1
00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:03,440
Speaker 1: Let me remind you right now, if you want to

2
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:05,880
Speaker 1: get the best cup of coffee in your life, take

3
00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:10,440
Speaker 1: advantage of Blackout Coffee and the twenty percent off your

4
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,640
Speaker 1: first order right now by going to Blackoutcoffee dot com

5
00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,000
Speaker 1: slash verdict. It is a premium cup of coffee that

6
00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,640
Speaker 1: you're going to love to drink each and every day,

7
00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,320
Speaker 1: without the woke agenda of many of the left coffee companies.

8
00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:26,840
Speaker 1: You know the ones I'm talking about. And if you

9
00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:29,480
Speaker 1: are not willing to settle for an average cup of coffee,

10
00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,280
Speaker 1: I start my day early. Every day I'm on the

11
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:33,920
Speaker 1: radio at at seven o'clock in the morning. I have

12
00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:36,320
Speaker 1: got to make sure I have a really good cup

13
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:38,400
Speaker 1: of coffee in front of me. And that is why

14
00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:40,599
Speaker 1: I love Blackout Coffee and I want you to try it.

15
00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,040
Speaker 1: The coffee is one hundred percent of America, zero percent woke.

16
00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,120
Speaker 1: Blackout Coffee committed to conservative values from the sources of

17
00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:52,080
Speaker 1: the beans, the roasting process, customer support and chipping. They

18
00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 1: embody true American values and accept no compromise on taste

19
00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:00,680
Speaker 1: or quality. Go to Blackoutcoffee dot com slash vert use

20
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,320
Speaker 1: the promo code vertict. You'll get twenty percent off your

21
00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,800
Speaker 1: first order. You're gonna love it. I promise you check

22
00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,800
Speaker 1: them out. Blackoutcoffee dot com slash Verdict, be awake, not

23
00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:12,600
Speaker 1: woke with your dollars and your.

24
00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:13,240
Speaker 2: Cup of coffee.

25
00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 1: That's Blackoutcoffee dot com slash Verdict twenty percent off your

26
00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,400
Speaker 1: first order promo code Verdict. Welcome in this Verdict with

27
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,000
Speaker 1: Senator Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you on a really

28
00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:29,720
Speaker 1: fun live studio audience event a retreat weekend, Senator, and

29
00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:31,959
Speaker 1: you've brought a friend with you as well. Who is

30
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: going to be our special guest today?

31
00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,919
Speaker 3: Well, I am incredibly proud to welcome onto the Verdict

32
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,480
Speaker 3: podcast a good friend of mine, the sixtieth mayor of

33
00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,880
Speaker 3: the City of Dallas, the current sitting mayor, Eric Johnson.

34
00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,240
Speaker 4: And I want to Eric welcome.

35
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,120
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here, Sona,

36
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:51,600
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

37
00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,560
Speaker 3: Now, I want to tell our podcast listeners some of

38
00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,000
Speaker 3: Eric's background, because many of you may know him, but

39
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,760
Speaker 3: some of you may not. Eric is the current mayor

40
00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,440
Speaker 3: of Dallas. Eric was He went to Harvard College, I did.

41
00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,119
Speaker 3: He went to University of Pennsylvania Law School. He got

42
00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,320
Speaker 3: a master's from Mi alma Mater Princeton.

43
00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:16,360
Speaker 2: It's true.

44
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:22,400
Speaker 3: He was elected to the Texas State Legislature, and he

45
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,519
Speaker 3: was an elected Democrat in the state legislature.

46
00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:26,680
Speaker 4: And Eric is African American.

47
00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:28,160
Speaker 2: I am.

48
00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 4: It's an audio show, so I saw, so one has to.

49
00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:35,239
Speaker 2: Go to paint the picture.

50
00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,000
Speaker 3: And then Eric was elected mayor of the City of Dallas,

51
00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,080
Speaker 3: again as a Democrat. And then he was just recently

52
00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,680
Speaker 3: re elected mayor of the City of Dallas. He was

53
00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:51,240
Speaker 3: reelected with ninety three percent of the vote in the

54
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:52,079
Speaker 3: City of Dallas.

55
00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,760
Speaker 2: Technically ninety eight point seven, but i'll take ninety three.

56
00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:57,120
Speaker 2: We'll take nine three.

57
00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:02,440
Speaker 3: And then after his reelection, Eric announced to the City

58
00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,400
Speaker 3: of Dallas in the world that he was switching parties

59
00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,400
Speaker 3: and he left the Democrat Party and he became a Republican.

60
00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,800
Speaker 3: And it was it was a decision that those of

61
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:13,600
Speaker 3: us who knew him and had worked with him, I

62
00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:18,080
Speaker 3: have to say I was not shocked or surprised, but

63
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:20,320
Speaker 3: it did shock and surprise a lot of people. And

64
00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,280
Speaker 3: so Eric is I think, a very important leader in

65
00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,320
Speaker 3: Texas and a very important leader in the country. And

66
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,760
Speaker 3: so Eric, I appreciate your coming and joining us this evening.

67
00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:32,200
Speaker 3: And being a guest on verdict.

68
00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,760
Speaker 2: I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thank you so much.

69
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:35,400
Speaker 2: This is a real honor to be here. Thank you

70
00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,800
Speaker 2: for the invitation, and great to see all of you.

71
00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,160
Speaker 3: All Right, So you go to the Texas State Legislature,

72
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,040
Speaker 3: you get elected mayor of Dallas. You get re elected

73
00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:47,880
Speaker 3: mayor of Dallas. Now this entire time, you've been an

74
00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:52,120
Speaker 3: elected Democrat, and as an elected Democrat, there's an ecosphere

75
00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,000
Speaker 3: around you. You've got donors, you've got volunteers, you've got

76
00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:02,400
Speaker 3: supporters walk us through your decision making, because switching party

77
00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:04,840
Speaker 3: is a big deal. And and I know you didn't

78
00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,520
Speaker 3: make that decision lightly. So so what what led you

79
00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:09,360
Speaker 3: to change parties?

80
00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,600
Speaker 2: Yeah? And you know, I don't know if how how

81
00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:15,760
Speaker 2: deep we can dive into this, because I would.

82
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,200
Speaker 4: It's like the joy of a podcast. We can go

83
00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:19,040
Speaker 4: as deep as you want.

84
00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:21,560
Speaker 3: And that's that's actually what's fun That we're not on

85
00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:23,880
Speaker 3: TV with a six minute sound bite. We can actually

86
00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:25,280
Speaker 3: get out what's really going on.

87
00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,320
Speaker 2: That's exactly what I wanted to know, because unfortunately, because

88
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,520
Speaker 2: of the structure of the traditional media, you really have

89
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,640
Speaker 2: to sort of hit that question quick and then get

90
00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:39,000
Speaker 2: out of it. And you don't really get to give

91
00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,120
Speaker 2: a full answer to that because it's because it's way

92
00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,360
Speaker 2: more complicated than you know. There was this one thing

93
00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,280
Speaker 2: that happened and I just said, I'm out of here.

94
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:53,320
Speaker 2: It's it's an evolution for me and just kind of

95
00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,680
Speaker 2: coming to accept who I have always been and why

96
00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,760
Speaker 2: I've struggled as a Democrat the whole time.

97
00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,560
Speaker 1: Was it the issues that made you think about becoming

98
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:04,320
Speaker 1: a Republican?

99
00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:12,719
Speaker 2: The issues were a manifestation, a policy, manifestation of problems

100
00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:15,320
Speaker 2: I had been having with the Democratic Party because of

101
00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:17,440
Speaker 2: who I am as a person for a long time.

102
00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,720
Speaker 2: So I'll I'll give you some idea what I'm talking about.

103
00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,960
Speaker 2: I was born in West Dallas, very poor community, to

104
00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,640
Speaker 2: working class parents who never went to college, but you know,

105
00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,400
Speaker 2: got married right out of high school, still married to

106
00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:37,680
Speaker 2: this day, raised four of us. And I was raised

107
00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,560
Speaker 2: in a community that was very and in a family

108
00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:45,000
Speaker 2: that was very, very faith oriented. The church was hugely

109
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:46,640
Speaker 2: important to us. I mean I grew up I spent

110
00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,120
Speaker 2: more time in church than really any place else. I

111
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,320
Speaker 2: mean we'd go to church Sunday morning, stay almost all day,

112
00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:55,240
Speaker 2: go home for just a couple hours and go back

113
00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,479
Speaker 2: for Sunday evening. We'd go to Bible class. On Wednesday,

114
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,720
Speaker 2: we'd have you know, I wasn't in the choir, I

115
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,359
Speaker 2: couldn't sing, but you know, we had you know, song

116
00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,680
Speaker 2: practice and things like that. So I spent a lot

117
00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:09,640
Speaker 2: of time in the church, spent a lot of time

118
00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:15,880
Speaker 2: with grandparents who were very, very very about the Church

119
00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:17,960
Speaker 2: of Christ. And that's how that's the tradition I was

120
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:24,719
Speaker 2: raised in, and so we were sort of taught and

121
00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,279
Speaker 2: it was separate apart from anything political. My family wasn't

122
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,000
Speaker 2: political at all. No politicians in the family. I'm not

123
00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,440
Speaker 2: even sure we had a real awareness of what was

124
00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,640
Speaker 2: going on around us politically, but a very strong sense

125
00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,000
Speaker 2: of just right wrong. You know, this is how you

126
00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:44,400
Speaker 2: treat people, this is how you behave you follow the law,

127
00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,400
Speaker 2: you obey the law, you work hard, you you know,

128
00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,320
Speaker 2: an honest day's work, honest day's pay. That is sort

129
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,760
Speaker 2: of that was just always in the background. And so

130
00:06:54,880 --> 00:07:01,920
Speaker 2: I think I was always politically in a weird posture

131
00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,680
Speaker 2: with the Democratic Party because at its core, and I

132
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,279
Speaker 2: didn't understand this at the very beginning, because and I

133
00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,360
Speaker 2: hope we can actually get to this and talk about this.

134
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,720
Speaker 2: There are some you sort of inherit the Democratic Party

135
00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,080
Speaker 2: as a cultural heirloom. When you're African American in this country,

136
00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,200
Speaker 2: this sort of gets handed to you as part of

137
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,200
Speaker 2: who you are. I probably had more phone call I know,

138
00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,840
Speaker 2: I had more phone calls with people distraught about this

139
00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,840
Speaker 2: party switch than I ever would have gotten if I

140
00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,320
Speaker 2: had told people that I was actually leaving the church.

