Verdict with Ted Cruz - Verdict Welcomes Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson

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00:01:39.620 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.

00:01:43.400 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:01:45.020 And right now, I'm in New York City

00:01:46.680 getting ready to host Outnumbered on Fox News Channel.

00:01:50.020 It is 2 a.m.

00:01:51.980 Senator Ted Cruz is in Texas right now

00:01:55.480 where it is 1 a.m.

00:01:58.040 He is traveling the state

00:01:59.380 and we, for the last hour,

00:02:00.920 have been trying to get a connection

00:02:03.160 that was stable for us to do the podcast.

00:02:05.900 This is what happens on a regular basis

00:02:07.740 when he's on the road and I'm on the road.

00:02:10.240 And tonight, the internet won and we lost.

00:02:13.360 So what does that mean?

00:02:14.540 Well, it means that the senator and I

00:02:16.140 were chatting a moment ago on the phone

00:02:17.840 about, all right, what do we do now?

00:02:19.900 There was an interview that we did with Eric Johnson

00:02:23.200 and his incredible story

00:02:25.080 being an African-American Democrat

00:02:27.040 who switched to the Republican Party.

00:02:29.440 In fact, when we did this interview,

00:02:31.780 it was the most listened to episode of the month,

00:02:35.820 the month that this came out.

00:02:37.360 And it was one that went viral.

00:02:39.240 So many people were inspired

00:02:40.740 by the story of Eric Johnson

00:02:43.680 and the bravery of switching

00:02:45.200 from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

00:02:48.200 And talking about his life

00:02:49.800 being the 60th mayor of Dallas,

00:02:52.600 we've decided we are going to replay that for you now.

00:02:55.520 And the senator and I were going to be back with you

00:02:57.560 on Friday as normal.

00:03:00.400 We did everything we could.

00:03:01.900 I want to tell you, the last hour

00:03:04.060 we've been dealing with IT and tech support,

00:03:06.520 everything we could to try to get a connection to record

00:03:08.960 and it just didn't work.

00:03:10.160 So what we're going to do instead

00:03:11.800 is we're going to let you hear that interview.

00:03:14.600 If you missed it,

00:03:15.980 we really want you to hear it

00:03:17.840 because it was an incredible interview.

00:03:19.200 It was a great conversation.

00:03:20.620 And also, please share it on social media.

00:03:23.860 Now, my podcast,

00:03:25.780 the Ben Ferguson Podcast is also out.

00:03:27.860 I will give you an update on the latest breaking news.

00:03:29.840 So if you're looking for that as well today,

00:03:32.040 download my podcast,

00:03:33.240 the Ben Ferguson Podcast.

00:03:34.360 It is done.

00:03:35.260 And you can hear that on those in-between days

00:03:37.560 when we don't put out verdict.

00:03:38.820 You can grab the Ben Ferguson Podcast as well.

00:03:41.140 So like I said,

00:03:42.440 here is our conversation

00:03:43.640 with the mayor of Dallas,

00:03:45.560 Eric Johnson in the center.

00:03:46.600 I will see you back here on Friday

00:03:48.960 with all the latest breaking news.

00:03:51.120 Do not worry.

00:03:52.440 Well, I am incredibly proud

00:03:54.340 to welcome onto the Verdict Podcast

00:03:56.580 a good friend of mine,

00:03:57.760 the 60th mayor of the city of Dallas,

00:04:00.720 the current sitting mayor,

00:04:02.460 Eric Johnson.

00:04:03.520 And I want to...

00:04:04.880 Eric, welcome.

00:04:05.760 Thank you so much.

00:04:07.240 I'm glad to be here, Senator.

00:04:08.820 Thanks for having me.

00:04:11.920 Now, I want to tell our podcast listeners

00:04:14.560 some of Eric's background

00:04:15.560 because many of you may know him,

00:04:17.260 but some of you may not.

00:04:19.200 Eric is the current mayor of Dallas.

00:04:23.040 Eric was...

00:04:24.560 He went to Harvard College.

00:04:26.340 I did.

00:04:26.720 He went to

00:04:28.320 University of Pennsylvania Law School.

00:04:30.680 He got a master's

00:04:32.180 from my alma mater, Princeton.

00:04:34.040 It's true.

00:04:35.260 He was elected

00:04:38.000 to the Texas State Legislature.

00:04:40.480 And he was an elected Democrat

00:04:41.940 in the state legislature.

00:04:43.900 And Eric is African American.

00:04:45.640 I am.

00:04:48.620 It's an audio show.

00:04:50.080 So one has to...

00:04:52.000 It's true.

00:04:52.300 It's true.

00:04:52.660 We got to paint the picture.

00:04:54.480 And then Eric was elected

00:04:56.320 mayor of the city of Dallas,

00:04:58.440 again as a Democrat.

00:05:00.940 And then he was just recently re-elected

00:05:03.320 mayor of the city of Dallas.

00:05:04.720 He was re-elected with 93% of the vote

00:05:09.080 in the city of Dallas.

00:05:10.580 Technically 98.7,

00:05:12.720 but I'll take 93.

00:05:14.260 We'll take 93.

00:05:15.720 And then after his re-election,

00:05:19.260 Eric announced to the city of Dallas

00:05:21.160 and the world

00:05:21.760 that he was switching parties.

00:05:23.900 And he left the Democrat Party

00:05:25.360 and he became a Republican.

00:05:26.900 And it was a decision

00:05:29.400 that those of us who knew him

00:05:30.900 and had worked with him,

00:05:31.840 I have to say,

00:05:32.940 I was not shocked or surprised.

00:05:36.100 But it did shock and surprise

00:05:37.740 a lot of people.

00:05:38.800 And so Eric is, I think,

00:05:40.580 a very important leader in Texas

00:05:43.020 and a very important leader

00:05:44.320 in the country.

00:05:45.580 And so Eric,

00:05:46.120 I appreciate your coming

00:05:47.300 and joining us this evening

00:05:48.980 and being a guest on Verdict.

00:05:50.360 I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

00:05:51.480 Thank you so much.

00:05:52.160 This is a real honor to be here.

00:05:53.540 Thank you for the invitation.

00:05:55.400 And it's great to see all of you.

00:05:57.900 All right.

00:05:58.440 So you go to the Texas State Legislature.

00:06:00.880 You get elected mayor of Dallas.

00:06:02.500 You get re-elected mayor of Dallas.

00:06:04.060 Now, this entire time,

00:06:05.800 you've been an elected Democrat.

00:06:07.240 And as an elected Democrat,

00:06:08.600 there's an ecosphere around you.

00:06:11.140 You've got donors.

00:06:12.060 You've got volunteers.

00:06:13.020 You've got supporters.

00:06:16.140 Walk us through your decision-making

00:06:18.880 because switching parties is a big deal.

00:06:21.640 And I know you didn't make

00:06:23.340 that decision lightly.

00:06:24.700 So what led you to change parties?

00:06:27.800 Yeah.

00:06:28.180 And, you know,

00:06:29.040 I don't know how deep

00:06:32.240 we can dive into this

00:06:33.640 because I would...

00:06:34.380 Look, the joy of a podcast

00:06:35.660 is we can go as deep as you want.

00:06:37.480 And that's actually what's fun

00:06:39.260 that we're not on TV

00:06:40.220 with a six-minute soundbite.

00:06:41.520 We can actually talk about

00:06:42.820 what's really going on.

00:06:43.740 That's exactly what I wanted to know

00:06:45.160 because, unfortunately,

00:06:47.320 because of the structure

00:06:48.720 of the traditional media,

00:06:51.260 you really have to sort of

00:06:52.280 hit that question quick

00:06:54.100 and then get out of it.

00:06:55.480 and you don't really get

00:06:56.320 to give a full answer to that

00:06:58.500 because it's way more complicated

00:07:00.280 than, you know,

00:07:01.820 there was this one thing

00:07:02.660 that happened

00:07:03.140 and I just said,

00:07:03.820 I'm out of here.

00:07:06.700 It's an evolution for me

00:07:09.000 in just kind of coming to accept

00:07:13.320 who I have always been

00:07:15.480 and why I've struggled

00:07:16.680 as a Democrat the whole time.

00:07:18.100 Was it the issues

00:07:19.760 that made you think

00:07:20.740 about becoming a Republican?

00:07:22.940 The issues were a manifestation,

00:07:28.380 a policy manifestation

00:07:29.540 of problems I had been having

00:07:31.820 with the Democratic Party

00:07:32.880 because of who I am as a person

00:07:34.900 for a long time.

00:07:35.820 So I'll give you some idea

00:07:37.440 of what I'm talking about.

00:07:38.940 I was born in West Dallas,

00:07:42.440 very poor community

00:07:43.900 to working-class parents

00:07:45.400 who never went to college,

00:07:46.540 but, you know,

00:07:48.000 got married right out

00:07:49.580 of high school,

00:07:50.200 still married to this day,

00:07:51.840 raised four of us

00:07:52.780 and I was raised

00:07:56.000 in a community

00:07:56.560 that was very,

00:07:57.980 and in a family

00:07:58.840 that was very,

00:07:59.980 very faith-oriented.

00:08:02.100 The church was hugely important to us.

00:08:03.960 I mean, I grew up,

00:08:04.680 I spent more time in church

00:08:05.960 than really any place else.

00:08:07.500 I mean, we'd go to church

00:08:08.760 Sunday morning,

00:08:10.560 stay almost all day,

00:08:12.020 go home for just a couple hours

00:08:13.080 and come back for Sunday evening.

00:08:14.680 We'd go to Bible class

00:08:16.060 on Wednesday.

00:08:17.700 We'd have, you know,

00:08:19.040 I wasn't in the choir

00:08:19.900 because I couldn't sing,

00:08:20.840 but, you know,

00:08:21.180 we had song practice

00:08:23.180 and things like that.

00:08:24.340 So I spent a lot of time

00:08:26.440 in the church,

00:08:27.140 spent a lot of time

00:08:28.060 with grandparents

00:08:30.080 who were very, very,

00:08:31.780 very about the Church of Christ

00:08:34.580 and that's how,

00:08:35.280 that's the tradition

00:08:35.740 I was raised in.

00:08:37.920 And so we were sort of taught

00:08:42.320 and it was separate

00:08:44.020 and apart from anything political.

00:08:44.980 My family wasn't political at all.

00:08:46.520 No politicians in the family.

00:08:48.160 I'm not even sure

00:08:48.600 we had a real awareness

00:08:49.660 of what was going on

00:08:51.120 around us politically.

00:08:52.780 But a very strong sense

00:08:54.960 of just right, wrong.

00:08:57.500 You know,

00:08:57.740 this is how you treat people.

00:08:59.320 This is how you behave.

00:09:01.460 You follow the law.

00:09:03.140 You obey the law.

00:09:04.080 You work hard.

00:09:05.260 You, you know,

00:09:05.800 an honest day's work,

00:09:07.200 honest day's pay.

00:09:08.180 That is sort of,

00:09:08.800 that was just always

00:09:09.580 in the background.

00:09:11.840 And so I think

00:09:13.640 I was always

00:09:15.900 politically

00:09:17.460 in a weird posture

00:09:20.140 with the Democratic Party

00:09:21.500 because at its core,

00:09:23.720 and I didn't understand this

00:09:25.040 at the very beginning

00:09:26.580 because,

00:09:27.180 and I hope we can actually

00:09:28.640 get to this

00:09:29.120 and talk about this,

00:09:30.200 there are some,

00:09:30.700 you sort of inherit

00:09:31.860 the Democratic Party

00:09:32.980 as a cultural heirloom

00:09:34.560 when you're African American

00:09:35.640 in this country.

00:09:36.300 It sort of gets handed to you

00:09:38.160 as part of who you are.

00:09:41.140 I probably had more phone calls,

00:09:43.200 I know I had,

00:09:44.180 I had more phone calls

00:09:45.820 with people distraught

00:09:47.640 about this party switch

00:09:49.280 than I ever would have gotten

00:09:50.840 if I had told people

00:09:51.920 that I was actually

00:09:52.640 leaving the church.

00:09:54.400 There's no question about it.

00:09:56.020 Wow.

00:09:56.220 There's no doubt about it.

00:09:57.240 I will say that loudly

00:09:58.600 and on the record.

00:10:01.080 I had more panicked phone calls

00:10:03.540 from people

00:10:04.320 genuinely concerned

00:10:05.760 about what I was doing

00:10:07.080 and how I could do this

00:10:09.340 than I would have gotten

00:10:10.940 if I had said,

00:10:11.560 I just don't think

00:10:12.060 I'm into this Jesus thing anymore.

00:10:13.400 I just don't think

00:10:13.820 I'm not a Baptist

00:10:14.480 or I'm not a Church of Christ

00:10:15.520 or I'm not,

00:10:16.060 I don't think I would have had

00:10:17.100 anywhere near the same reaction.

00:10:18.880 It's that cultural.

00:10:21.060 How intense was that?

00:10:22.460 Was it family?

00:10:23.580 Was it friends?

00:10:24.400 Was it just colleagues?

00:10:25.720 It was a lot of consternation.

00:10:29.700 The family and friends

00:10:30.740 was well-meaning,

00:10:32.440 but I think a lot of other folks,

00:10:34.000 it was just,

00:10:35.480 you know,

00:10:35.780 we have to take this guy down now

00:10:38.100 and it got to be pretty quickly

00:10:40.120 the traditional standard

00:10:43.180 partisan warfare stuff,

00:10:44.460 but kind of going back

00:10:45.360 to what I was,

00:10:46.080 and I said,

00:10:46.520 I wonder how deep we could go

00:10:47.520 because this is actually pretty,

00:10:49.040 I haven't had a chance

00:10:49.680 to talk about this

00:10:50.400 with anybody,

00:10:50.820 but the fit was almost

00:10:54.040 in some ways inevitable.

00:10:56.720 It was going to,

00:10:58.440 there was going to be a problem

00:10:59.340 because at the Democratic Party's core,

00:11:01.260 what I was saying,

00:11:02.520 is a belief

00:11:03.500 that how things turn out for you

00:11:06.500 in this country

00:11:07.420 are largely determined

00:11:09.520 by things that are outside

00:11:10.420 of your control.

00:11:11.480 The race you're born,

00:11:13.040 the neighborhood you're born in,

00:11:14.520 it just kind of,

00:11:15.220 it excuses away your failures

00:11:17.620 and excuses away your successes

00:11:19.340 to something that's

00:11:20.320 out of your control.

00:11:21.300 If you're successful

00:11:22.220 and you're white and male

00:11:24.580 it's because of course you are.

00:11:26.460 And if you're unsuccessful

00:11:27.760 as an African American,

00:11:28.780 it's well,

00:11:29.060 the deck was stacked against you.

00:11:31.020 And I just wasn't

00:11:32.120 a person who ever believed that

00:11:34.920 and that wasn't how I was raised

00:11:36.460 and that's not how I was taught,

00:11:37.520 but it was the overarching

00:11:38.740 political philosophy

00:11:39.580 of my party.

00:11:41.440 And there was always

00:11:42.100 just that tension

00:11:42.880 between wanting to tell people,

00:11:45.580 hey,

00:11:45.720 this actually is a country

00:11:46.720 where anything you want to do

00:11:49.220 you can do

00:11:50.120 and I'm living proof of it

00:11:51.620 because at every turn

00:11:54.000 if I put the work in,

00:11:56.880 I was told repeatedly

00:11:59.380 over and over

00:12:00.140 by people who didn't look like me,

00:12:01.700 who didn't come from my community,

00:12:02.940 we're proud of you

00:12:04.180 and we'd like to give you

00:12:05.020 more opportunity.

00:12:06.080 I wasn't having doors

00:12:07.280 slammed in my face

00:12:08.500 the harder I pushed,

00:12:09.480 I was having more of them

00:12:10.460 given to me.

00:12:11.580 So the story of my life

00:12:14.240 and then the rhetoric

00:12:15.520 that my party wanted me

00:12:16.800 to put out there

00:12:17.600 as the justification

00:12:18.560 for what we were doing politically

00:12:20.160 just never really matched.

