WEBVTT - Clay talks with Ted Cruz 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.240 Welcome in Wins and Lost his podcast. We have been 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:05.880 rolling up a lot of these interviews of late with 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.960 a great bevy of fascinating people in the world of sports, 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.000 media and politics. We are joined now by the Senator 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.520 from Texas, one of the senators from Texas. He is 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.960 Ted Cruz, Senator Cruz. It's super Bowl week. People may 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.079 be listening to this well after the Super Bowl. So 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:22.239 I'll put you on the spot early with a tough question. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.479 Who do you think gets it done here? Do you 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:26.880 think the Chiefs or do you think that the Bucks 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:28.960 are going to be the Super Bowl champ when the 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.920 NFL season finishes, Well, I think we're gonna have a 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.640 close game and uh Brady has certainly shown an ability 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.480 to pull it out against impossible odds. That being said, 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.120 Mahomes is a is a beast and so so if 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.960 you if you push me, I'd say it's probably Kansas 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.400 Cities game. We have spent a lot of time on 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:49.320 this show, as I know you have seen, and we've 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.240 interacted a decent amount on social media, pushing as hard 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.200 as we possibly can for sports to be played, not 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.320 just pro sports, high school sports, college sports. How important 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.800 do you think it has been for sports too, in 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.560 many ways lead the way in showing how things are 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.040 able to get done in America as opposed to curling 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.959 up in the fetal position and saying the challenges are 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.679 too are too much, we can't find a way to 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:19.440 get through and continue our business, continue our play during COVID. Well, look, 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.759 I think it is important that that people be able 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.040 to go to their jobs, go to work, provide for 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:28.720 their kids, provide for their families, and people are seeing 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.920 through sports that it's possible that it can happen. Listen. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.080 I think the NBA, the way they did the bubble 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:38.360 for the playoffs last year was was very well done. 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.560 I mean that the fact that they pulled it off 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:46.960 right in fairly early in the pandemic was was impressive. Uh, 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.240 And I think it was. You know, it's a contrast 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:53.360 contrast that's say two movies. I'm a huge movie buff. 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.760 I love movies. You know, Hollywood is essentially shut down, 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:00.320 Broadway is shut down. You know, think of of the 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.800 thousands of people who are unemployed. And you know, not 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.880 just big, big, fancy movie stars who have the resources 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.600 to to make it through it, but you know, people 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.280 who work on lighting and gaffers and carpenters and electricians 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:18.079 who the entire industry is devastated and and thankfully sports 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.480 has done a better job of of showing that that 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.000 that we can try to be safe and protect people, 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.040 but but not utterly destroy their livelihoods at the same time. 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.639 It is really emblematic I think of where America has 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.960 gone that you now hear people say it's brave and 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.840 courageous when people say we can't do something right. I mean, 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.560 and you know, your family has an immigrant background as well, 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.280 like like most people who were in America on some 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:50.400 level came here from somewhere else. Right. The idea that 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.480 we are now praising people when they say, oh, it's 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:57.320 impossible to do something is fundamentally to me, the opposite 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.760 of what America should stand for. I think that's right. 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:04.440 And if you look at different jurisdictions, there as some 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:08.000 jurisdictions that have shut everything down. And and you know, 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.919 if you're a restaurant owner in New York City, I mean, 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.960 I think it is just unconscionable what they've done. They've 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:19.000 just destroyed small businesses. You know that that sometimes may 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.679 have been built by two three generations of families, and 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.919 you've seen politicians just cavalierly shut them down. Um, I 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.480 think we ought to be able to walk and shootgum. 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:35.640 At the same time, we can't totally eliminate risk, you know, 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:36.960 I mean, if you if you know, I guess we 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.720 could all lock ourselves in a bubble and never never 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.680 interact with with anyone on planet Earth, and that would 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:44.680 that would reduce risk. But that's not a not a 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.520 world anyone who wants to live in. And and so 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.640 I think we need some some common sense. Um. And 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.480 and I will say I think Texas by and large 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.120 has followed that path where we've taken the pandemic seriously, 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.520 but we've also small businesses to be able to open 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:04.640 and and a restaurant spreads out a little bit more. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:09.000 I mean, you take reasonable protective steps, but you don't 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.760 just obliterate people's entire livelihoods. You know. It's it's a 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.160 fascinating window into the importance of federalism. And I don't 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:19.720 know in our lives that it has ever mattered more 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.400 who the governor of your state happened to be than 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.520 right now right, and who the mayor of your city 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.320 might have been. Because we've got all these different little 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:32.159 laboratories to deal with COVID, and you mentioned Texas. I 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:36.080 think Florida and Texas, among the big states, have clearly 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.440 done the best at balancing risk while also maintaining people's 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.160 ability to continue their livelihood. And you contrast that with 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.000 New York and with California, and it's not a surprise. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.360 I was looking at the data on net migrations. The 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:54.040 three states I live in, Tennessee, the three states that 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:58.080 have gained the most residents during this whole mess of 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.400 COVID Tennessee, Texas, and Florida. What do they all have 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.200 in common? They have figured out a way to keep 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:09.080 businesses open while also trying to protect their residents. Meanwhile, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.200 people are fleeing from New York, Illinois, and California, three 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.720 of the most restrictive places in the entire country. It's 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.360 an interesting laboratory to study their response and see who 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.720 has done the best job in a way that many 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.560 countries who are more national in scope might not have 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:28.400 had those different laboratories to examine. Yeah, that that that 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.360 that is exactly right. Um. You know a stat that 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.800 that I've cited for some time is the cost of 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:38.479 a one way U haul from California to Texas. It 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.120 used to be it was three more to go from 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.200 California to Texas that it was to go the other 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.720 way around. It's actually risen more than that. So right now, 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.479 to get a twenty four ft U haul from San 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.560 Francisco to Austin, Texas cost five thousand dollars. To take 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.560 the same truck back cost nine eight six dollars because 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:00.440 all the traffic is going one way. That's right, nobody 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.240 go on the up. It's fascinating. That's actually a really 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.599 great data point. That pathway that you're talking about Senator 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:10.080 crews from Austin, I mean from San Francisco to Austin. 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:15.600 Also San Francisco to Miami, San Francisco, Nashville. Big tech 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.200 is starting to break up that corporate hegemony that had 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.080 existed in San Francisco. I know you have a lot 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.080 of concerns about this, as do I. I don't try 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.760 to get incredibly partisan on a day to day basis, 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.040 certainly not with my shows. But the thing that I 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:33.039 believe in is the marketplace of ideas. And I don't 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.800 think there's any doubt by anyone who is active on 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.359 social media that we don't have a full fledged marketplace 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.560 of ideas in the American ecosystem like we have in 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:46.599 past years. What should be done to big tech companies 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.160 that are making the decision to pull Parlor off of 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:54.240 their servers, like Amazon did to not allow certain apps 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.440 to be available at Apple or at Google. This idea 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.599 of hey, you don't have the right to spread your 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:06.320 particular viewpoint if it conflates or conflicts with ours is 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:10.400 to me fundamentally scary because, as you know, many of 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.400 the great ideas that emerge in American thought initially were 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.120 considered to be ludicrous and absurd, but because of the 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.440 marketplace of ideas, they were able to gain cogency and acceptance. 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.760 And that's how our country evolves in an intelligent and 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.880 efficacious manner. Look, I think that is exactly right. And 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.680 I think the power of big tech uh is the 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.400 single greatest threat we have to free speech in this country. 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.080 And it's the greatest threat we have to our democracy. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.720 That that we right now have a handful of Silicon 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:48.480 Valley billionaires with with almost total monopoly power over over 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:52.360 political discourse and just about every other form of discourse today, 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.040 and and and they're getting more and more brazen in 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.840 how they use that power to silence those views they 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.040 don't like, in the ample by those views they do. 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.040 And it's you know, they've always been biased journalists. That 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.520 that that that's not new in the world. From the 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.480 very first time the first journalists were carving words on 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:16.040 a stone tablet, there were biased journalists. What's different is 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:20.920 that that big tech has power that that William Randolph 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.520 Hurst at the height of yellow journalism, could not have imagined. 