141
00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,880
Speaker 2: There's no question about it. Wow, there's no doubt about it.

142
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:43,240
Speaker 2: I will say that loudly and on the record. I

143
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,880
Speaker 2: had more panicked phone calls from people genuinely concerned about

144
00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,120
Speaker 2: what I was doing and why I could do how

145
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:52,760
Speaker 2: I could do this then I would have gotten if

146
00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:54,560
Speaker 2: I'd said, I just don't think I'm into this Jesus

147
00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:56,360
Speaker 2: thing anymore. This don't think I'm not a Baptist, or

148
00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,400
Speaker 2: I'm not a church christ or I don't think I

149
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:02,040
Speaker 2: would have had anywhere near the same rule. It's that cultural.

150
00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:04,480
Speaker 2: How intense was that was it?

151
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:05,080
Speaker 1: Family?

152
00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:06,040
Speaker 2: Was it friends?

153
00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:06,400
Speaker 1: It was?

154
00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:12,480
Speaker 2: It was a lot of consternation. The family and friends

155
00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,280
Speaker 2: was well meaning, but I think a lot of other

156
00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,320
Speaker 2: folks it was just, you know, we have to we

157
00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:20,200
Speaker 2: have to take this guy down now, and it got

158
00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:24,400
Speaker 2: it was it got to be pretty quickly, the traditional

159
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,120
Speaker 2: standard partisan warfare stuff. But kind of going back to

160
00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:28,560
Speaker 2: what I was, and I said, I want to know

161
00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,280
Speaker 2: how deep we could go, because this is actually pretty

162
00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:32,760
Speaker 2: I haven't had a chance to talk about this with anybody.

163
00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:38,600
Speaker 2: The fit was almost in some ways inevitable. It was

164
00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,880
Speaker 2: going to there was gonna be a problem because at

165
00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,600
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party's core, who I was saying is a

166
00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,560
Speaker 2: belief that how things turn out for you in this

167
00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:52,280
Speaker 2: country are largely determined by things that are outside of

168
00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,960
Speaker 2: your control. The race you're born, the neighborhood you're born in.

169
00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,520
Speaker 2: It just kind of it excuses away your failures and

170
00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,120
Speaker 2: excuse the way your success is to something that's out

171
00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,320
Speaker 2: of your control. If you're successful and you're white and males,

172
00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,600
Speaker 2: because of course you are, and if you're unsuccessful as

173
00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,040
Speaker 2: an African American, it's well, the deck was stacked against you.

174
00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,560
Speaker 2: And I just wasn't a person who ever believed that,

175
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:18,400
Speaker 2: And that wasn't how I was raised and it's not

176
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,880
Speaker 2: how I was taught, but it was the overarching political

177
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,120
Speaker 2: philosophy of my party. And there was always just that

178
00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:28,000
Speaker 2: tension between wanting to tell people, hey, this actually is

179
00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,640
Speaker 2: a country where anything you want to do you can do.

180
00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,640
Speaker 2: And I'm living proof of it, yep, because at every turn,

181
00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:41,200
Speaker 2: if I put the work in, I was told repeatedly,

182
00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:43,200
Speaker 2: over and over by people who didn't look like me,

183
00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,800
Speaker 2: who didn't come from my community, were proud of you,

184
00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,360
Speaker 2: and we'd like to give you more opportunity. I wasn't

185
00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,120
Speaker 2: having doors slammed in my face. The harder I pushed,

186
00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:53,400
Speaker 2: I was having more of them given to me. So

187
00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,400
Speaker 2: the story of my life and then the rhetoric that

188
00:09:57,440 --> 00:09:59,640
Speaker 2: my party wanted me to put out there as the

189
00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,880
Speaker 2: just vocation for what we were doing politically just never

190
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:04,320
Speaker 2: really matched.

191
00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:08,800
Speaker 3: I've always thought one of the most important differences between

192
00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:13,480
Speaker 3: the parties is that the Republican Party believes in individual

193
00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:18,000
Speaker 3: responsibility and believes in merit and a meritocracy. Now that's

194
00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,440
Speaker 3: not to say that there aren't things that are unfair,

195
00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,319
Speaker 3: but in the reason people come from all over the

196
00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:28,240
Speaker 3: world to America is there's no country on Earth where

197
00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:32,120
Speaker 3: people can achieve their dreams the way you can hear

198
00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,080
Speaker 3: and you know, and I do think a lot of

199
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:43,720
Speaker 3: the a lot of the Democrat Party is there the

200
00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:49,400
Speaker 3: ideology in today's Democrat party is about eliminating individual responsibility

201
00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,800
Speaker 3: and eliminating merit. And I think about you're a black man,

202
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,360
Speaker 3: I'm an Hispanic man. I think about what my father

203
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,240
Speaker 3: said to me when I was a kid about racism.

204
00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,400
Speaker 3: And my dad, you know, as you know, he came

205
00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:03,800
Speaker 3: from Cuba as an immigrant. And my dad said when

206
00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,960
Speaker 3: he came out of University of Texas in nineteen sixty one,

207
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,000
Speaker 3: and my father said, look, I'm obviously an immigrant. My

208
00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,440
Speaker 3: father had had and still has a very heavy Spanish accent,

209
00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,280
Speaker 3: you know my dad, and he said, listen, if I'm

210
00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,920
Speaker 3: applying for a job and I'm applying against an American

211
00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,760
Speaker 3: and we're equally qualified, my dad said, you know what,

212
00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:27,960
Speaker 3: they'll hire the American. Now, my father wasn't particularly outraged

213
00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:29,640
Speaker 3: at that. He said, you know what, in Cuba, they'd

214
00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,319
Speaker 3: hire me. That's just kind of human nature. That's the

215
00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,360
Speaker 3: way people often behave. And my father's answer to that,

216
00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,839
Speaker 3: he said, I'm just going to be three times as

217
00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:40,440
Speaker 3: good as.

218
00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:40,920
Speaker 2: The other guy.

219
00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,560
Speaker 3: I'll make it so you'd have to be a blithering

220
00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:49,360
Speaker 3: idiot to hire the other guy. And when you take

221
00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,720
Speaker 3: individual responsibility, and it's not to say racism doesn't exist.

222
00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:57,440
Speaker 3: Racism absolutely exists, but how you respond in the face

223
00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:04,439
Speaker 3: of adversity, and I think the the principle of work harder, be.

224
00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:05,760
Speaker 4: Better, be more excellent.

225
00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,839
Speaker 3: I think that is a path that every one of

226
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:11,720
Speaker 3: us think about what you teach your kids.

227
00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:15,000
Speaker 2: That's if you don't mind, please, I'll jump in here

228
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,880
Speaker 2: and say this, because there's so much that I could

229
00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:21,720
Speaker 2: say about this, and again this is the slow burn

230
00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,960
Speaker 2: over a career. But there's the specific policy things that

231
00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,360
Speaker 2: came about as the mayor that made this decision something

232
00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:33,040
Speaker 2: that needed to happen and something that became much more

233
00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,880
Speaker 2: urgent for me. But while we're talking about sort of

234
00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,640
Speaker 2: the underpinnings of this, and you talk about what you

235
00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:44,560
Speaker 2: teach your children, that's really kind of the point in

236
00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:48,520
Speaker 2: terms of the problem that I have with the Democratic

237
00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,520
Speaker 2: Party's philosophy on this particular issue is you have to

238
00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:54,800
Speaker 2: decide one way or the other, what you're going to

239
00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,640
Speaker 2: tell a generation of African American kids or kids who

240
00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:00,680
Speaker 2: are growing up in tough circumstances. Are you going to

241
00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,160
Speaker 2: tell them that your country doesn't work for you. Doesn't

242
00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:06,280
Speaker 2: really matter what you do, it doesn't work for you.

243
00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:08,360
Speaker 2: It's not built for you. It's not designed for you.

244
00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,320
Speaker 2: The system is stacked against you. And just hope that

245
00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,200
Speaker 2: they don't you turn to crime or turn to other

246
00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:18,080
Speaker 2: things because you've told them that essentially that's fine, that's okay,

247
00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 2: because there's no way you could do the things you'd

248
00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:25,280
Speaker 2: like to do legitimately. You can't get where you want

249
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:27,960
Speaker 2: to go legitimately anyway, the deck stacked against you. Or

250
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,320
Speaker 2: do you want to tell them the truth, which is

251
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,320
Speaker 2: the system that we have is the best on earth

252
00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:41,359
Speaker 2: for translating people's hard work and effort into tangible increases

253
00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,560
Speaker 2: and improvements in their life's circumstances. It just is. And

254
00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,880
Speaker 2: I've told my liberal friends for many years, even before

255
00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,080
Speaker 2: I switch parties, I said, for the ones who go

256
00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:55,079
Speaker 2: around sort of bashing the country, I say, guys, if

257
00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,040
Speaker 2: there was a place on earth where they did it better,

258
00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,720
Speaker 2: where they really did convert your effort and your work

259
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,640
Speaker 2: into benefits better, why don't you live and raise your

260
00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:08,960
Speaker 2: Don't you owe it to your children to raise them there?

261
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,160
Speaker 2: If you really believe there's a place that's doing it better,

262
00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:15,439
Speaker 2: and they don't believe that. It's it's rhetoric, but it's rhetoric.

263
00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:19,160
Speaker 2: With the purpose. And this is kind of where being

264
00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,120
Speaker 2: a part of the party for so long and understanding

265
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,200
Speaker 2: sort of the you know, the thought behind the strategy.

266
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:30,160
Speaker 2: Really it's strategy. How do you how do you convince

267
00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,080
Speaker 2: large swaths of people, large groups that are just really

268
00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:38,200
Speaker 2: holding themselves together by identity, politics and race, or how

269
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,920
Speaker 2: do you convince them to give their loyalty so completely

270
00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,640
Speaker 2: to a political party if you can't convince them first

271
00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:48,240
Speaker 2: that they really need this political party to help them

272
00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:54,560
Speaker 2: overcome these horrible flaws in this system. So basically there's a.

273
00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,800
Speaker 3: Democratic party I think is is vested in selling dependency.

274
00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:01,000
Speaker 2: Correct, And there's no question.

275
00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,120
Speaker 3: Example I've used also in my family, you know, with

276
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,560
Speaker 3: my dad in nineteen fifty seven when he showed up

277
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:08,440
Speaker 3: in Austin, Texas.

