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Speaker 1: This is the morning, and I'm Steve Schmidt, and this

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Speaker 1: afternoon I'll please to bring a conversation with you to

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Speaker 1: a conversation with Terry Rtz. Terry Urtz is a candidate

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Speaker 1: for the United States Senate from the Great State of Texas.

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Speaker 1: He's a retired Air Force colonel, a veteran NASA astronaut,

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Speaker 1: and the retired commander of the International Space Station running

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Speaker 1: as a Democrat in Texas. Tell me about the model

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Speaker 1: of the Space Shuttle over your shoulder. You were the

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Speaker 1: You did not command a Space Shuttle mission, but you

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Speaker 1: were the pilot of the Space Shuttle.

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Speaker 2: That's right. This is Endeavor and it's got the sink.

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Speaker 2: You probably can't see. It's got the signatures of all

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Speaker 2: my crewmates on there. They're starting to fade. But I flew.

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Speaker 2: I was a F sixteen pilot and test pilot, and

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Speaker 2: I flew on STS one thirty as Endeavor's pilot. It

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Speaker 2: was the last assembly flight at the International Space Station,

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Speaker 2: so we finished building the ISS and it was awesome.

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Speaker 2: It was the honor of lifetime. Installed a module called

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Speaker 2: the Kupola, which is this big seven window module, and

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Speaker 2: also Node three, which is a living module. So the

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Speaker 2: coupla is every astronaut's favorite place on the ISS.

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Speaker 1: We're going to get into that. But what was it

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Speaker 1: like to fly to Space Shuttle? Was that was so like?

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Speaker 1: And what does it mean to fly to Space Shuttle?

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Speaker 1: So were your hands on the stick from space flying

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Speaker 1: it all the way back down to when it landed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the best part of having the privilege

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Speaker 2: of flying on the Space Shuttle is you could actually

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Speaker 2: fly it. I was a test pilot. I like grabbing

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Speaker 2: the stick and controlling it during launch we could, and

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Speaker 2: I practiced flying it manually, but normally you don't want

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Speaker 2: to do that because the computer is a lot better

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Speaker 2: than humans are, so the computer flew ours automatically. Once

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Speaker 2: we got I actually grabbed the controls and flew a maneuver.

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Speaker 2: I flew around the space station, so, you know, manually

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Speaker 2: flying it was really cool. Flying in space is very

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Speaker 2: different than flying in air, and there's a lot of

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Speaker 2: thing we could talk about ronevous and orbital mechanics if

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Speaker 2: you want. And then coming back, the computer flies it

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Speaker 2: most of the way. But I actually grabbed the stick

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Speaker 2: and flew it in the air before landing, and then

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Speaker 2: I handed it over to Zambo George Zamcam my commander,

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Speaker 2: and he actually did the landing. But it was a rocket,

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Speaker 2: it was a space ship, and then it was an airplane.

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Speaker 2: So amazing vehicle. We're never going to have anything like

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Speaker 2: that again. On over thing.

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Speaker 1: And how much time did you spend in space when

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Speaker 1: you count it?

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Speaker 2: When you count it all up, So my first flight

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Speaker 2: was about two weeks. We landed on flight day fifteen,

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Speaker 2: and then my second flight was two hundred days. We

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Speaker 2: landed on flight day two hundred and one. So if

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Speaker 2: you add it all up, it was about seven months,

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Speaker 2: a little over seven months in space, in outer space,

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Speaker 2: outside of the outside of the atmosphere, flying around Earth

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Speaker 2: in orby And now.

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Speaker 1: As the crowd is starting to build a little bit,

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Speaker 1: you are a candidate in Texas where Democrats correct if

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Speaker 1: I'm wrong, I not want to stay wide election I

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Speaker 1: think in thirty years, and you're running to be in

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Speaker 1: a race as the Democratic candidate for John Cornyn's seat,

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Speaker 1: though personally I don't think John Cornying is going to

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Speaker 1: be the candidate. And so let me just ask you

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Speaker 1: straight up, what's wrong with you? Wrong right of the

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Speaker 1: US Senate? What's cobing on why are you doing this?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I joked that I lost a bet and had

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Speaker 2: to run. Nineteen ninety four, the great Anna Richards don't

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Speaker 2: mess with Texas was our governor. Pearl jam was at

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Speaker 2: the top of the church. That's the last time a

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Speaker 2: Democrat won here in Texas. But I've spent my whole

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Speaker 2: career serving. When I was seventeen, I went to the

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Speaker 2: Air Force Academy, spent over thirty years in the Air Force.

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Speaker 2: You know, my oath there was to support and defend

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Speaker 2: the Constitution of the United States, and I still take

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Speaker 2: that very strongly. Even though I retired from the Air

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Speaker 2: Force years ago. I still take that oath seriously. And

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Speaker 2: what I see happening today is crazy and it's evil.

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Speaker 2: And I just the last couple of elections I supported folks,

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Speaker 2: you know, with my social media or I did some

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Speaker 2: speaking on a couple of different candidates. Behalfs. I just

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Speaker 2: got to I can't stand to just sit around and

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Speaker 2: do nothing. So this is my turn to get back.

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Speaker 2: There's a Bible verse to those who much has been given, much,

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Speaker 2: we'll be expected. And I feel like I've been given

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Speaker 2: a lot by this country. I've had the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: fly F sixteens and to fly space shuttles. And so

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Speaker 2: this is my chance to give back unless we do

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Speaker 2: something different. Like you said, you know, we're not going

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Speaker 2: to win as Democrats. So the Democratic Party needs to

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Speaker 2: have a wake up moment. We would say we need

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Speaker 2: to have a debriefing. Right as a fighter pilots or

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Speaker 2: an astronaut, you need to debrief what went wrong so

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Speaker 2: you can move forward.

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Speaker 1: So we live in a moment right now. If you

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Speaker 1: listen to a lot of the geniuses in Washington, d C.

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at something that should not be You are

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Speaker 1: a graduate of the Air Force Academy. You look like

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Speaker 1: a white guy to me. You're an Air Force colonel,

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Speaker 1: you're a veteran astronaut, and low and behold, like.

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Speaker 2: John Glenn, you're a Democrat. Why are you a Democrat?

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Speaker 2: I got asked that a few weeks ago, and it

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Speaker 2: was a surprising question. I've never been asked that before.

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Speaker 2: And I thought about values. You know, I value people

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Speaker 2: serving people. I did a video today about my faith

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Speaker 2: as a Christian, and I think I'm a Democrat because

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Speaker 2: I'm a Christian, because I believe in things like do

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Speaker 2: unto others as you'd have them do under yourself, you know,

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Speaker 2: treat others the way you want to be treated, and

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Speaker 2: serve the least of these, not the most of these.

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Speaker 2: And that's the Democrats I know here in Texas are awesome.

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Speaker 2: They want to govern, they want to get stuff done.

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Speaker 2: They want to fix the flooding problem that we have

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Speaker 2: here on the coast, obviously, that we have in central Texas.

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Speaker 2: They want to get people healthcare, they want to actually

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Speaker 2: do practical things to help people out. And I think

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Speaker 2: the Democratic Party nationally needs to follow the Texas model,

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Speaker 2: come learn from us. So the other thing, Steve, there's

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Speaker 2: a saying in the military, you go to war with

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Speaker 2: the army you have, and the army we have in

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Speaker 2: America is Republicans and Democrats. We're going to pick congressman, senators,

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Speaker 2: presidents who are either Republican or Democrat. That's just the

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Speaker 2: reality that we have today. So you have to pick

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Speaker 2: a side. And the Republican side is lost its way.

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Speaker 2: He used to work for Republicans. That party's long gone, obviously,

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Speaker 2: And the Democratic Party here in Texas, there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of awesome Democrats, And I guess that's why I'm a Democrat.

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Speaker 1: So you made this jump into politics, and you're going

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Speaker 1: out now and competing in really a process at is

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Speaker 1: two elections.

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Speaker 2: You are auditioning, if.

