 39-34 at the first quarter’s end. Gilgeous-Alexander closed the half out with a plethora of free throws and rookie guard Ajay Mitchell found his mid-range spots to add on. A combination of Kyrie Irving, Naji Marshall and Jaden Hardy helped keep the score close for the Mavericks by the first quarter’s end.

OKC and Dallas went back and forth the entire first quarter until the Mavericks pulled away late. They maintained that lead for the rest of the second quarter too, with Irving, Marshall and guard Quentin Grimes all contributing. Irving finished with 10 first-half points and Marshall with 11 off the bench.

In need of a second-half spark, OKC star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked to improve off of his 20-point first-half performance. Sharpshooter Isaiah Joe started the OKC scoring off with a triple and Lu Dort added to the total by getting to the free-throw line as did Gilgeous-Alexander in the mid-range area.

The X-factor off the bench for the Mavericks was Marshall. As soon as he entered the game at any point, he impacted scoring and the intensity on the defensive side of the ball. He only scored once in the third quarter but impacted the game in other ways,

A surprising impact player for OKC was first-round rookie Dillon Jones. He finished the night with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, the best performance of his young career. He scored five points and threw two assists in the third quarter resulting in a 97-92 lead in favor of Dallas.

With Luka Doncic out for the Mavericks, Dallas needed others to step up in his absence. Alongside Marshall, Jaden Hardy stood out as a scorer. He finished with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and did an excellent job getting to the rim and creating space on mid-range attempts. Both Marshall and Hardy would prove valuable assets down the stretch for Dallas.

In a stretch of play where Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, Dallas managed to take advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter stretching its lead to 11 points. Fortunately for the Mavericks, the scoring gap was too much to overcome, even with Gilgeous-Alexander in the game.

The story of the night for the Mavericks was its bench production. They got another assist from the depths of the bench, this time from Spencer Dinwiddie. He scored all of his points in the fourth quarter and extended the Maverick lead, finishing with 120 points in total.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 36 points on the night, coupled with two rebounds and eight assists. His third 30-point performance of the season was not enough to overcome Dallas. The same reason OKC has seen an uptick in narrow wins or losses in the last four games has been the lack of rebounding. As long as Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are unavailable, rebounding will be a challenge.

The Thunder trailed by eight points with around a minute remaining and in need of stops, forced multiple. Gilgeous-Alexander nailed a triple with 25 seconds remaining to narrow the deficit to three and forced and recovered possession after a late jump ball, but could not tie the score as the clock hit zero. The late comeback attempt was heroic, but simply not enough.

OKC plays next against the San Antonio Spurs at 8:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Nov. 19 on the road in San Antonio.

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