Steve Hilton, author of Caliphileure, founder of Golden Together, and host of The Steve Hilton Show, joins me to talk about his new book, "Cala Failure," and the Mar-A-Lago Ballroom Event at the White House.
00:00:40.000Glenn Beck, Steve Bannon, Patrick Bette David, Ben Shapiro, Speaker Mike Johnson, Donald Trump Jr., Matt Walsh, Tim Poole, Ben Carson, the next ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Michael Moles, Ted Cruz, Rob Schneider,
00:00:56.000Byron Donalds, Anna Paulina, Matt Gaetz, Danica Patrick, Brett Cooper, Jack Posobiec, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Benny Johnson, my wife, Erica Kirk, Riley Gaines, Brandon Tatum, Tom Homan, the deporter-in-chief, George Janko, Allie B. Stuckey, Sage Steele, And more.
00:01:18.000Our annual event, AmericaFest, is held December 19, 2021-22 at the Phoenix Convention Center.
00:01:24.000Those who attend this once-in-a-lifetime four-day event will hear from dozens of the nation's top speakers, as I just mentioned, network with thousands of like-minded attendees, and 100-plus partnering organizations.
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00:01:53.000We have, again, let me just repeat this, Tucker, Beck, Bannon, Bet David, Shapiro, Walsh, and more.
00:02:18.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
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00:04:16.000I said this to you on the night, and I think everyone also needs to understand this.
00:04:19.000The joy was real because it felt like a family coming together.
00:04:23.000It wasn't even like a political event.
00:04:25.000It was this real sense of, you know, so many people were just old friends, and we're hugging each other, and you had Cash and Bobby Kennedy, and it's just an amazing event, and this sense of a family that loves the country, but we also love each other, and that was what was so wonderful.
00:04:53.000It still has so much goodness left in it.
00:04:56.000I hope people understand there are so many good people, patriots, and it still is objectively the most beautiful state that God has for us in this state.
00:05:08.000So the thing about California that I love so much is that in the best version of California, it should be the absolute best of America.
00:05:15.000It should capture the spirit and essence of America, freedom and opportunity and dynamism and adventure and the rebel spirit.
00:05:24.000That's the best version of California.
00:05:26.000But instead, what we've had for the last, and it's nearly 20 years now, of one-party rule by an increasingly extremist Far-left democratic establishment in California is the opposite.
00:05:38.000We're now the worst of America, and that's not an exaggeration.
00:05:41.000That's why I called the book Caliphailia, because they are failing on every single front.
00:05:46.000You'd pick any issue, and California now is the worst In America, we have the highest rate of poverty from these people that lecture us the whole time about social justice and whatever, and compassion.
00:05:57.000Highest rate of poverty, highest homelessness, highest taxes, highest housing costs, the worst business climate.
00:06:05.000That's been voted by CEOs across America.
00:06:07.000California, the worst business climate in America 10 years in a row.
00:06:11.000We're supposed to be the home of entrepreneurship.
00:06:27.000Because this is what everyone in America needs to understand, whether you live in California or not.
00:06:31.000or not, because so much of this bad stuff that's gone so wrong across the country, and you see in the Biden administration, it starts in California.
00:06:39.000As I use this phrase, California has become like the Wuhan lab of far left extremism.
00:07:16.000It takes an intentional set of decisions over long periods of time and overruling repeated objections to mess up a place as spectacular as California.
00:07:42.000We had the infrastructure, you know, back in the day.
00:07:44.000And by the way, you know, this was a Democrat governor.
00:07:47.000Jerry Brown's father, Pat Brown, built the State Water Project, the most incredible feat of engineering the world had seen, bringing water to the area from where it's plentiful to where it's needed.
00:07:58.000Just incredible things that California did.
00:08:10.000And there was this wonderful life, the California dream.
00:08:14.000And that's where people came to start businesses.
00:08:16.000And bit by bit, as they grew the government and they just got more and more into the nanny state mentality, regulating absolutely everything.
00:08:25.000The bloat of the government, the corruption and the cronyism has expanded the size of the government.