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Speaker 1: You will, for the privilege to be up against the

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Speaker 1: Maget candidate in those finals. As like we just talked about,

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Speaker 1: it's been a very long time since the confetti was

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Speaker 1: coming down on election night on a statewide race with

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Speaker 1: a Democratic candidate in Texas. And one of the things

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Speaker 1: you're trying to do, I know, is to set about

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Speaker 1: changing that. And I'll give you a lot of credit

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Speaker 1: because you went out and you said something that a

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Speaker 1: lot that I think is deeply true, but like not

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Speaker 1: a lot of your your peers have had the guts

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Speaker 1: to say. And what what you've said, unless I've heard

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Speaker 1: it wrong, is that under no circument what you said

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Speaker 1: was that the first vote a a new senator takes

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Speaker 1: is for their parties leaders, and under no circumstance would

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Speaker 1: you vote for Chuck Schumer to remain as the as

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Speaker 1: the leader of the of the Democratic Party. And you

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Speaker 1: you also said, as I was getting ready for this,

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Speaker 1: that senator from Texas ought not to work uh functionally

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Speaker 1: for the senator from New York, which seems like common sense,

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Speaker 1: but you know is a revelation in these days, and

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Speaker 1: so I just wanted to ask you about that. Is

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Speaker 1: that right that you would not support Schumer to be

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Speaker 1: the Senate to be the Senate leader, and and and

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Speaker 1: that and that too, you know, broadly, broadly speaking, you

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Speaker 1: know you are you are pretty critical of the team

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Speaker 1: that has lost two elections over the last whatever ten years.

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Speaker 2: To Donald Trump. Absolutely, you know, we need new leadership.

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Speaker 2: We love football here in Texas. So if you're an

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Speaker 2: NFL team and you're going four and twelve and you're

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Speaker 2: losing for thirty years, you need a new leader. We

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Speaker 2: just lost the most winnable election in our histor. You

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Speaker 2: lost it to somebody who everybody knows is a liar.

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Speaker 2: Voters know that Donald Trump is a liar. They know

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Speaker 2: all of his problems, and yet they still trusted him

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Speaker 2: more than they trusted Democrats. I just had breakfast with

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Speaker 2: one of our leaders here in Austin, in the state

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Speaker 2: Democratic Party, and he was like, Terry, I just got

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Speaker 2: new polling data. We're at twenty four percent popularity. We

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Speaker 2: have to change a bunch of poll numbers came out yesterday.

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Speaker 2: I was looking at Donald Trump, is unpopular. Americans don't

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Speaker 2: like most of what Trump stands for on every issue,

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Speaker 2: but they like Democrats even worse. And I was just

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Speaker 2: in DC recently Stee a couple months ago, and the

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Speaker 2: vibe at the National Democratic Party level, which is very

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Speaker 2: different than Texas Democrats. These are not Texas Democrats. The

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Speaker 2: National Democratic Party level thinks two things. We can't win

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Speaker 2: the Senate, so let's raise a lot of money in

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Speaker 2: Texas and forced Republicans to spend money here, but we're

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Speaker 2: going to lose. That's what they think. They're wrong. And

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Speaker 2: the other thing is we're going to to pick up

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Speaker 2: some House seats because Trump is going to be a disaster,

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Speaker 2: and the opposing party always picks up house seats, so

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Speaker 2: we'll get the House majority back. It's not let's change,

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Speaker 2: it's not let's listen to voters. It's not let's give

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Speaker 2: voters what they want, which I think is growing the

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Speaker 2: middle class and focusing on middle class issues. It's we're

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Speaker 2: going to win the House, and if we in the House,

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Speaker 2: they'll pat themselves on the back and talk about how

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Speaker 2: great they are. That needs to change. That's a fatalistic

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Speaker 2: that's not a leader that I want to follow and

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Speaker 2: I think we need We have great people in the

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Speaker 2: Democratic Party, Melissa Sluckin, Ruben Diego, Corey Booker, Mark Kelly.

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Speaker 2: I could go on and on and on. There's some

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Speaker 2: really great Democrats out there. It's time for them to lead.

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Speaker 2: To your point, Schumer's been in office for fifty years.

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Speaker 2: Fifty years is too long. It's time for new leadership.

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Speaker 1: What is it that you're going to say to Texas

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Speaker 1: Democrats over the course of this primary?

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Speaker 2: A let chain about why you Yeah, that's a great

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Speaker 2: question because I'm not a politician, and you know, Texas

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Speaker 2: Democrats don't know me as a politician. The point I'm

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Speaker 2: going to make is we number one, we have to win.

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Speaker 2: We can give speeches on the House Senate and we

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Speaker 2: can send out mean tweets and we can do whatever.

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Speaker 2: That's not resistance. Resistance is winning. We have to get

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Speaker 2: the fifty one senators. We need to win Texas if

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Speaker 2: we're going to get the fifty one in the Senate.

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Speaker 2: And the real question, there's one question for Democrats here

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Speaker 2: in Texas. Who do we want on the ballot next November.

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Speaker 2: Do we want the same guy that just lost he's

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Speaker 2: running again? Do we want to try the same thing again.

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Speaker 2: We haven't won here in thirty years by running kind

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Speaker 2: of traditional democratic politicians, or do we want to run

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Speaker 2: somebody different? And it's not like personally I'm some great

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Speaker 2: person or a candidate, but my background's really unique as

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Speaker 2: a fighter pilot, as a test pilot, and as an

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Speaker 2: ash or not. I have a perspective and my way

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Speaker 2: of focusing on things is to get the mission done,

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Speaker 2: is to just like, let's get the mission done, let's

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Speaker 2: do good for the people of Texas, and that let's

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Speaker 2: be a politician who's just on one side or the

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Speaker 2: other bashing the other guys. So the real questions Steve,

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Speaker 2: and it's one question, who do you want on the

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Speaker 2: ballot nex November? Who is John Cornin or probably Ken

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Speaker 2: Paxson going to worry about more another traditional Democratic politician

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Speaker 2: who just lost, or somebody with my background.

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Speaker 1: So for people that are watching, Ken Paxton is the

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Speaker 1: extremely corrupt attorney general in the state of Texas who

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Speaker 1: was impeached, barely survived the process, and was impeached by

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Speaker 1: a Republican legislature. He's going through a hot profile worse

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Speaker 1: right now his wife, who I think is a state

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Speaker 1: senator has filed for divorce on on biblical grounds. It's

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Speaker 1: a whole spectacle that's that's playing out. But but honest

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Speaker 1: to God, I mean this, if it was a type

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Speaker 1: of Olympics and you were looking for the obvious gold

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Speaker 1: medal candidate in a competition of the worst of the worst,

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Speaker 1: and you look at that, and you look at that,

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Speaker 1: Maga senate, uh, teaming with scumbags. In my view, maga scumbags.

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Speaker 1: You have some of the worst in the worst, a

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Speaker 1: guy like a Ted Cruz, dishonest, self interested, uh, dishonest,

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Speaker 1: self interested. And what you have to appreciate about Ken

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Speaker 1: Paxton is the moment, the moment he got there right

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Speaker 1: in a in again of thieves. He's the worst guy there, right,

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Speaker 1: He's the he's the oussin bolt right of of crookedness, right,

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Speaker 1: takes the place.

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Speaker 2: Down another entire notch.

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Speaker 1: He's awful, and he's gonna beat John Cornyn in in

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Speaker 1: the primary. In my view, I don't think Cornyn has

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Speaker 1: a has a has a prayer. And so the Democratic

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Speaker 1: race is about who's gonna be the candidate who's in

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Speaker 1: the toughest right, uh, who gives the who gives Ken

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Speaker 1: packs in the toughest race. Who can beat beat Ken Paxson.

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Speaker 1: And so when when you think about this, what what

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Speaker 1: is it that you're gonna say from you know, the

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Speaker 1: west of the state in l pax you know l Pass,

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Speaker 1: so all the way across to to Shreveport, from the

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Speaker 1: you know Panhandle to North Texas, right on down to

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Speaker 1: the to the southern to the Southern Tech. What what

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Speaker 1: is it that you're gonna say to Texas voters that

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Speaker 1: is different than what Dave heard over the last couple

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Speaker 1: couple of years.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So my focus to Eve is going to be

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Speaker 2: on one thing, growing the middle class. I came from

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Speaker 2: a middle class background. I had the opportunity to go

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Speaker 2: to good public schools. Those types of middle class issues

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Speaker 2: are going to be my focus. Now. Texas is a

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Speaker 2: big place, as you know, if it was a nation,

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Speaker 2: we'd have the eighth largest economy in the world. You

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Speaker 2: were very proud of that. You know, it's a big state.

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Speaker 2: It's a giant state. The issues that affect the Premium

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Speaker 2: Basin and the Eagleford Basin are oil and gas issues.

