Texas is a red state in the heart of Trumpland that hasn't elected a Democrat to a statewide office in more than twenty years--but it is also a state in which minorities already form a majority (including the largest number of Muslim adherents in the United States.) The cities are blue and among the most diverse in the nation. Oil is still king, but Texas now leads California in technology exports. The Texas economic model of low taxes and minimal regulation has produced extraordinary growth but also striking income disparities. In fact, Texas looks a lot like the America that Donald Trump wants to create. In this session, New Yorker writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright will explore how Texas not only reflects our country back as it is, but as it was and as it might be.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]