00:04:15.100And here I am as the nominee now for the Republican Party for Texas Railroad Commissioner here in the state of Texas.
00:04:21.280you know uh yeah a lot of people hear railroad commissioner and it's like well what what kind
00:04:27.280of importance could that position have it's like the mosquito control board down here in florida
00:04:31.400you know it's uh not one that you immediately think of as being very powerful but as you say
00:04:36.660it actually governs a lot of the relationship with the oil and gas industry in the state
00:04:41.380obviously economically incredibly important to texas but also in this moment where obviously
00:04:48.420we have the war in Iran, the war in Ukraine, all of these kind of long oil and gas logistical
00:04:57.300chains are being disrupted by what's going on in those regions. And so domestic security for
00:05:02.500energy obviously becomes even more important than Texas being a critical manufacturer of that,
00:05:08.980as you said, half the oil and gas in the United States, makes this actually a pretty critical
00:05:13.660position in this moment. So who's your opponent? What is their intention for the industry?
00:05:20.360How do you guys do that? Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, if you've been paying attention
00:05:25.760to politics in Texas, you know that at the top of the ticket, we have arch patriot Ken Paxton,
00:05:32.120who's the best attorney general in the country running against James Tallarico. And everyone,
00:05:36.380I think, has a pretty good understanding of just how crazy and radical he is.
00:05:40.220My opponent is named John Rosenthal. He serves in the House with with Tallarico, and he actually every legislative session has has ranked to the left of Tallarico.
00:05:50.160So, I mean, he is a just total, you know, LGBT, lavender mafia, Marxist.
00:05:58.540And, you know, he is the industry or the the group that really hates the oil and gas industry the most is the Sierra Club.
00:06:07.600and my opponent has scored 100% on their scorecard. Remember, they have the stated goal
00:06:14.140of destroying the oil and gas industry in the United States. So he would be a terrible addition
00:06:19.180to the commission because he would be very hostile. And what does that mean for the average
00:06:25.200person? That means someone who's going to increase taxes and regulation on the industry,
00:06:31.940which means higher prices for you, the consumer. And so it really is a battle for, do we want
00:06:38.320someone who's going to come in and lower our prices? In this age of talking about affordability
00:06:43.560in this campaign, my opponent is going to make life less affordable for you. And I'm a business
00:06:50.280guy. I look at this position as what is going to be best for the business, what's going to be best
00:06:55.800for consumers. And my policies will help lower prices for people. So as you said,
00:07:01.940you've garnered attention for discussing not just the fiscal issues that are facing Texas,
00:07:08.300but also the cultural ones. And one of the things that was most talked about when I was at that
00:07:14.140forum in Dallas with you was the transformation of Texas culturally, demographically, religiously.
00:07:22.460We're looking at a situation where Texas famously had the informal state motto of don't mess with
00:07:29.560Texas, a place that really takes pride in its history, in its heritage, in its traditions,
00:07:36.620its independence. And when you look at what's happening in Texas, it's pretty wild. We're
00:07:44.480in a situation where when I am in Dallas, it's hard to tell if I'm in Texas or Mumbai, depending
00:07:50.600on where I am. You have a lot of people now pushing to build Muslim-only cities in Texas,
00:07:58.680you know, Hindu temples. It's just a lot of change very quickly for a lot of people. And
00:08:04.040they're very concerned about what's happening there. What do you think about the average Texan
00:08:08.780and how they're responding to what has to be a very unnerving experience watching just in their
00:08:15.040lifetime, a very, very different Texas emerging? Yeah, I mean, well, you're correct. And I think
00:08:21.900the thing that is really most apparent when I travel the state and I'm talking to voters
00:08:27.600um this is texas is a wonderful place it has amazing people we you know we're actually a very
00:08:33.800diverse state in a lot of ways and and that in and of itself is not a bad thing i think i think
00:08:38.960most people i talk to you know it's it's never been about race you know the left always wants
00:08:44.700to make any kind of discussion like this about race it has nothing to do with race it really
00:08:48.280has more to do with culture and what is going to benefit our culture and be additive to our culture
00:08:52.140versus what's going to, you know, work from within to destroy our culture.
00:08:57.120And so, you know, when I was Tarrant County chair,1.00
00:09:00.080I started talking about the threat of Islam, for instance.0.99
00:09:03.660And, I mean, Republicans even were very, of course,
00:09:06.400the left called me racist for even daring to speak about that.
00:09:09.420But even a lot of Republicans were very nervous about that.
00:09:13.000And, you know, I have some experience in the Middle East,
00:09:16.100you know, through my business experience.0.99
00:09:18.400And so I felt like I was in a good position to talk about these things and understand the threat as it really is.
00:09:26.180And golly, you would have thought that, you know, I just said something really inappropriate.
00:09:31.540And it just was amazing, the response.
00:09:37.220But and that's just one component of it.
00:09:39.560I think, you know, again, Texas is very open and welcoming.
00:09:43.020We've welcomed people from all over the country, from all over the world.
00:09:45.680And but that's not the issue if they were just a really tiny, you know, tiny group of people who, you know, loved being in Texas and wanted to like join this miracle that we have here in Texas.
