Speaker 1: You're listening to comedy central. M Better, welcome back to
Speaker 1: the day show. Thank you for having me back. You
Speaker 1: are back on the campaign trail, this time for a
Speaker 1: different position, governor of Texas. It is uh yeah, it's
Speaker 1: an interesting time to be dealing with politics in Texas,
Speaker 1: because I feel like everything is happening in and around Texas.
Speaker 1: So let's let's jump straight into it. You know, you
Speaker 1: run before. You came super close, you didn't take it.
Speaker 1: What do you think will be different this time and why?
Speaker 1: It's really about where Texas is and what Texans are
Speaker 1: willing to do about it. So, Um, you mentioned all
Speaker 1: these things that are coming to a head in our state.
Speaker 1: We have the most extreme abortion ban in America, no
Speaker 1: exception for raper. Incest begins at conception. Um, speaking of
Speaker 1: democracy and the right to vote, it is harder to
Speaker 1: cast a ballot or get on the roles in Texas
Speaker 1: and any other state in the union. It's been seventeen
Speaker 1: weeks since those nineteen kids and two teachers were killed
Speaker 1: in Uvaldi. Gun violence the leading cause of death for
Speaker 1: kids and teenagers in that state. But instead of succumbing
Speaker 1: to the temptation to despair or submitting to this. Texans
Speaker 1: are rising up and they're volunteering on this campaign, they're
Speaker 1: knocking on doors, they're turning out in record numbers and
Speaker 1: they're gonna win this election in November, which is really
Speaker 1: a referendum on all these issues. Are we going to
Speaker 1: be defined by this extremism and our hatred and the
Speaker 1: way that we make each other afraid of one another?
Speaker 1: Are we gonna come together and do big things together?
Speaker 1: So it's it's an exciting time to be doing this
Speaker 1: and a great state to be in, and we're gonna win.
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's no there's no denying that you.
Speaker 1: You've always had a charismatic way about you. There's no
Speaker 1: denying that you've been really popular on the national stage. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: sometimes it feels like the majority of Texas isn't exactly
Speaker 1: on the same page that you. You know, a good
Speaker 1: example is is the busting stunt that's happening right now,
Speaker 1: you know, with Greg Abbott, bussing people to all over
Speaker 1: the country to prove a point. You're against that. You've
Speaker 1: spoken out against it multiple times, but more than fifty
Speaker 1: of Texans go yeah, this is the right move because
Speaker 1: it sends a message to Washington D C? How do you?
Speaker 1: You know? How do you how do you work that
Speaker 1: in your mind, the idea that you are opposed to
Speaker 1: so many Texans where they say no, this is actually
Speaker 1: what we want. I actually think that this extremism that
Speaker 1: we see in our current governor and government in Texas
Speaker 1: is reflective of the fact that we have a badly
Speaker 1: broken democracy. Seven million Texans didn't vote in the last election.
Speaker 1: In seven million who are eligible to did not. And
Speaker 1: if a majority right now thinks that busting migrants to
Speaker 1: D C or Chicago is a good idea, maybe, as
Speaker 1: you suggested, it's a reflection of the fact that our
Speaker 1: immigration system is so badly broken and people want to
Speaker 1: do something. What I propose, though, is, instead of these stunts,
Speaker 1: which are so cruel and unkind, not just to those
Speaker 1: migrants but to those of us who live in Texas,
Speaker 1: to the Border Patrol agents who we put on their
Speaker 1: backs this entire immigration system that is so badly broken,
Speaker 1: what if instead, we had, for example, a Texas based
Speaker 1: guest worker program or the ability to join family and
Speaker 1: not wait twenty years in line, which is the back
Speaker 1: of the line in Mexico or India or the Philippines
Speaker 1: to come to the US today. What if you were
Speaker 1: trying to claim asylum, you didn't wait six years for
Speaker 1: your claim to be adjudicated, which is the current way time?
Speaker 1: What if Texas led the way in rewriting our immigration
Speaker 1: laws to reflect our values, our interests, in our needs,
Speaker 1: and we say look, you want to come to this country,
Speaker 1: you must follow our laws, but our laws will follow
Speaker 1: our values. I Want Texas to lead on that. It's
Speaker 1: it's admirable. You know I I think. I think it's admirable.
