Transcript of Everything You Should Know About Dan Crenshaw, How He Got Rich & Why He’s So in Love With Ukraine

I'm so grateful that you're here and that you're running against Dan Crenshaw. Just to be clear, I don't think Dan Crenshaw is the worst person in the world or anything like that. I feel sorry for Dan Crenshaw. He's clearly a very troubled guy. But it just does seem like the Republican Party shouldn't have to have a Dan Crenshaw in it. I think you're going to beat Dan Crenshaw. I just want to say thank you for doing that.

I'm honored to be here with you. I really am. I've been jealous of you because my wife loves you so much.

You're in the Texas house. You represent an area that overlaps with Crenshaw's district, obviously. You live there. It's one of the most conservative districts in Texas.

I think it's- Oh, yeah. Montgomery County is absolutely the reddest of red counties. Yes. Tarrant County is bigger, but it's purple. We are the biggest red county left in Texas, and 100 % of my district is inside Congressional district, too.

So that would mean it's probably the biggest by population red county in the United States.

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Once we lost Harris County to voter fraud, yes.

So how does that, the biggest... I'm just guessing. One of the biggest Republican counties in the United States get Dan Crenshaw as a member of Congress? How does that happen?

So This is Mea Copa. Is that how you say it?

Mea Copa, yeah. It's your admitting fault.

In 2018, when Dan Crenshaw came around, it was a man crush for me.

Yeah.

Yeah. Navy SEAL, war hero. And I only knew one person. There are eight people in that race, and there was only one person that was emerging as the person that was going to win. And he was a rhino. He was very weak. And this guy comes along that says, Look, I'm going to upend the Apple card. I'm going to be a disruptive influence. I am going to absolutely stand against the swamp, or as Ted Cruz called it, the Washington cartel. I'm going to stop it. I'm going to fight it. And so we got behind him.

Damn, I would have voted for him, too, if you said that.

So I encouraged our local tea party to mail into the district to spend money into the district and help them raise money to move mountains to get Dan Crenshaw elected. So I feel a sense of responsibility for this major screw up, because no sooner did he get there, then he became part of the problem.

Oh, he became a leader of the problem. And I have to say, what year was that?

2018.

I'm sure he has official opinions on issues related to Texas or the United States, but it's also very obvious to me watching him carefully, that his real interests, all his main interests are outside this country. It doesn't seem like his agenda really has anything to do with America.

It's self-interest more than anything. You see this revolving door. On the part of people in Congress that line themselves up for lobbying positions as soon as they leave Congress. And so in order to get those cushy jobs, you've got to do the lobby's bidding upfront early on. He's a young guy, right?

Yeah.

And he's not the person that's going to be there for 20 or 30 years. He is the person, though, that's going to line himself up for a cushy lobbying position once he gets out. And so you've got to go along. You cannot ruffle feathers. You can't go against leadership, and you can't go against the lobby.

Well, not only is he not go against the lobby, I mean, his campaigns are the most, we pulled the numbers, the most recent one that I saw suggested that his two biggest donors are giving him money because of his foreign policy views. One is a foreign lobby, I think is his biggest donor, one of them, literally a foreign lobby. And the other is a hedge fund guy called Clifford Asness, who's one of the sleazier people in American business. There's that, but also is not paying Dan Crenshaw for anything related to the United States. This only has to do with influencing his vote on questions pertaining to other countries. I mean, it's the opposite of America first. It's America last.

Yeah. It's been my greatest heartburn is his total disregard for the border and what we've been dealing with at the Texas border, and yet his obsession with Ukraine's border. Yes.

What is that?

I I mean, I can't get my arms around it. So three years ago, we went down to the border, and pretty much all of the Texas delegation was there. Mike Johnson came from Alabama, or from Louisiana. Yeah. The Southern state Congressional members came down to be with us, and we interviewed ICE agents. We interviewed US Border Patrol. We interviewed US Border Patrol Union. We interviewed ranchers. The only person from the Congressional Delegation that was not there, Dan Crenshaw. It's like, why don't you want to know about what's going on down here? This is not about working with the Mexican government. This is about on Boots on the ground right down on the border, understanding what we're dealing with down here. So you understand firsthand what's really truly going on, because he has no clue what's really going on.

But you're in Houston. I mean, it's not that far. Houston has been complete. I have family there, and so I go. Completely transformed by illegal immigration, completely. It's unrecognizable, and it hasn't gotten better. It's gotten much worse. That's my read as a visitor. But how could he ignore that?

58% of the births in Texas are Medicaid births. 58 %? 58 %. So think about this a second, Tucker. 20 years ago, Medicaid was 3 % of the Texas budget. Now it's the number two driver of the budget, and it's due in large part to illegal immigration. People come across the border, have their babies. Sometimes they go back, sometimes they don't.

So that's collapse. I mean, that's not sustainable. Not even in the short term, is that sustainable?

Good-hearted people want to say, well, we should do this. And to which I say, I think God would say, we should do it. We should do it. Not the government. Exactly. We should do it.

The church- You care so much. Use your own money.

The church should do it. We used to go down to the Mexican border, I mean, to the border towns in Northern Mexico and build churches. We would build schools. We would build homes. We'd go down there and do medical missions work. We can't go down there anymore because Mexico, for all intents purposes, is a failed state. I mean, it really truly is. It's a failed state. And so you can't go down there anymore. And so people say, well, we can't go down there anymore. Therefore, the United States government needs to bail this all out. No. We are destroying our children and grandchildren's ability to have any future whatsoever. We're drilling holes in the bottom of the lifeboat.

I mean, Crenshaw doesn't know this. I mean, his constituents, I know are upset about it because I know a lot of them.

Tucker, he came to a town hall meeting three years ago when the Senate bipartisan, which anytime you hear a Senate bipartisan border bill, run, run fast. Democrats are not looking for any solution on the border. Democrats are not looking to close the border.

They created this.

They completely created this. And so they have this Wackadoodle bill that allows 5,000 people into the country a day. At one $2. 8 million a year. And if you look at the bones of the bill, yes, the bones of the bill say it did call for more ICE agents, but it wasn't to close the border, Tucker. It was to process people coming in to the country. So all it did was it just streamlined their ability to come into the country and be lost into the system. Okay, show up for your court date in a year and a half, two years, which they don't show up for. They're gone. They're lost into the fabric of the nation. And there are a drain on our schools. There are a drain on our infrastructure. There are a really huge drain on our criminal justice system in Texas and across the United States. It's killing us.

Well, they also make it impossible to have a cohesive country. I mean, if a huge percentage of the population just got here, then what is it to be American? No one is pausing to ask that question. And when there is a financial downturn or a national disaster or we're tested as a nation, how do we hold together?

Yeah. 20 years ago A friend of mine that grew up in Toronto said, The great thing about America is that you're a melting pot, where Canada is more like a quilt, and we're tearing apart it as it seems.

Yes.

You all have a common language. Did I just say you all? Yes, I did.

It's okay.

You have a common language. We don't have a common language in Canada. We have French and we have English. In America now, we have English and we have Spanish. We are becoming a quilt that is tearing apart at the seams. Yes.

And do you feel that where you live?

Oh, terribly. Yeah. Teribly. You see it, especially see it in the classroom right now. We keep hearing the left say, We're losing teachers in public education because they're not being paid enough money. Well, it's not what the polling is telling us. I sat down with Texas Classroom Teachers Association in 2019, and I said, quality of the life, violence in the classroom, teacher pay. What's the most important issue? Quality of the life and violence in the classroom.