00:09:59.340But we have suddenly entire enclaves, whole neighborhoods, whole cities in places where it's not very Texan at all, not even American at all.
00:10:11.080And I mean, that's concerning. I think that, you know, these people, as we've seen in other states and in Michigan or or Minnesota or places like that, where, you know, they end up using their concentration to start electing people to city councils, start electing people to school boards, you know, Congress with the intent of fighting against the things that make America great.
00:10:37.180And as an as an America first, you know, unapologetically so, you know, warrior, really, I would say that it's worth defending what we have here.
00:10:48.080And I think it's just it's good to have a real conversation about what is the appropriate level of immigration?
00:10:55.060What's the appropriate level of assimilation and how should we go about that?
00:10:59.760You know, a lot of credit to Donald Trump.
00:11:01.660I mean, he really started this conversation a decade ago and, you know, they still just can't get out of their way, calling them, you know, calling him racist and all those things.
00:11:10.020And anybody who, you know, is MAGA or America First, they just automatically assume that you're some kind of a racist.
00:11:17.460And the people that I know, the people that I hang around are the least racist people on the planet, the most welcoming.
00:11:23.000But it's it's it's more about, you know, our people and our nation and our culture and what is it going to take to preserve what we know is the is the greatest culture with with the greatest history on Earth.
00:11:34.860yeah obviously texas is a state that was you know impacted like many border states by
00:11:43.560illegal immigration uh we all remember uh kind of the showdown uh with uh was eagle pass and uh you
00:11:51.140know the the barbed wire and you know the biden administration basically trying to force uh you
00:11:56.580know the state to allow illegals in obviously with donald trump's shutdown of the southern border
00:12:03.500much of that pressure can be alleviated, but you still face a large amount of legal immigration
00:12:10.040that can transform the state. As you're saying, people forget that even Pat Buchanan said that
00:12:17.280you could take most individuals and turn them into Americans. You could take an individual
00:12:22.620from anywhere and turn them into an American, but it's the size. It's the number of people
00:12:27.820coming in that makes the huge difference. When you have a large number of foreigners come in,1.00
00:12:33.040especially when they have something like Islam, which is an inherently politically organizing1.00
00:12:38.140kind of vector there, then you're going to see the enclaves, you're going to see them act very
00:12:43.880politically. We're watching what's happening in France right now. And it's hard not to notice
00:12:48.100that obviously a lot of this is driven by Muslim immigration into France, where they act as a,0.97
00:12:54.740you know, voting bloc, as a political force, street rioters, all of these different things0.59
00:12:59.000simultaneously now france is a country that went really hard in on the civic nationalism thing
00:13:04.420right like they went for a lot of assimilation saying you know everyone can be french ultimately
00:13:10.800you're gonna they even tried to ban public displays of religion so there could be this
00:13:15.580kind of secular utopia background that was going to bind everybody together and yet you know for
00:13:21.480all of the different ways in which france tried to uh try to assimilate these people and make them
00:13:27.200French and, you know, kind of give them this blanket identity. They didn't want it. They've
00:13:32.100continued to organize. They've continued to stay in kind of these ghetto communities. They've0.91
00:13:37.640created a scenario where they are other and apart from the French. And, you know, when things like0.98
00:13:43.640these riots boil over, it becomes very clear that that tension is going to continue. And I think
00:13:48.760there's nothing wrong. You know, there's no there's no reason to apologize for caring about
00:13:54.520how that could impact a state like texas knowing that ultimately allowing a group of any people
00:14:00.780who are not american to form enclaves to form separate communities to try to be exclusionary
00:14:06.700to the people of texas and ultimately to not in any way assimilate into the you know the framework
00:14:13.220of texas but ultimately try to create their own political voting block their own uh kind of
00:14:18.980section off from the larger community, that's going to be deleterious no matter who it is.1.00
00:14:24.620And obviously, with Islam, I think it becomes even more of something that you have to watch1.00
00:14:44.920I mean, just just in the Biden administration alone, 20 million illegal aliens crossed our border and vast majority of those were through Texas.
00:14:53.140So, you know, the Texans really felt the brunt of that during the Biden administration, just overwhelming, you know, the communities along the border, which is why I think, by the way, the border area, which was sort of historically Democrat, voted for Donald Trump in 2024 because they were just praying that he would come in and save them from this, you know, mass invasion that was overwhelming their resources down there.
00:15:16.680And I think that's going to carry over to this election.
00:15:20.300We're working hard to make sure that happens.
00:15:22.760But listen, I think that, you know, when you talk about these cultural issues and just the sheer number of people who who are in the country.
00:15:31.300Yeah, you're right. Individuals can can assimilate very easily.
00:15:34.820And I think, you know, like I have friends from all over the world, from lots of different countries right here in Texas.
00:15:40.500You know, we all get along great. And, you know, it's never been an issue about the individual.
00:15:47.140But it is, I think, the question that is concerning to people, it's the sheer numbers.
