Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - Can California be Golden Again? Interview with Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton | TRIGGERED Ep.293

00:06:23.000 Hey guys, and welcome to another huge episode of Triggered.

00:06:27.000 Today, we're going to do a deep dive into the state of California and how the California dream morphed into a golden state nightmare.

00:06:36.000 We'll look at the fire rebuilding, or should I say, the lack thereof.

00:06:40.000 We'll look at the rising costs, insane fuel prices, the policy of failure, and everything in between.

00:06:48.000 We'll be joined by Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a friend you probably know Steve because he used to have a show on Fox News.

00:06:56.000 He's been a business owner.

00:06:58.000 He worked in government over in the UK.

00:07:00.000 And now he's taking his mission straight to Sacramento to expose all of the far-left failures.

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00:09:11.000 Joining me now, guys, California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton.

00:09:17.000 Steve, great to have you back here, man.

00:09:18.000 How are you doing?

00:09:19.000 It's fantastic to be with you.

00:09:20.000 Good to see you.

00:09:21.000 Okay, so you're running for governor in California as a Republican.

00:09:24.000 Not always easy, historically not easy.

00:09:27.000 And yet it feels like if there was ever a time, now would be it because we've witnessed nothing but gross incompetence from the ruling party of California, which has been the Democrat Party forever.

00:09:40.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:09:41.000 I mean, it's so insane now.

00:09:43.000 I mean, you look at Gavin Newsom and his corrupt crew here in California, what they've done.

00:09:49.000 They've basically run this far-left experiment, as you say, completely unchecked.

00:09:54.000 It's been one-party rule for 15 years directly.

00:09:58.000 This goes back even further with the legislature, and the results are in, and it's a total and complete disaster.

00:10:04.000 Literally, the worst performing state in America.

00:10:08.000 I sometimes joke that your father ran, obviously, for president on the platform of Make America Great Again, MAGA. 0.96

00:10:16.000 Newsome's going to run on MAGA, the most useless governor in America, because he is. 0.97

00:10:22.000 He really is. 0.97

00:10:23.000 We have.

00:10:25.000 I think I said Joe Rogan said something like the best.

00:10:27.000 It's like, you were a mayor of a city that turned into a failed city.

00:10:31.000 You became the governor of a state that became a failed state.

00:10:34.000 And now you're going to run for president ultimately.

00:10:37.000 What exactly is the record that you're running on?

00:10:39.000 I mean, with that kind of experience, it should be disqualifying, not qualifying.

00:10:43.000 100%.

00:10:44.000 I mean, literally, if you just go through it, right?

00:10:46.000 We have California today, highest unemployment rate in America, highest poverty rate in America, highest taxes, highest costs for everything that matters.

00:10:56.000 Gas, electric, water, insurance, rents, home prices.

00:11:00.000 Chief Executive Magazine runs a survey every year on best and worst states to do business.

00:11:05.000 For the last 10 years, California was rated worst of the 50 states.

00:11:10.000 We are 50th on affordability, 50th on opportunity, according to U.S. News and World Report.

00:11:16.000 We have the worst roads.

00:11:17.000 I mean, literally, it's kind of genius to screw it up so badly on absolutely everything else.

00:11:23.000 Yes, it's like a monkey guessing at random would do better than this.

00:11:26.000 Meaning like, you know, you flip a coin, like maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, but it's 50-50.

00:11:30.000 It's like, this is, how do you flip a coin on tails a thousand times?

00:11:33.000 Exactly.

00:11:34.000 It's unbelievable, actually.

00:11:36.000 So, you know, Steve, let's start with the devastating fires.

00:11:39.000 Obviously, Pacific Palisades and the communities across the states, they face catastrophic wildfire risk.

00:11:45.000 And yet, between environmental regulations and a bunch of other nonsense, they make it nearly impossible to clear brush.

00:11:53.000 do controlled burns or properly manage forests.

00:11:57.000 They also refuse to tap into, you know, the little water resource that you have called the Pacific freaking ocean because, you know, it was seven feet away from most of the fires, but you can't possibly use that.

00:12:07.000 You know, insurance companies are fleeing the state.

00:12:10.000 You know, to start, you know, what is the status of rebuilding?

00:12:14.000 Because it seems so dire there.

00:12:17.000 It's a joke.

00:12:18.000 It's a total joke.

00:12:19.000 And it's a really good illustration of everything else that's gone wrong.

00:12:24.000 Because actually what it is when you drill down is this terrible combination of ideology, far-left ideology, and just sheer incompetence.

00:12:32.000 And it's both those things that are turning California into this disaster.

00:12:36.000 So you look at the rebuilding, okay?

00:12:38.000 So nearly a year ago now, it's 10 months, like last January, soon after the fires, Newsom went there to LA and he stood there in the ruins of the Palisades and he said, we're going to have a Marshall plan to rebuild LA.

00:12:52.000 It's what he said, a Marshall plan.

00:12:54.000 10 months on, I was there the other day, barely anything is happening.

00:12:57.000 Why?

00:12:58.000 Because they just can't get it together because they send everyone demented with the bureaucracy.

00:13:05.000 So I've talked to homeowners there the whole time.

00:13:08.000 You go to the building department every time there's a different person, some new rule, some new ridiculous requirement.

00:13:13.000 They won't give you a permit until you get insurance.

00:13:16.000 The insurance won't give you that until you go and show you have a permit.

00:13:19.000 I mean, on and on.

00:13:21.000 Beyond, I mean, and you knew what was going to happen anyway, because they were going to have to put up affordable housing on the most expensive real estate in the history of mankind.

00:13:28.000 You knew they were going to do that because, of course they were.

00:13:32.000 So now you say ideology.

00:13:33.000 People can't build back what they had because we didn't love the zoning code.

00:13:36.000 So we're going to change it.

00:13:37.000 So you're going to have to build back a lesser property, even if you can build it back.

00:13:40.000 And if you do that, you're going to have to fund the housing for, you know, because again, someone making $10 a year should be able to have waterfront views and big backyards.

00:13:51.000 It's nuts.

00:13:52.000 It's totally nuts.

00:13:53.000 But the apartment thing is actually, again, an example of their ideology.

00:13:57.000 So here in California, the way that we've grown and developed and to enjoy the weather and everything is single family homes, you know, the suburban lifestyle.

00:14:04.000 That's what families want when they have kids, a yard where their kids can play and enjoy the weather.

00:14:09.000 They hate that.

00:14:10.000 They've gone to war with single family homes.

00:14:12.000 They hate the suburbs.

00:14:13.000 They hate all of that.

00:14:14.000 So it's all got to be density and infill development.

00:14:17.000 And that's what they're pushing through, apartments in suburban areas.

00:14:20.000 And they're using this as the test case for it.

00:14:22.000 But that's not how people want to live in California.

00:14:25.000 And it's driven by this climate insanity that says that if you build outwards rather than upwards, that's bad for the climate because people have to drive their cars and they want everyone to live in apartments with no parking and take transit.

00:14:38.000 And I always say, is that how they live?

00:14:40.000 Does Newsom live in an apartment?

00:14:41.000 Is Nancy Pelosi now in her retirement going to be trundling around San Francisco on transit?

00:14:46.000 Of course not.

