WEBVTT - A NASA Hero’s Plan to Bring Ethics Back to Washington | A Conversation with Terry Virts 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.360 This is the morning, and I'm Steve Schmidt, and this 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.360 afternoon I'll please to bring a conversation with you to 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.840 a conversation with Terry Rtz. Terry Urtz is a candidate 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.600 for the United States Senate from the Great State of Texas. 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:19.880 He's a retired Air Force colonel, a veteran NASA astronaut, 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:25.720 and the retired commander of the International Space Station running 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:30.120 as a Democrat in Texas. Tell me about the model 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:35.360 of the Space Shuttle over your shoulder. You were the 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.040 You did not command a Space Shuttle mission, but you 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:40.440 were the pilot of the Space Shuttle. 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:45.360 That's right. This is Endeavor and it's got the sink. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.800 You probably can't see. It's got the signatures of all 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:51.280 my crewmates on there. They're starting to fade. But I flew. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.040 I was a F sixteen pilot and test pilot, and 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:59.840 I flew on STS one thirty as Endeavor's pilot. It 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:04.080 was the last assembly flight at the International Space Station, 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.880 so we finished building the ISS and it was awesome. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.479 It was the honor of lifetime. Installed a module called 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.560 the Kupola, which is this big seven window module, and 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.720 also Node three, which is a living module. So the 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.480 coupla is every astronaut's favorite place on the ISS. 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:22.240 We're going to get into that. But what was it 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:24.920 like to fly to Space Shuttle? Was that was so like? 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.920 And what does it mean to fly to Space Shuttle? 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:33.760 So were your hands on the stick from space flying 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.240 it all the way back down to when it landed. 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.800 Yeah, that was the best part of having the privilege 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:43.520 of flying on the Space Shuttle is you could actually 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.919 fly it. I was a test pilot. I like grabbing 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:49.280 the stick and controlling it during launch we could, and 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.720 I practiced flying it manually, but normally you don't want 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:54.840 to do that because the computer is a lot better 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:59.480 than humans are, so the computer flew ours automatically. Once 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:05.000 we got I actually grabbed the controls and flew a maneuver. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.280 I flew around the space station, so, you know, manually 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.120 flying it was really cool. Flying in space is very 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.799 different than flying in air, and there's a lot of 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.000 thing we could talk about ronevous and orbital mechanics if 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.000 you want. And then coming back, the computer flies it 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:21.720 most of the way. But I actually grabbed the stick 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.520 and flew it in the air before landing, and then 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.119 I handed it over to Zambo George Zamcam my commander, 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.760 and he actually did the landing. But it was a rocket, 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.800 it was a space ship, and then it was an airplane. 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.840 So amazing vehicle. We're never going to have anything like 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:38.680 that again. On over thing. 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.680 And how much time did you spend in space when 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:44.440 you count it? 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.840 When you count it all up, So my first flight 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.680 was about two weeks. We landed on flight day fifteen, 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:54.799 and then my second flight was two hundred days. We 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.320 landed on flight day two hundred and one. So if 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.239 you add it all up, it was about seven months, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.880 a little over seven months in space, in outer space, 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.720 outside of the outside of the atmosphere, flying around Earth 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.320 in orby And now. 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.360 As the crowd is starting to build a little bit, 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:24.960 you are a candidate in Texas where Democrats correct if 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:28.240 I'm wrong, I not want to stay wide election I 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:36.240 think in thirty years, and you're running to be in 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:44.120 a race as the Democratic candidate for John Cornyn's seat, 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.600 though personally I don't think John Cornying is going to 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:55.240 be the candidate. And so let me just ask you 0:03:55.320 --> 0:04:03.240 straight up, what's wrong with you? Wrong right of the 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:08.200 US Senate? What's cobing on why are you doing this? 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.000 Yeah, I joked that I lost a bet and had 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.640 to run. Nineteen ninety four, the great Anna Richards don't 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.480 mess with Texas was our governor. Pearl jam was at 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.800 the top of the church. That's the last time a 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:24.560 Democrat won here in Texas. But I've spent my whole 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.320 career serving. When I was seventeen, I went to the 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.080 Air Force Academy, spent over thirty years in the Air Force. 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.760 You know, my oath there was to support and defend 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.200 the Constitution of the United States, and I still take 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.840 that very strongly. Even though I retired from the Air 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:41.719 Force years ago. I still take that oath seriously. And 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:46.840 what I see happening today is crazy and it's evil. 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.760 And I just the last couple of elections I supported folks, 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.200 you know, with my social media or I did some 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:57.520 speaking on a couple of different candidates. Behalfs. I just 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.440 got to I can't stand to just sit around and 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.719 do nothing. So this is my turn to get back. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.680 There's a Bible verse to those who much has been given, much, 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.039 we'll be expected. And I feel like I've been given 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.400 a lot by this country. I've had the opportunity to 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.840 fly F sixteens and to fly space shuttles. And so 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:17.240 this is my chance to give back unless we do 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.080 something different. Like you said, you know, we're not going 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.320 to win as Democrats. So the Democratic Party needs to 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:24.840 have a wake up moment. We would say we need 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.040 to have a debriefing. Right as a fighter pilots or 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.520 an astronaut, you need to debrief what went wrong so 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:30.440 you can move forward. 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.039 So we live in a moment right now. If you 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.640 listen to a lot of the geniuses in Washington, d C. 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.640 I'm looking at something that should not be You are 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:49.440 a graduate of the Air Force Academy. You look like 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.360 a white guy to me. You're an Air Force colonel, 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:58.400 you're a veteran astronaut, and low and behold, like. 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:07.080 John Glenn, you're a Democrat. Why are you a Democrat? 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.280 I got asked that a few weeks ago, and it 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.480 was a surprising question. I've never been asked that before. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.080 And I thought about values. You know, I value people 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:21.120 serving people. I did a video today about my faith 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.800 as a Christian, and I think I'm a Democrat because 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.479 I'm a Christian, because I believe in things like do 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.920 unto others as you'd have them do under yourself, you know, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.000 treat others the way you want to be treated, and 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.400 serve the least of these, not the most of these. 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.320 And that's the Democrats I know here in Texas are awesome. 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.039 They want to govern, they want to get stuff done. 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.440 They want to fix the flooding problem that we have 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.760 here on the coast, obviously, that we have in central Texas. 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.320 They want to get people healthcare, they want to actually 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.120 do practical things to help people out. And I think 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.880 the Democratic Party nationally needs to follow the Texas model, 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:02.280 come learn from us. So the other thing, Steve, there's 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.200 a saying in the military, you go to war with 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.279 the army you have, and the army we have in 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:13.000 America is Republicans and Democrats. We're going to pick congressman, senators, 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:15.440 presidents who are either Republican or Democrat. That's just the 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.200 reality that we have today. So you have to pick 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.520 a side. And the Republican side is lost its way. 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.200 He used to work for Republicans. That party's long gone, obviously, 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:27.880 And the Democratic Party here in Texas, there's a lot 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.440 of awesome Democrats, And I guess that's why I'm a Democrat. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:38.960 So you made this jump into politics, and you're going 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:46.680 out now and competing in really a process at is 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:47.800 two elections. 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.120 You are auditioning, if. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:57.080 You will, for the privilege to be up against the 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:02.880 Maget candidate in those finals. As like we just talked about, 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.360 it's been a very long time since the confetti was 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:11.040 coming down on election night on a statewide race with 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.840 a Democratic candidate in Texas. And one of the things 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.120 you're trying to do, I know, is to set about 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:21.280 changing that. And I'll give you a lot of credit 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.920 because you went out and you said something that a 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.800 lot that I think is deeply true, but like not 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.240 a lot of your your peers have had the guts 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.480 to say. And what what you've said, unless I've heard 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:37.199 it wrong, is that under no circument what you said 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:45.000 was that the first vote a a new senator takes 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:49.160 is for their parties leaders, and under no circumstance would 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:53.040 you vote for Chuck Schumer to remain as the as 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.320 the leader of the of the Democratic Party. And you 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.360 you also said, as I was getting ready for this, 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:06.280 that senator from Texas ought not to work uh functionally 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:12.680 for the senator from New York, which seems like common sense, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.760 but you know is a revelation in these days, and 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.880 so I just wanted to ask you about that. Is 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.400 that right that you would not support Schumer to be 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:28.080 the Senate to be the Senate leader, and and and 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:33.040 that and that too, you know, broadly, broadly speaking, you 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.960 know you are you are pretty critical of the team 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:42.240 that has lost two elections over the last whatever ten years. 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:46.520 To Donald Trump. Absolutely, you know, we need new leadership. 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.320 We love football here in Texas. So if you're an 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.520 NFL team and you're going four and twelve and you're 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:57.120 losing for thirty years, you need a new leader. We 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:00.240 just lost the most winnable election in our histor. You 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:03.480 lost it to somebody who everybody knows is a liar. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.600 Voters know that Donald Trump is a liar. They know 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.240 all of his problems, and yet they still trusted him 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.679 more than they trusted Democrats. I just had breakfast with 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:14.800 one of our leaders here in Austin, in the state 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.520 Democratic Party, and he was like, Terry, I just got 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:22.120 new polling data. We're at twenty four percent popularity. We 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.680 have to change a bunch of poll numbers came out yesterday. 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.199 I was looking at Donald Trump, is unpopular. Americans don't 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.600 like most of what Trump stands for on every issue, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.520 but they like Democrats even worse. And I was just 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.559 in DC recently Stee a couple months ago, and the 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.720 vibe at the National Democratic Party level, which is very 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.120 different than Texas Democrats. These are not Texas Democrats. The 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.360 National Democratic Party level thinks two things. We can't win 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.760 the Senate, so let's raise a lot of money in 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:55.240 Texas and forced Republicans to spend money here, but we're 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.960 going to lose. That's what they think. They're wrong. And 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.440 the other thing is we're going to to pick up 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.000 some House seats because Trump is going to be a disaster, 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.120 and the opposing party always picks up house seats, so 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:09.320 we'll get the House majority back. It's not let's change, 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:11.880 it's not let's listen to voters. It's not let's give 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.160 voters what they want, which I think is growing the 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:18.040 middle class and focusing on middle class issues. It's we're 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.079 going to win the House, and if we in the House, 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.240 they'll pat themselves on the back and talk about how 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.320 great they are. That needs to change. That's a fatalistic 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.000 that's not a leader that I want to follow and 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.240 I think we need We have great people in the 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:35.400 Democratic Party, Melissa Sluckin, Ruben Diego, Corey Booker, Mark Kelly. 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:36.680 I could go on and on and on. There's some 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.400 really great Democrats out there. It's time for them to lead. 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.280 To your point, Schumer's been in office for fifty years. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.559 Fifty years is too long. It's time for new leadership. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:55.600 What is it that you're going to say to Texas 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:59.760 Democrats over the course of this primary? 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.880 A let chain about why you Yeah, that's a great 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.120 question because I'm not a politician, and you know, Texas 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.959 Democrats don't know me as a politician. The point I'm 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.280 going to make is we number one, we have to win. 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.960 We can give speeches on the House Senate and we 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:20.800 can send out mean tweets and we can do whatever. 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.880 That's not resistance. Resistance is winning. We have to get 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.800 the fifty one senators. We need to win Texas if 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:28.440 we're going to get the fifty one in the Senate. 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.760 And the real question, there's one question for Democrats here 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.720 in Texas. Who do we want on the ballot next November. 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.040 Do we want the same guy that just lost he's 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:43.040 running again? Do we want to try the same thing again. 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.559 We haven't won here in thirty years by running kind 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.640 of traditional democratic politicians, or do we want to run 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.839 somebody different? And it's not like personally I'm some great 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.800 person or a candidate, but my background's really unique as 0:12:57.800 --> 0:12:59.760 a fighter pilot, as a test pilot, and as an 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.400 ash or not. I have a perspective and my way 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:05.480 of focusing on things is to get the mission done, 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.000 is to just like, let's get the mission done, let's 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.640 do good for the people of Texas, and that let's 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:13.599 be a politician who's just on one side or the 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.280 other bashing the other guys. So the real questions Steve, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.040 and it's one question, who do you want on the 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.480 ballot nex November? Who is John Cornin or probably Ken 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:26.400 Paxson going to worry about more another traditional Democratic politician 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.400 who just lost, or somebody with my background. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:37.400 So for people that are watching, Ken Paxton is the 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:43.360 extremely corrupt attorney general in the state of Texas who 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:48.840 was impeached, barely survived the process, and was impeached by 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:55.840 a Republican legislature. He's going through a hot profile worse 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.080 right now his wife, who I think is a state 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:04.360 senator has filed for divorce on on biblical grounds. It's 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:09.319 a whole spectacle that's that's playing out. But but honest 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.400 to God, I mean this, if it was a type 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:18.720 of Olympics and you were looking for the obvious gold 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.720 medal candidate in a competition of the worst of the worst, 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:25.280 and you look at that, and you look at that, 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:31.840 Maga senate, uh, teaming with scumbags. In my view, maga scumbags. 