The Culture War - Tim Pool - Democrats SABOTAGE Texas REDISTRICTING, May Be CHARGED ft. Tony Ortiz

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00:00:58.420 They say it every year, like, oh, the signs are everywhere, the lines are out the door.

00:01:02.080 It doesn't matter.

00:01:03.040 Texas is huge.

00:01:04.160 Texas is bigger than most countries.

00:01:05.940 Right.

00:01:06.020 So it doesn't really matter if there's a bunch of signs or a bunch of lines in a city for a guy.

00:01:11.100 It doesn't really reflect the entire voting base of Texas.

00:01:13.980 Texas is so ginormous that people often forget that the rural areas, the areas that these politicians don't go to,

00:01:21.980 have a massive influence on statewide elections.

00:01:25.780 Yeah, you probably noticed.

00:01:27.040 I'm not Tim Pool.

00:01:28.060 I don't have a beanie, so it kind of gives it away.

00:01:30.340 Thanks for tuning in to this hour.

00:01:32.520 I'm producer Tate, Tate Brown, holding it down.

00:01:34.980 So this is from the Post Millennial.

00:01:36.440 Greg Abbott threatens to remove Dem lawmakers from office if they don't show up for the redistricting vote.

00:01:40.700 A standoff is intensifying in Texas after more than 50 Democratic state lawmakers fled the state to block a vote on a redistricting proposal.

00:01:49.040 Republican Governor Greg Abbott warned late Sunday that he would pursue legal action to remove the lawmakers from office if they fail to return to Austin by Monday, August 4, 2025, to vote on the proposal.

00:01:59.380 Abbott's pressure follows a walkout by Democrats seeking to deny the Texas House a quorum, the minimum number of legislators required to conduct business.

00:02:07.040 By leaving the state, Democrats effectively froze all legislative activity during a special session set to expire later this month.

00:02:14.520 Their primary objective was to halt a GOP-drawn congressional map that could secure five additional U.S. House seats for Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

00:02:24.420 We obviously have the statement here from Greg Abbott.

00:02:27.860 At the end here, he discusses, in addition to abandoning their offices, these legislators may have also committed felonies.

00:02:34.800 Many absentee Democrats are soliciting funds to evade the fines that they will incur under House rules.

00:02:40.040 Greg Abbott's going in. He's not playing around.

00:02:42.640 We need to talk to Tony. We need to figure the situation out.

00:02:45.460 So, we've got Producer Andrew here. He's going to get Tony roped in here.

00:02:51.360 We're going to discuss this.

00:02:54.660 I think it's relieving to see some Republicans with backbone.

00:02:59.320 Greg Abbott, he's not playing around.

00:03:01.040 So, it's a fantastic thing.

00:03:02.320 So, hey, Tony, can you hear me?

00:03:04.300 Yes, I can.

00:03:05.100 Hey, dude, what's up? How's it going?

00:03:07.080 Doing well. How are you?

00:03:08.380 I'm doing well, man.

00:03:09.820 Yeah, so we're covering this Greg Abbott situation.

00:03:14.240 You know, this is big talk.

00:03:16.300 This is huge, right?

00:03:17.660 He wants to prosecute these Democrats.

00:03:19.960 He wants to nip this in the bud as quickly as possible.

00:03:22.380 I was referencing that they actually had a similar situation in 2021.

00:03:26.580 So, perhaps there was lessons learned.

00:03:28.260 I know there was legislation passed as well to prevent something like this from happening.

00:03:31.940 But what are you seeing?

00:03:32.960 I mean, do you think it's likely that Abbott does actually pursue charges against these Democrats?

00:03:39.180 Yeah, whether he pursues charges or not kind of doesn't matter.

00:03:42.340 It's whether or not that actually he has grounds to, like legal grounds to, right?

00:03:47.300 You know, Abbott's upset because of, and justifiably so, because Democrats have taken off.

00:03:51.320 They're doing a quorum bust, right?

00:03:54.040 And this is the third time they've done that.

00:03:55.960 They did this in, I believe, 2003 when we did redistricting then.

00:03:59.760 They took off.

00:04:00.720 It failed.

00:04:01.560 We passed redistricting anyway.

00:04:03.540 I believe in 2020 they did it again.

00:04:06.700 Sorry, 2021 they did it again when Texas was trying to pass stricter voter ID requirements.

00:04:13.340 Democrats, of course, called that racist because they believe minorities can't get driver's licenses for some reason.

00:04:18.020 And they took off again, and then that didn't work.

00:04:21.500 We passed it anyway.

00:04:22.760 So now here we are in 2025, and they're doing it again for redistricting, and it's likely going to pass anyway.

00:04:30.580 We've got laws in place that fine the representatives $500 per day.

00:04:35.160 And if I recall correctly, I don't think they can even use their campaign accounts.