00:14:47.000 It's just elitism.

00:14:49.000 They don't want it for what they have themselves.

00:14:52.000 They don't want it for regular working people.

00:14:54.000 And so you see that, again, the fire situation kind of illustrates what's going on all around the state.

00:15:00.000 Well, I mean, in fact, we've covered on this show the scandal surrounding the state insurance commissioner, taxpayer-funded trips that have literally nothing to do with being insurance commissioner, basically lavish vacations.

00:15:14.000 It's just corruption.

00:15:15.000 How much of a crisis of leadership does California currently have?

00:15:20.000 How much further does it go beyond this one guy that we've covered extensively because it was particularly egregious, but I'm sure there's plenty of this going on.

00:15:27.000 Yeah, totally.

00:15:28.000 We just saw another scandal last week.

00:15:29.000 Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, she was just indicted, federal indictment on corruption charges, tax evasion, all these things, because it's the same mentality.

00:15:39.000 It's this arrogance of the one-party rule.

00:15:42.000 They think they're entitled to everything.

00:15:44.000 They can dip into campaign funds and use it for personal expenditure.

00:15:48.000 Actually, she was dipping into someone else's campaign funds. 0.58

00:15:51.000 Javier Pascari.

00:15:52.000 Because of course you would.

00:15:53.000 I mean, you know, communists isn't going to dip into their own funds.

00:15:56.000 They're going to dip into someone else's, dude.

00:15:58.000 And then, and then she's now saying that Newsom himself, she was, they were asking her to get involved in some federal investigation of Newsom, which hasn't been confirmed.

00:16:09.000 We'll see where that goes. 0.89

00:16:11.000 The whole rotten system is corrupt.

00:16:13.000 It's California, so it's going to go nowhere, even if he actually had something to do with it, which wouldn't surprise any one of us who's been watching for the last few years.

00:16:20.000 Yeah, but there's this whole thing.

00:16:22.000 There's this thing called behested payments, which is insane, where an elected official in California can just literally phone up whoever they want with business before the state, totally corrupt, and say, please give money to, I don't know, random example, my wife's non-profit.

00:16:40.000 All of this stuff has been going on.

00:16:42.000 Totally legal.

00:16:43.000 It's legalized corruption.

00:16:44.000 And then you've got the real kind of systemic corruption, of course, which is the unions, the government unions in California totally control the and the trial lawyers, the two biggest donors to Newsom and to the Democrat politicians, government unions and trial lawyers.

00:16:59.000 And they completely control the politicians. 0.78

00:17:01.000 So they get whatever they want.

00:17:03.000 You have the longest lockdowns and school closures because the teacher unions wanted it.

00:17:06.000 You have the most litigious state now in California in America.

00:17:10.000 You can't build anything.

00:17:11.000 You can't do anything without being sued.

00:17:13.000 You know, back in the day, I mean, people know me from TV, but most of my career has been in business.

00:17:17.000 In England, I used to run restaurants.

00:17:19.000 You run restaurants in California.

00:17:20.000 You're hit by these totally extortionate lawsuits called PAGA lawsuits, Private Attorney General Act, which is basically a license for lawyers to just extort money from decent businesses.

00:17:31.000 And 75% of the settlement goes back to the government.

00:17:35.000 It's just this legalized extortion.

00:17:37.000 And that's what's going on here. 0.59

00:17:39.000 Everywhere you look, it's totally corrupt and totally failing.

00:17:42.000 And the person, you know, obviously involved with Gavin Newsom, I mean, I talked about it on the show on Monday, but I didn't even hear about it.

00:17:42.000 Yeah.

00:17:50.000 Like my team sort of flagged it, like, hey, by the way, did you see this?

00:17:53.000 Because they're in there looking into the details on stuff that is not going to get any news coverage.

00:17:58.000 I mean, I wouldn't have even known about it.

00:17:59.000 And I literally do this for a living because they're going to cover up for that person.

00:18:02.000 I have a feeling that if it was you, we wouldn't be getting that same kind of treatment.

00:18:06.000 So imagine how much more of this is going on that's just never going to see the light of day because they're just going to be like, hey, you got to, but maybe they tell them to stop.

00:18:13.000 Maybe they say, hey, you can keep going as long as there's 10, 15, 20, 30, 50% for the big guy.

00:18:20.000 But it's crazy.

00:18:21.000 The fact that this isn't covered wall to wall, I mean, you have a person who's going to be likely a leading contender for the Democrat nomination in 2028.

00:18:31.000 This is one of his top employees doing this in such a flagrant manner.

00:18:36.000 And it's like crickets, nothing.

00:18:38.000 Exactly.

00:18:39.000 Exactly.

00:18:40.000 And that's the, and, and that, because it's all part of this one-party rule regime.

00:18:46.000 And Sacramento, I often say, I mean, you know, you know it, you've seen it and your father's seen it and all the team going to Washington and battling the swamp.

00:18:55.000 And we see now that that's really happening.

00:18:57.000 The swamp in Sacramento, much worse, because at least in DC, you've had over the years, you know, Republican administration, Democrat, at least some change up.

00:19:08.000 Here in California, it's been a one-way street, left, left, left, the same people that just get held over from one rotten administration to the next one without any interruption.

00:19:19.000 That's why I think really this is the moment where people are sick of it.

00:19:23.000 There's a majority for change.

00:19:24.000 You look at the polling, there's really big numbers now saying the state's going in the wrong direction.

00:19:29.000 So I think this is our best shot to change it in at least 20 years.

00:19:32.000 Yeah, I never thought of it that way, but you're right.

00:19:34.000 When you have one party rule for so long, it doesn't even matter who the leader is.

00:19:38.000 If the bureaucracy gets so entrenched because there's never been a changeup, they do get a little bit more relaxed.

00:19:44.000 They do start doing these kinds of things.

00:19:45.000 There is going to be no check and balance.

00:19:47.000 And so I imagine the problems really accumulate in aggregate to where they got to be totally disastrous.

00:19:56.000 Yeah, exactly. 0.97

00:19:57.000 And they're so arrogant.

00:19:58.000 They assume that they're going to be there forever, that there's nothing that's going to happen.

00:20:02.000 That's why they behave like this.

00:20:04.000 And also, you see it, by the way, in that attitude with one of the candidates for governor, one of my Katie Porter, in that meltdown interview she had the other week. 0.95

00:20:13.000 Yeah, it's embarrassing for her and ridiculous the way she behaved. 1.00

00:20:16.000 But actually, the attitude that it was conveyed there, which is like, how dare you ask me questions? 0.86

00:20:22.000 You know, oh, of course I'll win if there's a Republican.

00:20:24.000 It's just this arrogance that they all have.

00:20:27.000 Yeah, we should actually play the clip back for the people.

00:20:29.000 We just put it in here now.

00:20:31.000 You haven't written and I'll answer it.

00:20:32.000 And we've also asked the other candidates, do you think you need any of those 40% of California voters to win?

00:20:37.000 And you're saying, no, you don't.

00:20:39.000 No, I'm saying I'm going to try to win every vote I can.

00:20:42.000 And what I'm saying to you is that multiple voters.

00:20:45.000 Okay, so you don't want to keep doing this.

00:20:47.000 I'm going to call it.

00:20:48.000 Thank you.

00:20:51.000 You're not going to do the interview with us.

00:20:53.000 Nope, not like this.

00:20:54.000 I'm not.

00:20:54.000 Not with seven follow-ups to every single question you ask.

00:20:57.000 Every other candidate has answers.

00:20:58.000 I don't care.

00:20:59.000 I don't care.

00:21:00.000 I want to have a pleasant, positive conversation with you ask me about every issue on this list.

00:21:05.000 And if every question, you're going to make up a follow-up question, then we're never going to get there.

00:21:11.000 And we're just going to circle around.

00:21:12.000 I am annoyed by the people.

00:21:12.000 I haven't had to do this before, ever.

00:21:15.000 You've never had to have a conversation with me.

00:21:20.000 Okay, but every other candidate has done this.

00:21:22.000 What part of, I'm me, I'm running for governor because I'm a leader.

00:21:26.000 So I am going to make.

00:21:28.000 So you're not going to answer questions from reporters?

00:21:30.000 Okay, why don't we go through?

00:21:32.000 I will continue to ask follow-up questions because that's my job as a journalist, but I will go through and ask these.

00:21:37.000 And if you don't want to answer, you don't want to answer.

00:21:40.000 So nearly every you're right.

00:21:41.000 It was like, it wasn't, by the way, this is like Democrat regime media questioning, you know, a leading Democrat candidate for governor.

00:21:50.000 Like, it wasn't like it was hardball.

00:21:53.000 It wasn't anything.

00:21:53.000 And it was like, how dare you not just accept my non-sequitur, my non-answer answer?

00:22:00.000 They actually pressed.

00:22:01.000 I think they've just never been pressed on anything before.

00:22:04.000 It's like when I went on the view years ago, they're like, wow, you went.

00:22:08.000 I was like, well, I don't know.

00:22:09.000 No one's ever gone on the view apparently and like pushed back.

00:22:11.000 And they're so accustomed to just, you know, getting whatever narrative they want.

00:22:15.000 And everyone wants to come back to sell a book or whatever they're doing.

00:22:17.000 So no one's ever pushed back.

00:22:18.000 But when you do, you realize it's just a house of cards.

00:22:21.000 They have no substance.

00:22:23.000 There is no answer.

00:22:24.000 There is nothing there.

00:22:26.000 Well, that's why their entire campaign, whatever it is, right?

00:22:29.000 You just saw it with this election rigging thing from Newsom.

00:22:33.000 You'll see it in the governor's race next year.

00:22:35.000 The entire thing that they, all they ever talk about is Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, because they have nothing to say on anything of substance because they've totally failed on everything.

00:22:46.000 And they've got nothing to offer except more of the same.

00:22:49.000 So all they can ever talk about is, oh, we're fighting Trump.

00:22:52.000 And that's what she said in justifying that meltdown was like, well, we need a fighter to take on Trump. 0.99

00:22:58.000 No, we don't.

00:22:59.000 It's not Trump's fault that we make this point all the time.

00:23:02.000 Our gas prices are double what they are in places like Texas and Tennessee.

00:23:07.000 But President Trump, the last time I looked, is also the president in those places.

00:23:12.000 So it's obviously not his fault that everything's so expensive in California.

00:23:16.000 It is a homegrown disaster.

00:23:18.000 But of course, they can't admit that.

00:23:19.000 So everything has to be put on President Trump.

00:23:22.000 Well, you know, they're petrol and children, and we've seen that.

00:23:24.000 And the results really speak for themselves.

00:23:26.000 But I guess, Steve, from a bigger picture, how are you approaching this campaign?

00:23:31.000 Democrats have a big registration advantage.

00:23:36.000 How do you go about taking on this challenge?

00:23:38.000 I mean, I've known you a long time.

00:23:40.000 I think you're great.

00:23:41.000 I mean, I think it's a very difficult and thankless task.

00:23:44.000 But again, I think if there was ever a time that you can actually get people to understand now is it, what do you do to take on the challenge?

00:23:53.000 Yeah.

00:23:53.000 Well, I think the first point is, as I said earlier, that there is a majority for change, right?

00:23:59.000 So that's a good starting point.

00:24:00.000 People think more than 50% of California says we're going in the right.

00:24:04.000 It's actually as high as 60% in some of the polls.

00:24:06.000 Who are the other 40% out of California? 0.76

00:24:08.000 I always say that.

00:24:09.000 I don't understand.

00:24:10.000 I know.

00:24:11.000 Is this like Nancy Pelosi's family and the Gettys and the Newsoms or something?

00:24:14.000 And then a bunch of homeless people.

00:24:16.000 It's insane.

00:24:17.000 I agree with that.

00:24:18.000 Anyway, we don't need everyone.

00:24:19.000 A majority is enough.

00:24:21.000 The second point is it's already a more, it's a more Republican state than people realize.

00:24:25.000 Even in the last governor's race, where you had a candidate that wasn't well known, didn't raise money, didn't even really campaign, they still got 40.7%, nearly 41%.

00:24:34.000 Now, that's not 50%, but it's not 20%.

00:24:37.000 It's not nothing.

00:24:37.000 So you're starting from higher than people realize.

00:24:41.000 But the real point that is, excuse me, how I'm seeing the race is next year is a midterm election, obviously.

00:24:50.000 And you tend to get a lower turnout.

00:24:52.000 But actually, if you look at the numbers and you look at what we can expect in terms of the vote next year in California by taking an average of the last two midterms, the total number of votes estimated next year is 11.8 million.

00:25:07.000 So to win, let's just say just over half of that, the target number of votes for me, 5.9 million.

00:25:14.000 So the reason that's important, you look at what President Trump got last year in California, without, for obvious reasons, didn't particularly campaign here, 6.1 million votes.

00:25:24.000 In other words, if everybody who voted for the president in California last year votes for me next year, I'll win with 200,000 votes to spare.

00:25:32.000 Now, of course, we're not going to get everyone, but the reason that's important is it gives you a strong campaign strategy.

00:25:40.000 For too long in California, I think Republicans here have believed that the way you win is to try and be some kind of Democrat light, some wishy-washy, you know, watered down version of the GOP.

00:25:54.000 And actually, that hasn't worked.

00:25:56.000 What you've got to have is a strong message that actually inspires people and gets them to turn out.

00:26:02.000 And so I see exactly as President Trump has put together nationally, that multiracial working class coalition that is strong and clear, common sense.

00:26:12.000 And that's why my entire campaign is like very direct.

00:26:14.000 You know, we're going to get rid of the climate insanity so we can cut gas prices, $3 gas, cut electric bills by killing windmills and ending the solar subsidies and using natural gas, cut your electric bills in half, cut taxes, your first 100 grand free of state income tax, a home you can afford to buy, you know, really simple, but going directly at these people and just dismantling this far-left insanity with a really strong, clear message.

00:26:44.000 So, Steve, you know, I love that and it makes so much sense.

00:26:47.000 Hopefully, you know, there's enough people that have suffered under this failed leadership for so long that you get there.

00:26:53.000 But, you know, on a personal note, what motivated you to do this?

00:26:57.000 And, you know, what's your story and personal connection to California?

00:27:01.000 Because again, this not an easy task and oftentimes probably a thankless task.

00:27:05.000 And you put the R next to your name in California, your persona non grata.

00:27:10.000 You know, how did this whole voyage start for you?

00:27:14.000 So most of my career, as I mentioned, I've been in business back in the UK, restaurants, other kinds of business.

00:27:22.000 And then we moved here in 2012 with my wife and my two sons.

00:27:25.000 I taught at Stanford University for a bit, started a business here as well.

00:27:30.000 Just before moving here, I actually worked in the government in the UK.

00:27:34.000 I was senior advisor to the prime minister.

00:27:36.000 I'd been in and out of politics.

00:27:37.000 I'd worked as a junior researcher when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.

00:27:42.000 I helped elect David Cameron Prime Minister.

00:27:44.000 And then when I was in 10 Downing Street, helped the implementation of our reform program.

00:27:49.000 I was there battling the bureaucracy, doing all of that.

00:27:52.000 And then very unexpectedly, most people know me from being on Fox and my show, The Next Revolution, and you're a guest there.

00:27:58.000 And it was a great honor to do that.

00:28:00.000 But it's really all about talking.

00:28:04.000 And most of my career has been doing.

00:28:07.000 And as the years went on, I just got, I don't want to say frustrated, that's a bit negative, but I just wanted to do things again.

00:28:15.000 And I love California.

00:28:17.000 You know, I raised my family here, made my life here, became an American, started a business, all of those great things.

00:28:23.000 And I love the state so much, I can't stand to see what's happening.

00:28:26.000 So I started getting involved a few years ago.

00:28:29.000 I set up a policy organization called Golden Together.

00:28:32.000 And I started just getting back into the world of policy, right?

00:28:35.000 You know, learning about why the housing situation is such a disaster, you know, putting forward solutions.

00:28:42.000 And then I had this incredible meeting that really kind of tipped me over.

00:28:46.000 It was about housing.

00:28:47.000 I'd actually tried to put a ballot initiative together to cut impact fees on developers and get rid of the environmental lawsuits that mainly are filed by unions to block housing.

00:28:58.000 Anyway, that didn't work.

00:29:00.000 We didn't raise enough money.

00:29:01.000 So I was in Sacramento trying to persuade lawmakers to try and implement some of this stuff.

00:29:05.000 And I was in a meeting with a Democrat legislator from the state legislature.

00:29:10.000 And this person was, you know, agreeing with me on all the policy stuff, said, yeah, you're right.

00:29:15.000 This would be transformational.

00:29:16.000 So I said, great, let's work together on it, you know, bipartisan.

00:29:19.000 That'd be cool.

00:29:20.000 And they said, oh, I couldn't, I couldn't say that publicly.

00:29:24.000 I said, why not?

00:29:25.000 I said, well, the unions would hate it.

00:29:28.000 I said, yeah, but so what?

00:29:29.000 You've just told me it would be transformational.

00:29:31.000 And they said, yeah, but they'd waved their arm around like this and said, the unions run this place.

00:29:37.000 And I just thought, no, like, F that, right?

00:29:40.000 This is like, this is America.

00:29:42.000 We don't just put up with that.

00:29:44.000 And it made me really determined to like fight back against this.

00:29:49.000 And really, that was the starting point before just, you know, thinking about it, talking to my family and then getting in the race.

00:29:55.000 So what kind of reaction are you getting from business leaders?

00:29:57.000 I mean, for example, in places like Santa Monica, there's tons of vacant storefront.

00:30:02.000 Third Street Promenade is a shell of what it used to be.

00:30:07.000 How can you get that back on track?

00:30:09.000 Yeah, I mean, that's the good news is that as governor, you control the very similar story to the executive branch at the federal level.

00:30:18.000 You control the executive branch.

00:30:20.000 If you know what you're doing and you're well prepared, you can go in there.

00:30:23.000 You've got as governor, thousands of appointments to hundreds of agencies, these insane bureaucracies that are holding everything up and making everything so expensive and complicated.

00:30:33.000 The Coastal Commission, the CARB, the California Air Resources.

00:30:36.000 I know the Coastal Commission well.

00:30:38.000 Right.

00:30:39.000 Well, all the, well, the governor appoints people to these things.

00:30:41.000 You have like four, you know, thousands of appointments to hundreds of these agencies.

00:30:45.000 So if you know what you're doing and you're lawyered up because they're going to sue you to hell and back, but if you're really well prepared, and I'm already doing that work now because it also makes you a better candidate, if you know what you're talking about, you can actually make a difference, I think, quite quickly, especially to the business climate.

00:31:04.000 I think that's where we can do, like one example is these PAGA lawsuits that are just extorting money out of restaurants and other businesses.

00:31:11.000 Farmers, I'm right here.

00:31:13.000 I'm taping this with you.

00:31:14.000 I'm in the middle of the Central Valley, our great agriculture industry being completely crushed by ridiculous policies from Sacramento. 0.95

00:31:23.000 You can really turn that around quite quickly by appointing smart, sensible people, kicking out the ideologues and the useless bureaucrats. 0.90

00:31:31.000 So that's the real plan.

00:31:32.000 I think the business climate is one of the quickest things we can turn around.

00:31:36.000 And then, of course, that leads to incomes and growth and less unemployment, all those good things.

00:31:41.000 Yeah, I mean, so I've dealt with the California Coastal Commission as it related to, you know, golf course that we have in Rancho Palace Verdes.

00:31:47.000 But the best story perhaps I've had to hear about that was even during the transition period as I was getting to know Elon Musk quite well.

00:31:54.000 And he was literally telling me that in the time it took to get a permit to build a landing pad for one of his rockets, he was able to design, build, and test a rocket.

00:32:07.000 Like something that you send into space, like that, the design, building, engineering, and testing of a rocket was actually simpler than getting a permit to like land it there where you could actually make sense to domicile a company that generates billions in revenue. 0.99

00:32:25.000 I mean, that to me was like the epitome of stupidity. 0.95

00:32:29.000 And so if you could wipe out all of those people and put common sense people in there, like think of what that could do to the California economy. 1.00

00:32:35.000 100%.

00:32:36.000 I mean, that's what I'm really excited about.

00:32:37.000 And that's what I know, you know, that's why I think this is a good, you know, a good fit for me.

00:32:41.000 I've got the business experience, the government reform experience, and the media platform.

00:32:45.000 I think because you've got to tell the story about all of this.

00:32:47.000 You've got to expose, just like with Doge, you've got to show the examples of the insanity.

00:32:53.000 The other one is like, we built the Golden Gate Bridge in four years in the middle of the war.

00:32:59.000 You can't build a house that quickly now in California.

00:33:02.000 I mean, it's just insane.

00:33:03.000 Yeah.

00:33:04.000 Well, I mean, listen, I think America's also experienced, hey, if you actually have a business guy at the helm, you can get things done.

00:33:11.000 You're right.

00:33:12.000 Like the difference between a talker and a doer.

00:33:14.000 Trump was always a doer.

00:33:15.000 He could also talk.

00:33:16.000 But when you back it up with something, it's a big deal.

00:33:19.000 You've signed the front of a paycheck, not just the back.

00:33:22.000 When you've had people's livelihoods, their families' well-being dependent on your success as a business owner each and every day.

00:33:29.000 Maybe you can probably accomplish a lot more than a bureaucrat who's had none of that, who's just spent other people's money all day long.

00:33:35.000 And it's the attitude and the mindset.

00:33:37.000 Like my first job, much younger, but my first real job was project manager for a construction company, actually, in London.

00:33:46.000 And that job teaches you.

00:33:47.000 I mean, I think back on the skills that you need to actually make things happen in government, that job teaches you more, you know, more what you need to know because basically you've got to focus on results and outcomes.

00:33:59.000 I mean, I would show up on the construction sites.

00:34:01.000 I was only a kid.

00:34:02.000 It was a very fast-growing company.

00:34:03.000 I had an amazing opportunity.

00:34:05.000 I mean, this is back in the day.

00:34:06.000 I don't, you know, I talk to a lot of my supporters now, real estate guys and builders.

00:34:10.000 And it's not with the bits of paper now, but Gantt charts.

00:34:13.000 And have you built, you've got to ask the right questions.

00:34:16.000 Has that been finished?

00:34:17.000 If it hasn't, the next team can't do their work.

00:34:20.000 Why not?

00:34:21.000 Why did it go over buttons?

00:34:22.000 You know, you've got to keep and not accept things.

00:34:24.000 I know it well.

00:34:25.000 I used to do that myself.

00:34:27.000 Right.

00:34:28.000 It's a real job.

00:34:29.000 And look at the contrast.

00:34:31.000 I mean, going back to the fires, there's an amazing little moment that for me captured everything that's wrong with these people.

00:34:38.000 It was Karen Bass, the mayor of LA, and it was a few months into the, after the fire disaster.

00:34:43.000 Nothing was happening on the rebuilding.

00:34:45.000 And she did this press conference.

00:34:47.000 And the social media post read as follows.

00:34:50.000 I have just signed an executive order streamlining permitting so we can rebuild LA.

00:34:57.000 And I thought, okay, you know, good.

00:34:58.000 I mean, it's four months late.

00:35:00.000 She promised your father to his face she would do it immediately, but whatever, I'll take it.

00:35:04.000 But then I watched the clip of what she actually said.

00:35:08.000 Here's what she said.

00:35:09.000 I have just signed an executive order tasking agency heads with developing paths forward to streamlining permitting.

00:35:19.000 And you think that's it?

00:35:20.000 That's exactly the problem with these bureaucratic-minded people.

00:35:24.000 They think that a process or an annotat is the same as doing something.

00:35:28.000 Yeah, no, there's a big difference.

00:35:31.000 Steve, you said earlier that there's a lot of Republican voters in California.

00:35:34.000 That's definitely true.

00:35:35.000 I mean, especially once you get about three miles, you know, let's call it east of the coast.

00:35:39.000 What does the map look like?

00:35:41.000 Where can you make the most gains?

00:35:44.000 And what's it been like on the campaign trail as you're with those people?

00:35:49.000 Well, I'm getting a lot of, you know, I'm in the Central Valley a lot.

00:35:52.000 That's a very strong area for us.

00:35:55.000 And then, you know, you've got, I mean, San Diego, Orange County, these are, you know, they're becoming more purple, if you like, but there's a lot of strong Republican support there.

00:36:05.000 But I really believe that if you look at LA County, that's the biggest county in the country.

00:36:10.000 It's 10 million people.

00:36:11.000 Like nearly a quarter of the voters of California are in just that one county.

00:36:16.000 And that's where I think we've got a lot of opportunity if we have this very clear populist message with working class people in LA County who have just been completely destroyed by the gas price.

00:36:29.000 These are people who drive their trucks every day, you know, hours every day.

00:36:33.000 And the gas, I talk about $3 gas with them and they immediately can tell me the dollar amount that they will save every month, which, you know, some fancy Marin County laptop wielding work from home climate warrior just doesn't care about.

00:36:51.000 So I think that's really the opportunity.

00:36:53.000 And Republicans have never been there in California in that same way.

00:36:56.000 Just as, you know, to me, it's the equivalent of no tax on tips, that kind of thing, which is very powerful for working class people.

00:37:04.000 Yeah, I mean, Hollywood and the sort of industry is obviously very liberal, but their business and production is also suffering in California.

00:37:14.000 I mean, people are looking at your reasons to go elsewhere.

00:37:17.000 There's obviously, you know, the union guy putting up a set probably doesn't have the same view of the actors or the producers.

00:37:24.000 I mean, is there any real opportunity for engagement there?

00:37:27.000 Because again, if you vote to vote, it feels like there's a lot more of those guys than there are, you know, actors and producers.

00:37:33.000 Exactly.

00:37:33.000 It's the working class guys.

00:37:34.000 And also you've got, I mean, other, it's all those ridiculous regulations that make everything so expensive.

00:37:39.000 The climate regulations even affecting filming, like they're banning the kind of generators that they used to use on set to keep the light, literally keep the lights on because of climate.

00:37:49.000 Just crazy.

00:37:51.000 By the way, I've got to tell you a funny story about the gas thing because right now in California, so the gas price is around $5.

00:37:58.000 So I'm very conscious when I say $3 gas to people around the country, that's like big deal.

00:38:05.000 I think it was like $278 when I filled up my truck the other day.

00:38:08.000 It's not that bad.

00:38:09.000 In California, it's like a miracle.

00:38:11.000 Anyway, I was, yeah, and I was talking to the president, actually, and on the phone, even months ago, and he said to me, hey, Steve, I saw your thing for $3 gas.

00:38:22.000 He said, that's great.

00:38:24.000 Keep saying that.

00:38:24.000 You'll win the race just with that.

00:38:26.000 And then I said, thank you.

00:38:27.000 And he said, wait, what about 250?

00:38:30.000 Try 250.

00:38:31.000 I thought it's classic Trump.

00:38:33.000 I said, look, I'd love that.

00:38:34.000 I think three is going to be a stretch.

00:38:36.000 Maybe in the second term, we can do 250.

00:38:38.000 But it's a real point that this is one of the quickest ways we can help working class people.

00:38:44.000 I think that's where the energy of this campaign is going to come from.

00:38:47.000 And all these Democrats that are running, you know, there's apparently going to be, you know, there's new people getting in Swalwell.

00:38:53.000 Eric Swalwell is apparently going to run.

00:38:56.000 Rick Caruso, who's a billionaire there in LA.

00:38:59.000 You know, I just think that a Democrat, you know, they're not going to challenge the ideology, the climate ideology.

00:39:07.000 Of course not.

00:39:08.000 They've pushed it their whole careers.

00:39:09.000 They've been funded by that nonsense.

00:39:11.000 It's how they got elected in the first place.

00:39:13.000 Exactly.

00:39:14.000 There's plenty of moderate Democrats around America as voters, but they have no representation because you can't get elected into a national office or even a statewide office without the help of the radicals on the coasts.

00:39:29.000 You're not going to do that.

00:39:29.000 You're not going to get the Soros money needed to win some of these congressional races unless you're like, hey, defund the police and let's have some radical transgender DEI hire that was a formal social worker be the chief of police.

00:39:45.000 You just can't do it.

00:39:46.000 Exactly.

00:39:47.000 I mean, by the way, that's a great point, which is on top of all these disastrous kind of practical economic things going on, you've got all the woke stuff still.

00:39:59.000 The biological boys and girls sports, just the other week, that story in the LA gym where a woman was complaining because a biological man was in the locker room and she was the one who was kicked out.

00:40:13.000 I mean, the people that bitch about victim blaming a lot seem to really blame the victims. 0.90

00:40:18.000 I mean, imagine another time in history where that would be the outcome. 0.84

00:40:22.000 Imagine another civilization that could survive with that mentality.

00:40:29.000 I mean, it's nuts.

00:40:31.000 Yes, exactly.

00:40:32.000 And it's in the schools.

00:40:33.000 You know, the parents just, you know, completely, you know, again, you talk about working class voters and Latino voters, particularly, the kids coming back with kind of going on about all these different genders and they hate this stuff.

00:40:47.000 You know, they really do.

00:40:49.000 And I think if we just give them that glimpse that it doesn't have to be like this, that you don't have to put up with this nonsense, that we really can have something just normal in California.

00:41:00.000 I think people are really going to go for it.

00:41:02.000 I mean, the truth is that because we have this very messed up system in California, which this top two system, so you don't have a Republican primary, Democrat primary.

00:41:11.000 All the candidates are on the same ballot.

00:41:14.000 And so right now, I'm sort of navigating all of that because we've got to have a Republican in the top two.

00:41:20.000 There have been races in California where you end up with two Democrats in the final.

00:41:25.000 And so that just ends up being a race to the far left.

00:41:28.000 So that would be a disaster.

00:41:30.000 So we've talked about gas prices, but beyond that, what's the most important way life in this state will tangibly improve for the average family if you're governor?

00:41:40.000 Well, I think that it will be, well, I think it's the cost of living, honestly.

00:41:43.000 I mean, that's just one example, but you've got electric bills and food price.

00:41:48.000 I mean, all of these cost of living issues.

00:41:50.000 Remember, it's the most expensive in the country right now.

00:41:54.000 That is the most tangible thing because so much of that is driven by energy costs.

00:41:59.000 And that's something we can turn around very quickly.

00:42:02.000 Because as governor, you can reverse what Newsom's been doing, which is shutting down the California oil industry so that now we're importing oil from halfway around the world, including ludicrously from the Amazon rainforest.

00:42:14.000 Newsom's just running off to the Amazon preening in front of the global climate elite.

00:42:18.000 Meanwhile, because of his policies, California is buying half the oil that is drilled in the Amazon rainforest.

00:42:25.000 I mean, you can't make this stuff up.

00:42:27.000 So that is something that can be reversed pretty quickly to increase California oil production.

00:42:33.000 Yeah, you actually have a lot of oil production.

00:42:36.000 I know guys they're like, I'm an old guy.

00:42:37.000 I'm like, so where in Texas are you from?

00:42:39.000 Oklahoma.

00:42:39.000 They're like, no, I'm from California.

00:42:41.000 I'm like, wait, what?

00:42:42.000 You actually have a lot, like literally under your own ground.

00:42:45.000 You could just utilize that, but no, instead, they're going to deforest the Amazon, which I'm sure the average Libtard over there probably isn't a fan of. 0.99

00:42:51.000 I'm not even a fan of.

00:42:52.000 And yet they're doing it anyway because one is virtue signaling.

00:42:57.000 The other would actually create great, hardworking jobs for Americans.

00:43:04.000 It's nuts.

00:43:05.000 It's totally nuts.

00:43:06.000 And it leads to the high prices, but also the destruction of these drugs.

00:43:09.000 I mean, I'm in Bakersfield, Kern County, all around there, you know, the heart of our energy industry.

00:43:15.000 And they just, every time I go back there, and I spend a lot, I spent a lot of time there, and I talk about the number, you know, how many barrels and millions, you know, hundreds of thousands of barrels are being produced.

00:43:23.000 Used to be millions.

00:43:25.000 Now it's every time I go there, it's fewer and fewer.

00:43:27.000 And the percentage of what we use that we produce in state goes down and down and down.

00:43:32.000 Now we're down to nearly 80% imported.

00:43:36.000 But it used to be the other way around.

00:43:38.000 Most of what we used, and not that long ago, just a couple of decades ago.

00:43:42.000 But since this war on fossil fuels, they've just shut down the industry.

00:43:46.000 But we're not using much less, hardly any less, actually.

00:43:49.000 It's just that we're importing the number one source of oil for California now is Iraq.

00:43:55.000 Iraq, when it used to be California.

00:43:57.000 And they're bringing it across the ocean in these giant supertankers, spewing out carbon emissions.

00:44:02.000 It's so insane.

00:44:03.000 The other thing now, because they've reduced it so much, the refineries in California, which are built to refine California crude, are actually losing the business.

00:44:13.000 So they're shutting down.

00:44:15.000 So now we have to import finished refined gasoline.

00:44:18.000 Guess where that's coming from, among other places?

00:44:21.000 Turkey and India.

00:44:23.000 And guess where that's coming from?

00:44:25.000 Russia.

00:44:25.000 So Gavin Newsom, lecturing us all the time about Ukraine, ends up, because of his climate policies, partly funding Putin's war machine.

00:44:33.000 I mean, all of it is insane.

00:44:35.000 Yeah, I mean, the refinery shutting down is a really big deal.

00:44:38.000 I just, I know this text.

00:44:39.000 I know the oil industry fairly.

00:44:41.000 We haven't built a new refinery in America since 1977.

00:44:44.000 Wow, I didn't know that.

00:44:45.000 I was born on New Year's Eve of 1977, and I'm not a young man, unfortunately, anymore.

00:44:49.000 But I mean, think about that.

00:44:51.000 But we could actually drill crude in Texas where you can do it.

00:44:54.000 We ship it abroad to be refined and back to the United States.

00:44:58.000 Like rather than just building a refinery there or utilizing the existing refineries that we had, they're shutting them down, which, you know, again, if we've learned anything over the last few years, it's like we need supply chains.

00:45:10.000 We need to be able to do these things.

00:45:12.000 We can't be dependent, especially when, you know, whether it's Iraq or Iran or Venezuela, like, you know, not exactly our friends.

00:45:21.000 So, you know, if and when the crap inevitably goes down, like, are they going to be reliable partners with us or will China show up with a briefcase of cash and control their oil reserves for the rest of the eternity? 0.76

00:45:31.000 I mean, it doesn't make any sense. 0.98

00:45:33.000 Exactly right.

00:45:34.000 And I just think it's the same with, you know, every single thing.

00:45:38.000 California should be leading the charge.

00:45:41.000 And actually, what's so exciting to see from the federal administration is that attitude of let's do it in America.

00:45:47.000 Let's make it build it in America.

00:45:50.000 And actually, what's happening in California in relation to that is a perfect example of what's gone wrong.

00:45:56.000 So you're seeing now, because of what's happening from the federal government, from the Trump administration, massive investment in manufacturing, all these things.

00:46:04.000 Bay Area companies, California companies like Nvidia just announced at the White House a few months ago a huge investment in America, half a trillion dollars.

00:46:11.000 None of it in California, not a cent.

00:46:13.000 It's going to be a lot of sincerely.

00:46:16.000 By the way, you should get, if you build a new business or start a business in California, especially in the public markets, I mean, you should be liable to the shareholders for breaching your fiduciary duties because how can you?

00:46:30.000 You know, you're going to get sued to oblivion.

00:46:31.000 You know, you're going to get regulated to death.

00:46:33.000 I mean, you're minimizing shareholder value.

00:46:35.000 That's why the Elon example earlier about the California Coastal Commission, not letting them, being harder to literally get a permit to do a launch pad and a landing pad than to actually build a rocket and design one and engineer it is exactly example.

00:46:51.000 It's why everyone's fleeing.

00:46:52.000 Now, when that tax base flees, what's left?

00:46:55.000 Who's going to pay that?

00:46:57.000 I guess they're going to keep, they're going to tax their way into prosperity.

00:47:00.000 That hasn't exactly worked in all that many places.

00:47:03.000 All that's left, I mean, I've made this point.

00:47:05.000 Like it's like they won't be satisfied until the only people left are kind of government unions and far-left activists.

00:47:12.000 That seems to be their vision for what this state is.

00:47:15.000 Of course, they don't generate any wealth.

00:47:17.000 And so right now, you have Gavin Newsome bragging about how California is the fourth biggest economy in the world.

00:47:23.000 And that's literally true statistically right now because we have these big tech companies mainly generating huge amounts of revenue, but not creating jobs.

00:47:31.000 The jobs, the blue-collar jobs, and all the rest are going to other states because, like NVIDIA's investment in Texas and Arizona rather than in California, there's another one, Anthropic, just last week, and made a big announcement: 50 billion this time, 4,000 jobs, all in Texas, not in California, even though it's a California company.

00:47:48.000 Yeah, and by the way, a pretty damn liberal company.

00:47:52.000 Right.

00:47:53.000 It's not even like it's a conservative company saying, hey, we got to get the hell out of here.

00:47:56.000 I mean, these are fairly radical, you know, left AI organizations that are still leaving.

00:48:02.000 Exactly.

00:48:03.000 It's a great point.

00:48:04.000 And so that's right.

00:48:05.000 And the same with the Hollywood people.

00:48:07.000 They're all on the left.

00:48:08.000 They're sending the jobs to other states and even other countries.

00:48:12.000 And so, you know, this whole thing is just a total mess.

00:48:16.000 But I think that, you know, we, it's really interesting.

00:48:19.000 I remember, so Charlie, obviously, you know, you were so close to him.

00:48:22.000 And I was good friends with Charlie for many years.

00:48:25.000 And he was one of the first people I saw.

00:48:26.000 That's actually where we met, I think, the first time.

00:48:28.000 Was our turning point?

00:48:29.000 Exactly.

00:48:30.000 Yeah.

00:48:30.000 And he was really, what I loved about Charlie was he really loved California and he really saw this actually.

00:48:36.000 He said, look, we can't let it go down because it's kind of funny to joke about it and so on.

00:48:41.000 But actually, it's really important for the country that California doesn't completely fail.

00:48:46.000 And it's a beautiful, you know, at its best, has been a beautiful example.

00:48:50.000 I mean, I sometimes say California means to America what America means to the world.

00:48:55.000 It represents, or the best version of it, represents everything that's great about our country: energy and ambition and optimism and dynamism.

00:49:02.000 And that's been completely destroyed by Newsom and these people.

00:49:06.000 But we can get it back.

00:49:08.000 So, Steve, I got to ask you a little bit about just, you know, obviously we're focused on California and America, but I do have to ask you, since, you know, everyone can hear it in the accent, you're from the UK.

00:49:17.000 Yes.

00:49:19.000 I mean, speaking of lost causes, I mean, that's a scary, scary place.

00:49:24.000 Do you think that this election, you know, coming up, do you think that, you know, a guy like Nigel Farage, what can he do to win? 0.93

00:49:32.000 You know, when I see places, you know, people are thrown in jail for criticizing roving gangs of migrant rapists, literally raping children in the street.

00:49:41.000 And if you criticize them on social media, rightfully so, you actually have greater penalties, jail time, greater than those who are actually doing the raping, which, you know, I mean, it feels like a scene out of blazing saddles, like, but it's happening.

00:49:59.000 You know, what can happen in the UK?

00:50:01.000 Do they have a chance?

00:50:02.000 Can a guy like Nigel pull it off and win?

00:50:04.000 Or is it just so far gone?

00:50:06.000 It's really, it's so shocking.

00:50:09.000 It's actually unbelievable to see how badly it's fallen.

00:50:14.000 I mean, even, I mean, I left when was it 2012, so 13 years ago.

00:50:18.000 And the big thing, I mean, there's a couple of components to it.

00:50:22.000 There's an economic aspect, which is the country's just a mess economically.

00:50:26.000 I mean, we, and the big thing with Brexit, of course, I went back to the UK to campaign in favor of Brexit, and that's when I met Nigel and so on.

00:50:33.000 Of course, he was really leading all of that.

00:50:35.000 And then it won.

00:50:36.000 And no one, it was just the precursor to President Trump winning the first time around in 2016.

00:50:42.000 And yet they completely threw that away.

00:50:44.000 And the whole point of Brexit was to control the UK's borders, to get rid of the ridiculous regulation from Brussels and the EU bureaucracy.

00:50:53.000 None of that happened.

00:50:53.000 If that immigration went up, I mean, it's just, and that was conservative governments to their great shame.

00:51:00.000 And now you've got a socialist government elected, making it even worse.

00:51:05.000 And then on these social issues, the immigration that's out of control and the censorship and the total subversion of values of decency and morality. 1.00

00:51:15.000 I don't know.

00:51:15.000 Nigel, the problem is it's a two-party system and in a parliamentary system that's very entrenched.

00:51:22.000 So he got a huge support in the last election, his party.

00:51:26.000 But I think something like they got half the vote share.

00:51:30.000 as the Labor government that won, I don't know, 400 plus seats in Parliament.

00:51:35.000 And Nigel got about four for like half the votes.

00:51:38.000 And so I think that the problem is, how does he get the seats in parliament to match his support in the country?

00:51:44.000 He's leading in the polls very clearly.

00:51:47.000 So one theory is that there may be a merger with the Conservative Party and he becomes the leader.

00:51:54.000 That would definitely work.

00:51:55.000 I don't know.

00:51:56.000 I'm not there anymore.

00:51:57.000 I'm not really in touch with it at all.

00:51:59.000 But he's the only one that's out there with that kind of energy and clarity about how far gone things are and how things need to be turned around.

00:52:08.000 Yeah, listen, your focus is on California.

00:52:10.000 It's on America.

00:52:11.000 That makes a lot of sense.

00:52:12.000 But I look at these other places that, you know, really, I always say sort of prior to COVID, you said, hey, the UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, great democracies around the world. 0.98

00:52:22.000 Bullshit. 0.97

00:52:23.000 I know. 1.00

00:52:24.000 Bullshit. 1.00

00:52:24.000 Like so corrupted, so broken, so beholden, you know, basically to the globalist agenda that it was truly scary. 1.00

00:52:33.000 And maybe it took COVID and sort of the draconian response to get people to wake up to see how far they've all fallen.

00:52:40.000 I don't think we're that far behind, frankly.

00:52:42.000 But, you know, you figured there was a bunch of us kind of still together.

00:52:47.000 And it turns out we weren't.

00:52:50.000 And everyone else was so much more far gone than we would have believed.

00:52:54.000 I think during 2020 and that election and then prior, you know, post that, you know, COVID, you realized America was also struggling with a lot of the same problems.

00:53:03.000 But man, it's like you lose that.

00:53:05.000 We're the last sort of beacon of hope.

00:53:08.000 That's sort of scary.

00:53:10.000 I totally agree.

00:53:11.000 And funnily enough, it's something I say often when I'm on the road and I'm talking about what's, and I mention what's going on in England as an example of what not to allow happen here.

00:53:23.000 And I connected to Charlie and his fight for free speech, what he lived and fought and died for, and the threat to free speech.

00:53:30.000 And I tell that story of the comedian that got on a flight just the other week, a couple of months ago now, in Phoenix and was arrested at Heather Airport in London for telling jokes on the internet.

00:53:41.000 And I always make this joke, like they sent five armed police to arrest him at the airport.

00:53:45.000 I said, you're lucky you get five armed police anywhere in England for anything.

00:53:49.000 And they arrested him.

00:53:50.000 The police aren't even armed there, but this guy's obviously a real threat making jokes.

00:53:55.000 But then I say, and you think that couldn't happen here.

00:53:55.000 Exactly.

00:53:58.000 It is happening here.

00:53:59.000 The California legislature just passed a bill this session that was exactly that kind of censorship.

00:54:08.000 Exactly.

00:54:09.000 And so they do want to do that here.

00:54:11.000 And the line that I often use in these speeches, I say, I'm, among the other things I'm fighting for in this campaign, I'm fighting to make sure that this state that I love does not turn into the country I left.

00:54:23.000 We cannot let that happen.

00:54:25.000 I like that a lot, man.

00:54:27.000 I like that a lot.

00:54:28.000 And I agree because, you know, if you think it can't happen here, you haven't been paying attention, right?

00:54:33.000 I mean, you saw the cancellation.

00:54:34.000 You saw the consequence to being on our side of the table fighting for the basic things as sort of entrenched in our Bill of Rights from 1789.

00:54:42.000 Didn't matter.

00:54:43.000 There was no con, you could say whatever you wanted on the left.

00:54:46.000 If it was with the leftist talking points, there was no consequence.

00:54:48.000 You didn't lose your business.

00:54:49.000 You weren't boycotted.

00:54:50.000 You weren't censored.

00:54:51.000 You weren't banned.

00:54:52.000 You know, you don't think they're going to take it further?

00:54:54.000 I mean, if they could try to throw Trump in jail, if they can try to take away his businesses, that they can create such rhetoric that they actually tried to kill him.

00:55:02.000 Like, you don't think they'll do that to you?

00:55:04.000 Like, if they can do it to a guy with that platform, with the means to fight back, with that balance sheet to be able to push back, with that big a soapbox and that big a following, if they can do it to him, they can do it to anyone.

00:55:14.000 But more importantly, I think, Steve, if they will do it to him, who won't they do it to?

00:55:19.000 Everyone's a target, obviously.

00:55:21.000 Exactly.

00:55:21.000 And it is terrifying.

00:55:22.000 And they've got that combination, that's got a self-righteousness.

00:55:27.000 Oh, we're so right.

00:55:27.000 And therefore, anything is justified.

00:55:29.000 And the totalitarian impulse that they could, and that's that, that's in them anyway, because they hate freedom, they hate free enterprise, they hate free society.

00:55:37.000 They want to constantly boss you around, tell you what to do, run your business, you know, here in California from morning to night, what kind of house to live in, what kind of car to drive, you know, how to raise your kids, how to cook your food, no gas stoves, all of this nonsense.

00:55:52.000 You know, their impulse to totally take over is incredibly strong.

00:55:56.000 Well, Steve, lastly, you know, where can voters learn more and get involved to help you out on this?

00:56:01.000 Because again, it's sort of like this show.

00:56:03.000 It's like, these are not easy things to do, but people have to be part of that line of defense.

00:56:08.000 You can't be out there by yourself.

00:56:10.000 Donald Trump by himself, guess what?

00:56:13.000 They've seen it.

00:56:14.000 They'll try to censor him.

00:56:14.000 They'll take him out.

00:56:15.000 They'll shut him down.

00:56:16.000 Like, we need everyone to be a part of that movement.

00:56:18.000 How do people get involved?

00:56:19.000 Thank you.

00:56:20.000 That's exactly right.

00:56:20.000 They've got this big machine, the Democrat Industrial Complex here.

00:56:23.000 You've got the unions and all this.

00:56:25.000 We need to build our own grassroots machine.

00:56:27.000 SteveHiltonforgovernor.com.

00:56:29.000 F-O-R. 1.00

00:56:30.000 SteveHiltonforgovernor.com.

00:56:32.000 There's a get involved button.

00:56:34.000 We've got a great volunteer army taking shape.

00:56:37.000 We'd love everyone to be part of it.

00:56:39.000 Well, Steve, thank you very much, man.

00:56:40.000 I really appreciate it.

00:56:41.000 Wish you all the luck in the world.

00:56:42.000 I'll have to get out there and do some stuff with you because, you know, again, we don't have a choice.

00:56:46.000 We all have to be involved.

00:56:47.000 We all have to be part of it to be able to control our own destiny, which is something we haven't done all that well for a long time, but we cannot let it continue this way.

00:56:54.000 So thank you for having the guts to get out there and do that.

00:56:57.000 It really matters.

00:56:58.000 Thanks, man.

00:56:59.000 Good to see you.

00:57:00.000 Appreciate it.

00:57:00.000 Thanks a lot, Steve.

00:57:02.000 Guys, thanks so much for tuning in.

00:57:04.000 Again, remember to like, to share, to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

00:57:09.000 Check us out on Apple and Spotify podcasts.

00:57:11.000 Subscribe even if you're here as a regular on Rumble.

00:57:15.000 Send it to your friends if they get their podcast that way.

00:57:19.000 You guys are a part of that.

00:57:21.000 We have to get this out together.

00:57:22.000 The mainstream media is not going to help us do that.

00:57:25.000 Okay.

00:57:25.000 The establishment is not going to help us do that.

00:57:28.000 Do it yourselves.

00:57:30.000 Like, share, subscribe.

00:57:32.000 Just hit the like button right now and then send it to 10 of your friends.

00:57:35.000 It's so easy and simple, but we have to be a part of it.

00:57:38.000 Okay.

00:57:38.000 Apathy is going to get us nothing.

00:57:41.000 Also, make sure to check out our incredible sponsors down below and in the video description.

00:57:45.000 Okay.

00:57:46.000 They have the guts to support this kind of programming to push it out there.

00:57:49.000 That's not easy.

00:57:50.000 They're on our side.

00:57:52.000 Show them some love.

00:57:53.000 Thanks a lot, guys.

Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - November 20, 2025

Can California be Golden Again? Interview with Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton | TRIGGERED Ep.293

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