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Ted Cruz: Trump's First Week, Texas vs. California, Immigration, DOGE, Greenland

January 19, 2025 / 48:11

This episode features Senator Ted Cruz discussing the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, Texas culture, immigration, and government spending.

Cruz shares insights on Texas history, particularly the significance of the "Come and Take It" flag and how Texas has developed economically compared to California. He emphasizes the importance of low taxes and regulations in attracting businesses and residents to Texas.

The conversation shifts to immigration, where Cruz expresses his views on legal versus illegal immigration, sharing his father's story as a legal immigrant from Cuba. He advocates for a system that allows for legal immigration while securing the borders.

Cruz also discusses the political landscape in Washington, D.C., highlighting the polarization and the need for constructive dialogue among politicians. He emphasizes the importance of strong leadership in addressing issues like government spending and immigration.

The episode concludes with Cruz's thoughts on President Trump's upcoming executive orders and the implications for various policies, including energy and immigration.

TL;DR

Senator Ted Cruz discusses Texas culture, immigration, and government spending during Trump's inauguration episode.

Video

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[Music]
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hey everybody welcome back to the all-in
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podcast we're here at the inauguration
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of our 47th president Donald J Trump and
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we have a very special guest joining us
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on our coverage Senator Ted Cruz from
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the great state now my great state of
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Texas welcome to the all-in podcast and
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welcome to Texas it's pretty great uh
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where'd you get the boots uh any chance
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I can get a recommendation here a refer
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that's easy these are lucazi
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uh the factory is in El Paso they're
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handmade there they're beautiful okay uh
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and and these particular Boots the front
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of them have the Senate seal on on them
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oh that's cool oh that's strong that's
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um and the back of them that's really
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great have the come and take it flag
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whoa which I don't know do you know the
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history of the come and take it flag I
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was about to ask you okay since you're a
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new Texan this is important and he
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started saying y'all so he's adapting
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but he needs to learn y'all got to stop
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giving me a hard time about that okay
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all right so Texas in the 18 20s and
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1830s we were part of Mexico and the
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dictator of Mexico was General Santa Ana
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and there's a little town in South Texas
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called the town of Gonzalez and then
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General Anna sent an order to the
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texians which is what we were called
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back then
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texians to hand over their guns and
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there was a cannon that guarded the city
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and General San Ana said hand over the
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cannon and the texians responded by
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making a flag with an image of the
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cannon and underneath it the Legend come
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and take it wow and and they flew it
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over the town and that was the beginning
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of the Texas Revolution now the epilogue
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is San Ana came in with about 6,000
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soldiers and he did in fact take the
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cannon I mean Gonzalez was a tiny little
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town and the Texas Revolution was very
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much like the American Revolution we
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lost every damn battle the Alamo was a
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Slaughter golad was a Slaughter much
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like Washington where every battle he
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lost and lost and lost and then at San
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Joo we won defeated Santa Ana General
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Sam Houston and we became our own Nation
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the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1845
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says something about resiliency doesn't
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it it does let me ask you a question um
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having lived in New York and grown up
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there now and then done 20 years uh in
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California now my second year in Texas
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or starting my second year um it's
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amazing to me that you're allowed to
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build things in Texas like homes or
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factories and the price of home hes has
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gone down two years in a row and then
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the other two places I live the price of
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homes go up every year 10
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20% um and then you don't have state
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taxes um how is all this possible when
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you look at it just from first
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principles how are you able to
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accomplish so much development in Texas
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when in California the nimbyism like
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literally if you want to build yeah it's
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a great question a cancer W for children
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they'll stop you because it throws shade
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on a protected species of flower
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so California used to know the answer to
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this 50 years ago California was the
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economic engine of the country and
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unfortunately you're cursed by idiot
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politicians who were destroying this
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this Mighty economic engine you know
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none of this is rocket science in in
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Texas we believe in Freedom we believe
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in low taxes and low regulations and and
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to understand the
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state Texas was basically founded by a
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bunch of
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wildcats who were guys with fourth grade
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educ a that began drilling holes in the
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ground and one after the other became
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the richest man on Earth yeah and and
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the
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ethos of Texas you know it was
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interesting number of years ago I was
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visiting with with a CEO and an
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executive team of a company that had
