¶ Intro / Opening
🎵 Music
¶ Launching the Texas Senate Campaign
And our guest on today's show is Senate Canada James Tallerico.
¡Adiós! ¡Adiós!
We know we booked this uh you're in a primary still and so we decided to keep it as a surprise for people. So it's a nice pleasant surprise here in Texas. How you feelin'? It's gotta feel good to get a little win under your belt. I mean the real works ahead, but you gotta feel good.
I'm feeling good and it's so good to be in Dallas, Texas. Thank y'all for the warm welcome. No, it's been great and I feel like people are finally believing in Texas again that we can That we can change the politics of the state, that we can push back against the extremism and the corruption in our government. And I think we're gonna surprise a lot of people in November in this state.
Thank you.
¶ Trump's Wars & Domestic Neglect
You don't think they're doing a good job here so far, the incumbent. You don't think they're doing a good job?
I don't know. I have just a few complaints.
Well I want to talk about Texas and the Senate race and do a little politics here in a minute and talk about some other stuff. Um we'll have a little bit of fun at the end. You know, it's a live show. But uh we gotta talk about the news first. And uh while we were back there, just where we came on, uh Reuters reporting that uh Trump is looking at bringing additional troops uh to the Middle East as part of the Iran war. Uh this obviously seems like it's
Escalating, though you know who the hell knows? He could just turn around and quit tomorrow. We don't know with him. Um what's your assessment of what we've seen there and um just your initial reactions to this war?
Well, you know, as a millennial, I saw how military disasters like the Iraq war robbed this nation of young lives. of billions of dollars and of our moral standing in the world. And I worry that this president, this administration is making the same mistake with another forever war in the Middle East. And I was um A few weeks ago in Sand Branch, Texas, which is just a few miles from here, that community doesn't have any running water. It doesn't have basic sewer infrastructure.
Every dollar we are spending bombing people in the Middle East is a dollar that we are not spending in our communities in this country. And
And Tim
We're we're always told that there's not enough money for schools, not enough money for healthcare, not enough money for veterans, but there always seems to be enough money to bomb people on the other side of the world. And so I I I think it is possible to support the democracy movement in Iran. It is possible to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon without this kind of reckless military intervention.
Are we even doing either of those things? Are we supporting a democracy? Or
Maybe doing the exact opposite. Yeah. I mean the the the single best way to empower the regime in Iran is to have this kind of bombing from America and you're seeing them burning American flags um when the regime was on its back foot uh just weeks ago. And so I worry that we've done the exact opposite and we've empowered the extremists in Iran and we have uh weaken the democracy movement in that country.
¶ Economic Missteps & Voter Disillusionment
I saw today, um, o because of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz and all the the bombing of oil fields in Qatar and elsewhere, uh the price of a uh barrel of oil now is up to a hundred and ten dollars. Do you have mixed feelings about that at all? It is kinda good for Midland.
I mean the the the sad thing is that this president was elected to do one thing and one thing only and that was bring down costs. And now he is doing the exact opposite. Not just the the price of gas, but I mean the price of food, the cost of housing, of of health care, you know, here in Texas.
Uh our state leaders didn't expand Medicaid and so a lot of our fellow Texans depend on the Affordable Care Act, on those subsidies. And so these cuts to the ACA are hurting Texans in particular. And the estimate is Two million Texans are going to lose their insurance because of these cuts. So this president who was elected to lower costs has actually made things more expensive. And I think it's why you're seeing such a backlash.
in this state and in this country. Tim, you may know that the folks here in uh DFW uh flipped a state Senate seat in Tarrant County.
Oh yeah.
It was a It was a it was a district that the president had won by 17 points. In twenty twenty-four. And so this community shocked the nation by flipping a state senate seat. And I think that we're gonna shock the world when we flip a US Senate seat.
Thank you.