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Speaker 2: The issues that affect ranchers and agriculture are the Ogolalla

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Speaker 2: aquifer is drying up, you know the issues that affect Houston,

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Speaker 2: our logistics, medical space, you know energy. So there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of different issues in Texas and I want to

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Speaker 2: address them all. I want to focus on what Texas

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Speaker 2: voters need and not what the folks in watching and

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Speaker 2: DC need. But I always want to bring it back

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Speaker 2: to the middle class. And Democrats have such a terrible brand,

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Speaker 2: and there's a lot of people that just would never

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Speaker 2: vote for a Democrat because all they ever hear is that,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're left wing Marxists, we're radical communists and stuff.

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Speaker 2: I can't wait for all these ads that Paxton is

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Speaker 2: going to make about me. But I'm going to go

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Speaker 2: out and talk to people and meet them where they're at.

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Speaker 2: I'm not just going to stay on MSNBC. I got

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Speaker 2: a call from Fox News about fifteen minutes ago. They

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Speaker 2: wanted to be on right now. I said, no, I

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Speaker 2: got to talk to Steve Schmid. I can't go on

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Speaker 2: Fox News. I'm gonna go on Fox News. I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: go on AM talk radio. You talk about Ken Paxton,

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Speaker 2: That's who he is. He's a He's a AM talk

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Speaker 2: radio guy. He has never did anything interesting in his life.

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Speaker 2: He's a he's good at talking loud and bloviating. But

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Speaker 2: I'm going to go on those shows they're gonna call

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Speaker 2: me a radical Marxist. I'm gonna be like, what are

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Speaker 2: you talking about? I joined the Air Force to defend

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Speaker 2: Europe from communism. Literally, that's that's why I joined the

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Speaker 2: Air Force. So we Democrats have to get out there

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Speaker 2: and talk to people where they're at, because, as you know,

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Speaker 2: if you're in your little information ecosystem, you're never going

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Speaker 2: to hear anything other than what you're listening to. So

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Speaker 2: our duty as Democrats is to go talk to the

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Speaker 2: people in Middle and I'm going to Middland here in

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Speaker 2: a few weeks and kind of meet them where they're at.

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Speaker 2: Talk to me about the concept of duty. What does

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Speaker 2: that word mean to you? Well, we had to learn

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Speaker 2: a lot of quotes about that duty then as a

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Speaker 2: sublimest word in the English language, that was a quote

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Speaker 2: we had to learn it there Force Academy. Duty is

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Speaker 2: well with respect to the country, it's asked not what

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Speaker 2: your country can do for you, but what you can

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Speaker 2: do for your country. As Americans, we've been given a

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Speaker 2: lot and by the way, as Democrats, we need to

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Speaker 2: take back patriotism. Republicans don't have patriotism, they're actually very

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Speaker 2: anti patriotic. Democrats need to be patriotic. I love my country.

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Speaker 2: I am blessed to live in this most nation and

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Speaker 2: human history. So I'm very patriotic. I'm very thankful, and

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Speaker 2: my duty is to serve the country. Now that might

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Speaker 2: be raising a good family and working hard and just

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Speaker 2: contributing to society. That's a huge contribution that most that's

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Speaker 2: kind of your duty. My duty as a man was

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Speaker 2: to protect my family and provide for my family. But

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Speaker 2: I've been given a lot now, you know, as an

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Speaker 2: Air Force F sixteen pilot and as an astronaut, so

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Speaker 2: I think there's going to be a lot more expected

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Speaker 2: of me. And in this case, it's running for Senate

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Speaker 2: because I see, I see the disaster like to your

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Speaker 2: point of what Ken Paxton is going to be, and

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Speaker 2: I see a Democratic Party that can't get out of

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Speaker 2: its own way and can't put forward a candidate that

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Speaker 2: can actually beat them. So this is where my duty,

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Speaker 2: at this moment in my life is to jump in

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Speaker 2: the battle. And you know, running for office is not

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Speaker 2: necessarily the most fun thing that you could possibly do.

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Speaker 2: You've seen it up close a lot more than I have.

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Speaker 2: But it's a duty. And at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: I think we all, everybody listening to this who's an American,

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Speaker 2: we all owe a lot to our country and we

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Speaker 2: should think about how we can give back to that.

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Speaker 2: It might be working as a as a volunteer at polls,

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Speaker 2: you know, helping people vote, might be working at your

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Speaker 2: church or serving at a soup kitchen or whatever it is,

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Speaker 2: but we we should all think about how we can

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Speaker 2: give back because this country's given all of us a lot.

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Speaker 1: I enjoy reading these old Life magazines behind me, and

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Speaker 1: you know one one of I usually don't bring visual

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Speaker 1: aids to this, but but I wanna. I want to

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Speaker 1: hold this one up. Yeah, that's a very famous Life

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Speaker 1: magazine and the men on that, of course, are the

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Speaker 1: original seven Astronauts, of whom you were destined to join

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Speaker 1: in theirs as it expands. And so did you always

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Speaker 1: want to be an astronaut since you were a little kid?

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Speaker 1: And I asked that because right before we were on

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Speaker 1: you were talking to me about this obligation you feel

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Speaker 1: around the American dream, that it was a lived experience

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Speaker 1: for you and it's something that's fading too dark for

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Speaker 1: a lot of people.

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Speaker 2: By lived experience.

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Speaker 1: That you believe in, And so I wanted to ask

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Speaker 1: you about for you, what was it like in that

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Speaker 1: moment that you got accepted? How did you get accepted?

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Speaker 1: How do you find out that, hey, you're going to

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Speaker 1: be an astronaut?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was when I was the first book I

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Speaker 2: remember reading. You know, when you're a little kid, you

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Speaker 2: get those cardboard books with one line per page, And

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Speaker 2: I was reading that to my granddaughter a different book

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Speaker 2: last night. It was about astronauts, and I can remember

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Speaker 2: this Apollo book. It was black and white. In my mind.

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Speaker 2: It was about the moon, and I thought, well, that

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Speaker 2: would be cool. I'm going to go to the moon.

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Speaker 2: So I grew up with I had a poster of

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Speaker 2: the Space Shuttle on my wall. When I was a boy.

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Speaker 2: I had a poster of the old Red, white and

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Speaker 2: Blue IF sixteen on my wall. When I was thirteen,

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Speaker 2: a friend said, hey, you should read the right stuff.

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Speaker 2: So I read Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. The book

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Speaker 2: The movie, by the way, is spectacular, and it talked

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Speaker 2: about how those guys had been fighter pilots and then

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Speaker 2: test pilots and astronauts, and I didn't know what to do.

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Speaker 2: You know, my mom was a secretary. My parents were divorced.

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Speaker 2: She never graduated from high school. I grew up in

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Speaker 2: poverty and my dad never went to college. So I

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Speaker 2: was the first person in my immediate family to go

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Speaker 2: to college. And I followed that right stuff path through

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Speaker 2: F sixteen's test pilot and I was at Edwards Air

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Speaker 2: Force Base as a test pilot, and the application process

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Speaker 2: had taken a year. Everything was really delayed for a

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Speaker 2: lot of reasons, and everybody knew I was one of

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Speaker 2: the finalists at Edwards Air Force Base. Everybody told me

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Speaker 2: that I had no chance of getting picked because I

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Speaker 2: was the youngest guy by far. I was too young,

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Speaker 2: I wasn't experienced enough, I wasn't good looking enough. So

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Speaker 2: everybody knew. And the phone call came in and if

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Speaker 2: you got a call from the chief astronaut, you got selected,

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Speaker 2: and if you got a call from the HR lady,

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Speaker 2: you didn't get picked. So I get this call, you know,

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Speaker 2: and it's from Charlie Precourt, the chief astronaut, and I

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Speaker 2: was in a room we were debriefing our mission, and

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Speaker 2: there was all these engineers around me, and I was

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Speaker 2: talking about this F sixteen sorty I had just flown

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Speaker 2: and like I turned bright red and I was on

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Speaker 2: the phone, yes sir, and he goes, hey, Terry, are

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Speaker 2: you still interested in coming down to Houston? And I

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Speaker 2: was like, let me think about that. Yes, and anyway,

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Speaker 2: so he said, but don't tell anybody because Congress still

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Speaker 2: needs to approve it. It's secret, but you'll show up blah

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Speaker 2: blah blah. So yes, sir, yes or yes sir. And

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Speaker 2: I hung up and everybody was staring. There's like ten

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Speaker 2: guys starring at me. What was that? And I was

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Speaker 2: like nothing. And then about a minute later, on the loudspeaker,

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Speaker 2: you know, celebration party for Captain verts in the ten

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Speaker 2: minutes or something. So that's how I found out. I

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Speaker 2: went home. There was a lot of screaming and crying

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Speaker 2: and excitement. That was a pretty cool That was a

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Speaker 2: pretty cool day. One of my one of my favorite.

