89. The Last Word - 2025: A Big News Year for San Antonio and Texas

Welcome to the first Last Word in its new standalone format. Every Saturday, Bob will deliver his sharp, insightful commentary on life and politics in San Antonio, Texas, and beyond.

In this inaugural episode, he dives into what 2025 has in store—from the impact of a second Trump presidency on local immigration and trade to the high-stakes debates unfolding in Texas politics, including public school funding and San Antonio’s billion-dollar arena proposal. Fasten your seatbelts—it’s going to be quite a ride. Watch, listen, or read below. 

The Last Word: What’s at Stake for San Antonio in 2025 

If I have any advice for our audience in 2025, it is this: Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be quite a ride. No one really knows where we are going or how we are going to get there.

Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, Jan. 20. He failed to attend President Biden’s inaugural in 2021, and Trump still refuses to admit he clearly lost a free and fair election. Biden is expected to attend Trump’s swearing in, thus completing the peaceful transfer of power that has taken place in this nation every four years dating to the late 18th century, except on Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the U.S. capitol, threatening to lynch Vice President Mike Pence to prevent him from certifying Biden’s victory.

So what comes next as Pres. Trump returns to power?

One looming question is this: Will President Trump act on all the campaign promises made by candidate Trump? For listeners who wonder why I am veering into national politics, my answer is this: many of the most contentious executive actions threatened by Trump are actually local stories for those of us who live and work in San Antonio and South Texas.

Will there really be mass deportations of immigrants and asylum seekers? What law enforcement agencies will conduct the roundups, and how will they identify targeted individuals and families? If there are roundups and deportations, will children once again be separated from their parents and guardians? Where will tens or hundreds of thousands of detained individuals and families be incarcerated? What happens if Mexico, Central America and Venezuela, among other countries, resist efforts to make them accept deported individuals?

What about Trump’s threat to slap 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada? Mexico is now the United States’ leading trade partner, with annual cross-border goods and services soon to exceed $900 billion? That figure will only grow as U.S. companies expand near-shoring operations as more and more businesses hedge against their Chinese manufacturing presence.

What will happen to San Antonio’s advanced manufacturing sector in the wake of such tariffs? Toyota, the number one vehicle manufacturer in the world, saw strong increases in the 2024 sales of Sequoia SUVs and Tundra pickup trucks assembled at the company’s San Antonio plant. Every one of those vehicles is built with parts manufactured in Mexico. Tariffs will reduce Toyota’s profits, threaten Mexican manufacturing jobs and force higher prices at the dealership which will reduce sales.

Will there be mass pardons of the rioters and insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including felons convicted of assaulting Capitol police?

According to the Department of Justice, 1,488 people have been arrested for crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach. Texas leads all states with the number of its residents charged and convicted of those crimes.

Next Tuesday, Jan. 7, marks the opening of the 89th regular biannual session of the Texas legislature and public school funding is at a critical juncture. In 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bipartisan bill providing  $4.5 billion in public education funding in retaliation after legislators failed to approve a school voucher bill. That failed legislation, which once again will be an Abbott priority this year, would allow families to use tax dollars to remove their children from public schools and enroll them in Christian and other sectarian schools. More than 5.5 million public school students around the state suffered the consequences of Abbott’s cynical political maneuver. School districts across Texas are struggling with critical budget deficits.

Legislators will once again have tens of billions of dollars in windfall revenue, thanks to the robust Texas economy. Will the state’s leaders move beyond divisive cultural issues and approve funding for public schools, energy and water projects, the housing crisis, and mass transit solutions to the massive gridlock on the I-35 corridor? Not likely.

Here in San Antonio, the next five months will include a crowded mayor’s race, and continuing debate over a still-unfunded city initiative to bring the San Antonio Spurs back to Hemisfair in a new arena expected to cost more than $1 billion. With other planned upgrades to the Alamodome and the expansion of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, the so-called Project Marvel could cost more than $2 billion.

There will be no shortage of news in 2025. Much is at stake in our country and our democracy. Please join us each week at bigcitysmalltown as we follow developments.

And please sign up for our new newsletter, which will be sent out every Monday morning.

That’s my Last Word for this week. Thank you for watching, listening, or reading. 

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