The other um uh the other kind of big war-related news uh is that Trump's uh counterterrorism chief, uh Joe Kent quit the administration. Not a big fan of any Joe Kent fans? Joe um you know has quite a hit list um uh as far as his background is concerned, but uh his resignation uh
was basically p pure America first id. You know, it included some conspiracy theories, but it also said, you know, fundamentally when he signed up for this, um, you know, he he wasn't signing up for a war in Iran, he wasn't signing up for a war uh that was pushed by Israel. Uh as we're talking, he's on with Tucker Carlson right now. Um uh it sounds like the FBI is now gonna be investigating him. How how do you
How do you like process that? How do you think about that in Texas? I mean, you you're kind of big moment, really, maybe maybe not the original big moment, but on the national stage, for those of us non-Texans, was when you went on Joe Rogan. You know, and that audience, like there's some overlap, people who
really did believe in maybe the non-racist part of the America First movement, you know, and they didn't want to be in those foreign wars. So how do you think about like talking about the Joe Kent's and communicating with those people and offering something to that that constituent?
I mean again we just talked about broken promises when it comes to the cost of living crisis, but there was also a promise made by the president during his campaign that he wasn't gonna start any more wars. And now he's started multiple wars just in the first year of his administration. And so I I can sympathize with the disillusionment that some of the folks in the MAGA movement are feeling. And I think this is This is uh there is bipartisan.
opposition to this war in Iran. Uh I hear it from people across the state of Texas, not just Democrats, but independents and Republicans too, who think it's reckless, they think it's counterproductive, and they think it is uh It is a wasteful use of our resources when we have so many pressing priorities here at home.
¶ Persuasion Over Purity Politics
A room in the Tel Rico Coalition for America First magatizing MTG calls you up and says, Hey, I think I might be for you. What do you think?
I I've told I've told people that if they want a small insular group of people who agree with you on everything, you should start a social club. But a political party is meant to be a big tent. It is meant to be a group of people Who don't agree on everything? But agree on the big stuff. And Tim, I have, you know, in the course of the primary campaign, I went to literally every corner of Texas. I went from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville. And
I held so many events with with so many Texans who showed up. I can't tell you the number of people who came up to me at the end of those events and whispered, I'm not a Democrat.
Like
Like they were in the witness protection program. Yeah. And And you know, I'm I'm I'm d I stay to the very end of the events. I I shake every hand, I take every selfie, I answer every question. And you know, you hear that twelve times in a photo line and you want to tell people that they're not alone, that they that they they can join this movement we're building because it is big enough for every Texan who is fed up with the extremism and the corruption in our government.
So that's a maybe then on MTG. I'll take that as a maybe. No, you not but endorsements. You take endorsements out of state, you never know. I don't know. She's going through some shit.
I mean and to be v to let's I mean to Just in all seriousness, like we should be extending an open hand rather than a closed fist to those people who are questioning. Their past support uh for the president or their past support for the party. Like I I do want to welcome those folks into our coalition. Um I I'm really not interested in purity politics. Like I I I am interested in building political power so that we can transform this state and this country.
And improve people's lives. Like if you don't win political power, you can't help anybody. Then you're just doom scrolling and complaining on Twitter. Um
Okay.
That that that is the purpose of politics is to win power and improve people's lives. And that requires persuasion. You know, there is this there's this thing in in my party here in Texas. Where, you know, people will say that Texas is not a red state, it's a non voting state. And I understand where they're coming from. And Texas does have one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country, but there's there's also a point where that argument
Is used as an excuse not to persuade people who aren't with us yet. And that is so deadly in a democracy because the whole point of this. Democratic experiment is that we're supposed to make our argument. We're supposed to make our case and we're supposed to win hearts and minds. That's how you build a big enough coalition to govern. And I want us to get back to that in the Democratic Party. There was a a feeling for a long time that
Everyone secretly agreed with us. And if they didn't, they were a bigot or a racist or a misogynist. And we didn't need their support. And I hope that the twenty twenty four election was a wake up call to everyone in our party that we have to start reaching out to people who aren't with us yet and building a bigger coalition.
¶ Reaching Beyond Political Echo Chambers
I love that because I I do, yeah. That's you're speaking my language'cause there is I I I think this weird view that all of the non voting Texans are just like Democrats just haven't come woken up yet. Oh, my God.
Yeah.
Actually I think somebody that doesn't watch the news and doesn't vote and doesn't care about what's happening, they might be for Trump. Well
Well, so...
I mean, just saying.
I so a couple things.
We don't want them to know.
I um
Yeah.