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Speaker 1: Favorite covers, one of my favorite astronauts of all of

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Speaker 1: the originals is is this man who was who was

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Speaker 1: the first man in space, Alan Alan Shepherd. And one

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Speaker 1: of the things you talked about is the politics of

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Speaker 1: the moment in the country. And there's this story about

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Speaker 1: Alan Shepherd that I love, and it's that as he

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Speaker 1: was sitting atop the capsule waiting to blast off, there

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Speaker 1: was an open microphone and Alan Shepherd, uh, said a

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Speaker 1: prayer out loud. And I have always shared this with

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Speaker 1: political candidates backstage before debates. I've always said, right in

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Speaker 1: that awkward moment of silence, right, whether it's John McCain

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Speaker 1: getting ready to walk out national debate stage, whatever, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'll say, well, do you know do you know the

431
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 1: Alan Shepherd prayer? And invariably they go no, And I

432
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: and I tell the story about Alan Shepherd's prayer over

433
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:53,199
Speaker 1: the open mic, which was not relayed precisely to the

434
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,159
Speaker 1: audience by the news pastors because because the prayer was

435
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 1: Dear God, please don't let me fuck this up. And

436
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: so when you think about the Alan Shepherd prayer, and

437
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,920
Speaker 1: you you apply it the politics, and in a two

438
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 1: party system where one of the parties is the playground

439
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 1: of Donald Trump, and so by necessity the other party

440
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 1: must oppose that, and the other party has failed in

441
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:29,800
Speaker 1: that mission to stop it. What I would say is

442
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: that the Lord did not hear their prayer. Uh. You know,

443
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 1: to say, to say, to say the least, and and

444
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 1: so why why do you think that in the state

445
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:54,200
Speaker 1: of Texas, which produced Lyndon Johnson and Ann Richards and

446
00:26:54,280 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 1: Barbara Jordan, that the Democratic Party in the age of Trump,

447
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 1: who has a thirty eight thirty six percent approval level

448
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: and some polls forty percent, which also sucks in the

449
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:10,440
Speaker 1: in the latest one.

450
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,639
Speaker 2: Why why in that context.

451
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 1: Is this party at a twenty four percent approval level?

452
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: How do you how do you explain that? How do

453
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: you get your head around that? And why do you say, Yeah,

454
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 1: I'm with that, which I'm with them too. I mean,

455
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 1: I got it. Maybe the same thing is wrong with

456
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: both of us, but like what, but how do you

457
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: sort that out? Yeah, that's a great question.

458
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 2: By the way, back to Shepherd's prayer, I had the

459
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,359
Speaker 2: same exact thought they were asked. I get asked all

460
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 2: the time, were you afraid? And honestly, I wasn't afraid

461
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 2: of dying. I was afraid of screwing up because my

462
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,479
Speaker 2: buddies were watching and they would give me a nickname.

463
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 2: So that was my That was my biggest fear. During

464
00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 2: my space flights as Air Force fighter pilots, you get

465
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,199
Speaker 2: call signs and it's usually based on something you screwed up.

466
00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 2: So I didn't want to do it. What was your

467
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 2: What was your call? So I was I was Flanders

468
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,919
Speaker 2: like Homer's I should have my first call signed Flying

469
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 2: callsign was cave Man and I was probably a lot

470
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 2: more of a Homer Simpson kind of guy. But they

471
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:18,040
Speaker 2: call me Flanders, which is Homer's Christian neighbor. It was, Yeah, anyway,

472
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 2: there's a whole story there. So, like I said, before

473
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 2: you go to war with the army you have and

474
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:27,439
Speaker 2: the army we have. You're either on Team Trump or

475
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,440
Speaker 2: you're a Democrat. I mean, you could be an independent.

476
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:31,920
Speaker 2: You're not going to win a statewide election in Texas

477
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six. The primaries in two hundred and

478
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 2: fifteen days, so we are on the clock. And the

479
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 2: Democratic Party traditionally, I know you're a historian. I'm a

480
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 2: JFK Democrat. You know, we choose to go to the

481
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 2: moon and do the harder things. It's the party of

482
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 2: the working people. And my fat both my grandfathers were

483
00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 2: union men. They talked about it their whole lives. Both

484
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,720
Speaker 2: my parents were in unions, briefly, my cousin is a

485
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:01,040
Speaker 2: longtime union person, builds drones for north for the Navy,

486
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,120
Speaker 2: for Northrop Crumben. So my family is a Union family

487
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 2: and that Traditionally, the Democratic Party has been the party

488
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 2: of the working class. Unfortunately, in recent years it has

489
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,200
Speaker 2: devolved into kind of a coastal elite, you know, college educated,

490
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 2: out of touch party. A friend of mine Adam Frish,

491
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 2: he ran against Lauren Bobert in Colorado. He has a

492
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 2: great statistic. There are thirty two hundred counties in America.

493
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 2: Two thousand of them are rural, you know country out

494
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,280
Speaker 2: in the country counties, two thousand. Bill Clinton in the

495
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 2: nineties won fifty two percent. Bill Clinton won a majority

496
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 2: of rural counties. That number has been going down to

497
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 2: where Kamala Harris won eight percent eight percent. Basically none

498
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 2: the entire middle of America has given up on the

499
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 2: Democratic Party, and I want to help. I want to

500
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 2: be a part of leading the party back to the

501
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,920
Speaker 2: people because the policies that I'm going to have as

502
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 2: a Democrat, I think that the Democratic Party have actually

503
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 2: help working Americans. They help farmers, they help mechanics, they

504
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 2: help policemen, and we need to get the message out

505
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 2: that we're going to be the party for them, and

506
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 2: that Trump and the MAGA Republicans are the party of billionaires,

507
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 2: because that's actually what they are. They lie and they

508
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,280
Speaker 2: say they're the party of the working people. They're not.

509
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 2: The policies they have benefit the wealthy. And I want

510
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 2: to bring the party back to just a middle class.

511
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 2: None of the culture war stuff. You know, I'm the

512
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 2: Democrat you don't have to be afraid of. I've got

513
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 2: a nine mil sitting right next to my bed. It's locked,

514
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 2: it's safe, the magazine's not in the weapon, But I'm

515
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 2: not afraid of guns. That's the kind of Democrat that

516
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 2: American needs to get back the middle of the country.

517
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 2: And once we do that, if we do this right,

518
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 2: we'll be winning elections two thirds to one third. But

519
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 2: we need to have leaders that have the right message

520
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 2: and that have the right beliefs.

521
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 1: The first picture of erg is taken in nineteen forty

522
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:05,880
Speaker 1: six from.

523
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 2: Space, and.

524
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 1: The Army strapped a camera into the nose cone of

525
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: a V two rocket and sent it up, and it's

526
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 1: a grainy image. And in nineteen sixty eight, a very

527
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: troubled year in the history of the country. NASA makes

528
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:42,040
Speaker 1: a decision to expedite the launch of the Pollo spacecraft

529
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:48,160
Speaker 1: that will for the first time circumnavigate the Moon. And

530
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:56,880
Speaker 1: this spacecraft, Apollo eight, goes around the Moon and coming

531
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 1: around the side, there is a legitimate, a fair to say,

532
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 1: national broadcast, but really it's an earthwide broadcast. And in

533
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 1: this grainy black and white imagery coming from the spacecraft

534
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: is the three astronauts and they read from the Book

535
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 1: of Genesis, and they take and show the world the

536
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 1: first image of the Earth. And that photograph is this,

537
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: and if it was taken by Bill Anders, if you

538
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 1: passed away, I think this past year in in this

539
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 1: picture of the of the Earth, is the first time

540
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: the planet is seen set as a sphere against the

541
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 1: blackness of space by human eyes.

542
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 2: And this takes place.

543
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 3: In nineteen sixty eight, at the edge of the transition

544
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 3: from one year to another.

545
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 1: And again right a very very difficult year. Doctor Keny

546
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:26,959
Speaker 1: has assassinated. Robert Kennedy is assassinated, and there is a

547
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 1: really awe in people from seeing this. And as you said,

548
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 1: you spent a couple of hundred days in space. You

549
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 1: have spent time in that Cupola. You know, one thing

550
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 1: that you've talked to me about is that many people

551
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 1: are on the Earth.