Violence in the classroom.

Violence in the classroom. Teachers are being assaulted like you have never seen before. There was one school in the state of Texas, and I think it was on TikTok, 72 fights, I'm sorry, 72 fights that were recorded. So that's basically two fights a week in the school. That were recorded, and then were on TikTok. And those are just the ones that they've caught. And you see this in classroom after classroom after classroom. So you bring children together that can't speak the language. And then you poison them with critical race theory to tell them that the children of color are oppressed and the white kids are oppressors. What could go wrong?

You got a lot of attacks on Whites as a result of that.

You have. A lot of race hate. You have, and a lot of attacks on white teachers as well. And again, a lot of this, it stems from what we've done with the border and our unwillingness to close the border. This is not about understanding, better understanding what's going on in Mexico. Mexico is a failed state, and we've got to treat it like a failed state. We've got to close the border.

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You know, and I get that you can go from... Russia went into Crimea, right? Under Barack Obama in his silly line in the sand. And Trump came in, where Obama had given them blankets and bandaids, Trump came in and gave them anti-tank missiles, and he gave them serious weaponry to stall the Russians. And then Biden comes in and does the exact opposite, right? But starts talking tough. So I guess I can get initially saying, okay, I want to get back to doing what Trump did. But the obsession that he displayed in the midst of it was sickening, was absolutely sickening, especially, again, when you call into account the fact that we have an open border in the South, and he was doing nothing to help us. In fact, when the Senate deal came about, he held a town hall for elected officials in our district. I put my hand up and I said, Dan, you're allowing 5,000 people into the country a day. And he just absolutely was totally pissed, really, that I was bringing this up. And I'm not the only one. Senator Creighton also was like, We cannot do this. And he said, You guys should be absolutely thankful that we're doing something now to close the border because you can't do it.

I'm like, We have done it. We just need you guys to stay the hell out of the way. We could Texas on its own could close the border. We just need you to keep out of our business. If you're not going to help us, get out of the way. And he was just emphatic that we couldn't do it. We needed to pass this legislation. Meanwhile, Trump was saying, you don't need any legislation. You just need to close the border. You just need to show some stones, some backbone, and close the border.

You don't have a National Garden, Texas? I never understood that. But I'm interested in his reaction. I've seen this with him a lot, and it suggests that there's something... I think he's mentally on. I'm just going to say that. I'm not saying that as an attack. I'm saying that with sympathy, there's something really wrong with him. I think he was damaged by his service. I think it's partly our fault as a country for sending these guys into these horrible positions and then not helping them when they come home. I know that you help Run Mighty Oaks, which is a group dedicated to helping servicemen when they come back so they don't kill themselves. I know you spend a lot of time on this. I don't want to attack him too much personally because I want to be passionate. But boy, I've never seen any elected official respond to criticism the way he does. I mean, it's like anyone who asks him a question, it's like, you're evil. I saw him recently say, if you don't agree with me on this foreign policy issue, you're evil. It's like, what is that?

You can't enter into any dialog with him. He just takes it personally. He gets offended. He's completely thin-skinned over it. I just can't- And attacks you for asking the question. And then attacks you and attacks your integrity, your character, and your in your intellectual capacity. I can't put words to it.

So who's for him?

I think the lobby is absolutely for him. I think establishment Republicans and the Karl Rove, the Associated Republicans of Texas, are for him. What's that? It should be called the Associated Rhinos of Texas, but it's so sick.

These guys- Associated Republicans of Texas.

Associated Republicans of Texas. So they come after conservative Republicans every two years. I've got one of the most conservative voting records in the Texas House, blank in the top five, top four, my last four sessions. I've passed some really important, critically important comprehensive legislation that's part of the Republican priorities, banning critical race theory in the classroom, banning the social transitioning of children. And yet this group comes after me every two years. Two election cycles ago, they spent three, $400,000 against me and were able to get 36 % of the vote. This last election cycle, the Associated Republic of Texas spent $700,000 against me and got 34 % of the vote. Really? But Dan Crenshaw helps fund them. Why? So he takes his lobbying money and he writes checks, tens of thousands of dollars to the Associated Republic of Texas that isn't doing anything to help us expand the majority in the Texas House. No. They just come after the Conservatives.

It's trying to make you more like Democrats.

Completely.

Yeah. So what is it and who runs it and where does its money come from?

It's Karl Rove, and it's just big establishment money, lobby money.

Karl Rove, every time I ask someone involved in Texas politics. How does this conservative, this great state, get such horrible? How does a John Cornen or Dan Crenshaw get elected in Texas? They always mention Karl Rove.

Texas is the eighth largest economy in the world. Our economy is bigger than Russia. Our economy is bigger than Australia. It's bigger than Canada. It's bigger than Mexico. It's a huge economy. We have a 300 plus billion dollar budget, right? And so when you're talking- State budget? State budget.

Over $300 billion?

Yeah. Yeah. Damn. Per biennium. And so when you're talking about that money, it attracts a lot of bottom dwellers. So you hear about the Washington cartel. Well, it's pretty much the same thing in Austin, Texas. There's just a lot of money, just a ton of money. And they will get fixated on things like bringing gambling to Texas as an example. The neocons desperately want to bring gambling to Texas. Why? I'm very libertarian on this issue. If you want to have a card game and you want to gamble, what you do in your house is up to you. It's none of my business. But at the end of the day, if you're going to say this is state-sponsored, and we're only going to give out two or three licenses, and we're going to give them out to our friends that have given tons of campaign money, then it's corrupt. It's crony capitalism to the max.

Does it improve people's lives?

It doesn't improve people's lives. At the end of the day, you look at any of the states that have implemented it. We have a national treasure in Houston by the name of Jim McEnvill. His name is Mattress Mc, and he owns Gallery Furniture. He's the most amazing man in the whole world, and he's a gambler. And he would say, The worst thing that Texas could possibly do would be to bring gambling to Texas. Why? They build these billion dollar resorts with cash, these multinational corporations. What happens to that money? People go and gamble, and that money leaves our economy. Of course. So you have less money moving within the economy. They'll say, well, yeah, but it's a great Tax revenue. There's great tax revenue from it. Yeah, but eventually the pool in which you're drawing from dries up.

Well, where's it worked? I mean, it was going to save the state of Maine, for example. No, it was going to save East St. Louis, Illinois, Illinois? No. It was going to save East St. Louis, Illinois. No. It was going to save Mississippi Gulf Coast? No. So is there a place where gambling has actually made people's lives better? No. Or is it just enriched some of the worst people in the world?

It's all it is. And this past session, the past two sessions, they've been trying to do it. I got a call from the lobbyists, which they assigned two lobbyists to me. So there are 150 house members. Each of us had two lobbyists assigned to them for gambling. And it became the no lobbyists left behind session when it came to gambling. And they're like, hey, we want to write you $25,000 check for your re-election campaign. I'm like, I don't want it. We're not asking for your guaranteed vote in favor of it.

Oh, no.

I'm like, I don't want it. If Planned Parenthood wanted to give me money so I could vote against abortion, I would take that money so I could vote against abortion. But I'm not going to take your dirty money that came at the hands of somebody that lost their house or lost their marriage or lost their business as a result of it. It's just dirty money.

What were the gambling lobbyists like?

Some of the nicest guys. Charming, I bet. Very wonderful people.

Did they call it gaming?