We uh On our campaign we uh this is something you and I have in common. I uh did the episode of uh
Uh uh.
of surrounded Jubilee on YouTube. And I sat down with twenty five undecided voters in Texas and it it was a conversation that was wide ranging and I think something if you go back and watch that episode on YouTube, you'll You'll realize a truth about politics, which is that undecided voters or non-voters, they tend to have pretty heterodox opinions about that.
Weird opinion.
Yeah. And we, you know, uh and that's a good thing. Like I I I honestly think there's There's too in within the parties and within among partisan people, like there's way too much um rigid orthodoxies that can never be questioned. I love that people who aren't really into politics, um, they kind of have a grab bag of some progressive views, some conservative views. You talk about Joe Rogan, you know, Joe Rogan is for a universal basic income.
He's for universal health care. And so you can you could try to put him into a box, but he doesn't fit into a box. And most Texans, most Americans don't either. And I think we should embrace that. Uh and I think it's it's a mistake that hyper political people make when they think that all these non voters or you know infrequent voters somehow secretly agree with them on every single plank in the Democratic Plaction.
I don't know about you, but I loved doing Jubilee. Like I wanted a cigarette and I said to the guys, I was like, Can we do this again tomorrow? I I I just it was I don't know, it was it got me you know, my synapses firing.
I mean I I um I get bored very easily. Um and it's why I enjoy it's why I enjoy serving in the Texas legislature'cause it's like being in the lion's den all the time. And and it's why I like going on Rogan, I like going on Fox News, I like going on the Christian Broadcasting Network and I I love doing Jubilee because it's an opportunity to change hearts and minds and like that's so rewarding. The no offense to MS now. But I just I I don't um
I don't feel like I'm accomplishing as much when I'm in the echo chamber. And sometimes it feels good to be with people who agree with you and um it's sometimes fun to preach to the choir, but um I don't feel like I'm doing any good in some of these media spaces, like I feel when I'm on Jubilee or on Rogan actually reaching people who aren't with us yet.
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¶ A Balanced Approach to Border Policy
The other news item from today I want to talk to you about was uh Mark Wayne Mullen uh from up on the other side of the Red River. Uh he he had his confirmation hearing today. Because he had previously basically said that Rand Paul's neighbor like had a few things right when he kicked Rand Paul's ass. And Rand is the chair of the committee that he needs to be confirmed through.
So yeah, awkward. So there was like a lot of back and forth and then he he refused to apologize. Yeah, he wouldn't even just say sorry man, uh you know, things got a little heated, he wouldn't do it. So um, you know, that confirmation uh is I I think really hinging, unfortunately, on John Fetterman. Um so we'll see what happens with that. Uh but uh I guess the obvious question is.
I would. I would. And here's and here's why. I mean I I would be a no on any potential secretary who is not willing to tear down this secret police force and replace it with an agency that's actually focused on public safety. I um you know I uh you know this Tim. Before I was a uh politician, I was a public school teacher in San Antonio, Texas, on the west side of the city. And and I taught a lot of undocumented students.
And those students tended to be my most patriotic students. Yeah. They they understood something about this country that a lot of us who are native born forget. That this is supposed to be the land of opportunity, that this is supposed to be the place where dreams come true, and they believed that in in their bones. And and they believed in this country even when this country didn't believe in them. And so the fact that we have the most powerful politicians in the country terrorizing
My former students and their families, people who work hard every day to contribute to this economy and to this country, to me is immoral, it's unconscionable, it's unacceptable, and it has to end. I um I mean we we should be cracking down on the cartels, not our communities. We should be deporting. We should be hunting down human traffickers, not moms and babies. This is something that I think most Texans
Agree with.
And on and this is something I said on Jubilee, it was the failures of my party, it was the failures of the Biden administration that opened the door. to this extremism that opened the door to masked men and unmarked vehicles kidnapping people off our street. So both parties have failed us on this issue over the last thirty years. I think Texans and Americans are just looking They're looking for leaders who are going to hold two things in their mind at once being pro immigrant and pro security.
Cause like we've been told those are mutually exclusive and they're not.
Yeah.
Um
You know, I I saw on the internet, uh, which isn't real life that you got a little shit over that, what you were saying unsurrounded about how it was, you know, the mistakes of your party that that led us here. And a lot what a lot of people would say is Well what about the James Lankford bill that uh Donald Trump blocked and that the Republicans in the Senate blocked? And like there's something to that, right? Like Donald Trump wanted there to be chaos'cause he wanted to help his election.