278
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,520
Speaker 4: He couldn't speak English.

279
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,320
Speaker 3: And so the first job he had was washing dishes,

280
00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,880
Speaker 3: and he made fifty cents an hour. And I've said

281
00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,600
Speaker 3: a lot of times, thank god some well meaning liberal

282
00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,040
Speaker 3: didn't come along and put his arm around him and say, Ralphiel,

283
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,120
Speaker 3: let me take care of you, Let me give you

284
00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,240
Speaker 3: a government check, let me make you dependent on the government.

285
00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,280
Speaker 3: You don't need to work anymore, you don't need to

286
00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:31,560
Speaker 3: be responsible for your life. I'm going to take care

287
00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,160
Speaker 3: of you. That would have been utterly destructive. It would

288
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:36,840
Speaker 3: have been the worst thing you could have done to him.

289
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:37,160
Speaker 2: Yep.

290
00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:40,920
Speaker 3: And it's you know, we're talking about what you teach

291
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:42,920
Speaker 3: your kids. You know, you think about it. If you

292
00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,240
Speaker 3: have a kid in kindergartener first grade who's struggling with math,

293
00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:49,520
Speaker 3: how many of us will do your kid's homework. None

294
00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,440
Speaker 3: of us will, because doing your kid's homework is not

295
00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,960
Speaker 3: helping the kid. Now, you may work with the kid,

296
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:57,560
Speaker 3: you may get a tutor with the kid, you may

297
00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,240
Speaker 3: walk through and say that you're having problems with But

298
00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:02,760
Speaker 3: you understand, you know, you and I are both fathers,

299
00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:06,000
Speaker 3: uh Ben, You're a father. You understand when you're when

300
00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,200
Speaker 3: you're raising your kids, they need to learn those skills

301
00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,760
Speaker 3: and if someone else does it for them, it doesn't

302
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,440
Speaker 3: help our children. That same thing is true for all of.

303
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:20,040
Speaker 2: Us, Absolutely true. I had a conversation with one of

304
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:25,040
Speaker 2: your colleagues, Senator Scott, when he was through Dallas a

305
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:30,000
Speaker 2: few months ago, and we had a private lunch and

306
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,120
Speaker 2: one of the things that we talked about and I

307
00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,960
Speaker 2: said to him that resonated with him because he also,

308
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:41,080
Speaker 2: you know, believes this is absolutely the case, and it's right.

309
00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:41,960
Speaker 4: Jim's a great guy.

310
00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,360
Speaker 2: It's right in line with what we're talking about right now.

311
00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:51,480
Speaker 2: I said, Tim, do you agree that there's really nobody

312
00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:55,680
Speaker 2: in our community who's achieved a high degree of success

313
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,560
Speaker 2: who actually did it using anything other than conservative principles

314
00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,040
Speaker 2: as a player to their life. I go, but why

315
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,919
Speaker 2: do so many of us, when we get to that

316
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,959
Speaker 2: level of success with these principles, pretend like it's something

317
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:13,520
Speaker 2: else that got us there. It was working hard, staying

318
00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,120
Speaker 2: out of trouble, persevering when other people had given up,

319
00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:21,040
Speaker 2: and basically playing by the rules that we called it

320
00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,080
Speaker 2: that got you there. But you get there and then

321
00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:28,440
Speaker 2: you pretend like you know, those aren't essential values and success.

322
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:30,880
Speaker 2: And I told him, I said, here's why I think

323
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,359
Speaker 2: that happens, because there's a price to pay socially in

324
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:40,479
Speaker 2: terms of being accepted if you don't pretend like you

325
00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:44,720
Speaker 2: don't know what you know and you don't sort of

326
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,080
Speaker 2: excuse the things that we were talking about. In other words,

327
00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,040
Speaker 2: long story short, is every successful African American in this

328
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,200
Speaker 2: country basically got to be successful by working hard and

329
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:57,280
Speaker 2: doing what they were supposed to do, but they don't

330
00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:59,600
Speaker 2: want to be once they've achieved that level of success

331
00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:02,800
Speaker 2: accepted by the community at large, and appear to be

332
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:05,320
Speaker 2: out of touch, and so they pretend like they don't

333
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,959
Speaker 2: know the formula. They don't know the winning formula. I

334
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:10,399
Speaker 2: just think we need to be more honest about what

335
00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,720
Speaker 2: the winning formula is. And the winning formula ends up

336
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:17,159
Speaker 2: being exactly what the conservative ideology would tell you. It

337
00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,760
Speaker 2: has to do with taking upon yourself the responsibility for

338
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,960
Speaker 2: yourself and not believing that the Democratic Party or any

339
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,560
Speaker 2: party is there to save you. And the Democratic Party

340
00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,399
Speaker 2: wants you to believe they do. They want you to

341
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,360
Speaker 2: believe you can't get there without them, which you.

342
00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 3: Know, there's an old saying that that that that every

343
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,840
Speaker 3: time I see luck luck, it looks amazingly like hard work.

344
00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,439
Speaker 2: Yep, it's very true. It's very true. So now to

345
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,000
Speaker 2: the policy things. So this is you know, so I'm

346
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,960
Speaker 2: bumping if anybody who's I don't presume that anyone in

347
00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,840
Speaker 2: this room has followed my you know, my relatively insignificant

348
00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,879
Speaker 2: legislative career, but it was marked with just fighting with

349
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:04,120
Speaker 2: Democrat Party about various issues. We're just bumping heads the whole.

350
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:08,560
Speaker 3: Way well as mayor, you showed enormous courage. So there

351
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:11,560
Speaker 3: were Democrats on the city Council pushing with the radical

352
00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,920
Speaker 3: left movement to defund or to abolish the police, and

353
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:16,919
Speaker 3: you were a fellow Democrat at the time, and you

354
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,359
Speaker 3: stood up and fought them. And that that's when you

355
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:22,240
Speaker 3: and I first got to know each Other's when you

356
00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:24,359
Speaker 3: were newly elected and I came by your office. I

357
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,440
Speaker 3: wanted to meet you, and we worked together closely. But

358
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,880
Speaker 3: the courage you showed fighting for the people of Dallas

359
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 3: really stood out early on in.

360
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:34,600
Speaker 2: Your tam Well, I appreciate you saying that, and I

361
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,440
Speaker 2: was going to get to that eventually about how we

362
00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:39,960
Speaker 2: met and about the you know, what we've been doing

363
00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:44,520
Speaker 2: for the past five years. I've been mayor, but in

364
00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:49,200
Speaker 2: the legislature, even when I was part of a partisan caucus,

365
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,920
Speaker 2: I was a terrible by the Democratic Party's own. Once

366
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,600
Speaker 2: I left the party, they were honest. Their statements are

367
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,919
Speaker 2: very interesting. If you read the statements with the State Party,

368
00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:01,560
Speaker 2: they all say some pretty interesting like he was always

369
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,359
Speaker 2: a terrible Democrat. Good riddens, were glad he's gone. It's like,

370
00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,439
Speaker 2: I'm not sure they understood what they were admitting to.

371
00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,080
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, but they acknowledged that it was

372
00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,600
Speaker 2: always a bad fit. But what they're really talking about

373
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,600
Speaker 2: is when I would be honest about voter fraud. Well,

374
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,280
Speaker 2: the voter fraud that happens in our large cities in

375
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,640
Speaker 2: Texas that I'm aware of because I've seen it happening

376
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,800
Speaker 2: to me in my own raisins. I'm like these there

377
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,520
Speaker 2: are people who are outright stealing the votes of the elderly.

378
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,440
Speaker 4: As a period elaborate on that a little bit.

379
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,920
Speaker 2: I came out very vocally and upset the party by

380
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:41,560
Speaker 2: saying that there is a systematic in the large urban

381
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:46,960
Speaker 2: cities like Dallas, Absentee or you know, ballad harvesting operation

382
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,399
Speaker 2: where people are going to old folks' homes and taking

383
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,080
Speaker 2: ballots out of their mailboxes and voting these ballots for

384
00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 2: these people, or going and collecting ballots from these folks,

385
00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 2: and if they don't like the way the vote was

386
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,760
Speaker 2: already cast, it goes into garbage. And I said that

387
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:07,200
Speaker 2: that that kind of thing is wrong, and it upset people.

388
00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:09,960
Speaker 2: It upset people in the party when I spoke out

389
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:14,520
Speaker 2: against you know, corruption in the party, and so I

390
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,280
Speaker 2: started off in a posture with the party that was

391
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,439
Speaker 2: already a little bit antagonistic, and it's got worse and worse.

392
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,680
Speaker 2: So this is the slow burn. Well, now I become

393
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,359
Speaker 2: the mayor and my whole job changes. I'm not a

394
00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:32,040
Speaker 2: part of some legislative caucus where I'm just sort of,

395
00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:33,720
Speaker 2: you know, having to be a good team player. I'm

396
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,959
Speaker 2: responsible for people's lives, like I'm responsible for making the

397
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,440
Speaker 2: call to keep people alive and make sure that my

398
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:46,000
Speaker 2: city is you know, people are safe there, and so

399
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 2: it's supposed to it should. Once you've been given that

400
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 2: kind of responsibility, it should change you like you should

401
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,240
Speaker 2: you should look at things differently. And sure enough, I

402
00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,359
Speaker 2: get tested pretty early on with this to fund the police. Ye,

403
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,400
Speaker 2: And I'm just going to break it down for ABO,

404
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,199
Speaker 2: the choice became very simple.

405
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,119
Speaker 1: I want to tell you about something that is really cool.

406
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,480
Speaker 1: Many of you may know this. I was an owner

407
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,840
Speaker 1: of a gun store for four years, and during COVID

408
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,959
Speaker 1: there was a massive shortage that happened with AMMO. We

409
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 1: saw AMMO prices skyrocket and people coming in that just

410
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,000
Speaker 1: want to make sure they could protect and defend themselves

411
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: in their family, and they couldn't find what they needed.

412
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 1: I back then thought, man, I wish there was a

413
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 1: way that you could just get Ammo and store it. Well,

414
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,440
Speaker 1: there is a way now, and it's called Ammo Squared.