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moved from California to
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Texas and they didn't have any Texas
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ties but they were just fed up with
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California they moved to Texas so I was
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asking them they only been in Texas for
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a couple of months I said all right
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what's the biggest
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difference and I thought maybe they'd
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say taxes or maybe regulations or maybe
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lawsuits those were the three things I
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was going to guess their answer blew me
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away they said the biggest difference is
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the
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culture and what they said is in
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California if you're in business you're
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a pariah they said look there's an
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exception for Tech and an exception for
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Hollywood if I need more yeah well I
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mean that was their view but they were
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not in Tech or Hollywood they they were
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in sanitation which was not a sexy
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business mhm and and the way they
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described it they said if you're at a
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party and someone asked what do you do
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and you say I'm a businessman
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they said people to turn around and walk
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away and I got to say as a Texan that is
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weird I mean we lionize entrepreneurs
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but California was a pioneering State
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the Gold Rush what happened because it's
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you know it's always easy to blame idiot
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politicians but in a democracy those
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politicians are elected by the voters so
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the something where did the voters go
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that caused this change in that state
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compared to where the voters went in
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Texas when they both came from and all
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of America all the United States all the
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the states of the Republic came from a a
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pioneering origin well there is a cause
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and a fact and you go back to 1987 and
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1987 is when Ronald Reagan signed
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amnesty into place and at the time there
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were 3 million illegal immigrants living
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in the United States and Congress went
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to the American people said all right we
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got a deal for you we're going to secure
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the Border we're going to fix the
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problem of illegal immigration forever
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and in exchange we're going to give
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amnesty to the 3 million people who are
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here illegally now right and in ' 87 the
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American people said okay that sounds
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like a reasonable deal they took the
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deal MH now we now know what happened
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which is the amnesty happened but the
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Border never got
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secured what did that mean for
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California the highest concentration of
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illegal immigrants was in California
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1988 California voted Republican the
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presidential race as it had for six
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consecutive years six consecutive Cycles
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previously right 1988 was the last year
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California ever went Republican well
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Schwarzenegger for president oh for
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president in in the presidential race
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and so I think the amnesty law played a
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significant part the federal law
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changing the voting composition of the
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state yeah and then and look you guys
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would know the state politics more but
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it also seemed to me that you have the
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public employee unions in California
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that realized that they could vote
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themselves more and more of of the large
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s
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of democracy right and it um so Jason
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brought up a really important question
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to kick this off um I just want to give
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you a chance to maybe expand on it which
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is there are so many examples Texas is
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one um you can look abroad the UAE as as
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an example is another where there's a
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high degree of quality of infrastructure
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and Y you know civility Social Services
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education security
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um but you don't have the traditional
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taxation right and so how is Texas able
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to actually keep the wheels
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on and States like California which has
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you know $322 billion budget is just
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completely falling apart how like what
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is what what happens because you then
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see everything at the federal level but
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when you go back to your state you see
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hey we don't have and and your real
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estate taxes aren't that much higher are
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they than California yeah the real
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estate taxes are a little bit higher but
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we have no income tax so it more more
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than makes up for it yeah yeah 2% one
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and a half to that's the principal
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Avenue of Taxation you got real estate
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taxes and sales taxes or or where the
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state and and local governments get
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their taxes uh but no income tax look
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some of it is government does less uh I
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mean there's a philosophy that
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government doesn't have to spend and
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provide everything government does
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police and firefighters and Roads and
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does the basic responsibilities of
