"Texit" and the Panhandle Wildfires

Today (29-Feb) is the fourth day that wildfires are blazing in the Panhandle area of Texas, and the governor has declared a statewide state of emergency to ensure that the proper resources can be sent to the area. As Texas is still part of the United States, he could also request federal humanitarian aid for this crisis, but has not yet done so, likely due to his ongoing feud with the federal administration over the security of Texas' southern border with Mexico.

This problem would only be exacerbated if Texas were also an independent republic. Using an analogy from one of my favorite books, I can imagine an official U.S. dispatch to such a request could look something like this:

"To the government of the Republic of Texas, Greetings. Your recent appeal for help from the United States in dealing with your panhandle wildfires came as a great surprise. While sending assistance for humanitarian efforts is something that we have often done, those efforts frequently use American military troops to facilitate that aid.

"Unfortunately, the difference in our opinions on handling (using the terminology you have so often insisted on) "the southern invasion of Mexican and Central American criminals" - which was, coincidentally, the impetus for the re-establishment of your Great Republic - prevents us from rendering the requested assistance. Surely the esteemed gentlemen in Austin would not want the United States to violate the sovereignty of their newly established Republic by sending American assistance and, likely, American military troops across their borders. Even in what can be openly stated as a humanitarian effort, such actions by the United States could also be construed as a prelude to a military junta or even civil war, thereby putting not only Texan lives as risk, but American lives as well.

"The maintenance of public order is the paramount responsibility of any government, and we would not dream of intruding on so fundamental an area. We do, however, send our thoughts and prayers, and best wishes in your efforts to deal with what is, after all, a strictly internal matter."