WEBVTT - Abbot's Border Folly 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:12.520 It's an introduction. Good for you. We did. Yeah, I 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:18.599 love that. What what show is this? Uh? This is 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:20.959 this is it could happen here a show that is 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.880 also currently in the middle of about seventeen thousand personnel disasters. 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.240 But it's fine. Uh yeah, I am I am Christopher 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.560 Wong and with me is Garrison. Hello, Hi, good morning 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:36.239 or afternoon or evening, depending on when you're listening. And 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:41.320 also Sophie Hello, Hi. So we are we're going to 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:45.519 talk about something that is I guess technically over, but 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.760 it was extremely weird and did a lot of harm. 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:54.360 And that is the very weird stuff that Texas General 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:59.080 General Jesus hopefully not Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who had 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:04.080 general the General of Texas. Greg, I mean, like you're 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.400 kind of not wrong, but he wished like that, he 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.760 wishes he wishes he was the General of Texas. I mean, 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:13.480 I feel like that's one of those things where like that, 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.160 that's when we know the coup started, is when he himself, 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:22.800 the general, takes over Texas. So Greg Abbott is extremely mad, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.360 and he's actually mad because Biden finally decided to end 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.520 one of like the absolute worst Trump era border policies 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.000 just called Title forty two, and it's he was like 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:38.840 nominally an anti pandemic measures, like the CDC. That's so, 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:40.840 I don't know why it took me like five seconds 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.640 to remember the name of the CDC, the Central Defense Agency. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.240 that one. Yeah. So it's normally supposed to be a 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.120 thing where it's like, okay, you can you cut off 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.920 migrants from coming into the country because there's a risk 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.920 of a pandemic. Now, okay, if if if you have 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.920 lived the last two years, you know that the US 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:00.200 just literally does not give a single ship out the 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.600 pandemic at all, like ending. Yeah. Yeah, so this, this 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.640 whole thing really has just been a justification to just 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.880 boot out, this prevent every like asylum seeker in refugee, 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:14.840 an immigrant for getting into the country. And you know 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:19.240 that you can tell this because the title forty two 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.040 when it was originally invoked, didn't cover people who were 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.200 like driving trucks across the border. Like he didn't cover 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.280 economic activity of course not. Yeah, so it's it's it's 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:28.560 just a way for the US to like not have 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:32.120 asylum seekers. And Biden let this go for like another 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.760 fucking year while he was in office, and so like 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.440 it's like like late last monthy like he finally got 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.120 rid of it. And you know, this means that like 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.680 immigrants and refugees now once again have their legal right 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.919 under both American and international law to a petition for asylum, 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:51.840 which again the US doesn't give a shit about, because 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.160 you know, the US doesn't care about laws unless they 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:58.960 do bad things. But this finally happens and Greg Abbott, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.200 who is once again we must remind of you one 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.799 the great habbit is, is running for election in November, 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.800 and she's it's justus just literally running through the entire 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.000 right wing like every single right wing scary we can 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.760 possibly think of. Don't worry, Chris, don't worry Chris. Beto 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.440 will get him. I believe. I believe in Beto this 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:26.640 time by like slide. Yeah, well okay, So the thing 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:28.840 that could stop him from this is Greg Abbott decides 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.120 you like two PR stunts, and one of them is 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.920 he's taking busses of of immigris throt asylum seekers and 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.520 just busting them. The d C and I want to 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.480 talk about this for a little like a second, because 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.800 like this is really shitty and that shouldn't be legal, 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.280 shouldn't be allowed to really traffick. You're trafficking people across 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.360 the country for a political stunt. That's like that that 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.960 shouldn't be allowed. Yeah, Like and like I think like 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:55.640 everyone's like, oh, this is book like it is. But 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:57.880 like the thing with American political sence is that real 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.600 people get hurt constantly. Yeah, And we're gonna come back 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:03.240 to that theme more in a second. As we talked 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:07.520 about the second stunt that he did, which was so 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.440 essentially what Abbott did, is there are an enormous number 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:17.560 of trucks that cross the US Mexican border into Texas 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.280 like every day, right, I mean they're like there are 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.479 individual bridges that are moving six seventy billion dollars of 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.920 just produce like every day. And so that produced when 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:29.320 it when it comes into the US, it goes to 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.360 a bunch of checks by the border patrol and stuff. 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.120 And there's all these checks and this is this whole thing. 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:40.280 But uh, Abbott went on this incredibly bizarre rants about well, 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:41.599 I mean it's not bizarre. I guess if you're right. 