00:04:39.420 I think it has to come from their personal funds.

00:04:41.820 And so Governor Abbott has now stated that he's going to consider their seats vacant.

00:04:49.180 And I think a lot of the legal behind that isn't necessarily the way he wants it to be.

00:04:55.700 So I don't see anything happening to them as far as them losing their seats, but they definitely are likely to pay some fines.

00:05:01.980 Yeah, yeah.

00:05:02.540 Well, I mean, so what is your relationship with Texas, obviously, for the viewers that maybe don't know you?

00:05:09.660 Who are you, and kind of what's your calling card?

00:05:13.800 Yeah, so I run currentrevolt.com.

00:05:15.880 We are a Texas-based online newsletter.

00:05:18.320 We cover just Texas politics.

00:05:20.260 And we've broken several big scandals that have made nationwide news quite a few times, even just recently.

00:05:26.760 So we're kind of like a National Enquirer or a TMZ of Texas politics covering, like, cheating affairs and other types of those similar type scandals across Texas and the politicians.

00:05:36.980 Yeah, I love that.

00:05:38.620 So we're seeing some of this language from these Texas reps, and they're saying Trump's the applying pressure.

00:05:44.860 Trump's the one applying pressure.

00:05:46.740 Is this something that Abbott's been thinking about doing for a while, or is there some truth to that, that Trump's really the one putting the pressure on Abbott?

00:05:54.700 There's probably some truth behind that, right?

00:05:56.980 Abbott's the, you know, Abbott and especially Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick are very close with Trump, Patrick especially.

00:06:03.480 And they want to be in his favor, right?

00:06:06.100 Maybe they're going for some cabinet positions.

00:06:08.120 You know, Abbott has long been rumored as wanting to run for president one day.

00:06:12.360 He's been governor for quite a long time.

00:06:14.420 And so it doesn't surprise me that they're just gearing up to kind of secure the elections going forward.

00:06:20.440 You know, Democrats do this all the time.

00:06:22.080 It's kind of ironic that our – the Democrat reps in Texas have taken off to two different states.

00:06:27.420 Some went to Illinois and some went to New York, which are some of the most gerrymandering districts in the United States.

00:06:33.140 So it's kind of ironic that they're upset about gerrymandering, but they're literally going to the Democrat states that are the worst for it.

00:06:40.300 And so Democrats have – and I think you know this – Democrats have done a really good job of when they get power, they execute on that power.

00:06:49.200 They do things.

00:06:49.880 They pass laws.

00:06:50.860 They bring down their Democrat hammer on stuff that they want, right?

00:06:54.840 And Republicans, traditionally, they win, and then they don't do anything.

00:06:58.140 They just kind of sit around.

00:06:59.280 And now we're seeing kind of a change in policy where Republicans in Texas have won, and now we're flexing our power to get better districts.

00:07:07.660 Yeah.

00:07:08.060 Yeah, we saw there was a rep in California who was, like, doing the whole my principal's routine where he was like, oh, we don't want to start a redistricting war.

00:07:16.880 That would be really mean.

00:07:18.100 And it's, like, the most Republican thing ever that we're actually finally starting to use our power and flex it.

00:07:24.860 And then these, like, hall monitors come along.

00:07:26.680 These self-appointed HR managers come along and say, guys, guys, hey, wait, wait a second.

00:07:31.960 Because, I mean, what's going to happen is that guy is going to lose his seat if Abbott pushes forward because in California they're going to redistrict and try and wipe out whatever Republican seats they haven't gerrymandered away yet.

00:07:42.120 Yeah, the funny thing about California, they're attempting – or they're threatening to redistrict.

00:07:46.520 But what's interesting about California is they have a – California's rules or elections for redistricting are based off an independent group and an independent redistricting system.

00:07:59.000 And so in order for – I think Gavin Newsom has threatened to redistrict California.

00:08:02.560 In order for him to do that and execute on that, not only will it – actually, it's going to require a special election that requires voter approval to modify the independent redistricting system.

00:08:14.360 So he's going to have to call an election.

00:08:16.440 People are going to have to vote for it and modify their existing rules.

00:08:20.740 And it's looking – people are estimating it's going to cost over $200 million just to do it.

00:08:25.580 Yeah.

00:08:25.940 Yeah, I'm kind of curious with the special election that's coming up.

00:08:28.780 I think they eyed September possibly for the election.

00:08:31.980 I'd be curious how radical Democrats in California are, if there actually is potential – or if there's potential for pushback on this.

00:08:40.660 Maybe they do want to keep their commission.

00:08:42.720 I'm not sure.

00:08:43.320 I'm not sure.

00:08:43.760 It's going to be a test of Gavin Newsom's effectiveness to be Democrat leaders if he can really stir up a good narrative for Democrats in California as to why they should get rid of this.

