problem with invoking the national guard in texas is in today's environment the feds are more risk averse
they would worry about blowback and optics and public sentiment in a way that didn't exist in the mid 1900s
in the 1990s there was waco and ruby ridge, and in the 2010s the bundy stand off
now these are all battle cries and martyrs for the far right
i agree the feds should just grow a backbone and come down hard, because appeasement never works, it just emboldens malice, which smells weakness and redoubles their efforts when it senses it
but giving in and just kicking the can down the road "makes sense" in some political calculations
such as in an election season, unfortunately
i honestly think the opposite political calculation is true: not showing a backbone fills your supporters with despondency and convinces them not to vote, while giving great cheer to the kind of far right sadists who are happy to see more games of chicken