00:15:51.460And don't even get me started on just the amount of fraud and waste that has gone to fund these people and, you know, on welfare and all through all the government assistance programs, you know, where, you know, in some of these groups, it's like 80 percent are, you know, net takers from the government.
00:16:07.100I did some work when I was Tarrant County Chair. We looked at some of the funding that was coming through HHS under the Biden administration, going to these various NGOs, and it was billions and billions of dollars, our taxpayer dollars, going to directly fund everything for these illegal aliens, from housing to food to attorneys to transportation, monthly stipends.
00:16:34.420I mean, they were just literally giving cash from the U.S. taxpayer to these people who were in our country.
00:16:40.940And I mean, what what motivation does someone like that have to assimilate when they're just getting free money from that, you know, free money from the government, from the U.S. taxpayer?
00:16:49.500So I think there's you know, there's lots of facets to the problems that these things cause.
00:16:54.860I mean, there's the crime. There's the overburdening of our hospital system, our health care networks, overburdening of our public school system.
00:17:01.420I mean, you talk about, you know, people are furious about, you know, the quality of education that people are getting in their public schools.
00:17:07.760And I think there's lots of reasons why that is. But one of them certainly has to be when you have school districts.
00:17:13.560I know we do here in Texas where 40 percent of the of the students are are foreigners and don't speak any English at all.1.00
00:17:20.540Well, it's very difficult to teach, you know, your native population when you're having to accommodate all of these foreigners who don't know your customs, don't know your language.1.00
00:17:28.880And so there's a whole bunch of different things that this touches.1.00
00:17:33.580Yeah, I mean, I know this personally as having been a public high school teacher not that long ago, and especially in my area of Florida, where we, of course, you only have Hispanic students, but we also have a Haitian Creole that needs to be spoken.
00:17:47.420We even have Vietnamese students. And all of a sudden you have a scenario where you have to stop the entire classroom so you can translate everything into five different languages.
00:17:57.300You have a Tower of Babel situation. Of course, you're not going to be able to deliver a as good of a education to the entire class.
00:18:05.500So these are things that touch in every area. And again, you know, it's the illegal immigration, but it's also the legal immigration.
00:18:11.800My colleague, Sarah Gonzalez, has done great work going around and exposing the number of H-1B kind of scams that are happening in the state of Texas around her.
00:18:23.080how many places are just running these sham operations in order to abuse the H-1B system.
00:18:30.320This does not benefit anyone. It doesn't benefit America. It certainly doesn't benefit the Texas
00:18:34.340worker. And so I think that there is just a scenario where people have to stop being scared
00:18:39.300to talk about this issue that ultimately, as you say, it's not about hate. It's not about menace.
00:18:44.220It's about caring about law and order. It's about caring about your fellow Texans, your fellow
00:18:48.280americans and the way that this fraud the abuse the scams you know all of this ultimately impacts
00:18:53.880them the crime these are not things that it's okay to ignore now interestingly texas does
00:19:00.200obviously face the same problem that many american states do when it comes to immigration and the
00:19:05.620transformation there but it also has an interesting uh tension when it comes to migration inside uh
00:19:12.340the country uh so texas much like florida and tennessee has experienced a lot of migration
00:19:18.180into the state due to kind of just the insane nature of the left blue states are a disaster
00:19:23.540they're expensive they're dangerous they're poorly run they're dirty people don't want to
00:19:27.800live there anymore they're getting taxed into the ground and so they move away but at the same time
00:19:33.140you worry that those people might bring their politics to the state they're moving to i know
00:19:38.140here in florida we had the joke for a long time that you know the farther north you go the farther
00:19:43.620south you get because you know mid mid and uh and south florida are basically all transplants from
00:19:50.120new york and new jersey which had a very serious impact on our politics now texas has seen a lot
00:19:56.220of migration especially from california and really among a lot of the big tech people you're now
00:20:02.260seeing big tech wanting to move a lot of their operations into texas because they're tired of
00:20:07.480dealing with the regulations in California, the culture, the taxes, everything else.
00:20:13.500But what does that look like for Texas?
00:20:16.520Obviously, you want to encourage revenue.
00:20:18.780You want to encourage businesses to come in and work hard in Texas and spread around those benefits, bring those jobs.
00:20:26.460But what does that mean for the politics and the culture of Texas?
00:20:33.300Well, a couple of things I'd say about that.
00:20:35.280first, if you look just pre-2020, a lot of the people who moved here from California did in
00:20:39.860fact bring their politics with them, which was shocking because they were coming here for lower
00:20:43.640taxes and lower regulation. And they're like, oh, we're going to just vote for the same things that
00:20:47.280we had in California. So that was super frustrating. And I think there was a lot of
00:20:50.740hesitation among Texans with all these Californians coming in. But 2020, you know,
00:20:57.440the year of COVID and the George Floyd riots, really, I think, was really kind of a clarifying
00:21:02.760moment for people. And so the people who came to Texas after that from California, and I know that
00:21:08.760because we polled this, are much more conservative and really have embraced, I think, what it means
00:21:15.240to be Texan and the miracle that we have here. The good news is that most of the, the good news
00:21:22.620for Texas, I should say, is most of the tech people have really sort of concentrated around
00:21:27.620Austin, which was already, you know, the most liberal place in the state. And the joke in
00:21:34.040Texas is that Austin has the distinction of being surrounded by Texas. So a lot of the tech people
00:21:40.160have moved to Austin. But, you know, look, there's a lot of right-leaning tech people now. I know
00:21:45.580I've been down there. I've talked to them a lot. You know, Elon has obviously, you know, moved his
00:21:50.420operations there and lots of people in his orbit. So there's a lot of hope. I think, you know,
00:21:56.020I'm not not everybody is going to be, you know, agree with me, for instance, on on every position that I have or every belief that I have, you know, especially when it comes to things like faith.