00:08:53.140 I don't – it's quite fascinating, like I kind of touched on earlier, to see this.

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00:09:56.760 This mentality from Republicans to get really nervous when we start winning a little too much.

00:10:04.440 You know, we're seeing this with that rep.

00:10:08.500 Trump's the one that's obviously led the charge of, you know, wiping those people out from the GOP.

00:10:14.220 What is it about Texas?

00:10:15.180 It seems like Texas does produce quite a good number of effective politicians.

00:10:20.800 What do you think it is about Texas that does?

00:10:22.520 Because you see this thing with these deep red states like South Carolina, they actually produce pretty horrible Republicans because I think they know it's such a safe seat that it doesn't really fire people up so they don't feel the need to run.

00:10:33.120 And then you see these like swing districts where like, you know, Republicans lose half the time and they produce these like rock star candidates.

00:10:41.320 What is it about Texas, though?

00:10:42.380 It does feel like there is a higher density of solid Republicans that come out of Texas.

00:10:47.400 Yeah, I think from the outside looking in, it does appear that way, right?

00:10:50.500 As someone who covers it day to day and literally the only thing we cover is Texas, there's a lot more nuance to it.

00:10:57.620 And obviously there's a lot more nitpicking that we can do, right?

00:11:00.660 Texas, for example, has only been Republican, I think, for like 30 or 40 years.

00:11:04.620 It used to be a Democrat state.

00:11:06.940 And as far as like things that we've gotten past, I mean, it was just, I think, two sessions ago that we got constitutional carry for handguns and for not or whatnot.

00:11:16.840 So, like, we're not as conservatives as we should be, right?

00:11:21.160 We're definitely better than most, but not as good as we should be.

00:11:25.040 You know, grassroots activists in Texas would cite that we have a lot of rhinos, right?

00:11:29.980 And that does seem to be a problem that we have a lot of like very soft, squishy Republicans.

00:11:34.120 But as you mentioned, Trump's kind of been at the top charging and leading the narrative to kind of bully and lead the charge on Republicans and conservatives being a little more active with what they're doing rather than sitting back and letting Democrats walk all over them.

00:11:48.060 Yeah, I mean, most people have said that Texas, and it's true, that Texas, it really is kind of the linchpin of this MAGA movement because, I mean, the amount of electoral seats that are at stake.

00:11:57.540 Like, obviously, there's a lot of concern from Texans of the state going blue with out-of-state migration.

00:12:02.960 I've pointed out previously that there is exit polling, for example, the Cruz versus Beto Senate race, where it actually looked like out-of-state voters voted Republican and native Texans voted Democrat.

00:12:13.740 I don't know.

00:12:14.180 Have you noticed some of these trends?

00:12:16.140 Have these, maybe these trends have changed since then?

00:12:18.220 I mean, what do you suspect would be the future of Texas?

00:12:21.120 Yeah, I'm so glad you mentioned that because so very few people know that polling.

00:12:24.560 It's 100% true that we found that, like, native Texans vote Democrat more than out-of-state.

00:12:31.140 We are seeing a trend of people that come here, and they are aware of the reasons why they come to Texas, and they start voting Republican, right?

00:12:39.860 So that is trending well.

00:12:42.460 The state is, as far as demographics goes, Hispanics are now, I think, the majority in Texas, and whites are now the minority, which is funny. 1.00

00:12:50.120 You've got to wonder if they're going to change, if whites will start to be able to capitalize on minority benefits and stuff.

00:12:56.840 That would be funny.

00:12:58.660 But it's really funny.

00:13:00.200 The narrative from Democrats is now like, oh, this redistricting, we can't do it because it's racist towards the Latinos and the blacks. 0.93

00:13:07.980 And it's very silly messaging because we're starting to – for them, because Latinos are starting to trend more towards Trump. 0.80

00:13:16.020 The Democrat base has lost the Hispanic vote.

00:13:20.100 And we can go into hours as to why they've done that.

00:13:23.020 But they basically just have white liberals and blacks left as far as a voting base.

00:13:28.380 Yeah, well, I mean, we saw the huge swing in the Rio Grande Valley just in the last – really just since the Trump era, in the Trump era.

00:13:38.500 There are some fears that when you pick off groups that were not previously Republican or were previously hardcore Democrat, that you do have to concede on some issues.

00:13:47.860 I think so people are a bit fearful that if you really push hard for the Hispanic vote, that you maybe have to lighten your messaging on immigration.

00:13:54.880 But if anything, Trump was the most anti-illegal immigration candidate probably in the modern era, I would say for sure in the modern era, and Hispanics turned out in huge numbers.

00:14:05.740 I mean, what kind of dynamics is the Texas GOP experimenting with, especially in the Rio Grande Valley?