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:29.640 Because they control seventy plus percent of people's political news 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.000 is coming online, it's coming through social media, and and 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:38.880 their bias is invisible as well. If they don't like 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:42.480 what you say, you simply disappear. They can shadow bang you, 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.199 they can throttle you, and there's zero accountability. And and 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.360 we've seen just the last few months, we saw we 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:54.080 saw Facebook and Twitter both blocking The New York Post, 0:08:54.840 --> 0:09:00.040 the fourth largest newspaper, decreed, we're shutting you down. And 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.200 we've seen them d platform. The President of the United 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.920 States just said, Okay, we don't like Donald Trump. He's 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.520 no longer allowed to speak. We've seen them, as you 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.040 put it out, what they did to Parlor and what 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.960 they did to Parlor was blatantly illegal and violated the 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:16.959 antitrust laws. And I fully expect that they will pay 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.960 a big judgment because because you had multiple competitors working 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:26.680 together in concert to destroy another competitor, and and that 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:31.160 that is illegal, and they don't care and and it 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:36.200 is a massive threat. And unfortunately, right now with with 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:40.440 Democrats in charge of Washington, the Democrats want big tech 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.120 to do more of this, not less. They're in favor 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.800 of big tech censorship and and so I expect the 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.560 problem to get worse before it gets better. What's interesting, 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.760 Senator Cruise about Parlor in particular, And we both have 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.000 legal background, so I always try to talk for an 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.440 audience that might not People say, well, if you violate 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.840 Twitter's user agreement, then you don't have the right to 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.440 speak to your audience through Twitter. And then so Parlor 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:10.080 was actually created to guarantee that if people didn't have 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:14.240 the ability to reach their audience through Twitter, they could 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:18.679 start their own company which had a different genesis of 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.120 what their ideas were going to be. And then Amazon 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:27.360 Web Services, uh, and also Google and Apple. Amazon said 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.360 we're not gonna host you. Google and Apple said we're 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.120 not going to allow your app to be downloaded, and 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.280 they effectively. I mean, I think this is an analogy 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.280 that people can understand. It's a book burning by Amazon, 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.520 which was a company that was founded to sell books. 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.480 They have eliminated the largest amount of opinion from being 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:49.480 able to be shared in America, probably in the twenty 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.520 one century anywhere. No dictator could have made the decision 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.840 that Jeff Bezos did to shut down as many people 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.760 instantaneously as he did. Uh. And we've basically have created 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.959 our own Chinese wall, but it's being now monitored by, 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.880 as you said, billionaires in Silicon Valley. I think that's 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.000 exactly right. And as I said, they're getting more and 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.040 more brazen about it. Um. Now, how you solved it 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.800 is a complicated question. I've spent a lot of time 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.200 the last several years sharing multiple hearings in the Senate 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:28.160 on censorship with big Tech and detailing, uh, detailing all 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:32.640 the instances of censorship. We've seen the solution. Listen, nobody 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.760 wants to see a federal government speech police. That would 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.439 be a terrible thing. But there are solutions that that 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:44.199 are consistent with law that also protect free speech. One solution, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.920 so right now, Big Tech has a special immunity from 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.880 liability under what's called Section to thirty of the Communications 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:56.880 Decency Act that that Congress gave it to Big Tech 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:01.200 twenty years ago, and and it functions us like corporate welfare. 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.160 It's a benefit that nobody else gets and only big 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.920 Tech gets. The reason big Tech got that immunity from 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:12.080 liability is because Congress understood that big Big Tech was 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.120 going to be a neutral public forum. In other words, 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.000 it wasn't gonna put its finger on the scale. It 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.040 was gonna let people speak. And so the reasoning was, well, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.360 it's not fair to hold them liable for what other 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.400 people are saying if it's a public forum where anyone 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:29.400 can speak. Well, big Tech has decided to abandon that. 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.559 They are nakedly and brazenly censoring. And if they're going 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.000 to do that, there's no reason on earth that they 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:40.560 should have a special immunity from liability nobody else gets. Secondly, 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:44.320 the antitrust laws. By any measure, big Tech is bigger. 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.959 It's more powerful than a T and T was when 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:49.920 it was broken up under the anti trust laws. It's 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.880 bigger and more powerful than standard oil was when it 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.440 was broken up under the antitrust laws and and it 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.600 has long been existing laws that you cannot abuse monopoly power, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.960 which is what they're doing. And then the third avenue 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.040 that that that I think needs to be pursued. It 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.720 is a claim that that that sounds in in fraud 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:15.800 and consumer protection, and it's essentially this the agreement you 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:17.600 make with big tech when you sign up for a 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.000 social media account. The promise they're making to you is 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:23.920 that if you follow someone, you'll see what they have 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:25.920 to say, and if they follow you, they'll see what 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.720 you have to say. Big Tech is breaking that promise. 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.360 They're deciding if they don't like what you have to say. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.640 The people who have chosen I want to follow Kate 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:37.440 Clay Travis, well, if they don't like what you have 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:39.440 to say, they don't get to hear what you say, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.080 even though they want to hear what you say. And 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.880 and that is fundamentally fraudulent and deceptive. And I think 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.480 with the Biden administration, you're not going to see any 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.360 federal government pressure on this, So it's gonna have to 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:54.880 come from state attorneys general. It's gonna have to come 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.400 in the states, and it's gonna have to come from 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.480 private litigation, and I expect quite a bit litigation, particularly 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.760 as a big tech gets more and more brazen. I 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.319 think we're gonna see more and more litigation directed that 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:09.840 you'll be fascinated by this. I've talked a little bit 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:11.880 about it on the show. We had Donald Trump on 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:16.040 this radio program, OutKick the coverage that that I most twice. 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.000 The first time that we had him on, we wrote 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.760 about it a lot of OutKick UH and Facebook. In 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:26.400 the week after we had Trump on, we lost seventy 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:30.600 percent of our Facebook traffic. Like you can watch if 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.600 if we pull a graph and we show you we wrote, 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.360 you know, four or five different articles because he was 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:37.920 talking about whether or not college football should play. To 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.400 his credit in the White House's credit, they fought as 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.120 hard as they possibly could to help us make sure 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.120 that college football happens. Most of the stories that we 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.400 were talking about him with were almost entirely sports related. 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.400 We wrote about it, right the President United States comes 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.200 on my show, We're going to write about it on 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.680 the website that that I own as well, right to 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.280 help share that information. We lost seventy p of our 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:04.080 Facebook traffic UH and our data analysts said it was 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.440 because Donald Trump's name was appearing in so many of 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.080 our articles, and it was not a negative characterization, right. 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.640 It was like President Trump is in favor of college 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.480 football being played. Right, our data people went back and 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:20.120 looked at it. That's Facebook. It's an unbelievable power that 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:22.920 they have. As soon as we stopped writing about Donald Trump, 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.320 over the next week, our traffic went right back up. 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.000 But we can directly go to that and say they 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.200 cost us tens of thousands of dollars in the way 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.360 they responded to us writing about Donald Trump coming on 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:37.720 the radio program. Now, one one thing we could say, 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.720 if we were purely looking to maximize revenue, is we 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.200 would say, oh, Facebook is dinging us. They are telling 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.600 us we can't write anything positive about Donald Trump. As 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.800 long as we don't, our revenue will stay the same. 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.000 But the minute we go positive on Trump, our revenue collapsed. 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.680 We can legitimately show you that him coming on our 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:58.680 radio program cost us tens of thousands of dollars. That 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.440 is powerful and and it is entirely consistent with the 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:06.640 conduct they're doing in multiple other instances. You know, one 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.440 of the hearings I shared in the Senate, Dr Robert 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:14.600 Epstein testified. Uh. He is a psychologist, and he has 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:20.400 done uh, just about the only empirical research on bias 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.400 and Google searches and and he did it initially in 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:27.680 twos sixteen where he examined Google searches and and the 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.560 biased outcome that that leans to the left. And he 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:37.160 concluded that Google's bias searches shifted two point six million 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.920 votes to the Democrats, to Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.800 Now here's the interesting thing. Clay dr Epstein is not 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:48.240 a Republican. He is a liberal Democrat who voted for 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.240 Hillary Clinton and and and who publicly campaigned for Hillary Clinton. 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.360 And yet he was horrified that that big tech has 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.400 the power to just manipulate voters and deceive them. And 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.800 and that that was four years ago. They're they're much 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.919 worse now because they feel that that nothing is holding 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:13.280 the back, there are no limits. It is terrifying, fascinating, 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.320 And I think the story of our age, the other 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.600 big story of our age, I think big tech is 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.760 one of the massive story censorship, cancel culture, the way 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.000 that all of that roles together with identity politics. The 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.719 other one is China. And to me, for the world 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.040 of sports, what happened with Darryl Moray, who is down 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.960 in Houston, in your home state of Texas, when he 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:40.200 came out and supported Hong Kong democracy. The NBA, which 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.920 wants to claim that it is a bastion of social 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.919 justice warriordom, that they are worried about being on the 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:51.879 right and wrong side of history. Amazing silence, right, Lebron James, 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:53.720 who speaks out all the time, didn't have a word 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.080 to say other than sometimes the First Amendment can be 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.280 a bad thing, which is an amazing quote to have. Uh. 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.399 Greg popa bitch who I'm gonna get to in a minute, 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:04.280 Steve Kerr. They pop off on everything that the president 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.200 was doing, Donald Trump. They don't say a word about China. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:09.800 So I want to circle around on on China a 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.919 little bit, and in particular the NBA's relationship with China. 