Some did. Yeah. And Steve, don't you understand about the money that we're going to be able to spend on public education as a result of doing this? It's about the children, Steve.

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It went down in flames. So it typically, and I appreciate Dan Patrick over in the Senate because he pretty much guaranteed that as long as he's going to be the like of, and hopefully, Brandon Creighton will come in after him. We'll do the same thing. I think he will, but I don't think it has a future in Texas, thankfully. Gambling. Gambling. I want to be clear on this. Casino gambling. Again, you want to have car games at your house, invite people over and-Of course. I don't care.

Bringing in casinos. Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow. Where was Dan Patrick on this?

Did he- He killed it over in the Senate.

Okay. So he's Lieutenant Governor. Where was Crenshaw?

Silent. Really? And that's the problem is that there's so many things that are threatening Texas right now. And Dan Crenshaw has been absolutely silent. So it was 2014 when Abbott became governor, when Ken Paxton became the attorney general. Those guys went with 23 and 24 point margins over the Democrats. We're winning now with eight point margins. Where did the margin go? Where did these huge wins go, evaporate to? And it's not people moving into Texas. Seven out of 10 of them, Tucker, Texas is still read from people moving into it. Republicans that are refugees, if you will. Where we're losing is our children. Our kids are being absolutely indoctrinated in the classroom.

And immigration. I grew up in California. I was at Reagan's last rally in California in 1980, and it was a right wing state. It was California was a... Bill Clinton lost California in 1992 and won West Virginia in 1992. Now, California is, of course, bright blue, and West Virginia is bright red. Why is that? Because California is a completely different state due to immigration, and West Virginia had less immigration than the other state.

The The big problem, though, is that politicians like Dan Crenshaw refuse to take on the teachers unions. They refuse to stand up to the teachers unions.

Why?

They're afraid of them. They spend tons of money. Randy Weingartner and her ilk scare the heck out of these people.

So Crenshaw is afraid?

So he's like, Yeah. I mean, it's the only thing I get. You can't. There's been zero activism on his part whatsoever. It's standing up to these people.

You hate ever to suggest that someone's doing something for the money. But in Crenshaw's case, his position on Ukraine is so far, how that it's obvious to me he's being paid to have that position. But you tell me, is sending 100 billion more to Ukraine? Are Ukraine's borders? Are these really huge issues in your district?

It's the border is the biggest issue.

The US border.

The US border. When you ask people, and this is not anecdotal, it's empirical, there have been plenty of people polling in Congressional district, too, in Montgomery County. Why? Because it's the biggest red county left in Texas. The governor polls it, we poll it, other people are polling it. People see the contrast between the way Ukraine is being taken care of and the Texas border is not. And they draw contrast, and they should.

It's that simple, isn't it? Yeah. Where's Karl Rove on this question?

I think a lot of these guys are just big government neocons that don't care. They don't see it as a threat at all. At all.

Do you ever see Rove around?

Never.

But he still has a hand in Texas politics.

Completely.

Do you ever talk to Crenshaw?

The last time I talked to him was at that town hall three years ago when he dismissed myself and Senator Creighton for not accepting and not wholeheartedly buying into this crappy Senate bipartisan bill that they wanted to push through. And again, they blamed President Trump, who was out of office at the time, saying, Trump is just torpedoing this thing, and they're all angry about it. And Trump was just saying, you don't need legislation to close the border. You just need to have the will to do it. And no, Dan Crenshaw and 100% of the Democrats in Congress said, No, we need this legislation. No, you don't. Close the freaking border.

Who among Texas elected official supports Crenshaw?

You know, it's funny is when the day we announced, we had, I think, 30 of the most conservative members of the Texas legislature that endorsed me. And he came out with a list of people to endorse him. Not one single member of Congress was behind him. Really? Not one active congressman came out to endorse him.

Do you ever talk to members of Congress about him who work with him? What do they say?

I'm not going to comment on that. I just can't.

Okay, I understand. But it It sounds like he's not a favorite among his colleagues. Yeah.

So a lot of... When I came into the legislature, I came in with one of the biggest classes. And since the Sharpstown scandal in the '70s. I think there were 42 people in our class, and many of them have gone on to serve in Congress in Washington. And I have a good relationship with all of them.

Yeah, but Crenshaw doesn't sound like he does. Is he close to Cornan?

I don't know if they have a relationship or not. I know that Cornyn is supporting him for obvious reasons, but that's about it.

What are those reasons?

Well, they're both donor class, lobbyist-centric people. We're called representatives because we're actually supposed to represent the people that vote us into office. They're just some that just don't give a flying flip about those people.

No, that's obvious. Well, in Crenshaw's case, it's clearly he's hostile to them. It's not just you that he's snapped at for asking a question. I want to play a video, and maybe you can explain what we're watching. A young girl comes up to him, she looks very young, in the video and asks him about comments that he made about Jesus during a podcast. Before we play this, can you tell us the backstory?

He was on a podcast, and Dan wants to show himself off as this intellectual.

Dan is dumb. No, I'm not being mean. By the way, my dogs are I think they're going to have it. I don't think that's a moral category. I'm not attacking him, but he is dumb, like head injury dumb. Anyway, sorry. Sorry to be mean. No.

I actually think he's... I'm going to disagree with you. I think he's incredibly smart. I think he's vacuous when it comes to wisdom, though.

Maybe that's what I'm referring to. Yeah.

I think he knows a lot. When I've sat and listened to some of his podcasts and some of the different things, he's a really smart guy, but he completely lacks the wisdom to know what to do with all those smarts. Yeah. And so he's doing this podcast with this guy, and they're talking about... He brings up, Well, the American people need archetypes, Spiderman, Superman, and Jesus Christ. And he says, and then real ones, too, like Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln. And they're like, what? You just actually said Jesus.

Rosa Parks is real. Jesus is not.

Jesus is That's perfect.

That's the Karl Rove position, I think.

Yes, I probably... I saw it on Wikipedia. Yeah. Let's be real. So this young woman at the Montgomery County Tea Party on a Monday night asked Dan Crenshaw. She said, I'm trying to get my arms around this. Then she read the statement verbatim of what he had said on this podcast. He said, I can't get my arms around that. He said, You put a period after Jesus and don't question my faith. The whole place just lost it.

Let's play that.

You are not only lied about Jesus not being real, but you lie about being a Christian. To give context to anyone who hasn't heard a Crenshaw said, The most important thing here is that we have important hero archetypes that we look up to. Jesus is a hero archetype. Superman is a hero archetype. Real characters, too.

I could name a thousand.

Rosa Parks, Ronald Reagan, end quote. I can't wrap my head around this. I'll help you. Put a period of the word Jesus and don't question my faith. Wow. I think it's fair to not want to be attacked for your faith.

Okay, I'm with Crenshaw on that. But she wasn't really attacking him on his face. She was asking, what do you- She wanted clarity. What do you mean? Yeah, exactly.

She wanted this clarity. Exactly. If you ever said anything, you're like, I could have positioned that differently.

Have I ever said anything?

I I could ask that all the time, especially I'll come home, my wife will be like, did you mean to say that? Okay, what should I have said? I'm like, okay, yes, honey, that makes sense, right? But you just say, wow, I guess I could have handled that differently. That's not what I meant. I would have put a period after Jesus, and then I would have shut my mouth and laughed and laughed it off. Totally. But instead, he got all defensive at this young woman and tried to ridicule her.

Oh, he attacked her instantly.

Yeah.