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government right but it's not not
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engaged in funding every pet project of
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every politician right
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um that's part of
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it you know you look at across the
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country I mean it is not a complicated
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migration pattern that people are
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fleeing bright blue states with high
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taxes and high regulations yeah and they
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are coming to Red states with low taxes
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and low
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regulations any safety so we've had it
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has now been more than a DEC that we
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have had over a thousand people a day
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moving to Texas so when I was first
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elected 13 years ago we had 26 million
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Texans today we have over 31 million
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Texans so we've added 5 million Texans
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in 13 years and and the biggest state
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folks come from is California it's
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interesting the migration pattern you
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get a lot of California to Texas New
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Yorkers tend to go to Florida more we
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get some New Yorkers but but for
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whatever
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reason West Coast folks seem to prefer
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Texas and East Coast folks seem to
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prefer Florida but I actually think the
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competition in terms of where we lose
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people
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to we lose people either to Florida or
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Tennessee those are about the only two
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places if someone's thinking of leaving
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and I love that competition I want
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Florida and Tennessee to be out fighting
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and saying we can create an even better
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environment for small businesses and
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jobs and and part of it
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is the number one reason people come to
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Texas is Texas where the jobs are and
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you want an environment where you have
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small businesses are doing great but
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people also want to be safe and and so
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you know you look at things like like
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defunding the police or Soros
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prosecutors that let murderers go yep
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and that gives people a pretty acute
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incentive to get the heck out we uh were
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involved in the recall of Chess budine
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our podcast and David Sachs our
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compatriot who couldn't make it um he's
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he's busy working uh with you guys here
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um but yeah this this crime issue seems
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people have seemed to Lost uh they seem
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to have lost a script on who the state
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is working for the taxpayers or the
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criminals and in Texas it it's just
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extraordinary that you've figured out
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that you could prioritize the people not
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committing crime and not cater to the
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people committing crime I mean I'm
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saying this in the most factious way
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possible but it's just common sense and
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I think it it feels to me like
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Californians have had enough and it's
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just going to take a decade or two to
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unwind it but let's let's double click
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on immigration since the the great state
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of Texas has to deal with this than
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anybody but this is a land of immigrants
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we are all immigrants on this land and
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so that's our tradition in fact you're
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sitting next to two extraordinary
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immigrants my my Bes chamat and freeberg
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what do you believe at this point in
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time is America for the Americans are
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here or do you believe we should be
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getting the best and brightest to come
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to this country look absolutely both um
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I have for a long time describe my
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immigration views in in four words legal
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good illegal bat okay um I think most
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Americans most Texans agree with that
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and most immigrants yeah look there's a
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right way to come to this country
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there's the way you came to this country
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there's the way my dad came to this
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country my dad was born in Cuba he grew
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up in Cuba he fought in the Cuban
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Revolution when he was a teenager he
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fought was thrown in prison he was
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tortured when he was 17 years old and he
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came to Texas in 1957 he he was 18
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couldn't speak English had $100 in his
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underwear and he washed dishes making 50
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cents an hour but he came legally
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because he had applied to the University
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of Texas he'd gotten in he came on a
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student visa and he was an 18e old
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freshman and he started going to school
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here and he came legally and he worked
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and and got a job and went on in time to
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start a small business and and work was
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he able to see your success is he still
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with us he is my dad is 85 oh my God
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what a dream for him he he is my hero it
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is he he's an incredible he I will say
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when you have lost freedom
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it's personal to you yeah you know
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people ask sometimes you know why why do
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you do
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politics and and I grew up as a kid I
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would sit on the floor along with my
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cousin BBE with my dad and and bib's Mom
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my theonia and she
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also she was also imprisoned and
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tortured in Cuba and we would sit and
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sit and listen to them tell stories yeah
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and all I ever wanted to do from when I
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was three four five years old was was be
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a freedom fighter
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I mean it was it's inspiring because
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what they said and still say and they're
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both still going strong is is look
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if the only thing that prevents us from
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tyranny is having good people in office
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who will fight for our freedoms and so I
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got to tell you today I I literally jump
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out of bed every day because I I look at
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the US Senate and I think it is
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basically the Roman Coliseum and and you
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strap on some armor and you grab a
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battle ax and and you go fight the Barb
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Varan and and that is that that's an
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amazing opportunity I I feel blessed and
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fortunate every day you are in Arena do
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you think it's become we were talking
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with ro cona congressman from California
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earlier uh today and we talked about how
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there might be good policy put forth by
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one of the two parties but the other
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party's intention is always to get more
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seats get more attention get more votes
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and hurt the other party so we end up
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having conflict over policy do you feel
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like there's too much of that in DC and
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a lot of people talk about the you know
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everything has become too politicized as
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opposed to you know I always think about
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the show I love the show the westwing
00:13:40
and he always talks about the great
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debate you know like we never have the
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great debate anymore we don't talk about
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the fundamental you know policy
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decisions we talk about the Republicans
00:13:48
said this and so and so it gets personal
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and it gets political as opposed to like
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let's all take our hats off and talk
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about what's the right thing for the
00:13:54
country Doge being a great example in my
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opinion but I'd love to hear your point
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of view on how things operate in DC
00:14:00
today well well listen I I agree with
00:14:02
your point at the outset which is that
00:14:04
we need to talk to each other um I worry
00:14:07
that we are too polarized and and
00:14:11
tribalize that the left only listens to
00:14:14
left-wing media the right listens to
00:14:15
right-wing media anyone who disagrees
00:14:17
you scream at them uh the the sense of
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community and and that we used to have
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has been
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badly badly unraveled you know on social
00:14:28
media if someone agrees with you you
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unfriend them and and we're all in this
00:14:31
little Echo chain but we're all Patriots
00:14:33
is the sad part all Americans all
00:14:35
Americans but we're we're living in
00:14:37
alternate realities and and so look what
00:14:40
y'all are doing is really important I'm
00:14:41
grateful for this podcast we got to talk
00:14:43
to each other um I do a podcast every
00:14:46
week called verdict with Ted Cruz we've
00:14:48
got about a million unique listeners
00:14:50
that listen to the verdict podcast and
00:14:52
we do it Monday Wednesday and Friday
00:14:54
every week my podcast is beating CNN
00:14:58
yeah it's incredible and I think the
00:14:59
reason is the same reason people listen
00:15:01
to you guys because you're actually
00:15:02
talking about issues and you're not just
00:15:04
screaming at each other you know it's
00:15:06
it's not Jerry Springer go grab a a
00:15:08
chair and fling it at somebody but it's
00:15:11
have a real and substantive conversation
00:15:14
and I'll tell you one of the things that
00:15:15
I've done and enjoyed is I've taken the
00:15:17
podcast on the road to college
00:15:19
campuses and so couple what has that
00:15:21
been like well for example we did one at
00:15:24
at Yale a couple years ago and had about
00:15:27
700 students come out and I know how the
00:15:29
reaction would be and interestingly
00:15:32
enough about a third of the students
00:15:33
were left of center and and and I know
00:15:36
that because it was right after kataji
00:15:37
Brown Jackson was confirmed and I made a
00:15:40
reference to that and about a third of
00:15:42
the room began cheering and and I
00:15:44
stopped and I said hey look the fact
00:15:46
that you're cheering at that shows that
00:15:48
obviously we're coming from different
00:15:50
places on the political Spectrum I said
00:15:52
I want to thank you especially for
00:15:53
coming here uh because you may not agree
00:15:56
with me on on everything or even most
00:15:59
things yeah but but thank you for coming
00:16:01
and being part of a conversation and so
00:16:03
we did it's about 90 minutes of all Q&A
00:16:05
and and we had a rule we said if if you
00:16:07
have a hostile question if you have an
00:16:09
antagonistic question come to the front
00:16:12
of the line and we spent 90 minutes
00:16:14
having a real conversation afterwards I
00:16:17
I went out with an orthodox Rabbi on
00:16:19
campus and and we got a drink and he
00:16:21
said he said Ted you know I've been
00:16:23
working on Yale's
00:16:24
campus for decades he said this is the
00:16:28
biggest group of students I've seen have
00:16:31
a positive civil constructive
00:16:33
conversation on conservative ideas he
00:16:35
said in 20 years there's something about
00:16:38
the podcast format where you're taking a
00:16:40
little bit of time you're not rushed in
00:16:41
six or seven minutes like you are on the
00:16:43
weekly shows where I see you all the
00:16:44
time uh and and that's sparring yeah and
00:16:47
you're just trying to get a message out
00:16:49
in three minutes five minutes but here
00:16:50
you know you can open it up maybe listen
00:16:52
to each other invite guests in with
00:16:53
different opinions learn something uh
00:16:56
with the specifically the immigration
00:16:57
issue which seems to be the one that's
00:16:59
tearing us apart a whole bunch there's
00:17:01
so much consensus hey we we want the
00:17:02
board to close we want it legal but we
00:17:04
also want to bring in a certain number
00:17:06
of people and we want a system and uh
00:17:08
you know I did my research on this and
00:17:10
places that have consensus like Canada
00:17:12
uh Japan Australia New Zealand just they
00:17:15
they seem to understand that you need to
00:17:17
match immigration to the reality of
00:17:21
unemployment and which jobs you need but
00:17:24
the one criticism I have of politicians
00:17:26
which I think you're one of um sadly
00:17:28
iest charge yeah is you you you all
00:17:31
don't talk about it in numbers we need
00:17:34
this many nurses we need this many
00:17:35
doctors we need this many construction
00:17:37
people we have 4% unemployment record
00:17:40
great job uh to our politicians and
00:17:42
helping that out um you know we can
00:17:44
bring in two million people this year
00:17:46
hey if it goes up to 5% we're going to
00:17:47
bring in 1.5 I I wish that the
00:17:50
discussion could be more granular and
00:17:52
with numbers and you guys could actually
00:17:53
say it's not 500 it's 450 because if we
00:17:56
were in a business decision here and we
00:17:58
do business together and we say hey we
00:17:59
have to deploy these resources to get
00:18:01
this outcome but it's so contentious and
00:18:04
polarized and not fact and number based
00:18:07
why is that on this issue that you guys
00:18:09
can't just put some numbers on paper so
00:18:12
well look there there are a lot of
00:18:13
numbers that matter intensely let's
00:18:14
start at one where you talked about low
00:18:16
unemployment as you know that number can
00:18:18
be deceptive because we also have among
00:18:20
the lowest labor force participation
00:18:22
we've ever had 62% right now and so
00:18:24
there are millions that have just
00:18:26
dropped out of the labor force
00:18:27
altogether they're not measuring in in
00:18:29
Topline unemployment but it's still a
00:18:31
real challenge we have healthy young
00:18:34
adults who should be working and who are
00:18:36
not working why aren't they in your mind
00:18:38
is it because they have the resources to
00:18:40
not do that um look I think it and I
00:18:42
think it varies state by state but I
00:18:44
think when you have a welfare state
00:18:45
where you get paid for not working it's
00:18:48
bad incentive people end up not working
00:18:49
and the statistics are really crushing
00:18:52
that if anyone doesn't work for a year
00:18:55
the odds of their going back to the
00:18:57
workforce drop precipitously that once
00:19:00
someone gets the habit of dependency I
00:19:04
I've said a bunch of times you know I I
00:19:06
try to think of of every policy from the
00:19:09
perspective of easing the means of
00:19:10
ascent up the economic ladder and I
00:19:13
think about you know my dad when when he
00:19:14
was a teenage kid in Austin washing
00:19:17
dishes thank God some well-meaning
00:19:20
liberal didn't come to him and and say
00:19:22
Rafael let me take care of you right
00:19:24
totally just stay home let me send you a
00:19:26
government check don't work so hard at
00:19:28
and and it's utterly destructive it it
00:19:30
breaks your your self-respect your
00:19:33
individual responsibility but it comes
00:19:36
from an empathetic Place Center Senator
00:19:38
so and and and I know this like in you
00:19:40
know in kind of a a liberal setting you
00:19:43
see people in need you want to help them
00:19:44
and you use government as a tool to help
00:19:47
people in need and the fundamental issue
00:19:49
is that in many cases that creates an
00:19:50
incentive model that makes it very
00:19:52
difficult for that solution for that
00:19:54
situation to find a solution on its own
00:19:56
a market solution and over time it gets
00:19:59
bigger and bigger and bigger and you
00:20:01
have cascading effects that I believe
00:20:03
we're now realizing in this country with
00:20:04
what I estimated somewhere between 40 to
00:20:06
50% of people that are employed in this
00:20:09
country employed by government or
00:20:11
government um service providers and
00:20:13
you're right that much of it is not from
00:20:15
ill will and and and but we do need to
00:20:18
have a real conversation about what
00:20:20
works to lift people into prosperity and
00:20:23
and by the way all of us know this in
00:20:24
our own life if if your kid let's say
00:20:27
you have a kindergarten who's struggling
00:20:28
with math there's not a one of us who
00:20:31
would do our kids math homework y we
00:20:33
know that's not helping them that that
00:20:35
if your daughter doesn't learn to do
00:20:38
arithmetic it's going to hurt her for
00:20:40
the rest of her life so you've got to
00:20:41
work through that problem with her even
00:20:43
if itd be easier for you just to finish
00:20:45
it for right we know that in our lives
00:20:48
um you know the old adage of give a man
00:20:50
a fish you feed him for a day teach a
00:20:51
man to fish you feed him for a lifetime
00:20:53
right we know that with people we love
00:20:57
but yet when it comes to public public
00:20:59
policy you have a lot of people who
00:21:01
don't think about it more broadly I'll
00:21:02
say back in
00:21:03
2017 I I did three different CNN Town
00:21:07
Hall debates with Bernie Sanders and
00:21:10
listen I like Bernie because he is an
00:21:12
Unapologetic socialist yeah and I'm an
00:21:15
apologetic
00:21:16
capitalist and we had 90-minute Town
00:21:18
Hall debates on on which system was
00:21:21
better for maximizing human prosperity
00:21:23
and abundance yep and we didn't insult
00:21:26
each other neither of us called each
00:21:27
other a son of a [ __ ]
00:21:29
we talked about the facts and and and
00:21:31
I'll point out something let's take
00:21:32
socialized medicine it's interesting the
00:21:35
as The Advocates of socialized medicine
00:21:37
when I pointed out all of the problems
00:21:40
socialized medicine produces in every
00:21:42
country in which it's been implemented
00:21:43
the United Kingdom
00:21:44
Canada Bernie's answer was well it
00:21:47
wouldn't be that way here so the reality
00:21:49
would not be here every year about
00:21:51
50,000 Canadians come to America on what
00:21:55
they call medical tourism because they
00:21:56
can't get the medical care they need in
00:21:58
Canada
00:21:59
and I will suggest to you a question
00:22:00
particularly for those of y'all that are
00:22:02
are
00:22:03
Californians that I love asking
00:22:05
Advocates of socialized
00:22:07
medicine why didn't California adopt it
00:22:10
right you've got a Democrat Governor
00:22:12
you've got a Democrat super majority
00:22:14
legislature there's no constitutional
00:22:15
impediment California could adopt
00:22:17
socialized medicine today yep right it's
00:22:19
not the mean old Republicans that are
00:22:22
stopping them and as you know the
00:22:23
legislature looked at it and realized it
00:22:25
would bankrupt them by the way Vermont
00:22:27
Bernie's home state they could adopt it
00:22:30
and the reason you don't see California
00:22:33
or New York or Illinois or Vermont or
00:22:34
any blue state in America adopt
00:22:35
socialized medicine it wouldn't work
00:22:37
doesn't work it wouldn't work and people
00:22:39
would flee their state and so their
00:22:41
answer is we want to do it to everyone
00:22:44
in the entire country so you can't flee
00:22:46
unless you're willing to leave America
00:22:47
you're stuck and I think what's
00:22:48
challenging Senator is that then you
00:22:50
have compromises that get you to a point
00:22:52
where the federal government has a big
00:22:54
enough role in healthcare my opinion is
00:22:56
much of the inflation in healthare costs
00:22:58
arises from the federal government's
00:23:00
role in the same way that the federal
00:23:01
government has a role in student loans
00:23:03
that has driven up the cost of education
00:23:05
and the federal government has a role in
00:23:06
providing loans for housing has also
00:23:08
driven up the cost of housing educ
00:23:10
education across the board dists the
00:23:12
free market but the empathetic solution
00:23:15
is we need to provide access to those
00:23:16
who can't get it and then at the end of
00:23:18
the day it inflates the cost of all of
00:23:20
those services and ultimately the
00:23:21
quality of the services the roads and
00:23:23
I'll give you the anecdote real quick
00:23:24
yeah my brother lives in England they
00:23:26
just had a child he and his partner and
00:23:28
went to the delivery room and they
00:23:29
couldn't get a bed for lab she was in
00:23:32
labor they could not get a bed to have
00:23:34
the baby I think it took them 36 to 72
00:23:36
hours to actually get into a bed while
00:23:38
she was in labor it was the most insane
00:23:40
he's calling me he can't get a bed it
00:23:41
was I'm like you're living in the
00:23:43
fraking UK this is supposed to be one of
00:23:45
the wealthiest Nations on Earth that's
00:23:46
the outcome of socialized medicine and
00:23:48
along the way you get the inflationary
00:23:50
effects that we're dealing with in the
00:23:51
United States today I'm with you on
00:23:55
sorry let's uh you're the quarterback
00:23:57
okay quarterback the next two weeks of
00:24:00
the Trump
00:24:02
Administration well on Monday we're
00:24:04
going to see a flurry of executive
00:24:05
orders I think it'll be in the
00:24:06
neighborhood 100 executive orders I'm
00:24:08
optimistic about them that's the number
00:24:10
they're talking about wow it it it's
00:24:11
going to be in that neighborhood
00:24:13
shocking off and I actually I'm I'm
00:24:16
pretty happy about that now look will I
00:24:18
agree with all 100 I don't know my guess
00:24:20
is I'll agree with the vast majority of
00:24:22
them but I don't know everything that's
00:24:23
in there so we'll see and in some ways
00:24:25
it'll just make it almost impossible for
00:24:27
the Democrats to react because where do
00:24:28
you focus yes and and and Jamal that's
00:24:32
actually a point you know I think back
00:24:34
to so my wife Heidi and I met on the
00:24:37
2000 George W Bush campaign and and so
00:24:39
we both served uh as young people in the
00:24:42
Bush Administration and and I I think
00:24:44
there is a Quantum of outrage and I call
00:24:47
it the arsonic Quantum of outrage if you
00:24:50
remember the beginning of bush
00:24:51
43 one of the first things he did is his
00:24:55
EPA revoked a rule on arsenic and for
00:24:58
like 6 weeks the media saturated the
00:25:01
airwaves with the evil Republicans want
00:25:03
to poison our children with Arsenic and
00:25:05
I mean it was it dominated forever and
00:25:08
they beat The Living Daylights out of
00:25:09
him for it now look Monday when you get
00:25:11
a 100 executive orders I think that's
00:25:14
how much outrage there
00:25:15
ish and that arsonic Quantum of outrage
00:25:19
will be directed at everything
00:25:21
smeared which makes it very hard for
00:25:23
them to oppose anything coherently and
00:25:27
directly and gives an opportunity I hope
00:25:30
for this Administration what I'd like to
00:25:32
see is really
00:25:34
delivering on the Mandate of this
00:25:36
election the outcomes in November let's
00:25:38
ask that what were yeah what were the if
00:25:40
you had to distill what are your
00:25:42
specific takeaways as the Mandate in
00:25:44
priority so number one secure the border
00:25:46
and I believe that'll start on January
00:25:48
20th it will start by ending Catch and
00:25:50
Release so that when people are
00:25:52
apprehended they are detained and
00:25:53
they're sent back to where they came
00:25:55
from yeah um I think that will be
00:25:58
followed up by going and arresting
00:26:00
criminal illegal aliens going and
