Texas Nationalist Movement leader Daniel Miller said the United States has a “deep-seated sickness,” which means there is a chance “it either blows up or it invites autocratic reign from some tyrannical government.” The warning was delivered in the most recent episode of his Texas News Podcast released on Wednesday.

Miller was speaking in response to comments Phil McGraw, better known as “Dr. Phil,” made when the pair debated Texan independence on his Dr. Phil Primetime show, which was broadcast in late July.

Texan nationalists have scored a series of victories in recent months amid ongoing tensions between local authorities and the federal government, particularly over illegal immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. In May the Republican Party of Texas elected supporters of a referendum on Texan independence as its new chair and vice chair, then the following month included an independence referendum call in its 2024 Legislative Priorities and Platform document.

During the concluding monologue at the end of his show on state secession, McGraw expressed skepticism about the prospect of any state successfully leaving the Union.

“The chances of seceding successfully, with a functional government, infrastructure, medical and educational facilities etc., to me, is just beyond belief,” he said. “Does anybody believe the new country will not be plagued by the same selfish whiney complaining career victims that will squawk even louder for any reason or no reason at all?”

Miller hit back at McGraw: “While he publicly came out and essentially condemned what we’re talking about, talking about, ‘oh it’s going to be too difficult, you’ll have problems and it doesn’t solve anything.’ He gave no real proof, but more than that his solution was essentially for 400 million Americans to wake up tomorrow and observe the golden rule.

“He suggested that 400 million Americans could set aside their differences and work harmoniously overnight, and I’ve got to tell you, this idea is not only unrealistic, perhaps delusional, but it’s also very, very dangerous.”

Describing the tensions he believes exist in American society Miller added: “You see when you have such a deep-seated sickness, this pressure internally, these competing world views, these deep-seated issues and you ignore them. It is a recipe for disaster.

“One of two things happens. It either blows up or it invites autocratic reign from some tyrannical government to keep its hand on those competing realities. That’s the danger in thinking one day everybody’s going to wake up and we’re going to link pinkies and sing Kumbaya. It’s just not the reality. The reality is Texans are suffering.”

Newsweek contacted Phil McGraw for comment via an email to his company Merit Street Media, along with Daniel Miller by direct message on X, formerly Twitter.

A survey conducted for Newsweek earlier this year found that in a hypothetical independence referendum, 23 percent of Texans would back secession, against 67 percent who would vote to remain “a state within the United States.”