00:12:23.040 Well,

00:12:23.600 I've always thought

00:12:24.600 one of the most important differences

00:12:26.540 between the parties

00:12:27.540 is that the Republican Party

00:12:29.740 believes in individual responsibility

00:12:32.400 and believes in merit

00:12:33.600 and a meritocracy.

00:12:35.960 Now,

00:12:36.080 that's not to say

00:12:36.840 that there aren't things

00:12:39.000 that are unfair,

00:12:39.680 but in the reason

00:12:42.480 people come from

00:12:43.280 all over the world

00:12:43.880 to America

00:12:44.480 is there's no country

00:12:45.860 on earth

00:12:46.300 where people

00:12:46.960 can achieve their dreams

00:12:49.300 the way you can here

00:12:50.500 and, you know,

00:12:51.660 and I do think

00:12:52.820 a lot of the...

00:12:53.960 A lot of the Democrat Party

00:13:00.380 is their...

00:13:02.000 The ideology

00:13:02.760 in today's Democrat Party

00:13:04.220 is about eliminating

00:13:06.260 individual responsibility

00:13:07.520 and eliminating merit

00:13:08.600 and I think about

00:13:09.560 you're a black man,

00:13:11.220 I'm an Hispanic man,

00:13:12.220 I think about

00:13:12.860 what my father said to me

00:13:14.200 when I was a kid

00:13:14.880 about racism

00:13:16.440 and my dad,

00:13:18.880 you know,

00:13:19.080 as you know,

00:13:19.440 he came from Cuba

00:13:20.120 as an immigrant

00:13:20.600 and my dad said

00:13:21.580 when he came out

00:13:22.820 of University of Texas

00:13:24.060 in 1961

00:13:24.940 and my father said,

00:13:26.120 look,

00:13:26.320 I'm obviously an immigrant.

00:13:28.220 My father had had

00:13:29.580 and still has

00:13:30.340 a very heavy Spanish accent,

00:13:31.800 you know my dad,

00:13:32.900 and he said,

00:13:33.940 listen,

00:13:34.280 if I'm applying for a job

00:13:35.720 and I'm applying

00:13:36.960 against an American

00:13:38.140 and we're equally qualified,

00:13:41.040 my dad said,

00:13:41.720 you know what?

00:13:42.800 They'll hire the American.

00:13:44.480 Now, my father

00:13:45.020 wasn't particularly

00:13:45.720 outraged at that.

00:13:46.640 He said,

00:13:46.980 you know what?

00:13:47.380 In Cuba,

00:13:47.780 they'd hire me.

00:13:49.060 That's just kind of

00:13:49.720 human nature.

00:13:50.320 That's the way

00:13:50.980 people often behave

00:13:52.260 and my father's answer

00:13:54.300 to that,

00:13:55.400 he said,

00:13:55.860 I'm just going to be

00:13:56.720 three times as good

00:13:58.500 as the other guy.

00:13:59.580 I'll make it so you'd have

00:14:00.760 to be a blithering idiot

00:14:02.400 to hire the other guy

00:14:04.700 and when you take

00:14:07.720 individual responsibility,

00:14:09.300 that's not to say

00:14:09.980 racism doesn't exist.

00:14:11.140 Racism absolutely exists.

00:14:12.960 But how you respond

00:14:14.820 in the face of adversity

00:14:16.440 and I think the principle

00:14:19.400 of work harder,

00:14:22.140 be better,

00:14:22.900 be more excellent,

00:14:24.760 I think that is a path

00:14:26.760 that every one of us,

00:14:28.380 think about what you

00:14:29.100 teach your kids.

00:14:30.400 If you don't mind,

00:14:31.640 I'll jump in here

00:14:33.320 and say this

00:14:34.140 because there's so much

00:14:35.440 that I could say

00:14:36.400 about this

00:14:36.900 and again,

00:14:38.840 this is the slow burn

00:14:40.040 over a career

00:14:41.180 but there's the specific

00:14:43.460 policy things

00:14:44.120 that came about

00:14:45.000 as the mayor

00:14:45.880 that made this decision,

00:14:47.480 something that needed

00:14:48.080 to happen

00:14:48.760 and something

00:14:49.680 that became

00:14:50.400 much more urgent

00:14:52.040 for me.

00:14:54.520 But while we're talking

00:14:55.840 about sort of

00:14:56.160 the underpinnings of this

00:14:57.240 and you talk about

00:14:58.660 what you teach

00:14:59.200 your children,

00:15:00.480 that's really kind of

00:15:01.560 the point

00:15:02.120 in terms of

00:15:03.600 the problem

00:15:05.300 that I have

00:15:06.220 with the Democratic Party's

00:15:07.240 philosophy

00:15:07.780 on this particular issue

00:15:09.460 is you have to decide

00:15:11.320 one way or the other

00:15:12.280 what you're going to tell

00:15:13.540 a generation

00:15:14.600 of African American kids

00:15:16.520 or kids who are growing up

00:15:17.520 in tough circumstances.

00:15:18.200 Are you going to tell them

00:15:19.500 that your country

00:15:20.700 doesn't work for you,

00:15:22.140 doesn't really matter

00:15:23.020 what you do,

00:15:23.720 it doesn't work for you,

00:15:24.680 it's not built for you,

00:15:25.680 it's not designed for you,

00:15:26.780 the system's stacked

00:15:27.500 against you,

00:15:28.560 and just hope

00:15:29.260 that they don't

00:15:30.260 turn to crime

00:15:31.840 or turn to other things

00:15:32.920 because you've told them

00:15:34.080 that essentially

00:15:34.620 that's fine,

00:15:35.840 that's okay

00:15:36.420 because there's no way

00:15:38.660 you can do

00:15:39.300 the things you'd like

00:15:40.180 to do legitimately.

00:15:42.140 You can't get

00:15:42.900 to where you want

00:15:43.600 to go legitimately anyway,

00:15:44.920 the deck's stacked against you,

00:15:45.960 or do you want

00:15:46.700 to tell them the truth,

00:15:48.260 which is the system

00:15:50.400 that we have

00:15:51.100 is the best on earth

00:15:52.620 for translating people's

00:15:54.520 hard work and effort

00:15:55.760 into tangible increases

00:15:59.600 and improvements

00:16:00.200 in their life's circumstances.

00:16:02.260 It just is.

00:16:03.300 And I've told my liberal friends

00:16:05.640 for many years,

00:16:06.660 even before I switched parties,

00:16:08.200 I said,

00:16:08.680 for the ones who go around

00:16:09.800 sort of bashing the country,

00:16:11.180 I say,

00:16:12.200 guys,

00:16:13.200 if there was a place

00:16:14.280 on earth

00:16:14.820 where they did it better,

00:16:16.860 where they really did

00:16:17.780 convert your effort

00:16:18.760 and your work

00:16:20.040 into benefits better,

00:16:23.280 why don't you live

00:16:24.420 and raise your,

00:16:25.180 don't you owe it

00:16:25.880 to your children

00:16:26.380 to raise them there?

00:16:27.480 If you really believe

00:16:28.240 there's a place

00:16:28.660 that's doing it better.

00:16:29.760 And they don't believe that.

00:16:31.380 It's rhetoric.

00:16:32.580 But it's rhetoric

00:16:33.740 with a purpose,

00:16:34.780 and this is kind of where

00:16:36.100 being a part of the party

00:16:38.620 for so long

00:16:39.400 and understanding

00:16:40.340 sort of the,

00:16:41.080 you know,

00:16:41.500 the thought behind

00:16:42.860 the strategy,

00:16:43.540 really.

00:16:44.040 It's strategy.

00:16:46.280 How do you,

00:16:47.360 how do you convince

00:16:48.440 large swaths of people,

00:16:50.120 large groups

00:16:50.680 that are just really

00:16:51.380 holding themselves together

00:16:52.380 by identity politics

00:16:54.900 and race,

00:16:55.960 or how do you convince them

00:16:57.640 to give their loyalty

00:16:59.420 so completely

00:17:00.180 to a political party

00:17:01.180 if you can't convince them first

00:17:02.940 that they really need

00:17:04.920 this political party

00:17:05.920 to help them overcome

00:17:07.120 this,

00:17:07.900 these horrible,

00:17:09.400 flaws

00:17:10.220 in the system?

00:17:11.740 So basically,

00:17:12.620 there's a...

00:17:13.040 Well, the Democrat Party,

00:17:13.800 I think,

00:17:14.260 is vested

00:17:15.720 in selling dependency.

00:17:17.560 Correct.

00:17:18.400 And there's no question

00:17:19.380 that that's true.

00:17:20.060 And the example I've used

00:17:20.420 also in my family,

00:17:22.220 you know,

00:17:22.420 when my dad in 1957,

00:17:25.000 when he showed up

00:17:25.900 in Austin, Texas,

00:17:26.720 he couldn't speak English.

00:17:28.140 And so the first job

00:17:29.260 he had was washing dishes.

00:17:31.000 And he made 50 cents an hour.

00:17:33.400 And I've said a lot of times,

00:17:34.940 thank God,

00:17:35.800 some well-meaning liberal

00:17:37.880 didn't come along

00:17:38.720 and put his arm around him

00:17:39.740 and say,

00:17:39.980 Raphael,

00:17:40.400 let me take care of you.

00:17:41.760 Let me give you

00:17:42.460 a government check.

00:17:43.420 Let me make you dependent

00:17:44.420 on the government.

00:17:45.620 You don't need to work anymore.

00:17:46.900 You don't need to be responsible

00:17:48.160 for your life.

00:17:49.020 I'm going to take care of you.

00:17:50.540 That would have been

00:17:51.560 utterly destructive.

00:17:53.260 It would have been

00:17:53.560 the worst thing

00:17:54.220 you could have done to him.

00:17:55.080 Yep.

00:17:56.140 And it's,

00:17:57.260 you know,

00:17:57.540 we're talking about

00:17:58.680 what you teach your kids.

00:17:59.760 You know,

00:17:59.920 you think about it.

00:18:00.740 If you have a kid

00:18:01.760 in kindergarten

00:18:02.720 or first grade

00:18:03.400 who's struggling with math,

00:18:05.080 how many of us

00:18:05.940 will do your kid's homework?

00:18:07.620 None of us will.

00:18:09.020 Because doing your kid's homework

00:18:10.400 is not helping the kid.

00:18:12.040 Now,

00:18:12.400 you may work with the kid.

00:18:14.400 You may get a tutor

00:18:14.980 with the kid.

00:18:15.620 You may walk through

00:18:16.640 and say,

00:18:16.960 you're having problems with.

00:18:18.400 But you understand,

00:18:19.800 you know,

00:18:19.980 you and I are both fathers.

00:18:22.100 Ben,

00:18:22.540 you're a father.

00:18:23.080 You understand

00:18:23.700 when you're raising your kids,

00:18:25.940 they need to learn those skills.

00:18:27.620 And if someone else

00:18:28.300 does it for them,

00:18:29.420 it doesn't help our children.

00:18:31.900 That same thing is true

00:18:33.060 for all of us.

00:18:34.220 It's absolutely true.

00:18:35.380 I had a conversation

00:18:37.060 with one of your colleagues,

00:18:39.640 Senator Scott,

00:18:40.480 when he stopped

00:18:41.680 through Dallas

00:18:42.840 a few months ago.

00:18:44.960 And we had a private lunch.

00:18:48.400 And one of the things

00:18:49.500 that we talked about

00:18:50.960 and I said to him

00:18:52.240 that resonated with him

00:18:53.540 because he also,

00:18:54.520 you know,

00:18:54.940 believes this is

00:18:57.000 absolutely the case.

00:18:58.900 And it's right on the-

00:18:59.740 Tim's a great guy.

00:19:00.500 It's right in line

00:19:01.480 with what we're talking

00:19:03.100 about right now.

00:19:04.040 I said,

00:19:05.060 Tim,

00:19:05.500 do you agree

00:19:07.140 that there's really

00:19:08.520 nobody

00:19:09.540 in our community

00:19:11.220 who's achieved

00:19:12.340 a high degree of success

00:19:14.040 who actually did it

00:19:15.580 using anything

00:19:16.340 other than conservative principles

00:19:17.880 as applied to their life?

00:19:19.640 I go,

00:19:20.040 but why do so many of us

00:19:21.260 when we get

00:19:22.640 to that level

00:19:23.540 of success

00:19:24.000 with these principles

00:19:24.920 pretend like

00:19:26.680 it's something else

00:19:27.660 that got us there?

00:19:29.040 It was working hard,

00:19:31.520 staying out of trouble,

00:19:33.040 persevering when other people

00:19:34.080 had given up,

00:19:35.840 and basically

00:19:36.420 playing by the rules,

00:19:38.320 as we called it,

00:19:39.600 that got you there.

00:19:40.720 But you get there

00:19:42.040 and then you

00:19:42.720 pretend like,

00:19:44.100 you know,

00:19:44.360 those aren't

00:19:44.980 essential values

00:19:46.180 to success.

00:19:46.640 And I told Tim,

00:19:47.420 I said,

00:19:47.600 here's why

00:19:48.040 I think that happens.

00:19:50.360 Because there's

00:19:50.960 a price to pay

00:19:52.340 socially

00:19:53.360 and in terms

00:19:55.000 of being accepted

00:19:55.880 if you don't

00:19:57.800 pretend like

00:19:58.640 you don't know

00:19:59.620 what you know

00:20:00.740 and you

00:20:01.920 don't sort of

00:20:03.000 excuse

00:20:03.540 the things

00:20:04.320 that we were

00:20:04.880 talking about.

00:20:05.800 In other words,

00:20:06.500 long story short,

00:20:07.900 is every successful

00:20:09.460 African American

00:20:10.120 in this country

00:20:10.560 basically

00:20:11.080 got to be successful

00:20:12.760 by working hard

00:20:13.460 and doing what

00:20:13.820 they were supposed to do.

00:20:14.600 But they don't want to be,

00:20:16.360 once they've achieved

00:20:17.060 that level of success,

00:20:18.060 not accepted by

00:20:19.120 the community at large

00:20:20.260 and appear to be

00:20:21.220 out of touch.

00:20:21.980 And so they pretend

00:20:22.860 like they don't

00:20:23.960 know the formula.

00:20:25.260 They don't know

00:20:25.640 the winning formula.

00:20:27.200 I just think we need

00:20:27.780 to be more honest

00:20:28.420 about what the winning

00:20:29.020 formula is.

00:20:29.620 And the winning formula

00:20:30.380 ends up being

00:20:31.380 exactly what

00:20:32.340 the conservative

00:20:33.000 ideology would tell you.

00:20:35.240 It has to do

00:20:36.440 with taking upon yourself

00:20:38.760 the responsibility

00:20:39.580 for yourself

00:20:40.700 and not believing

00:20:41.840 that the Democratic Party

00:20:42.860 or any party

00:20:43.580 is there to save you.

00:20:45.980 And the Democratic Party

00:20:46.780 wants you to believe.

00:20:48.200 They do.

00:20:49.100 They want you to believe

00:20:49.980 you can't get there

00:20:51.080 without them.

00:20:52.440 You know,

00:20:52.840 there's an old saying

00:20:54.100 that every time

00:20:56.060 I see luck,

00:20:57.240 it looks amazingly

00:20:58.380 like hard work.

00:20:59.240 Yep.

00:21:00.720 It's very true.

00:21:02.260 It's very true.

00:21:03.040 So now,

00:21:03.720 to the policy things,

00:21:05.720 so this is,

00:21:06.400 you know,

00:21:06.640 so I'm bumping,

00:21:07.820 if anybody who's,

00:21:08.700 and I presume

00:21:09.640 that anyone in this room

00:21:10.640 has followed my,

00:21:11.460 you know,

00:21:12.140 my relatively insignificant

00:21:14.000 legislative career,

00:21:15.260 but it was marked

00:21:17.260 with just fighting

00:21:18.060 with the Democratic Party

00:21:19.080 about various issues.

00:21:20.780 We're just bumping heads

00:21:21.840 the whole way.

00:21:22.680 Well,

00:21:23.100 as mayor,

00:21:23.820 you showed enormous courage.