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.520 You have some of the worst in the worst, a 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:41.680 guy like a Ted Cruz, dishonest, self interested, uh, dishonest, 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:46.760 self interested. And what you have to appreciate about Ken 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.920 Paxton is the moment, the moment he got there right 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:55.320 in a in again of thieves. He's the worst guy there, right, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:15:01.120 He's the he's the oussin bolt right of of crookedness, right, 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:02.720 takes the place. 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.840 Down another entire notch. 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:10.360 He's awful, and he's gonna beat John Cornyn in in 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.080 the primary. In my view, I don't think Cornyn has 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:18.320 a has a has a prayer. And so the Democratic 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.880 race is about who's gonna be the candidate who's in 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:27.120 the toughest right, uh, who gives the who gives Ken 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:31.360 packs in the toughest race. Who can beat beat Ken Paxson. 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:37.200 And so when when you think about this, what what 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.840 is it that you're gonna say from you know, the 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.160 west of the state in l pax you know l Pass, 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.440 so all the way across to to Shreveport, from the 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:53.960 you know Panhandle to North Texas, right on down to 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.640 the to the southern to the Southern Tech. What what 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:03.880 is it that you're gonna say to Texas voters that 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.760 is different than what Dave heard over the last couple 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:10.160 couple of years. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:13.760 Yeah, So my focus to Eve is going to be 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:18.120 on one thing, growing the middle class. I came from 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.760 a middle class background. I had the opportunity to go 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.160 to good public schools. Those types of middle class issues 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:25.840 are going to be my focus. Now. Texas is a 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.200 big place, as you know, if it was a nation, 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.840 we'd have the eighth largest economy in the world. You 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:33.600 were very proud of that. You know, it's a big state. 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.680 It's a giant state. The issues that affect the Premium 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.360 Basin and the Eagleford Basin are oil and gas issues. 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:44.520 The issues that affect ranchers and agriculture are the Ogolalla 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.360 aquifer is drying up, you know the issues that affect Houston, 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.800 our logistics, medical space, you know energy. So there's a 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.200 lot of different issues in Texas and I want to 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.120 address them all. I want to focus on what Texas 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.120 voters need and not what the folks in watching and 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.160 DC need. But I always want to bring it back 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.760 to the middle class. And Democrats have such a terrible brand, 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:08.840 and there's a lot of people that just would never 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.639 vote for a Democrat because all they ever hear is that, 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:15.200 you know, we're left wing Marxists, we're radical communists and stuff. 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.159 I can't wait for all these ads that Paxton is 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:22.679 going to make about me. But I'm going to go 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:24.800 out and talk to people and meet them where they're at. 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.400 I'm not just going to stay on MSNBC. I got 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.040 a call from Fox News about fifteen minutes ago. They 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:31.320 wanted to be on right now. I said, no, I 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:32.840 got to talk to Steve Schmid. I can't go on 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.480 Fox News. I'm gonna go on Fox News. I'm gonna 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.040 go on AM talk radio. You talk about Ken Paxton, 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.440 That's who he is. He's a He's a AM talk 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.440 radio guy. He has never did anything interesting in his life. 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.439 He's a he's good at talking loud and bloviating. But 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:50.639 I'm going to go on those shows they're gonna call 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:52.320 me a radical Marxist. I'm gonna be like, what are 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.800 you talking about? I joined the Air Force to defend 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.800 Europe from communism. Literally, that's that's why I joined the 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.480 Air Force. So we Democrats have to get out there 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.480 and talk to people where they're at, because, as you know, 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.040 if you're in your little information ecosystem, you're never going 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.480 to hear anything other than what you're listening to. So 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.600 our duty as Democrats is to go talk to the 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.879 people in Middle and I'm going to Middland here in 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.880 a few weeks and kind of meet them where they're at. 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:23.440 Talk to me about the concept of duty. What does 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.960 that word mean to you? Well, we had to learn 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:28.960 a lot of quotes about that duty then as a 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.320 sublimest word in the English language, that was a quote 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.560 we had to learn it there Force Academy. Duty is 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.760 well with respect to the country, it's asked not what 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:42.560 your country can do for you, but what you can 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.919 do for your country. As Americans, we've been given a 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.040 lot and by the way, as Democrats, we need to 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.040 take back patriotism. Republicans don't have patriotism, they're actually very 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:57.120 anti patriotic. Democrats need to be patriotic. I love my country. 