Absolutely.
But that was in the fourth year of the Biden presidency. Right. Like there were three years before that. So so talk about those three years and like what you think they should have or could have done differently.
Well and the proof is that they were able to get the border under control four months, five months before the election. Right. And so they knew how to do it. I and I've heard from people who served in the in the Biden administration. who said that
the administration, the president himself, they were listening to these groups um for people who aren't super into into the infrastructure of the Democratic Party. Um in recent years there are been a series of advocacy groups that claim to represent the interests of different communities like here in Texas, but actually have no real connection to the actual people on the ground. And those groups convinced the administration that it was racist to support border security.
And nothing could be further from the truth. It was it was my colleagues in the State House who served border communities in South Texas, in El Paso, who were constantly telling me about the chaos. in their communities because of the Biden administration's policies. And that is not compassionate. Chaos is not compassionate. And we as Democrats were the party that's supposed to make the government work for people.
And this was a prime example of government not working for people. And again, y you know, I I the Republicans have been attacking me by uh taking something that I say about uh the border and and basically cutting it out cutting it off mid sentence I usually say yeah so I I have said throughout the whole campaign that our southern border should be like our front porch.
There should be a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door. Meaning you can welcome hardworking immigrants who want to contribute to this country and keep out people who mean to do us harm. Not mutually exclusive goals. But the Republicans don't want you to know
That those two things are possible. And so they post this clip and they cut it right before I say lock on the door. So it just sounds like I want open borders. But um I think it I think this is where most Texans and most Americans are at on the issue. And it's why they're frustrated with both parties.'Cause in the Democratic Party they see a party that's pro immigrant but doesn't seem too concerned about security.
Then they throw us out, they elect the Republicans, a party that's very concerned about security and seems to be pretty anti immigrant. Yeah. And they're dissatisfied with that too. So they want a party, they want leaders who are gonna hold both those values together at the same time.
¶ Winning Back Latino Voters & Cultural Connection
Yeah, you did uh you did pretty well in the uh Rio Grande Valley and with Latino voters during the primary. Um uh I've had Bobby Palito in the show who's running down there, uh who's a good guy, uh run for a Republican seat there. Uh so thinking about the general election, like this was a huge
shifts you know, over to Republicans. And uh I think that was K caught a lot of Democrats by surprise, right?'Cause they convinced themselves that there was a demographics as destiny argument that how could any Latino vote for Trump'cause he's obviously racist, which he is, and like and so it's like we don't need to try. And when I talk to Bobby or when I talk to some other people, you know, in that community, what you hear a lot of is
like two issues. One was border security, which you were just talking about. And the other is faith. You know, like a lot of folks in those communities are Catholic or or Protestant, uh Hispanics that feel like the Democratic Party you know, is godless or whatever as a short term. How like what is your plan for kind of re-engaging those voters that were
Yeah, and you know, my family is from South Texas. My mom grew up in Laredo on our southern border. Telorico. Yeah.
It's like Hispanic. Yeah. You wanna count it? That's true.
It was just me and my mom uh when I was born and she was uh she very heroically left a uh an abusive situation to protect me and and um ensure I had a better life. But the luckiest thing that ever happened to either of us was meeting Mark Tallerico, who then adopted me, gave me his last name, and raised me as his own. And he uh the uh hey shout out.
Anyway, his la he um is a first generation um American. His family um came to this country from Italy, so it's an Italian last name. But um but down there, you know, I I say Tallarico, they say Tallavico. Much prettier than Helena.
Roll down.
Are. Yeah. But um but anyway, but I you know, South Texas is one of my favorite places in the world. Um the Rio Grande Valley is one of my favorite places in the world. I went down there a lot because The reason Democrats lost support in South Texas and among Hispanic voters across the state is because we took them for granted. We assumed they were a part of our base, and we stopped showing up.
We stopped competing for their votes. I was told um by my state representative that I grew up with when he was teaching me about campaigning, um, he said you always have to ask for people's votes. And that sounds obvious, but it's actually something people don't do in our politics anymore. You have to you have to ask for someone's vote, you have to earn their vote, you have to actively compete for it.