00:21:26.260 So there were Democrats

00:21:27.560 on the city council

00:21:28.540 pushing with the radical

00:21:29.840 left movement

00:21:30.540 to defund

00:21:31.340 or to abolish the police.

00:21:32.880 And you were a fellow

00:21:33.940 Democrat at the time

00:21:34.980 and you stood up

00:21:35.720 and fought them.

00:21:36.400 And that,

00:21:36.620 that,

00:21:37.260 that's when you and I

00:21:39.040 first got to know

00:21:39.820 each other's

00:21:40.320 when you were newly elected

00:21:41.340 and I came by your office,

00:21:42.440 I wanted to meet you

00:21:43.420 and we worked together closely,

00:21:45.060 but the courage

00:21:46.720 you showed

00:21:47.480 fighting for the people

00:21:48.560 of Dallas

00:21:49.060 really stood out

00:21:50.220 early on in your tenure.

00:21:51.600 Well,

00:21:51.700 I appreciate you saying that

00:21:52.700 and I was going to get

00:21:53.520 to that eventually

00:21:54.500 about how we met

00:21:56.100 and about what the,

00:21:57.200 you know,

00:21:57.360 what we've been doing

00:21:58.280 for the past five years

00:21:59.980 I've been mayor.

00:22:01.520 But,

00:22:02.660 in the legislature even,

00:22:04.640 when I was part

00:22:05.700 of a partisan caucus,

00:22:07.360 I was a terrible

00:22:09.280 by the Democrat Party's own,

00:22:10.840 like,

00:22:11.040 once I left the party,

00:22:12.080 they,

00:22:12.280 they were honest.

00:22:13.240 Their statements

00:22:13.780 are very interesting.

00:22:14.520 If you read the statements

00:22:15.260 from the state party,

00:22:16.520 they all say

00:22:17.500 some pretty interesting things

00:22:18.520 like,

00:22:19.240 he was always

00:22:19.880 a terrible Democrat,

00:22:20.920 good riddance,

00:22:21.420 we're glad he's gone.

00:22:22.580 It's like,

00:22:22.800 I'm not sure they understood

00:22:23.700 what they were admitting to.

00:22:24.980 It's like,

00:22:25.260 you know,

00:22:25.400 but they acknowledged

00:22:27.100 that it was always a bad fit.

00:22:28.920 But what they're really

00:22:29.740 talking about is

00:22:31.080 when I would be honest

00:22:32.380 about voter fraud,

00:22:33.720 the voter fraud

00:22:34.900 that happens

00:22:35.520 in our large cities

00:22:37.440 in Texas

00:22:37.940 that I'm aware of

00:22:38.820 because I've seen it

00:22:39.420 happening to me

00:22:41.380 in my own races.

00:22:42.360 I'm like,

00:22:43.140 these,

00:22:43.900 there are people

00:22:44.680 who are outright

00:22:46.000 stealing the votes

00:22:47.160 of the elderly

00:22:47.780 as a,

00:22:48.480 period.

00:22:49.400 Elaborate on that

00:22:50.240 a little bit.

00:22:50.980 I came out

00:22:52.000 very vocally

00:22:52.940 and upset the party

00:22:54.380 by saying

00:22:55.700 that there is

00:22:57.260 a systematic

00:22:58.140 in the large

00:22:59.480 urban cities

00:23:00.460 like Dallas

00:23:01.180 absentee

00:23:02.620 or,

00:23:02.940 you know,

00:23:03.760 ballot harvesting

00:23:04.680 operation

00:23:05.360 where people

00:23:07.160 are going

00:23:07.860 to old folks'

00:23:08.880 homes

00:23:09.120 and taking ballots

00:23:10.100 out of their mailboxes

00:23:11.540 and voting these ballots

00:23:13.100 for these people

00:23:14.040 or going and collecting

00:23:15.360 ballots from these folks

00:23:16.320 and if they don't like

00:23:17.140 the way the vote

00:23:17.700 was already cast,

00:23:19.460 it goes in the garbage.

00:23:21.040 And I said,

00:23:21.820 that kind of thing

00:23:23.300 is wrong

00:23:24.120 and it upset people.

00:23:25.800 It upset people

00:23:26.820 in the party

00:23:27.580 when I spoke out

00:23:28.240 against,

00:23:28.660 you know,

00:23:29.460 corruption in the party.

00:23:31.960 So,

00:23:32.280 I started off

00:23:33.780 in a posture

00:23:34.820 with the party

00:23:35.300 that was already

00:23:36.080 a little bit

00:23:37.560 antagonistic

00:23:38.160 and it's got worse

00:23:39.200 and worse.

00:23:40.520 So,

00:23:41.520 this is the slow burn.

00:23:43.100 Well,

00:23:43.300 now I become the mayor

00:23:44.400 and my whole job changes.

00:23:47.300 I'm not a part

00:23:47.900 of some legislative caucus

00:23:49.180 where I'm just sort of,

00:23:50.460 you know,

00:23:50.660 having to be a good team player.

00:23:51.820 I'm responsible

00:23:52.600 for people's lives.

00:23:53.960 Like,

00:23:54.100 I'm responsible

00:23:54.580 for making the call

00:23:55.620 to keep people alive

00:23:57.620 and make sure

00:23:59.540 that my city

00:24:00.160 is,

00:24:01.500 you know,

00:24:01.600 people are safe there.

00:24:03.760 And so,

00:24:05.240 it's supposed to,

00:24:07.040 it should,

00:24:07.540 once you've been given

00:24:08.060 that kind of responsibility,

00:24:08.920 it should change you.

00:24:09.880 Like,

00:24:10.080 you should look

00:24:11.120 at things differently.

00:24:12.820 And,

00:24:13.380 sure enough,

00:24:14.480 I get tested

00:24:15.080 pretty early on

00:24:16.240 with this

00:24:17.240 defund the police thing.

00:24:18.640 Yep.

00:24:18.940 And I'm just going

00:24:19.880 to break it down

00:24:20.440 for a while.

00:24:20.840 But the choice

00:24:21.440 became very simple.

00:24:23.120 First,

00:24:23.580 I want to say thank you

00:24:24.620 to so many of you

00:24:25.460 that have got involved

00:24:26.320 and helped the people

00:24:27.500 in Israel.

00:24:28.580 And you know

00:24:29.440 about the atrocities

00:24:30.540 that were committed

00:24:31.200 by Hamas

00:24:31.980 last October 7th,

00:24:33.640 but there is still

00:24:34.780 major needs

00:24:35.760 on the ground.

00:24:37.000 This vicious war

00:24:38.960 that has been kicked off

00:24:40.080 by Israel having

00:24:40.800 to defend herself

00:24:41.540 from terrorists

00:24:42.160 on every side.

00:24:43.500 And the toll

00:24:44.000 on the Israeli people

00:24:44.900 is staggering

00:24:45.620 and massive.

00:24:47.280 There are hundreds

00:24:48.220 of thousands

00:24:49.000 of Israelis

00:24:49.640 that have been forced

00:24:50.320 from their homes,

00:24:51.140 entire communities

00:24:52.120 that have been torn apart,

00:24:53.580 and lives that have been

00:24:54.660 devastated by death

00:24:55.560 and destruction.

00:24:56.680 That is why

00:24:57.540 we're asking you

00:24:58.340 to help get involved

00:24:59.500 with the International

00:25:00.360 Fellowship of Christians

00:25:01.620 and Jews.

00:25:02.660 You'll know them

00:25:03.360 as IFCJ,

00:25:04.580 and they are right

00:25:05.600 in the middle

00:25:06.060 of this need

00:25:07.140 every single day

00:25:08.040 on the ground

00:25:09.040 in Israel.

00:25:09.900 They're distributing

00:25:10.680 critical essentials

00:25:11.600 still,

00:25:12.600 like things like

00:25:13.180 basic food and water,

00:25:14.880 medicine,

00:25:15.540 emergency supplies

00:25:16.620 for hundreds of thousands

00:25:17.740 of suffering Jews.

00:25:19.360 The need is great,

00:25:20.600 and that is why

00:25:21.580 I'm asking you

00:25:22.380 to partner with

00:25:22.980 IFCJ today.

00:25:24.440 It doesn't matter

00:25:25.780 how much you can give,

00:25:27.620 because right now

00:25:28.840 they are doubling

00:25:29.940 in impact

00:25:31.520 and helping provide

00:25:32.540 twice the support

00:25:33.660 when you give.

00:25:35.120 All you have to do

00:25:35.960 is go to

00:25:36.680 supportifcj.org

00:25:40.400 to help.

00:25:41.120 Every donation

00:25:41.980 is needed

00:25:42.500 to help the people

00:25:43.420 of Israel.

00:25:44.360 And to give

00:25:44.800 to the International

00:25:45.360 Fellowship of Christians

00:25:46.320 and Jews,

00:25:46.980 go to supportifcj.org.

00:25:49.640 Give as generously

00:25:50.220 as you can

00:25:50.800 because your gift

00:25:51.700 will be matched

00:25:52.600 to double in impact

00:25:53.600 and help provide

00:25:54.200 twice the support.

00:25:55.020 supportifcj.org

00:25:57.680 That's supportifcj.org

00:25:59.640 Thank you

00:26:00.600 and God bless you guys

00:26:01.580 for getting involved.

00:26:03.460 Just so people know

00:26:04.260 that are listening

00:26:04.700 around the country

00:26:05.180 because I think

00:26:05.540 it's an important point.

00:26:07.260 The defund the police movement

00:26:09.380 that was rolled out nationwide,

00:26:11.540 they wanted it

00:26:12.380 to be successful

00:26:13.140 in big cities.

00:26:15.420 Dallas was one of them.

00:26:16.360 This was a lot

00:26:17.000 of outside pressure

00:26:18.260 as well

00:26:18.800 from coming

00:26:19.660 from outside of Dallas

00:26:20.740 where they were organizing

00:26:22.260 and spending money.

00:26:23.400 I've never seen since.

00:26:24.340 They didn't even live in,

00:26:25.160 I don't even know

00:26:25.720 where the people,

00:26:26.080 they don't even show up.

00:26:27.280 It was a national campaign.

00:26:28.620 Yeah, it was a national campaign

00:26:29.860 with people who were,

00:26:30.840 you know,

00:26:31.340 rent-a-protester types,

00:26:32.660 I guess.

00:26:33.160 But here's my point.

00:26:35.180 It's absolutely true

00:26:36.220 there was a national movement

00:26:37.020 but the choice

00:26:37.860 was pretty clear.

00:26:39.300 If you were a mayor

00:26:40.820 of a major American city

00:26:41.920 and more than likely

00:26:42.840 you were a Democrat

00:26:43.480 then because

00:26:44.060 I think the number

00:26:45.620 is roughly 75%

00:26:47.860 of the top 100 cities

00:26:49.200 in America

00:26:49.640 are run by Democrats

00:26:51.500 and every mayor

00:26:53.320 in the top 10

00:26:53.920 before me

00:26:54.600 was Democrat,

00:26:56.820 you really had

00:26:58.100 two choices.

00:27:00.560 Go along

00:27:01.300 with the defund

00:27:01.720 the police idea

00:27:02.440 because that's where

00:27:03.060 the left was,

00:27:04.280 that's where the activists were,

00:27:05.460 that's where the pressure was

00:27:06.380 was to defund

00:27:07.180 and defund meant

00:27:07.980 anything from

00:27:08.900 like what they did

00:27:09.600 here in Austin

00:27:10.120 for a 40%

00:27:11.360 across the board

00:27:12.180 cut to your police department

00:27:13.180 for no reason,

00:27:14.780 not based on any facts

00:27:16.640 just because some activists

00:27:17.620 decided that sounded

00:27:18.540 like a good number.

00:27:19.160 the proposal in Dallas

00:27:20.320 was 60,

00:27:21.040 that's what they wanted

00:27:21.660 in Dallas,

00:27:22.080 60%.

00:27:22.620 You can either do that

00:27:24.140 and be a good Democrat

00:27:25.320 and people leave you alone

00:27:27.040 or you could be a sellout

00:27:28.840 and a bad Democrat

00:27:29.920 and not do it

00:27:32.240 and incur the ire.

00:27:34.460 You're looking at

00:27:35.200 the one Democratic mayor

00:27:36.520 that I'm aware of

00:27:37.560 in the United States

00:27:38.140 who said,

00:27:38.540 I'm not doing that

00:27:39.400 and the result

00:27:42.440 and this is like

00:27:43.020 when we started

00:27:43.520 to get closer,

00:27:45.000 I mean,

00:27:45.580 the result was

00:27:46.600 protests for weeks on end

00:27:49.440 at night

00:27:51.040 against Dallas City ordinances

00:27:52.780 with amplification

00:27:54.360 and bullhorns

00:27:55.160 and all that

00:27:55.480 against Dallas City ordinances

00:27:56.860 standing on my private property,

00:27:59.380 not on the street

00:28:00.120 in an acceptable protest perimeter

00:28:02.480 but like on the grass

00:28:04.340 looking in the windows

00:28:05.680 with two little children

00:28:08.420 and a wife

00:28:09.060 like intentionally trying

00:28:11.100 to intimidate me

00:28:12.180 into changing my position

00:28:13.720 to defund the police

00:28:15.420 and I never caved

00:28:17.100 even though it was

00:28:18.560 horrible, horrible, horrible

00:28:19.920 for my family

00:28:20.700 and that is when

00:28:23.060 I really started

00:28:25.080 to understand

00:28:25.840 this isn't the fringe anymore

00:28:28.560 of the Democratic Party.

00:28:31.140 This is the Democratic Party.

00:28:33.060 It's who they are.

00:28:33.740 Like this is where we are

00:28:34.920 on public safety

00:28:35.860 as the Democratic Party now

00:28:37.080 and if you actually believe

00:28:39.400 in law and order

00:28:41.180 and making sure

00:28:42.400 that people are safe,

00:28:43.380 then there is no more

00:28:45.300 part of the Democratic Party

00:28:47.720 that is with you on that

00:28:49.040 because I'm looking

00:28:50.660 for those people.

00:28:51.520 I'm waiting for the phone calls

00:28:52.700 from just one,

00:28:54.020 for just one Democratic

00:28:55.980 congressperson

00:28:56.920 or one Democratic

00:28:58.520 officeholder to say

00:28:59.600 we're with you.

00:29:00.660 You know,

00:29:01.160 you're doing the right thing

00:29:02.040 and here's the truth

00:29:02.960 and I've never said

00:29:03.700 this publicly

00:29:04.180 but I'll say it now.

00:29:05.760 The only calls I got

00:29:07.660 during that entire time

00:29:09.000 saying hold the line,

00:29:11.740 keep your people safe,

00:29:12.700 you're doing a good job

00:29:13.380 were from Republicans

00:29:14.700 and I was a Democrat

00:29:15.900 as far as they knew

00:29:16.840 and there was no,

00:29:18.100 you know,

00:29:18.660 there was no reason

00:29:21.700 other than

00:29:22.340 it's the right thing

00:29:23.680 to do what you're doing

00:29:24.480 and we won't let you know that.

00:29:25.640 There was nothing

00:29:25.980 to be gained politically

00:29:27.660 from you

00:29:28.800 standing with me publicly

00:29:30.620 and saying

00:29:30.940 this is the right thing to do.

00:29:32.320 Greg Abbott did it.

00:29:33.540 You did it.

00:29:34.400 Dan Patrick did it.

00:29:35.340 A lot of people just said

00:29:36.240 that mayor's doing

00:29:37.140 the right thing

00:29:37.860 and so Democrats

00:29:40.060 I saw at that point

00:29:41.220 were pretty lost

00:29:42.300 on the public safety issue

00:29:43.560 but then on top of that

00:29:45.820 I started to see

00:29:47.160 and I didn't have

00:29:48.540 this responsibility

00:29:49.140 as a legislator

00:29:49.780 and I got it as the mayor

00:29:50.860 I have to protect

00:29:53.040 people's incomes

00:29:54.440 and make sure people

00:29:55.400 can actually afford

00:29:56.300 to live in this city

00:29:57.380 because we are bleeding residents

00:29:59.220 to lower tax jurisdictions.

