AUSTIN – Texas Monthly is releasing the 2019 edition of its annual Bum Steer Awards in the January issue, on newsstands Tuesday, Jan. 8. The digital version of the feature is out today on the Texas Monthly website at texasmonthly.com/politics/texas-monthly-bum-steer-awards-2019/.
In traditional Bum Steer fashion, this year’s awards contain more than their fair share of humanity’s most ridiculous and idiotic endeavors, all committed by fellow Texans. Included in the list is the couple who engaged in an intimate act in the middle of a family restaurant, a woman who crashed into a fence with her child in her lap, the law enforcement officers who drank until their brains fell out, and much more. In addition to capsule summaries of quotidian stupidity, the package features four sidebars presenting in-depth assessments of Texas Monthly’s Bum Steer of the Year, along with the three runners-up for that dubious honor. And for this year’s top four most worthy of being called out, a theme emerged as the Bum Steers jury found themselves turning again and again to national and Texas politics, which as people on both sides of the aisle largely agree, have turned into a circus.
Third runner-up for Texas Monthly’s Bum Steer of the Year is disgraced former congressman Steve Stockman, who made the short list for his eagerness to enrich himself — or at least pay his kennel bills — in a transparently illegal manner. Second runner-up goes to former Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez for running the worst Gubernatorial campaign in Texas since the last time a Democrat went up against Greg Abbott. First runner-up goes to former congressman Blake Farenthold for his troublesome professional ethics, alleged caddish behavior, and questionable taste in adult-size onesie pajamas.
However, the grand title and rare honor of being named Bum Steer of the Year goes to InfoWars radio show host Alex Jones. He’s had a passionate cult following for many years, but by 2015, Jones’s brand of paranoia seemed to be popping up everywhere. When Jones, who has a history of questioning the official account of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other tragedies, suggested that the killings in Newtown never actually occurred—that it was an elaborate hoax staged to provide a pretense for gun control—that proved to be a bridge too far. He then got the boot from some of his most important platforms — YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter — who after years of handling Jones with kid gloves finally kicked him off, citing repeated violations of their policies against harassment and hate speech.
And even if Jones disappears from the mainstream radar for good, the fake news genie can’t so easily be put back in the bottle. For the foreseeable future we will still be living in the world Jones helped create, a place where facts are infinitely malleable, conspiracy theories are the coin of the realm, and rage overruns decency. That’s why Alex Jones is the Bum Steer of the Year.
To view the feature on the 2019 edition of Bum Steer Awards online, go to Texas Monthly's website. The January issue hits newsstands on January 8th.