552
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 2: Eight billion, I think is the number.

553
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 1: You were one of a handful of people who were

554
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: above the Earth on the space station, flying over it,

555
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 1: you know, seeing a sun ra, seeing a sunset. You know,

556
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:08,359
Speaker 1: every what is an hour? Every however hour and a half? Yeah,

557
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,640
Speaker 1: every hour and a half. And I just what is

558
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 1: your what is your cake away from that? From that experience?

559
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,279
Speaker 2: Right? Is? What is it cape away from all that? Yeah?

560
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 2: I did a I made a video yesterday about this.

561
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 2: When you see Earth from space, when you see the galaxy,

562
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 2: when you see the universe, it's hard to get too

563
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:36,320
Speaker 2: impressed with celebrities or with politicians that think highly of themselves.

564
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,360
Speaker 2: You're like, man, right now, there's a sunrise happening somewhere

565
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 2: on this planet, and so it gives you a perspective

566
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 2: that we're on this spaceship Earth together flying through the universe.

567
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 2: My crewmates, Samantha Christoph Friday, an Italian astronaut, I think

568
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:52,799
Speaker 2: put it best. She said, we all need to be

569
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,759
Speaker 2: crewmates on Spaceship Earth and not just passengers, so we

570
00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 2: should work together. But the other thing is that It

571
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:07,760
Speaker 2: showed me the importance of having systems that work for people.

572
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,279
Speaker 2: When you look at Earth during the daytime, you can't

573
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 2: see people, and if you know what you're looking at,

574
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:14,640
Speaker 2: if you're looking at London and New York and you

575
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:16,960
Speaker 2: squint at it, you can see the concrete cities, but

576
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 2: you don't really see people during the daytime. You see

577
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:21,839
Speaker 2: people at night time in city lights. And I think

578
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 2: everybody has seen, you know, these astronauts from the space

579
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 2: station images of city lights. And I thought about it

580
00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 2: for a few days and I realized that what I

581
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,000
Speaker 2: was looking at is not population. What you're looking at

582
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:38,319
Speaker 2: really as wealth, and really what you're looking at is

583
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 2: corruption or lack of corruption, or a political system that

584
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,680
Speaker 2: works or one that isn't. Because in places like Africa,

585
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,120
Speaker 2: especially Central Africa, there are no lights on. There's a

586
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 2: lot of people there. There's a billion people in Africa,

587
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 2: there's no lights on. Of course, most of those governments

588
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 2: are terribly corrupt. North Korea, South Korea is the most

589
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 2: visible one. South Korea is this bright, vibrant, you know,

590
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 2: very modern economy. Birth Free is just a black hole

591
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 2: with a little white dot where Pyongyang is. So I

592
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 2: never expected to see politics from space. But after I

593
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 2: thought about it for a while, I realized that's exactly

594
00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,320
Speaker 2: what I'm doing. And so in America we need to realize,

595
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,279
Speaker 2: let's have a system that is not corrupt, which, of course,

596
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 2: this administration is the most corrupt administration in America history.

597
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 2: They put Rockefeller in JP Morgan in the eighteen hundreds

598
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 2: to shame. We need to get back to systems that

599
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 2: work for people growing in the middle class. Really, those

600
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 2: city lights are a function of middle class. Like that

601
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:36,720
Speaker 2: means that there most of the people in that region

602
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,520
Speaker 2: have some basic level of wealth. I didn't expect that

603
00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 2: I'd see that from space. It's a lot more fun

604
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:45,840
Speaker 2: to talk about the beautiful oceans and mountains and rivers

605
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 2: in the galaxy and the Aurora. The video I did

606
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:51,440
Speaker 2: yesterday on my YouTube was about seeing the Aurora from space.

607
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:54,719
Speaker 2: But that's a perspective that's pretty unique. I mean, there's

608
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:57,839
Speaker 2: only been a handful of politicians John Glenn and Mark

609
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 2: Kelly and Harrison Schmidt was a Senator for term who

610
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 2: have had that perspective. And Howison Schmid walked on the

611
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,839
Speaker 2: moon right he did. He was Originally it was all

612
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 2: fighter pilots back in the sixties, and he was like

613
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 2: one of the first scientists astronauts. He was a geologist.

614
00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:19,160
Speaker 2: They actually made those guys go through pilot training, so

615
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:22,319
Speaker 2: they started hiring scientists, but they made him go through

616
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 2: Air Force, you know, fighter jet pilot training, which is

617
00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 2: pretty cool. But he's a good guy like I like

618
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 2: Jack Shmid a lot.

619
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:33,320
Speaker 1: There is a crater out in Arizona that I have

620
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 1: been to where they made the astronauts train for that

621
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 1: mission in geology class. To approximate, to proximate that what

622
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,920
Speaker 1: I would say in response to what you just said

623
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 1: on processing it, it's incredibly powerful and it's deeply wise,

624
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:08,279
Speaker 1: and I can't help but make the comparison to what

625
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 1: a man named Avner Less said. And he was a

626
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 1: German Jew who became an Israeli policeman and was the

627
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,320
Speaker 1: man who interrogated at Off Hikman for two hundred and

628
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:26,879
Speaker 1: seventy five hours and twenty years after Iikman is hung,

629
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:32,000
Speaker 1: Less Is asked, did you have any takeaways from the experience,

630
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,279
Speaker 1: and he says, yeah, it gave me my faith in

631
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:40,960
Speaker 1: democracy because there are Atoll Hikemans everywhere. They're all around us.

632
00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:46,040
Speaker 1: But in the democracy they're perfectly harmless. They turn deadly

633
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 1: in an instant in a dictatorship of the left and

634
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 1: a dictatorship of the right. And really coming to that

635
00:38:55,880 --> 00:39:01,600
Speaker 1: conclusion in the broader context about have there is no

636
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:09,320
Speaker 1: escaping politics. Even from space is a really remarkable is

637
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:14,360
Speaker 1: a remarkable thing. And I know you were in space

638
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,920
Speaker 1: with Russian astronauts, and I know you were up there

639
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,080
Speaker 1: when the war in Ukraine had started.

640
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:22,680
Speaker 2: Were you ever able.

641
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: To see explosions from space of Russia's aggression playing out

642
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:28,800
Speaker 1: on Earth?

643
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely. I was there in twenty fifteen, twenty fourteen,

644
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 2: and twenty fifteen when they first invaded Kremea, they first

645
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 2: invaded the Dombas, And I was there one night in

646
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 2: the Russian segment with a guy named Sasha Samokuchayev. Excuse me,

647
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:45,759
Speaker 2: I had this chronic cop I've had it since I

648
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 2: was in space. It comes and goes, and we were

649
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 2: sitting there floating looking out. They have this big giant

650
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,080
Speaker 2: window in the Russian segment, which is pretty cool. And

651
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 2: as you go over Western Europe there's a lot of lights.

652
00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 2: The further east you go there's less lights because obviously

653
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,640
Speaker 2: Eastern e is not as wealthy as Western Europe, and

654
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 2: all of a sudden you could see these red flashes

655
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:09,239
Speaker 2: on the ground and it was like, oh my god,

656
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 2: I can't believe what we're watching. We didn't say anything.

657
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:13,360
Speaker 2: Both of us our eyes got big, and we just

658
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:17,040
Speaker 2: watched these bombs. We were watching Russians kill Ukrainians a

659
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:20,560
Speaker 2: decade ago, and we didn't say anything. It was a

660
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:22,960
Speaker 2: very profound moment. And when we got back to Earth,

661
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:27,080
Speaker 2: Sasha and also a lady named Ulna Suova that I

662
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:30,320
Speaker 2: was with in space, and another guy named Max Sarayav

663
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 2: who I was also with in space on my first

664
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:36,319
Speaker 2: Space Shuttle mission, and also some other cosmots. But those

665
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 2: three that I flew with, they went and joined Putin's

666
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 2: political party, joined the DUMO, which is the Russian Congress,

667
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,439
Speaker 2: and are promoting the war. And it's the most profoundly

668
00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:51,839
Speaker 2: angering thing I've ever experienced. Because they know better. They

669
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,279
Speaker 2: lived in the West, they speak English, they know that

670
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:59,279
Speaker 2: America doesn't care about Russia. And there's all this propaganda

671
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:01,760
Speaker 2: there that we're out there get Russia, that the West

672
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 2: is against someone or whatever. The reality is, we don't

673
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 2: care about him. Just please don't invade Europe. And kill

674
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:10,160
Speaker 2: your neighbors. And yet so they know better and they

675
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 2: still are promoting these lies. It's like my opponent John Cornyn.