00:30:01.780 So I started to really dig

00:30:03.400 into our tax policy

00:30:04.960 and saying,

00:30:05.440 you know,

00:30:05.540 what are we doing

00:30:06.440 to help our residents

00:30:09.320 be able to live here

00:30:11.560 have businesses here

00:30:12.800 and be competitive

00:30:13.780 with our local

00:30:15.160 you know,

00:30:15.540 our competitors

00:30:16.260 and it turns out

00:30:17.460 that we were doing

00:30:19.780 a pretty bad job

00:30:21.560 of actually

00:30:22.740 even making an attempt

00:30:24.900 to protect our taxpayers.

00:30:27.340 We had the highest tax rate

00:30:29.040 in Dallas

00:30:29.780 of any of the cities

00:30:31.220 in the area

00:30:31.820 and we have the second highest

00:30:33.260 of any major city

00:30:34.240 in the state

00:30:34.800 and so I really

00:30:35.960 wanted to change that.

00:30:38.600 The resistance

00:30:39.500 that I got

00:30:41.000 from the left-leaning

00:30:42.920 members of our council

00:30:43.940 was incredible

00:30:46.480 and the way

00:30:48.480 the argument

00:30:48.980 was couched

00:30:50.040 and the way

00:30:50.540 the strategy

00:30:51.520 is to couch

00:30:53.320 any effort

00:30:54.740 to rein in spending

00:30:56.120 at all

00:30:56.620 even to hold it steady

00:30:57.740 from year to year

00:30:58.280 is being heartless

00:30:59.940 and not caring

00:31:00.620 about people.

00:31:02.180 That resonated

00:31:03.120 with me

00:31:03.480 because I realized

00:31:04.260 no,

00:31:05.320 that's actually been

00:31:06.860 what the Democratic Party

00:31:08.260 has been about

00:31:08.980 all along

00:31:09.820 and what I've sort of been

00:31:10.900 an unwitting accessory to

00:31:13.280 which is

00:31:14.060 painting people

00:31:16.020 who just want to

00:31:18.080 leave people alone

00:31:20.160 or leave people

00:31:21.460 with more of their income

00:31:22.580 to be able to do

00:31:22.980 what they want to do

00:31:23.460 for their families

00:31:24.020 as opposed to

00:31:24.420 taking it from them

00:31:25.280 and spending it

00:31:26.040 on things they never

00:31:26.580 asked for in the first place

00:31:27.780 primarily so that

00:31:29.020 politicians can have

00:31:29.920 something to campaign on

00:31:30.940 they perfected the art

00:31:33.460 of making anyone

00:31:34.220 who was opposed to that

00:31:35.420 seem like they were

00:31:36.980 against the people

00:31:38.280 they were trying to help

00:31:39.100 or didn't care.

00:31:39.680 They demonize you

00:31:40.800 they attack you personally.

00:31:42.140 And so I became heartless

00:31:43.360 I became someone

00:31:44.420 who didn't care about people

00:31:45.560 I'll give you an example

00:31:47.280 from just last week

00:31:48.200 I'm in a

00:31:49.200 I'm in the minority

00:31:50.780 I'm in a

00:31:51.900 12 to 3 minority vote

00:31:55.380 that I lost

00:31:56.360 on my city council

00:31:57.520 last week

00:31:58.060 because I voted against

00:31:59.660 us appropriating

00:32:01.660 almost

00:32:02.020 what

00:32:02.740 three quarters

00:32:03.340 of a million dollars

00:32:04.240 to make sure

00:32:05.200 that anybody in Dallas

00:32:06.460 who needs tampons

00:32:08.180 or other feminine

00:32:08.860 hygiene products

00:32:09.480 could have them

00:32:09.920 from the city of Dallas.

00:32:11.700 I said

00:32:12.280 I don't know

00:32:12.960 why on earth

00:32:14.260 we think that

00:32:15.280 is something

00:32:15.740 that we

00:32:16.460 ought to be doing

00:32:18.100 as a city

00:32:18.920 with people's tax dollars.

00:32:20.480 Well there's

00:32:21.200 300 more programs

00:32:22.780 just like that

00:32:23.580 and we add them

00:32:24.960 all together

00:32:25.460 that's how you end up

00:32:26.540 with a budget

00:32:27.160 that grows year

00:32:28.120 after year

00:32:28.660 after year

00:32:29.140 we've gotten into

00:32:29.820 more and more things

00:32:31.080 that we don't need

00:32:32.100 to be into

00:32:32.680 and so I said

00:32:33.680 I'm in the wrong party

00:32:35.600 on public safety

00:32:36.140 for sure

00:32:36.600 but I'm also

00:32:37.320 not really into

00:32:38.260 this whole

00:32:38.800 just tax people to death

00:32:40.060 so you can do

00:32:40.800 all this liberal

00:32:41.320 experimentation

00:32:41.940 and so

00:32:43.160 on the issues

00:32:44.660 that were most important

00:32:45.900 as a mayor

00:32:47.500 and that were most

00:32:48.620 important in my family

00:32:49.420 the Democratic Party

00:32:51.060 was batting

00:32:51.940 a goose egg

00:32:53.620 on those issues

00:32:54.700 and I started to think

00:32:56.520 there really is

00:32:58.460 very little reason

00:33:00.040 why a person

00:33:01.460 who is a

00:33:02.080 common sense

00:33:03.580 fiscally responsible

00:33:06.100 person

00:33:06.780 ought to be

00:33:08.160 voting Democrat

00:33:08.900 particularly

00:33:09.200 at the local level

00:33:10.080 unless there's

00:33:10.940 some sort of

00:33:11.700 social reason

00:33:13.220 that you just

00:33:13.860 can't give up

00:33:14.620 where you need

00:33:15.780 to be accepted

00:33:16.220 by your friends

00:33:17.260 and I just

00:33:17.880 don't have that

00:33:18.440 I don't have that need.