00:14:11.720 Yeah, I think when it comes to Hispanics that can vote, so legal Hispanics, they are probably the most anti-immigration, probably more than white people, actually. 0.61

00:14:21.840 Kind of ironic.

00:14:22.620 I think the trend is like Hispanics come here. 0.98

00:14:26.880 They either – they're born here and they appreciate being here, the ones that can vote, right, or they work hard to get here and make a good life.

00:14:35.880 And so that the ones that just hop the border and skip the line and break the laws, they make them look bad, right, and they want them out of here.

00:14:42.940 They don't want them here.

00:14:43.840 I fall into that category. 0.98

00:14:45.220 I don't want – it's a – I'm a Hispanic, and it's a sense of embarrassment to see these Hispanics that hop over here and commit crimes or other sexual deviant acts on young children, and they make an embarrassment of them, of themselves and other people in the race. 1.00

00:15:03.180 And so, yeah, they want them out of here. 0.96

00:15:05.160 And I think that as far as concessions go in the Republican Party, you're not seeing too many, right?

00:15:11.640 We've still been really, really hard on immigration. 0.75

00:15:13.740 I haven't seen any concessions as far as to appeal to the Hispanic folk.

00:15:19.480 Yeah, yeah.

00:15:20.460 I mean I went to high school in San Antonio, and I've been known to throw back a puffy taco every once in a while, so I'd head down to the south side of San Antonio.

00:15:29.760 And you would be stunned to see some of the discussions you'd – or overhear some of the discussions at these restaurants regarding immigrants where I'm like, geez, I mean this would make Stephen Miller look like a liberal.

00:15:41.540 Yeah, but the funny thing – the funny thing with Democrats is they assume that Hispanics are all like the same, right?

00:15:49.200 They assume that like Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans, Spanish, Venezuelans are all the same.

00:15:55.060 They all hate each other. 0.79

00:15:56.400 Like they're all like racist towards each other, right? 0.87

00:15:59.500 Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans, they all don't like each other for multiple reasons. 0.81

00:16:03.180 And so when the Democrats lump them all into one giant like voting block, it does create problems, and they start to appeal to them, and then they realize it doesn't work.

00:16:13.680 Whereas I think I've seen the Republican Party really hasn't tried to shill so much to Hispanics.

00:16:19.760 It's more of been like, hey, join us.

00:16:21.620 Be an American.

00:16:22.660 Be a conservative.

00:16:23.540 Be a patriot.

00:16:24.240 Be a patriot rather than like trying to like lean into like the pandering.

00:16:28.940 Yeah, and it's worked so well compared to like – I'm not picking on them specifically, but just from what I can recall is like Bush was like much more on the nose pandering to Hispanics, like speaking really broken Spanish and like making an enchilada. 0.65

00:16:42.780 And we're like, hey, come vote for us.

00:16:43.880 I don't know.

00:16:44.300 And Trump gets up.

00:16:45.020 He's like, they're all going home.

00:16:46.420 No more Spanish. 1.00

00:16:47.480 You're never going to press two for English again.

00:16:49.920 And everyone – and like South Texas is like, yeah, that sounds great.

00:16:52.420 Yeah, I'm an American.

00:16:53.180 I'm a patriot.

00:16:53.600 So sign me up.

00:16:55.080 So it's a beautiful thing. 0.97

00:16:58.100 Another question – well, and I'm glad you touched on the fact that Hispanics hate it. 1.00

00:17:01.920 They do this thing, Democrats, where they like lump these groups together, like Native Americans.

00:17:06.360 There's just Native Americans, broadly speaking, even though there's like a million tribes.

00:17:09.760 And they do the same thing with Hispanic where they're like a Mexican and Puerto Rican are like on the same team.

00:17:14.960 If you ever ask a Puerto Rican what they think about Mexicans, it like sounds like a Klan rally. 0.99

00:17:18.840 I mean it's like ridiculous. 0.99

00:17:19.740 You're sitting there like, geez, can you say these things out loud? 0.99

00:17:22.680 You're going to get arrested if you're not careful.

00:17:24.680 But anyway –

00:17:25.520 Yeah.

00:17:25.560 The Asians are the same way too, right? 0.92

00:17:27.400 Like all the demographic of voters are – they kind of hate each other.

00:17:31.540 Yeah.

00:17:31.900 Some of the most racist people I've met have been other Hispanics or other Asian people.

00:17:35.500 Literally, yeah.

00:17:36.400 And it's like, bro, you're on the same team, I would assume.

00:17:39.180 No, they're not.

00:17:39.760 They – it gets wild.

00:17:42.380 But that's kind of one question I want to talk about because why is it that the Hispanic vote in California and the Hispanic vote in Texas diverge so dramatically?

00:17:51.740 Yeah, that's a great question.

00:17:53.260 You know, I often wonder if the vibe of California is just such a beautiful place that it just kind of makes you lazy and it just makes you kind of appreciate the weather and everything.