00:22:05.540But but but I am encouraged. I would rather have a right leaning, you know, America first tech bro than a, you know, purple haired, you know, wide eyed liberal, you know, just Marxist.
00:22:18.420So I think that I think there are good things happening. Some of the migration has been a positive for Texas.
00:22:24.640But I think it's incumbent on us Texans to really lead the way and show the people who are moving here what a great state can be like.
00:22:35.780And I think that we're about to make some really good progress in that with this election.
00:22:40.340We've had a lot of turnover kind of on the statewide ballot through the primary process.
00:22:45.420We have the most conservative, you know, MAGA, America First type slate of Republicans on the ballot.
00:22:53.920And the contrast with that, the Democrats have the most radical left wing group of people they've ever nominated.
00:23:02.140So I think that, you know, people are really seeing like what the what the two visions are, the right versus left and how different they really are.
00:23:09.100And I think that's going to bear out in this election.
00:23:11.040And I think ultimately, you know, we're going to win and show that that doesn't work here in Texas.
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00:23:29.500What do you think it says that the Democrats, after all of the discussions on woke and the insanity and the backlash and everything else that they faced in that,
00:23:40.040what does it say to you that they have someone like Tallarico running in this moment?
00:23:45.420I mean, it's interesting because in some ways he would seem like a response to wokeness.
00:23:50.660You know, they're actually running a white guy, you know, which is something that the Democrats have increasingly seem very hesitant to do.
00:23:59.200So maybe you could see that as some form of correction.0.73
00:24:01.960But Talrico seems to be pretty radically progressive, embracing the idea of trans kids and all of these things that are quite disgusting and have really, again, impacted the favorability of Democrats across the country.0.88
00:24:17.620But they seem to be willing to embrace a candidate who does that and, I think, even more disturbingly, tries to dress it up in Christian language.
00:24:27.020You know, I really, I find it deeply insulting when a man like Tallarico, who obviously does not care what the Bible says on many, many issues,
00:24:36.520of which he is publicly running for positions that are directly hostile to Christianity,
00:24:41.660but then tries to somehow dress this up as Christian love, as what Jesus would do.
00:24:46.620It just seems like a crazy decision by Texas or Texas Democrats ultimately to kind of reach for a candidate like that in this moment.
00:24:57.220Yeah, I mean, it's it's totally absurd.
00:25:00.040And, you know, a lot of people want to compare him to the Beto O'Rourke phenomenon in 2018 when he came fairly close, you know, a close election with with Ted Cruz.
00:25:10.200But what I like to say about Tallarico is he's similar to Beto O'Rourke, but he has, you know, half as much charisma and twice as much beta.
00:25:21.000So I think that, you know, Texans are going to reject him.
00:25:25.900And you're right, it's so offensive the way that he tries to twist scripture to advance his radical narrative.
00:25:33.380So everybody I've talked to in Texas, I haven't met a single person who's, you know, the narrative
00:25:40.580is that Republicans are, you know, demoralized and so therefore they're going to vote Democrat.
00:26:50.620And I think Democrats kind of feel this, you know, just view the world the same way.
00:26:54.020It's like, well, you know, we weren't radical enough, so we have to be more radical.
00:26:58.000And that's the way we're going to win. And so it seems like that is the way they keep going.
00:27:02.580Yeah, that at a state like Texas, that's maybe you could see that in California and New York or something.
00:27:08.080But it does seem like an absolutely bizarre strategy to adopt in this moment where, you know, again, it's just so much of that has been rejected.
00:27:17.860But let me ask you this. You've obviously been campaigning. You've been talking to average Texans.
00:27:23.840what do you feel like in this election is the most critical issue? A lot of people are
00:27:29.100talking about things like affordability or talking about gas prices, that kind of thing.