00:33:19.880 Well let's talk

00:33:21.860 about that a little

00:33:22.520 more

00:33:22.780 but I will say

00:33:23.520 one of the

00:33:25.640 greatest ironies

00:33:26.580 is the rhetoric

00:33:27.560 that the left

00:33:28.420 uses in support

00:33:29.540 of their policies

00:33:30.400 I think is

00:33:31.940 180 degrees

00:33:32.960 opposite reality

00:33:34.520 so for example

00:33:35.860 the effort

00:33:37.440 to defund

00:33:38.120 the police

00:33:38.780 is advanced

00:33:39.720 by

00:33:40.400 movements

00:33:42.880 and activists

00:33:43.860 and billionaire

00:33:45.340 donors

00:33:45.880 who are embracing

00:33:47.220 the slogan

00:33:47.840 Black Lives Matter

00:33:48.780 now as a statement

00:33:50.840 Black Lives Matter

00:33:51.780 is unequivocally

00:33:52.780 absolutely true

00:33:54.020 but the undeniable

00:33:57.000 fact is that

00:33:57.920 when you defund

00:33:58.980 the police

00:33:59.980 inevitably

00:34:01.340 more African Americans

00:34:03.580 are murdered

00:34:04.420 more black lives

00:34:05.840 are lost

00:34:06.760 because for a great

00:34:08.380 many of our

00:34:08.960 African American

00:34:09.640 citizens

00:34:10.100 and our Hispanic

00:34:10.800 citizens

00:34:11.280 they live in

00:34:12.660 more low income

00:34:14.120 neighborhoods

00:34:15.100 that are more

00:34:16.180 subject to crime

00:34:17.200 and when you pull

00:34:18.460 law enforcement

00:34:19.260 out

00:34:19.800 you know

00:34:21.260 we're at a dinner

00:34:22.320 right now

00:34:22.880 I guarantee you

00:34:23.660 anyone here

00:34:24.280 if we told you

00:34:24.960 hey we're going

00:34:25.360 to pull the cops

00:34:26.000 out of your

00:34:26.320 neighborhood

00:34:26.680 everyone here

00:34:28.040 would say

00:34:28.280 no no no

00:34:28.580 that's a terrible

00:34:29.260 idea

00:34:29.760 but yet

00:34:31.120 we see these

00:34:31.920 left wing

00:34:32.400 activists

00:34:32.860 in the name

00:34:33.740 of a slogan

00:34:34.500 Black Lives Matter

00:34:35.620 removing police

00:34:37.020 protections

00:34:37.620 from vulnerable

00:34:38.940 black families

00:34:39.780 and the result

00:34:40.560 is far more

00:34:42.080 African American

00:34:42.920 murders

00:34:43.500 and yet

00:34:44.880 they continue

00:34:45.520 to embrace

00:34:46.040 that same

00:34:46.480 rhetoric

00:34:46.780 so I don't

00:34:47.640 have to guess

00:34:48.160 about it

00:34:48.640 because not

00:34:49.580 only do I

00:34:50.280 have the

00:34:50.640 knowledge of

00:34:51.560 being the mayor

00:34:52.320 and knowing

00:34:52.840 the crime

00:34:53.220 statistics for

00:34:53.800 my city

00:34:54.220 but I also

00:34:54.980 have the

00:34:55.560 lived experience

00:34:57.520 of growing up

00:34:58.540 African American

00:34:59.360 in Dallas

00:35:00.640 in the very

00:35:01.380 communities that

00:35:01.800 we're talking

00:35:02.200 about

00:35:02.480 so I am

00:35:04.220 familiar with

00:35:04.760 this issue

00:35:05.340 as intimately

00:35:07.340 as you can

00:35:07.860 possibly be

00:35:08.620 both from

00:35:09.220 sort of the

00:35:09.680 policy making

00:35:10.380 standpoint

00:35:10.680 and just the

00:35:11.200 life experience

00:35:12.680 I can tell you

00:35:13.240 I'm going to

00:35:13.720 end the suspense

00:35:14.500 for folks

00:35:15.020 it's not

00:35:15.840 I'm not guessing

00:35:16.740 about it

00:35:17.240 I can speak

00:35:18.620 on it with

00:35:18.880 authority

00:35:19.260 and that's why

00:35:19.780 people on the

00:35:20.280 left don't even

00:35:20.760 they don't even

00:35:21.680 challenge me on

00:35:22.600 this because they

00:35:23.000 know that I'm

00:35:24.520 not only on my

00:35:25.080 right but

00:35:25.680 that I have

00:35:27.420 the credibility

00:35:28.060 on that

00:35:28.360 I got the

00:35:28.760 street credit

00:35:29.260 to speak on

00:35:30.420 this

00:35:30.800 the Black

00:35:32.660 Lives Matter

00:35:33.420 thing

00:35:33.940 and the

00:35:35.620 defund the

00:35:36.100 police thing

00:35:36.560 are kind of

00:35:37.420 issues that have

00:35:38.600 been conflated

00:35:39.240 but the truth

00:35:40.020 of the matter

00:35:40.480 is

00:35:40.780 defund the

00:35:42.460 police

00:35:43.040 for sure

00:35:44.420 was a

00:35:45.400 construct

00:35:45.980 of

00:35:47.040 frankly

00:35:47.740 white liberals

00:35:48.580 who don't

00:35:49.460 live in those

00:35:50.020 communities at

00:35:50.480 all

00:35:50.780 and was never

00:35:51.960 asked for

00:35:52.820 irrespective of

00:35:54.180 their party

00:35:54.560 affiliation

00:35:54.960 by African

00:35:55.620 Americans

00:35:55.900 who lived

00:35:56.520 in crime

00:35:56.960 ridden

00:35:57.200 neighborhoods

00:35:57.520 never

00:35:57.940 African

00:35:59.160 Americans

00:35:59.540 never at

00:36:00.240 any point

00:36:00.600 said we

00:36:01.000 want the

00:36:01.420 police

00:36:01.640 out of

00:36:01.920 our

00:36:02.100 communities

00:36:02.540 they said

00:36:02.920 we want

00:36:03.300 more police

00:36:03.960 in our

00:36:04.160 communities

00:36:04.500 we want

00:36:05.060 them to

00:36:05.400 be well

00:36:05.740 trained

00:36:06.140 we want

00:36:06.840 them to

00:36:07.340 we want

00:36:09.000 to live

00:36:10.380 in a safe

00:36:10.740 community

00:36:11.020 and we

00:36:11.260 believe the

00:36:11.520 police

00:36:11.720 are part

00:36:12.100 of that

00:36:12.420 so it

00:36:13.460 was never

00:36:13.880 true to

00:36:14.360 begin with

00:36:14.960 it was a

00:36:15.500 political

00:36:15.960 thing to

00:36:17.360 begin with

00:36:17.920 every morning

00:36:19.040 I wake up

00:36:19.820 early

00:36:20.140 I go on

00:36:20.700 the radio

00:36:20.980 at 7 o'clock

00:36:21.760 and I

00:36:22.600 have to

00:36:23.380 have a

00:36:24.100 great

00:36:24.800 cup of

00:36:25.500 coffee

00:36:25.820 not average

00:36:27.080 not below

00:36:27.820 average

00:36:28.280 and I've

00:36:28.600 had plenty

00:36:28.960 of those

00:36:29.280 in my

00:36:29.520 life

00:36:29.840 I want

00:36:30.540 a premium

00:36:31.080 cup of

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00:36:31.880 the problem

00:36:32.560 is in the

00:36:33.020 coffee industry

00:36:33.680 there's a

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00:37:06.060 now look

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00:37:35.100 woke

00:37:35.340 coffee

00:37:35.700 companies

00:37:36.180 be

00:37:36.520 awake

00:37:36.960 just

00:37:37.320 not

00:37:37.540 woke

00:37:37.920 that's

00:37:38.360 blackout

00:37:38.780 coffee

00:37:39.100 dot com

00:37:39.540 slash

00:37:39.800 verdict

00:37:40.100 blackout

00:37:41.160 coffee

00:37:41.540 dot com

00:37:42.260 slash

00:37:42.600 verdict

00:37:42.900 promo

00:37:43.280 code

00:37:43.720 verdict

00:37:44.020 for

00:37:47.320 what was

00:37:48.040 the reaction

00:37:48.780 of police

00:37:49.440 officers

00:37:50.020 when this

00:37:51.660 was going

00:37:52.120 down

00:37:52.480 i mean

00:37:52.940 we saw

00:37:54.040 a lot

00:37:54.360 of them

00:37:54.600 are trying

00:37:54.960 to you

00:37:55.440 know

00:37:55.620 be quiet

00:37:56.820 stay out

00:37:57.180 of the

00:37:57.320 politics

00:37:57.960 but you

00:37:58.960 were a

00:37:59.240 democrat

00:37:59.580 you have

00:38:00.500 a large

00:38:01.280 police force

00:38:02.040 with a lot

00:38:02.740 of minorities

00:38:03.300 in it

00:38:03.780 what were

00:38:04.920 they saying

00:38:05.360 to you

00:38:05.620 privately

00:38:06.120 during that

00:38:06.660 time

00:38:06.980 well

00:38:07.380 i'll

00:38:07.960 answer that

00:38:09.760 one really

00:38:10.100 quickly

00:38:10.480 everybody

00:38:11.840 i believe

00:38:12.640 in law

00:38:13.320 enforcement

00:38:13.760 could not

00:38:15.020 believe

00:38:15.360 and was

00:38:15.740 so relieved

00:38:16.860 that they

00:38:18.120 had the

00:38:18.580 one

00:38:19.060 person

00:38:20.600 who

00:38:20.920 in this

00:38:21.520 role

00:38:21.940 everywhere

00:38:22.300 else

00:38:22.560 in the

00:38:22.720 country

00:38:22.880 was

00:38:23.120 caving

00:38:23.620 who

00:38:24.900 was

00:38:25.080 standing

00:38:25.360 up

00:38:25.620 they

00:38:25.980 were

00:38:26.100 very

00:38:26.440 grateful

00:38:26.940 and

00:38:27.600 it's

00:38:27.940 what

00:38:28.140 earned

00:38:28.420 me

00:38:28.740 the

00:38:29.200 just

00:38:29.720 enduring

00:38:30.380 support

00:38:31.000 of law

00:38:32.080 enforcement

00:38:32.480 for my

00:38:33.520 entire

00:38:34.860 mayoralty

00:38:35.500 because i

00:38:36.380 stood by

00:38:36.980 them

00:38:37.340 but i

00:38:37.680 wasn't

00:38:37.940 standing

00:38:38.400 by them

00:38:38.680 just to

00:38:38.920 send

00:38:39.060 a

00:38:39.200 message

00:38:39.660 i was

00:38:40.560 standing

00:38:40.700 because

00:38:40.880 it was

00:38:41.320 absolutely

00:38:41.780 what the

00:38:42.160 city

00:38:42.360 needed

00:38:42.920 law

00:38:43.640 enforcement

00:38:43.940 hadn't

00:38:44.180 done

00:38:44.380 anything

00:38:44.720 wrong

00:38:45.360 where they

00:38:45.880 deserved

00:38:46.540 for that

00:38:47.560 rhetoric

00:38:48.040 to be

00:38:48.280 thrown

00:38:48.520 out

00:38:48.820 around

00:38:49.200 them

00:38:50.000 and

00:38:50.200 having

00:38:50.740 cutting

00:38:51.880 60%

00:38:52.680 from a

00:38:52.980 police

00:38:53.140 department

00:38:53.480 that's

00:38:55.100 not

00:38:55.780 trimming

00:38:56.300 around the

00:38:56.760 edges

00:38:56.980 that's

00:38:57.760 salary

00:38:58.540 and

00:38:58.800 benefits

00:38:59.220 that's

00:38:59.840 recruitment

00:39:00.280 that's

00:39:00.940 putting

00:39:02.140 them in

00:39:02.960 more

00:39:03.220 danger

00:39:03.740 doing

00:39:04.180 already

00:39:04.460 a

00:39:04.600 dangerous

00:39:04.860 job

00:39:05.280 and so

00:39:06.200 they really

00:39:07.460 appreciated

00:39:08.020 that

00:39:08.400 but i

00:39:09.280 want to

00:39:09.600 put a

00:39:10.040 fine

00:39:10.280 point

00:39:10.500 on this

00:39:10.720 issue

00:39:10.900 with

00:39:11.020 African

00:39:11.320 American

00:39:11.580 community

00:39:11.960 as it

00:39:12.420 relates

00:39:12.640 to public

00:39:13.000 safety

00:39:13.380 because it

00:39:13.900 relates

00:39:14.380 to what

00:39:14.760 I believe

00:39:15.440 is part

00:39:16.680 of why

00:39:17.320 I think

00:39:17.720 that this

00:39:18.320 party switch

00:39:19.120 of mine

00:39:19.480 is not

00:39:20.400 important

00:39:20.920 because I

00:39:21.480 switch

00:39:21.760 parties

00:39:22.000 that's

00:39:23.100 almost

00:39:23.460 insignificant

00:39:24.200 but what

00:39:25.480 it represents

00:39:25.980 for the

00:39:26.340 potentiality

00:39:27.320 for this

00:39:27.840 group of

00:39:29.080 people

00:39:29.540 who

00:39:29.960 I honestly

00:39:31.020 believe

00:39:31.600 just have

00:39:32.120 not had

00:39:32.680 anybody

00:39:33.220 come to

00:39:34.360 them

00:39:34.760 in a

00:39:36.040 spirit

00:39:36.400 of love

00:39:37.460 and concern

00:39:38.100 who's

00:39:38.420 operating

00:39:39.240 from within

00:39:39.860 the

00:39:40.080 community

00:39:40.420 not

00:39:40.760 saying

00:39:41.100 I

00:39:41.340 sort

00:39:41.800 of

00:39:41.880 exist

00:39:42.160 outside

00:39:42.560 of it

00:39:42.920 and let

00:39:43.140 me

00:39:43.280 lecture

00:39:43.840 you

00:39:44.080 about

00:39:44.280 what

00:39:44.460 you

00:39:44.580 should

00:39:44.700 acknowledge

00:39:47.080 and

00:39:47.420 accepted

00:39:47.940 and proud

00:39:48.940 member

00:39:49.440 of it

00:39:49.860 saying

00:39:50.300 let me

00:39:51.080 explain

00:39:51.440 to you

00:39:51.880 why we've

00:39:52.980 been

00:39:53.300 duped

00:39:54.020 a little

00:39:54.280 bit

00:39:54.540 here

00:39:54.800 and why

00:39:55.480 what

00:39:55.920 was once

00:39:56.720 maybe a

00:39:57.280 good idea

00:39:57.920 or sounded

00:39:58.480 like one

00:39:59.060 has now

00:39:59.600 actually been

00:40:00.240 categorically

00:40:01.000 proven

00:40:01.680 to be a

00:40:02.420 failed

00:40:02.860 strategy

00:40:03.520 well

00:40:03.960 and let

00:40:04.240 me drill

00:40:04.660 down on that

00:40:05.180 a little

00:40:05.380 bit

00:40:05.660 and this

00:40:06.420 is something

00:40:07.180 that

00:40:07.500 I feel pretty

00:40:08.140 strongly about

00:40:08.640 this one

00:40:08.900 this is

00:40:09.220 way bigger

00:40:10.640 than one

00:40:11.460 guy switching

00:40:12.060 this ought

00:40:12.460 to be

00:40:12.680 about

00:40:12.920 people

00:40:13.180 going

00:40:13.540 why am

00:40:14.720 I still

00:40:15.120 a democrat

00:40:15.600 if this

00:40:16.100 is what

00:40:16.320 I care

00:40:16.660 about

00:40:17.000 you know

00:40:17.800 well

00:40:18.140 and this

00:40:19.040 is a

00:40:19.500 theme

00:40:19.740 you've

00:40:19.960 referenced

00:40:20.220 several

00:40:20.520 times

00:40:20.860 that I

00:40:21.100 think

00:40:21.240 is really

00:40:21.560 important

00:40:22.000 I

00:40:23.600 emphatically

00:40:24.340 believe

00:40:24.760 and I

00:40:25.020 think

00:40:25.180 you do

00:40:25.520 as well

00:40:26.020 that the

00:40:26.820 policies

00:40:27.500 of the

00:40:29.540 left

00:40:29.880 the policies

00:40:30.520 of liberal

00:40:31.040 democrats

00:40:31.520 have been

00:40:32.240 deeply

00:40:33.000 harmful

00:40:33.680 to the

00:40:34.640 African

00:40:34.980 American

00:40:35.320 community

00:40:35.840 to the

00:40:36.180 Hispanic

00:40:36.520 community

00:40:37.080 that they

00:40:37.920 exacerbate

00:40:38.680 poverty

00:40:39.100 they exacerbate

00:40:40.120 crime

00:40:40.620 they

00:40:40.920 have

00:40:42.140 they

00:40:43.800 throttle

00:40:44.880 educational

00:40:46.360 excellence

00:40:46.980 and opportunity

00:40:47.780 and yet

00:40:49.680 we still

00:40:51.360 have in Texas

00:40:52.300 and across

00:40:52.820 the country

00:40:53.400 an overwhelming

00:40:56.340 majority of

00:40:57.060 African Americans

00:40:57.760 voting democrat

00:40:58.540 and so I guess

00:40:59.360 I want to ask

00:40:59.760 two things

00:41:00.300 one you made

00:41:00.960 reference to it

00:41:01.580 before about how

00:41:02.480 kind of culturally

00:41:03.780 you are

00:41:06.620 you're essentially

00:41:07.520 told you're a

00:41:08.360 democrat

00:41:08.700 that's what it

00:41:09.420 means to be

00:41:10.860 black

00:41:11.140 I'd like you

00:41:12.040 to kind of

00:41:12.480 explain a little

00:41:14.180 bit why you

00:41:15.160 think that is

00:41:16.120 and then the

00:41:16.720 second part of

00:41:17.520 it is

00:41:17.940 look we're

00:41:18.640 seeing especially

00:41:19.420 in Texas

00:41:19.960 but other parts

00:41:20.620 of the country

00:41:21.060 we're seeing

00:41:21.460 the Hispanic

00:41:21.940 community

00:41:22.440 is getting

00:41:23.580 more and more

00:41:24.100 republican

00:41:24.540 every day

00:41:25.040 and we're

00:41:26.260 seeing the

00:41:26.580 African American

00:41:27.240 community

00:41:27.600 I think

00:41:27.940 there's some

00:41:28.580 movement

00:41:29.020 but we've

00:41:29.600 got a lot

00:41:30.060 further to go

00:41:32.360 in the

00:41:33.160 African American

00:41:33.780 community

00:41:34.300 what do you

00:41:35.800 think

00:41:36.300 what do you

00:41:37.900 think is

00:41:38.760 is persuasive

00:41:40.140 what should

00:41:40.960 republicans do

00:41:42.080 to earn

00:41:43.480 more support

00:41:44.260 in the

00:41:44.680 African American

00:41:45.400 community

00:41:46.000 going forward

00:41:47.360 I think

00:41:48.680 it's an

00:41:49.340 amazingly

00:41:50.000 important

00:41:50.880 question

00:41:51.380 and I

00:41:51.680 appreciate

00:41:51.980 you asking

00:41:52.540 it

00:41:52.820 and it's

00:41:54.000 complicated

00:41:54.600 but I

00:41:55.260 think

00:41:55.560 if we're

00:41:56.440 going to

00:41:56.620 start that

00:41:57.080 conversation

00:41:57.460 tonight a

00:41:57.960 little bit

00:41:58.240 and I

00:41:58.780 really

00:41:59.340 appreciate

00:41:59.600 you

00:41:59.760 having

00:42:00.720 this

00:42:01.040 conversation

00:42:01.800 with me

00:42:02.360 I've not

00:42:03.180 ever had

00:42:03.600 an opportunity

00:42:03.940 to talk

00:42:04.360 about

00:42:04.560 this is

00:42:05.140 stuff

00:42:05.280 that I've

00:42:05.520 been thinking

00:42:05.780 about my

00:42:06.060 whole life

00:42:06.620 and I

00:42:07.400 had really

00:42:07.880 any opportunity

00:42:08.480 to really

00:42:08.980 do anything

00:42:10.060 about it

00:42:10.340 and I feel

00:42:10.540 like I'm

00:42:10.760 at this

00:42:11.040 point in

00:42:12.300 my life

00:42:12.820 now

00:42:12.980 where maybe

00:42:13.700 we can

00:42:14.020 actually

00:42:14.440 see the

00:42:15.660 numbers

00:42:16.100 of African

00:42:16.660 Americans

00:42:17.020 change

00:42:17.880 to support

00:42:18.700 the Republican

00:42:19.680 Party

00:42:20.100 I think

00:42:21.660 this

00:42:22.040 I think

00:42:23.600 it's

00:42:23.820 perfectly

00:42:24.380 understandable

00:42:25.780 in a

00:42:28.980 limited

00:42:29.460 resource

00:42:30.020 environment

00:42:30.700 which is

00:42:31.080 what any

00:42:31.500 political

00:42:32.040 campaign

00:42:33.060 is

00:42:33.720 or any

00:42:34.020 political

00:42:34.340 party

00:42:34.780 is

00:42:34.940 resources

00:42:35.680 are

00:42:36.020 infinite

00:42:36.440 to say

00:42:37.940 to any

00:42:38.520 group

00:42:38.780 that at

00:42:39.040 any

00:42:39.220 point

00:42:39.440 in time

00:42:39.840 is only

00:42:40.440 throwing

00:42:41.020 you

00:42:41.260 10%

00:42:42.060 of their

00:42:42.480 support

00:42:42.900 i.e.