00:18:03.060 And you're just like, oh, this is all great and life is easy and we're just going to vote Democrat.

00:18:07.080 I mean I really can't – as somebody that just watches Texas, I can't really speculate too much.

00:18:12.340 But you also got to wonder the conspiracy theories of like non-citizens are voting in these elections and maybe that's kind of skewing some things too.

00:18:23.120 But, you know, you're seeing – I think it's – if I recall correctly, California is facing a kind of – they're a population drop.

00:18:30.080 They're starting to see a population drop where Texas is increasing.

00:18:33.140 So people are starting to wake up and they're leaving the state.

00:18:36.200 I think it was In-N-Out just recently announced their headquarters is leaving California.

00:18:40.360 Where did they go to?

00:18:41.180 Nashville.

00:18:42.180 Nashville, yeah, yeah.

00:18:43.440 So they're losing a lot of like their established hardcore industries.

00:18:48.540 Like In-N-Out was their brand.

00:18:49.980 And back like what, 10 years ago, if you wanted a burger from In-N-Out, you had to go to California to get it.

00:18:54.920 And now it's left.

00:18:55.880 And now their headquarters are leaving too.

00:18:57.540 So California, minus their weather, is losing a lot of their charm and a lot of the things that make them California.

00:19:03.600 Yeah.

00:19:04.000 I mean that is kind of the last – really the only thing California has going for it at this point is the natural beauty.

00:19:09.180 I mean Texas, you go to the beach in Galveston once, that's a radicalizing experience.

00:19:14.020 There's like sewage just like sloshing up on the ocean and you're just like, yeah, get all these illegals out of here. 1.00

00:19:19.640 I don't want to – give me like a victory here.

00:19:21.680 It's brutal.

00:19:23.900 Yeah.

00:19:24.340 So that's kind of the interesting thing.

00:19:25.660 I mean Texas really is emerging as the hub for industry.

00:19:29.980 You know, Austin obviously is this burgeoning tech hub.

00:19:32.080 I mean from you as a Texan, do you think this is sustainable?

00:19:35.540 Do you think this will continue to be the trend going forward?

00:19:38.800 Yeah.

00:19:39.020 I mean we're getting our own stock exchange soon, right?

00:19:42.360 A Texas stock exchange.

00:19:43.740 I think AT&T is already committed to it as of other industries, right?

00:19:47.580 There's a lot of investment in like Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining and other things like that.

00:19:52.660 You have a lot of companies coming here.

00:19:54.400 The biggest problems we're facing are energy, which is something that even Democrats are talking about.

00:19:59.580 So that's going to be a big concern is energy and energy consumption and then water.

00:20:05.080 Something that a lot of people aren't talking about enough is our lack of available water, right?

00:20:10.400 Something I think that a lot of people forget, a lot of these Bitcoin mining facilities and these storage facilities, they require a lot of water to cool and to operate and we just don't have enough of it.

00:20:24.300 Yeah, I mean the population growth, I think that's part of the reason that's being contributed to the necessitating the redistricting or redistricting is because the population has grown so quickly in very specific regions just in the last five years.

00:20:41.960 That does necessitate a reshifting around of some of these lines.

00:20:48.000 I mean, by 2030, I mean, the amount of electoral districts Texas could have, I've seen the projections, like they could pick up like four or five, especially because New York and Illinois are bleeding people left and right.

00:20:59.400 What does that do for the mentality?

00:21:01.620 Because when you meet people from the Sunbelt specifically, they are much happier, much more optimistic.

00:21:07.660 And then you meet people from the Rust Belt, there is kind of a sense of nihilism.

00:21:11.860 This is coming from someone that lives, you know, up more in the Rust Belt area.

00:21:16.840 Is that just due to the growth?

00:21:19.820 I mean, Texas really is kind of the place to be right now.

00:21:24.140 Yeah, you know, I've been here since 2004, so quite a long time.

00:21:27.860 And the population growth and you could see it everywhere in traffic and restaurants and property taxes, right?

00:21:35.500 It's been insane to kind of put it into terms.

00:21:38.580 I bought my home in 2016 for like $180K, and now it's worth like $250,000, $260,000.

00:21:46.700 So just 10 years later, that big of a growth.

00:21:49.420 And that sounds really great, but also the property taxes come with that.

00:21:53.440 So my taxes have gone up like crazy, traffic is insane.

00:21:59.640 You know, it's kind of getting a little – no, I wouldn't say unsustainable, but it's getting a little annoying.

00:22:05.540 Yeah.

00:22:05.800 As a citizen that's been here for a long time, all the people that are coming here.

00:22:09.440 But with that comes opportunity, right?

00:22:11.920 And a lot of growth, you know, as somebody – I live in the burbs outside of Dallas.

00:22:16.060 Okay.