00:27:34.820But obviously, I think that state races change quite a bit here. Obviously, the national zeitgeist
00:27:40.920is not the same as the particular issues that are impacting the constituents in Texas, the voters
00:27:45.840there. So what are you hearing as kind of the dominant issues that people are thinking about
00:27:50.220going into these midterm elections in Texas? Yeah, yeah, it's a couple of things. I mean,
00:27:53.940you touched on it with affordability. I mean, that's certainly something that people think
00:27:58.000about. And of course, a lot of these cultural issues we talked about in the immigration issues
00:28:02.520we've talked about affect the affordability of things, as we've discussed. So that's certainly
00:28:07.320one. You know, my position in particular that I'm running for, you know, does have an effect on,
00:28:12.700you know, your prices at the pump and energy prices in general. So that's been kind of a hot
00:28:17.180topic in my campaign. But, you know, really, I think in traveling around Texas, a lot of people,
00:28:25.060especially young people, just recognize that so much of the system has kind of been stacked
00:28:31.020against them. Just, you know, whether or not it's, you know, Republicans just haven't focused on this
00:28:37.420enough or they've just conceded things to the Democrats or whatever it is. But really, I think
00:28:41.860there's just a hunger and, you know, credit to Donald Trump for really starting this. But there's
00:28:46.120just a hunger for people who want to push for common sense ideals. Remember when Donald Trump
00:28:52.180ran in 2016, the first time, people, you know, were unsure about whether or not he was going to
00:28:57.120be very conservative or very liberal. You know, he didn't really have a political background in
00:29:01.540New York. He was just seen as a business guy, very successful business guy. But, you know,
00:29:07.360there was a lot of questions about what he was going to do. And I would argue he actually hasn't
00:29:12.020been, you know, uber conservative. He's just, he's just, you know, stayed right in the lane of the
00:29:17.52080-20 issue, right? He's on the 80% side on every single issue. And it's only the most radical,
00:29:23.520you know, 20% who seem opposed to him. And I think that's the thing here in Texas, really,
00:29:27.720the focus is, are we going to protect the Texas miracle? It's really sort of a common sense versus
00:29:34.640crazy campaign. I mean, the Democrats are just, you know, totally insane on the issues that they0.93
00:29:40.360talk about or that they have voted on. They actually have a record. And then the things0.85
00:29:45.940that the national Democrats say that they want to do if they take control of Congress and then if
00:29:50.440they win in 28, I mean, it's just they tell you what they're going to do to us. And I think most
00:29:55.200people just understand that, no, we need we need common sense. We need people who are going to push
00:29:58.560ideas that are popular with 80 percent of the people. And we're going to fight for those things
00:30:03.420because that's what's good for America. That's what's good for Texans. And so really, that's
00:30:07.300what this election boils down to. I've noticed that you are willing to message specifically
00:30:15.640to young men. You've encouraged or spoke to young men when you're on your social media,
00:30:23.740when you're talking about issues. That's something that we just don't see a lot of
00:30:28.120from many politicians, but especially Republican politicians. The Democrats will talk to their
00:30:36.200youth base at some point, but Republicans almost never do. Part of that is, of course, the fact
00:30:41.760that simply older people tend to vote more, that they're more active. That's where a lot of the
00:30:47.320votes come from. And so it's very obvious why that would often get a lot of attention.
00:30:52.420But I think another part of it is that we just see a denigration of young men, sadly, even often
00:30:59.900on the right. They're not really addressed as a group that anyone wants to fight for or talk to
00:31:06.620whose issues that ultimately politicians want to reach out and address. And so I just wonder if
00:31:13.180you could talk a little bit about why you think we don't hear very often from many conservatives
00:31:19.380about kind of how they are working for young men or why they should fight for the support of young
00:31:25.140men and why you have taken the time to actually do so? Yeah, I actually get this question a lot.
00:31:31.500And it's really so I'm I'm Gen X. I'm 56 years old, you know, just just under a boomer. I'm not
00:31:37.900a boomer, you know, for those of you doing math. But I think that really is people my age and older,
00:31:44.300we we still believe that the country is the country that we had in the 70s and 80s and 90s.
00:31:50.820And so that is our experience. And so it's hard to, I think, for the average person who's just not very political or doesn't pay attention, they're just focused on their family or they're focused on their business or they're involved in their church or whatever it is.
00:32:03.700you know, they have things that are more important to them in their daily lives than
00:32:08.160really focusing on these bigger picture sort of cultural issues in America. And so they just
00:32:14.520think that the system still is the same as it was in the 70s or 80s when they were first getting
00:32:19.780married and, you know, first buying their first home. And, you know, things are just very different
00:32:25.220now. And, you know, I also, I give Charlie Kirk a lot of credit. I had the benefit of meeting
00:32:32.280Charlie Kirk about 10 or 12 years ago when he was, you know, just kind of a up and coming young guy
00:32:37.980that not many people had heard of yet. And so I really, uh, tracked his, his messaging and how
00:32:44.360he was able to reach such a large audience of young people. And, um, you know, even people
00:32:50.260that I didn't even imagine. So I have, I have four young kids. I think a lot about what is this
00:32:54.640country going to look like? What, what opportunities are they going to have? Um, when they, I say
00:32:59.240they're young. I have two in high school, two in middle school. So they're getting to that point,
00:33:03.000you know, where we're going to have to start thinking about, you know, where they're going
00:33:05.540to go to college and what they're going to do after college and those things. And I just want
00:33:08.620to make sure that they have the same kind of opportunities I had, you know, when I was going
00:33:12.760to college in the 1980s. And, you know, it's just, I think it's thinking through things and issues
00:33:20.500from that perspective allows you this opportunity to really just look around and analyze these
00:33:27.300things. And of course, you know, I have a lot of great patriots I'm friends with and talk to
00:33:31.240regularly. So, I mean, there's, there's a lot of, a lot of discourse, you know, credit to Elon Musk.