00:42:43.200 they're

00:42:43.360 against

00:42:43.600 you

00:42:43.760 90%

00:42:44.200 of the

00:42:44.380 time

00:42:44.720 that that's

00:42:46.340 not where

00:42:46.660 we ought

00:42:46.920 to be

00:42:47.100 investing

00:42:47.500 I think

00:42:48.740 that's

00:42:48.940 a

00:42:49.080 perfectly

00:42:49.440 rational

00:42:50.200 decision

00:42:51.960 that

00:42:53.540 the

00:42:54.240 perfectly

00:42:54.680 rational

00:42:55.180 decision

00:42:55.620 in a lot

00:42:56.020 of ways

00:42:56.440 to not

00:42:56.980 play the

00:42:57.560 game

00:42:57.820 at all

00:42:58.220 because

00:42:58.480 it's not

00:42:58.860 perceived

00:42:59.960 to be

00:43:00.280 a particularly

00:43:00.880 fruitful

00:43:02.280 game

00:43:02.800 plays

00:43:03.920 very easily

00:43:04.820 into a

00:43:05.340 narrative

00:43:05.580 and therefore

00:43:06.640 that party

00:43:07.220 doesn't care

00:43:07.840 at all

00:43:08.300 so you

00:43:09.700 got one

00:43:10.120 party

00:43:10.460 that may

00:43:10.960 be able

00:43:11.540 to be

00:43:11.780 criticized

00:43:12.080 for being

00:43:12.580 inefficient

00:43:13.320 and ineffective

00:43:14.400 but they're

00:43:15.700 telling you

00:43:16.300 they care

00:43:16.780 and you

00:43:17.480 got another

00:43:17.860 party

00:43:18.140 that might

00:43:18.420 not be

00:43:18.680 telling you

00:43:18.940 they hate

00:43:19.420 you

00:43:19.600 but they're

00:43:19.960 just sort

00:43:20.340 of focused

00:43:20.800 on groups

00:43:22.080 that produce

00:43:23.180 more efficiently

00:43:25.360 support

00:43:26.120 I mean

00:43:26.800 it's a

00:43:27.280 tough slog

00:43:28.740 when you're

00:43:29.040 talking about

00:43:29.300 90-10

00:43:30.260 and so

00:43:31.500 it's

00:43:31.920 understandable

00:43:32.560 but it's

00:43:32.980 come at a

00:43:33.320 cost

00:43:33.720 what I'm

00:43:34.780 saying

00:43:35.160 and what I'm

00:43:35.620 feeling

00:43:36.140 instinctively

00:43:37.160 politically

00:43:37.620 right now

00:43:38.120 is that

00:43:38.420 there's

00:43:38.840 been a

00:43:40.020 maturation

00:43:41.180 that was

00:43:42.140 inevitable

00:43:42.660 in African

00:43:43.480 Americans

00:43:43.880 position

00:43:44.640 in this

00:43:45.080 country

00:43:45.460 we are

00:43:46.680 better off

00:43:47.240 than we've

00:43:47.540 ever been

00:43:48.160 are we

00:43:48.840 as well

00:43:49.220 off as

00:43:49.500 we'd like

00:43:49.840 to be

00:43:50.100 no

00:43:50.360 but we

00:43:50.880 we are

00:43:51.620 better off

00:43:52.200 we're better

00:43:53.240 educated

00:43:53.800 we're better

00:43:54.520 everything

00:43:54.920 there's

00:43:55.160 anybody who

00:43:55.980 says we're

00:43:56.260 not better

00:43:56.800 off today

00:43:57.320 than we

00:43:57.640 were

00:43:58.000 you know

00:43:58.900 in the

00:43:59.980 immediate

00:44:00.360 aftermath

00:44:01.140 of the

00:44:01.480 civil war

00:44:02.060 or during

00:44:02.540 the civil

00:44:02.760 rights era

00:44:03.260 is just

00:44:04.120 playing a

00:44:05.040 game

00:44:05.380 they're

00:44:05.620 playing a

00:44:05.920 retoral game

00:44:06.320 yes we are

00:44:07.060 we're not

00:44:07.720 where we'd

00:44:08.140 like to be

00:44:08.700 but we are

00:44:09.440 better than

00:44:09.940 we're further

00:44:10.680 ahead than we've

00:44:11.020 ever been

00:44:11.500 what that

00:44:12.660 means though

00:44:13.100 is that

00:44:13.360 people maybe

00:44:14.160 have more

00:44:14.680 of an

00:44:14.840 opportunity

00:44:15.180 now to

00:44:15.680 sit back

00:44:16.260 and look

00:44:16.680 at things

00:44:17.000 and ask

00:44:17.680 that question

00:44:18.200 of how

00:44:19.700 has this

00:44:20.520 approach

00:44:21.480 of making

00:44:22.880 everything

00:44:23.480 about the

00:44:24.840 community

00:44:25.220 in terms

00:44:25.700 of

00:44:26.040 everything

00:44:27.540 I do

00:44:28.340 is written

00:44:28.960 off to

00:44:29.700 societal

00:44:30.500 factors

00:44:31.140 right

00:44:31.820 we can't

00:44:32.520 hold

00:44:32.840 we can't

00:44:33.280 even hold

00:44:33.560 a criminal

00:44:34.140 accountable

00:44:34.920 because it's

00:44:35.900 society's fault

00:44:36.780 everything

00:44:38.000 in the

00:44:39.120 democratic

00:44:39.580 party

00:44:40.280 my experience

00:44:41.520 was

00:44:41.880 anything

00:44:43.300 you tried

00:44:43.900 to actually

00:44:44.740 pin on

00:44:45.220 an individual

00:44:45.920 was written

00:44:47.020 off to

00:44:47.460 society

00:44:48.020 so

00:44:48.880 as a

00:44:50.120 mayor

00:44:50.320 for example

00:44:50.920 I am

00:44:51.960 really deeply

00:44:53.420 concerned about

00:44:54.180 the victims

00:44:55.020 of crime

00:44:55.600 because they

00:44:56.280 did nothing

00:44:56.680 wrong

00:44:57.100 the

00:44:58.360 law enforcement

00:44:59.780 folks who

00:45:00.240 are out there

00:45:00.540 risking their

00:45:01.100 lives to

00:45:01.660 prevent crime

00:45:02.400 and to

00:45:02.620 address crime

00:45:03.360 and then

00:45:04.640 the would-be

00:45:05.800 victims of

00:45:06.300 crime that

00:45:06.660 we're trying

00:45:06.980 to protect

00:45:07.560 right

00:45:08.140 that's what

00:45:08.960 I care about

00:45:09.400 victims

00:45:10.020 would-be

00:45:10.760 victims

00:45:11.200 cops

00:45:11.820 the

00:45:13.200 democrat

00:45:13.560 party

00:45:13.960 really

00:45:14.280 seems

00:45:14.940 I mean

00:45:15.360 legitimately

00:45:16.060 seems

00:45:16.720 to care

00:45:17.420 more about

00:45:18.100 the perpetrators

00:45:19.560 of crimes

00:45:20.100 than the

00:45:20.460 victims of

00:45:21.120 crimes

00:45:21.400 or the

00:45:21.640 would-be

00:45:21.880 victims

00:45:22.140 or the

00:45:22.540 police

00:45:22.920 and I

00:45:23.840 tell you

00:45:24.180 what my

00:45:24.460 evidence

00:45:25.060 of that

00:45:25.360 is

00:45:25.600 whenever

00:45:26.520 somebody

00:45:27.080 does

00:45:27.440 anything

00:45:28.060 the finger

00:45:30.220 gets pointed

00:45:30.880 at the

00:45:31.720 rest of

00:45:32.220 us

00:45:32.500 and we

00:45:32.720 get told

00:45:33.100 how if

00:45:33.440 we just

00:45:33.800 had built

00:45:34.420 another

00:45:35.140 recreation

00:45:35.700 center

00:45:36.100 or if

00:45:36.780 we had

00:45:37.020 put more

00:45:37.920 money into

00:45:38.320 the schools

00:45:38.900 this person

00:45:39.740 may not

00:45:40.040 have murdered

00:45:40.460 that person

00:45:41.080 or this person

00:45:41.520 may not

00:45:41.780 have raped

00:45:42.140 that person

00:45:42.640 I grew up

00:45:45.260 as poor

00:45:45.840 and as black

00:45:46.380 as you can

00:45:46.740 grow up

00:45:47.260 and I can

00:45:48.620 tell you

00:45:49.020 in every

00:45:49.780 poor black

00:45:50.540 community

00:45:50.740 in this

00:45:51.040 country

00:45:51.520 80%

00:45:53.080 of the people

00:45:54.280 like in

00:45:54.720 any other

00:45:55.100 group

00:45:55.360 are making

00:45:55.980 the decision

00:45:56.400 every single

00:45:57.040 day to

00:45:57.560 follow the

00:45:58.360 law

00:45:58.640 and do it

00:45:59.320 by the

00:45:59.660 rules

00:45:59.940 it's 20%

00:46:01.220 like in

00:46:01.740 any group

00:46:02.220 well look

00:46:02.600 the whole

00:46:02.920 country saw

00:46:03.620 the image

00:46:04.120 just a couple

00:46:04.660 of weeks

00:46:04.980 ago

00:46:05.320 of the

00:46:06.000 six illegal

00:46:06.560 immigrants

00:46:07.020 in New York

00:46:07.820 City

00:46:08.160 who beat

00:46:08.800 up two

00:46:09.420 New York

00:46:10.040 cops

00:46:10.600 they get

00:46:11.480 arrested

00:46:11.960 and within

00:46:12.460 hours

00:46:13.080 they get

00:46:13.620 released

00:46:14.100 no bail

00:46:14.740 and they

00:46:15.940 walk out

00:46:16.620 and with

00:46:16.940 both hands

00:46:17.760 they're

00:46:18.080 flipping the

00:46:18.780 bird

00:46:19.200 at everyone

00:46:20.520 and that

00:46:21.580 to me

00:46:23.320 that image

00:46:24.320 of those

00:46:26.260 angry illegal

00:46:27.200 immigrants

00:46:27.660 flipping the

00:46:28.320 bird

00:46:28.660 I think

00:46:29.980 sums up

00:46:31.020 the absolute

00:46:33.060 depravity

00:46:34.060 of the

00:46:34.360 view of

00:46:34.720 the left

00:46:35.180 and we're

00:46:37.040 seeing

00:46:37.720 look we're

00:46:38.980 seeing great

00:46:39.620 American cities

00:46:40.640 being destroyed

00:46:41.340 as you know

00:46:41.960 Heidi my wife

00:46:43.340 is a native

00:46:44.040 Californian

00:46:44.740 you look at

00:46:45.280 California

00:46:45.900 you look at a

00:46:46.820 city like

00:46:47.200 San Francisco

00:46:47.880 San Francisco

00:46:48.980 is an iconic

00:46:50.020 American city

00:46:50.880 in the last

00:46:52.020 couple of years

00:46:52.720 22 major

00:46:53.940 retailers

00:46:54.580 have shut

00:46:56.080 down

00:46:56.640 downtown

00:46:57.200 because the

00:46:57.960 crime has

00:46:58.520 gotten so

00:46:59.140 bad

00:46:59.640 and I

00:47:00.720 remember

00:47:01.040 Heidi's

00:47:01.580 family lives

00:47:02.260 in California

00:47:02.760 called

00:47:03.280 and they

00:47:03.480 just said

00:47:04.660 on the

00:47:04.900 phone to

00:47:05.280 her

00:47:05.360 said

00:47:05.580 well gosh

00:47:06.040 you know

00:47:06.280 what can

00:47:07.040 we do

00:47:07.340 people just

00:47:07.840 go into

00:47:08.220 stores

00:47:08.700 and you know

00:47:09.400 just take

00:47:09.840 stuff

00:47:10.140 there's nothing

00:47:10.540 we can do

00:47:11.040 about it

00:47:11.440 and I

00:47:11.580 remember

00:47:11.780 I'm listening

00:47:12.240 to that

00:47:12.600 and I

00:47:12.820 said

00:47:13.000 yes there

00:47:13.860 is

00:47:14.080 you throw

00:47:14.440 their ass

00:47:14.860 in jail

00:47:15.400 like put

00:47:16.320 them in

00:47:16.540 handcuffs

00:47:17.080 arrest

00:47:17.780 them

00:47:18.080 it's worse

00:47:18.560 than that

00:47:18.960 senator

00:47:20.300 this is what

00:47:20.940 I'm getting

00:47:21.200 at too

00:47:21.740 it's worse

00:47:22.380 than that

00:47:22.920 it's

00:47:24.420 quite

00:47:25.100 predictable

00:47:25.880 when you

00:47:28.100 when you

00:47:28.840 literally

00:47:29.820 change the

00:47:30.560 policies

00:47:31.200 in the

00:47:31.860 prosecutor's

00:47:32.420 office

00:47:32.640 and you

00:47:33.000 say

00:47:33.460 we won't

00:47:34.720 prosecute

00:47:35.540 theft

00:47:37.460 of any

00:47:38.840 amount

00:47:39.240 underneath

00:47:41.360 a thousand

00:47:42.260 dollars

00:47:42.760 and then

00:47:44.120 you don't

00:47:44.740 just make

00:47:45.220 that some

00:47:45.580 sort of

00:47:46.880 and it would

00:47:47.280 still be bad

00:47:47.980 internal

00:47:48.440 memorandum

00:47:49.120 you go on

00:47:49.600 the news

00:47:50.020 you tell

00:47:50.480 the community

00:47:52.180 we're not

00:47:53.040 going to do that

00:47:53.680 is it really

00:47:54.900 a surprise

00:47:55.420 that you

00:47:56.360 have an

00:47:56.700 uptick

00:47:57.260 not even

00:47:58.080 an uptick

00:47:58.520 a sharp

00:47:59.560 increase

00:48:00.100 in smash

00:48:01.060 and grab

00:48:01.580 jobs

00:48:02.180 and shop

00:48:03.320 lifting

00:48:03.620 again

00:48:04.880 in an

00:48:05.780 effort to

00:48:06.320 do some

00:48:06.660 of these

00:48:06.940 things

00:48:07.320 that sound

00:48:07.840 good on

00:48:08.240 paper

00:48:08.580 because

00:48:08.880 society

00:48:09.820 is at

00:48:10.200 fault

00:48:10.480 not

00:48:10.740 individuals

00:48:11.320 we do

00:48:12.180 crazy

00:48:12.640 things

00:48:13.280 we

00:48:13.560 these

00:48:14.760 DA's

00:48:15.320 and things

00:48:15.660 stop

00:48:16.360 prosecuting

00:48:16.920 crimes

00:48:17.320 because it's

00:48:17.640 not fair

00:48:18.700 you know

00:48:19.540 what

00:48:19.720 back to

00:48:20.360 that 80-20

00:48:20.880 split

00:48:21.200 which is

00:48:21.500 just sort

00:48:21.780 of the

00:48:22.000 metaphorical

00:48:22.600 split

00:48:22.920 in any

00:48:23.220 group

00:48:23.500 of people

00:48:24.080 who are

00:48:24.240 doing the

00:48:24.500 right thing

00:48:24.820 and people

00:48:25.020 aren't

00:48:25.980 that 20%

00:48:26.760 just needs

00:48:27.720 to be held

00:48:28.140 accountable

00:48:28.660 for making

00:48:29.840 an individual

00:48:30.380 choice

00:48:30.880 to break

00:48:31.500 the law

00:48:31.920 and kill

00:48:32.500 someone

00:48:32.860 or rape

00:48:33.200 someone

00:48:33.420 or terrorize

00:48:34.280 the community

00:48:34.720 and we need

00:48:35.340 to stop

00:48:35.660 pretending

00:48:36.200 like everything

00:48:37.220 can be

00:48:38.220 attributed

00:48:38.500 to some

00:48:38.880 societal

00:48:39.340 factor

00:48:39.740 it's just

00:48:40.160 not

00:48:40.540 the way

00:48:41.240 it actually

00:48:41.960 is

00:48:42.200 all right

00:48:42.520 we need

00:48:42.820 to wrap

00:48:43.180 up soon

00:48:43.660 but I

00:48:44.220 want to

00:48:44.480 ask two

00:48:44.940 questions

00:48:45.600 to close

00:48:46.240 one

00:48:47.680 in your

00:48:49.000 view

00:48:49.480 part of

00:48:50.920 what you

00:48:51.340 answered

00:48:52.300 in terms

00:48:52.860 of how

00:48:53.200 republicans

00:48:53.760 can do

00:48:54.040 a better

00:48:54.280 job

00:48:54.680 in the

00:48:54.880 african-american

00:48:55.480 community

00:48:55.880 is just

00:48:56.300 showing up

00:48:57.320 and demonstrating

00:48:58.060 that they

00:48:58.880 give a damn

00:48:59.340 and I think

00:48:59.700 that absolutely

00:49:00.480 is right

00:49:00.860 I didn't really

00:49:01.420 say all I

00:49:02.660 needed to say

00:49:03.040 on that

00:49:03.180 because it's

00:49:03.360 not just

00:49:03.660 about

00:49:04.000 emoting

00:49:05.480 and showing

00:49:05.820 up and

00:49:06.120 just saying

00:49:06.440 we care

00:49:06.960 it's I

00:49:07.860 think

00:49:08.100 having an

00:49:08.980 alternative

00:49:09.480 to the

00:49:11.460 liberal

00:49:11.740 approach

00:49:12.440 well and

00:49:13.140 that's

00:49:13.420 where my

00:49:14.360 question was

00:49:14.900 going to

00:49:15.160 go

00:49:15.440 which is

00:49:16.180 what

00:49:17.420 issues

00:49:18.280 do you

00:49:19.180 think

00:49:19.680 resonate

00:49:21.360 most

00:49:22.160 powerfully

00:49:22.900 in the

00:49:23.180 african-american

00:49:23.920 community

00:49:24.500 that

00:49:24.880 by focusing

00:49:26.940 on those

00:49:27.560 issues

00:49:28.000 have a

00:49:28.480 potential

00:49:28.920 to earn

00:49:29.560 their support

00:49:30.300 by saying

00:49:31.560 look this

00:49:32.200 is an

00:49:32.520 issue