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Com/tucker to switch to our wireless company, the one we use, PureTalk. Right now, you save an additional 50% off your first month. Again, puretalk. Com/tucker. What you're seeing on display there is a fragile, very unhappy, and above all, hostile person. Why would a person like that want to be in elected office in the first place?

I don't know, because the reality is that you are the center of scorn. You just are.

Of course.

You're going to take some hard positions, and you're going to get shot at.

Of course. How did that video go over in Texas?

It went viral overnight. The next morning, it was on all the different radio talk shows. Went over like a lead balloon. At no time did he ever say, Well, I handled that. It was a bad for me. Probably shouldn't have said that. That was silly on my part. There's just no ability to be gracious and kind to that young woman, even in the absence of seeing what happened. Nothing. It was just bizarre.

I want to play one other clip that I think reveals a lot, not just about his temperament, but about his agenda. He was asked by a reporter whom I respect, called Liam Cosgrove, Well, coming out of Congress, this was earlier, this was the spring, early summer, and he was asked about legislation that he had voted for. Basically, his position was the intel agencies are not in any way playing in American politics. Here's the exchange. With data and with access to your app that you're addicted to, you can vastly manipulate an entire population, which the Chinese have done.

Are you worried that our intelligence agency Are you sure that the US intelligence agencies are doing the same thing domestically?

Am I worried that?

I know that they're not. They're not manipulating Americans. They're not controlling a flow of information.

Yes, I know.

Did you have some evidence otherwise that you'd like to share? I mean, before the 20th- Okay. Any serious customers? Congresmen, you asked for an example of the US intelligence agencies meddling in our information. What about before the 2020 election when 50 members came out and said the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation? Does that count? No, because they were retired. They were retired, but the FBI had the laptop for over a year. I think even close to what TikTok.

So that I felt, again, I've spent the last half an hour defending Crenshaw in a backhanded way. I think he's a victim of the war on terror, if I'm being honest. That's what I think. He's clearly so damaged and screwed up and tragic personal life and all the rest. But when I saw that, I thought, this is not a good person, actually.

The most egregious thing about that is that as I talk to friends in DC, they see this on a daily basis.

Oh, yes. So wait, see what?

This is the deep state. This is the deep state at work that he's denying exists.

The intelligence is playing in American politics.

Right. So what the left has done is they've positioned this fourth branch of government so that That even when they're not in power, they're in power.

Yes.

That's what they've created. They've created a system whereby... So you lose Congress, you lose the White House. We don't care. They don't care because they have the fourth branch of government that's still running the show. It's so blatantly honest or obvious. I had a quick little story. I had a young woman call me. She was referred to me by someone from Texas for Vaccine Choice. She transitioned, and she's transitioned She bought into the lie that she was a male. At 26 years of age, she's trying to transition back. She called me up and said, Can you- She's been shot full of hormones and the whole thing. Histerectomy. Oh, come on. Mastectomy. When you shoot someone- Is it a hysterectomy in her 20s? No, earlier than that. The problem is when you put people on cross-sex hormones, I'm getting way afield here, but it screws up their system, right? She's the most beautiful young woman, but she has a driver's license with a male name on it. I called up the head of DPS, and I said, Can we take care of this for her? And by the next morning, she had a new driver's license with her name on it and brought her to tears.

That's her identity now, right? You can do things like that at the state of Texas level, because we haven't turned the fourth branch of government into to anything that can hurt people. It's been done at the federal level.

There's still democratic control, too. The people still have a voice, as screwed up and corrupt as the state may be, and it is, in my opinion. There's still a possibility that you can make change.

Especially in the Texas Education Agency, where you see a lot of this stuff, but you still can make change. But at the federal level, if you were to call immigration or something like that, they'd laugh at you. Of course. You're just a silly congressman. We don't care what you think.

Why Why would they?

Why would they? They do the same thing with the executive branch. They are just completely aloof. They don't care what we think. They don't care what the elected officials. They don't care what a constitutionally elected person that holds office. They don't care what you think. Even though your department may be underneath an agency that you oversee as a sitting member of Congress, they don't care.

No. They're different. This is why Doge was a good idea. Until people are really fired, people who work for us, then there's no incentive for them to change.

But here's the problem, Tucker, is that we've got a responsibility, I think, as elected officials, to say to the American people, this is going on? I see it with my own eyes. This is what's going on. And guys like Crenshaw are like, No, I'm going to defend it.

Well, how could you defend... He was asked specifically, the intel agencies have basically nullified democracy because they are playing a role in American politics, a very big role, and that's documented. It's not a matter of guesswork at this point. We know that. And as you just said, anyone who works in Washington sees it every single day. So if he's denying that angrily, what does that say about his role?

I mean, he was asked specifically about Hunter Biden's laptop. And it was called Russian Disinformation by the Intelligence Community.

Oh, yes.

And he blew it off. Completely blew it off. Just like they blew off Biden's daughter's diary. Of course.

They put the people had it in jail.

Right.

For the crime of having Ashley Biden's diary in which she said she showered with her dad and it screwed her up sexually. How couldn't it? That's what it's... Well, exactly. How couldn't it? But that was just... They put the guy in jail for that. I mean, for having it. Yeah.

Or the young woman that was a staffer for Joe Biden when he was in the Senate.

Oh, I know her. Tara Reid. I know her well. She lives in Moscow now because she's basically driven out of the country.

They destroyed her.

Oh, I know her well. Yes. That's literally, but no one cared.

My heart just breaks for her.

Just- Sweet woman, too. Very sweet woman. Yeah. She had to leave this country, be away from her family, her child. I mean, it's... And no one cared. The feminists said not one word.

The same players in government don't treat Republicans that way. I mean, it's only people that say bad things about the power structure of Washington, DC. They're the only ones that get held accountable.

I've noticed.

It's so sick. It's just so sick.

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He knew what we wanted to hear.

But why not fight corruption a little bit? Why immediately start making excuses for the CIA? Because controlling US elections? Why would you ever make excuses for that?

I can't, for the life of me, get my arms around it.

Okay. Well, I have a little bit... I just have a guess. I don't know either. I don't talk to Dan Crenshaw directly. But there was this amazing moment right after COVID when people started taking a look at the performance of various members of Congress's stock portfolios. And I personally know hedge fund managers who've underperformed the market. People who do this for a living, maybe billions, some years, they just don't... It's very hard to beat the market. But Dan Crenshaw did somehow. He made a lot of trades, including after getting classified briefings on COVID policy. He was called out on this, and he wasn't the only one. Nancy Pelosi famously. But Dan Crenshaw did pretty well. I don't think there's any evidence to suggest he's a market expert. How exactly did that work? This was his response. He immediately started attacking anyone who asked him, and he said, You don't let us trade stocks. You don't let us make any money either. We haven't gotten a pay raise since in eight. So I mean, I don't think members of Congress are overpaid exactly, but they're paid multiples of what the average person makes, and they get a lifetime pension.

So it's a pretty good deal, and free health care, and dental. So it's like, he's clearly very focused on money.

He was vicious, too, about the way he said it. I mean, the level of anger in his voice that he would be questioned about the way he's trading stock or what he gets paid. So the average Texan is paid $76,000. Dan Crenjo is making $174,000 of your tax dollars. He's being paid by our tax dollars in Texas. Of course. And he thinks he should make more.

Well, for a young man, too, the life lifetime value of the package, which he's already gotten because he's already served multiple terms. So is many millions of dollars over the course of a life.

Yeah. It's crazy.