00:33:36.600He's opened up now X, used to be Twitter and, and allowed these conversations to really continue
00:33:43.200out in the public square, which I think has been a good and healthy thing. And, you know, there's,
00:33:47.160there's a lot of disagreement from, you know, all the different factions of, of our side. And I
00:33:52.640think that's a good and healthy thing. I think the debate is good. And I think that, you know,
00:33:57.820ultimately, it's going to just, you know, provide opportunities for people to really assess where
00:34:05.000we are as a country and what we're offering to our children. And so that's what I take with me
00:34:11.000when I go around and I talk to these young groups. I just this weekend, I just spoke at the Young
00:34:17.340Republicans of Texas annual convention. Shout out to those guys. Super patriots. Very motivated
00:34:22.880to save this country. I think that this group of people, by the way, I think they're going to be
00:34:27.560more conservative than my generation. And really, it's just they seem to be on fire for their faith,
00:34:35.220for their culture, for America. Here in Texas, they're on fire. And I just I'm super encouraged
00:34:40.400by what I see among them. And so I think, look, they will be the next leaders, right? I mean,
00:34:45.620that we have to view them as they are the up and coming leaders at some point in time.
00:34:50.040And, you know, they're very motivated to have a country that that they can thrive in.
00:34:55.760And I think that politicians in general just kind of miss that opportunity.
00:35:00.120I think the left does this to an extent in a very different way.
00:35:03.580You know, they they offer free stuff, thinking that's going to get all these people on board.
00:35:07.220And obviously that's been very effective. But, you know, the right needs to do a better job of what are what are we offering?
00:35:12.920And that doesn't mean freebies. It means what what pathways, what opportunities are we offering to young people so that they can thrive and have all of the same advantages that we have?
00:35:22.140Yeah, that's such a great point, because I think this is something that a lot of conservatives who seem to get really hostile towards young men miss.
00:35:32.160They think that because young men are complaining, they must want something. Yeah, they must want a handout. They must want a welfare benefit. They must want some kind of check.
00:35:42.920But from what I've seen, the vast majority of young men are simply asking for opportunity.
00:35:51.720They want the restrictions to be taken off.
00:35:54.400They want a fair playing field where their ability, their effort, the things that built
00:36:01.560the United States, built a state like Texas, can be allowed to thrive and be rewarded,
00:36:06.260where they're not being asked to carry the weight of a lot of people who are themselves
00:36:10.520sitting on welfare, where they're not asked to pay for everyone else's retirement, where
00:36:14.880they're not told that they're not allowed to go to that college or get that job because0.69
00:36:19.900we don't want to hire white men because they've got some kind of problem.0.64
00:36:26.860And so they're just looking to actually be able to build, to grow.0.90
00:36:30.680They're not looking for something from the government.
00:36:33.440They're looking for the government to get off their backs.
00:36:35.540And for some reason, a lot of conservatives confuse that and think that that means that
00:36:39.780they're demanding some kind of affirmative action, but for young men, it's just not the case.
00:36:47.080Now, another issue that has been, I think, interesting on the edges of the discussion
00:36:53.540for the midterms here has been that of data centers. And because the office you're running
00:36:59.880through does have a connection to power and the production of power in the United States,
00:37:05.740I'm interested in your thoughts because obviously I think a lot of the stuff that people throw at
00:37:11.100data centers is overblown. We have to hear about, you know, oh, they're going to suck up all your
00:37:15.340water and pollute all your water. There seems to be very little, you know, evidence for that kind
00:37:20.420of thing. However, what we do know is that data centers consume a lot of power, an amazing amount
00:37:26.980of power. Now, whether that's worth it or not for what they produce, that's another debate, but it's
00:37:31.360hard to argue that they don't consume a large amount of power and they're always consuming it
00:37:36.340in a way that you know demand doesn't work when we're talking about the average household they're
00:37:41.000turning the tv on they're turning the tv off you know maybe there's an extra load in the summer
00:37:45.040when it comes to air conditioning uh but when it comes to data centers there's this constant
00:37:49.580endless demand for electricity and so a lot of people are concerned that data centers are going
00:37:54.760to blow up their electric bill. They're going to put a strain on our energy infrastructure
00:38:01.700with their demand. We have cases where we hear of power plants that are simply stopped servicing
00:38:07.320the areas they were originally constructed to serve because now there's a data center that
00:38:13.300can buy that power at a higher rate and will do it constantly. So I guess personally, I would think
00:38:21.120that data centers need to start, you know, contributing to the completion of more electrical
00:38:26.960grid, the ability to have more power. But I don't know, how do you kind of respond to
00:38:32.120the concerns people have when it comes to data centers and the energy industry in the United
00:38:37.420States? Yeah, well, first of all, the opinions in Texas are as diverse as the state itself. I mean,
00:38:43.380Texas is almost a thousand miles across. And really, depending on where you are, there's,
00:38:48.240you know, very passionate arguments for or against the idea of data centers and all that
00:38:54.520comes with that. You know, I think that, you know, asking questions about how they're going
00:38:59.800to do things is appropriate. I think, you know, slow playing it is appropriate. I think Governor
00:39:04.580Abbott, I give him a lot of credit. He's actually, you know, kind of set the criteria for which,
00:39:11.220you know, these projects are going to be analyzed and reviewed and, you know, before they're
00:39:15.600approved. And I think that's that's that's the right approach. But also, I've talked to lots of
00:39:20.980people who are in the power generation business. And, you know, a lot of these companies are
00:39:27.580talking about, you know, building their own power and building it so that it actually produces more
00:39:34.560power than they need. And that excess power can then get routed back into the grid. So it's going
00:39:41.280to be, you know, in that scenario, that would clearly be a net benefit to people who are buying
00:39:46.500electricity. I talked to one group who they were talking about, you know, building this power
00:39:51.720infrastructure in such a way that they'd be able to provide free electricity for everyone in the
00:39:57.560county. And I think, you know, if you start doing things like that, people are going to, people are,
00:40:01.860I'm guessing, going to change their tune about whether or not they're for or against, you know,
00:40:05.680data centers if these companies are coming in and suddenly they have no more electric bills.