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:43.560 When we went on this rant about like the cartels 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:45.880 and there's immigrants of need to stop them, and so 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:52.159 she's very scary. Yeah, it's really weird. Okay, So he's 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:53.960 he's doing all the birds faymongering, and he's like, Okay, 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.120 we need to stop the people from getting across the border. 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.600 So we're gonna inspect all of these trucks, which again 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.800 like they're already being inspected by the FEDS. This is 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:04.760 this is you know, this is where like the horrible 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.360 ice budget is going. Right. So he he does this, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:10.960 and he he calls in a bunch of just like 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:12.960 the border patrols to just literally do all of the 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:17.280 same checks again. And this has an enormous economic impact. Um, 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.600 I'm going to read a quote from the American Statesman. 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:23.240 The delays have resulted in a six drop in commercial 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.960 traffic at the border, according to ums U S Customs 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.120 and Border Protections. The agency said the delays are a 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.160 direct results of quote additional and unnecessary inspections being conducted 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.880 at Abbot's request. I I do like that the same 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:41.680 people who were shooting moms in Portland now inspecting produce 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.760 at the Texas. It's it's pretty well. I mean, I 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:47.320 think I think that there there there's an important thing 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.120 to note here. Writes like, so, why why are these 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.800 the people who are like doing both these things. And 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:57.320 the answer is that, like those organizations like that, the 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.200 thing that they're designed to do is to protect the 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.960 interest of American capital. And you know, so the interest 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.279 of American capital are we need to move capital across 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.080 the we need to move goods across the border, and 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:11.480 we need to just like absolutely obliterate like a bunch 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:16.160 of teenagers who don't like us. That is pretty much 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.640 their bit um. I mean, yeah, I know we've talked 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.560 in the past about us like customs and border and 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:25.120 word protections and the weird the weird like agencies and 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.920 weird kind of almost militias that they operate and how 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:29.960 they get deployed into certain areas if they're you know, 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.080 x x miles away from the border. Um, it would 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.080 be worth talking about more in depth in the future, 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.680 because I know Robert has done some historical background on 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.680 them from Bastards, um. But I think, yeah, that is 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.440 something I would I would be down to talk more about. Yeah. 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.000 I think they are a very bizarre agents. Yeah, they're 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.920 very weird. They're also really not like in this story, 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:53.080 they're basically really just sitting there being mad because it's 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.760 taking longer at what they do. Yeah. And and you 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:00.520 know because because again like these these actual spections are 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:05.920 being run by like state troopers, and because because because 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.479 Abbott has more direct control overy stage. Yeah, because yeah, 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.560 Abbot dr power for them. And this means that like, okay, 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.240 so you have your truck, right, your truck has a 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:14.679 bunch of produce in it, you would be it across 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:19.560 the border. Um. This usually takes about two hours of 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.280 you know, being like sitting there in a truck while 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.000 you're stop your every once cargo gets inspected and stuff, 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.480 which I will say the truckers don't even get paid 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:29.560 for that when they're waiting two hours. Yeah, and and 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.200 and you know what would make that worse, Oh yeah, 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:36.160 now it takes between ten and thirty hours because intentionally, 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.840 on purpose was like okay, we're just we're gonna put 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.440 six thousand like people total to do this whole thing. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.840 And so you know, like hundreds of millions of dollars 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.400 of produce like since like onions and tomatoes and avocados 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.840 are just sitting in these trucks, rotting in the textas heat. Yep, 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.600 hopefully the trucks are refrigerated, but still, well, the trucks 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.440 are refrigerated, but like the people in them, I'm sure 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.480 the cabins are not. Yeah, I'm sure it gets mighty well. 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.440 You know, I do have some family who would truckers, 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.440 and some of the cabins can be nice. But still 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.200 that's sitting for thirty hours without getting paid because the 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.240 only get paid when you are moving. Um, which is 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.520 oh uh not a great way to you know, run 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.920 our entire economy. Yeah, I'm gonna read a quote. I'm 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.360 gonna read a suction from the paragraph of the Texas Tribune. Felix, 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.360 a sixty year old Mexican trucker who was transporting tomatoes, 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.240 onions and avocados, waited about thirteen hours in line at 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.520 the bridge. He has to be identified only by his 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.600 first name for fear of retribution and targeted inspections from 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.679 CPB officials. Hearing of the delays at the border, he 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.280 packed water and food for a few days, but other 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.600 truckers didn't come as prepared, and we're sitting in stand 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.760 still traffic without anything to eat or drink. Felix said 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.840 he was told by a CPB official that the agency 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:49.920 would be putting portable bathrooms along the bridge for the 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.839 gridlocked truckers, but he never saw them. Once Felix made 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.360 it to the state troopers inspection point around nine pm, 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.480 he said they didn't even peer into his truck, which 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.280 had been sealed since Mexican had already's inspected about six 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.199 hundred miles away in the state of Sineloa. There's no 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.640 possibility of bringing legal immigrants in the merchandise or in 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.040 the cabin, he said, referencing one of Abbott's explanations for 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.920 the inspections. I can't bring any illegal immigrants here for 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.000 money because I know inspectors are going to discover them. 