It is crazy. So I mean, What do you make of the stock trading? How did Dan Crenshaw beat the market?

Well, multiple people have talked about it, and multiple people over the years have said that we've got to stop it because we have access, they have access to information the average person doesn't have access to. It's really not a lot different in Texas. Again, we're the eighth largest economy in the United States. I see deals that are coming our way, and I could own stock in those companies, but my wife and I have chosen to stay out of the market, and for that very simple reason, even- You're not in the market at all. At all. At all. So I own real estate. I own some rental houses, and that's my retirement. But I don't want to be... I want to avoid the appearance of evil. This has been an issue. This went all the way back to remember Eric Cantor?

Very well.

Eric Cantor was thrown out of office. Dave, I can't think of his last name. I know them both. Yeah. But anyways, Cantor lost because of his defense and voted against legislation—this is going back 10, 12 years—that would have stopped this. The American people have just had enough with it. They just have absolutely had enough of it. I don't blame him. It's just absolutely stupid. You're taking advantage of the system and enriching yourselves, and that creates a perverse incentive inside you to do the wrong thing and to vote the wrong way.

Why not? I mean, if you're Nancy Pelosi or if you're Dan Crenshaw, whose politics are very similar, by the way. Dan's a liberal, I guess, if that's not obvious, I should just say that. Dan's a liberal. But both of them have taken a lot of crap for this. I mean, they've really been attacked for the appearance of insider trading. I can't call it that, but certainly what it looks like. Clearly, it looks that way. Why wouldn't you just ban it and then you can get rich when you leave and you can go lobby for APAC or whatever he's going to do? But I don't...

The simplest thing would be to file legislation and then dump your portfolio or dump it into a blind trust. At the very least, if you're going to say, okay, you can't own stock, at the very least, we should be encouraging these guys to dump them into a blind trust so that they can't manipulate the market or manipulate their own portfolio as a result of what they know.

Doesn't it make people cynical about their government?

That's the problem. I think probably the greatest threat to the United States right now is the cynicism that we have towards our elected officials. I think, especially Conservatives, every time we hear, Lock her up, they're not going to lock her up.

No, they're not.

Throw them out of office. They're not going to throw them out of office. Reste them. They're not going to throw them out of office. Liars. It's just we're so sick of it. And this is going on here in Texas, right, as well with the quorum busters that while we were trying to do redistricting, they went to Illinois and they went to California. We heard, Lock them up, lock them up. And we're going to lock them up. We're going to throw them out. No one's going to get thrown out of office. It feeds the cynicism that we all rightfully have right now because it's so fake.

I I feel like that cynicism is the most intense and the most dangerous among patriotic normal Americans. They have really been betrayed. Oh, my gosh. Because they really believed in it. I mean, frankly, everyone got arrested on January sixth was carrying a pocket constitution. These were people who really believe in this system.

Yeah. And yet you see people that were part of rabble-rousing in Washington, DC that day that never went to jail.

Well, they hate the system. They want to tear it I'm talking about the insiders. Of course. No, I agree. But I mean, someone like Crenshaw or Nancy Pelosi, they don't believe in the system. They're grifters, obviously. But the people who do believe in the system and are the victim of this just serial decades long betrayal, those people, and I feel like I'm one of them, being honest, it just makes me so mad. I can barely see because you feel like you're betrayed by your own leaders. Do you feel that?

Oh, completely. It's harder because when you're in office, you're like, okay, because of what you're doing right now, I'm going to get painted with that same brush.

Oh, so you... I mean, you're in the Texas house, so. How often do you see that?

All the time. I'll post something about what's going on with the corn breakers right now. They're like, Oh, you're just a piece of crap. You're going to tell us what we want to hear. And it's like, I don't blame that guy for feeling that way.

Yes.

He should feel that way. Because our government has done nothing to bring the hammer down on these people. It's just all talk.

I mean, it feels like we're getting to a dangerous level of anger. I feel it anyway. I feel like I hate everyone, all these people, especially the ones who claim to represent me. They're just liars.

I know.

I'm less mad at Pelosi than I am at some Republicans who I formerly believed in.

I'm more mad at us right now. I'm way more mad at Republicans than I am Democrats.

Oh, I agree with that completely.

Look, Democrats are like trail horses. Each one sticks his nose in the ass of the horse in front of them. Republicans are like Mustangs. We're biting each other, we're kicking each other, we're fighting. They work in lockstep together, and they take people people out that don't believe in their radical views. There was a woman in the Texas legislature last session, Sean Thierry, Democrat, that voted with us and against the gender mutilation of little girls and boys. The Democrat Party responded by running somebody against her and spending a million dollars to take her out.

Did they?

They did. They took her out. For that? For that. We, on the other hand, we try and take out members of our own party that fight for our values.

I've noticed.

It's so sick. What is that? Here's the reality is that the modern day Republican Party, when we win elections, we take office. When Democrats win elections, they will power. They fully believe in what they're fighting for. We just have people that want power. That want to get elected. It's sad because don't you care about anything? Is there no holy discontent inside your soul that bothers you about what's going on in our country today that you're willing to fight for? Are you just willing to play it safe so you can stay in office? Democrats fight. They believe in everything that they're doing.

What do you think the answer is?

Honestly? Yeah. I think we need a spiritual renewal in America. We need to get back to our founding principles. Our Constitution was meant only for a holy and religious people. We're starting to see our nation and our society just fray and tear apart right now. As a result of that, we're raising up people that should not be in office, that serving and have no place in serving. Within the Republican Party. I'm talking about within the Republican Party.

Oh, of course you are. Oh, I believe that. And I know so many of them. I've always felt like the problem was what they call rhinos. I'm not even sure what a Republican is now anyway, so it doesn't even...

I don't know if it's- I'm not even sure what a conservative is anymore. I'm not either. When Mitt Romney says, I'm an extreme conservative. Like, what? What? No. You're an extreme conservative?

No. You're You're a guilty old lady. But now it feels like there are people jumping up and down about America first who are...

They're biding their time until Trump's gone. Oh, yeah.

You feel that?

Oh, completely. Yeah.

So among people you serve with in the House in Texas, how many are really sincere, do you think?

So 88 Republicans, 62 Democrats, and 67 of us got together and selected David Cook as speaker. And the small balance of- This is the new the news speaker. No. He should have been the new speaker. Okay. After all, 67 of us got together.

Because you had the drunk guy.

Dade's gone. And we led... There are four of us that led a revolt against Dade.

This guy was actually hammered on the house floor.

It would appear from- It would appear. I'm trying to work with these people.

Let me just say as a former drunk person, I recognize that.

Yeah. So 67 of us got together. We started cobbling together this coalition. We got it up to 67 people out of 88 Republicans, so more than a majority. Yeah. A super, super majority. And then this little group of Republicans got together with all 62 of the Democrats, and they picked Burrows. So, yeah, we have a speaker that was picked by the Democrats.

So the Texas House is overwhelmingly Republican, but it's actually run by the Democrats. Correct.

They're about 40. I would put the number at about 40 strong Conservatives out of the 88.

But even a tepid conservative Even a rhino, by definition, wouldn't want the Texas House to be run by the other party. Of course not. Yet they do.

Do you think the Democrats would abide by this? Do you think the Democrats, if they were in the majority, would include any of us on their team? No. Of course not. Elections have consequences.