676
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 2: John Cornyan knows better. He knows that Pete Haggs shouldn't

677
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,400
Speaker 2: be Secretary of Defense. He knows that Tulsea Gabbard and

678
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:25,800
Speaker 2: Christy know him, and all the rest of them shouldn't

679
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 2: be Who's the latest guy, Joe Kent. These guys shouldn't

680
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,759
Speaker 2: be in office. He knows that the Big Bill is

681
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 2: going to hurt Texans, and yet he still does the

682
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 2: wrong thing because he wants political power. These cosmonauts know better,

683
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:41,520
Speaker 2: they still want they do the wrong thing because they

684
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 2: want apartments in Moscow and jobs for their kids. So

685
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,120
Speaker 2: that's something I don't have tolerance for people who don't

686
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:50,040
Speaker 2: do the right thing. And like I said, you could

687
00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,840
Speaker 2: see that in a certain extent from space in terms

688
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:58,400
Speaker 2: of city lights or lack of city lights. I'm going

689
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 2: to talk about Ice will probably get to ice on it.

690
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 2: But yeah, the Russian cosmonauts, there are a few good ones.

691
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,319
Speaker 2: There's very few good ones. Most of them are just

692
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:10,120
Speaker 2: on team putin actively promoting it. We just launched a

693
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,520
Speaker 2: Russian Air Force officer who's you know, promoting Putin in

694
00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,160
Speaker 2: the war launching them on our on our spaceships. We

695
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:18,200
Speaker 2: shouldn't be doing that. I think it's immoral.

696
00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 1: Oh when you when you think about when do you

697
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: think about this, this moment that we're dealing with in

698
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 1: the in the country, as an Air Force Academy graduate,

699
00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:41,239
Speaker 1: as an Air Force colonel, as a first time political

700
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:45,760
Speaker 1: candidate in in Texas. UH.

701
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:46,480
Speaker 2: One of the.

702
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 1: Astonishingly issues in the race are what I view as

703
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 1: a massed secret police force that is out of control

704
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:05,240
Speaker 1: and running loose. How do you see that issue?

705
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 2: So I spent over a decade in my life traveling

706
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,520
Speaker 2: to Russia. I was training there to launch into space,

707
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 2: learn the language about the people. In twenty twelve, I

708
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:18,720
Speaker 2: was there for training and I was in Moscow walking

709
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 2: around sightseeing by myself, and all of a sudden there

710
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,520
Speaker 2: was a big mob. So of course I went and

711
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:28,480
Speaker 2: looked and it was a Lexayingnavolney. This was when Putin.

712
00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 2: First he left the president for the Constitution, then he

713
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:34,000
Speaker 2: violated the constitution and came back. And the Russians at

714
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,520
Speaker 2: that time were out protesting and there was this kind

715
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:41,040
Speaker 2: of army dressed up like Navy seals. They had mass

716
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,200
Speaker 2: son and they came out and I left and they

717
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,799
Speaker 2: dispersed the crowd. So the Russians have this, it's called mchis.

718
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:51,319
Speaker 2: They had different ones, and now in America, steep, we

719
00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:53,920
Speaker 2: have the same thing. Guys who are not these are

720
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 2: not the Navy seals, These are not green berets. These

721
00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:58,439
Speaker 2: are kind of the bottom of the barrel. You've talked

722
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:03,600
Speaker 2: about this before, wearing masks. Who wears a mask besides Batman?

723
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:06,839
Speaker 2: I mean, this is America. One of the laws, one

724
00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 2: of the first laws I'm going to vote for, is

725
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,400
Speaker 2: to outlaw masks. If you're a police officer, show your

726
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 2: face and wear your badge prominently displayed. And here's the problem.

727
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:20,400
Speaker 2: In Russia, they've had so much propaganda. There's so many

728
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:23,080
Speaker 2: thousands or millions of men really that have served in

729
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:27,239
Speaker 2: these secret police organizations. Even when Putin's gone, it's going

730
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,160
Speaker 2: to be hard to get rid of that culture. And

731
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:33,000
Speaker 2: we're doing the same thing here in America. We're exploding ice.

732
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:35,359
Speaker 2: The budget for ICE is just going through the roof,

733
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,680
Speaker 2: and we're going to have all of these people who

734
00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:41,120
Speaker 2: are trained to be cruel, who are trained to be

735
00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:44,879
Speaker 2: you know, plain clothes grab people off the street, throwing

736
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:49,680
Speaker 2: amarked cars. And so I worry about the future of

737
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:52,200
Speaker 2: our country now that we have this big group of

738
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,200
Speaker 2: people who are frankly being trained to do evil. So

739
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:58,800
Speaker 2: that's that's something no one ever I haven't heard anyone

740
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 2: else to talk about that. But I worry about the

741
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,560
Speaker 2: implications of all of these people throughout our government. Who,

742
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:06,279
Speaker 2: by the way, let's talk about that. If you get

743
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 2: if you have a serious job in the government, if

744
00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:11,480
Speaker 2: you're a top executive, you got your job by lying.

745
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,239
Speaker 2: You had to pass this loyalty test. And as part

746
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:17,040
Speaker 2: of that loyalty test, my friends went through it, they

747
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,480
Speaker 2: had to say Donald Trump won the twenty twenty election.

748
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,880
Speaker 2: So every senior government leader we had literally got their

749
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,759
Speaker 2: job by lying. And now we have ICE, which is

750
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:29,160
Speaker 2: the secret police. Getting rid of that and changing our

751
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:32,440
Speaker 2: culture back to a truly American culture. That's going to

752
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,719
Speaker 2: be one of many challenges that the next hopefully democratic

753
00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:37,600
Speaker 2: president has.

754
00:45:39,719 --> 00:45:46,320
Speaker 1: One of the issues that we were tired about before.

755
00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:50,319
Speaker 1: And I thought this was really incredible when you said this,

756
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:55,239
Speaker 1: because I deeply believe this is true. And what you

757
00:45:55,360 --> 00:46:00,879
Speaker 1: said is that the job of being a senator is

758
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 1: about showing good judgment, Like that's what the job is.

759
00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:11,399
Speaker 2: You. And you make the point that you have all

760
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,120
Speaker 2: these Democratic.

761
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:20,040
Speaker 1: Senators who who voted for Christy Nome and all these

762
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:21,480
Speaker 1: other unfit people.

763
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:24,480
Speaker 2: And the.

764
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:30,239
Speaker 1: Incredibly right you have you have national party leaders right

765
00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:35,440
Speaker 1: that try to pick the candidates and states that they

766
00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:38,839
Speaker 1: haven't woned their party hasn't won an election in like

767
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:48,959
Speaker 1: in Texas for thirty thirty plus years. And you told

768
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:53,440
Speaker 1: me this story real quick about Neil Armstrong, and he said,

769
00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 1: your why was Neil Armstrong the first person picked.

770
00:46:57,680 --> 00:46:58,720
Speaker 2: To land on the moon?

771
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,880
Speaker 1: And I was he was the best pilot And You're like, no,

772
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:05,080
Speaker 1: he has the best judgment. Yeah, So like talk talk

773
00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:10,320
Speaker 1: about the role of judgment right in this in this moment.

774
00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 1: And then I very specifically want to ask you in

775
00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:19,840
Speaker 1: in that context and about judgment, about your judgment around

776
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 1: the accumulation of power, whether it's by big corporate interests,

777
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: right by big tech, right by big government.

778
00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:34,640
Speaker 2: Uh, you know.

779
00:47:34,880 --> 00:47:40,000
Speaker 1: Federal police, ice, police, what whatever, whatever it whatever it

780
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:45,520
Speaker 1: whatever it is. So if if you would just your

781
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:50,160
Speaker 1: point about judgment as the core of what a US

782
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:55,920
Speaker 1: senator's job is and and the issues right involving the

783
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:59,920
Speaker 1: lack of judgment that that we see swirling all around us.