00:08:33.000Half of it going out the door in luxury pensions and health care to the unions, the government unions who've completely wrecked the public schools.
00:08:40.000So no longer Can you hope that your kids can have a better life than you through a great education?
00:08:45.000So all these things are deliberate choices.
00:08:47.000That's exactly what I say in the book.
00:08:48.000This is not some, you know, natural phenomenon.
00:08:53.000And the really good news is that actually I think we can get back to that great version of California pretty easily if we just make the right decisions politically.
00:09:01.000And so the second half of the book actually is called Califuture.
00:09:06.000And we lay out a plan for the specific policy changes that will bring us back to where we should be, which is, I mean, sometimes I use this phrase, if we think of America as the greatest country on earth, which it obviously is, and we love it so much, California should be the best of it.
00:09:23.000And to use that famous phrase, if America is a shining city on a hill, California should be a beautiful gleaming tower on the top.
00:09:31.000And I think we can do it quicker than anyone thinks.
00:09:34.000So, Steve, just briefly as we wrap up this segment, about two minutes remaining, before we get into the future, I am curious, what would you say were the pivot points where California really turned in the wrong direction?
00:09:44.000Because, I mean, the 80s and early 90s, it was heaven on earth.
00:09:47.000I mean, you could come and get an affordable house.
00:09:50.000You could start a business, some of the greatest entrepreneurs and companies that was just at the beginning of dot-com and Silicon Valley, semiconductor land.
00:09:59.000I mean, we had every major entrepreneur on the planet saw California as the state of the future.
00:10:05.000That is where Elon Musk initially planted his roots.
00:10:12.000What were the policy pivot points that created this steaming pile of garbage?
00:10:17.000It's a great question, and it's answered in the book.
00:10:20.000And just to give you just at the beginning, right, just a couple of points along the way.
00:10:24.000Really significant moments were the granting of collective bargaining rights to the public sector unions, the government unions, because that entrenched the Democrats' power.
00:10:33.000And enable them to build this political machine that was so dominant.
00:10:36.000But the really important moment was actually a ballot initiative that was passed in 2008, which had the sort of nice sounding idea of independent redistricting.
00:10:46.000And what happened once that started to be implemented in 2010 was that the Democrats, again, these people who lecture us all the time about democracy, They gerrymandered the districts to give themselves a supermajority in the legislature.
00:10:59.000So when that happened, and there was another ballot initiative that meant that you could pass a budget with 50% votes in the legislature, not two-thirds as it was previously.
00:11:09.000Putting all that together, they had free reign to do whatever they wanted.
00:11:13.000And that's when the extremism really came in.
00:12:34.000We're all feeling pretty good about where our country's headed right now, but I'm concerned.
00:12:38.000Because it's when we let our guard down that bad things happen.
00:12:41.000That's why I always prepare for emergencies no matter how good and comfortable life gets.
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00:13:38.000San Diego Supervisor Jim Dresmond speaks out against the Board of Supervisors who voted to turn the county into a super sanctuary county.
00:13:47.000Let's play cut 78. I think this policy goes beyond California's existing sanctuary laws by adding an additional layer of bureaucracy that hinders local law enforcement from directly notifying ICE About illegal immigrants who are currently in our jails and they have committed heinous crimes including child abuse or endangerment,
00:14:13.000driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but only if this conviction is for a felony, torture, rape, and kidnapping.
00:14:37.000And they're doubling down on this policy.
00:14:40.000They're going further, even than our terrible sanctuary state laws, to basically stop any kind of cooperation between Local law enforcement and ICE. Tom Homan's not going to stand for this.
00:16:43.000And if you just take an assumption of what that turnout is going to be based on previous midterm elections, the number of votes you need to win as a Republican in California is actually slightly lower than the number of votes that President Trump just got in California.
00:17:01.000President Trump got the votes in California this election.
00:17:05.000The key will be to make sure that everyone who voted for Trump in California this time turns out and votes for change next time, then we can definitely do it.