Also, the people should have a say. If the majority of the state votes for Republican leadership, you should have it because that's called democracy. It's about responding to what the citizenry, the owners of the United States want in the administration of their government, and they're getting, once again, the opposite of what they voted for. Correct. And on every issue, they get the opposite. There's never been one public opinion poll in the last two years said, number one issue for me is Ukraine. And yet all the money is going to Ukraine or to all these other foreign countries. It's like, why are we giving all this money to Egypt? Are there a lot of people in your district who are like, we need to add another billion dollars to the Egyptian foreign aid budget this year?

It's a big issue. Yeah. It's Lemonade stands and everything else. We're all working hard for Egypt. What?

I just feel like... Well, let me ask you, do you feel like we're at a point where people are becoming... I'm feeling way more radical than I've ever felt in my life.

That's because no one's listening.

Right.

Thank you. No one's listening. After a while, you just get frustrated and angry over it. Yes.

It's the sincere people who are the most angry, right? Because the cynical people never expected a system in the first place.

The only skin that they have in the game is their patriotism. There's nothing financially in it for them at all. It's just love of country. It's just, Tucker, it's just love of country. Yes.

That's why I wanted to talk to you, and I'll just be honest, I think you turned out to be one of the most sincere, thoughtful politicians I've talked to in a long time.

That's because I'm not a politician. In fact, my wife, when you hang out with me, my Babette will be like, You can't hang out with Steve if you call him a representative.

But the real reason I want to talk to you is I don't want Dan Crenshaw to get reelected, not because I hate Dan Crenshaw or think he's actually going to make good on his promise to kill me. I don't think he's going to. It's not personal. It really isn't. It's just that if you keep electing people who are transparently corrupt and insincere, like Dan Crenshaw, then after a while, your country falls apart. Not because he's so bad, but because it's such an obvious lie. I guess that's what I'm trying to express. Do you worry about that?

I think cynicism is the greatest threat to our country.

Yes.

Scripture says Where there is no hope, people perish.

People perish.

That's where we're at today in America. I think one of the things that I love about Trump, and I think the reason why people have overwhelmingly flocked to Trump is Trump leads with actions and not words. He leads with words to capture the news cycle, right? Yes. But he doesn't use those words to do anything other than to throw the mainstream media off. He leads with action, and that's what we want out of our leaders. We want people that are going to lead with action and not rhetoric. We're tired of the rhetoric, absolutely tired of the rhetoric. It's hollow. It's empty. It's useless.

Incumbents almost always get reelected, especially from Republican districts, it feels. Maybe not especially, but they definitely... Republicans, bad Republicans. I know. John Corne in multiple terms in the Senate, I I'm going to think of probably another 40 Republican office holders. It's like, how did you get reelected? Particularly in Republican States.

Right.

And Idaho and all through the deep south, they reelect people with with Alzheimer's. It's crazy. How hard will it be to unseat Dan Crenshaw?

It's going to be a lot of work. We've had a lot of people coming to my website, stevetothfor congress. Com, or just stevetoth. Com. Both work, but it's been pretty cool. We've had people from all over the United States contributing the widow's might, 10 bucks, 15 bucks. It's so amazing.

Yeah.

And this is doable. But the biggest problem, Tucker, is that there's just this belief, well, they're a sitting member. They can't be beat. Yes, they can. We've proven it. We've seen it. We've shown it that when you mobilize as a community against these guys, you can take them out.

Yes. I just think it would be an important statement about democracy and that it still can work. I've wanted to talk to Crenshaw, put in a million interview requests. He will not do interview, period, except with a moderator. That's hilarious. I'd love to talk to Clifford Asness, his main funder, the guy who's publicly defended short selling, true sleazeball. Of course, he would never talk to me, but I would like to know how someone like Crenshaw could get reelected. Who would support him? Do you feel support for him in the district?

It's not there. It's not there. We did a meet and greet in his neighborhood on Saturday, and the place was packed.

In his neighborhood where he lives?

In his neighborhood where he lives. I walked away so encouraged with the support that we got. And it's just really exciting. It's going to be a lot of work. I mean, he outspent his opponent two years ago, 120 to one, and the guy got 42 % against him. And so when that happens, there's blood in the water, and it attracts a lot of people. But we're the only ones that have launched a really legitimate campaign against him, where we're going to be able to raise the money necessary. We're going to be outspent. We get that? Really? Oh, yeah. I mean, just the amount of support that he's going to get from the lobby is just off the charts. But I can't ever think, Tucker, of a time when I haven't been outspent two or three to one in one. So we're okay with We're going to beat him, and we're just going to work really hard.

When's the primary?

March third of next year.

March third. Yeah. So the district is overwhelmingly Republican. Completely. Okay. So whoever wins the primary-will win the general. Will win the general. How many people are in the primary, do you think? Do you expect?

We're pressing for roughly 160,000 votes.

No, I mean, how many candidates? How many people are running against him?

I think they're about five in right now, five or six. Really? Yeah, and more will get in. More will get in. It just it happens.

And how does that work? Is it the guy who gets the most votes or is it their run off?

You have to get 50 % or it goes into a run off.

Oh, wow. So if you're Karl Rove or Clifford Esnice or some lobby, foreign lobby, you have every incentive to get as many people into this race as possible.

Correct. But we're already hearing from people in it that have come to me and said, You've got the best chance of winning. I'm probably going to drop out before the filing period. So the filing period hasn't even opened yet. You're just allowed to pick a treasurer and say that you're running for Congress and make a statement. But the filing period hasn't even opened yet, and we think a lot of them are going to drop out. I've got great relationships with a lot of the people that are in it right now. They feel like you've got the best chance to beat them, and we want to help you.

The reason I want to talk to you is to talk to a lot of people in Texas about it, just because I think it's so important to make good on your promises. If you say you're going to put America first, you have to have people who are willing to. Put America first. Amen. We need it so badly. Everybody I've spoken to has said you have the best shot at unseeding him. This is not directly related to you, but since you swim in the same pool, where is Cornyn's re-election right now, would you say? How would you assess that?

He is in real trouble. So we've been looking at his numbers as well. His numbers are not as bad as Dan Crenshaw's numbers, but they're How bad are Crenshaw's numbers? He's at 43% unfavorable in Harris County, 44% unfavorable in Montgomery County. 44%? 44%, yeah.

Wow, that's really high.

That's really high. I think Cornan's about three points below that. But that's still bad, right? So, I mean, typically people that have unfavorable numbers above 40 % don't even run for re-election. Interesting.

So Cornan, who hates Trump, obviously hates Trump, has always hated Trump. He's like, sucking up to Trump now, right?

It's sick. Really? It's just sick to watch it.

What's he doing?

This is so funny. So a couple of months ago, there's a picture in in acts of him reading The Art of the Deal. And just above it, it says, What a great read. And then- John Curnan, who's like, wants nothing more than to be accepted into some club. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then a month or two later, he's got a picture of him outside. There's a restaurant in Texas called Trump Burger, and he's outside the restaurant with the marquee behind him. He's holding a Trump burger in his hands.

No way.

It's just so silly.

Cornyn, who dresses like a J. P. Morgan vice President. You know what? He's like a big Trump guy now. Do people fall for that? No.

No. They don't.

So he's running against... Kim Paxton is in the race. Are there others?

That's it so far. That's it right now.

You got to think... I mean, so Karl Rove tried to take out Ken Paxton, your attorney general, in a... I mean, tried to put him in jail, basically. Helped run this impeachment against him trial. Is he involved in the Senate race, do you think?

I think he will be. He was sure involved in trying to take Ken Paxton out. There There's no doubt about it.