784
00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:05,120
Speaker 2: So, yeah, Neil, there was a whole astronaut office full

785
00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:08,520
Speaker 2: of great pilots. Just ask them, they tell you. But

786
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:11,640
Speaker 2: for the first man to land on the Moon, they

787
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:13,640
Speaker 2: wanted to know, are you going to hit the aboort

788
00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 2: button when you need to abort the landing? Are you

789
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:19,080
Speaker 2: going to continue down to lander's surface the lunar surface

790
00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:21,399
Speaker 2: when you need to continue down? And that's why they

791
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:23,680
Speaker 2: picked me A Larmstrong. They made a great choice. He

792
00:48:23,719 --> 00:48:26,439
Speaker 2: was a great pilot, but he made some really tough

793
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:30,400
Speaker 2: decisions on a split second during that time. And I

794
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:33,560
Speaker 2: think when you hire a congressman or that's what you're

795
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:36,680
Speaker 2: doing as a voter. You're hiring your leaders and your representatives.

796
00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:39,400
Speaker 2: When you hire a senator, certainly when you hire a president,

797
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:43,399
Speaker 2: you're hiring them for their judgment. Because they can have

798
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:47,080
Speaker 2: tax policies and healthcare policies whatever, they'll have their whole

799
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:49,920
Speaker 2: list of programs, but what you really need them is

800
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:52,279
Speaker 2: when something comes up, when there's some unknown thing, when

801
00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:54,000
Speaker 2: nine to eleven happens or whatever, are they going to

802
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,680
Speaker 2: make the right decision? And that's what it's all about

803
00:48:56,760 --> 00:49:00,280
Speaker 2: and are they going to decide what their party wants.

804
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:02,640
Speaker 2: Are they going to represent the people or are they

805
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:05,560
Speaker 2: going to represent some guy in Washington, DC, some guy

806
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:07,920
Speaker 2: in mar A Lago. And unfortunately, too many of our

807
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:11,200
Speaker 2: politicians do that the only thing that matters for them

808
00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:13,960
Speaker 2: is getting elected. And I'd rather, I've heard you say

809
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:17,120
Speaker 2: this before, I'd rather lose an election than say the

810
00:49:17,160 --> 00:49:20,879
Speaker 2: wrong thing. I'd rather you know, do it. I'd rather

811
00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:25,400
Speaker 2: tell the truth and talk straight about things then lie

812
00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:29,319
Speaker 2: and gravel just to just to get a job. This

813
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,560
Speaker 2: is about telling the truth and talking straight. And we

814
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:35,279
Speaker 2: need to hire leaders who are willing to stand up,

815
00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:38,080
Speaker 2: to say something that might be popular, to say something

816
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:40,800
Speaker 2: that goes against their party, but to do the right things.

817
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:44,920
Speaker 2: Because John Cornyn knows that what Ice is doing is wrong.

818
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:49,480
Speaker 2: He knows that taking construction workers and farm workers off

819
00:49:49,520 --> 00:49:52,560
Speaker 2: the streets here in Houston, Texas is wrong, and yet

820
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:55,080
Speaker 2: he's still voting for it. The entire Republican Party is

821
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:58,600
Speaker 2: who is not in the Republican Party. Maybe Don Bacon.

822
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:01,359
Speaker 2: Is he the last one? You know a few years

823
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:03,880
Speaker 2: ago there was Adam Kinsinger and Liz Cheney and others.

824
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:08,480
Speaker 2: They're all gone now, and so we need Democrats who

825
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:11,240
Speaker 2: will do the right thing and not grabble to their party.

826
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:13,839
Speaker 2: And we need Republicans who will do the right thing,

827
00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:17,800
Speaker 2: Like is there nobody left who's willing to serve their people?

828
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:21,400
Speaker 2: And I think when you talk about judgment, that's judgment.

829
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:23,200
Speaker 2: You're willing to do the right thing even when it's

830
00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:23,840
Speaker 2: not popular.

831
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:31,000
Speaker 1: What is the core economic message that you're going to

832
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:37,600
Speaker 1: go out to Texas voters with that makes you different

833
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:45,000
Speaker 1: from what they hear from Democrats in Washington.

834
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is the key, Steve. It's easy to

835
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,320
Speaker 2: bash and trump this and trump that, and we're always negative.

836
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:55,800
Speaker 2: We need to have a positive vision because people want

837
00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:58,799
Speaker 2: something that's positive and not just hearing how evil the

838
00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:00,839
Speaker 2: other side is all the time. We've been trying that

839
00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:04,640
Speaker 2: for years. That plan by itself doesn't work. My focus

840
00:51:04,719 --> 00:51:06,560
Speaker 2: is going to be on the middle class. I'm a

841
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:08,680
Speaker 2: product of the middle class. My parents were poor. They

842
00:51:08,719 --> 00:51:11,880
Speaker 2: came out of that into the middle class. When I

843
00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:14,920
Speaker 2: was in fourth grade, they bought a house they couldn't afford.

844
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:17,560
Speaker 2: It was a great house, but it was old. Like

845
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:19,840
Speaker 2: I had a chop wood all summer and then we

846
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:22,759
Speaker 2: had a wood stove in the winter for heat. But

847
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:25,800
Speaker 2: it was in a good school district. So I literally

848
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:28,680
Speaker 2: from fourth grade on through high school, I went to

849
00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:32,120
Speaker 2: really good public schools. And that's why I got into

850
00:51:32,160 --> 00:51:33,960
Speaker 2: the Air Force Academy, and that's why I became an

851
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:35,839
Speaker 2: F sixteen pilot, and that's why I became a test

852
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:41,799
Speaker 2: pilot and astronaut. So I am literally the best of

853
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,600
Speaker 2: the American middle class. My parents came out of poverty

854
00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:47,840
Speaker 2: into that in public education allowed me to have the

855
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:51,040
Speaker 2: amazing experiences that I did, and I want to grow that.

856
00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:55,200
Speaker 2: I want tax policies that are favorable for the middle class,

857
00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 2: not just billionaires. This big beautiful bill was discussing biggest

858
00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:02,560
Speaker 2: transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in

859
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:05,440
Speaker 2: our in our history. I want health care that's affordable

860
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:08,200
Speaker 2: health care. In America, we spend more than twice what

861
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:11,640
Speaker 2: Japan and Europe does for worse outcomes, you know. I

862
00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 2: want families to have health care that if their kid

863
00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:17,799
Speaker 2: breaks an arm, they don't go bankrupt, and a lot

864
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 2: too many families are living in that situation. I want

865
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 2: an education system that strengthens public education. Here in Texas,

866
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,640
Speaker 2: they're tearing public education down with this ridiculous voucher bill

867
00:52:28,680 --> 00:52:31,880
Speaker 2: that Greg Abbott promoted. So, and I want a democracy

868
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:34,880
Speaker 2: that works. I just saw a statistic. I'm always reading stats,

869
00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:40,200
Speaker 2: eighty eight percent. Basically, everybody in America thinks our political

870
00:52:40,239 --> 00:52:42,920
Speaker 2: system is broken. There's some things we need to do

871
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,120
Speaker 2: to fix that. I think term limits, I think getting

872
00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 2: money out. You know this crypto bill that just passed,

873
00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:53,880
Speaker 2: and it had merits to it, but the crypto industry

874
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:57,200
Speaker 2: poured a couple hundred million dollars into politics, and all

875
00:52:57,239 --> 00:52:59,960
Speaker 2: the politicians voted for it. Like that stuff needs to stop.

876
00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:04,560
Speaker 2: The worst of all is stock trading. When you serve

877
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,600
Speaker 2: in Congress or the Senate, you're not getting rich person salary.

878
00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:10,360
Speaker 2: You're getting middle class salary. And yet too many people

879
00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:14,360
Speaker 2: are coming out of Congress wealthy, beyond your dream. So

880
00:53:14,480 --> 00:53:18,759
Speaker 2: that stock trading needs to needs to stop. The Republican

881
00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:21,080
Speaker 2: Party got members are not voting for that. So those

882
00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:24,239
Speaker 2: are the types of policies I want to support that

883
00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:28,400
Speaker 2: will help the middle class. Last question I have for.

884
00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:31,200
Speaker 1: You, and then I'll leave it to you to say

885
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:36,719
Speaker 1: whatever you want in closing, But first off, where can

886
00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:37,839
Speaker 1: people find you?

887
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:46,240
Speaker 2: Yeah? I'm on Twitter and Instagram and substack at Astro

888
00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:50,160
Speaker 2: Terry is my Twitter at astro Underscore Terry's Instagram. Probably

889
00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:52,080
Speaker 2: the best way to find me is on my website

890
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:55,680
Speaker 2: Terry Urtz dot com. T r y v I r

891
00:53:55,760 --> 00:53:58,400
Speaker 2: T s that you can watch a launch video. I

892
00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:00,879
Speaker 2: made a pretty cool short video filmed in a World

893
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:03,600
Speaker 2: War two one of the original jeeps from World War Two.