00:17:18.000We just have to go and find it and get it and make sure people vote, which you, Charlie, know all about because that's what you've been doing across the country this election with Turning Point.
00:17:27.000Do you get a sense that the Democrats are afraid of a backlash in California to break their supermajority, eventually win statewide?
00:17:35.000But a minute remaining, speak about the current political climate as Newsom's regime comes to an end.
00:17:46.000They think that they're going to be in power forever.
00:17:49.000They got the arrogance of this ruling elite.
00:17:51.000And so they don't really fear that kind of political change.
00:17:56.000They actually fear primaries from the far left and that kind of thing.
00:18:01.000And that's why they're completely beholden to their activists and the unions and so on.
00:18:05.000But I think that they need to, you know, I'm very happy if they're complacent, by the way, because it means that they won't be ready for what's coming.
00:18:13.000A real revolution is coming in California.
00:18:16.000My show on Fox used to be called The Next Revolution.
00:18:45.000Joining us now is Mark Halperin, political reporter and Mark Halperin's Wide World of News.
00:18:52.000Also, two-way TV. Check it out right now, two-way TV. Mark, welcome to the program.
00:18:56.000Mark, about a week ago it looked as if Pete Hegseth was on very, very shaky ground.
00:19:00.000How would you grade his probability of confirmation and what changed in the last week?
00:19:06.000Well, Charlie, thanks for having me back.
00:19:08.000If there's no new information and if he performs well at the hearings, I think his chances are between nine and ten, eight or nine out of ten.
00:19:16.000I think he's in a very strong position.
00:19:18.000I think not all the senators who are inclined to oppose him currently have been publicly named.
00:19:24.000So I think his problem on paper is a little bit broader than people realize.
00:19:29.000But what's changed is he and his team, including the vice president-elect, have been super smart at changing the terms of the discussion.
00:19:38.000First of all, no senator thinks it's fair for someone's career to be short-circuited by anonymous allegations.
00:19:46.000It runs against a lot of what Americans believe in, and senators themselves are subject to a lot of anonymous allegations.
00:19:52.000So highlighting the fact that every serious allegation against him is based on anonymous allegations, I think has been successful.
00:20:00.000I think also making this about the president's agenda, about whether woke is going to be removed from the Pentagon, making it about the future, not the past, I think has been effective.
00:20:12.000And I think efforts to convince these senators that if they vote against Donald Trump's nominees, if they don't give them the kind of deference most presidents get, they could be primaried.
00:20:23.000To paraphrase a great Arizonan, paraphrase now, nice Senate seat you got there.
00:20:28.000It wouldn't be a shame if you lost it.
00:20:31.000You know, I've said that once or twice in the last week.
00:21:08.000Which is to say Donald Trump was not publicly reported, talked to Governor DeSantis about it, had other names under consideration.
00:21:16.000But I think what you all have done is move this to a January discussion.
00:21:20.000Another point, if you're a nominee who's embattled, is to get a hearing, right?
00:21:26.000Nominees usually survive a hearing and then a floor vote.
00:21:30.000What causes them to go, and you saw this with Matt Gaetz, is forced out before a hearing.
00:21:35.000And I think what you all have done is gotten the senators who are wavering, the Republican senators, if I go to an NCAA men's basketball idiom, on the bubble.
00:21:46.000You've gotten them to say he deserves a hearing, right?
00:21:49.000It's not fair to take this opportunity away from him to deny President Trump the person he wants without a hearing where he can face his accusers if they come forward.
00:22:01.000And getting a hearing freezes the field, right?
00:22:03.000Now I'm switching from a basketball to a football metaphor.
00:22:11.000There's one senator who's been thinking about it, but I believe he's been brushed back.
00:22:15.000And you all gave him the opportunity to get to this January.
00:22:18.000Now, in January, I think you could see between now and then more investigative reports, maybe some not based on anonymous sources.
00:22:25.000I think you could also see Some of the people who've been anonymous do television interviews.
00:22:31.000And depending on the strength of their testimony, that may be powerful.