I just take him out, but imprison him.

Oh, my gosh. So that impeachment was the biggest scam. Should have been the biggest embarrassment. I think it will go down in history as the biggest embarrassment of the Texas legislature, the Texas House. I was so proud of the way the Texas Senate stepped up. Very seriously deliberative. Every single charge against him, they put it to the test. We rushed. We literally rushed it through in 24 hours. We were given this 60-page document to read of the charges against Paxton. No witnesses were called for their side. None of the witnesses were sworn in, which is a violation of the Texas Constitution. This is exactly what Karl Rove and Eric Holder did to the Alabama pro-life governor, 20, 30 years ago. They took him out, threw in jail. It was later found out to be all nothing. It was a big nothing burger. He was set free, but it destroyed him. It destroyed his life. It destroyed his political career. It took everything away from the man. And they tried to do the same thing to Ken, and it was just absolutely- Ken's real sin, even if you disagree with Paxton, you have to say he's been very effective.

Oh, my gosh. He's been incredibly effective.

Right. So that's the crime right there.

That the crime.

Is not just getting up and being like, Oh, I'm a war hero. I have an eye patch. I'm going to drain the swamp. But actually doing something.

He actually did it. To know Ken is to know that Ken is not the most articulate, charismatic speaker in the world. No. He's anything but that.

I like him more for that, actually.

I know. He bleeds with his actions.

Interesting. It sounds like... How influenced were the Bushes still in Texas politics?

I think they're very influential.

Still.

Still, yeah. But I think it's mainly through Karl Rove. They don't support the President. They refuse to support Trump, which is an embarrassment, should be an embarrassment to them, that their lack of support and everything that he's doing for our country right now. How can't you look at everything that Trump is doing right now and say what he's doing with the border, what he's doing with DOGE, what he's doing with public education, and on and on and on. How do you not look at that and just say, wow, this is all the crap that you guys said you were going to do. He just did it. You said you wanted to do away with the Department of Education because of the way they're destroying public education in America, he's doing it. You want to root out the corruption through these government agencies that are blindly giving money to other Democrats so They literally are funneling and laundering money through the United States government. These different organizations that DOGE has uncovered more, I mean, specifically USAID, right?

Yeah.

Usaid was the piggy bank for the Democrat Party and Act Blue. And that's why the Democrats are angry about it, because you took their funding source away. Everyone knew it. Everyone knew that that was going on. Trump's the only one that had the stones to get up and just do it. Do you not care about America? You don't care about America. These politicians don't care about America. They call themselves Republicans. They don't care about the Republic. They care about sustaining power and keeping their own little click in control. That's all they care about.

What's it like to go to work in the Texas Statehouse?

As a Truman then said, If you want a friend, go buy a dog. It's like what it's like. It's hard. It's difficult. I've been blessed in that. I don't go there alone. I I don't live alone. I don't go anywhere alone. They'll destroy you if you live alone. They'll accuse you of everything and anything. I lived this past session with Nate Shasline.

Nate's a-Wait, wait, wait, back up just for one second. Sure. What do you mean, if you live alone. So your session is... How long is the session?

We're in session for five months every two years, January through May, and then specials.

So you live north of Houston, but you have to go down to Austin for the session.

You got to live there.

You got to live there. If you live alone, why does it matter if you live alone?

Oh, they'll accuse you of something, or they'll set you up with something.

Weird sex stuff. Yup. For real? For real.

I'm convinced that's why a lot of guys have gotten into trouble. Individuals that I know that came there with the best intentions to do the right thing and now are just part of the problem.

Are you serious?

Completely.

Of course you are. Yeah. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. Also, it's not it's not wise for a man to live alone for five months.

It's not. It's just it's stupid.

It is stupid. I totally agree with that. Let's stop lying about the way men are. Wow. Is that widely known?

Oh, I think it is. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of gossip and stuff, but I feel badly because I feel like there are some really good people that get accused of it, where it's not true. I feel badly for them, but that's what you sign up for when you go to Texas.

But it's a means of control. It's a leash that someone is yanking to keep people in line.

Yeah, completely.

You think there are people who arrived with the intent of doing good, joining the swamp, representing their constituents, who were caught up in some immoral behavior, and that has been used as leverage against them? Yeah.

Yes, I believe that completely. Really? So I make a point of just, I don't... If I go to an event, I don't drink. I quit drinking back in 2019. It didn't serve me. Yes. It doesn't do anything for you. My wife and I would have a glass of wine or two at dinner, but I just completely gave it up.

Oh, you weren't like a slobbering drunk.

You just- No. I'm a cheap date. I just know. But I never wanted to be seen with beer or wine in my hand. It doesn't serve you at all in any way, shape, or form.

I agree completely, strongly. Good for you. But when you showed up in Austin for your first session, you were aware that you could be subverted.

I don't think I was as aware then. You'd heard about stuff. Is that really true? That can't be true. These guys are really good. They're Republicans. They wouldn't do that. I was completely naive when I first came in. Like, 40 of us showed up. We had this group called the No-Name Group. We're like, They're going to be so happy that we're here. They're going to love us.

Otis, he loves us.

They're going to love us because we're true. We're fighting Republicans. They're going to love us. No. They scorned us.

Really? They being the Republicans who are already there. Yeah.

Then no time flat. In fact, I can remember one of them said, We were called for such a time as this, quoting Esther, the Book of Esther. Of course. The reason why they hate us now, this is what one of them said, The reason why they hate us is because we remind them of what they used to be. I look at most of those guys that said that and shook their head like I am, say, Yeah, and that's who you are now. You've turned. You're not with us anymore.

How long ago was that?

That was in 2013. I came in in 2013, served for two years, then I left for four years, and then I came back in 2019.

But the guys who stayed?

Most of them went bad. Really?

Apart from sexual blackmail, which you've said is real, and I believe you, what are the other means by which good people become bad people?

You want to be effective, don't you? Tucker, you're here to serve your district. You want to be effective, don't you? Well, you're going to be in the penalty box if you don't become part of the speaker's team. If you're in the penalty box, you can't pass any legislation. I'm an outlier in that. I got really lucky. I passed some legislation. As an example, I picked up a bill to take on critical race theory, and no one had even heard of it when I carried the bill. Then a guy by the name of Dick Weekly from Texas for Lawsuit Reform, I heard about my bill. Dick's daughter is a passionate follow of Christ, Allison.

Dick is a good man.

And he got behind my bill, by God's grace. I carried that bill in the 87th session, and we passed it into law. It was the best one in the United States. And so I got that done. And it's like I came home and I said to Babette, I said, We didn't sell out. God proved to me that he could still use me, and I didn't have to sell out to do it. And it just made me more passionate that with God, there's a way to get things done. And he can still use you. You don't have to sell your soul to these people. These people are evil. They don't want to do the right thing. They're not concerned about doing the right thing. They're just concerned about holding on to power.

But it's interesting that they say right to you, you want to be effective. So they appeal really to your best instincts because you do. Any good man wants to be effective, of course. So they don't come to you and say, Hey, I've got hookers and cash for you. They say, No, we can help you be the person you want to be.

You want to be effective, don't you? Yeah. In fact, a couple of people that were going to vote with us, left us at the last... Like one guy, he was going to vote for David Cook. And he came in with me as a freshman.

David Cook for speaker.

For speaker. And the last second, he switched over and voted for Burrows. I said, Why did you do that? I mean, I knew.

And he said- He voted with the Democrats. Yeah.