00:22:16.240 Which I'm very happy to be at, but Dallas proper, the city, one of the things it faces a lot that I think any major city faces is increasing homeless and crime.

00:22:27.140 And that's, of course, because it's run by Democrats.

00:22:29.380 It's not legislated properly against, and it'll probably continue to get worse until it gets better.

00:22:36.480 Yeah.

00:22:37.500 Kind of shifting gears, not really.

00:22:39.040 It's still very Texas-related.

00:22:40.340 Obviously, there's a lot of concern over Cornyn's performance as senator, rightfully so.

00:22:46.600 What have you heard on the Cornyn primary front or people trying to go for Cornyn's seat?

00:22:52.560 What have you heard?

00:22:53.660 Yeah.

00:22:53.960 So Cornyn's up for a re-election, and he's running against – I'm sorry.

00:22:58.700 Attorney General Ken Paxson is running for his spot, right?

00:23:01.820 And so Cornyn's often viewed as the establishment choice, not very well-liked.

00:23:06.220 He's kind of been wishy-washy on a lot of Trump stuff, right, whereas Ken Paxson's been a huge ally for Trump.

00:23:12.260 And Paxson is well-beloved by the grassroots.

00:23:16.020 Cornyn just announced today that he was endorsed by Rick Perry, which like – and I actually really love Rick Perry.

00:23:24.300 I think he's hilarious.

00:23:25.060 There's a photo of Rick Perry with like a pistol, and then he's been arrested before.

00:23:29.140 He's got a really funny mug shot, and I think he's – on a run, he shot a coyote once.

00:23:33.020 So I kind of think Rick Perry is a badass.

00:23:35.060 Yeah, that's kind of sick.

00:23:35.540 But they made this announcement on like one of the worst days to make this.

00:23:39.900 We've got like all these Democrats fleeing, and they're talking about arrests and fines, and they announced like – we've got basically World War III going on here in Texas.

00:23:48.200 And then he announces, oh, we've got an endorsement from Rick Perry.

00:23:51.220 And so everybody's like, OK, yeah, anyway.

00:23:52.740 So – but yeah, it's kind of – it's – I don't like to make predictions as a journalist too much, but it is looking like Paxson's got it in the bag minus some major scandal, and I don't know what kind of scandal it would have to be.

00:24:07.080 I think that Paxson is just kind of walking into that spot.

00:24:09.940 Do you think with the Paxson-Abbott, that front, do you think that – it seems the base really wants these Democrats arrested or held responsible for doing this.

00:24:19.760 I mean do you think that plays well for them in upcoming elections if they are able to pull something off?

00:24:24.660 Actually, I think it plays well for both parties, right?

00:24:26.880 If you're a Democrat and you're seeing your rep out there like fleeing the state in order to fight against this stuff, like you're gung-ho about it, right?

00:24:34.820 And I'm seeing it – my state rep is a Democrat.

00:24:37.820 They're sending out text messages for fundraisers, right?

00:24:40.580 All these Democrats are using this opportunity to raise money and also to – when they're up for reelection to say, you know, I'm a strong Democrat.

00:24:49.260 I fought for you.

00:24:50.340 I even fled the state to avoid this, right? 0.97

00:24:52.760 And Republicans are using this as well to fundraise and to say, hey, these Democrats are horrible.

00:24:58.760 You need to vote for me because I'm going to fight against this.

00:25:01.260 There's already been two bills filed today by both the Senate and the House that pushes harder penalties if politicians leave for more than seven unexcused days.

00:25:14.560 House Rep. Briscoe Cain filed that bill, seven unexcused absences, and they are – their office is considered vacant.

00:25:22.200 And that was filed today, the irony being that we don't have a quorum, so it can't be passed.

00:25:27.800 So, yeah, it's been filed, but unless the Democrats come back, nothing's going to happen.

00:25:32.960 I mean, the extradition – why don't I have so much trouble saying the word – extradition that Abbott has proposed, I mean, how does that play out?

00:25:40.180 Would you send the National Guard up there?

00:25:41.920 I don't think it plays out at all.

00:25:43.460 The idea of extraditing people across state lines doesn't work.

00:25:47.800 If they fled somewhere in Texas, yeah, DPS would be breaking down their door, handcuffing them, and then dragging them to the Capitol.

00:25:55.100 But that's the real reason that they fled out of state.

00:25:58.020 The ability to enforce these sorts of things, especially arrests outside of the state, are almost zero.

00:26:04.060 So I don't think it's going to play at all.

00:26:05.980 The only thing that they are facing is these fines, right?

00:26:09.180 We passed some laws – I believe it was last session – that any time they are absent for a quorum break, they have a $500 daily fine.

00:26:20.360 But, of course, Democrats are fundraising off of this, and you had – what was the Illinois governor?