00:22:35.000The other thing is, and this I think, Charlie, is important.
00:22:39.000The people in the Republican Senate who have doubts about, Pete Hegg said, there's nothing in it for them, except they think he's in the public interest to consider whether he's the right person.
00:22:50.000Despite some of the accusations made against them, they're not taking suitcases full of money, they're not anti-MAGA, they don't want the job themselves.
00:22:59.000They think the right thing to do is consider whether he should get the job.
00:23:02.000And I think what would be great for the country is if there was less focus on the personal allegations, not no focus, but less focus, and more focus on some fundamental questions.
00:23:12.000Running a building with three million employees?
00:23:16.000There's nothing on Pete Hanks' resume to suggest he's able to do that.
00:23:19.000He needs to have that conversation with the senators.
00:23:23.000Can he sit in a situation room during a crisis and give the president the very best judgment about how to respond?
00:23:30.000Again, not much on his resume, although of course he's served, that suggests he's prepared for that.
00:23:36.000So I hope the country and the Senate has that discussion and not the media and tabloid obsession with some accusations which are serious and will be investigated.
00:23:47.000But don't warrant blotting out the other things.
00:23:53.000Election Day 2024 is in our rearview mirror and conservatives are fired up that President Trump heading back to the White House in January.
00:23:59.000But our fight isn't over and I'm asking you for your help.
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00:24:55.000Let's go into some of the other names here.
00:24:57.000There's increased chatter around RFK and some difficulty he might see in the Senate.
00:25:02.000Tulsi, they've obviously benefited from the Gates-Hegseth headlines because a lot of this is media and information warfare.
00:25:09.000Update on those two, Bobby Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard.
00:25:12.000And the kind of more surprising one we can get to is how Kash Patel looks like he's likely to kind of glide to confirmation, which really no one saw coming as of right now.
00:25:39.000There's just time for members to get in front of the camera.
00:25:42.000But I think these hearings will be important.
00:25:45.000When they give their opening statement, when they answer policy questions, Bobby Kennedy is kind of an interesting case.
00:25:50.000If you talk to anyone with an opinion about Bobby Kennedy and you press them, there's probably one thing that he's for that they really like, and then there's something he's for that they do not like.
00:26:00.000And I think he's going to have to figure out how to navigate that, particularly with the senators on the committee, to say, well, you may not like the fact that I've spoken out in favor of abortion rights, or you may not like the fact that I've been a vaccine skeptic.
00:26:12.000But how about this position, Senator, that you think is a good one?
00:26:16.000Again, there are accusations against him of all sorts.
00:26:19.000I think he'll make it, assuming there's nothing new and he performs well.
00:26:23.000The key to me for Tulsi Gabbard is people like Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio.
00:26:29.000Both of those guys are extremely well respected on intelligence matters.
00:26:34.000And, of course, Marco Rubio is in line to be Tulsi Gabbard's colleague in the Trump administration if they're both confirmed.
00:26:43.000If those two guys say that doubts about her on intelligence issues can be set aside, I think she'll be confirmed.
00:27:10.000It's about holding a 50 of the 53 Republicans.
00:27:12.000And I think if you look at the things that people put in these long articles, you know, that are raising alarms about him, There's a few things he said that I think are intemperate, unwise, not in keeping with the best of American traditions.
00:27:29.000And I think if he explains what he meant and maybe take some of them back, I don't think there's any problem.
00:27:35.000People who say he doesn't have the experience are just flat out wrong.
00:27:39.000People who say he shouldn't be in the job because of some of his views.
00:27:43.000He's reflecting the views of the man who ran and won.
00:27:47.000And Donald Trump wasn't shy about expressing views on these issues.
00:27:50.000He was quite clear about what he wanted.
00:27:52.000So I don't think it's fair to a president-elect to say, I don't like this guy's views, which happened to match the president-elect, so I'm going to vote him down.
00:28:00.000So again, barring some new revelation, assuming a good performance during the hearing, which I'm more confident he'll have than the other two, again, I'd expect that he'd be confirmed.