00:26:03
arresting murderers and rapists and
00:26:04
child molesters and G and gang bangers I
00:26:07
think all of that will roll out very
00:26:09
very fast I think there is also a
00:26:11
mandate to end the federal government's
00:26:13
war on energy on Texas oil and gas um
00:26:17
and that will lower prices at the gas
00:26:19
pump at the grocery store every Bill
00:26:22
people are paying and I think if you
00:26:24
look at the top two issues in this
00:26:26
election uh it it was illegal
00:26:29
immigration and safety and it was
00:26:31
inflation in the economy I think we will
00:26:34
also
00:26:37
see a lessening of the job killing
00:26:40
regulations on small businesses a return
00:26:42
to thriving booming economic growth what
00:26:45
would those be look there are a host of
00:26:47
them energy is is is the easy example
00:26:50
where where the the Biden
00:26:51
administrations put in over 90 different
00:26:54
regulations and executive orders all
00:26:56
designed to drive up the cost of energy
00:26:58
right so the input gets higher and
00:27:00
everybody suffers got it and so I expect
00:27:02
I expect pretty much all of those to be
00:27:05
reversed hydrocarbon and then subsidies
00:27:07
for quote green
00:27:09
energy look I I think on energy we ought
00:27:12
to pursue all of the above uh beyond
00:27:15
that I think I think there is also a
00:27:17
mandate on the economic side the 2017
00:27:21
Trump tax cuts are expiring this year
00:27:23
we're going to extend them my hope is we
00:27:25
make them bigger and Bolder that's going
00:27:27
to take some time we'll do that through
00:27:29
What's called the reconciliation process
00:27:32
and then on on foreign
00:27:34
policy I think under Biden we have
00:27:38
abandoned and alienated our friends and
00:27:40
we've shown weakness and appeasement to
00:27:42
our enemies I think that will stop right
00:27:44
on Monday as well Senator you just said
00:27:46
five things but what you didn't say was
00:27:48
Doge so cutting taxes there's an
00:27:51
inflation problem there's no way you're
00:27:52
cutting taxes and not cutting government
00:27:54
spending and not tampering inflation
00:27:56
down don't we have to cut federal
00:27:59
spending how important is Doge how real
00:28:01
is it is it a marketing gimmick from
00:28:02
your point of view how much can actually
00:28:04
be done is it a real you know is is this
00:28:07
kind of require legislative Authority
00:28:09
and it's going to be a longer form
00:28:10
process or is there going to be a lot of
00:28:12
very quick action so and I'm happy to
00:28:15
answer that directly let me just say one
00:28:17
thing you just said there um with
00:28:19
respect is incorrect yes you said
00:28:21
there's no way we're cutting taxes and
00:28:23
not cutting spending and having
00:28:25
inflation stay down and I just saying
00:28:28
that's objectively false because that's
00:28:30
exactly what happened in the first Trump
00:28:31
term which is the 2017 tax cuts CBO had
00:28:35
these apocalyptic projection y about
00:28:38
you're saying tax revenue grow went up
00:28:39
as the as the economy grow tax revenue
00:28:41
went up every single year after we cut
00:28:44
the taxes the revenue from the federal
00:28:45
government went up so we cut taxes sadly
00:28:49
we did not cut spending yeah um I tried
00:28:52
mightily to cut spending but we did not
00:28:54
have the votes to do it and inflation
00:28:57
still stayed down so the econom is
00:28:59
booming yeah you can turn things around
00:29:01
look Doge but is there a deficit mandate
00:29:04
so I am excited about Doge um Elon is a
00:29:08
good friend I admire the hell out of him
00:29:10
I'm thrilled that he's a
00:29:12
Texan um you know I've joked with Elon
00:29:15
that that that he doesn't just think
00:29:17
outside the box he doesn't know there is
00:29:18
a damn box that that's a great thing um
00:29:23
now Elon calls me periodically going
00:29:25
what all right what the hell is this
00:29:26
government thing how does this work this
00:29:27
way and I'm I'm trying to give whatever
00:29:30
guidance I can on that but I think how
00:29:33
you deal with uh a
00:29:38
disruptor uh in government is going to
00:29:40
be an interesting challenge VC is is
00:29:43
very smart very
00:29:45
creative I will say a couple of
00:29:48
challenges right now look I'm excited
00:29:50
about Doge I want to see some big bold
00:29:52
creative ideas I'm going to give you two
00:29:55
warning
00:29:56
signs number one the phrase waste Fraud
00:29:59
and Abuse MH anytime someone talks about
00:30:01
waste Fraud and Abuse they don't really
00:30:03
want to cut government spending you know
00:30:05
why because there is no waste Fraud and
00:30:07
Abuse caucus there's no one that says
00:30:09
I'm for the waste so it's the easy place
00:30:12
to go we'll cut the waste if you
00:30:15
actually cut real government spending
00:30:18
there is always always always a
00:30:20
constituency who's pissed off who likes
00:30:22
the thing they're getting totally and so
00:30:24
you have lots of politicians who say
00:30:26
they're going to lose they're going to
00:30:26
lose their votes right somebody will be
00:30:29
matad that's right and and so that is a
00:30:32
challenge I will say secondly at least
00:30:35
in the first term Donald Trump did not
00:30:38
campaign as a small government
00:30:40
conservative and he did not govern as a
00:30:43
small government conservative and in
00:30:44
fact I I will relay a story at at the
00:30:47
end of the first term you remember we're
00:30:50
in covid and and the government is in
00:30:52
the business of sending out checks and
00:30:54
more checks and more checks to people
00:30:55
all over the country andum TR wanted the
00:30:58
checks to be even bigger and a lot of
00:31:00
the folks in the White House they asked
00:31:02
me they said Ted can can you go try to
00:31:03
talk him talk him down from this Lynch y
00:31:06
that's a tough job so so I went on Air
00:31:08
Force One and and I'm sitting there with
00:31:11
the president I'm trying to make the
00:31:12
case that we don't need these gigantic
00:31:14
uh stimulus checks and he goes Ted and I
00:31:18
get the back of the hand he goes Ted no
00:31:21
one ever lost an election by spending
00:31:23
too much money I said yeah but they did
00:31:25
bankrupt the
00:31:26
country so I did not succeed then well
00:31:30
you know what you should have done you
00:31:31
should have asked him to keep the same
00:31:33
number but just make the check larger
00:31:34
and the signature bigger that's a good
00:31:36
idea look I I'll go with it he likes are
00:31:38
you a small government conservative very
00:31:40
much so and is what percent if there if
00:31:43
no one was going to be able to run for
00:31:45
reelection what percent of Congress do
00:31:47
you think would support a massive
00:31:49
reduction in government agencies how
00:31:52
much of this really is driven by this
00:31:53
kind of I got to get reelected so look
00:31:55
it's it's a good versus what I versus
00:31:57
what principes tell me yeah listen I I
00:31:59
am also a passionate advocate of term
00:32:01
limits so so I have
00:32:03
introduced uh in every Congress a
00:32:05
constitutional amendment that would
00:32:06
limit Senators to two terms limit house
00:32:08
members to three terms yeah I think term
00:32:10
limits would change that dynamic in a
00:32:12
very significant way right and the
00:32:14
career politicians in both parties
00:32:15
oppose it um look on any big spending
00:32:19
bill you unfortunately have a bipartisan
00:32:22
Coalition in favor of spending you have
00:32:23
essentially all the Democrats and about
00:32:26
half the Republicans there about 20 of
00:32:29
us who will vote against a trillion
00:32:31
dollar spending Bill and and and we are
00:32:34
frequently begging our colleagues and to
00:32:37
be honest I don't think we will ever see
00:32:39
real spending
00:32:41
restraint without strong presidential
00:32:43
leadership which means it will never
00:32:45
come from a Joe Biden or KLA
00:32:47
Harris and look if if Elon and beet
00:32:50
convince president Trump that he's going
00:32:52
to lean in aggressively on on cutting
00:32:54
spending great but that hadn't happened
00:32:56
so far what would it take for for the
00:32:58
voters to eventually get there because
00:32:59
it would require the voters backing a
00:33:01
candidate with that message and it seems
00:33:02
like no one sees that because what
00:33:04
everyone sees is I want to get X and the
00:33:06
only way I get X is if I get the
00:33:07
government to do X for me yeah look it
00:33:09
it varies it takes electing strong
00:33:12
leaders so I elections matter and and I
00:33:15
engage so so I think I've probably
00:33:18
campaigned for more candidates for
00:33:20
Senate house and and governorship than
00:33:22
any Republican in the country I mean I
00:33:24
travel all over the country I endorse
00:33:26
candidates and I follow the old Bill
00:33:28
Buckley role which is I support the most
00:33:31
Conservative candidate who can win yeah
00:33:34
and that varies look look a candidate
00:33:36
who can win in Texas is different than a
00:33:38
candidate who can win in Maine yeah
00:33:39
right and and so but but I can say the
00:33:43
problem is you get I can tell you in
00:33:45
Texas I mean when I ran 2012 I ran for
00:33:49
Senate I'd never been elected before
00:33:51
yeah never been elected to nothing yeah
00:33:54
literally the last thing I was elected
00:33:56
to was student counsil
00:33:58
by the way Cham you may not remember
00:33:59
this you actually wrote me a check that
00:34:01
race I was going to tell that St we
00:34:02
looked it up which because we were
00:34:04
together in Utah y Peter teal had an
00:34:07
event or he does his thing and we had a
00:34:10
breakfast and uh Ted was surrounded by
00:34:15
sort of a handful of us who were
00:34:17
speaking to him and then what I would
00:34:18
say is like every
00:34:20
traditional Democrat from Central castle
00:34:24