415
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,680
Speaker 1: It's helping people just like you and I stay stocked

416
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:43,959
Speaker 1: up on ammunition automatically. Ammo is delivered on demand or

417
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,240
Speaker 1: automatically when you need it, and stored for free when

418
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,400
Speaker 1: you don't. It's customizable to your budget. You can buy

419
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,159
Speaker 1: as little as a few dollars a month and let

420
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,920
Speaker 1: it grow over time, or buy a bunch all at once,

421
00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 1: and you have it when you need it. It's truly automatic,

422
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:04,000
Speaker 1: Set it and forget it. Ammo purchasing. You pick your calibers,

423
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,760
Speaker 1: you set your budget, you select a shipping trigger, and

424
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 1: that's it. Ammo builds up over time, and it delivered

425
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 1: automatically when you want it, no matter what's going on

426
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,119
Speaker 1: in the market, because you already own it. In twenty twenty,

427
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:19,720
Speaker 1: when the store shows were empty and everyone had trouble

428
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:23,720
Speaker 1: finding Amo locally or online, Ammo squared customers just need

429
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,360
Speaker 1: to ship their Ammo stored at AMO squared and get

430
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 1: it all immediately delivered with just the click of a

431
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,480
Speaker 1: single button. So forget about dealing with a moving, heavy

432
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,480
Speaker 1: case of ammunition in your garage, are having to figure

433
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,639
Speaker 1: out how to store it, or worried about prices skyrocketing

434
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,159
Speaker 1: when you need it the most. Check out amosquared dot

435
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: com slash ben that's amosquared dot com slash bend to

436
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 1: sign up and get free AMMO in your account.

437
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 2: It's effortless ammunition management.

438
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 1: Amosquared dot com slash bend to sign up and get

439
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,800
Speaker 1: free AMO in your account today. Do some people know

440
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 1: that listening around the country, because I think it's important point.

441
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 1: The defund the police movement that was rolled out nationwide,

442
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,160
Speaker 1: they wanted it to be successful in big cities.

443
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:11,959
Speaker 2: Dallas was one of them.

444
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,960
Speaker 1: This was a lot of outside pressure as well, from

445
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,879
Speaker 1: coming from outside of Dallas where they were organizing.

446
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 2: What happened I've never seen since they didn't even live

447
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,400
Speaker 2: in I don't even know where. They don't even show.

448
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 2: It was a national It was a national campaign with

449
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,679
Speaker 2: people who were, you know, rent a protester types, I guess.

450
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 2: But here's my point. It's absolutely true there was a

451
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:35,280
Speaker 2: national movement, but the choice was pretty clear. If you

452
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 2: were a mayor of a major American city, and more

453
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 2: than likely you were a Democrat then, because I think

454
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:44,120
Speaker 2: the number is roughly seventy five percent of the top

455
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:48,240
Speaker 2: one hundred seas in America are run by Democrats, and

456
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,879
Speaker 2: every mayor in the top ten before me it was

457
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:56,960
Speaker 2: a Democrat. You really had two choices go along with

458
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,719
Speaker 2: to defund the police idea, because that's where the left was,

459
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,080
Speaker 2: that's where the activists were, that's where the pressure was

460
00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 2: was to defund, and defund meant anything from like what

461
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 2: they did here in Austin, a forty percent across the

462
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 2: board cut to your police department for no reason, not

463
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,879
Speaker 2: based on any fact, just because some activists decided that

464
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,119
Speaker 2: sound like a good number. The proposal in Dallas was

465
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 2: sixty That's what they wanted in Dallas, sixty percent. You

466
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 2: can either do that and be a good Democrat and

467
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 2: people to leave you alone, or you could be a

468
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 2: sellout and a bad Democrat and not do it and

469
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 2: incur the ire. You're looking at the one Democratic mayor

470
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,080
Speaker 2: that I'm aware of in the United States who said

471
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:38,399
Speaker 2: I'm not doing that, and the result and this is,

472
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 2: like I said, when we started to get close closer,

473
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:44,960
Speaker 2: I mean the result was protests for weeks on end

474
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:50,400
Speaker 2: at night against Dallas City ordinances with amplification and bull

475
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,920
Speaker 2: horns and all stuff against Dallas City ordinances, standing on

476
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 2: my private property, not on the street in an acceptable

477
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 2: protest perimeter, but like on the grass, looking in the

478
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:06,399
Speaker 2: windows with two little children and a wife, like intentionally

479
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 2: trying to intimidate me into changing my position to defund

480
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,280
Speaker 2: the police. And I never caved, even though it was horrible, horrible,

481
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:19,119
Speaker 2: horrible for my family. And that is when I really

482
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:25,320
Speaker 2: start to understand this isn't the fringe anymore of the

483
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 2: Democratic Party. This is the Democratic Party. Like this is

484
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,720
Speaker 2: where we are on public safety as the Democratic Party now.

485
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 2: And if you actually believe in law and order and

486
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 2: making sure that people are safe, then there is no

487
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 2: more part of the Democratic Party that is with you

488
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 2: on that. Because I'm looking for those people. I'm waiting

489
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 2: for the phone calls from just one, for just one

490
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:55,440
Speaker 2: Democratic congress person or one Democratic officeholder to say we're

491
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:57,879
Speaker 2: with you. You know you're doing the right thing, and

492
00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 2: here's the truth. And I've never said this public, but

493
00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 2: all say it now. The only calls I got during

494
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 2: that entire time saying hold the line, keep your people safe,

495
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 2: you're doing a good job. We're from Republicans and I

496
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 2: was a Democrat as far as they knew, and there

497
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:17,360
Speaker 2: was no you know, there's no there was no reason

498
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 2: other than it's the right thing to do what you're doing,

499
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:21,680
Speaker 2: and we won't let you know that. There was nothing

500
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:26,240
Speaker 2: to be gained politically from you standing with me publicly

501
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,160
Speaker 2: and saying this is the right thing to do. Greg

502
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 2: Abbott did it, You did it, Dan Patrick did it.

503
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,919
Speaker 2: A lot of people just said that mayor's doing the

504
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 2: right thing. And so Democrats, I saw at that point

505
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,360
Speaker 2: were pretty lost on the public safety issue. But then

506
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 2: on top of that, I started to see and I

507
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 2: didn't have this responsibility as a legislator, and I got

508
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:50,119
Speaker 2: it as the mayor. I have to protect people's incomes

509
00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 2: and make sure people can actually afford to live in

510
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:56,680
Speaker 2: this city because we are bleeding residents to lower tax jurisdictions.

511
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 2: So I started to really dig into our tax policy

512
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 2: and saying, you know, what are we doing to help

513
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:08,400
Speaker 2: our residents be able to live here, have businesses here,

514
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 2: and be competitive with our local you know, our competitors.

515
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 2: And it turns out that we were doing a pretty

516
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 2: bad job of actually even making an attempt to protect

517
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 2: our taxpayers. We had the highest tax rate in Dallas

518
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:27,720
Speaker 2: of any of the cities in the area, and we

519
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,399
Speaker 2: have the second highest of any major city in the state,

520
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 2: and so I really wanted to change that. The resistance

521
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 2: that I got from the left leaning members of our

522
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 2: council was incredible, and the way the argument was couched

523
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 2: in the way the strategy is to couch any effort

524
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 2: to rein in spending at all, even to hold it

525
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 2: steady from your to year, is being heartless and not

526
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 2: caring about people. That resonated with me, because I realized

527
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 2: now that's actually been what the Democratic Party has been

528
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 2: about all along, and what I've sort of been an

529
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 2: unwitting accessory to, which is painting people who just want

530
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,520
Speaker 2: to leave people alone, or leave people with more of

531
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 2: their income to people to do what they want to

532
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 2: do for their family, supposed to taking it from them

533
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 2: and spending it on things they'd never asked for in

534
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 2: the first place, primarily so that politicians can have something

535
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 2: to campaign on. They perfected the art of making anyone

536
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 2: who was opposed to that seem like they were against

537
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:34,920
Speaker 2: the people they were trying to help, or.

538
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 4: That they demonized you, they attack you.

539
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 2: Personally, and so I became heartless. I became someone who

540
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,080
Speaker 2: didn't care about people. I'll give you an example from

541
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 2: just last week. I'm in a I'm in the minority.

542
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 2: I'm in a twelve to three minority vote that I

543
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 2: lost on my city council last week because I voted

544
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 2: against us appropriating almost what three quarters of a million

545
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 2: dollars to make sure that anybody in Dallas who needs

546
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 2: tampons or other femin hygiene products could have them from

547
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 2: the City of Dallas. I said, I don't know why

548
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 2: on earth we think that is something that we ought

549
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 2: to be doing as a city with people's tax dollars. Well,

550
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 2: there's three hundred more programs just like that, and when

551
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 2: we add them all together, that's how you end up

552
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 2: with a budget that grows year after year after year.

553
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 2: We've gotten into more and more things that we don't

554
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 2: need to be into. And so I said, I'm in

555
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 2: the wrong party on public safety, for sure, but I'm

556
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,360
Speaker 2: also not really into this hole. Just tax people to

557
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 2: death so you can do all this liberal experimentation and

558
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 2: so on the matter, on the issues that were most

559
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 2: important as a mayor, and that we're most important in

560
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:49,240
Speaker 2: my family. The Democratic Parties was battened a goose egg

561
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 2: on those issues, and I started to think there really

562
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 2: is very little reason why a person who is a

563
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 2: common sense, fiscally responsible person ought to be voting Democrats,

564
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 2: particularly at the local level, unless there's some sort of

565
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 2: social reason that you just can't give up where you

566
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:13,240
Speaker 2: need to be accepted by your friends and family, and

567
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:15,520
Speaker 2: I just don't have that. I don't have that need.

568
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,640
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about that a little more. But I

569
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 3: will say one of the greatest ironies is the rhetoric

570
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 3: that the left uses in support of their policies I

571
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,560
Speaker 3: think is one hundred and eighty degrees opposite reality. So,

572
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 3: for example, the effort to defund the police is advanced

573
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 3: by movements and activists and billionaire donors who are embracing

574
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 3: the slogan black Lives Matter. Now as a statement, black

575
00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 3: lives matter is unequivocally, absolutely true, But the undeniable fact

576
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:58,760
Speaker 3: is that when you defund the police, inevitably, more African

577
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 3: Americans are murdered, more Black lives are lost. Because for

578
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 3: a great many of our African American citizens and our

579
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:10,120
Speaker 3: Hispanic citizens. They live in in more low income neighbor

580
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,440
Speaker 3: neighborhoods that are that are more subject to crime. And

581
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 3: when you pull law enforcement out, you know, we're we're

582
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 3: at a dinner right now. I guarantee you anyone here

583
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 3: if we told you, hey, we're going to pull the

584
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,360
Speaker 3: cops out of your neighborhood, everyone here would say no, no,

585
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 3: that's a terrible idea. But yet we see these left

586
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 3: wing activists, in the name of a slogan Black Lives Matter,

587
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 3: removing police protections from vulnerable black families, and the result

588
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 3: is far more African American murders. And yet they continue

589
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:42,320
Speaker 3: to embrace that same rheter.