And so that's what I did in this primary campaign. I went down to South Texas more times than I can count. I went down to the valley uh a ton and and I listened. Uh I I heard their concerns, both about immigration, but honestly primarily about cost. Um it's this cost of living crisis that's crushing people all over the state, but especially folks in South Texas. And then we developed a policy platform in partnership with them that could meet those needs.
And uh and I think showing up and listening is is is half the battle in politics. Uh and it's where our party should do a better job of among all communities, not just Hispanic voters.
I've been listening to uh, you know, a lot of your speeches and your pitch over the past couple of weeks, uh both during the primary and kind of since and and you talk a lot in this question of okay.
Look, Trump.
got about a million and a half more votes than Kamala. Right. So what we were talking about earlier, there's got to be persuasion. I mean it's there's a turnout element to it, there's a persuasion element. And and you really focus in the persuasion element on this top-down politics, like getting out of the culture war, getting out of the left-right, fo focusing on the top-down. And I and I I believe there's something to it.
I also worry though that like the cultural rift between the Democratic Party and parts of America and parts of Texas is very real. And just like pretending like that isn't a kitchen table issue, you know, pretending like they're not gonna talk about Whatever it is, COVID or trans or whatever whatever, anything. Like I I think that that's a losing bet, right? And that there has to be some engagement on a cultural level to get people to listen to you. How how do you kind of react to that?
Well one you were just talking about faith and um and its im its centrality in the lives of so many Texans and that people feel like the Democratic Party is hostile to those cultural values and they're not necessarily wrong about that. Someone pointed out to me that Every world religion is mentioned in our party platform except for Christianity. And seems like a pretty glaring omission.
The DNC has a page for like lively literally every group you could imagine, like Hawaiian nationals.
Shout out to our Bahá.
Not boys or white people. Yeah. And it's just like okay.
And that's the point is like I get where the where that um I get the instinct. Sure. And that is to look out for people who are Bullied people who are who are on the outside. And I I like that instinct in the Democratic Party. It just becomes a problem when that
turns into pushing away people who are in the dominant group who could very much be in our coalition. There are, I think, so many people of faith, so many Christians in this state who who sympathize with the Democratic Party on a whole host of issues, immigration maybe being at the top of the list. And they are just they're waiting for a candidate, a campaign that's not hostile to those values and who's willing to connect with them.
on these conversations of s faith and spirituality. And I think it's what's so powerful about the movement that we're currently building in Texas is that um we are building bridges You know, that are honestly deeper than public policy.
Are you gonna be able to go into the mega church though? And we also know the woke church. Every every town's got the church with the pride flag. We love them. We appreciate to be welcomed. Are you gonna go to see Joel Osteen too?
Well I would love to. I would love to visit I would love to visit his church. Uh I I um I mentioned that I go on the Christian broadcasting network because, you know, I want to extend an open hand. to our uh to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are a little more conservative than I am. Uh and and I think that kind of outreach will will um will allow us to build a coalition big enough to win in in a place like Texas.
And it's been a long time since we've had um leaders in our party who speak openly and unapologetically about their faith. And that's necessary because people have to communicate their why. And for me it's my faith, but it may be different for you, but Democrats always speak to people's brains. uh instead of their hearts and their guts. And every single human being in this room across the state, we make decisions with our heart and our gut, and then our brain justifies it.
That's how every person works, but as as logical as we all pretend that we are. And so if we as if we as political leaders, we as organizers are not speaking to people's hearts first, then we're committing political malpractice. And it's something that our campaign tries to do every day is focus on values before we get into policy minutia, because those values are unifying. And are transcendent and I think it has to be at the forefront of our political discourse in this country.
¶ Battling Texas Political Corruption
All right, let's have some fun. You know, it's the bulwark podcast. Okay. We're not gonna really have fun until we start dunking on the other guys. What um Who uh who you rootin' for in that other primary? They're still working things out over there.
They are. They are.
Got a root of interest.
You know, I said I said on uh on election night that it doesn't matter who comes out of this Republican runoff because we already know who we're running against. We're running against the billionaire mega donors and their corrupt political system. And I think...
