00:01:27.640this was President Trump's idea. I think it's a terrific idea. It's a good chance to make the
00:01:32.240case to the voters. We're 56 days out from Election Day, and this is the most consequential
00:01:38.460midterm election, I think, of our lifetimes. And this convention, we're going to have two days,
00:01:43.800Wednesday and Thursday, of speakers that are going to lay out the stakes of this election,
00:01:49.200both the policy victories that we've had as Republicans in the last two years.
00:01:54.160I believe under President Trump and a Republican House and Senate we have had more conservative
00:01:59.160victories in the last two years than any period since you and I have been alive and I think
00:02:04.320look if you're terminally online if you just listen to Twitter all day long you think nothing
00:02:08.840has happened there have been no victories well I hope this convention lays out the case because
00:02:12.900we've accomplished an enormous amount including securing the border passing the biggest tax cut
00:02:17.080in history rebuilding the military passing the biggest school choice program in history passing
00:02:21.600in the Trump accounts. These are huge victories, and winning in the midterms is how we continue
00:02:28.740to get more and more victories for the American people. But secondly, every election is about a
00:02:34.740choice. It's about, number one, the path if our side prevails, but it's number two, the path if
00:02:41.060the Democrats prevail. And in an ordinary cycle, the Democrats prevailing is not good for the
00:02:46.300country. Their policies, I think, are harmful. I think most listeners of verdict agree to that.
00:02:52.460But now, especially with the radicalism that is in the Democrat Party, with the Green-Red
00:02:58.660Alliance as the Islamists and the Marxists are coming together and are in the midst of what is
00:03:03.700essentially a hostile takeover of the Democrat Party, their winning in the midterms is all the0.65
00:03:10.480more consequential, and I hope that this convention makes that case plain for everyone watching,
00:03:16.640and I hope everyone does watch. Yeah, it's going to be really interesting. We're going to break
00:03:21.040down what those issues are that we've got to talk about in just a moment. If you're going to change
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00:04:17.680that's compassion.com center you're about to be on your way to dallas as well i can tell you the
00:04:25.120energy here is real i was flying in people were excited on the plane they were coming in for
00:04:30.220this midterm convention i went over did some tv in the convention hall uh you could feel the buzz
00:04:35.780already it does have the feel and the look of a presidential uh election year convention you and
00:04:42.280i've been to countless conventions this is i think going to be virtually no different if you're in
00:04:47.960the room but the important part is the president has to make the case and so do the other speakers
00:04:54.360You're speaking on Thursday, for example, that this election is a compare and contrast of the Democratic Socialists of America, what the Democratic Party has become, higher taxes, taking away your right to do what you want to do, and freedom in private sector and business and oil and gas, and what the Democrats want to do, which is a 180 from that.
00:05:16.680This case, though, Senator, has to be sold, I think, very well to the American people for it to be effective.
00:05:22.220Yeah, no, I think that's exactly right. And I hope the president does a very, very focused speech laying out the consequences of each potential outcome of this election, focusing on the policy victories that we've had together and also focused on the threat from the Democrats because the threat is real.
00:05:41.240It is extreme. That's certainly what my remarks are going to focus on. And as you said, I'm addressing the convention Thursday, right about five o'clock Texas time, about six o'clock East Coast time.
00:05:52.520And I'm going to focus on the fundamental choice that is before Americans.
00:05:56.620I will say there's one aspect in which this is different from a typical convention every four years, which is conventions usually move public opinion and they move it significantly because the networks all devote prime time, several hours to the convention for typically several nights during each convention.
00:06:17.820And that has an effect. That's a lot of coverage. It is not clear how much coverage this midterm convention is going to get. I'm certain Fox News is going to cover it. I'm certain Newsmax is going to cover it. But I think there's a very good chance that CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS give it really scant coverage.
00:06:37.440I hope they don't, and I don't want to be too cynical, but I think they don't want the voters to vote for Republicans.
00:06:51.140They want Donald Trump to have a loss, and I think that by denying the airwaves, that will be one way that they can advance it.
00:06:58.520I hope I'm wrong, and we will find out today and tomorrow.
00:07:03.760But but I will say if that's the case, then it is particularly incumbent on all of us to share the content, particularly the good and worthwhile content from the conference, because if it's look, even if it's just on on Fox and Newsmax, one of the big things we need to do is just turn out Republicans right now.
00:07:22.180Yeah. Republicans, I think, are in many respects disunited and conservatives are unhappy about some things. Moderates are unhappy about other things. And there's time for squabbling. There's time for primaries. There's time for disagreements. This is not that time. We are in the crunch and we need everyone to be united.