00:26:28.480 What was his name?

00:26:29.060 J.B. Pritzker.

00:26:30.920 Pritzker is – it funded their plane.

00:26:34.900 They charted their plane for them and is, I'm assuming, paying for their other expenses.

00:26:39.480 And Abbott is calling that a bribe, which is really interesting.

00:26:42.060 There are laws that basically say if you take money in exchange to vote or not vote a certain way, that is considered a bribe.

00:26:51.160 So you can also call that donations, right?

00:26:53.340 Donations do that.

00:26:54.340 Donors do that. 1.00

00:26:55.340 But he's considering that a bribe, and they're also looking at filing charges, bribery charges against not only the reps, but also people that are giving money to the reps for being gone.

00:27:06.240 So we'll see how that plays out in court.

00:27:08.920 I mean, that would be a beautiful – that would play so well with the base.

00:27:11.680 That would turn them into rock stars overnight.

00:27:13.560 But, yeah, this tends to happen at these stories where you get really excited, and then they just kind of just show up.

00:27:19.160 The bill gets passed, and then you forget about the story.

00:27:22.600 Fingers crossed that really happens.

00:27:24.780 One question.

00:27:25.460 What's up with the James Tallarico guy where he gets up, and he's like, if you're a Christian, you're not gay, like you're not a Christian?

00:27:32.120 What is that guy – what is going on in Texas?

00:27:34.140 Where are these people coming from?

00:27:36.200 Yeah, Tallarico is an interesting guy, right?

00:27:38.380 I gauge a lot of political stuff, especially with the general voting base or at least the independent voting base based off some friends that call them some political normies.

00:27:47.420 They're like normies in politics, right?

00:27:48.880 Yeah.

00:27:49.400 And so every once in a while, I just kind of do a temperature check to see what's up.

00:27:53.200 And, you know, Tallarico – House Representative Tallarico was on the Joe Rogan podcast.

00:27:59.120 Right.

00:27:59.440 And so I did a temperature check on the normies, and they were like, man, we really like this guy.

00:28:03.960 And I'm like, oh, man.

00:28:05.460 Yeah, it's – you know, I don't think the Democrats have any chance of gaining any ground in Texas.

00:28:11.940 They say it every year that Democrats are a threat.

00:28:13.940 It's not going to happen anytime soon.

00:28:15.420 But Tallarico is somebody that's likely going to run for governor one day of Texas.

00:28:19.780 And, you know, he's this very odd, like leftist, huge pro-gay Democrat pastor, right, which is kind of an oxymoron in a sense. 0.52

00:28:33.820 And he says a bunch of really, really crazy stuff. 0.88

00:28:36.820 If you're a Christian, you just kind of – your head kind of explodes hearing him kind of make arguments for this.

00:28:41.920 But, yeah, he's likely to run for governor, but he's a single man, and he's probably going to have to find a wife and kid to run just because that's the kind of thing you need nowadays to play for bigger office.

00:28:54.240 And so we'll see if he can find a wife here really quickly to run for office. 1.00

00:28:59.680 Yeah.

00:29:00.100 Well, it's a valiant effort.

00:29:02.360 Maybe they can – Pritzker can do some fundraising for them.

00:29:05.320 Right, right.

00:29:05.920 But, yeah, it's kind of like Beto 2.0 where they get, like, in love with this random house member, and then they try to convince everyone he's, like, the guy.

00:29:13.900 And then he just ends up being really weird and, like, eats dirt and stuff.

00:29:17.100 Yeah, it happens every year.

00:29:18.120 You know, Beto ran – what was it?

00:29:19.620 Two, three times lost.

00:29:21.440 Colin Allred is now running on his second time.

00:29:23.580 He's going to lose again.

00:29:25.340 Tallarico will probably run for a higher office and lose two.

00:29:28.540 And they say it every year, like, oh, the signs are everywhere.

00:29:31.440 The lines are out the door.

00:29:32.620 It doesn't matter.

00:29:33.600 Texas is huge.

00:29:34.320 Texas is bigger than most countries.

00:29:36.740 So it doesn't really matter if there's a bunch of signs or a bunch of lines in a city for a guy.

00:29:41.660 It doesn't really reflect the entire voting base of Texas.

00:29:44.560 Texas is so ginormous that people often forget that the rural areas, the areas that these politicians don't go to, have a massive influence on statewide elections.

00:29:56.460 And one more question.

00:29:57.720 The mood of Democrats nationwide, but specifically in Texas, we saw it on full display with Jasmine Crockett, like, melting down.

00:30:04.940 These last few days.

00:30:06.240 They really do have the sense of being powerless.

00:30:09.100 Do you think when they're cornered, do you think they have any more tricks up their sleeve?

00:30:12.620 Or do you think this is just a new era and this is just – they're going to have to complain all the time?

00:30:16.940 I don't know.