John Cornyn and Ken Paxton embody the corruption in our politics. Obviously obviously Ken Paxton's crimes are well known and And you know, I was I was part of the bipartisan majority in the Texas House of Representatives that voted to impeach our corrupt attorney general. But Don't laugh when I say this. I think John Cornyn may be even more corrupt than Ken Paxton. And here's why. Yeah.
I'm ready for the pitch.
John Cornyn uh uh by the way he was uh first elected to public office six years Um he uh he got to the Senate when I was in middle school, actually. Um And John Cornyn just last year was the deciding vote on that big ugly bill. That big ugly bill that's gonna kick millions of Texans off their healthcare. That big ugly bill that's gonna take food out of the mouths of hungry Texas kids, all to give yet another tax break to his billionaire donors.
And so Ken Paxton Ken Paxton was impeached for using his public office to enrich his donors. And that's exactly what John Cornyn does at the biggest scale. And so we oftentimes think of corruption as something that's illegal. But corruption is is really just the betrayal of the public's trust. And by and by casting by casting that deciding vote on that big ugly bill, John Cornyn committed an act of corruption of the highest order.
It's also yeah, and it's also even um even the pa brown paperback corruption, it's like John Cornyn pretending like he cares about Ken Paxton's corruption. Give me a fucking break. He's in the Senate. What about what about Jared's money from MBS? What about the crypto money that Don Jr. and Eric are making? Where's John Cornyn on any of that?
Well and like I think Kent Paxton actually believes in his extremism. Yeah. I'll give him that. I think he's a true believer. Yeah. John Cornyn though is the worst kind of politician. He will believe whatever he has to to hold on to power. Yeah. And I think that's like what people across the political spectrum are really fed up with. So I I just believe that neither John Corny nor Kim Paxton deserve the honor of representing this great state in the United States Senate.
Ken Paxton just loves his side pieces. You know, he loves them earnestly. Um there's you know, there's something honest about that. Uh John Cornyn, back to him. I'm wondering if there is anybody in public life more emasculated than Big John Cornyn. Sitting in Daddy Trump's cuck chair. Like he's now he's getting rid of the filibuster, he's flying on Daddy Trump's plane. Whatever you want, sir. Whatever you want, Mr. Trump. It's not doesn't give Big John Corning to me.
And that's honestly it's a you know, one of the great things about this state is that we value independence. Um we like people who think for themselves. And I I think what people are looking for in the next US Senator from this state is someone who will think for themselves, someone who will push back against the powerful people in either party.
And someone who's going to do right by Texans. I think that's what we don't have currently, and it's something people are hungry for uh from their next US Senate.
¶ Govern Effectively: Abolish the Filibuster
asked me backstage if I thought Big John Cornyn was non binary, you know, it's like that's a sensitive topic up there. From my Mark Levin situation. Okay. Do we have any uh well uh I guess uh one more thing before we get to the uh rapid fire round. Does John Cornyn's you know kind of saw the Damascus love for getting rid of the filibuster? Do you see any encouragement out of that? Where where would you end up being on the filibuster?
I in this case it's I agree with John Corning because I think we should abolish the filibuster so that we can actually We can actually govern in this country. I mean, the people of Texas, they vote for leaders from a certain party.
And they want to see the results of that vote, whether it's the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. What's happening now because of the filibuster is they elect one party, they see n nothing getting done, they don't see any improvement in their lives, and so they swing wildly to the other party. And then they see more gridlock. And so I think what needs to happen is we have to improve this
this feedback loop between the voters and the people that represent them. And people deserve to see the the results of their vote. And then they can make judgments about whether they wanna continue slashing healthcare and slashing food assistance for hungry kids or starting more forever wars. And then they can Make a judgment and and adjust accordingly. Um right now they're not able to see the results of their vote because of the filibuster. So I'm all for a talking filibuster.
But this situation where um you know a certain number of senators can just veto any action to me is just a recipe for more gridlock.
Are there any senators up there you think are doing good? Are there any anybody you want to model yourself after?
Absolutely. I mean I I um This probably doesn't come t as a surprise, but I'm deeply inspired by uh Reverend Raphael Warnock because Not only the way that he you know balances his his role as a faith leader and his role as a public servant in a healthy and responsible way, but also because he knows how to flip a red stake.