00:07:42.500So just talking to Republicans and to right-leading independents is valuable, but it's also valuable if the networks do effectively a boycott on communication.
00:07:53.060Then I think using social media, sharing key excerpts with other folks is going to be really important.
00:08:01.800It is, and you mentioned the networks.
00:08:04.160It's very funny because I was in there today doing TV, and I noticed that from a convention standpoint, the Fox News stage and Newsmax seemed very large.
00:08:14.600You did see that CNN had a decent-sized suite that they looked like they had all their equipment.
00:08:19.440But the network seemed smaller than usual to me, at least.
00:08:23.460And I think that goes back to what you're saying.
00:08:25.680they do the last thing they want to do is give the president prime time uh air time to go out
00:08:32.260there and remind the american people what he's done and let's go through that list if i'm
00:08:36.720looking at a a come out of this midterm convention with an a plus it's got to go back to the it's0.73
00:08:43.960the economy stupid right it's the famous line in politics but it's so very true and that is i think0.53
00:08:50.360the president has to remind people of what your taxes would look like if democrats had their way0.95
00:08:55.320They vote against the largest tax cut in my lifetime.
00:08:59.320They vote against the big, beautiful bill.
00:09:01.040They vote against no tax on tip, no tax on overtime.
00:09:04.400That is what this has got to get down to is, hey, we understand, by the way, the pain at the pump right now.
00:14:28.880They're spending a lot of time having to, I guess, defend what they are now.
00:14:34.440And a lot of people, I think, are having a hard time figuring out what that is.
00:14:37.580Because one moment you've got guys that are out there saying that they think capitalism is a disease and we should destroy it.
00:14:43.260And the next one's like, oh, I didn't really mean that, referring to, you know, Mandani and then some of these other guys, Al-Said, that are out there.
00:14:50.120It is making me laugh that their policy right now is let's try not to be as extreme as we really are and dial it down.
00:14:58.900That's a weird strategy going into a midterm as well.
00:15:02.820Well, that's right, and part of it is because their nominees are really radical.
00:15:07.920They're radical and scary, and so the Democrat spinmasters are trying to do everything they can to cover up from their record, and the media is too.
00:15:15.700I want you to listen to this exchange I had Tuesday night with Caitlin Collins talking
00:15:20.760about James Tallarico, and Tallarico tries very hard to come across as a nice guy, as
00:15:29.660affable, as not scary, and yet his record, I got to say, more and more keeps breaking
00:17:51.180He is a fellow traveler with the DSA radicals in the Democrat Party.
00:17:56.420Look, James Tallarico is someone who ran a vegan campaign because he believes meat is destroying the world.
00:18:03.860Now, that would be a great campaign in Berkeley, California, but it's not Texas.
00:18:07.940He's not a democratic socialist, but you say that. Tell me. Tell me then. What is it? What is dismantling capitalism mean?
00:18:14.940But these are his own words. Yeah, I know. CNN uncovered those words, actually.
00:18:19.800But now you're trying to help him back away from him because he's recognizing what his campaign has said about it.
00:18:26.100We've also decided he's running away from his record. That doesn't mean that's not what he believes.
00:18:30.300I mean, Senator, I love that back and forth there because it goes back to that core dismantling capitalism.
00:18:36.000it's so funny like yeah cnn found the words and you're absolutely right they're trying to help
00:18:40.420those words go away at the same time you know it really is funny cnn saying no no no he's not a
00:18:45.820socialist he's not a socialist i just asked the question well what does it mean to dismantle
00:18:50.160capitalism and his campaign put out a statement oh never mind the words he said and understand
00:18:55.480these words he was on a zoom call with all these left-wing radicals they're activists from the
00:19:00.500sierra club this was just six years ago and he was being very honest what he believes
00:19:04.200and CNN is trying to whitewash that. But I'll tell you, new news is broken about
00:19:09.840Tallarico's extreme record. So for example, I talked about law and order and I think law and
00:19:15.480order should be a major issue on election day. I think Republicans are not putting enough emphasis
00:19:20.640on it. Tallarico's record on law and order is really frightening. So here's a quote he said in
00:19:26.6602020. I'm really excited about the formation of a bipartisan criminal justice reform caucus in the
00:19:32.840Texas House with prominent Democrats and prominent Republicans who understand that we have to move
00:19:37.040away from a tough on crime approach to a smart on crime approach that I think filters down to our
00:19:43.140schools. Okay, that could be okay. Let's see what else he's saying. Quote, we are starting in
00:19:51.080elementary school where we really pursue restorative practices that are going to rehabilitate
00:19:56.060our students who are suffering from trauma, our students who are feeling unsafe in school, and our
00:20:01.020students who harm a classroom community. Fox News continues saying, Tallarico was referring to
00:20:08.100quote, restorative justice, a view that links misbehavior to past personal and emotional
00:20:13.160experiences. In the word of Texas Appleseed, a group that promotes social, economic, and racial
00:20:18.640justice, restorative justice in education emphasizes the relational cost of conflict
00:20:25.260in a way to deter future bad behavior.
