WEBVTT - A Midterm Nightmare 0:00:01.290 --> 0:00:04.960 Welcome to A Meeting of the Minds, crafted from decades 0:00:05.010 --> 0:00:08.300 of talk show experience. An extension of the magic they've 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:12.960 created together on radio in the phenomenon called M & M. 0:00:13.220 --> 0:00:16.360 Hot topics in the news and wisdom from life. It's 0:00:16.610 --> 0:00:21.710 Mark Davis and Mike Gallagher. This is M & M Extra. Music. 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:34.800 The eyes of Texas are weeping. Oh, boy. Welcome in. Post-election, post-mortem, post-bloodbath. 0:00:35.380 --> 0:00:38.940 I'm Mike Gallagher. He's Mark Davis. Portions of our podcast 0:00:39.420 --> 0:00:45.690 sponsored by Preborn, a value that, well, Texas used to cherish. 0:00:46.210 --> 0:00:48.550 We'll see if that goes out the window with everything else. 0:00:48.630 --> 0:00:51.970 You can stand for life today by joining us and 0:00:52.010 --> 0:00:55.390 providing ultrasounds to girls and women. You'll double the likelihood 0:00:55.410 --> 0:01:00.780 she'll choose life. Call 833-850-BABY or just go to preborn.com 0:01:00.820 --> 0:01:05.800 slash mmextra. Look, this is a tale of two states, 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.430 my friend, Florida and Texas. And I'm Florida, you're Texas. 0:01:11.270 --> 0:01:15.390 I'm not really smiling, but I'm a little bit relieved 0:01:15.610 --> 0:01:18.470 at what happened in Florida. But you've got to be 0:01:18.530 --> 0:01:22.580 devastated as to what happened and what direction your beloved 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.940 state of Texas took. Mark, it's pretty dreadful. 0:01:27.390 --> 0:01:30.250 No one, no one saw this. It's kind of funny. 0:01:30.290 --> 0:01:32.500 I've had this little bit I've done for weeks, months, 0:01:32.580 --> 0:01:35.320 I guess, called Operation Prove Them Wrong. We're going to 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.560 prove the polls wrong. We're going to prove the pundits wrong. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:38.300 Guess what? 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:42.559 They were all wrong. They underestimated the level of Democrat passion. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.410 They underestimated the level to which Republicans were willing to, 0:01:46.590 --> 0:01:49.670 and not so much willing to stay home. I mean, yeah, 0:01:49.750 --> 0:01:52.210 I mean, this was a story of Democrat passion joined 0:01:52.290 --> 0:01:56.030 by independents. We didn't have any independents. Independents don't like 0:01:56.030 --> 0:01:59.890 $ 4 gas. Independents don't like an unpopular war. Independents don't 0:01:59.940 --> 0:02:03.700 like an Iranian quagmire. And there were some Republicans, and 0:02:03.740 --> 0:02:05.900 this is a group we need to talk about and 0:02:05.940 --> 0:02:10.160 address and lure back. I don't consider myself a neocon, 0:02:10.180 --> 0:02:13.380 whatever that even means, but I supported the Iran effort. 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.100 I'm glad that we mutured Iran in a nuclear fashion. 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.459 And I don't mind a little bit of expensive gas 0:02:20.500 --> 0:02:22.739 to pay for it, but I did not have enough company. 0:02:23.220 --> 0:02:24.760 There were a lot of people who just, as James 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.100 Carville famously said in 1992, it's the. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:28.000 Economy, stupid. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.799 And every once in a while, a suffering economy can 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.790 eat up all the oxygen for everything else you want 0:02:33.830 --> 0:02:34.190 to say. 0:02:34.630 --> 0:02:35.330 And that's what happened. 0:02:35.810 --> 0:02:38.790 I got people mad at me because I dared play 0:02:38.870 --> 0:02:42.270 some clips from Tallarico who went on Fox News this morning. 0:02:42.470 --> 0:02:42.890 I saw them. 0:02:43.580 --> 0:02:46.260 And let me tell you something. People are mad. I 0:02:46.300 --> 0:02:49.090 got a text from Lynn. Don't go squishy on me 0:02:49.169 --> 0:02:54.070 like this and fall for Tallarico. No, nobody's falling for Tallarico. 0:02:54.470 --> 0:03:00.760 What I'm saying is for a newly elected Democrat senator 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.030 to go on Fox News. and say, I'm willing to 0:03:04.060 --> 0:03:06.450 work with Trump. He's a builder. I want to work 0:03:06.470 --> 0:03:08.610 with him on housing. I want to work with him 0:03:08.650 --> 0:03:10.910 on the border. He was better at the border than 0:03:10.930 --> 0:03:12.570 the previous president was. Said so. 0:03:12.710 --> 0:03:13.410 Exactly right. 0:03:13.460 --> 0:03:18.540 Tallarico said that. Now, people are immediately cynically and understandably 0:03:18.660 --> 0:03:21.139 doubting the veracity of his comments. 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:21.900 I mean, he's just. 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:26.080 However... He didn't have to do that. And can you 0:03:26.139 --> 0:03:29.660 imagine what headache he just gave himself in dealing with 0:03:29.700 --> 0:03:32.880 the Rashida Tlaibs of his caucus? You think they like 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.650 him going on Fox News saying those kinds of things? 0:03:36.290 --> 0:03:37.650 I mean, it's going to be going to be a 0:03:37.650 --> 0:03:41.870 lot of internal turmoil, I would think, after Tallarico appears 0:03:41.930 --> 0:03:44.910 to be willing to say. And he did say, look, 0:03:45.190 --> 0:03:47.150 let's start with the dread that I have been feeling 0:03:47.230 --> 0:03:50.990 over the prosecutions, the inevitable prosecutions and the impeachments and 0:03:51.010 --> 0:03:53.760 all the crap they're going to pull. over Trump and 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.700 his family and all of that. Tallarico said, I don't 0:03:56.740 --> 0:03:59.700 have a mandate to do that. I've got no desire 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.640 to prosecute President Trump or the cabinet or this administration. 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.050 I want to work to make Texans' lives better. Now, 0:04:08.130 --> 0:04:12.170 I loathe just about everything James Tallarico believes in, but 0:04:12.250 --> 0:04:16.310 what if he's telling the truth? Mark, what if he's 0:04:16.430 --> 0:04:20.480 telling the truth? What if he sincerely wants to reach 0:04:20.540 --> 0:04:26.690 across the aisle... and work to make Texas and America better. Now, 0:04:26.890 --> 0:04:28.630 we don't agree on the path to get there, because 0:04:28.670 --> 0:04:31.180 make no mistake, he talked about amnesty in the same 0:04:31.220 --> 0:04:35.930 interview this morning. Of course. But nonetheless. He's not going 0:04:35.970 --> 0:04:39.150 for the jugular and saying, I want to gouge Trump's 0:04:39.310 --> 0:04:42.880 eyes out as soon as I get into office. That's 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:44.700 a start, isn't it? It is. 0:04:44.779 --> 0:04:48.979 And compared to Abdul, he may wind up looking positively mannerly. 0:04:49.100 --> 0:04:52.490 The word that's often used about Tallarico is a certain likability. 0:04:52.510 --> 0:04:55.390 He's just a nice, scrubbed young man, you know. And 0:04:55.570 --> 0:04:59.200 and maybe he is going to have an affability and 0:04:59.220 --> 0:05:03.860 a and a Venn diagram of overlap with the Trump 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.589 administration so that it is funny because he's not in Michigan, 0:05:07.630 --> 0:05:09.310 which is which has two Democrats. 0:05:09.950 --> 0:05:10.330 Senators. 0:05:10.410 --> 0:05:13.250 Ted Cruz still exists. We don't have any Republicans left 0:05:13.310 --> 0:05:16.420 in statewide office, it appears, anymore. But this might be, 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.599 he may be crazy like a fox here and smart 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.700 as a whip in casting a path just in these words. 0:05:23.779 --> 0:05:25.980 And the words are meaningless until he's sworn in and 0:05:26.020 --> 0:05:29.960 starts taking action. But he may wind up as, and 0:05:29.980 --> 0:05:31.940 I don't want to overanalyze it, out of the box 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.850 because anything's possible. It's over analysis day. We're going to 0:05:34.890 --> 0:05:37.610 do some, I promise, here in the coming minutes. But 0:05:38.110 --> 0:05:41.510 he will be really smart if he, we talked about this, 0:05:41.830 --> 0:05:44.710 if the Democrats had some success, we said, if they 0:05:44.770 --> 0:05:47.050 find ways to work with Trump and make these last 0:05:47.150 --> 0:05:51.420 two years, if it means handing Trump some successes, they're 0:05:51.460 --> 0:05:54.400 willing to do it because he has them some successes 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.940 too because it hands america some success those are going 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.020 to be some very smart democrats who are willing to 0:06:00.060 --> 0:06:02.540 do that i don't know if abdul is i don't 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:05.750 know if any andrews is i don't know if jackson 0:06:05.810 --> 0:06:07.029 and main is. 0:06:06.850 --> 0:06:10.450 So uh we'll we'll we'll we'll see we're gonna let 0:06:10.490 --> 0:06:12.169 the game come to us as we always. 0:06:11.930 --> 0:06:15.630 See the you see the abdul uh victory speech last 0:06:15.670 --> 0:06:23.350 night i did He said, my name is Abdul-Rahman Muhammad El-Sayed. 0:06:23.370 --> 0:06:24.050 Oh, yeah. 0:06:24.470 --> 0:06:28.789 He said, I always say Inshallah, but now, today, tonight, 0:06:28.810 --> 0:06:34.360 we can turn that Inshallah into an Allah-Allah-Dul-Aliya, whatever the 0:06:34.380 --> 0:06:37.440 hell that means. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And funny, he 0:06:37.460 --> 0:06:43.120 didn't call himself Abdul-Rahman Muhammad El-Sayed on the campaign trail. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:45.900 Maybe he couldn't fit that on a sign. Maybe that 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:47.450 was too... And he. 0:06:47.410 --> 0:06:51.470 Said, President Trump has trouble pronouncing my name, but when J.D. 0:06:51.550 --> 0:06:53.810 Vance swears me in, I'll tell him that he can 0:06:53.850 --> 0:06:54.990 just call me Senator. 0:06:56.230 --> 0:06:57.110 Okay, all right. 0:06:58.089 --> 0:07:02.710 And they're going to do that. Look, they kicked our ass. 0:07:03.510 --> 0:07:06.310 There's no other way around it. And when you get 0:07:06.350 --> 0:07:09.000 your ass kicked, you've got to have a little bit 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:13.060 of humility. You've got to be a little humble because, look, 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.200 I don't want to rub your nose in it. I 0:07:15.260 --> 0:07:18.120 love you like my brother. You promised there's no way 0:07:18.180 --> 0:07:19.230 Tallarico could get elected. 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.630 I didn't promise, did I? Yes, you did. Yes, you did. 0:07:22.670 --> 0:07:23.570 Words have meaning. 0:07:23.830 --> 0:07:26.010 They do have meaning. You said it can't happen in 0:07:26.030 --> 0:07:26.950 the Texas I know. 0:07:27.330 --> 0:07:29.809 Correct, which is not a promise. It's an assessment. 0:07:30.070 --> 0:07:31.490 You know Texas. 0:07:31.690 --> 0:07:32.410 And I still do. 0:07:32.630 --> 0:07:34.190 Oh, do you? Let me clean up on that. Why 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:35.880 did you say Tallarico can't win? 0:07:36.500 --> 0:07:42.890 Because what I underestimated enormously— was the power of the 0:07:42.970 --> 0:07:48.210 negativity of the war and the negativity of affordability. Because 0:07:48.250 --> 0:07:50.340 I do not, for one minute, believe that my state 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.980 has turned liberal. Not for one minute. But there were 0:07:54.020 --> 0:07:59.960 enough Democrats just jazzed to the max, enough sort of 0:07:59.990 --> 0:08:02.790 beaten into submission by the economy and affordability and a 0:08:02.830 --> 0:08:06.170 war that's unpopular. to just make this this lightning in 0:08:06.190 --> 0:08:10.070 a bottle moment you can't can't sneeze at it spin 0:08:10.110 --> 0:08:13.030 it or sugarcoat it in any way i do feel 0:08:13.050 --> 0:08:16.210 i i said that if if i know my state 0:08:16.570 --> 0:08:19.230 there's no way this guy can win well he won 0:08:19.250 --> 0:08:22.710 and so i was too obviously mistaken about his ability 0:08:22.730 --> 0:08:26.320 to win i was But I still feel like. 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.560 I know my state. 0:08:28.580 --> 0:08:28.960 You don't. 0:08:29.100 --> 0:08:30.180 I've been turned into California. 0:08:30.420 --> 0:08:33.950 You are California. You're a blue state. You're a blue state, Mark, 0:08:33.990 --> 0:08:36.869 and it's hard for you to accept that. You're in 0:08:36.910 --> 0:08:40.689 your bubble, and I get it, and I'm so sad 0:08:40.750 --> 0:08:43.189 for you, and I'm sad for Texas. There wasn't a 0:08:43.309 --> 0:08:46.920 single statewide office that a Republican won last night. Bye-bye, 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:51.260 Dan Patrick. Bye-bye Greg Abbott. They're all gone. Every one 0:08:51.300 --> 0:08:53.380 of them. You're going to try to say it's not 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:54.360 a liberal state? 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:56.800 No, it's not. 0:08:56.940 --> 0:09:03.260 What happened was in this moment in time, this horrible 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:07.620 moment in time, for national issues that powered the Senate 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.710 phenomenon of Tallarico, he brought squillions of people into the 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:12.800 polls for him. 0:09:13.230 --> 0:09:14.449 And while they were there. 0:09:15.260 --> 0:09:17.819 You want those same people went ahead and said, whoa, 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.400 you mean we can get rid of Abbott and Patrick 0:09:20.500 --> 0:09:23.959 and prevent Attorney General Mays Middleton and Comptroller Don Huffines? 0:09:24.220 --> 0:09:27.970 Sweet bonus plan. So that's what they did, all driven 0:09:28.070 --> 0:09:33.010 by the suffering of the moment. None of this would 0:09:33.030 --> 0:09:35.290 have happened if we were not at war with Iran, 0:09:35.340 --> 0:09:36.420 if we had 250 gas. 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.160 You know, and we can argue about this all day long. 0:09:40.220 --> 0:09:42.760 I do disagree with you strongly. Texas has turned blue. 0:09:42.820 --> 0:09:44.800 There's no way around it. I mean, technically, yes. Yeah, 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:45.719 I mean, it's a blue state. 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.840 It's not become a state full of liberals. 0:09:49.059 --> 0:09:51.680 And there's a whole lot of great people in California 0:09:51.740 --> 0:09:54.429 who are stuck in a liberal state, too. You're in 0:09:54.450 --> 0:09:56.480 a liberal state now, and it happened in the blink 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:58.490 of an eye. I hate it. I hate it for 0:09:58.530 --> 0:10:02.319 the good people of Texas. Bill Mellugian set out a 0:10:02.580 --> 0:10:07.060 real tough reality check on X this morning. Understand the 0:10:07.100 --> 0:10:12.880 implications of what your state just became. Gina Hinojosa. has 0:10:12.940 --> 0:10:16.120 called on Governor Abbott to end state and local cooperation 0:10:16.140 --> 0:10:19.589 with ICE. Well, she'll do that on day one. Yep. 0:10:19.809 --> 0:10:24.070 She voted against any kind of effort to ban the 0:10:24.090 --> 0:10:28.209 sanctuary city status. There'll be sanctuary cities now in Texas. 0:10:28.790 --> 0:10:32.390 She voted against making it a state crime to cross 0:10:32.550 --> 0:10:36.500 illegally into Texas. If there's another border crisis, there'll be 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.540 no resistance from Texas at the border now. There'll be 0:10:39.580 --> 0:10:43.679 no Texas DPS, no Texas National Guard, no razor wire 0:10:43.700 --> 0:10:47.910 or water buoys, no Operation Lone Star. Hinojosa, your new governor, 0:10:47.970 --> 0:10:50.830 called that a dog and pony show and political theater. 0:10:51.610 --> 0:10:55.410 Remember when the 15,000 Haitians surged into Del Rio under 0:10:55.429 --> 0:10:58.959 that big international bridge? The only reason that got stopped 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:03.069 was because Abbott ordered Texas DPS and they physically blocked 0:11:03.110 --> 0:11:09.270 further crossings. She won't do that. And then more good news, 0:11:09.590 --> 0:11:14.410 I say sarcastically, additionally because Republicans failed to pass any 0:11:14.490 --> 0:11:20.069 legislation codifying President Trump's border security measures, Bill Mellugian writes, 0:11:20.750 --> 0:11:23.970 if Dems take the White House in 2028, that Dem 0:11:24.030 --> 0:11:27.960 president could, if he or she wants to, reverse every 0:11:28.260 --> 0:11:33.640 single Trump border security policy immediately upon taking office because 0:11:33.660 --> 0:11:35.900 they were all done at the executive level. And they 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.959 can order Border Patrol to go back to be a 0:11:38.100 --> 0:11:42.670 passive catch and release policy just like we saw under 0:11:42.730 --> 0:11:45.570 Joe Biden. I mean, Mark, it's a nightmare. This is 0:11:45.610 --> 0:11:49.760 a nightmare of epic proportions. I wish I could sugarcoat it. 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.320 You can't and you shouldn't because all of those things 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.880 are true. And I guess in a semantic thing. I 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.160 do not consider my state to be a liberal state 0:11:58.220 --> 0:12:00.560 as in filled with a majority of liberal people. 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:01.360 No, not at all. 0:12:01.380 --> 0:12:04.070 But it will be liberally run. It will be liberally 0:12:04.140 --> 0:12:06.670 governed to our sizable detriment. 0:12:06.850 --> 0:12:10.590 Let me talk about why I'm actually weirdly positive today. 0:12:10.630 --> 0:12:13.190 I was driving into work, and I was praying. I mean, 0:12:13.210 --> 0:12:15.750 I was going over the Howard Franklin, always praying that 0:12:15.770 --> 0:12:17.449 I don't go flying off into the water. 0:12:17.510 --> 0:12:18.990 Plenty of reasons. 0:12:19.110 --> 0:12:21.850 But I was praying just to give me guidance, Lord, 0:12:21.890 --> 0:12:25.080 give me strength, I'm going to be with my pal, Mark. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.650 I'm going to be with this audience. And I realized 0:12:27.980 --> 0:12:31.420 how blessed I am to have this environment, this platform, 0:12:31.780 --> 0:12:35.400 this community. We're in a community here. This is a 0:12:35.460 --> 0:12:37.239 community of people. Look at that. We've got a couple 0:12:37.260 --> 0:12:40.500 hundred people now watching the live stream over at YouTube. 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.480 We're building every day M & M Extra. We got 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:49.040 Texas J.A. Singleton and Josh Williams commenting and Susan Scott 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.260 and Ken from Columbia and all these great commenters on 0:12:52.300 --> 0:12:54.620 our chat room. And we thank you for being there. 0:12:54.660 --> 0:12:57.390 We want you to like, and subscribe, please like, and 0:12:57.410 --> 0:13:00.150 subscribe over at YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. 0:13:00.190 --> 0:13:02.170 We appreciate you being a part of this, but Mark, 0:13:02.570 --> 0:13:04.530 how lucky are we that we have one another to 0:13:04.570 --> 0:13:07.050 get through this? If I was, if I worked in 0:13:07.070 --> 0:13:11.359 an insurance agency, if I, if I sold cars, sold cars, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.640 Guess what? I'd be alone. And we have each other, 0:13:16.140 --> 0:13:21.949 and we've been through so much together. The pandemic, 9-11, 0:13:23.750 --> 0:13:28.309 the 2016 victory, all this ups and downs, and here 0:13:28.350 --> 0:13:30.790 we are again together trying to make sense of it all. 0:13:31.110 --> 0:13:32.810 How blessed are we, Mark Davis? 0:13:33.490 --> 0:13:35.740 And I also mentioned to you yesterday, and I thought 0:13:35.750 --> 0:13:38.880 about it overnight, and it's not about us, so pardon 0:13:38.900 --> 0:13:41.250 the following sentence if it sounds that way. But this 0:13:41.290 --> 0:13:44.429 little enterprise of ours in podcast form, radio talk show form, 0:13:44.450 --> 0:13:49.790 whatever we do, it just got more important. Because, listen, 0:13:50.050 --> 0:13:53.000 would I trade a better result and have us just 0:13:53.030 --> 0:13:55.340 kind of be continuing to row the boat in the 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.380 direction in which it's going and, hey, let's get some 0:13:57.420 --> 0:13:59.000 more success in 2028? 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.120 Sure, I'd love that. But as it is, we are 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:02.780 now the loyal opposition, as you said. 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:07.040 I'm going to be a voice in occupied Texas. trying 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.900 to do the important and vital job of winning my 0:14:09.940 --> 0:14:13.970 state back for sanity, for red state status, for Republicans. 0:14:14.350 --> 0:14:16.150 We're going to be trying to move toward 2028 and 0:14:16.190 --> 0:14:19.890 make sure we get a successor for Trump, again, in 0:14:19.930 --> 0:14:24.390 this climate that doesn't take us further. And that's a 0:14:24.630 --> 0:14:30.440 vital and important and And heroic thing for us to 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:32.400 be doing. And again, that sounds kind of narcissistic. I 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.230 don't know because we'll be joined heroically by all kinds 0:14:35.260 --> 0:14:37.880 of people. We're just sitting here talking the talk. Others 0:14:37.900 --> 0:14:39.830 will walk the walk and we will, too, to make 0:14:39.870 --> 0:14:42.230 sure that this doesn't stick, that this is just kind 0:14:42.270 --> 0:14:44.550 of a hiccup, a moment in time and but one 0:14:44.610 --> 0:14:45.690 chapter of a better story. 0:14:46.030 --> 0:14:49.690 We all have now a very important role to play. 0:14:50.450 --> 0:14:52.660 And I don't mean just Mark and Mike. I'm talking 0:14:52.700 --> 0:14:56.800 about this audience. I'm talking about voters. I'm talking about citizens. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:01.570 And Mark, I'm just I feel overwhelmingly grateful that we 0:15:01.650 --> 0:15:05.840 have this, that we have this this place. this little family, 0:15:05.900 --> 0:15:10.960 this little community, because, look, I was down. I mean, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.760 I drove home last night, almost had to stop the car. 0:15:13.780 --> 0:15:16.850 I thought, I cannot believe that it was as bad 0:15:16.930 --> 0:15:23.730 as it got. And I'm just continually, you know, despondent. 0:15:24.290 --> 0:15:28.720 And here's the worst part. Get ready for the percentage 0:15:28.770 --> 0:15:34.530 of Republicans who stayed home yesterday. We said over and over, 0:15:34.670 --> 0:15:37.940 if you show up, we win. And if people showed up, 0:15:38.020 --> 0:15:41.320 this wouldn't have happened. And when all the finger pointing 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.100 is done, and there's lots of fingers being pointed, John Thune, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:49.140 Greg Abbott, you're Mr. Texas. I got to share with 0:15:49.180 --> 0:15:54.630 you what's being said about Greg Abbott, even by President Trump. Trump, 0:15:54.710 --> 0:15:57.050 not good. Turned on Abbott last night and said he's 0:15:57.070 --> 0:16:00.910 been a rhino for the last six months. Now, there's 0:16:00.930 --> 0:16:05.290 a group called Lone Star Legionaries at Texas Loyal that 0:16:05.330 --> 0:16:07.810 had a post that I want to get your read 0:16:07.870 --> 0:16:10.690 on this for just a moment. It's pretty ugly. It's 0:16:10.730 --> 0:16:15.090 pretty nasty. But look, at the end of the day, 0:16:15.810 --> 0:16:17.850 we're going to get through all of this together. We're 0:16:17.870 --> 0:16:19.580 going to survive this. We're going to come out on 0:16:19.620 --> 0:16:24.560 the other side. And I think about just lifting each 0:16:24.620 --> 0:16:27.060 other up in tough times. And we're going to do 0:16:27.100 --> 0:16:30.040 that together with one another. And look, we get to 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.200 brag on books that we like, like Carbon Zero, one 0:16:33.220 --> 0:16:36.360 of our partners here on the podcast. Craig W. Stanfill 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.210 was on this podcast and on our talk shows, respectively. 0:16:40.070 --> 0:16:44.110 His insights are real. This book is a page-turner. You 0:16:44.130 --> 0:16:48.470 want to escape for a couple hours, a few hours? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Look, 0:16:48.530 --> 0:16:49.390 I want to escape. 0:16:49.630 --> 0:16:51.590 Go to something that's worse than what happened. 0:16:52.050 --> 0:16:52.950 In the election. 0:16:53.150 --> 0:16:54.610 You want something truly dystopian? 0:16:54.650 --> 0:16:56.970 Yes, do it. You want to go dystopian? Yeah, you 0:16:57.010 --> 0:17:00.600 want to go crazy. What happens if somebody told AI 0:17:00.630 --> 0:17:02.760 to go do something and AI does it and it's 0:17:03.100 --> 0:17:06.139 got chilling consequences? It's a great novel. If you're fascinated 0:17:06.180 --> 0:17:10.199 by where AI is taking our world, and incidentally, AI 0:17:10.220 --> 0:17:13.800 had been greatly impacted by yesterday's election because guess what? 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.859 Also comes to a screeching massive halt. A lot of 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:19.680 the data centers A lot of the data centers, there 0:17:19.700 --> 0:17:25.050 were legislation all over America where people voted down the 0:17:25.350 --> 0:17:29.590 evolution and the continuation of data centers. 0:17:29.930 --> 0:17:32.909 It's one of the things that makes AI so fascinating 0:17:32.950 --> 0:17:34.710 is there's a dark side, a bright side, and the 0:17:34.750 --> 0:17:37.070 wonderful Carbon Zero book, which everybody can get right now. 0:17:37.090 --> 0:17:37.510 Craig W. 0:17:37.530 --> 0:17:40.169 Stanfield's Carbon Zero. Get it at all kinds of places 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.479 where fine books are sold. It is a dystopian subject 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.640 matter by its roots. And it's just something that'll take 0:17:47.660 --> 0:17:48.990 you down the road and have you thinking about it. 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:50.990 And we're all going to need to be thinking about it. 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.180 No better way to do it than with this great model. 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.790 We're appreciative of how hard it is to do a 0:17:55.830 --> 0:17:58.190 good podcast. We put a lot of work into M & 0:17:57.890 --> 0:18:00.470 M Extra, and we appreciate our audience and all the team. 0:18:00.490 --> 0:18:04.600 And I just can't thank Eric and Yasmin and Tracy enough. 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.409 especially Eric and Yasmin's efforts. They work so hard on 0:18:08.430 --> 0:18:13.430 this thing. And gosh, they do it without ever griping 0:18:13.470 --> 0:18:16.810 or complaining. They just do the work. And it looks 0:18:16.890 --> 0:18:19.710 great and it sounds great. And that's all, Eric and Yasmin. 0:18:19.750 --> 0:18:23.859 We thank you guys so very much. And we appreciate 0:18:23.900 --> 0:18:26.859 good podcasting like Our American Stories. And I've known Lee 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.720 Habib for years. You've been telling the story of Our 0:18:30.820 --> 0:18:33.040 American Stories. And, Mark, you can do it better than 0:18:33.100 --> 0:18:35.380 I can because you've been talking about it on 660 0:18:35.380 --> 0:18:36.820 AM The Answer for a long time. 0:18:37.180 --> 0:18:39.640 We've had the relationship with him to plug this podcast 0:18:39.660 --> 0:18:41.939 for a few months and going through this 250th birthday year. 0:18:43.619 --> 0:18:45.750 And a lot of American history was out there in 0:18:45.790 --> 0:18:47.530 the ether. And some of it was being told by 0:18:47.590 --> 0:18:50.080 people who just don't seem to like the country very much. 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.580 I said, well, again, by my fill of that. So 0:18:52.740 --> 0:18:55.630 Our American Stories, with the storytelling tradition of the great 0:18:55.670 --> 0:18:58.830 Paul Harvey, is Lee bringing up people in politics and 0:18:58.890 --> 0:19:01.330 academics and sports and the arts and sciences, people who 0:19:01.350 --> 0:19:03.850 have made this country great because it is so truly great. 0:19:04.170 --> 0:19:07.939 Go to OurAmericanStories.com. Click the Join button. You'll get the 0:19:07.980 --> 0:19:09.740 weekly newsletter. You can find out how to be a 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.900 part of this great and growing storytelling brand. But most importantly, 0:19:12.940 --> 0:19:17.280 just go to OurAmericanStories.com. Find every episode of Our American Stories. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.450 Okay, there's an organization called Lone Star Legionaries. It's described 0:19:22.670 --> 0:19:26.050 on their X account as a nonprofit org that works 0:19:26.109 --> 0:19:30.810 on the preservation of Texas history, protecting Texas values, Texas traditions. 0:19:32.060 --> 0:19:34.340 And here's what they wrote today. I want to read 0:19:34.380 --> 0:19:36.919 this to you, Mark, because I want to get your response, 0:19:36.940 --> 0:19:39.340 because nobody can tackle this like you can. You know 0:19:39.380 --> 0:19:42.840 Texas way better than most people. Many Texans are waking 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.290 up today asking, how could this happen? There's plenty of 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.400 blame to go around for the results of last night's 0:19:48.460 --> 0:19:52.139 midterm election in Texas. This post might anger some, but 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.179 guess what? We are angry too. And someone has to 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:58.590 state the facts in hope that some learn from this. 0:19:58.910 --> 0:20:04.700 Greg Abbott invited H-1B visa workers to Texas. took money 0:20:04.820 --> 0:20:08.980 from and welcomed Islamists into Texas, took money from and 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:14.000 welcomed Indians into Texas, failure to push property tax elimination, 0:20:14.100 --> 0:20:18.900 failure to deliver monument protection, COVID mandates, business closures, failure 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.479 to secure the border, entertaining the red flag gun laws 0:20:22.890 --> 0:20:26.210 after the Santa Fe school shooting. There's a lot of 0:20:26.250 --> 0:20:31.070 people laying a lot of blame at his desk. What 0:20:31.090 --> 0:20:31.390 do you think? 0:20:32.410 --> 0:20:34.990 There are a few of those where they're not wrong 0:20:35.130 --> 0:20:38.700 in the gripes that they have. But in anybody suggesting 0:20:38.900 --> 0:20:41.639 that this was why he got wiped off the map. 0:20:41.740 --> 0:20:43.679 It's just. factually false. 0:20:44.940 --> 0:20:47.100 It was the larger things that we've talked about the 0:20:47.140 --> 0:20:50.280 same because they hold those against Dan Patrick. They hold 0:20:50.300 --> 0:20:52.980 that against Don Huffines for comptroller. They hold it against 0:20:53.070 --> 0:20:56.690 Mays Middleton. No, it was just a complete steamrolling job, 0:20:56.710 --> 0:21:00.070 but it doesn't mean these people are wrong because they're not. 0:21:00.210 --> 0:21:02.770 If there are some things, do we have too many H1Bs? 0:21:02.810 --> 0:21:03.490 Yes, we do. 0:21:04.650 --> 0:21:07.150 Are there some other things where even a good, successful 0:21:07.210 --> 0:21:09.659 conservative governor like Greg Abbott could have been better on? 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:09.750 Yes. 0:21:09.859 --> 0:21:10.179 Yes. 0:21:10.859 --> 0:21:13.700 And now that he's been sort of wiped from the landscape, 0:21:14.900 --> 0:21:20.280 the one alpha governor left remaining is Ron DeSantis. I 0:21:20.340 --> 0:21:23.479 floated to this audience, the radio audience. Some of our 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.300 conversation about where you just said Ron DeSantis just got 0:21:26.340 --> 0:21:28.280 a much better job, but much better chance to be 0:21:28.300 --> 0:21:31.600 in president United States. You've punched Rubio to the curb. 0:21:31.980 --> 0:21:33.500 And I said, what happened to Rubio? 0:21:33.540 --> 0:21:36.520 You said he's part of the Trump administration as if 0:21:36.619 --> 0:21:38.859