And we I think in Texas take a lot of inspiration from what they've done in Georgia and uh we're gonna follow the same playbook so that we can end thirty years of one party rule in our state.
Thank you.
¶ Uniting Texas: Engaging Black Voters
That reminds me I had one other question before we got to rapid fire. Um Uh Reverend Warnock uh was invoked uh in your heated primary, uh where, you know, there were some issues across racial lines. I think there's been some concern that like one of the things that could hold you back in the general is Whether black voters are going to be excited enough to turn out for you. And I'm just kind of wondering how you're thinking about that and how you're communicating with that constituency.
right now and for the next few weeks and months is healing the divisions from this primary. And I talked earlier about taking people for granted, taking communities for granted. And that also applies to black voters in this state. And so I'm gonna be doing the work to earn the trust.
and the respect and the support of every black Texan and that means showing up in the community. In fact, you know, I'm here in Dallas tomorrow uh morning I'm um I'm participating in a round table of black faith leaders here in D F W. And that's just one example of the kind of work we're gonna be doing in the weeks and months ahead so that we can bring our coalition back together and do something really special together, and that's finally win statewide in Texas.
¶ Rapid Fire: Culture, Faith, & Texas Pride
All right, here we go. Rapid fire. We have a meat section and a Texas section. In the meat section first.
Yeah.
How big is God's sausage, would you say? We know God is a man, and so I'm just wondering like how healthy his hog is.
So... So I know this is rapid fire, but let me just cause
Yeah.
Two word answer.
Yes or no? Listen, I I know that I was um that I was being provocative um with with that comment. Uh I made it on the floor of the House when the extremists in the Texas legislature were trying to pick on kids who were different. And while it's maybe provocative politically, I I don't think it's controversial theologically. Most Christians uh believe that God is beyond gender. And
In fact, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians says that in Christ there is neither male nor female. So if you have a problem with what I said, don't take it up with me, take it up with the Apostle Paul.
Second Apostle Paul reference of this podcast. Uh that's a first that's a first. Um I guess Saul Damascus is kind of close. Um okay. Otherwise in the meat there's a video going around of you talking about I guess one of your state rep campaigns was a vegan campaign or uh which I don't know, I'm looking side eye at as a former Republican. Uh where are you at on Texas meats? What are what are your favorites? Are you a vegan?
One, yeah, thank you for asking this very important question. Uh because Because this is a very serious allegation uh to make in Texas. So I want to just
I wanna
say this definitively and categorically. that I deny all accusations of veganism. Okay. And uh you know our campaign basically runs on barbecue these days. Um you asked my favorite, uh I will give a shout out. to I think the best uh barbecue joint in Texas, which was in my old legislative district in Taylor, Texas, Louis Miller Barbecue. If you a
Alright.
Check it out. Next time you're in Taylor, um Best brisket you're gonna find. So that's my plus.
I'm a hipster, so I'm going to law barbecue in Austin tomorrow. But uh sorry guys. Um you know it's not auth I'll give you the authentic shit when you're asking me about crawfish at Tuffe, okay? I'm going to the hipster tourist joints in Texas. Um all right. We close the podcast with a song. We're here in Texas. Obviously Bob Wills is the king down here. I'm wondering if you could give us maybe, you know, I don't know, like a
Around a
What like what's what's a hill in the hill country? If you did a Mount Rushmore, where would the hill be in Texas? Do we have a hill?
A hell.
Do we have a hill anywhere?
Oh yeah. Yeah, we could do the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend.
Okay, so in Big Band if we're gonna make a Texas musician on Mount Rushmore, who do you think we'd put up?
Oh my god. So So one I'm gonna start with the king of country music, George Strait. Uh uh Then I'm gonna add um I'm gonna I'm gonna add Selena Kitania, uh the queen of Tejano music. Then I'm gonna add uh the patron saint of Austin, Texas, Willie Nelson. And then I'm gonna close it out with one more one word. Musician and that's beyond.
That's right. All right. Ain't no hold on. That's James Tal Rico, he's running for Senate.
Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you.
🎵 Music
The Borg Podcast is brought to you thanks to the work of lead producer Katie Cooper, associate producer Ansley Skipper, and with video editing by Katie Lutz, and audio engineering and editing by J.