00:40:10.260So I think there's, look, with any time there's a change in technology or innovation like this, there's always questions that need to be answered.
00:40:18.520There's always safeguards that need to be put in place.
00:40:20.940I think these are things that we can do.
00:40:22.400Look, right here, close to DFW, you know, just in a county over the weekend where they are, I think there's like nine data centers that they're trying to build in that county.
00:40:30.620And the county is passionately against building any of them.
00:40:34.300But I've also just been out in West Texas the other day in a county where they're, you know, building a huge data center.
00:40:41.200And it seems like everybody in that county is super fired up about it because of all the benefits it's going to bring that particular county.
00:40:47.000So, you know, Texas has 254 counties. They're all very different.
00:40:51.840And I think that, again, just, you know, some places are going to want it and it's going to make more sense.
00:40:56.880Some places are not going to want it and that's going to make sense for that community.
00:40:59.880And so I think that, you know, time will tell exactly how this plays out. But, you know, specific to the energy, I think the water issue is, you know, that's an easy one. I think most of these data centers now are using this. What is it? The closed loop system that uses less water than your swimming pool every year or something like that.
00:41:18.680And so I think that when we're talking about the water issue, the pollution issue is one that people are worried about, the noise pollution, you know, that's another part of it that people are concerned about.
00:41:30.860But I think probably the biggest is the energy.
00:41:33.680You know, our grid in Texas, something like, you know, between 80 and 90 gigawatts of power.
00:41:40.800and I think just the proposed data centers and expansion of demand in Texas looks at something
00:41:49.840like 400 gigawatts. So, I mean, we're talking a massive expansion in the amount of electricity
00:41:55.060that would be needed. And again, if data centers are going to pay for all that and make it where
00:42:00.660electricity costs are lower for the citizens of Texas, I think a lot of people are going to warm
00:42:06.620up to the idea of data centers. So we'll see. We have a lot of work to do. A lot of, you know,
00:42:11.920trillions of dollars will need to be invested to make that make sense. I know that I was talking
00:42:18.040to one group. They talked about just building, you know, 100 additional gigawatts of power in Texas
00:42:22.800would cost, you know, in the neighborhood of one to two trillion dollars. Elon Musk is building
00:42:29.180TerraFab. He's powering that whole, you know, the biggest plant in the world, 100 million square
00:42:34.860feet. He's powering that, my understanding is with a giant natural gas power plant. And so I think
00:42:42.300that, look, we have lots of natural gas here in Texas. Some of it, you know, we can't even capture
00:42:46.920and use all of it. So we might as well turn that into electricity that can benefit, you know, a
00:42:52.440variety of industries and the consumers. I think that's right. I mean, ultimately, as you say,
00:42:57.160slowing things down, making sure you have time for communities to think this through, think through
00:43:02.020the impact negotiate you know the insulting thing early on from a lot of the pro ai crowd1.00
00:43:07.320was well you know you're just stupid and backward and like funded by china if you have any questions0.99
00:43:13.680about you know these these data centers and that's just a terrible approach it's a terrible pr1.00
00:43:18.800approach stop telling people to shut up and that they're dumb or that you know and and actually0.85
00:43:23.200listen to their concerns take the time to hear what the community is saying and as you're pointing0.91
00:43:27.560out and i think this is the critical piece do something positive for the community you know
00:43:31.760deliver a benefit show people that them getting a data center means something in you know in their
00:43:37.820favor when you do this you know when we build a business in an area it's going to have a positive
00:43:44.420impact for a lot of people they can immediately see the service that it's providing the data
00:43:48.760center is providing compute for people all across the country or maybe even the world so the impact
00:43:53.960is local but the benefits are global and that's a lot of problem for people they can't sync up
00:43:59.780What's happening? What am I giving up versus what am I getting? And they can't really see the benefits. So you need as a data center builder to provide a tangible benefit. Something like reducing electricity costs is something that everyone can appreciate and agree with. So I think you're right that ultimately slowing down and thinking about how these things benefit community is going to be very helpful for the people who want to go ahead and build those.
