I believe that his books tell us a lot about his thinking. (as he said in Fed UP, he’s risked sabotaging any run for the Presidency by writing a book calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and advocating overturning of the 16th Amendment.) In the last chapter, he’s included concrete suggestions about how to overturn the move to big, centralized government that’s bankrupting our country and taking freedoms from individuals.
In real life, this year he put the ultrasound bill, the “Choose Life” license plates, the Sanctuary Cities and the voter ID bills on the emergency list which allowed them to be fast tracked. the only one that did not pass was the Sanctuary cities bill, even after being added to the Special Session.
Two tests that stand out are death penalty cases, one during President Bush’s term and one in the last month. Governor Perry successfully - and fairly quietly - stood up to pressure by the two Presidents to yield to international law rather than the law of Texas.
But nothing you mention meets the criteria for the ultimate test.
What you describe is Perry acting in ways that bring him more political support from his particular group of supporters.
The ultimate test is to uphold principle even though it puts your political viability and your personal gain at risk.