and he went through the firing squad and
00:34:25
he came out the other side and I thought
00:34:27
wow this this is really great and so
00:34:29
then I I was I was very happy to donate
00:34:32
well I I was you you were a demned donor
00:34:33
back then I was a demned donor but I but
00:34:35
see here's the thing like and I think
00:34:37
what you're getting what I think what
00:34:39
the senator speaks to which is what I
00:34:41
agree with
00:34:42
is ideology matters and so when you make
00:34:45
decisions about how you think the
00:34:46
country should
00:34:48
run you should stay loyal to that and I
00:34:51
think what happens instead is people
00:34:54
stay loyal to a party Y and it's the
00:34:56
minute you do that that the whole thing
00:34:57
breaks and this is what's broken and I
00:34:59
think what the great thing that Donald
00:35:01
Trump did was he basically conducted a
00:35:04
hostile takeover of the Republican Party
00:35:05
undoubtedly yeah and then committed subu
00:35:09
and that's the most important thing that
00:35:10
happens I mean are reset you don't have
00:35:14
to go and kick the COA ring what will
00:35:16
they say what will all this
00:35:17
infrastructure say what does Sor say all
00:35:20
of that is done the whole thing's
00:35:22
flipped over hey Senator you that's very
00:35:24
powerful I you had an anecdote from me
00:35:25
two nights ago I don't know if you're
00:35:26
willing to share it about a convers
00:35:27
regarding Denmark and
00:35:29
Greenland do you want to tell us what
00:35:31
you think uh so happens here look my
00:35:35
view on Denmark and Greenland so I did a
00:35:37
podcast two weeks ago on Denmark
00:35:40
Greenland and Canada and I did all all
00:35:42
three of them on my verdict podcast and
00:35:45
and I put them in a spectrum let's start
00:35:47
with Canada I think the president's
00:35:50
Canada remarks we're just trolling I
00:35:52
think he was just screwing with Trudeau
00:35:53
I think he was sitting at the table and
00:35:55
decided you know why are you even
00:35:57
country you ought to be a state you
00:35:59
should be a governor that I send jcal
00:36:00
texts like that all the
00:36:02
time you know I would have paid frankly
00:36:04
to be sitting at that table to see
00:36:06
Trudeau's face in fact um look it was
00:36:09
reminiscent if you remember in the
00:36:11
2016 uh campaign on the debate stage
00:36:14
where Trump turned Rand Paul was at the
00:36:16
end and he's like why are you even on
00:36:18
this stage and what is it with your hair
00:36:20
yeah I I mean it was the same sort of
00:36:21
comment that was just just messing with
00:36:24
him yeah um I put that in one and by the
00:36:27
way way that may be the most epic troll
00:36:29
of all time because I think that
00:36:31
literally pushed Trudeau into resign
00:36:33
crazy huh I mean it it's a fair why
00:36:35
would he not why would he do that go to
00:36:36
Maro I mean such a stupid thing to do he
00:36:38
just should have been like yeah you know
00:36:40
we're our own sovereign country Banks
00:36:42
well he was already I think we he go he
00:36:44
likes he likes to go with the trend so
00:36:45
that was the trend yeah that's what
00:36:46
happens when you're a weather v um I
00:36:48
will say I I couldn't resist tweeting
00:36:50
and said you know trau lasted really
00:36:52
long for a son of Fidel
00:36:54
Castle which wa
00:36:58
no no no keep telling us
00:36:59
about can yeah denark Greenland um
00:37:03
Greenland on the other hand I think is a
00:37:05
very serious policy proposal and and I
00:37:08
think there are you know Trump mentioned
00:37:10
this in the first term and a lot of
00:37:11
people dismissed it oh this is just
00:37:13
Trump talking wacky yeah but I think
00:37:15
there are
00:37:16
enormous National Security and economic
00:37:19
reasons why acquiring Greenland makes a
00:37:21
ton of sense and you look at Greenland's
00:37:24
location on the Arctic it has incred
00:37:27
inedibly prime location on the Arctic if
00:37:29
from a national security perspective God
00:37:32
forbid we ever get in a shooting war
00:37:34
with China or with Russia icbms are
00:37:38
coming right over the Arctic right and
00:37:39
Greenland is a prime location to deal
00:37:43
with that we're also seeing more
00:37:44
shipping lanes coming in and around the
00:37:46
Arctic and China and Russia are both
00:37:48
competing for prized prized access there
00:37:53
Greenland makes an enormous sense from
00:37:54
that perspective it also makes an
00:37:56
enormous perspective from critic
00:37:57
minerals and rare earth minerals they
00:37:59
have vast amounts uh and so what I said
00:38:03
is look I think we should pursue this
00:38:05
seriously I'll tell you I had a
00:38:06
conversation this week with the Danish
00:38:08
ambassador to the United States um and
00:38:11
and look Denmark's a little freaked out
00:38:12
by all this conversation Y and and I'll
00:38:15
tell you what I told the Ambassador I
00:38:16
said listen Denmark is our friend you
00:38:18
our Ally you will continue to be our
00:38:20
friend and Ally but friends and allies
00:38:23
can have conversations we can have and
00:38:25
and the Ambassador said well well
00:38:26
Greenland's not for sale I said that's
00:38:27
fine everything's for sale we're going
00:38:30
to have a conversation and and by the
00:38:32
way if you maintain that one of the
00:38:34
things this has produced is a growing
00:38:36
independence movement in Greenland
00:38:37
totally and if you do nothing you may
00:38:39
end up getting nothing for Greenland
00:38:41
because they break off on the Run
00:38:42
totally right now look for it to happen
00:38:46
I think you would probably have to have
00:38:47
a referendum on Greenland yep I find it
00:38:51
quite plausible that the greenlanders
00:38:53
about 50,000 of them yeah would say wait
00:38:55
a second I get to be an American they P
00:38:57
just showed positive results he just did
00:38:58
a survey there I mean to to become an
00:39:00
American is in many ways the greatest
00:39:02
gift we can give anyone on planet Earth
00:39:05
totally and the billions in investment
00:39:08
if Greenland became an American
00:39:09
territory the difference it would make
00:39:11
for greenlanders well Senator we could
00:39:12
pay 200 billion dollars for the
00:39:14
territory to Denmark they would their
00:39:16
federal debt or their National debts
00:39:17
about 150 billion they'd have a 50
00:39:19
billion Surplus they could build a
00:39:20
pension plan around want that's why we
00:39:22
have you could spend another you could
00:39:23
spend another 10 billion to put everyone
00:39:25
in a great situation for the rest of
00:39:26
their life a resident of Greenland and
00:39:28
that becomes an American territory and
00:39:30
be like a whole new philosophy for us I
00:39:32
think we just go right to 60 States
00:39:34
let's just make an open offer no but so
00:39:35
so it's and and yeah and sorry how does
00:39:37
the president of the administration how
00:39:38
are they going to tackle this or do you
00:39:39
have any insights into what's going to
00:39:40
happen here so look uh Ken Howry you
00:39:42
guys know I know is a good friend who
00:39:44
has been nominated the ambassador to
00:39:45
Denmark I've talked with good friend of
00:39:47
yeah talked with Ken just yesterday
00:39:48
about this y um I think we need to lean
00:39:51
in and try to negotiate both with with
00:39:53
Denmark and Greenland um I'm certainly
00:39:55
from the Senate going to push it but I
00:39:57
wanted contrasted is Canada become going
00:39:59
to become a state no but Greenland
00:40:01
listen we acquired make it a protractor
00:40:04
Louisiana Purchase we purchased from
00:40:06
France Alaska we purchased from Russia I
00:40:08
mean there's a long history of this
00:40:10
totally Puerto Rico next let's go if
00:40:12
they want to come on board why not well
00:40:14
it's an American this it's a it's not a
00:40:17
state and so Panama I view as kind of in
00:40:20
the middle of the two right and and
00:40:21
Panama is a little more
00:40:23
complicated look I think Jimmy Carter
00:40:26
giving away the Panama Canal now remains
00:40:29
one of the most spectacularly stupid
00:40:31
decisions a president has ever done in
00:40:33
office I think it was profoundly harmful
00:40:35
to US National Security interest to our
00:40:38
economic
00:40:39
interest that being said it's been long
00:40:41
enough that unwinding it is really tough
00:40:45
yeah however president Trump if you
00:40:47
listen to what he's saying on Panama
00:40:49
he's he's got actually some very
00:40:51
sophisticated legal arguments that he's
00:40:53
making number one when we gave the
00:40:56
Panama Canal to technically sold it for
00:40:58
a dollar uh we had a binding agreement
00:41:00
that laid out the terms of that transfer
00:41:03
yeah and one argument that President
00:41:05
Trump has put forth is that Panama is in
00:41:09
violation of that agreement because they
00:41:11
have allowed China to effectively seize
00:41:13
control of the canal how is that because
00:41:16
a Chinese state-owned Enterprise owns a
00:41:18
building on one end of the canal and on
00:41:21
the other end of the can and should we
00:41:23
be at a point of conflict military or
00:41:26
other with China it's not ult to imagine
00:41:28
those Chinese State own Enterprises
00:41:30
using that location to try to shut down
00:41:33
anyone traversing the sounds like they
00:41:35
avoided the contract I that's that's a
00:41:37
pretty powerful argument the second
00:41:39
argument and I had breakfast this
00:41:40
morning with with President Trump he had
00:41:42
breakfast with all the Republican
00:41:43
Senators two and a half hours he gets
00:41:45
sworn in tomorrow and he spent two and a
00:41:47
half hours stamina stream of
00:41:49
Consciousness talking we talked about
00:41:51
Pano he's pointing out uh the president
00:41:53
said this morning said US Navy ships pay
00:41:56
double
00:41:58
what any other country's Navy ships pay
00:42:00
right he said that that american
00:42:02
commercial ships pay 58% more y than
00:42:07
other nations pay look we need to drill
00:42:08
down into those facts but on the face of
00:42:11
it I think there's a powerful argument
00:42:14
that that's inconsistent with the terms
00:42:16
of the agreement and is the final
00:42:19
outcome of this that we get total
00:42:21
control of the Panama Canal back
00:42:23
probably not I think that's a high lift
00:42:26
but in many ways I think Trump is
00:42:27
negotiating on price and I could easily
00:42:29
see an outcome where both Navy ships and
00:42:32
commercial ships that are American pay
00:42:35
much much lower rates number one and
00:42:37
number two critically that we get China
00:42:39
the hell out of the canal and and that
00:42:41
if we accomplish those two that would be
00:42:44
a massive improvement from us interest
00:42:46
have you um I'm sure you've been paying
00:42:48
attention uh beyond the things that
00:42:50
you've been a part of the confirmation
00:42:52
hearings can you give us the sort of
00:42:54
blowby blow of where you think things
00:42:55
have gone well where there was room for
00:42:57
improvement whether there's going to be
00:42:59
some spotty weather ahead look I've been
00:43:02
really happy so far um I think the array
00:43:06
of cabinet nominees has been very very
00:43:08
strong were there a couple that were you
00:43:10
thought going in we have to this one
00:43:12
will be a little bit harder than the
00:43:13
other and well look clearly the most
00:43:15
bumpy was Matt Gates and and they
00:43:16
withdrew Matt Gates yeah um he was not
00:43:18
going to get confirmed there there were
00:43:20
multiple Republican Senators who were
00:43:21
going to vote now right um but I will
00:43:24
say I mean they withdrew that nomination
00:43:26
pretty quickly was strategic they sent
00:43:27
him up the hill to take the first two
00:43:29
and Pam Bondi seems amazing Pam Bondi is
00:43:31
going to be terrific she's going to get
00:43:32
confirmed easily I think right now every
00:43:35
Trump cabinet nominee gets confirmed
00:43:37
that's great um Pete hegi is clearly who
00:43:40
they're shooting at the most um I don't
00:43:43
think they've scored real blood I I did
00:43:45
a whole podcast on the Heth uh
00:43:47
confirmation
00:43:48
hearing where it spoke volumes that the
00:43:51
Democrat virtu virtually all of the
00:43:53
Democrat attacks were personal attacks
00:43:56
based on Anonymous charges typically
00:43:58
with no evidence and with no one coming
00:44:00
forward and putting their name on it and
00:44:03
they had virtually nothing to say about
00:44:04
the job to which he'd been nominated and
00:44:06
what he intends to do as the Secretary
00:44:08
of Defense I I think
00:44:10
that that fundamentally is a flawed
00:44:13
strategy I so I think everyone gets
00:44:15
through right now do you think that
00:44:15
you'll see any Democrat
00:44:18
Senators support any of the candidates
00:44:21
yes um Rubio so Rubio will get 90 votes
00:44:25
he could get north of 95 votes it'll be
00:44:27
a huge bipartisan vote for
00:44:29
Rubio John Radcliffe for CIA he'll get
00:44:32
significant bipartisan votes Shan Duffy
00:44:35
at Transportation he'll get a bunch of
00:44:37
bipartisan votes uh Howard lutnick at
00:44:39
Commerce my guess is he'll get
00:44:41
bipartisan votes although he hasn't had
00:44:42
his hearing yet so we'll see so there
00:44:45
will certainly be some Pam Bondi I think
00:44:47
Pam is terrific Brook Rolland Brook will
00:44:50
get bipartisan votes part of it is all
00:44:52
right let's take Shawn Duffy so I
00:44:54
chaired the confirmation hearing for
00:44:55
Shawn Duffy secretary trans
00:44:57
Transportation it was a Love Fest why
00:45:00
was it a Love Fest because everyone
00:45:03
wants a bridge or a road in their state
00:45:05
so if you're a Democrat you're like wait
00:45:07
you're Santa Claus and you're giving out
00:45:08
hundreds of billions of dollars I want
00:45:10
some and so everyone wants it and so
00:45:13
Brook Rollins at at Department of
00:45:14
Agriculture again everyone wants stuff
00:45:16
for a and farmers in their state so in
00:45:19
that sort of role it's easy for it to be
00:45:21
a Love
00:45:22
Fest Pam Bondi even though she did very
00:45:25
well
00:45:27
I'd be surprised if Democrats vote for
00:45:29
just the nature of attorney general in
00:45:32
this politicized environment my guess is
00:45:35
I think of the committee the D's are
00:45:36
going to vote no but I think Pam will
00:45:39
hold every Republican and so I I think
00:45:41
she she gets through easily Bobby
00:45:43
Senator I think he makes it through I
00:45:45
spent an hour with him it'll be
00:45:47
interesting this is I was talking with
00:45:49
him about this W will any Democrats vote
00:45:51
for him obviously he's been a Democrat
00:45:54
his whole life until like 12 minutes ago
00:45:56
they hate him and they really they do
00:45:58
view him as a Judas for daring to to
00:46:01
change all of us it's still look J K too
00:46:06
you look at like red Dy number three you
00:46:08
look at what what Bobby is doing I'm I
00:46:10
am re what I more change before he's
00:46:13
become AJ secretary the food system is
00:46:15
so screwed like let him cook let's see
00:46:18
what he can do and his willingness to
00:46:21
take on corruption Corruption of of big
00:46:25
pharmaceutical compan get in bed uh with
00:46:28
big government that they perpetuate
00:46:30
their monopolies using government power
00:46:32
so I I talked to Bobby for example about
00:46:34
a bill that I've I've been fighting for
00:46:36
a long time that I call the results act
00:46:38
the results act says that if any
00:46:40
pharmaceutical any medical device is
00:46:42
approved in another major developed
00:46:44
country so approved in Canada or Japan
00:46:46
or the EU that the FDA has 60 days to
00:46:49
approve it here or it's deemed
00:46:50
automatically approved by operation love
00:46:52
it
00:46:53
brilliant I I'm going to fight for I
00:46:56
have been fighting for that but I think
00:46:57
now I'll have an HHS secretary that that
00:46:59
agrees with it and I do think if you
00:47:02
look at these cabinet nominees the most
00:47:05
striking characteristic of virtually all
00:47:07
of them is that they're change agents
00:47:08
that they're going to fundamentally
00:47:10
disruptors and and that's exciting we
00:47:12
need that all right listen your people
00:47:14
have been trying to for 20 minutes but
00:47:18
you know what let the man cook I got to
00:47:21
tell the president our bestie Phil helm
00:47:24
youth every time he sees you comes back
00:47:26
to our game says what a great poker
00:47:28
player what a gentl he drops your name I
00:47:31
can get him on the phone right now I
00:47:32
told him call him right now he never
00:47:34
does it he was 100% right you are
00:47:36
amazing great to have you on the you are
00:47:38
tempting me with poker chips I mean
00:47:40
we're going to get you in a game I know
00:47:41
you don't make it to California much but
00:47:43
when you do come play just so you know
00:47:44
the boots play and we need scotch and a
00:47:46
cigar and and I am perfectly happy happy
00:47:50
maybe we'll go playing often I can't
00:47:51
stand all these gang balls where
00:47:53
everyone's in in tuxedos but but but but
00:47:55
my happy place is sitting around the
00:47:57
poker table man you're going to fation
00:47:59
and good scotch so great to have you and
00:48:01
uh congratulations on the big win and
00:48:03
thank you for your service appreciate it
00:48:04
thank you very much thanks a lot thank
00:48:06
you that was great

Episode Highlights

  • The Come and Take It Flag
    Senator Cruz shares the history behind the iconic Texas flag that symbolizes resistance.
    “They flew it over the town and that was the beginning of the Texas Revolution.”
    @ 01m 31s
    January 19, 2025
  • Texas vs. California: A Cultural Shift
    Cruz discusses the migration of people from California to Texas and the cultural differences.
    “In California, if you're in business, you're a pariah.”
    @ 04m 12s
    January 19, 2025
  • Immigration Views: Legal vs. Illegal
    Cruz outlines his immigration stance, emphasizing the importance of legal immigration.
    “Legal good, illegal bad.”
    @ 10m 58s
    January 19, 2025
  • The Importance of Self-Reliance
    Rafael's story illustrates how government assistance can undermine individual responsibility.
    “It breaks your self-respect and individual responsibility.”
    @ 19m 30s
    January 19, 2025
  • Socialized Medicine Debate
    A discussion on the challenges of socialized medicine and its implications in the U.S.
    “50,000 Canadians come to America for medical care they can't get at home.”
    @ 21m 51s
    January 19, 2025
  • Executive Orders Under Trump
    A prediction of a flurry of executive orders from the Trump administration.
    “It's going to be in the neighborhood of 100 executive orders!”
    @ 24m 04s
    January 19, 2025
  • Greenland's Strategic Importance
    Greenland is a prime location for national security and mineral resources.
    “Greenland makes enormous sense from that perspective.”
    @ 37m 53s
    January 19, 2025
  • The Gift of American Citizenship
    Becoming an American could be the greatest gift for Greenlanders.
    “To become an American is in many ways the greatest gift we can give anyone on planet Earth.”
    @ 39m 02s
    January 19, 2025
  • Negotiating Control of the Panama Canal
    Trump's arguments suggest Panama may be violating the terms of the canal transfer.
    “That's a pretty powerful argument.”
    @ 41m 39s
    January 19, 2025

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Texas History01:31
  • Cultural Migration04:12
  • Executive Orders24:04
  • Term Limits Advocacy32:01
  • Greenland Proposal37:16
  • Arctic Competition37:48
  • American Citizenship Debate38:51
  • Let Him Cook46:21

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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