00:30:17.280 Does Texas allow them any tools?

00:30:19.840 Yeah.

00:30:20.060 I don't think that there's – minus quorum breaks, there's really nothing else that they can do, right?

00:30:24.060 You know, Democrats have the same tired messaging where it's always just racism.

00:30:28.960 Everything is racist.

00:30:30.460 You know, the redistricting is racist.

00:30:33.060 And it's just – it's very exhausting.

00:30:35.060 I think it's played out now.

00:30:36.800 Now, if Democrats were smart and if they actually wanted to win, they would turn back to being normal.

00:30:43.380 We're talking like the 90s era of Democrats where they're just like moderate leftists, right?

00:30:50.660 I think a lot of people could probably relate to some of the stuff that they push. 0.95

00:30:55.100 But they're so insane with the transgender stuff and the body mutilation and all of that. 1.00

00:31:02.140 It's gone too far. 0.98

00:31:04.520 That's why you're seeing a lot of these companies kind of start to swing their advertising from like these disgusting, fat, androgynous models to like attractive women like the Sydney Sweeney thing, right? 0.98

00:31:16.880 Because we're returning back to like some normalcy.

00:31:19.780 We're finally starting to see some like real – like what people expect to see in our advertising, our movies, in our culture.

00:31:26.940 And Democrats, again, if they were smart, they would embrace it.

00:31:30.040 But I don't – they're not.

00:31:31.320 So I don't see them doing it anytime soon.

00:31:33.200 Well, dude.

00:31:33.780 Well, I appreciate it, man.

00:31:34.660 Do you want to give a shout out or tell people where to find you?

00:31:37.640 Yeah.

00:31:38.020 If you're a Texan watching this, you can find us at currentrevolt.com and you can subscribe there.

00:31:42.600 We put out a newsletter every morning with just Texas News or if you're on Twitter and you like what I've said and you're interested in Texas politics, you can follow me at Current Revolt.

00:31:52.980 Dude.

00:31:53.280 Well, Tony, dude, I appreciate it.

00:31:54.780 Thanks for the chat.

00:31:55.560 That was great.

00:31:56.580 So we'll catch you next time.

00:31:57.460 Thanks for having me on.

00:31:58.240 Yep.

00:31:58.580 See you, man.

00:32:00.620 All righty.

00:32:01.120 Well, that was the noon hour.

00:32:04.000 I think it went okay.

00:32:05.180 You know, it's kind of tricky filling in because it's like once a month.

00:32:07.960 So it's hard to really get into the routine.

00:32:10.360 I don't know if you noticed with Tony, like I asked the first question and then I was like, by the way, who are you?

00:32:16.840 Like, you know, how do people like know who you are?

00:32:19.860 So it gets a little tricky, but, you know, more reps, more repetition.

00:32:23.020 We'll get better.

00:32:23.780 Practice makes perfect.

00:32:24.840 Well, this isn't really practice.

00:32:25.860 This is the game, but it is what it is.

00:32:27.800 So thanks for bearing with me.

00:32:29.500 You can find me on Twitter and Instagram.

00:32:31.180 We're sorry, X and Instagram at Real Tape Brown.

00:32:33.600 We will have IRL tonight at 8 p.m.

00:32:35.300 It looks like it's going to be a fill cast.

00:32:37.020 So it's going to be a really good time.

00:32:38.840 So we'll see you there.

00:32:39.500 We'll hang out.

00:32:40.540 And yeah, we'll see you next time.

00:32:42.240 Appreciate it.

00:32:42.720 Bye.

00:32:42.840 You.

00:32:46.180 Bye.

00:32:46.600 Bye.

00:32:46.880 Bye.

00:32:49.160 Yeah.

00:32:49.220 Bye.

00:32:51.220 Bye.

00:32:52.980 Bye.

00:32:58.300 Bye.

00:32:58.960 Bye.

00:32:59.180 Bye.

00:32:59.420 Bye.

00:33:00.000 Bye.

00:33:00.880 Bye.

00:33:01.020 Bye.

00:33:01.100 Bye.

00:33:01.280 Bye.

00:33:01.840 Bye.

00:33:01.960 Bye.

00:33:02.620 Bye.

00:33:03.020 Bye.

00:33:04.260 Bye.

00:33:04.460 Bye.

00:33:05.080 Bye.

00:33:05.180 Bye.

00:33:06.160 Bye.

00:33:06.360 Bye.

00:33:06.640 Bye.

00:33:06.820 Bye.

00:33:07.120 Bye.

00:33:07.720 Bye.

00:33:08.720 Bye.

00:33:08.840 Bye.

00:33:09.820 Bye.

The Culture War - Tim Pool - August 04, 2025

Democrats SABOTAGE Texas REDISTRICTING, May Be CHARGED ft. Tony Ortiz

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