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.760 I am blessed to live in this most nation and 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.560 human history. So I'm very patriotic. I'm very thankful, and 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.160 my duty is to serve the country. Now that might 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.879 be raising a good family and working hard and just 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:14.800 contributing to society. That's a huge contribution that most that's 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.119 kind of your duty. My duty as a man was 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:20.600 to protect my family and provide for my family. But 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:22.479 I've been given a lot now, you know, as an 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.840 Air Force F sixteen pilot and as an astronaut, so 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:27.920 I think there's going to be a lot more expected 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.840 of me. And in this case, it's running for Senate 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:33.840 because I see, I see the disaster like to your 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.679 point of what Ken Paxton is going to be, and 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:39.040 I see a Democratic Party that can't get out of 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.000 its own way and can't put forward a candidate that 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.760 can actually beat them. So this is where my duty, 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.960 at this moment in my life is to jump in 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.600 the battle. And you know, running for office is not 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.199 necessarily the most fun thing that you could possibly do. 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:56.560 You've seen it up close a lot more than I have. 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.720 But it's a duty. And at the end of the day, 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.640 I think we all, everybody listening to this who's an American, 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.560 we all owe a lot to our country and we 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.760 should think about how we can give back to that. 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.679 It might be working as a as a volunteer at polls, 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.560 you know, helping people vote, might be working at your 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:15.879 church or serving at a soup kitchen or whatever it is, 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.120 but we we should all think about how we can 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.560 give back because this country's given all of us a lot. 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:26.119 I enjoy reading these old Life magazines behind me, and 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:31.160 you know one one of I usually don't bring visual 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.439 aids to this, but but I wanna. I want to 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:39.800 hold this one up. Yeah, that's a very famous Life 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:47.359 magazine and the men on that, of course, are the 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:58.359 original seven Astronauts, of whom you were destined to join 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.520 in theirs as it expands. And so did you always 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:08.919 want to be an astronaut since you were a little kid? 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:14.560 And I asked that because right before we were on 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:22.000 you were talking to me about this obligation you feel 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.960 around the American dream, that it was a lived experience 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:33.040 for you and it's something that's fading too dark for 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:34.360 a lot of people. 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.119 By lived experience. 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:40.960 That you believe in, And so I wanted to ask 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:46.159 you about for you, what was it like in that 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:53.160 moment that you got accepted? How did you get accepted? 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.800 How do you find out that, hey, you're going to 0:21:56.840 --> 0:21:57.720 be an astronaut? 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.359 Yeah, it was when I was the first book I 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:04.119 remember reading. You know, when you're a little kid, you 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:07.400 get those cardboard books with one line per page, And 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:10.000 I was reading that to my granddaughter a different book 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.560 last night. It was about astronauts, and I can remember 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.800 this Apollo book. It was black and white. In my mind. 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.040 It was about the moon, and I thought, well, that 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:21.320 would be cool. I'm going to go to the moon. 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:23.080 So I grew up with I had a poster of 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:25.040 the Space Shuttle on my wall. When I was a boy. 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:27.000 I had a poster of the old Red, white and 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.120 Blue IF sixteen on my wall. When I was thirteen, 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:32.520 a friend said, hey, you should read the right stuff. 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.119 So I read Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. The book 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:40.480 The movie, by the way, is spectacular, and it talked 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:43.159 about how those guys had been fighter pilots and then 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:45.200 test pilots and astronauts, and I didn't know what to do. 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:49.200 You know, my mom was a secretary. My parents were divorced. 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.720 She never graduated from high school. I grew up in 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:55.280 poverty and my dad never went to college. So I 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:57.359 was the first person in my immediate family to go 0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:01.920 to college. And I followed that right stuff path through 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:04.360 F sixteen's test pilot and I was at Edwards Air 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:07.240 Force Base as a test pilot, and the application process 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.440 had taken a year. Everything was really delayed for a 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:12.600 lot of reasons, and everybody knew I was one of 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:15.520 the finalists at Edwards Air Force Base. Everybody told me 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:17.199 that I had no chance of getting picked because I 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:19.960 was the youngest guy by far. I was too young, 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:22.879 I wasn't experienced enough, I wasn't good looking enough. So 0:23:24.119 --> 0:23:26.080 everybody knew. And the phone call came in and if 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:29.520 you got a call from the chief astronaut, you got selected, 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:31.720 and if you got a call from the HR lady, 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:35.199 you didn't get picked. So I get this call, you know, 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:38.359 and it's from Charlie Precourt, the chief astronaut, and I 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:40.560 was in a room we were debriefing our mission, and 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:42.119