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:16.599 It's not a thing here. I don't know what the 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:19.040 politicians ideas are. I don't know what they're talking about. 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.360 So that seems not good. Yeah, it's it's really bad. 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.959 And like again, like this is this whole thing is 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.880 nonsense like that. I didn't even I didn't even think 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.520 about having to, you know, use the bathroom for hours. Yeah, 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:34.319 and like do you think the thing with this is 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.839 like this, the backups are eight miles long, so like 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:40.800 if you want to go to the bathroom, you have 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.400 to walk for like miles, depending depending on where you 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.880 are in this backup. And you know this is having 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.920 like these just enormous horrifying that there's like these normous 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.280 horrifying knock on effects. Um, because you know, it's not 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.240 just the truckers are affected by this. There's a bunch 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.640 of workers whose job it is you know, it's the 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:01.440 process is these goods rights, take them out of trucks, 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.120 put them into American trucks to like sort through the 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:06.559 vegetables and figure out like which ones are good and 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.440 which ones are not. And again, like just enormous amounts 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:13.559 of just produce that is like fresh and good to eat. 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.719 It's just being intentionally destroyed because it's being forced to 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.199 sit at the border for this long. Uh. There's a 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.720 bunch of these people whose whose job like who who 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:23.360 are contract workers whose job it is to like go 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.000 through this stuff, and they're all getting fired because they're 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.320 like there's no work for them to do. Um. There's 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:32.679 all of these people who like their their jobs that 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.240 they run bodegoes that they run like like they run restaurants. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:36.880 Did they run a much of stuff on the border 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:38.880 for these truckers, and they also don't have any work. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:40.760 And those people have to on a day by date, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.120 like it's like I think it's per day to rent 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:50.199 a terminal in Yeah, and they're making nothing, and it's 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.200 it's it's horrifying. There's all there's there's just enormous economic 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:57.800 devastation that that that's been sort of like you know 0:10:57.920 --> 0:10:59.839 that that that that's been happening because of this and 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.839 well you know, you know what else reminds me of 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:13.600 economic devastation, Ah, the fact that the fact that our 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:18.679 paychecks are solely reliant on the products and services that 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:23.600 support this podcast. It's true. Yeah, Well we'll talk about 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.959 the problems they're having in a second after this break. Yep, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:41.040 one second. Wow, that was that was a fast second. 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.400 That just that that flew right by time is not real? 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:47.640 Destroy the clocks decided to start the police, all right, 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:53.920 if you press if you press the if you press 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.760 the thirty second button four times, yes, yeah, real speedy. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.680 Now this is having other problems because, as we talked 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.760 about the show, literally ad nausea and our supply chains 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.280 are really bad. And it turns out, yeah, that does 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.360 seem to be a recurring character on the pod. Is 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.440 that supply chains uh not the most stable thing we've invented. Yeah, 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.920 and especially with especially with with with fruit and vegetables. Well, 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.360 I mean, well we will be getting some of the 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:19.880 other supply chains that are like fun because of this, 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:24.559 but like prudent vegetables in particular, like the way that 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.679 we do them, they're they're designed to be in motion 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.319 for like a very specific amount of time so that 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.680 when they show up to you they're ripe. Yeah. Yeah, 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:33.480 you know, you add a few hours onto that everything 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.760 falls apart. And this like I'm not sure if it 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.080 happens because I'm not in Texas, but there was there 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:41.600 were a bunch of articles were talking about like yeah, 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.040 like avocados and Texas are gonna cost five more dollars, 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.000 Like like a single avocado is price is gonna increase 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.080 by like five dollars over the weekend because like because 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.080 it was just the enormous amount of produces that that's 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.880 being destroyed here. And you know, there's there's a lot 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.240 of other stuff going on here because American and Mexican 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.040 supply chains are enormously integrated. It from now. I mean 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:02.760 they've always been in good to some extent, but