590
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 2: So I don't have to guess about it, because not

591
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 2: only do I have the knowledge of being the mayor

592
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 2: and knowing the crime statistics from my city, but I

593
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 2: also have the experience, the lived experience of growing up

594
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,600
Speaker 2: African American in Dallas, in the very communities that we're

595
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 2: talking about. So I am familiar with this issue is

596
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 2: intimately as you can possibly be, both from sort of

597
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 2: the policy making standpoint and just the life experience. And

598
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 2: I can tell you I'm going to end the suspense

599
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 2: for folks I'm not guessing about it. I can speak

600
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 2: on it with authority. And that's why the people I'm

601
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 2: left don't even they don't even challenge me on this

602
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 2: because they know that I'm not only am I right,

603
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,200
Speaker 2: but that I have the credibility on that I got

604
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 2: the street credit to speak on this. The Black Lives

605
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 2: Matter thing in the defund the police thing are kind

606
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 2: of issues that have been conflated. But the truth of

607
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 2: the matter is is defund the police, for sure, was

608
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 2: a construct of frankly white liberals who don't live in

609
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 2: those communities at all yep, and was never asked for

610
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 2: irrespective of their partipulation by African Americans who lived in

611
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 2: crime ridden neighborhoods. Never African Americans never at any point

612
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 2: said we want the police out of our communities. They said,

613
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 2: we want more police in our community. We want them

614
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,360
Speaker 2: to be well trained, we want them to know we

615
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 2: want we want to live in a safe community, and

616
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 2: we believe the police are part of that. So it

617
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 2: was never true to begin with. It was a political

618
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:13,440
Speaker 2: thing to begin with.

619
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:15,319
Speaker 1: So I want to tell you about our friends over

620
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 1: at Patriot Mobile. If you are sick and tired of

621
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,240
Speaker 1: giving your money to woke companies that literally hate your values,

622
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,120
Speaker 1: hate your family values, hate your faith. It is time

623
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,799
Speaker 1: for you to vote with your dollars and switch to

624
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 1: a company that stands by what you believe in. That

625
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,760
Speaker 1: is Patriot Mobile. When I look down at my phone,

626
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 1: I see the word Patriot in the top left. Why

627
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 1: because I switched to Patriot Mobile. Now I get the

628
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,319
Speaker 1: same great service that I had with Big Mobile. But

629
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 1: the biggest difference is every time I make a call,

630
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:43,239
Speaker 1: every time I send a text, and every time I

631
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:45,760
Speaker 1: pay my bill, I know I'm standing with a company

632
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,560
Speaker 1: that's actually fighting for my values. Patriot Mobile offers you

633
00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 1: dependable nationwide coverage, giving you the ability to access all

634
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,360
Speaker 1: the major network towers, which means you get the same

635
00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,080
Speaker 1: coverage you've been accustomed to without funding that left. And

636
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: when you switch to Patriot you're sending a message because

637
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 1: five percent of your bill every month is given back

638
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: and no charge to you, to causes that you help

639
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:13,200
Speaker 1: choose the support we're talking about supporting free speech, religious freedom,

640
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: the sanctity of life, our Second Amendment, as well as

641
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 1: supporting our military, our veterans, our first responder heroes, and

642
00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:22,480
Speaker 1: our wounded warriors.

643
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 2: How easy is it to switch?

644
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,480
Speaker 1: Just go to Patriotmobile dot com slash verdict that's Patriot

645
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 1: Mobile dot com slash verdict, or call them nine seven

646
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,320
Speaker 1: to two Patriot. Make the switch and make a difference

647
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,000
Speaker 1: with that bill every month free activation when you use

648
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,839
Speaker 1: the off for code verdict that's nine seven to two

649
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:44,239
Speaker 1: Patriot nine seven two Patriot or Patriot Mobile dot com

650
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 1: slash verdict. What was the reaction of police officers.

651
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 2: When this was going down. I mean, we.

652
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,200
Speaker 1: Saw a lot of them were trying to, you know,

653
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:57,400
Speaker 1: be quiet, say the politics. But you were a Democrat.

654
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,480
Speaker 1: You have a large police force with a lot of

655
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:03,840
Speaker 1: minorities in it. What were they saying to you privately

656
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 1: during that time?

657
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:09,719
Speaker 2: Well, I'll just I'll answer that one really quickly. Everybody

658
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 2: I believe in law enforcement could not believe and was

659
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 2: so relieved that they had the one person who in

660
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 2: this role everywhere else in the country was caving, who

661
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,680
Speaker 2: was standing up. They were very grateful and it's what

662
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:30,800
Speaker 2: earned me the just enduring support of law enforcement for

663
00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 2: my entire mayoralty because I stood by them. But I

664
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,000
Speaker 2: wasn't standing by them just to send a message. I

665
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,600
Speaker 2: was saying because it was absolutely what the city needed.

666
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 2: Law enforcement hadn't done anything wrong where they deserved for

667
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:48,440
Speaker 2: that rhetoric to be thrown out around them, and having

668
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:54,000
Speaker 2: cutting sixty percent from a police department that's not trimming

669
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 2: around the edges. That's salary and benefit, that's recruitment, that's

670
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,879
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a real that's putting them in more

671
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 2: danger doing already a dangerous job. And so they really

672
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 2: appreciated that. But I want to put a fine point

673
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 2: in this issue with African American community when as it

674
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 2: relates to public safety, because it relates to what I

675
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 2: believe is part of why I think that this party

676
00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:19,680
Speaker 2: switch of mind is not important because I switched part.

677
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,840
Speaker 2: It's a that's almost insignificant, but what it represents for

678
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,760
Speaker 2: the potentiality for this group of people who I honestly

679
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:33,440
Speaker 2: believe just have not had anybody come to them in

680
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:37,440
Speaker 2: a spirit of love and concern. Who's operating from within

681
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 2: the community, not saying I sort of exist outside of it,

682
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,280
Speaker 2: and let me lecture you about what you should a

683
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,640
Speaker 2: acknowledged and accepted and proud member of it, saying, let

684
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 2: me explain to you why we've been duped a little

685
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,200
Speaker 2: bit here and why what was once maybe a good

686
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,760
Speaker 2: idea or sounded like one has now actually been categorically

687
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,239
Speaker 2: proven to be a failed strategy.

688
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,279
Speaker 3: Well, and let me drill down on that a little bit.

689
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 3: And this is just something that that.

690
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:07,320
Speaker 2: Strong about this one. This is a this is a

691
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 2: bigger way, bigger than one guy switching. This ought to

692
00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:13,400
Speaker 2: be about people going, why am I still a Democrat?

693
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 2: If this is what I care about it?

694
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,520
Speaker 3: You know, well, and this is a theme you have

695
00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:21,239
Speaker 3: referenced several times that I think is really important. I

696
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 3: emphatically believe and I think you do as well, that

697
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 3: the policies of the left, the policies of liberal Democrats,

698
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 3: have been deeply harmful to the African American community, to

699
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:38,240
Speaker 3: the Hispanic community. That they exacerbate poverty, they exacerbate crime,

700
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:45,520
Speaker 3: they they have that they throttle educational excellence and opportunity.

701
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 3: And yet we still have in Texas at across the

702
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:56,400
Speaker 3: country an overwhelming majority of African Americans voting Democrat. And

703
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,200
Speaker 3: so I guess I want to ask two things. One,

704
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 3: you made reference to it before about how kind of

705
00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:07,040
Speaker 3: culturally you're essentially told you're a Democrat. That's what it

706
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 3: means to be black I'd like you to kind of

707
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 3: explain a little bit why you think that is. And

708
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,640
Speaker 3: then the second part of it is, Look, we're seeing,

709
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 3: especially in Texas, but other parts of the country, we're

710
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,280
Speaker 3: seeing the Hispanic community is getting more and more Republican

711
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,440
Speaker 3: every day, and we're seeing the African American community. I

712
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 3: think there's some movement, but we've got a lot further

713
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 3: to go in the African American community. What do you think,

714
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:39,640
Speaker 3: what do you think is persuasive? What should Republicans do

715
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:45,520
Speaker 3: to earn more support in the African American community going forward?

716
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,760
Speaker 2: I think it's an amazingly important question, and I appreciate

717
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,280
Speaker 2: you asking it. And it's complicated, yeah, but I think

718
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:55,920
Speaker 2: if we're going to start that conversation tonight a little bit,

719
00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:59,920
Speaker 2: and I really appreciate you having this conversation with me.

720
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:02,600
Speaker 2: I've not ever had an opportunity to talk about This

721
00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:04,680
Speaker 2: is stuff that I've been thinking about my whole life. Yeah,

722
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:07,680
Speaker 2: and I had really any opportunity to really do anything

723
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:09,040
Speaker 2: about it. And I feel like I'm at this because

724
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:11,480
Speaker 2: at this point in my life now where maybe we

725
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:15,880
Speaker 2: can actually see the numbers of African Americans change to

726
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 2: support the Republican Party. I think this. I think it's

727
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:28,880
Speaker 2: perfectly understandable in a limited resource environment, which is what

728
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 2: any political campaign is, or any political party is, like

729
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 2: resources are infinite, to say to any group that at

730
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,800
Speaker 2: any point in time is only throwing you ten percent

731
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,399
Speaker 2: of their support, they're against you ninety percent of the time,

732
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 2: that that's not where we ought to be investing. I

733
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:52,400
Speaker 2: think that's a perfectly rational decision. Well, that the perfectly

734
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:55,040
Speaker 2: rational decision in a lot of ways to not play

735
00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 2: the game at all because it's not perceived to be

736
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:03,360
Speaker 2: a particularly fruitful game plays very easily into a narrative

737
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 2: that and therefore that party doesn't care at all. Right,

738
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:09,319
Speaker 2: So you got one party that may be able to

739
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:13,800
Speaker 2: be criticized for being inefficient and ineffective, but they're telling

740
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 2: you they care, and you got another party they might

741
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:17,759
Speaker 2: not be telling you they hate you, but they're just

742
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:23,800
Speaker 2: sort of focused on groups that produce more efficiently support.