894
00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:05,759
Speaker 2: So it was a fun launch video to make. But

895
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:07,960
Speaker 2: they can kind of see who I am and what

896
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:10,239
Speaker 2: I'm about when I'm running for Senate at Terry Urtz

897
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:14,640
Speaker 2: dot com, and it'd be great to interact. I'm making

898
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:17,920
Speaker 2: a lot of content trying to talk about common sense

899
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:20,960
Speaker 2: issues and things that people want to hear about, and

900
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:24,719
Speaker 2: also calling out the Mega Party for some of the

901
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:27,200
Speaker 2: for many of the ridiculous things that they're doing.

902
00:54:28,760 --> 00:54:34,400
Speaker 1: You talked and mentioned corruption earlier as a singular issue

903
00:54:34,880 --> 00:54:39,799
Speaker 1: as an important issue. How important do you think? I

904
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:46,799
Speaker 1: mean real top to bout an ethics reform is for

905
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:50,480
Speaker 1: the next Congress, the one hundred and twenty at Congress,

906
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:53,759
Speaker 1: which is hopefully has a Democratic majority but a very

907
00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:58,799
Speaker 1: different Democratic leadership in charge of it. How imporant is

908
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:01,839
Speaker 1: that issue as as the as like the first issue

909
00:55:01,880 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the things that happened is, you know,

910
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:08,000
Speaker 1: you go to washing can everybody will say to you, well,

911
00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:12,480
Speaker 1: that's a that's important issue, Senator Verts, but you know

912
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:14,600
Speaker 1: we have to we have to that'll have to wait

913
00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:18,120
Speaker 1: a little bit. Right, How how important do you think

914
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:23,920
Speaker 1: that ethics is and ethics reform and all of this

915
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:27,799
Speaker 1: is in terms of that suite of issues that are

916
00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:29,560
Speaker 1: that are going to have to be dealt with.

917
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:33,360
Speaker 2: It is at the core of what needs to happen.

918
00:55:33,400 --> 00:55:34,880
Speaker 2: You know, Steve, when I'm when I was looking at

919
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,160
Speaker 2: Africa and there was no lights on, it's because those

920
00:55:37,160 --> 00:55:40,120
Speaker 2: countries are corrupt. Money comes in and all goes to

921
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:42,440
Speaker 2: the leader, all the people are left in poverty. That's

922
00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:44,920
Speaker 2: what corruption does. That's why there's no lights on in

923
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:49,000
Speaker 2: North Korea. And I've never seen corruption like what's happening now.

924
00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:51,840
Speaker 2: We laugh about it. Anybody who works for a company

925
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:54,440
Speaker 2: has to do ethics training and email security training and

926
00:55:54,440 --> 00:55:57,200
Speaker 2: all that stuff. And NASA there was a system called Saturn,

927
00:55:57,239 --> 00:55:59,800
Speaker 2: and my buddies we laugh, like, imagine if there was

928
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:03,360
Speaker 2: a satur In question, you're a government contractor, are you

929
00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:06,279
Speaker 2: allowed to give hundreds of millions of dollars to the

930
00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:10,120
Speaker 2: president and then have him give you contracts. Is that ethical? Like?

931
00:56:10,160 --> 00:56:12,920
Speaker 2: Of course it's not ethical. Of course the stuff we're

932
00:56:12,920 --> 00:56:16,719
Speaker 2: seeing is ridiculous. The Trump boys are going around the

933
00:56:16,719 --> 00:56:20,200
Speaker 2: world doing multi billion dollar deals for his golf courses

934
00:56:20,239 --> 00:56:25,240
Speaker 2: and his hotels, and now those countries get favorable tariff treatment,

935
00:56:25,560 --> 00:56:29,920
Speaker 2: those countries get weapons. It's the basic conflict of interest,

936
00:56:29,960 --> 00:56:32,839
Speaker 2: and we need to stop that because it's undermining our

937
00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:35,440
Speaker 2: moral authority is a country. How can we yell at

938
00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:38,800
Speaker 2: Ukraine for corruption when the very top of the American

939
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:41,400
Speaker 2: government is the most corrupt that we've ever had in

940
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:45,279
Speaker 2: our nascentce history. Ethics reform, corruption reform is going to

941
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:47,600
Speaker 2: be I hate to say my top party because there's

942
00:56:47,600 --> 00:56:52,880
Speaker 2: so many top parties, but it's absolutely up there. Anything

943
00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:58,680
Speaker 2: you want to close out with This moment demands that

944
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:04,920
Speaker 2: we get our politics right. And if the Democrats keep

945
00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:06,799
Speaker 2: on doing the same old thing, we're going to keep

946
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:08,799
Speaker 2: on getting the same old results. Here in Texas. We

947
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:12,560
Speaker 2: haven't won for thirty years. Unless we win in Texas,

948
00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:14,960
Speaker 2: we're not going to have fifty one centers in the

949
00:57:15,080 --> 00:57:18,240
Speaker 2: US Senate. And until we get the fifty one, all

950
00:57:18,240 --> 00:57:21,040
Speaker 2: we can do is give twenty four hour filibuster speeches,

951
00:57:21,120 --> 00:57:25,000
Speaker 2: or all we can do is write angrily written tweets.

952
00:57:25,560 --> 00:57:27,760
Speaker 2: We have to get a majority. That means we have

953
00:57:27,800 --> 00:57:30,800
Speaker 2: to win in Texas. And the question is who do

954
00:57:30,840 --> 00:57:33,120
Speaker 2: we want to put on the ballot the primaries in

955
00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:35,440
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifteen days. It's March third. But the

956
00:57:35,480 --> 00:57:37,080
Speaker 2: real question is who do we want on the ballot

957
00:57:37,160 --> 00:57:41,120
Speaker 2: next November to beat Ken Paxton or John Cornyn or

958
00:57:41,120 --> 00:57:44,360
Speaker 2: whoever it is. Because until we do that, we can't

959
00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:47,120
Speaker 2: fight back. And I think I'm the best candidate to

960
00:57:47,160 --> 00:57:49,320
Speaker 2: put on the ballot. I think of all these other

961
00:57:49,440 --> 00:57:54,480
Speaker 2: kind of typical Democratic politicians. A friend of mine works

962
00:57:54,560 --> 00:57:57,240
Speaker 2: in the Paxston campaign. He's like, yeah, we could care

963
00:57:57,320 --> 00:58:00,880
Speaker 2: less about these democratic names. They're not worried at all

964
00:58:00,920 --> 00:58:04,400
Speaker 2: about the typical Democratic politicians. I think they worry about me.

965
00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:06,200
Speaker 2: So the question is who do you want on the

966
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:09,240
Speaker 2: ballot next November. I think I'm the right candidate to

967
00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:12,040
Speaker 2: put on that ballot to win in a year and

968
00:58:12,080 --> 00:58:14,640
Speaker 2: a half. Leave it there.

969
00:58:14,880 --> 00:58:18,520
Speaker 1: Terry Verts everybody candidate for the US Senate in the

970
00:58:18,560 --> 00:58:22,640
Speaker 1: Great State of Texas. A veteran NASA astronaut commander of

971
00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:27,880
Speaker 1: the International State Station Air Force Colonel test pilot Terry

972
00:58:27,960 --> 00:58:33,400
Speaker 1: Verts in the race. You can find him at terryvertz

973
00:58:33,760 --> 00:58:39,000
Speaker 1: dot com. Terry Verts everybody, Terry, thank you, thanks for

974
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:39,400
Speaker 1: having me on.

975
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:41,040
Speaker 2: Steve. This is awesome. You bet.

976
00:58:41,760 --> 00:58:45,000
Speaker 4: I'm Steve Schmidt. This is the warning. I invite you

977
00:58:45,040 --> 00:58:48,320
Speaker 4: to join this community where I promise to be honest,

978
00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:52,240
Speaker 4: blunt and direct about what is happening in this country.

979
00:58:52,440 --> 00:58:56,800
Speaker 4: America is in crisis. Follow and subscribe to this channel

980
00:58:56,880 --> 00:58:57,960
Speaker 4: and on substack.

981
00:58:58,120 --> 00:59:00,280
Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah,