Valuetainment - May 16, 2026


＂$10.9 Million In DARK Money＂ - Texas AG TORCHES The Swamp Protecting John Cornyn


Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

196.16023

Word count

4,012

Sentence count

281


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
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00:00:30.000 You are currently in one of the nastiest races out there.
00:00:33.220 They're calling it the nastiest Senate race, primary, in the history of Texas.
00:00:37.680 You're going against the current sitting Senator John Cornyn, who has been there since, I think, 2002.
00:00:44.240 And he's been in politics for 40-plus years, 42, 43 years.
00:00:48.520 So he's been a senator for 24 years.
00:00:50.760 You're going up against him.
00:00:52.060 The numbers that I look at here on the race is he is raised 17 times you have raised.
00:00:59.660 based on the money that you look at everywhere.
00:01:03.440 They're bragging about it, right, that they've raised 17 times you.
00:01:06.680 And then whoever wins between the two of you will be facing James Tallarico,
00:01:11.900 which yesterday Barack Obama was there helping him campaign with him, right?
00:01:15.440 And we know Tallarico first quarter raised, I don't know, 27 million bucks,
00:01:19.540 I think three times what Cornyn raised in the first quarter
00:01:22.720 and 12 times what you raised in the first quarter.
00:01:25.520 And the plus minus is the market says that if you face him, he's up eight.
00:01:32.120 But if Cornyn, yeah, he's up eight.
00:01:34.140 But if Cornyn faces him, he's up seven, which means it's a tight race between you and John Cornyn.
00:01:41.300 So where is it at now?
00:01:43.740 The nasty ads are everywhere.
00:01:45.460 Everybody in the world is seeing it.
00:01:47.240 Where is it at now?
00:01:47.940 What is the biggest difference?
00:01:49.120 If you were to make the case to Americans watching this, what is the biggest difference between Senator John Cornyn,
00:01:54.760 who's sitting there right now versus yourself.
00:01:57.500 So John's running for a fifth term,
00:01:59.440 which would be 30 years in the Senate,
00:02:00.880 which no one's ever done in Texas history.
00:02:04.040 Since we've become part of the union in 1845,
00:02:06.820 Sam Houston had this seat.
00:02:08.860 No one's running for five terms.
00:02:11.060 It's time for a chance.
00:02:12.380 This guy, I've been traveling since April the 8th
00:02:15.580 when I announced a year or two months ago.
00:02:18.160 And I've asked every single person,
00:02:20.340 every single meeting,
00:02:21.200 whether it's one person or thousands,
00:02:22.800 Can you name one good accomplishment of John Cornyn, not just in his 24 years in the Senate, but let's take the whole 42 years where he's been Attorney General, he's been on the Supreme Court, he's been a district judge.
00:02:33.580 Give me one good thing, one good accomplishment.
00:02:36.280 And guess what?
00:02:37.140 No one has ever been able to answer that question.
00:02:39.440 On the other hand, I've told people, John can take the two weeks.
00:02:43.360 Pick any two weeks I've been Attorney General other than the weeks of Christmas and Thanksgiving.
00:02:48.140 And I will have accomplished more for the state of Texas in two weeks.
00:02:52.280 any two weeks than he's done in 42 years and that is that's the problem that's why you see
00:02:58.120 john cornyn campaign the way he is he that's why he needs so much money from dc that's why he has
00:03:03.640 to be so nasty he doesn't have anything to campaign on other than his made-up positions
00:03:09.100 that he somehow loves trauma and somehow it's for the border wall all the stuff that he's been
00:03:13.280 against his whole career and part of my mission is to educate people i don't have the same amount
00:03:17.920 money because the rules are rigged
00:03:19.860 for incumbents
00:03:21.780 and against challengers, so I'm
00:03:23.840 very limited on what I'm allowed to raise.
00:03:25.980 Incumbents have basically unlimited
00:03:27.760 fundraising, so that's why you can raise so much more
00:03:29.860 money, and they go to donors all over
00:03:31.820 the country and tell them they're going to use it
00:03:33.300 against Democrats, and then they spend it against people like me.
00:03:35.900 So that's the difference in funding.
00:03:37.800 The rules are rigged, and if you look at the last
00:03:39.420 40 years,
00:03:41.640 there's only been two that I know of,
00:03:43.480 two incumbents, senators, Senate and Democrat,
00:03:45.600 or Republicans, and lost.
00:03:47.520 And it's one was against the self-runner, and the other was in a convention state in Utah.
00:03:52.800 It just doesn't happen when they rig the rules.
00:03:54.960 But we're going to win this race, and I think in less than two weeks, we're going to see those results.
00:04:00.080 And they're going to be great.
00:04:00.760 You know, one of the things everybody's talking about is when and who the president's going to be endorsing,
00:04:09.280 because he hasn't said anything yet.
00:04:11.280 And Kalshi and other markets are saying that there may be a possibility he doesn't endorse anybody.
00:04:18.440 And he kind of sits this one out.
00:04:20.200 And so some people are questioning, saying, why wouldn't he do that?
00:04:22.960 Because in the past, you know, the president has had issues with Cornyn because of Cornyn's J6 position that he had, if I'm not mistaken.
00:04:32.860 Trump blasted Cornyn on Truth Social as weak, ineffective and very bad for the Republican Party.
00:04:38.460 This is right during the J6 time that that was taking place.
00:04:41.980 Then we saw Cornyn got booed at the 2022 Texas Republican State Convention over his gun bill,
00:04:47.900 which was controversial at the time when he took a certain position on voting bipartisan for the Safer Communities Act,
00:04:54.640 I believe it was, of Uvalde in 2022.
00:04:57.600 And then, you know, some of the study voted for on Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, the aid,
00:05:02.360 and you frame it more as wasting money abroad while Texas suffers.
00:05:05.780 So your position is a different position.
00:05:07.300 But if that's the case, is there a possibility that the president may come out and endorse you over Cornyn or just sit this one out?
00:05:15.020 Look, I don't want to ever predict what President Trump's going to do.
00:05:18.940 All I can tell you is I've been a supporter of his board since he ran in 2016.
00:05:24.260 Of course, Donald Trump's not supported by John Cornyn in 2016.
00:05:28.060 And then in 2024, he said that Trump's time has passed.
00:05:31.840 He insinuated that Donald Trump was guilty of crimes.
00:05:34.780 And I was, of course, at Mar-a-Lago, which is where I saw you last time.
00:05:38.080 I was there for his announcement.
00:05:39.360 There were only two politicians there.
00:05:41.160 Because remember, back then, everybody thought Sanders was the guy and Trump was in trouble
00:05:45.260 illegally.
00:05:46.240 But I showed up with Troy Nelson, the congressman from Texas, and there weren't other politicians
00:05:50.600 there.
00:05:50.940 So I stuck with Donald Trump.
00:05:52.580 I went to his trial.
00:05:53.380 I was the first one to show up at one of his trials.
00:05:55.560 And, of course, I was the one that followed the election challenges after he lost to Joe
00:06:00.820 Biden.
00:06:01.080 So I've been there with him from the beginning.
00:06:02.840 I can't predict what he's going to do.
00:06:04.380 All I can tell you is I'm a fan of Donald Trump,
00:06:07.740 and we've had a good relationship over the years.
00:06:09.760 Yeah, it's almost as if these personal attacks they're making at you
00:06:14.540 with your marriage, with all the stuff that's public,
00:06:19.500 because I think I had no idea your wife was also a state senator in Texas,
00:06:24.200 if I'm not mistaken.
00:06:25.900 That's pretty wild.
00:06:26.900 Both of you senators in the state of Texas, you're federal, she's state.
00:06:31.180 I mean, not federal, you're AG.
00:06:32.840 she's state senator and so they started attacking you and she's kind of sit this one out it's an
00:06:37.400 interesting thing on how you know sometimes marriage doesn't work out the president's been
00:06:40.680 through it a couple times so it's not like he uh doesn't know and so i i almost think i wonder if
00:06:45.760 these personal attacks that happen does it go against cornyn where cornyn sits there and says
00:06:52.820 hey who am i going to get i don't know how it's going to work out but how do you handle it yourself
00:06:56.740 you've been in this game for a while attacks are a normal thing you're a lawyer your skin has got
00:07:00.640 to be thick you know you're not going to be able to do what you do without having thick skin how
00:07:04.080 much thick skin do you need to have for you to run for a race like this knowing they're blasting
00:07:09.080 your personal life look i've never seen anybody as nasty as john corn it's pretty pathetic for
00:07:14.920 a sitting u.s senator who's been in office for 42 years but that's the line of attack you know
00:07:20.040 when i ran as incumbent for attorney general twice i talked about me and what i had accomplished i
00:07:25.280 talked about what i wanted to do i didn't even talk about my opponents john is so weak he doesn't
00:07:30.160 have anything good to sell us. And he doesn't want to talk about his record because, as you said,
00:07:34.780 on the Second Amendment, he sided with Joe Biden. He sided with Joe Biden on bringing Afghan
00:07:39.160 refugees here without vetting them. He fought Donald Trump on the border wall. Of course,
00:07:44.140 he now claims he didn't, but I've got clips of him, you know, 30, 20 clips of him saying
00:07:48.260 he opposes the border wall. He fought for amnesty. He's been overseeing a budget deficit since he
00:07:53.860 got there from the time of George Washington until he got there, 6.2 trillion. What is it,
00:07:58.580 38, 39 short, it's hard to even keep track of. But he has not represented
00:08:02.460 Texas values. He has not fought for us. And I'm like, look, we've got a great
00:08:06.400 senator, Ted Cruz. Let's have two instead of just one that's basically canceling Ted Cruz
00:08:10.540 out. So it's a pretty easy argument for me to make. The problem is
00:08:13.940 he spends a lot of money lying about his record and lying about me. And the personal stuff,
00:08:18.580 look, you can say whatever you want. I've been attacked. I've gone through a lot of legal issues
00:08:22.380 just like Donald Trump. I've won all of those, but he brings them back up like
00:08:26.360 You know, he was a judge. He knows that you're you shouldn't be innocent until proven guilty.
00:08:30.200 And of course, they never prove me guilty, just like they never proved John Donald Trump guilty.
00:08:34.540 Because guess what? We didn't do it. When you're fighting, you get attacked.
00:08:38.100 And John never fights. So he never gets attacked.
00:08:41.140 Here's maybe a tough question to ask, but I wonder what you would say about this.
00:08:46.960 So I remember watching an interview when the president was running.
00:08:51.740 They went and sat down with Ivana and they spoke to Ivana.
00:08:54.920 And Ivana is President Trump's ex-wife, and we know the stories, Ivana, Marla, you know, leading to Melania now, very public.
00:09:02.340 The president handled it like a pro and moved on, and, you know, he's become a two-term president.
00:09:07.200 They were trying to get negative things to be said by Ivana about the president, and she said nothing negative.
00:09:14.720 If an interview was done today with Senator Angela, I believe, Paxton, what would she say about supporting you becoming the senator of state of Texas?
00:09:27.460 Look, I have no idea. We're in the middle of all of that right now.
00:09:31.460 So it's a sensitive time for me.
00:09:33.120 The reason I don't talk is that I have four amazing children, 33-year-old son, 31-year-old daughter, 29-year-old daughter, 27-year-old daughter.
00:09:43.300 and they're all they'll they have six grandchildren so my my goal is to protect them and so i don't
00:09:49.900 talk about it because i don't want to disparage anybody i want to keep that private because i
00:09:55.060 respect them and even if i have disagreements with um with with angela i don't want to air
00:10:02.200 any of that in public because i don't really want to damage her either so my goal is to protect
00:10:06.180 everybody and uh you know running for office is a difficult thing and if it really does come to
00:10:11.700 but down to personal things versus performance.
00:10:14.320 I mean, I don't know John Coren's marriage.
00:10:15.880 I don't know what really happens.
00:10:17.500 I don't know the real story.
00:10:19.220 I don't really even know the real story with Donald Trump.
00:10:21.280 I mean, we don't know what happens behind closed doors and personal relationships.
00:10:25.260 And just because maybe one person talks about it and another doesn't,
00:10:28.960 well, we may never know what the truth is.
00:10:30.820 And I think part of that is because people like me don't want to expose their children
00:10:35.860 and their grandchildren because once it's said, it's out there and the damage is done.
00:10:40.780 I would rather not win than do harm to any of my family.
00:10:45.900 I respect that.
00:10:47.000 Wow, that's a pretty powerful statement to be made.
00:10:48.980 You would rather not win than harm the relationship with your kids.
00:10:52.700 That says a lot about your character and the relationship with the kids.
00:10:55.660 I've got four kids as well.
00:10:56.700 I've got a lot of respect for that comment.
00:10:58.100 So endorsements, when I look at endorsements of who you've gotten
00:11:01.380 and who he's gotten, and I don't know what this means in a marketplace,
00:11:03.680 but nowadays people kind of want to know who endorsed too.
00:11:06.500 When I look at your list, I have CPAC.
00:11:08.820 I see Turning Point Action, which is pretty interesting that the TPUSA Turning Point Action has endorsed you.
00:11:16.860 We have Bannon and a few other people, okay, about 250 Texas leaders total.
00:11:21.220 When we look at him, we'll see Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
00:11:25.080 We see Governor Rick Perry.
00:11:27.380 We see Newt Gingrich.
00:11:28.900 We see AIPAC.
00:11:30.260 We see U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
00:11:33.120 And we even see somewhere where he gave, I think, $5,000.
00:11:36.160 What is it?
00:11:36.620 Bush gave $5,000, the President Bush gave $5,000 to him, Karl Rove gave $15,000 to him,
00:11:43.180 Schwarzman gave a million, John Now gave $3.9 million, there's even a pack that we can't
00:11:49.340 even know who the money is in there, I think it's $10.8 million, $10.9 million that was
00:11:53.660 in that pack that was given as well.
00:11:55.980 So how much do you think endorsements impact at this phase of the game?
00:12:00.500 you know we all try to get him but the reality is you know there's one endorsement really matters
00:12:07.100 if the other ones don't matter that much i mean they're important texans i'm not discounting back
00:12:14.440 they're they're important but i think you know voters are looking at performance and they're
00:12:18.560 looking at always tell them don't look at the rhetoric look at the record and the performance
00:12:22.760 is not there which i'm important if you can tell me where it's at i'd love to i'd love to know
00:12:26.520 I even challenged him over the Save America Act and said, just pass that, just pass that.
00:12:31.140 It's the most important legislation that I know about in maybe the last several decades to protect our elections so that we can have fair elections and not lose this country over cheating all these Democratic states.
00:12:41.120 And yet I said, look, I'll consider dropping out if you will just pass the Save America Act.
00:12:45.540 Instead, John goes on vacation for three out of four last four weeks and leaves the most important bill that may decide the future of whether we have a free country and free and fair elections.
00:12:58.720 And he doesn't get it done.
00:13:00.180 And that's I was giving him one more chance after talking to 42 years.
00:13:04.480 Please deliver on something and deliver on this now.
00:13:08.040 And I consider it a good job.
00:13:09.380 And guess what?
00:13:10.340 They go on vacation.
00:13:11.040 He doesn't get it done, just like everything in the past with him.
00:13:15.300 And that's all I've asked for.
00:13:16.920 Deliver on things that matter to this country, and he has not done it.
00:13:22.100 Yeah, so how recent was this?
00:13:25.940 What's that?
00:13:26.620 How recent was this that he left for vacation?
00:13:28.780 Is this a recent event?
00:13:30.340 Yeah, like in the last month.
00:13:31.580 If you look at the last month, they've been on vacation two to three of those four weeks.
00:13:37.440 So, yeah, they had it for President Trump.
00:13:40.040 In the State of the Union, I was there.
00:13:41.680 I watched him say, this is the most important light I know.
00:13:44.880 And they did nothing with it.
00:13:46.100 And then I came out and said, you know what?
00:13:47.620 If they'll get something done, I'll consider getting out.
00:13:49.680 Because this is so important to the future of the country that it's more important than my race.
00:13:54.700 It's the most important thing they can pass.
00:13:57.300 And they can't get it done.
00:13:58.360 We have 53 Republicans, and we can't get it done with 53 Republicans.
00:14:01.480 But the House can get it done with less of a margin.
00:14:04.000 What is wrong with the Senate?
00:14:05.160 We need help.
00:14:05.940 We need somebody to go up there and fight.
00:14:07.740 So now let's go to the next phase.
00:14:09.860 Because the reality of it is, whoever wins between the two of you,
00:14:12.940 you guys are going against a formidable candidate that's got Obama campaigning for him.
00:14:16.600 This is a clip from yesterday of Obama visiting and helping Tallarico.
00:14:20.720 Is this it, Rob?
00:14:21.460 Go for it.
00:14:23.240 Can you put audio?
00:14:24.300 Good to see you.
00:14:25.340 Hey, people.
00:14:26.100 I hear the tacos here are okay.
00:14:27.440 They're amazing.
00:14:28.020 They're not bad.
00:14:28.580 That's the word on the street.
00:14:30.080 Lilia, this is your spot.
00:14:31.400 This is your joint.
00:14:32.440 So what I'm thinking is, got to get the street taco.
00:14:35.240 I need maybe like a holy moly.
00:14:37.200 I'll have a street taco.
00:14:38.580 No, I need.
00:14:39.080 I think I know your order.
00:14:40.340 Yeah, breakfast tacos.
00:14:41.400 Potato, egg and cheese.
00:14:42.160 That's right.
00:14:42.620 I come here a lot, so she does.
00:14:44.940 Oh, you got something there.
00:14:46.420 No, I'm teasing, I'm teasing.
00:14:48.280 This looks like a table of troublemakers right here.
00:14:51.460 Who's this cutie?
00:14:53.060 This is my baby niece, Jane.
00:14:54.420 Hey, you.
00:14:55.520 And what's my name?
00:14:58.600 That's me.
00:14:59.880 She's been saying Barack Obama, so she's almost got it.
00:15:02.520 Listen, that's better than us, dude.
00:15:04.980 That's a pretty good campaign video
00:15:08.200 When you're seeing on one end, you guys are going to have to go up against this guy who's got the biggest power player on the left already campaigning for him.
00:15:17.020 So whether it's you or whether it's Senator Cornyn, both of you guys have this guy ahead of you.
00:15:24.060 So when you see something like this with Tallarico, who do you think measures better against him, you or Senator Cornyn?
00:15:32.280 first of all i'm excited to see barack obama campaigning for him because barack obama never
00:15:38.080 did really well in texas if you look at his numbers they were not very good here so
00:15:42.100 look i hope that barack obama here is here every day campaigning for talarico and the answer to
00:15:47.880 your question is i have no doubt i'll do better i mean the polling is you can see polling where
00:15:52.280 sometimes i do a little better that the one you talked about he did one point better most polls
00:15:57.360 i've seen we do about the same but i really think i have a better chance of energizing voters
00:16:01.740 John Cornish doesn't have energy.
00:16:03.000 He doesn't campaign.
00:16:03.920 He doesn't even have the energy to stand up when he's at the State of the Union address every time with the other senators.
00:16:09.480 He just doesn't have the energy.
00:16:11.160 You can see it.
00:16:12.380 And in the last year and two months, I've been on the road everywhere.
00:16:16.660 He has shown up at two events, and otherwise, and those were both for the president.
00:16:21.820 And otherwise, I don't see him out campaigning.
00:16:24.360 He doesn't do grassroots events.
00:16:25.640 I will be out there working really hard to highlight the fact that James Tallarico is identified with Barack Obama and his policies.
00:16:34.940 Guess what? Once Texans know that and they know what Tallarico actually believes, very confident that he might do well in California.
00:16:43.020 He might be really great in Illinois or New York. Texas is not his place.
00:16:47.780 What do you think? Why is he such a big threat? I mean, he's been on podcasts. He did great with Rogan.
00:16:53.860 And he went on there. People started saying, we like this guy because maybe he's a Christian.
00:16:58.760 Maybe he's a center or left. We can trust a guy like this.
00:17:01.840 And he's smooth. He talks about his values.
00:17:04.280 He has a little bit of that Obama-esque energy to him as well.
00:17:07.740 Why is he such a big threat, Ken?
00:17:10.420 Look, this is about personality. It's not about actually what he believes.
00:17:15.500 Once we know what he believes, Texans care about what people believe.
00:17:18.620 Look, we are all drawn to people we like.
00:17:22.180 And I think that's the reason that Barack Obama was successful as president.
00:17:26.600 I think that's why Bill Clinton was.
00:17:27.880 I think that's why George Bush was.
00:17:29.400 People like him.
00:17:30.240 They like Donald Trump.
00:17:32.180 You have to have some personality.
00:17:33.700 I don't know James Salarito.
00:17:35.320 I know that, one, he's young and he has no accomplishments in the legislature to speak
00:17:40.100 of.
00:17:40.300 He has no accomplishments to run for this position.
00:17:43.040 And I know that his positions are very strange and they don't fit Texas values.
00:17:46.900 And just because he says he's a pastor, I would argue that his positions are very anti-Christian.
00:17:52.440 They're not. They don't. Once people understand it, just because he says something doesn't mean it is true.
00:17:59.720 Listen to what he actually says. It's very antithetical to being a Christian pastor.
00:18:05.240 It's very antithetical to the values of Texas. His values don't fit here at all.
00:18:09.620 Can you be specific? What values like what? Give me two two examples of what he said that doesn't match the Texas values.
00:18:16.340 Well, I mean, claiming that God is non-binary is a very strange thing.
00:18:20.780 That's a big one.
00:18:22.740 Claiming that somehow, I don't exactly know how I made this work,
00:18:26.160 but that Mary's the birth of Jesus, you're married,
00:18:29.420 so that we shouldn't be against abortion.
00:18:32.140 And that, you know, they asked him what he thinks about in his spare time,
00:18:35.120 and he said, I think about transgender children.
00:18:36.880 I think that's a very strange thing to say.
00:18:39.620 And I don't think it, it just kind of blows my mind
00:18:42.460 that that's actually what you think about.
00:18:44.080 And he actually did say that. That's a pretty wild clip. That's a pretty wild clip to say something like that. What do you think about free time? Do you think that? I mean, it's very strange. Is this it? Yeah, this is it. We saw this clip. Go ahead, Rob.
00:18:58.900 something that you love that's not family or friends?
00:19:04.160 I love, I'm just saying this because it's on my mind,
00:19:08.060 the trans children who showed up yesterday at the state capitol
00:19:12.740 to advocate for their humanity.
00:19:14.760 They shouldn't have to, but it was an inspiration to watch.
00:19:18.920 You don't think that's motivational?
00:19:20.540 That doesn't inspire you to get out of bed and say,
00:19:22.380 I want this guy as my senator in Texas?
00:19:25.140 Look, if Texas is ready for that, we're done.
00:19:29.240 We have gone progressive across the country.
00:19:32.020 We are done.
00:19:33.100 We are over.
00:19:34.380 We're done.
00:19:36.500 Yeah, we can't lose Texas.
00:19:38.440 So it'll be interesting to see what will happen with this fight.
00:19:42.180 One thing about politics is once you get in,
00:19:44.800 you have to be ready to wrestle with everybody.
00:19:47.920 When we set out to create a shoe that blends comfort, function, and luxury,
00:19:53.820 We had the choice to make it fast.
00:19:56.100 We had the choice to make it cheap.
00:19:58.080 We chose neither.
00:19:59.720 Instead, we chose Tuscaneiro.
00:20:02.040 We chose true Italian craftsmanship.
00:20:04.620 Each pair touched by 50 skilled hands.
00:20:07.460 We chose patience, spending two years perfecting every detail.
00:20:10.920 And we chose the finest quality at every step.
00:20:14.960 Introducing the Future Looks Bright collection.
00:20:18.640 Not rushed, not disposable, not ordinary.
00:20:22.160 Rather intentional, luxurious, timeless.