00:20:29.100Restorative justice, when applied to a school setting,
00:20:31.360focuses on how student behavior has harmed others and how to make amends.
00:20:35.340Schools use it to build community and strengthen student-school connections,
00:20:39.560the group wrote in a definition submitted to lawmakers.
00:20:43.140The approach is often mentioned as an alternative to, quote,
00:20:46.900zero-tolerance policies that focus on punishments that deter, discourage conduct.
00:20:53.500To Tallarico, its adoption could de-emphasize other forms of punishments.
00:20:57.920Quote, what that means is really allowing students to repair the harms that they've caused in a classroom community.
00:21:04.640It's a lot more rigorous and a lot more effective than just expelling a student or suspending a student or removing them from the classroom community.
00:21:10.760Now, mind you, what he's saying is that means violent criminals will stay in the classroom with your kids, that they're not going to remove them, they're not going to be suspended, no matter how much violence they're engaging in, no matter how many drugs they're dealing.
00:21:22.540And in the Texas legislature in 2021, Tallarico introduced a bill, it was HB 62, which would have moved schools away from in-school suspension, so not even suspension out of school, in-school suspension, out of school suspension and removing kids to alternative educational programs.
00:21:41.420Now, the bill, which was this left-wing bill, stalled in committee, never became law.
00:21:47.160But in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, here's what Tallarico said.
00:21:59.020Quote, if we took just half of what we spent on wars, prisons, and policing, and spent it on education, health care, and jobs,
00:22:08.520we could make prisons obsolete. This is what he's saying in a 2022 speech for incarcerated
00:22:16.100students. A little bit later in the speech, Tallarico calls the idea of prisons themselves
00:22:21.840a kind of violence. And here's what he says, quote, my experience as a teacher, a legislator,
00:22:28.960and a Christian tells me that birds don't belong in cages, children don't belong in cages,
00:22:37.260people don't belong in cages poverty is violence pollution is violence and yes prison is violence0.72
00:22:50.680quote i'm not asking you to join the system i'm asking you to change the system dismantle
00:23:00.060this system of violence. Now understand, he says prison is violence, and what he called for
00:23:08.360explicitly is dismantling this system of violence. In other words, dismantling prisons. This is the
00:23:15.460abolish the police nonsense. And listen, there's a difference from Tallarico versus my last two
00:23:22.960opponents, Beto O'Rourke and Colin Allred. Both Beto and Colin are older than Tallarico. Tallarico
00:23:29.840is younger, and he is of the woke generation, the generation that came up with these idiocies
00:23:35.720like abolish the police, that came up with Soros DAs that let murderers go. And here he is on the
00:23:42.100record saying prison is violence. And by the way, he's saying nobody belongs in prison. He's not
00:23:47.700just saying nonviolent drug offenses. Look, I would not lock kids up for a nonviolent drug
00:23:55.080offense, particularly a small drug offense. But there's a difference between that and violence.
00:23:58.880And I've always drawn a clear line, having spent a lot of years in law enforcement.
00:33:50.900And that's what CNN, it's what the media desperately doesn't want you to know, is their actual
00:33:55.060record what they say. They don't want you to know James Tallarico wants to dismantle capitalism
00:33:59.900and they're going to do everything they can to hide it, but we've got 56 days just to expose
00:34:05.760the truth. And I think if we do that, we'll have a very good election. Final question for you on
00:34:10.980this. We've seen that President Donald Trump and his super PAC, they put $10 million into this
00:34:16.980race against Tallarico. About half of that apparently is going to be to explain what
00:34:22.240Kim Paxson's in favor of, and the other half's going to be used apparently to explain exactly
00:34:27.220who Tallarico is. I think that's certainly a step in the right direction. Clearly, the president
00:34:33.180believed this is a really important race, and that's why this is their first big campaign
00:34:37.520donation of the season. Yes, I'm glad the president is doing that. I've urged the president
00:34:42.660to continue investing. I've urged the National Republican Senatorial Committee to invest.
00:34:49.080This is going to be – I think this is going to be about $200 million between now and Election Day, and Tallarico and the Democrats have unlimited funds.
00:34:57.680If we can spend enough money to communicate Tallarico's record and Paxton's record, we'll win, but we can't be outspent 5-1 or 10-1.