743
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a it's a tough slog when you're

744
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 2: talking about ninety ten and so it's understandable, but it's

745
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:33,840
Speaker 2: coming a cost. What I'm saying and what I'm feeling

746
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,480
Speaker 2: instinctively politically right now, is that there's a there's been

747
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 2: a maturation that was inevitable in African Americans position in

748
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,719
Speaker 2: this country. We are better off than we've ever been.

749
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:47,960
Speaker 2: Are we as well off as we'd like to be? No,

750
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 2: but we we are better off. We're better educated, we're

751
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,719
Speaker 2: better everything. There's anybody who says we're not better off

752
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 2: today than we were, you know, in the immediate aftermath

753
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 2: of the Civil War or during the Civil rights era

754
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 2: is just playing a game. They're playing a retort game.

755
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,279
Speaker 2: Yes we are, We're not where we'd like to be,

756
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:09,120
Speaker 2: but we are better than We're further than we've ever been.

757
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:12,239
Speaker 2: What that means, though, is that people maybe have more

758
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 2: of an opportunity now to sit back and look at

759
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:19,080
Speaker 2: things and ask that question of how has this approach

760
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:25,480
Speaker 2: of making everything about the community in terms of everything

761
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:29,680
Speaker 2: I do is written off to societal factors? Right, we

762
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:33,400
Speaker 2: can't hold we can't even hold a criminal accountable because

763
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:39,280
Speaker 2: it's society's fault. Everything In the Democratic Party, my experience

764
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:43,719
Speaker 2: was anything you tried to actually pin on an individual

765
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 2: was written off to society. So as a mayor, for example,

766
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:53,240
Speaker 2: I am really deeply concerned about the victims of crime

767
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:57,880
Speaker 2: because they did nothing wrong. The law enforcement folks who

768
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:00,160
Speaker 2: are out there risking their lives to prevent crime and

769
00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:03,920
Speaker 2: to address crime. And then the would be victims of

770
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,680
Speaker 2: crime that we're trying to protect. Right, That's why I

771
00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 2: care about victims, would be victims, cops. The Democratic Party

772
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:15,760
Speaker 2: really seems, I mean, legitimately seems to care more about

773
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 2: the perpetrators of crimes than the victims of crimes or

774
00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 2: the would be victims or the police. And I tell

775
00:43:21,719 --> 00:43:24,840
Speaker 2: you what my evidence of that is is whenever somebody

776
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:29,839
Speaker 2: does anything, the finger gets pointed at the rest of

777
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 2: us and we get told, how if we just had

778
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:34,680
Speaker 2: built another recreation center, or you know, if we had

779
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:37,719
Speaker 2: put more money into the schools, this person may not

780
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:39,560
Speaker 2: have murdered that person, or this person may not have

781
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,719
Speaker 2: raped that person. I grew up as poor and as

782
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 2: black as you can grow up, and I can tell

783
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:50,360
Speaker 2: you in every poor black community in this country, eighty

784
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,359
Speaker 2: percent of the people, like in any other group, are

785
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 2: making the decision every single day to follow the law

786
00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,200
Speaker 2: and do it by the rules. It's twenty percent like

787
00:43:59,239 --> 00:43:59,879
Speaker 2: in any group.

788
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,080
Speaker 3: Well, look, the whole country saw the image just a

789
00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:04,920
Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago of the six illegal immigrants in

790
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,160
Speaker 3: New York City who beat up to New York cups.

791
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:12,400
Speaker 3: They get arrested and within hours they get released no bail,

792
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,240
Speaker 3: and they walk out and with both hands they're flipping

793
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:21,160
Speaker 3: the bird at everyone. And that that to me, that

794
00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:27,400
Speaker 3: image of those angry illegal immigrants flipping the bird, I

795
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:32,360
Speaker 3: think sums up the absolute depravity of the view of

796
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:37,760
Speaker 3: the left. And we're seeing, Look, we're seeing great American

797
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:41,120
Speaker 3: cities being destroyed. As you know, Heidi, my wife is

798
00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:44,319
Speaker 3: a native California, and you look at California, look at

799
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:47,720
Speaker 3: a city like San Francisco. San Francisco is an iconic

800
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:51,200
Speaker 3: American city. In the last couple of years, twenty two

801
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 3: major retailers have shut down downtown because the crime has

802
00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 3: gotten so bad. And I remember Heidi's family lives in California,

803
00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:03,680
Speaker 3: called and they just said on the phone. Door said, well, gosh,

804
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:05,959
Speaker 3: you know, what can we do. People just go into

805
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:08,279
Speaker 3: stores and and you know, just take stuff. There's nothing

806
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:10,200
Speaker 3: we can do about it. I remember I'm listening to that,

807
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 3: and I said, yes, there is. You throw their ass

808
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:15,759
Speaker 3: in jail, like put them in handcuffs, or arrest them.

809
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 2: It's worse than that. But if it's worse than that center,

810
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,040
Speaker 2: and this is what I'm getting at too, it's worse

811
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 2: than that. It's it's quite predictable when you when you

812
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:30,719
Speaker 2: literally change the policies in the prosecutor's office and you

813
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:39,480
Speaker 2: say we won't prosecute theft of any amount underneath one

814
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:43,160
Speaker 2: thousand dollars, and then you don't just make that some

815
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:46,759
Speaker 2: sort of and it would still be bad internal memorandum.

816
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 3: You go on the news and publicize you let every

817
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:52,840
Speaker 3: criminal know, is really.

818
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:56,240
Speaker 2: A surprise that you have an uptick, not even an uptick,

819
00:45:56,440 --> 00:46:00,520
Speaker 2: a sharp increase in smash and grab jobs and and

820
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 2: shoplifting again in an effort to do some of these

821
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:08,120
Speaker 2: things that sound good on paper. Because society is at fault,

822
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 2: not individuals, we do crazy things, these das and things.

823
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,319
Speaker 2: Stop prosecuting crimes because it's not fair, you know what,

824
00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:19,440
Speaker 2: back to the eighty twenty split, which is just sort

825
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:21,839
Speaker 2: of the metaphorical split in any group of people who

826
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:24,560
Speaker 2: are doing the right thing. People aren't. That twenty percent

827
00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:28,160
Speaker 2: just needs to be held accountable for making an individual

828
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,879
Speaker 2: choice to break the law and kill someone or rape

829
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,360
Speaker 2: someone or terrorize the community. And we need to stop

830
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:37,440
Speaker 2: pretending like everything can be attributed to some societal factor.

831
00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:39,799
Speaker 2: It's just not the way it actually is.

832
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:41,880
Speaker 3: All Right, we need to wrap up soon, but I

833
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:43,880
Speaker 3: want to ask two questions to close.

834
00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:45,200
Speaker 2: One.

835
00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:50,560
Speaker 3: In your view, part of what you answered in terms

836
00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:52,440
Speaker 3: of how Republicans can do a better job in the

837
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,000
Speaker 3: African American community is just showing up and demonstrating that

838
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:57,040
Speaker 3: they give a damn.

839
00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,759
Speaker 2: And I think that absolutely is I didn't really say

840
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:01,239
Speaker 2: all I need to say on that because it's not

841
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:03,839
Speaker 2: just about it's not about emoting and showing up into

842
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:07,960
Speaker 2: saying we care. It's I think having an alternative to

843
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:10,040
Speaker 2: the liberal approach.

844
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:13,040
Speaker 3: Well, and that's where my question was going to go,

845
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:20,560
Speaker 3: which is what issues do you think resonate most powerfully

846
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:25,759
Speaker 3: in the African American community that by focusing on those issues,

847
00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:29,600
Speaker 3: have a potential to earn their support by saying, look,

848
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,520
Speaker 3: this is an issue that is going to make a

849
00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:34,560
Speaker 3: difference in your life and your family.

850
00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:35,640
Speaker 4: I am deeply.

851
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:36,479
Speaker 2: Passionate on school choice.

852
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:40,240
Speaker 3: I think school choice is the most fundamental civil rights

853
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:41,560
Speaker 3: issue in the entire country.

854
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:42,960
Speaker 4: But I'm interested in.

855
00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:48,360
Speaker 3: Your thoughts of what issues actually will resonate and cause

856
00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:53,320
Speaker 3: voters who have voted Democrat their whole life to reconsider. Gosh,

857
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 3: maybe that maybe the policies that they're they're foisting upon

858
00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:57,920
Speaker 3: me are not working.

859
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:04,160
Speaker 2: I think if a report publican candidate for president, candidate

860
00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:07,600
Speaker 2: for governor, candidate for mayor, candidate of anybody who's actually

861
00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:11,560
Speaker 2: perceived to be running for an executive type position in

862
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:16,520
Speaker 2: charge went to an African American community, I'm talking of

863
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,879
Speaker 2: people who are members of the community who are going

864
00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 2: to vote and participate in the process. You know, people

865
00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 2: who are invested in their community and said, I'm the

866
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:27,359
Speaker 2: person who's going to come in here and I'm going

867
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:29,520
Speaker 2: to make this a safe community for you, because no

868
00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:32,719
Speaker 2: one before me has done that, no one either side

869
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 2: this community is you deserve a safer neighborhood than you're

870
00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:39,520
Speaker 2: living in. I want you to be able to walk

871
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:41,480
Speaker 2: from your house to the end of the block and

872
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:45,560
Speaker 2: back home without being worried about being mugged or robbed

873
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:48,279
Speaker 2: or killed out and you don't you feel safe doing

874
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:51,240
Speaker 2: that right now? I want your grandson to feel safe

875
00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,120
Speaker 2: walking from the school bus home, and he doesn't feel

876
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:56,960
Speaker 2: safe doing that right now. I want to restore a

877
00:48:57,120 --> 00:49:00,240
Speaker 2: genuine sense of safety to this community. That's number one.

878
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:04,840
Speaker 2: Number two, I understand that the burden of high taxes

879
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:10,240
Speaker 2: falls disproportionately on you. I have polling from my mayoral

880
00:49:10,239 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 2: campaigns that shows in Dallas, Texas, the groups of voters

881
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:20,840
Speaker 2: who most want their taxes lowered are African Americans, followed

882
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 2: by Latinos. Whites are in third place because they're paying

883
00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:28,359
Speaker 2: a higher percentage of their income and the taxes it

884
00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:32,239
Speaker 2: hits them the hardest. They are the most worked up

885
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:34,279
Speaker 2: about their property tax bill. Would most like to see.

886
00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:35,320
Speaker 2: I'm going to take it.

