The other morning, after putting my flag out and prepping my first cup of coffee, I sat down to surf through the inanities of network morning TV shows, where plugs for corporate-cousin movies are exceeded only by Big Pharma ads [“Ask your doctor”] for diseases that nobody had heard about before a cure [whose side effects might kill you or lead to depression and suicidal thoughts] was engineered in their labs.
I had just sat down, caught my breath, had my coffee cup halfway to my lips – and was beset by a Gentner Drummond campaign ad for his candidacy for governor in 2026.
That’s right, 2026!
Having just recovered from the barrage of hatred and divisiveness from the 2024 election cycle, I was neither pleased nor prepared to see such a quick renewal of rabid Republican rhetoric.
But our attorney general, trying to steal the march on other potential candidates, was promising to “stand with President Trump … secure our borders … deport illegals.”
Since Oklahoma abuts no other country, Drummond’s plan to “secure our borders” must be a reference to incursions from our six neighboring states. Dangerous characters, most of them.
We will need major frontier fortifications in Cimarron County. From the highest point in the state marker on Black Mesa, you can walk unimpeded a few steps west and reach New Mexico, a state which regularly votes Democratic. And that state’s influence has already reached across our border to Kenton, which resides in the Mountain Time Zone. What if Boise City falls?
Worse, up by the dinosaur footprints in the northern part of the county, there is a three-state marker where Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado[!] meet. Only a California border would be more threatening to the state’s right-wingers.
Two blue states looming on our western horizon. If not warding off encroaching Democrats, there might also need to be preparations for facilities to house Republican refugees fleeing unfettered freedoms.
A smidgen of Cimarron County touches Kansas, which sets Oklahoma’s northern boundary. Lest we forget, Kansas was a major staging area for the 1893 Cherokee Outlet Run, which saw the largest land rush in U.S. history. Vigilance, my friends. They might try this again.
Other Outlet invaders came from the Texas Panhandle, another neighbor of the imperiled Cimarronians – some of whom might welcome the infusion of money from a standing militia though I imagine most of them value their isolation more.
But … but … but, Red River changed course. And what part of the family holdings that wasn’t below the water was usurped by Texas!
Today, Texans are eyeing water rights and even hydroelectric power in southeastern Oklahoma. Hold the line!
Students of history will remember that Oklahoma and Indian Territories were once subjected to judicial rule from Fort Smith, AR. There are hills and trees and back roads over on that border which would need constant policing should Arkansans decide to reassert control – and raise our educational ranking from 49th [thank you, New Mexico] to 38th.
And the Missouri border consists of more than just Joplin and the entrance to our turnpikes.
Drummond’s promise to “deport illegals” threatens the state’s labor market. Recently, here in Duncan, I had a contractor assess a potential job. The men with him conversed in Spanish. Similarly, at a restaurant, the table conversations were in Spanish from the guys who left in their work trucks.
Drummond better have an army of potential workers lined up or his deportation plan will tank the Oklahoma economy.
Drummond’s ad ends with him strolling across the prairie with a broke open shotgun resting on his shoulder. That lets us know he’s a Second Amendment guy. But he needs to load that double-barrel and take up his position on the front lines against our neighbors.