I wanted to be effective for my district. And he ended up getting a chairmanship, committee chairmanship, which these guys love getting committee chairmenhips. They love being called chairman. Outside their office, it says Steve Toth, House district 15, and it shows the committees that you serve on. Well, for those guys, it's chairman. That's a big deal. These guys love being called chairman in the Texas house. It's just such an ego boost.

Do they end up getting anything done once they make that deal?

No. You pass some legislation, but you sell a little bit of your soul in the midst of it. It's a transaction.

Then you just become, with time, more corrupt once you've been corrupted.

Yeah. It's such a slow... Tucker, it's such a slow process. For some guys, it happens a lot quicker than others, but it's a slow process where you just lose your soul.

God, that's so dark.

Yeah.

Does anyone ever come back?

No. I can't ever think of a time when I've seen somebody that's gone over and said, Wow, I blew it. I've seen guys that had a bad vote that have come back next session said, Gosh, that was a stupid vote. I was part of their team, but they hadn't sold their soul. They made a bad vote. Then they come back the next session. Yeah, I I've seen that, but none that have fully gone over, become chairman, and lost their soul and come back. No.

Have you ever seen a really honest man of integrity get rewarded for that, become chairman of a committee?

No, we're not. They want you to become... They absolutely want you to go there and lose your sense of conviction, your holy discontent that you come there with to change. They don't want you to change anything. Your desire to change is what puts them in jeopardy of losing their authority and their power. These guys cut deals. And if you're going to push for legislation, if you're going to push... I want to transform the way we do elections in Texas. So I want us to be able to audit. Once there's an election, you have to hold on to the data for 22 months. But unfortunately, Tucker, we don't have the ability to audit any of it. So why do you hold on to election material for 22 months if you can't audit it to find out if there's been corruption?

I don't know. I'm just guessing, but I've just seen this a lot. Basically, that was legislation, I'm guessing, that was passed to protect corruption. But it sounds in the telling like a good government move. It was designed to expose corruption. In other words, under my election integrity bill, every candidate will have to hold that data for 22 months. What they don't tell you is- They can't look at it. It remained secret for two years.

Yeah. So myself and Paul Betancourt, Senator Betancourt, Court have introduced legislation that the President supports, fully supports, and these guys know it. The Republicans all know it. But what's the piece of legislation that Democrats say when they're going to get behind a speaker? They're like, there are these things that are not going to pass this year. Toast legislation and Bettencourt's legislation on doing audits and the transition of kids. So I had a bill this year, House Bill 2258. I think it was 22: 58. I had like 70 piece legislation. But they sent it to Ken King's committee where Ken King killed the bill. I had three members of his committee that became joint authors on the bill to stop the social transition of children, and they never gave the bill a hearing.

Why would a Republican want to protect the destruction of children through transgender ideology? Why would a Republican be in favor of that?

I don't think they are. I think they basically are against it, but they compromise and say, The only way I can do good things for my people back home is if I maintain my chairmanship, and the only way I can maintain my chairmanship is to cut a deal with Democrats, and Democrats don't want this piece of legislation to pass. And so they kill it. They just kill it. But we turned it into an amendment, and we stuck it on a Senate Bill 12 at the end of session. And now, social transition of kids is illegal in the state of Texas.

Nice. Was that distressing to Republicans?

Here's the hard part about it is that we knew that we were going to try and pass it as an amendment. And so I I didn't make a big deal about it during session because I didn't want the Democrats to blow it up. I didn't want them to know that we were still going to try and put it on something. So we just stayed quiet, quietly kept looking for the right bill to put it on, found it in Senate Bill 12. We worked with Brandon Creighton to make sure that he positioned 12. It's different in Texas than it is in the United States, in that if you're going to pass legislation at the federal level on ice cream, you can't put something on it that has to do with bicycles. Right. They're not germane. In Texas, our legislation, the amendment has to be absolutely germane to the bill. And so we work with Senator Creighton quietly behind the scenes to make sure that when the bill came over from the Senate, it would. So if that bill had come over from the Senate with banning social transition of kids, they would have killed his bill.

They never would have left that bill onto the House floor because the Rhino Republicans and the Democrats would have killed the bill in committee, or they would have killed it in calendars, and it never would have made it to the house floor. So the bill came over, and I was able to put the amendment on it, and it passed.

Wow. It's crazy that in an overwhelmingly Republican legislature, it's that hard to ban something as transparently evil. Evil.

Absolutely to the core, evil.

Destroying children, just destroying them.

Yeah.

So last question. As a lover of Texas, and someone with a lot of my family in Texas, I go to Texas a lot. I always wonder if the people who run the state, drive around the state, just look around, because the last time I was in Texas a couple of months ago in Dallas, a city I really love, dirty. It was getting dirtier. I mean, it's just noticeable. I guess some people were like, did they notice that the state needs attention?

I honestly don't know.

Do people talk about that? No, not at all.

Not Not at all.

One of the reasons I dislike Crenshaw so intensely, it's like, do you notice that this is degrading? The physical environment that you live in is not as nice as it was 10 years ago. That's a concern. It should not be.

The hardest part of Austin, Texas, and I believe Washington, DC, is pretty much the same thing. The very first time I stepped into the Texas house, it was about a month before I was sworn in. I had never met any staff or had never talked to anybody. No one knew who I was. They said, Representative, so good to see you. Another person says, Hey, representative, great to see you. I hear you're a pastor. I am, too. Hey, Representative, you're in this business. They start calling you representative, right? It's like they slowly-Yeah. They slowly pull you in. I'm telling you, your ego digs it, totally digs it. After a while, you don't know who you are, you don't know where you are, you just know you want to part of that.

Yes.

Oh, of course. And you become tone deaf.

But since the legislature is in Austin, it's the prettiest legislative building in the country by far.

Oh, I know.

Pink granite. Is that right? Yeah. When I first went there more than 25 years ago for work as a reporter, I was shocked by how beautiful it was, how cool it was. It had just been restored. I was shocked by how great Austin was, the Driskill Hotel. Yeah. Then I went back years later and it's like, they're like homeless people sleeping in the vestibule of the Driskill Hotel. Sixth Street is dangerous.

sixth Street is a mess.

But it was so cool. I'm not a Texan. I'm just a perennial visitor. I noticed that. I wonder to the people who go to work at the Capitol Building, did they notice that?

Did they talk about that? Yeah. Actually, Texas Austin has actually gotten a little bit cleaner. Yeah, it has. I've noticed. We passed legislation banning that. We said there are areas where you can't camp.

Why is she able to camp on public land?

It's crazy. But the problem is that while we did that for Austin, nothing's being done about Houston, nothing's being done about Dallas. Oh, I know. Nothing's been done about El Paso. It's like putting makeup on. But at the end of the day, there's still a lot of scars underneath the makeup that are being hidden in Texas.

But what's more important than how your constituents are living day to day? I don't know why Ukraine or any other country is more important than that.

I don't either. It's a lack of putting America first. I think people like to say America first. They believe in America first. But what does that mean? What the hell does that mean?

Just care about your own country more than any other country. Well, Godspeed. I really appreciate your coming. The day that you beat Dan Crenshaw, March 10th?

March third.

March third. Well, maybe on March 10th, I'll call you to offer congratulations. It'll just be a good day for America. I mean, it'll just remind all of us that the system can still work.

It can. It absolutely can.

Steve, thank you.

Thanks, Tucker. That was awesome.

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Who did that?

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