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:17.600 Greg Popovich, Uh went after you. I saw quotes recently. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.000 I know Mark Cuban has come after you. Mark Cuban 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:22.760 has has come after me for people out there, obviously 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.919 Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, as well as Greg Popovich of 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:31.800 the San Antonio Spurs. Uh. When you hear Greg Popovitch, 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.040 I know you're a basketball fan. I know you've liked 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.359 to watch the NBA over the years. When you hear 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.120 Greg Popovitch going after you, when Mark Cuban is going 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.920 after you for your political opinions, but they won't say 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.800 a word about genocide in China. About I saw recently 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.199 an article I was reading today about forced rape of 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:55.480 weaker women by by people in China, and they're using literal, 0:18:55.720 --> 0:19:00.800 literal slave labor to make their products. Nike is uh. 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:05.080 The NBA has had their own factory of basketball uh 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.639 in that province where the wagers are being held in 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.520 concentration camps. How about that hypocrisy that they would not 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.680 say a word about that, but they come after you 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:20.040 for your political opinions. Well, it's it's massive hypocrisy. And 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.280 and the the n b A and and pro sports 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:26.560 in general made a big bet that there's a whole 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:28.480 lot of money to be made in China, and they're 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.879 willing to look the other way on on torture and 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:34.879 murder and horrific human rights abuses because they stand to 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.480 make a big buck. So so Daryl Morey sent a 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:42.600 really mild tweet to start this all. Stand with Hong Kong, 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:45.679 Stand Stand for liberty and democracy. I think it's what 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.800 he said. Um and and by the way, he was right, 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:53.160 because they've taken it away. Of course he was right. 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:57.000 But but it illustrates a couple of things. Number One, look, 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:58.800 you and I know who Darryl Mori is. I'm a 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:02.639 die hard Rockets and I bleed Rockets read. But but 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.159 most people in the country didn't know who Daryl Morey was. 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.639 Frankly when he sent the tweet that that was not 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:09.240 going to be heard by a whole lot of people 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.800 until the Chinese communists lost their minds and they freaked 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:17.960 out about it because so terrified of criticism. And and 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:21.320 the one friendly amendment I'd make to what you just 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:24.240 said is you said the NBA state silent about it. No, 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.879 they did worse than state silent about it, which is 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:32.520 they groveled an apology and they and by the way, 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.480 what did what did? What did China do? It shut 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.800 down all of the Rockets and NBA sales of of 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:41.520 uniforms in China. Of course we used to have Yao Ming, 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:44.520 so actually the Rockets a very popular team in China. 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:50.560 They shut that all down. Lebron James blasted Maury for 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:53.280 saying that he was defending China, said all more, he 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.680 doesn't understand China. Really, Lebron, what is there to understand 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:01.480 about concentration camps and murder and torture. But look, you 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.040 understand what Lebron is interested in. You understand what Mark 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.639 Cuban is interested in. They're interested in bucks. They're interested 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:13.040 in Mark Cuban is making millions of dollars by making 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:17.679 the communist government in China happy. And they have total 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.360 control over whether Mark Cuban makes that money or not. 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:25.720 And so the NBA, it's about the Benjamin's and and 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:28.040 so you know, look this last NBA season when they 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:32.720 had the ridiculous uh practice of putting all the NBA 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.840 players having slogans on the back of their u uh 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.960 back of their jerseys. You know, I and a number 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:41.680 of other people said, okay, how about free Hong Kong. Yeah, 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.280 how about remember Tanneman square. I mean, look, you're all 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.159 for political speech. Oh no, no, no, no no, just the 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.520 political speech that happens to agree with everything in your politics. 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.960 That's the only speech you'll allow it. It's massive hypocrisy. 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:57.760 You mentioned that you're a Houston Rockets fan. Um Die 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.760 died in the wool, long time Houston Rockets in total 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.199 sports question here for you. Do you think that the 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.360 Rockets would have won the two championships that they did 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:14.840 if Michael Jordan hadn't retired. That tells me that you 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.480 are a huge Houston Rockets fan, because that's that's Houston 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:20.639 Rocket fandom to the core. And listen. And I adored 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.280 Jordan's I mean, I mean, it's it's I think Jordan 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:25.520 is the greatest it's ever played on on on the 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:29.280 Jordan Lebron debate. I don't even think it's close. But 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:34.320 that's so ninety four when the Rockets won our first finals. 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:36.280 I was at game seven when we beat the Knicks, 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:38.680 when John Starks went oh for eleven. I mean it 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:42.160 was and it was in the summit. Kilson had never 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:45.679 won a championship at any sports and and and it 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.680 will remain the sports highlight of my life. Where afterwards 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:53.119 you had businessmen in three piece suits crying and hugging 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:57.399