like 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.120 particularly post NAFTA, there's a lot of like auto supply 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.880 chains in particular that are that are tied to two 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.719 plants in Mexico, and you actually this occasionally has like 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.320 interesting effects, like Mexico's has a lot of auto strikes 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.280 and you get like you get these things where like 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:21.599 people will like tuck messages into like auto parts and 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:23.640 like send them to the US. People will open these 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:27.240 messages from like a worker in Mexico too. Yeah, you 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:29.600 need and it's it's cool that there's lots of there's 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.720 interesting stuff there, but this also means that like, yeah, 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.000 so if those parts are moving across the border, there 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.200 was just in time, production schedules are even more Omega 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:44.720 screwed than they've been already. And so yeah, there's been 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:49.559 a lot of sort of economics stuff that's been happening here. 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.679 And you know the other people who are getting just 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.480 completely screwed by this are are the Mexican truckers and 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.040 so yeah and so so so this this this starts 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:03.600 on April six, on Monday, April eleven, I the truckers 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.079 are just like funck this and they start just completely 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.360 blockading the largest border crossing between like this it's on 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.480 the Giant bridge. They started they literally just blockade the 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.240 bridge and but prevent any goods from from getting in. 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:21.120 And this this has an enormous impact because again, like 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.040 you know, it was going like yeah it was production 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.160 was down by by sixty percent, but that means still 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.760 means goods are getting through. And now you know, and 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.400 bye bye bye. By the eleventh, it's just nothing. Um. 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:35.680 I do. I do hope the one the one good 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:39.400 thing that can come out of the whole Canada COVID 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.880 isn't real protests, um, is that people have learned that 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.720 blocking off supply chains it's a really effective way to 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.680 do protest. Use. You can stop the import of thousands 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.160 and millions and billions of dollars of trade um pretty 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.040 easily actually, And it would be cool if more people realize, Hey, 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.360 obviously the COVID stuff that we're talking about and the 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.520 whole over the in the government part um to install 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.680 a right wing dictator that part it's obviously bad, but 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.800 some of their tactics were actually pretty interesting. Yeah, we're 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:14.560 we're going to get more into that, uh like later, yeah, 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:15.920 I mean I would say, like I think that the 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:17.920 thing with the U S is that, like I think 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.160 there's been a lot of focus on the American left 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.040 on ports because yeah, there's a lot of reasons for that, 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:24.680 but like, yeah, you can do the border crossings too, 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:30.360 and the the mexicge rucker is really effective. I mean, okay, 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.120 so that's this has been a thing where it's it's 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.600 it's kind of hard to get information from. I saw 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:42.600 a few like newspapers talking about um, like cartel people 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.760 like like attacking the blockaded, lighting trucks on fire to 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.480 try to force goods to go through again, which it's possible. 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:55.880 I I don't know, um, but this, you know, once 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.520 once there are like once the block like the border 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.280 is completely blockaded, this completely ages like the entire political 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.200 situation because now, like you know, ab Abbot's been running 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.680 this thing sort of as a political stunt and as 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.080 this game he's playing with you know, I suppose he's 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.440 trying to play a game with Biden, right, and he's like, okay, well, yeah, 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:15.720 you gotta decently go about the border or whatever, like 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.840 you know's he's been challenging Biden over like immigration bullshit. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.400 But you know, now now there's a there's a third 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.040 party involved, and that third party is for Mexican truckers. 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:28.560 And now and now Abbot's not just in the It's 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.720 like Abbot's in a confrontation with the people that he 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:34.080 needs to make the entire Texan economy run. Yep. And 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.320 this starts going very badly for him. And the other 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.400 thing that starts going very badly for him is that 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:43.440 I it turns out if you shut down cross border trade, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:48.680 you really really piss off the bourgeoisie. Turns out, it 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.440 turns out that will happen if you ain't careful. Yeah. Yeah, 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:53.840 it's really interesting and and you know, and and I 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.840 think I should mention like stressed this, Like they're piste 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:58.920 off on both sides of the border. And like obviously 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.440 you could talk about the excient which like yeah, like 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.320 they're the same class. But like capitalists on both sides 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.880 of the border start exerting their political pressure because they're 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:08.680 I mean, they're losing enormous amounts of money off of this, 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.400 that's what they do. Yeah, and you know, the way 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.680 their ability to do capitalism as capitalists, they're going to 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.440 be mad. Yeah, which again you think you would think 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.399 that the Abbot would like get this, but he just 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:26.960 he it seems to have not occurred to him. That 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:28.840 he was going to piss off like either or like 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:31.160 he thinks he didn't care enough and thought it wouldn't matter, 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.280 but like, no, it turns out like you know, one 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.760 of the things that happens. Yeah, it's it's amazing, Like 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.000 he's you know, like I mean, I think this is. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:40.240 This is you know, I think this is. This is 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.320 sort of a symptom of like people lose like right 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.040 wing politicians losing sight of what their actual basis because 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.040 like this is all this is all supposed to be 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.920 like campaign trail feeding the anti immigrant base, but like, 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.919 you know, you you are a politician in the US. 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.680 Your actual constituency is the capitalists and and like you 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:03.400 have an actual job and let's make the economy keep 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.000 going and keep the people in power to have all 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.320 the power, Like you're not just like that. That's one 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:10.840 interesting thing that Trump was kind of one of the 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.960 first big um indicators for which is like a politician 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.800 now is just the endless cycle of campaigning and they 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.560 don't actually have a job. It's just always campaigning and 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:24.680 then it's always campaigning, uh, and they're like, oh, I 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:26.359 guess I should do my actual job that I was 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.040 elected for or I could just do more rallies and 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.600 that seems like it would be less work. Yeah. Well, 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:33.240 I mean I think I think what Trump was like 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.040 there was those instet to which the bureaucracy kept functioning, 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:37.800 and so you know, like like he like Trump got 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.200 Trump got the tax cut, right, yeah, and like he 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:41.920 didn't really start getting in trouble with him until he 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:43.560 started doing the anti China stuff, which was sort of 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:45.360 a disaster because there was a lot of people who 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.160 turned out like need those trade connections to make money. 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:50.760 And you saw like like it was weird. It was 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:52.440 very weird thing. Like you started to see even some 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.399 of his like like domestic like small business base. I 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:57.120 started to get really mad at him because he's putting 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:58.680 all these sanctions up and it's like, oh, hey, look 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.199 all these sanctions mean at all these people who are 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.000 reliant on Chinese supply chains have to pay this stuff 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.400 and an Abbott. Abbott has like done this in microcosm, 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.320 and like these these people like they start going to 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.639 the press. Um, I'm going to read a quote from Bloomberg. Uh. 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:19.000 Some retailers, particularly those in the grocery industry, have experienced 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.720 supply chain delays resulting from the extended wait times along 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.320 the Texas Mexico border. John McCord, the executive director of 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:29.720 Texas Retailers Association, wrote in an email, so, like, you 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.520 know these are like like the Texas Retail Association is 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.480 like this is like the most republican solidly institution in 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.640 the country and and you can watch them over time, 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.800 like these people are getting really mad. Like one of 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.680 I was like, like, what if Abbot's like I forget 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.560 the exact title, Like what one of Abbot's like secretaries, 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:56.760 like they're like at the secretary or some one of 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:00.080 the like economic bureaus was like, yeah, man, avoca are 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:06.360 gonna cost five more dollars. And you know this really 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.200 hits me hard because everyone knows it's about me. I 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.119 care a lot about retail um, retails like my one 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:16.680 of my big core personality traits UM. And you know 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.359 who else wants you to care about retail? Oh my 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:23.280 goodness is that the washing st Patrol. That is right, Sophie, 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:27.280 it's the Washington State Patrol. Are are are good friends? Um? 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.560 So here here is some here's some messages about about 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:45.480 how you can improve your retail decisions. Okay, I can't 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:50.280 find this George Bush quote instead of that, we will 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:54.080 return to this. And you know, one thing I think 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.200 we should also mention is if you ran into this 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:02.240 on Twitter, um you will see a lot of videos 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.159 of people like Democrats like standing at the border and 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:08.680 pointing at the trucks and going, uh, this is this. 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.280 This is Abbot attempting to like make inflation to get 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:19.760 worse by sabotaging the economy. Cringe and like cringe cringe moments. Yeah, 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:25.840 like okay, Like uh, I cannot rule out that this 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.800 was like a part of what he wanted to do, 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.359 but that's not really why he's doing this. Like this, 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:35.560 this is this is like mostly and I some people 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.080 talking about like, oh, this is like the trucker's buckage 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:41.280 and Chile and I'm like, no, no, it's not at all, 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:44.760 like like yeah, yeah, yeah, Like yes, Chile has a 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:46.119 bunch of right had I had a bunch of right 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:48.320 wing anti communist truckers unions that tried to shut down 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:50.399