00:44:21.900But that said, Mr. French, we have a few questions from the people.
00:44:27.660But before I get to those, has early voting started in Texas?
00:44:39.300Very happy to have voted for every single Republican on our ballot here in Texas.
00:44:45.020Yeah, we have two weeks of early voting in Texas.
00:44:47.280And then Election Day, of course, is November 3rd.
00:44:49.580But yeah, we just need to look. There are more Republicans in Texas than Democrats. If our people ignore the polls, I don't I don't believe the polls. If our people go to the polls and vote, we win. And that's how we can protect Texas. It's how we can save America.
00:45:04.480all right guys if you are in texas go vote for beau french let's check out some questions here
00:45:12.640real quick uh mani youd says uh there are an estimated 4.5 to 5.5 million muslims living in
00:45:18.520the united states making up roughly 1.3 to 1.6 percent of the total population according to data
00:45:24.380from islamic uh from islam in the united states he follows up by saying i think given the current
00:45:30.280circumstances it'd be prudent to remind people that camp of the states is available in auto
00:45:34.300book format for now yeah i think again it's very reasonable for people to you know think to see
00:45:41.160the impact of islamic immigration on europe and many other places and say to themselves
00:45:45.680again just like the data centers it's okay to slow down and ask is this good for us is this0.96
00:45:51.780good for the state is it good for the country there's nothing there's nothing wrong with taking
00:45:55.940a moment and actually think about whether a process benefits the people it's happening to.
00:46:01.300You are actually not required to just immediately jump feet first into whatever the current issue
00:46:08.060is. You are allowed to actually slow down and consider the possible results. Yeah. I mean,
00:46:13.580you know, the 1% thing I would just say to say this is a kind of a counter to that. That's an0.95
00:46:18.340argument you hear. Oh, they're only 1%. Well, go ask the people in Hamtrak, Michigan. Go ask the
00:46:22.720people in in minnesota uh they're more than one percent there so they're they're concentrating in
00:46:29.020certain areas that you know the fact that they're only one percent of our population is irrelevant
00:46:32.560it's where are they concentrating where are they building political power where are they changing
00:46:36.740the culture in those communities and and is that a foothold for them to expand what they are doing
00:46:42.640and it's not my opinion what they're doing they tell you what they're doing just go on social
00:46:46.780media and listen to any imam and listen to what he says he wants to do to america i don't think
00:46:51.640most people want that in America. I would absolutely agree. Philosophical Thirstworm
00:46:58.120says, I'm about to vote down ballot Republican, but I'm honestly not happy about it. I live in
00:47:04.020North Austin suburbs and Abbott has made this place a nightmare. Well, like I said, I think that
00:47:11.160you're in a scenario where, you know, Democrats are going to be worse, right? So you, as you say
00:47:16.640there. You are voting the whole ballot Republican either way. But it's reasonable to ask for more
00:47:23.600from your Republican politicians. And that's why you need to be voicing those concerns. That's why
00:47:28.600you need to be getting involved in the Republican Party in that area. You need to make sure that
00:47:33.880it's not that they are hearing the concerns that you have and that it's something you're not just
00:47:39.340waiting to punish people on the voting day for, on election day for. You do actually need to
00:47:46.060participate in the process up to that point. So if you have primaries or other things where you
00:47:50.540can sway the direction of where the party's going, or you can air your concerns, you have that
00:47:54.820opportunity and you need to avail yourself of it. Yeah, listen, I'm all for robust primaries.
00:48:00.220I think those are good and healthy for the party, but that is where we have the fight.
00:48:04.060Okay. Once we have established who the starting lineup is for November,
00:48:08.020you've got to support the team. Can you imagine, you know, if you're, if the guy you wanted to be
00:48:12.080starting quarterback of whatever NFL team didn't get the job and someone else did, you're just not
00:48:17.980going to support the team because your quarterback that you preferred didn't get the position? I mean,
00:48:23.360no, you still support the team because the alternative is losing. And you don't win by
00:48:28.620losing. You win by winning. And so we have to live to fight another day, even if it's not your
00:48:33.680perfect candidate. Look, I don't think I've ever had an election where every single person I
00:48:38.680supported in the primary won and was therefore on the ballot in November. Every election of my life,
00:48:45.520I have voted for people in November who I didn't support in the primary. But that's OK, because
00:48:51.140ultimately, if the other side wins, it's not just like, you know, the people who are like,
00:48:57.680oh, you're going to teach this person a lesson or this party a lesson. The problem is, is there are
00:49:02.860bigger themes at play here. Any Democrat who wins suddenly now has the ability to raise more money
00:49:09.340and build more power, making future elections even more difficult to defeat them. So we can't
00:49:15.640give up. We can't surrender at all in any battle because ultimately we will lose the war. And I
00:49:23.300don't know about you, but I want to win the war. Guys, we're running up into a hard out with Mr.
00:49:29.040French here, so I'm going to finish up the