887
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:36,279
Speaker 4: It's a barrier entry.

888
00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:39,440
Speaker 3: If you're climbing the economic ladder, it hits you the

889
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:40,920
Speaker 3: hardest on the earliest round.

890
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:45,399
Speaker 2: This is supported by polling data. It will show you

891
00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:50,760
Speaker 2: that poorer folks actually are most crippled by reckless tax

892
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:53,560
Speaker 2: policy at the local level, in particular, because there's no

893
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:56,600
Speaker 2: there's no game, there's no play a game around that.

894
00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:01,680
Speaker 2: There's no tax credit for this and figure that out,

895
00:50:01,719 --> 00:50:05,040
Speaker 2: like the tax bills just do or they foreclose on

896
00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:07,279
Speaker 2: the house and you just gotta find a way to

897
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:09,239
Speaker 2: pay it. And that's just all there is to that.

898
00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:13,400
Speaker 2: So high property taxes is a horrible thing for poor folks.

899
00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:15,719
Speaker 2: You come in and you tell them we're gonna we're

900
00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:18,880
Speaker 2: gonna deal with this these tax burdens that you're facing,

901
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 2: We're gonna deal with the safety in these communities, and

902
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:26,080
Speaker 2: we're gonna give your kids viable choices for schooling. We're

903
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:27,799
Speaker 2: gonna make sure that you actually have a shot at

904
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:30,440
Speaker 2: a decent education. I think at that point people are like,

905
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:33,239
Speaker 2: I don't care, I don't know what party you said

906
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:34,719
Speaker 2: you're with, but I'm ready to sign I'm ready to

907
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 2: sign up for that. And you say, well, actually, everything

908
00:50:37,040 --> 00:50:39,719
Speaker 2: I have just describe to you is right dead down

909
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,880
Speaker 2: the center of the fairway Republican policy. Yep, everything I

910
00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 2: just told that's Republican policy. I think I think people

911
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:48,560
Speaker 2: will literally say, then I don't know why I've been

912
00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:49,880
Speaker 2: voting Democrat this whole time.

913
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:51,320
Speaker 1: All Right, there's gonna be a lot of people that

914
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,200
Speaker 1: are listening, and they're gonna want to ask this questions.

915
00:50:53,280 --> 00:50:53,920
Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask it.

916
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,440
Speaker 1: If you are up for reelection right now running is

917
00:50:57,440 --> 00:50:58,560
Speaker 1: a Republican for mayor?

918
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,239
Speaker 2: Yes, your policies haven't changed. The only change is they

919
00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:05,959
Speaker 2: d went to an R. Correct. Could you win? I'd

920
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:09,359
Speaker 2: win overwhelmingly. I don't have any doubt about it, no

921
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:11,520
Speaker 2: doubt about it. And I'll tell you why I believe that.

922
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 2: I'll tell you why I'm glad someone finally asked me

923
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:16,640
Speaker 2: that on the record. That's sort of the chatter as well,

924
00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:17,919
Speaker 2: that's why I asked.

925
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:19,640
Speaker 1: And the other going to say, oh, well, this guy

926
00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:21,480
Speaker 1: I could never win, that's why he waited till the

927
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:24,000
Speaker 1: end of his serve and then switch parties.

928
00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 2: So here here's the reality that people have to ignore

929
00:51:27,719 --> 00:51:29,839
Speaker 2: to even make that argument. But I understand why people

930
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 2: need to make it. I mean I told someone, I said,

931
00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:34,360
Speaker 2: you know, you don't switch parties in the two parties

932
00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:35,640
Speaker 2: form one of the other and think the other party

933
00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:37,000
Speaker 2: is going to say, well, you know, we wish him

934
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:39,680
Speaker 2: the best. He was great and it's our loss. You know,

935
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:42,600
Speaker 2: they got to come up with something and that kind

936
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:44,600
Speaker 2: of These are the kinds of arguments they've come up with.

937
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:48,840
Speaker 2: But here's the reality I won my last election with.

938
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:53,640
Speaker 2: It wasn't ninety three percent. Dallas City, you know, has

939
00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 2: ordinances about how right and candidates get on the ballot,

940
00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:00,319
Speaker 2: and if you write in a name other than the

941
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:02,840
Speaker 2: actual right in candidate's name, that's there. You just essentially

942
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:05,319
Speaker 2: didn't vote. You threw your vote, your bout in the

943
00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:08,359
Speaker 2: trash of the cast votes which we were canvassed by

944
00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:10,640
Speaker 2: the city and are the official records of the city.

945
00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:14,759
Speaker 2: Ninety eight point seven percent of the vote. That's Democrats

946
00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:18,400
Speaker 2: and Republicans in that group. That's a pretty hearty endorsement

947
00:52:18,440 --> 00:52:21,840
Speaker 2: of the incumbent mayor. And I didn't run with a

948
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:23,799
Speaker 2: D or an R behind my name. I ran just

949
00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:26,080
Speaker 2: with you, know, as Eric Johnson, because you don't run

950
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:28,520
Speaker 2: in Texas, in any city with a D or for

951
00:52:28,560 --> 00:52:30,800
Speaker 2: folks who aren't from Texas, we don't actually have partisan

952
00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:34,360
Speaker 2: elections in Texas for mayor. You just run, and you

953
00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:38,880
Speaker 2: don't run with a party support. Now, what do I

954
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:41,000
Speaker 2: think would have actually happened if I had just come

955
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,400
Speaker 2: out and said six months before the election, I'm actually

956
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:46,560
Speaker 2: a Republican. Here's what would have happened. Some Democrats would

957
00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:48,719
Speaker 2: have gotten together and said, well, this is an opportunity

958
00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:54,800
Speaker 2: for us to run an ostensibly just overtly partisan candidate.

959
00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:56,800
Speaker 2: We're going to do something that's never been done in dallasmore,

960
00:52:56,840 --> 00:52:59,560
Speaker 2: which is to just make it partisan, like to say, Okay,

961
00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 2: we got an are running and now we're going to

962
00:53:01,680 --> 00:53:04,840
Speaker 2: run a D against him. The problem is that the

963
00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:07,640
Speaker 2: are you're talking about for four years well enough to

964
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:09,399
Speaker 2: clear the field and win with ninety eight four seven

965
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:11,480
Speaker 2: percent of the vote. But that didn't happen yet. So

966
00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:15,520
Speaker 2: let's just go back and say a Republican has been

967
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:19,239
Speaker 2: that effective who happens to also be African American and

968
00:53:19,280 --> 00:53:23,120
Speaker 2: supported by the African American community. We think that that

969
00:53:23,160 --> 00:53:27,000
Speaker 2: person would lose simply by saying I've become a Republican.

970
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:29,960
Speaker 2: I think what happens is is I won the first

971
00:53:30,080 --> 00:53:33,400
Speaker 2: race in a contested nine person field that it went

972
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:35,640
Speaker 2: to a runoff with twelve percent of the vote. I won,

973
00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:39,760
Speaker 2: you know, fifty six forty four. I think that goes

974
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:43,640
Speaker 2: down to the normal, you know, pretty solid win of

975
00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:48,160
Speaker 2: a you know, fifty four fifty three percent win. But

976
00:53:48,200 --> 00:53:50,560
Speaker 2: I still win. There's still question I still win that

977
00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:53,680
Speaker 2: race because I'm the incumbent at that point. No incumbent mayor,

978
00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:56,600
Speaker 2: if we've had Republican and Democrat mayors before. By the way,

979
00:53:57,200 --> 00:54:01,120
Speaker 2: no incumbent mayor seeking re election Dallas has ever lost ever.

980
00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:04,000
Speaker 3: All Right, so let me ask a final question, which

981
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:07,719
Speaker 3: is you have started now a national organization, Yes, a

982
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:12,160
Speaker 3: Republican Mayor's Association, and you have been out articulating that

983
00:54:12,239 --> 00:54:15,560
Speaker 3: Republicans need to have an agenda for the cities, that

984
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:18,839
Speaker 3: we can't just write off big cities where an awful

985
00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:19,879
Speaker 3: lot of Americans live.

986
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:21,600
Speaker 4: And I think that's a.

987
00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:22,680
Speaker 2: Very important message.

988
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:26,600
Speaker 3: It's something and I want to ask you what's your

989
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:31,160
Speaker 3: vision for the message Republicans should have in the cities

990
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:35,120
Speaker 3: and how do we end up with a lot more

991
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:38,480
Speaker 3: Republican mayors the big cities. What's the path forward there?

992
00:54:38,680 --> 00:54:40,120
Speaker 2: I said this in the Wall Street journale, and I

993
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:46,160
Speaker 2: meant it. It's a two way benefit for America and

994
00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:51,120
Speaker 2: for our party. America needs the leadership that Republicans provide

995
00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:53,319
Speaker 2: at the local level because of the things we talked

996
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:56,759
Speaker 2: about just a few minutes ago. A Republican mayor is

997
00:54:56,800 --> 00:54:59,359
Speaker 2: going to is going to because it's a part of

998
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:01,880
Speaker 2: the DNA. The party is going to be right on

999
00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:04,960
Speaker 2: law and order issues, going to be right on public safety.

1000
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:08,239
Speaker 2: People who've asked me about that, I've said, let me

1001
00:55:08,280 --> 00:55:11,759
Speaker 2: just quiz you very quickly. Every bad idea you can

1002
00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:14,560
Speaker 2: think of about public safety came from one side of

1003
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:17,240
Speaker 2: the aisle. There's not even a mixed bag on this issue.

1004
00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:19,520
Speaker 2: If it's a bad idea when it comes to public safety,

1005
00:55:19,560 --> 00:55:22,240
Speaker 2: you know, defund the police, don't prosecute, shop with whatever.

1006
00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:26,319
Speaker 2: Republicans don't propose ideas that undermine law and order. They

1007
00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:30,560
Speaker 2: not every Democrat believes them, but they only emanate from

1008
00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:35,320
Speaker 2: the Democrat. That's just a factual statement. So a Republican

1009
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:37,160
Speaker 2: is going to be right on law and order in

1010
00:55:37,160 --> 00:55:39,319
Speaker 2: public safety, a Republican mayor is going to be right

1011
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:43,319
Speaker 2: on taxes. A Republican mayor ought to be right on

1012
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:47,840
Speaker 2: infrastructure spending and investing prudently. And there's studies that show,

1013
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:51,600
Speaker 2: I mean been they have proven that you actually have

1014
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:55,400
Speaker 2: lower debt levels and you issue less debt when you

1015
00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:58,799
Speaker 2: have a Republican mayor versus a Democrat when they've mit

1016
00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:01,799
Speaker 2: professor actually studied this and concluded that it is a

1017
00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:06,920
Speaker 2: statistically significant different level of debt associated with a city

1018
00:56:07,080 --> 00:56:09,560
Speaker 2: when there's a Republican in charge and a Democrat in charge.