00:49:32.840 that is

00:49:33.200 going to

00:49:33.600 make

00:49:33.900 a difference

00:49:35.500 in your

00:49:35.960 life

00:49:36.260 and your

00:49:36.540 family

00:49:36.800 I am

00:49:37.200 deeply

00:49:37.600 passionate

00:49:38.040 on school

00:49:38.480 choice

00:49:38.780 I think

00:49:39.060 school

00:49:39.300 choice

00:49:39.740 is the

00:49:41.120 most

00:49:41.360 fundamental

00:49:41.800 civil rights

00:49:42.380 issue

00:49:42.880 in the

00:49:43.140 entire

00:49:43.380 country

00:49:43.840 but I'm

00:49:44.800 interested

00:49:45.060 in your

00:49:45.380 thoughts

00:49:45.780 of what

00:49:46.260 issues

00:49:46.860 actually

00:49:47.460 will

00:49:47.740 resonate

00:49:48.220 and cause

00:49:49.900 voters

00:49:51.520 who have

00:49:51.940 voted

00:49:52.160 democrat

00:49:52.600 their

00:49:52.860 whole

00:49:53.080 life

00:49:53.500 to

00:49:54.400 reconsider

00:49:55.020 gosh

00:49:55.580 maybe

00:49:55.960 the

00:49:56.940 policies

00:49:57.400 that

00:49:57.700 they're

00:49:58.420 foisting

00:49:59.240 upon me

00:49:59.660 are not

00:49:59.900 working

00:50:00.220 I think

00:50:01.080 if a

00:50:02.000 republican

00:50:02.740 candidate

00:50:04.800 for president

00:50:05.480 candidate

00:50:06.380 for governor

00:50:06.980 candidate

00:50:07.880 for mayor

00:50:08.480 candidate

00:50:08.920 of anybody

00:50:09.340 who's actually

00:50:09.820 perceived to be

00:50:11.640 running for an

00:50:12.540 executive type

00:50:13.240 position

00:50:13.540 was in charge

00:50:14.360 went to an

00:50:17.080 African American

00:50:17.680 community

00:50:18.160 I'm talking

00:50:18.700 of people

00:50:19.100 who are

00:50:19.500 members of

00:50:20.380 the community

00:50:20.660 who are going

00:50:21.180 to vote

00:50:21.560 and participate

00:50:22.040 in the process

00:50:22.780 people who are

00:50:23.680 invested in their

00:50:24.340 community

00:50:24.640 and said

00:50:25.140 I'm the person

00:50:26.740 who's going to

00:50:27.700 come in here

00:50:28.440 and I'm going

00:50:29.680 to make this

00:50:30.160 a safe

00:50:30.660 community

00:50:31.040 for you

00:50:31.480 because no one

00:50:32.080 before me

00:50:32.900 has done that

00:50:33.620 no one

00:50:34.460 either side

00:50:35.040 this community

00:50:36.020 is you deserve

00:50:37.680 a safer

00:50:38.580 neighborhood

00:50:39.100 than you're

00:50:39.460 living in

00:50:39.920 I want you

00:50:41.000 to be able

00:50:41.400 to walk

00:50:41.840 from your

00:50:42.360 house

00:50:42.620 to the end

00:50:43.020 of the block

00:50:43.540 and back home

00:50:44.420 without being

00:50:45.040 worried about

00:50:45.640 being mugged

00:50:47.000 or robbed

00:50:47.840 or killed

00:50:48.460 and you don't

00:50:49.500 feel safe

00:50:50.260 doing that

00:50:50.780 right now

00:50:51.160 I want your

00:50:51.680 grandson

00:50:52.360 to feel safe

00:50:53.500 walking from

00:50:54.160 the school bus

00:50:54.800 home

00:50:55.420 and he doesn't

00:50:56.260 feel safe

00:50:56.680 doing that

00:50:57.060 right now

00:50:57.380 I want to

00:50:57.860 restore

00:50:58.480 a genuine

00:50:59.820 sense of safety

00:51:00.700 to this community

00:51:01.300 that's number one

00:51:02.020 number two

00:51:03.200 I understand

00:51:04.600 that the burden

00:51:05.660 of high taxes

00:51:07.000 falls disproportionately

00:51:08.160 on you

00:51:09.000 I have

00:51:10.000 polling

00:51:10.900 from my mayoral

00:51:12.600 campaigns

00:51:12.940 that shows

00:51:13.660 in Dallas

00:51:14.520 Texas

00:51:14.940 the groups

00:51:16.360 of voters

00:51:17.840 who most

00:51:19.340 want their

00:51:20.100 taxes lowered

00:51:21.040 are African

00:51:22.200 Americans

00:51:22.680 followed by

00:51:23.340 Latinos

00:51:23.840 whites are in

00:51:25.000 third place

00:51:25.620 because they're

00:51:27.100 paying a higher

00:51:27.800 percentage of

00:51:28.320 their income

00:51:28.860 into the taxes

00:51:29.600 it hits them

00:51:31.200 the hardest

00:51:31.720 they are the

00:51:33.040 most worked up

00:51:34.620 about their

00:51:35.080 property tax

00:51:35.600 bill

00:51:35.740 and would most

00:51:36.180 like to see

00:51:36.540 I'm going to

00:51:37.480 take that

00:51:37.800 it's a barrier

00:51:38.180 to entry

00:51:38.580 if you're

00:51:38.960 climbing the

00:51:39.620 economic ladder

00:51:40.540 it hits you

00:51:41.620 the hardest

00:51:42.140 on the earliest

00:51:42.940 rung

00:51:43.140 this is supported

00:51:44.260 by polling

00:51:45.940 data

00:51:46.700 it will show

00:51:47.520 you that

00:51:48.040 poorer folks

00:51:49.760 actually are

00:51:50.820 most crippled

00:51:51.860 by reckless tax

00:51:53.100 policy at the

00:51:53.740 local level

00:51:54.160 in particular

00:51:54.760 because there's

00:51:55.680 no

00:51:55.960 there's no

00:51:57.040 game

00:51:57.460 there's no

00:51:57.780 playing a game

00:51:58.360 around that

00:51:58.920 there's no

00:51:59.520 tax credit

00:52:01.260 this and

00:52:02.200 you know

00:52:02.540 figure that out

00:52:03.960 like the tax

00:52:05.020 bills just do

00:52:05.920 or they foreclose

00:52:07.220 on the house

00:52:07.980 and you just

00:52:08.720 got to find a way

00:52:09.460 to pay it

00:52:10.020 and that's just

00:52:10.660 all there is

00:52:11.180 to that

00:52:11.620 so high property

00:52:12.700 taxes is a

00:52:13.400 horrible thing

00:52:14.340 for poor folks

00:52:15.640 you come in

00:52:16.400 and you tell

00:52:16.680 them we're

00:52:17.400 going to deal

00:52:18.540 with these tax

00:52:20.100 burdens that

00:52:20.640 you're facing

00:52:21.160 we're going

00:52:21.820 to deal

00:52:22.060 with the

00:52:22.340 safety

00:52:22.620 in these

00:52:22.840 communities

00:52:23.220 and we're

00:52:23.940 going to

00:52:24.100 give your

00:52:24.420 kids

00:52:24.780 viable

00:52:25.740 choices

00:52:26.320 for schooling

00:52:27.880 we're going

00:52:28.580 to make sure

00:52:28.920 that you

00:52:29.220 actually have

00:52:29.600 a shot

00:52:30.020 at a decent

00:52:30.420 education

00:52:30.940 I think

00:52:31.680 at that

00:52:31.940 point

00:52:32.160 people are

00:52:32.560 like

00:52:32.760 I don't

00:52:33.460 care

00:52:33.700 I don't

00:52:34.800 know what

00:52:35.140 part you

00:52:35.480 said you're

00:52:35.760 with but

00:52:35.980 I'm ready

00:52:36.380 to sign up

00:52:37.460 for that

00:52:37.700 and you say

00:52:37.940 well actually

00:52:38.860 everything I

00:52:39.480 just described

00:52:39.960 to you

00:52:40.320 is right

00:52:41.420 dead down

00:52:42.060 the center

00:52:42.620 of the fairway

00:52:43.200 Republican

00:52:43.700 policy

00:52:44.280 everything I

00:52:45.220 just told

00:52:45.480 that's

00:52:45.700 Republican

00:52:46.200 policy

00:52:46.820 I think

00:52:47.280 people will

00:52:48.140 literally

00:52:48.360 say

00:52:48.760 I don't

00:52:50.360 know why

00:52:50.740 I've been

00:52:50.960 voting

00:52:51.140 Democrat

00:52:51.600 this whole

00:52:52.020 time

00:52:52.320 there's going

00:52:53.120 to be a lot

00:52:53.440 of people

00:52:53.640 that are

00:52:53.780 listening

00:52:54.020 and they're

00:52:54.300 going to

00:52:54.460 want to

00:52:54.740 ask this

00:52:55.200 question

00:52:55.520 so I'm

00:52:55.760 going to

00:52:55.880 ask it

00:52:56.360 if you

00:52:57.240 were up

00:52:57.560 for re-election

00:52:58.160 right now

00:52:58.720 running as

00:52:59.820 a Republican

00:53:00.340 for mayor

00:53:00.860 your policies

00:53:02.760 haven't changed

00:53:03.520 the only thing

00:53:03.900 that's changed

00:53:04.260 is a D

00:53:04.880 went to an R

00:53:05.840 could you win

00:53:07.740 I'd win

00:53:08.520 overwhelmingly

00:53:09.320 I don't have

00:53:10.240 any doubt

00:53:10.580 about it

00:53:11.200 no doubt

00:53:11.920 about it

00:53:12.640 and I'll tell

00:53:13.040 you why

00:53:13.280 I believe that

00:53:13.860 I'm glad

00:53:15.620 someone finally

00:53:16.180 asked for that

00:53:16.640 on the record

00:53:17.140 that's sort of

00:53:18.000 the chatter

00:53:18.760 that's why

00:53:19.980 I asked

00:53:20.260 because you

00:53:20.720 know they're

00:53:20.980 going to say

00:53:21.320 oh well

00:53:21.660 this guy

00:53:22.020 could never

00:53:22.440 win

00:53:22.680 that's why

00:53:23.060 he waited

00:53:23.520 until the

00:53:23.900 end of his

00:53:24.380 term

00:53:25.100 to then switch

00:53:25.800 parties

00:53:26.180 so here's

00:53:27.920 the reality

00:53:28.460 that people

00:53:28.940 have to ignore

00:53:29.920 to even make

00:53:30.820 that argument

00:53:31.280 but I understand

00:53:31.780 why people

00:53:32.080 need to make

00:53:32.620 it

00:53:32.780 I mean

00:53:33.120 I told someone

00:53:34.720 I said

00:53:34.920 you know

00:53:35.080 you don't

00:53:35.360 switch parties

00:53:36.040 in a two-party

00:53:36.660 system

00:53:36.780 one or the other

00:53:37.360 and think

00:53:37.620 the other party

00:53:38.000 is going to say

00:53:38.480 well you know

00:53:38.860 we wish him

00:53:39.260 the best

00:53:39.640 he was great

00:53:40.220 it's our loss

00:53:41.800 you know

00:53:42.080 they've got to

00:53:42.800 come up with

00:53:43.180 something

00:53:43.460 and these are

00:53:45.540 the kinds of

00:53:46.060 arguments they've

00:53:46.440 come up with

00:53:46.920 but here's the

00:53:47.800 reality

00:53:48.220 I won my last

00:53:50.020 election

00:53:50.500 with

00:53:51.320 it wasn't 93%

00:53:52.780 Dallas City

00:53:54.580 you know

00:53:55.360 has ordinances

00:53:56.480 about how

00:53:57.380 write-in candidates

00:53:58.340 get on the ballot

00:53:59.860 and if you

00:54:00.640 write in a name

00:54:01.760 other than

00:54:02.200 the actual

00:54:03.100 write-in candidate's

00:54:03.800 name that's there

00:54:04.380 you just essentially

00:54:05.120 didn't vote

00:54:05.740 you threw your

00:54:06.280 ballot in the trash

00:54:08.060 of the cast votes

00:54:09.440 which were

00:54:09.900 canvassed by the city

00:54:11.120 and are the official

00:54:12.080 records of the city

00:54:12.880 98.7% of the vote

00:54:15.000 that's Democrats

00:54:16.960 and Republicans

00:54:17.680 in that group

00:54:18.280 that's a pretty

00:54:19.360 hearty endorsement

00:54:20.700 of the incumbent

00:54:21.580 mayor

00:54:22.040 and I didn't run

00:54:23.880 with a D

00:54:24.440 or an R

00:54:24.860 behind my name

00:54:25.480 I ran just with

00:54:26.300 you know

00:54:26.680 as Eric Johnson

00:54:27.640 because you don't

00:54:28.080 run in Texas

00:54:28.900 in any city

00:54:29.860 with a D

00:54:30.440 or for folks

00:54:31.200 who aren't from

00:54:31.560 Texas

00:54:31.800 we don't actually

00:54:32.660 have partisan

00:54:33.140 elections in Texas

00:54:34.120 for mayor

00:54:34.920 you just run

00:54:35.820 and you don't run

00:54:37.320 with a party support

00:54:38.820 now

00:54:40.020 what do I think

00:54:41.420 would have actually

00:54:42.100 happened if I

00:54:42.840 had just come out

00:54:43.600 and said

00:54:44.200 six months before

00:54:44.840 the election

00:54:45.140 I'm actually a Republican

00:54:46.260 here's what would

00:54:46.820 have happened

00:54:47.200 some Democrats

00:54:48.740 would have gotten

00:54:49.120 together and said

00:54:49.720 well this is an

00:54:50.340 opportunity

00:54:50.880 for us

00:54:52.360 to run

00:54:53.660 an ostensibly

00:54:54.680 just overtly

00:54:55.720 partisan candidate

00:54:57.040 we're going to do

00:54:57.940 something that's never

00:54:58.360 been done in Dallas

00:54:58.960 before which is

00:54:59.400 to just make it

00:55:00.620 partisan

00:55:01.040 like to say

00:55:01.640 okay we got an R

00:55:02.740 running and now

00:55:03.620 we're going to run

00:55:04.120 a D against him

00:55:04.960 the problem is

00:55:06.980 that the R

00:55:07.520 you're talking about

00:55:08.460 for four years

00:55:09.280 well enough to

00:55:10.020 clear the field

00:55:10.660 and win with 98.7%

00:55:11.920 of the vote

00:55:12.320 but that didn't

00:55:13.300 happen yet

00:55:13.760 so let's just

00:55:14.140 go back

00:55:15.240 and say

00:55:15.600 a Republican

00:55:17.440 who's been that

00:55:17.980 effective

00:55:18.460 who happens to

00:55:19.800 also be African

00:55:20.460 American

00:55:20.860 and supported

00:55:22.080 by the African

00:55:22.640 American community

00:55:23.500 we think

00:55:25.120 that that person

00:55:25.860 would lose

00:55:26.820 simply by saying

00:55:28.060 I've become

00:55:28.560 a Republican

00:55:29.140 I think what

00:55:30.100 happens is

00:55:30.740 I won the first

00:55:32.300 race

00:55:32.740 in a contested

00:55:34.180 nine person field

00:55:35.340 that it went to

00:55:35.840 a runoff

00:55:36.320 with 12%

00:55:37.420 of the vote

00:55:37.760 I won 56-44

00:55:40.200 I think that

00:55:41.780 goes down

00:55:42.320 to the normal

00:55:43.200 pretty solid

00:55:45.480 win of a

00:55:46.240 54-53% win

00:55:50.260 but I still win

00:55:51.220 there's no question

00:55:52.020 I still win that race

00:55:53.300 because I'm the

00:55:54.100 incumbent at that

00:55:54.760 point

00:55:54.960 no incumbent

00:55:55.640 mayor

00:55:56.000 we've had Republican

00:55:57.400 and Democrat

00:55:57.860 mayors before

00:55:58.420 by the way

00:55:58.920 no incumbent

00:56:00.320 mayor seeking

00:56:01.100 re-election

00:56:01.440 in Dallas

00:56:01.720 has ever lost

00:56:02.760 ever

00:56:03.540 let me ask

00:56:04.760 a final question

00:56:05.800 which is

00:56:06.700 you have started

00:56:08.140 now a national

00:56:09.000 organization

00:56:09.700 the Republican

00:56:10.460 Mayors Association

00:56:11.260 and you have

00:56:12.580 been out

00:56:13.060 articulating

00:56:14.300 that Republicans

00:56:15.020 need to have

00:56:16.100 an agenda

00:56:17.040 for the cities

00:56:17.740 that we can't

00:56:18.420 just write off

00:56:19.300 big cities

00:56:20.580 where an awful

00:56:21.140 lot of Americans

00:56:21.840 live

00:56:22.240 and I think

00:56:23.600 that's a very

00:56:24.120 important message

00:56:25.020 it's something

00:56:26.280 and I want to

00:56:27.500 ask you

00:56:28.020 what's your

00:56:28.980 vision

00:56:29.600 for the message

00:56:31.040 Republicans

00:56:31.580 should have

00:56:32.340 in the cities

00:56:33.420 and how

00:56:34.000 do we

00:56:34.580 end up

00:56:35.320 with

00:56:35.740 a lot

00:56:37.240 more

00:56:37.500 Republican

00:56:37.960 mayors

00:56:38.360 in the big

00:56:38.800 cities