Speaker 1: I I think you're proposing solutions, but it seems like
Speaker 1: America is getting to a place where people are less
Speaker 1: enthused by long term plans and more riled up by
Speaker 1: an immediate idea that seems like it will work, even
Speaker 1: if it may not. So you know you're out there,
Speaker 1: you're speaking to people. I know that you knock on
Speaker 1: doors and talks people personally. So I'd love to know
Speaker 1: have you met a person who doesn't agree with you
Speaker 1: on immigration, doesn't agree with you on these issues, and
Speaker 1: has changed their mind, and what was it that made
Speaker 1: them change their mind? It's interesting. We we were in
Speaker 1: a town called hemp hill in East Texas and in
Speaker 1: that county. They literally have about three percent high speed
Speaker 1: Internet access, so huge infrastructure problems there. It's a very
Speaker 1: red Republican Rural County. So half the group that comes
Speaker 1: out is Republican. You know, twenty or wearing make America
Speaker 1: great against shirts and Donald Trump hats on and this
Speaker 1: guy stands up and asked a very legitimate question. He's
Speaker 1: wearing a trump hat. He said my mom immigrated to
Speaker 1: this country from Canada and to renew her green card
Speaker 1: we had to stand in this line every so often.
Speaker 1: She worked three jobs because my dad, who was disabled
Speaker 1: in World War Two fighting for this country, could not work.
Speaker 1: I started working when I was fourteen years old. We
Speaker 1: we played by the rules, we followed the law and
Speaker 1: I don't know why Batto people are coming in between
Speaker 1: ports of entry right now and and not following our laws.
Speaker 1: And I think his anger was legitimate, his experience was
Speaker 1: valid and he asked a really good question. And so
Speaker 1: we talked about you know, is busting migrants fixing this
Speaker 1: problem at all? Will know, is building a mile and
Speaker 1: a half of border wall, which is what Greg Abbott
Speaker 1: has done, helping anything? Well, no, I guess it's not. Well,
Speaker 1: what if we address the fact that people have legitimate
Speaker 1: reasons to want to come here to work or to
Speaker 1: join family or to seek asylum in a country that
Speaker 1: is comprised by and large, of asylum seekers and refugees.
Speaker 1: And what if we in Texas, you, as a Republican
Speaker 1: and I, as a Democrat, actually lead on this issue?
Speaker 1: And he's nodding his head and comes over at the
Speaker 1: end of the meeting, shakes my hand and says, you
Speaker 1: know what, you might have earned my vote by coming
Speaker 1: out here to Hemphill and having this conversation. So it works,
Speaker 1: so it dialogue works. How do you then bring people
Speaker 1: together true solve an issue that you know you talk
Speaker 1: about in this book, the fights for voting rights. Where
Speaker 1: America is particularly divided right now is how the policies
Speaker 1: view the issue of voting. You Have Donald Trump and
Speaker 1: the Republicans saying that the re election was stolen, there
Speaker 1: were millions of illegal votes. None of this has been proven.
Speaker 1: In fact the opposite has been proven, you know. And
Speaker 1: and then at the same time you have Republicans saying, well,
Speaker 1: if if Democrats say that we should accept the elections,
Speaker 1: why don't they accept the elections? You know, after they lose.
Speaker 1: Stacey Abrams will say it wasn't legitimate. You know, how
Speaker 1: do you then break that? How do you get beyond
Speaker 1: that dialogue to even begin the conversation of having everybody votes?
Speaker 1: It helps for me at least, to understand that not
Speaker 1: only can we do what you just described, Um, we've
Speaker 1: done it before against much longer odds. One of the
Speaker 1: stories that I tell in this book we've got to try,
Speaker 1: is about a black doctor, Nel Passo Lawrence Nixon, who
Speaker 1: never missed an election until the democratic controlled legislature in
Speaker 1: outlaws voting by Black Texans. Nonetheless, he pays his poll tax.
Speaker 1: The next year shows up, they say, Dr Nixon, you
Speaker 1: know we can't let you vote and he says, I
Speaker 1: know you can't, but I've got to try. For the
Speaker 1: next twenty years he fights this battle, a very lonely one,
Speaker 1: takes it to the Supreme Court, wins two signal victories
Speaker 1: there and by ninety four he's helped to integrate elections
Speaker 1: once again in Texas and has laid the path for
Speaker 1: lb j to work on and ultimately signed the Voting
Speaker 1: Rights Act into law in nineteen sixty five. So if
Speaker 1: that guy could do it against those odds. And who
Speaker 1: are we now in Texas who have inherited his sacrifice
Speaker 1: and his service and his struggle? We can't squander it.
Speaker 1: We have to build on it and make sure that
Speaker 1: we win it back. So in our campaign we're targeting
Speaker 1: the very voters who are themselves the targets of suppression intimidation,
Speaker 1: to bring them in and make them the margin of
Speaker 1: victory on election night. We're gonna get our democracy back.
Speaker 1: That's above difficult. Marsters are trying well, so the best
Speaker 1: of last tanker someoney's drinning on the show and trapping
Speaker 1: out to try M hm. The daily show with Trevor
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