00:28:11.000John Bolton came today with his typical over-the-top statements.
00:28:15.000He says, Senators won't escape history's judgment if they vote to confirm Kash Patel.
00:28:22.000I'm glad John Bolton is not reaching for the hyperbolic in such statements.
00:28:28.000So, kind of looking at that across the board, there's going to be confirmation fights, then confirmation schedules.
00:28:35.000You've been covering this for quite some time.
00:29:32.000They may vote for some Trump nominees, but any Democrat who's getting votes from Democrats doesn't need those Democratic votes to be confirmed.
00:29:39.000So this is a universe, depending on who the nominee in question is, of up to 15 Republicans, I think, of the...
00:29:47.00053. I think there are 15 who might, might potentially vote no on some, some, one or more of these nominees.
00:29:57.000And so the question is just going to be a simple game of math.
00:30:00.000On any one of these nominees, will four or more of those 15 vote no?
00:30:05.000And I think you saw Tom Cotton, who's a very shrewd guy the other day, Who's the number three Republican in the incoming Senate, say he expects them all to be confirmed, which means he expects none of them to lose more than three of those 15 on any given confirmation vote on the floor.
00:30:23.000You have to get out of committee before you get a floor vote.
00:30:26.000Most of these committees shape up decently for these nominees, where they're probably still going to get out of committee, even if the committee is deadlocked.
00:30:34.000So I'd expect for all of us to not be hyperbolic, focus on the issues, and then for the sake of just the pure question of confirmation, that binary question, are there four or more votes against from the Republican side or not?
00:30:49.000And I don't think you're going to see that.
00:30:54.000Did not embolden these folks so much as chasten them, and they will do their due diligence.
00:31:00.000And if these nominees can explain their past controversial positions and some of the accusations against them, I do expect that Senator Cotton is probably right.
00:31:11.000The norm Donald Trump withdrew to, never got to a committee hearing, never got to a vote.
00:31:16.000The rest being confirmed, that's the norm.
00:31:18.000The relative absence of votes from Democrats, and I think most of these guys and gals will not get Democratic votes, that's unusual.
00:31:25.000But that's a sign of our times and increased polarization that we see.
00:31:29.000And of Donald Trump's choosing pretty, what you could call them, bold or controversial picks.
00:31:35.000Mark, from your reporting, it seems that these things sometimes heat up about a month and a half later.
00:31:41.000What I'm talking about is the autopsy reports.
00:31:44.000It takes a little bit of time because, you know, sometimes Democrats or Republicans, when there's a loss, it's a little bit of shell shock.
00:31:51.000But then there's a little bit of like, oh, here's what went wrong.
00:31:54.000And I'm not as interested in that question.
00:31:56.000But at least what are you gathering from the Democrats that are starting to put together the diagnosis of the autopsy of what they think went wrong this election cycle?
00:32:18.000I say this with no disrespect, just as a factual matter.
00:32:21.000I think, as best I can tell, the Democrats are in near 100% denial about what went wrong.
00:32:27.000They're almost entirely avoiding holding Joe Biden accountable for his contributions to the laws, Kamala Harris for her contributions, the Biden-Harris record for the contributions.
00:32:39.000And then I think most significantly In collusion with the media, that they've been in collusion with about all of this stuff, in terms of trying to stop Donald Trump, has been a failure to look at the shortcomings the Democratic Party had during this election with voters, right?
00:33:00.000Donald Reagan talked about the three-legged stool, national security, economics, and social issues.
00:33:06.000It's true that Republican Senate candidates lost in a lot of the key Senate contests, But at the presidential level, the Democratic Party is defined in a way that they continue to be in denial about.
00:33:19.000The Democratic Party is much further to the left than it's been in decades.
00:33:24.000And their autopsies, their ruminations do not include in the main discussions of those four issues.
00:33:46.000But if the party wants to have a real reckoning about what went wrong, and they just want to fall back on, we're not as good as messaging, or the Republicans are tougher than we are, think they're making a big mistake because they're not getting to the heart.