1019
00:56:09,719 --> 00:56:13,880
Speaker 2: So we actually need Republicans running our major cities because

1020
00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 2: eighty percent of Americans live in cities. By twenty fifty,

1021
00:56:17,600 --> 00:56:19,640
Speaker 2: that number is going to be ninety percent. So the

1022
00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:23,279
Speaker 2: country actually needs the leadership. But I'm actually telling you,

1023
00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:26,319
Speaker 2: as a group of partisans. We actually have to pay

1024
00:56:26,360 --> 00:56:28,239
Speaker 2: attention to this, and I think we have to pay

1025
00:56:28,239 --> 00:56:32,360
Speaker 2: attention to it because I, in my heart of hearts,

1026
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:38,320
Speaker 2: believe that by being competitive in the cities, by basically

1027
00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:41,319
Speaker 2: re engaging, because we were once engaged. There was a

1028
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:44,359
Speaker 2: Republican Majors Association at one time. It had a similar name.

1029
00:56:44,600 --> 00:56:47,440
Speaker 2: It was like the Republican Conference. It was during the

1030
00:56:47,440 --> 00:56:51,360
Speaker 2: Ford administration. And at some point we just lost interest

1031
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:54,440
Speaker 2: in competing at that level and it sort of just

1032
00:56:54,480 --> 00:56:57,280
Speaker 2: faded away. But it was very active at one time,

1033
00:56:57,560 --> 00:56:59,719
Speaker 2: and we were more competitive in our cities at one time.

1034
00:56:59,840 --> 00:57:02,799
Speaker 2: We need to get more competitive there again, because the

1035
00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:07,400
Speaker 2: margin of victory at the state level and states like Wisconsin,

1036
00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:12,320
Speaker 2: in states like Michigan, states like Pennsylvania, is the difference

1037
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 2: between performing at the city level in You're ready, Madison,

1038
00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:24,640
Speaker 2: Green Bay, and in Detroit and in Philadelphi and Pittsburgh

1039
00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:28,320
Speaker 2: by just five or ten percent points better. So, in

1040
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:31,440
Speaker 2: other words, engaging in the cities in a more significant

1041
00:57:31,440 --> 00:57:34,440
Speaker 2: way and having the GOP brand associated with the things

1042
00:57:34,520 --> 00:57:37,960
Speaker 2: we're talking about at the local level. It doesn't take

1043
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:40,280
Speaker 2: that many votes and now all of a sudden, the

1044
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:45,280
Speaker 2: whole state is no longer lockstock and barrel going one

1045
00:57:45,320 --> 00:57:47,840
Speaker 2: direction because of the advantage has been run up in

1046
00:57:47,880 --> 00:57:50,640
Speaker 2: the city. You've cut into the advantage that the cities have.

1047
00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:53,640
Speaker 2: You know, Eric, I'll tell you on that point.

1048
00:57:55,120 --> 00:57:58,280
Speaker 3: So, Heidi and I met twenty five years ago when

1049
00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 3: we were both working on the George W. Bush campaign

1050
00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:04,320
Speaker 3: in two thousand presidential campaigns. And actually in that campaign,

1051
00:58:04,400 --> 00:58:06,960
Speaker 3: you know, I was a young twenty nine year old staffer,

1052
00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:12,480
Speaker 3: but I wrote a memo urging that the campaign consider

1053
00:58:12,560 --> 00:58:18,520
Speaker 3: at the time Condolliza Rice as a VP nominee. And

1054
00:58:18,560 --> 00:58:20,400
Speaker 3: in the course of the memo, I laid out all

1055
00:58:20,440 --> 00:58:24,240
Speaker 3: sorts of reasons why I thought this was worth considering carefully.

1056
00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:26,320
Speaker 3: But one of the things I did is I did

1057
00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:31,080
Speaker 3: an electoral analysis. I looked at the three preceding presidential elections,

1058
00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:35,320
Speaker 3: and I posited a series of hypotheticals. I said, what

1059
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:39,440
Speaker 3: would have happened if Republicans had gotten five percent more,

1060
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:44,640
Speaker 3: ten percent more, or fifteen percent more of the African

1061
00:58:44,680 --> 00:58:48,240
Speaker 3: American and Hispanic book. So I didn't posit what if

1062
00:58:48,240 --> 00:58:50,760
Speaker 3: we get fifty percent more? I did five, ten or

1063
00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:56,680
Speaker 3: fifteen so goals that were achievable, I believe, and I

1064
00:58:56,760 --> 00:58:59,160
Speaker 3: ran through the numbers, and the one that was most

1065
00:58:59,240 --> 00:59:03,280
Speaker 3: that stood out the most was if Republicans had gotten

1066
00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:06,600
Speaker 3: an additional fifteen percent of the African American and Hispanic

1067
00:59:06,680 --> 00:59:09,760
Speaker 3: vote in nineteen ninety six, Republicans would have won an

1068
00:59:09,760 --> 00:59:16,400
Speaker 3: additional ninety six electoral votes. I mean, it flips the

1069
00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:20,600
Speaker 3: election dramatically. But to do that, we've got to compete.

1070
00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:27,000
Speaker 2: It's a whole different national conversation about the competitiveness of

1071
00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:31,880
Speaker 2: this party if we are a factor at the city level, yep,

1072
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:34,840
Speaker 2: because it's just where so many people are concentrated. It's

1073
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:36,640
Speaker 2: getting harder and harder to figure out how to win

1074
00:59:36,680 --> 00:59:40,200
Speaker 2: elections where we're just not even playing there and it's

1075
00:59:40,240 --> 00:59:44,040
Speaker 2: just not even we ought to be competing in every

1076
00:59:44,120 --> 00:59:50,040
Speaker 2: major city where we're currently just st of saying, you know,

1077
00:59:50,440 --> 00:59:52,680
Speaker 2: a Democrat hasn't won. I mean repoklic had won there

1078
00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:56,240
Speaker 2: a long time, so let's not try. We just flipped.

1079
00:59:56,880 --> 01:00:01,040
Speaker 2: Just in this last cycle, the mayor, current mayor of

1080
01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:04,840
Speaker 2: I believe it's Charleston, South Carolina, is now a Republican.

1081
01:00:05,960 --> 01:00:08,840
Speaker 2: They hadn't elected a Republican mayor in Charleston in like

1082
01:00:08,880 --> 01:00:13,920
Speaker 2: one hundred and seventy five years, so it can happen.

1083
01:00:14,080 --> 01:00:16,120
Speaker 2: It can be done. You have to run the right candy.

1084
01:00:16,120 --> 01:00:18,040
Speaker 2: He was a former legislator like I was, and he

1085
01:00:18,120 --> 01:00:20,480
Speaker 2: ran a great campaign. Now they've got a Republican mayor.

1086
01:00:20,520 --> 01:00:22,360
Speaker 2: So what's gonna happen next is he's gonna do a

1087
01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:24,800
Speaker 2: good job. And when he does a good job, these

1088
01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:26,840
Speaker 2: people who've been voting for Democrat mayor for one hundred

1089
01:00:26,840 --> 01:00:28,320
Speaker 2: and seventy five years are gonna say, you know, when

1090
01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:31,040
Speaker 2: Republicans are in charge, the city just seems to be

1091
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:35,000
Speaker 2: it's safer, We hire more cops, and crime goes down,

1092
01:00:35,080 --> 01:00:36,800
Speaker 2: and you know what, the taxes go down, and you know,

1093
01:00:37,040 --> 01:00:41,760
Speaker 2: things are just better. The brand means something to them

1094
01:00:41,800 --> 01:00:44,640
Speaker 2: at the local level, and not just the brand will

1095
01:00:44,680 --> 01:00:47,120
Speaker 2: always have a federal aspect to it, It will always

1096
01:00:47,160 --> 01:00:49,560
Speaker 2: have a state aspect to it. But right now in

1097
01:00:49,680 --> 01:00:52,720
Speaker 2: this party, we're missing a brand at the local level.

1098
01:00:52,720 --> 01:00:54,800
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean anything right now at the local level.

1099
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:56,520
Speaker 2: And we get to decide what it means. And I'm

1100
01:00:56,520 --> 01:01:00,760
Speaker 2: saying we should be running solid conservatives at the local level,

1101
01:01:00,960 --> 01:01:03,960
Speaker 2: winning elections, running cities well. And then that makes people

1102
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:07,200
Speaker 2: at the local level go, yeah, I'm actually a Republican.

1103
01:01:07,200 --> 01:01:09,600
Speaker 2: I love my Republican mayor, and so I'm a Republican,

1104
01:01:09,640 --> 01:01:12,520
Speaker 2: and that has benefits for people running for US Senate,

1105
01:01:12,840 --> 01:01:16,040
Speaker 2: running for president, running for governor. But we are right

1106
01:01:16,080 --> 01:01:18,480
Speaker 2: now just aren't doing anything. I mean, I was shocked

1107
01:01:18,480 --> 01:01:20,720
Speaker 2: to find that there was no one even in this lane.

1108
01:01:21,120 --> 01:01:23,680
Speaker 2: I wasn't even stepping on anybody's pose by doing this.

1109
01:01:24,040 --> 01:01:26,560
Speaker 3: Well, let me say, Eric, I appreciate you. I appreciate

1110
01:01:26,560 --> 01:01:29,720
Speaker 3: your friendship, I appreciate your leadership, and I appreciate your

1111
01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:31,080
Speaker 3: joining us on the Verdict podcast.

1112
01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:32,000
Speaker 2: Appreciate that. Man.

1113
01:01:35,600 --> 01:01:37,760
Speaker 1: Give a big round of a paults from Mayor of Dallas.

1114
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:40,360
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Verdic. Don't forget We do

1115
01:01:40,400 --> 01:01:42,720
Speaker 1: this show Monday, Wednesday Fridays. Make sure you hit that

1116
01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:47,280
Speaker 1: download subscribe auto download button shared on social media wherever

1117
01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:49,160
Speaker 1: you are in social media and the centater. I will

1118
01:01:49,160 --> 01:01:51,040
Speaker 1: see you back here in a couple of days