00:56:39.040 what's the

00:56:39.940 path forward

00:56:40.480 there

00:56:40.740 I said this

00:56:41.540 in the Wall

00:56:41.860 Street Journal

00:56:42.200 and I meant it

00:56:42.880 it's a two

00:56:43.880 way benefit

00:56:45.100 for America

00:56:47.080 and for

00:56:48.900 our party

00:56:49.500 America needs

00:56:51.320 the leadership

00:56:52.020 that Republicans

00:56:52.940 provide at the

00:56:53.700 local level

00:56:54.200 because of the

00:56:54.740 things we talked

00:56:55.660 about just a few

00:56:56.720 minutes ago

00:56:57.200 a Republican

00:56:58.500 mayor is going

00:56:59.340 to

00:56:59.560 because it's

00:57:01.080 part of the

00:57:01.940 DNA of the

00:57:02.600 party

00:57:02.980 is going

00:57:03.600 to be

00:57:03.820 right on

00:57:04.260 law and

00:57:04.560 order

00:57:04.780 issues

00:57:05.900 going to be

00:57:06.300 right on

00:57:06.600 public safety

00:57:07.160 people

00:57:08.400 who've asked

00:57:09.140 me about that

00:57:09.540 I've said

00:57:09.940 let me just

00:57:10.740 quiz you

00:57:11.760 very quickly

00:57:12.260 every bad idea

00:57:13.800 you can think

00:57:14.340 of about

00:57:14.780 public safety

00:57:15.400 came from

00:57:16.420 one side

00:57:16.880 of the aisle

00:57:17.220 there's not

00:57:18.020 even a mixed

00:57:18.500 bag on this

00:57:19.060 issue

00:57:19.340 if it's a bad

00:57:20.620 idea when it

00:57:21.060 comes to

00:57:21.280 public safety

00:57:21.740 defund the

00:57:22.580 police

00:57:22.900 don't prosecute

00:57:23.880 Republicans

00:57:24.200 don't propose

00:57:26.160 ideas that

00:57:27.340 undermine law and

00:57:28.140 order

00:57:28.300 not every

00:57:29.520 Democrat

00:57:29.940 believes them

00:57:30.920 but they

00:57:31.740 only emanate

00:57:32.680 from the

00:57:33.080 Democrats

00:57:33.480 that's just

00:57:34.460 a factual

00:57:35.600 statement

00:57:36.020 so a Republican

00:57:37.580 is going to be

00:57:38.060 right on

00:57:38.760 law and order

00:57:39.420 and public

00:57:39.720 safety

00:57:40.100 a Republican

00:57:40.760 mayor is going

00:57:41.300 to be right

00:57:41.640 on taxes

00:57:42.260 a Republican

00:57:43.220 mayor ought to

00:57:44.700 be right on

00:57:45.820 infrastructure

00:57:46.480 spending and

00:57:47.240 investing prudently

00:57:48.220 and there's

00:57:49.280 studies that show

00:57:50.240 that have proven

00:57:52.580 that you actually

00:57:53.720 have lower debt

00:57:55.100 levels and you

00:57:55.880 issue less debt

00:57:56.800 when you have a

00:57:58.020 Republican mayor

00:57:58.560 versus a Democrat

00:57:59.360 an MIT professor

00:58:01.640 actually studied

00:58:02.320 this and concluded

00:58:03.180 that it is a

00:58:04.220 statistically

00:58:04.800 significant

00:58:05.580 different level

00:58:07.440 of debt

00:58:08.020 associated with

00:58:08.780 a city

00:58:09.200 when there's a

00:58:09.940 Republican in

00:58:10.460 charge and a

00:58:10.860 Democrat in

00:58:11.360 charge

00:58:11.620 so we actually

00:58:13.200 need Republicans

00:58:14.620 running our

00:58:15.280 major cities

00:58:15.800 because 80%

00:58:16.960 of Americans

00:58:17.540 live in cities

00:58:18.740 by 2050 that

00:58:20.100 number is going

00:58:20.520 to be 90%

00:58:21.380 so the country

00:58:22.380 actually needs

00:58:23.080 the leadership

00:58:23.600 but I'm actually

00:58:24.900 telling you as a

00:58:25.900 group of

00:58:26.280 partisans

00:58:26.800 we actually

00:58:28.180 have to pay

00:58:28.700 attention to

00:58:29.240 this and I

00:58:30.120 think we have

00:58:30.420 to pay attention

00:58:30.800 to it because

00:58:31.860 I in my

00:58:33.880 heart of hearts

00:58:34.620 believe that

00:58:36.240 by being

00:58:37.880 competitive in

00:58:39.300 the cities

00:58:39.760 by basically

00:58:40.560 re-engaging

00:58:41.860 because we

00:58:42.220 were once

00:58:42.640 engaged

00:58:43.020 there was a

00:58:43.720 Republican

00:58:44.120 Mayor's Association

00:58:44.780 at one time

00:58:45.520 it had a

00:58:46.100 similar name

00:58:46.740 it was like

00:58:47.340 the Republican

00:58:48.100 conference

00:58:48.980 it was during

00:58:49.660 the Ford

00:58:50.040 administration

00:58:50.620 and at some

00:58:51.900 point we just

00:58:52.860 lost interest

00:58:53.720 in competing

00:58:55.420 at that level

00:58:56.100 and it sort

00:58:56.560 of just

00:58:56.780 faded away

00:58:57.480 but it was

00:58:58.480 very active

00:58:59.000 at one time

00:58:59.600 and we were

00:59:00.300 more competitive

00:59:00.860 in our cities

00:59:01.460 at one time

00:59:02.020 we need to get

00:59:02.800 more competitive

00:59:03.300 there again

00:59:03.920 because the margin

00:59:05.520 of victory

00:59:06.140 at the state

00:59:07.820 level

00:59:08.260 in states like

00:59:09.120 Wisconsin

00:59:09.660 in states like

00:59:11.080 Michigan

00:59:11.540 in states like

00:59:12.520 Pennsylvania

00:59:13.040 is the difference

00:59:14.600 between performing

00:59:15.720 at the city

00:59:16.760 level

00:59:17.240 in

00:59:18.340 you ready

00:59:19.500 Madison

00:59:20.300 Green Bay

00:59:21.780 and in

00:59:23.700 Detroit

00:59:24.960 and in

00:59:25.640 Philadelphia

00:59:26.060 and Pittsburgh

00:59:26.660 by just

00:59:27.760 five or ten

00:59:28.560 percentage points

00:59:29.260 better

00:59:29.640 so in other words

00:59:31.020 engaging in the

00:59:32.160 cities in a more

00:59:33.160 significant way

00:59:34.020 and having the

00:59:34.860 GOP brand

00:59:35.680 associated with

00:59:36.460 the things we're

00:59:36.980 talking about

00:59:37.640 at the local level

00:59:38.480 it doesn't take

00:59:40.300 that many votes

00:59:41.140 and now all of a

00:59:42.120 sudden the whole

00:59:42.940 state is no longer

00:59:44.760 lock, stock, and

00:59:46.260 barrel going one

00:59:47.620 direction because

00:59:48.320 of the advantage

00:59:49.440 that's been run up

00:59:50.080 in the cities

00:59:50.520 you've cut into

00:59:51.620 the advantage

00:59:52.200 that the cities

00:59:52.700 have

00:59:53.220 you know Eric

00:59:54.420 I'll tell you

00:59:54.980 on that point

00:59:56.040 so Heidi and I

00:59:58.260 met 25 years ago

01:00:00.220 when we were both

01:00:01.140 working on the

01:00:01.720 George W. Bush

01:00:02.340 campaign in 2000

01:00:03.360 the presidential

01:00:03.900 campaign

01:00:04.420 and actually

01:00:05.700 in that campaign

01:00:06.600 you know I was

01:00:07.240 a young 29

01:00:08.320 year old staffer

01:00:09.340 but I wrote

01:00:11.100 wrote a memo

01:00:11.920 urging that the

01:00:13.680 campaign consider

01:00:14.780 at the time

01:00:15.500 Condoleezza Rice

01:00:16.540 as a VP

01:00:18.440 nominee

01:00:19.960 and in the course

01:00:21.400 of the memo

01:00:21.780 I laid out

01:00:22.440 all sorts of

01:00:23.140 reasons why I

01:00:23.880 thought this was

01:00:24.640 worth considering

01:00:25.980 carefully

01:00:26.480 but one of the

01:00:27.720 things I did

01:00:28.300 is I did an

01:00:28.840 electoral analysis

01:00:29.840 I looked at

01:00:30.780 the three

01:00:31.360 preceding

01:00:32.100 presidential elections

01:00:33.260 and I posited

01:00:34.760 a series

01:00:35.840 of hypotheticals

01:00:37.200 I said what

01:00:37.720 would have

01:00:38.020 happened

01:00:38.380 if Republicans

01:00:39.840 had gotten

01:00:40.500 5% more

01:00:41.780 10% more

01:00:43.860 or 15% more

01:00:46.240 of the African

01:00:46.940 American and

01:00:47.640 Hispanic vote

01:00:48.260 so I didn't

01:00:49.840 posit what if

01:00:50.600 we get 50%

01:00:51.420 more I did

01:00:52.100 5 10 or

01:00:53.080 15 so

01:00:54.020 goals that

01:00:55.800 were achievable

01:00:57.120 I believe

01:00:58.080 and I ran

01:00:59.320 through the

01:00:59.740 numbers and

01:01:00.160 the one that

01:01:00.640 was most

01:01:01.400 that stood

01:01:02.120 out the most

01:01:02.980 was if

01:01:04.280 Republicans

01:01:04.860 had gotten

01:01:05.580 an additional

01:01:06.220 15% of

01:01:07.480 the African

01:01:07.960 American and

01:01:08.480 Hispanic vote

01:01:09.240 in 1996

01:01:10.700 Republicans

01:01:11.340 would have

01:01:11.780 won an

01:01:12.100 additional

01:01:12.680 96 electoral

01:01:15.600 votes

01:01:16.120 I mean it

01:01:17.480 flips the

01:01:18.780 election

01:01:19.240 dramatically

01:01:19.920 but to do

01:01:21.580 that we've

01:01:22.260 got to

01:01:22.520 compete

01:01:22.860 it's a

01:01:23.900 whole different

01:01:24.820 national

01:01:26.120 conversation

01:01:26.980 about the

01:01:28.440 competitiveness

01:01:29.100 of this

01:01:29.540 party

01:01:29.980 if we

01:01:31.580 are a

01:01:31.940 factor

01:01:32.520 at the

01:01:33.440 city

01:01:33.620 level

01:01:33.920 because

01:01:34.480 it's just

01:01:35.140 where so

01:01:35.940 many people

01:01:36.400 are concentrated

01:01:36.920 it's getting

01:01:37.340 harder and

01:01:37.880 harder to

01:01:38.300 figure out

01:01:38.700 how to

01:01:38.860 win elections

01:01:39.400 where we're

01:01:39.940 just not

01:01:40.200 even playing

01:01:40.820 there

01:01:41.120 we ought to

01:01:44.520 be competing

01:01:45.060 in every

01:01:46.340 major city

01:01:47.240 where we're

01:01:49.860 currently just

01:01:50.440 sort of saying

01:01:51.120 you know

01:01:52.400 a Democrat

01:01:53.300 hasn't won

01:01:53.940 I mean a

01:01:54.340 Republican

01:01:54.580 hasn't won

01:01:54.860 there in a

01:01:55.080 long time

01:01:55.520 so let's

01:01:56.140 not try

01:01:56.540 we just

01:01:57.820 flipped

01:01:58.520 just in

01:02:00.040 this last

01:02:00.420 cycle

01:02:00.860 the mayor

01:02:01.860 the current

01:02:02.620 mayor of

01:02:03.640 I believe

01:02:04.360 it's Charleston

01:02:04.980 South Carolina

01:02:05.740 is now

01:02:06.480 a Republican

01:02:07.020 they hadn't

01:02:08.780 elected a

01:02:09.280 Republican

01:02:09.580 mayor in

01:02:10.040 Charleston

01:02:10.380 in like

01:02:11.220 175

01:02:12.300 years

01:02:13.560 so

01:02:14.720 it can

01:02:15.760 happen

01:02:16.300 it can

01:02:16.640 be done

01:02:17.140 you have to

01:02:17.720 run the

01:02:18.000 right

01:02:18.200 he was a

01:02:18.720 former

01:02:18.960 legislator

01:02:19.460 like I

01:02:19.800 was

01:02:20.020 and he

01:02:20.480 ran a

01:02:20.740 great

01:02:20.920 campaign

01:02:21.360 now they

01:02:22.000 got a

01:02:22.200 Republican

01:02:22.480 mayor

01:02:22.740 so what's

01:02:23.140 going to

01:02:23.280 happen

01:02:23.480 next

01:02:23.880 is he's

01:02:24.240 going to

01:02:24.420 do a

01:02:24.700 good

01:02:24.840 job

01:02:25.320 and when

01:02:26.200 he does

01:02:26.380 a good

01:02:26.620 job

01:02:27.060 these

01:02:27.240 people

01:02:27.440 who've

01:02:27.600 been

01:02:27.720 voting

01:02:27.920 for

01:02:28.100 Democrat

01:02:28.500 mayor

01:02:28.740 for

01:02:28.920 175

01:02:29.320 years

01:02:29.700 are

01:02:29.840 going to

01:02:29.920 say

01:02:30.080 you know

01:02:30.520 what

01:02:30.640 Republicans

01:02:31.120 are in

01:02:31.480 charge

01:02:31.860 the city

01:02:32.860 just seems

01:02:33.160 to be

01:02:33.360 it's safer

01:02:34.240 we hire

01:02:34.700 more cops

01:02:35.420 and crime

01:02:36.760 goes down

01:02:37.360 and you know

01:02:37.720 what the taxes

01:02:38.280 go down

01:02:38.860 and you know

01:02:39.180 things are

01:02:39.700 just better

01:02:40.180 the brand

01:02:42.520 means something

01:02:43.780 to them

01:02:44.140 at the local

01:02:44.660 level

01:02:44.960 and not just

01:02:45.880 the brand

01:02:46.880 will always

01:02:47.220 have a federal

01:02:48.040 aspect to it

01:02:48.980 it'll always

01:02:49.460 have a state

01:02:49.860 aspect to it

01:02:50.440 but right now

01:02:51.020 in this party

01:02:52.620 we're missing

01:02:53.400 a brand

01:02:54.360 at the local

01:02:54.800 level

01:02:55.020 it doesn't mean

01:02:55.500 anything right

01:02:56.320 now at the

01:02:56.720 local level

01:02:57.080 and we get

01:02:57.460 to decide

01:02:58.000 what it means

01:02:58.600 and I'm saying

01:02:59.100 we should be

01:02:59.500 running solid

01:03:00.700 conservatives

01:03:01.320 at the local

01:03:02.720 level

01:03:03.080 winning elections

01:03:04.100 running cities

01:03:04.800 well

01:03:05.200 and then that

01:03:05.800 makes people

01:03:06.320 at the local

01:03:06.720 level go

01:03:07.140 yeah I'm

01:03:08.620 actually a

01:03:09.020 Republican

01:03:09.400 I love my

01:03:10.020 Republican

01:03:10.460 mayor

01:03:10.840 and so I'm

01:03:11.320 a Republican

01:03:11.800 and that has

01:03:12.580 benefits for

01:03:13.520 people running

01:03:14.120 for U.S.

01:03:14.680 Senate

01:03:14.880 running for

01:03:15.540 President

01:03:15.900 running for

01:03:16.380 Governor

01:03:16.680 but we are

01:03:18.180 right now

01:03:18.580 just aren't

01:03:19.000 doing anything

01:03:19.600 I mean I was

01:03:20.320 shocked to find

01:03:21.140 that there was

01:03:21.700 no one even

01:03:22.140 in this lane

01:03:22.920 I wasn't even

01:03:23.980 stepping on

01:03:24.360 anybody's toes

01:03:25.260 by doing this

01:03:26.120 well let me

01:03:26.840 say Eric

01:03:27.240 I appreciate

01:03:27.820 you I appreciate

01:03:28.780 your friendship

01:03:29.400 I appreciate

01:03:30.060 your leadership

01:03:30.720 and I appreciate

01:03:31.880 your joining us

01:03:32.600 on the verdict

01:03:32.940 podcast

01:03:33.380 appreciate that

01:03:34.140 give a big

01:03:38.440 round of applause

01:03:39.200 for the mayor

01:03:39.660 of Dallas

01:03:40.020 thank you for

01:03:40.500 coming on

01:03:40.980 verdict

01:03:41.320 don't forget

01:03:42.140 we do this

01:03:42.920 show Monday

01:03:43.280 Wednesday

01:03:43.560 Fridays

01:03:43.980 make sure you

01:03:44.780 hit that

01:03:45.120 download

01:03:45.520 subscribe

01:03:46.200 auto download

01:03:47.100 button

01:03:47.420 share it on

01:03:47.940 social media

01:03:48.540 wherever you are

01:03:49.980 in social media

01:03:50.700 and the senator

01:03:51.200 and I will see you

01:03:51.800 back here

01:03:52.400 in a couple of days

01:03:53.300 this is an

01:03:55.240 iHeart podcast

01:03:56.200 guaranteed human

01:03:58.260 one

01:04:00.000 I will see you

01:04:01.640 in a couple of days

01:04:02.200 with my

01:04:03.820 validation

Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 27, 2024

Verdict Welcomes Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson

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