Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Texas Dems Surrender-Explaining Dem Redistricting Hypocrisy Nationwide

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Texas Dems Surrender-Explaining Dem Redistricting Hypocrisy Nationwide · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome in as Vertical Center. Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you,
0:04
Speaker 1: and we get to start with some pretty big breaking news.
0:07
Speaker 1: The Texas Democratic fugitives. They've conceded. They are apparently going
0:13
Speaker 1: to return to Austin as the latest report center. This
0:16
Speaker 1: is certainly going to be tears to many liberals that
0:20
Speaker 1: were cheering them on in sanctuary states. Now they're going
0:23
Speaker 1: to actually have to go back to work.
0:25
Speaker 2: Well, this is news that broke this evening. The Texas
0:28
Speaker 2: Democrats who had fled the state the House Democrats defeat
0:31
Speaker 2: a quorum in order to stop the redistricting in the
0:34
Speaker 2: state of Texas. They've surrendered, They've admitted defeat. They've announced
0:38
Speaker 2: that they are coming back. We're going to break that down.
0:40
Speaker 2: We're going to tell you why they're coming back. We're
0:41
Speaker 2: going to tell you about what legal authorities the governor
0:44
Speaker 2: and the Speaker of the House had and used to
0:47
Speaker 2: force them to come back. And we're also going to
0:49
Speaker 2: talk more broadly about the issue of jerry mandering because
0:52
Speaker 2: we have seen in the last two weeks, we have
0:54
Speaker 2: seen democrats, we have seen blue state governors, we have
0:58
Speaker 2: seen the media clutching their pearls saying this is horrible,
1:01
Speaker 2: this is a theft of democracy, and I got to
1:04
Speaker 2: say in the Annals of Hypocrisy, the democrats reaction to
1:10
Speaker 2: Texas's redistricting may be at the top of the list
1:14
Speaker 2: of utter complete nonsense and hypocrisy. We're gonna give you
1:19
Speaker 2: the facts of what exactly Democrat states do when they
1:23
Speaker 2: draw congressional redistricts and compare it to Republican states and
1:28
Speaker 2: spoiler alerts, the Democrat states are much much, much more
1:33
Speaker 2: egregious in gerrymandering their states than Republican states ever are.
1:39
Speaker 2: We're gonna give you the facts so that when you're
1:40
Speaker 2: standing around the water cooler, you're gonna know the response
1:44
Speaker 2: to someone who decides to do some pearl clutching on
1:47
Speaker 2: their own.
1:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt. It's really fun when you see the data.
1:50
Speaker 1: They may have wished they didn't go down This road
1:52
Speaker 1: in Texas is going to have a big impact around
1:54
Speaker 1: the country.
1:55
Speaker 3: Let me tell you real quick about it.
1:56
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Speaker 1: your first order. All right, So this has become like
3:36
Speaker 1: a rallying cry center around the country. Democrats are like,
3:39
Speaker 1: they're jerrymandering down there in Texas. You even have Gavin
3:43
Speaker 1: Newsom getting in on this. He sends a letter to
3:45
Speaker 1: the Presidence like, well, if you guys don't stop what
3:48
Speaker 1: they're doing there, then we may have to jerrymandering in
3:51
Speaker 1: California and get those seats back that you steal from Democrats.
3:55
Speaker 1: News Alert they've been doing this for decades in California.
3:59
Speaker 1: That kind of I fired on in pretty quickly. But
4:02
Speaker 1: now the Democrats are coming home.
4:04
Speaker 2: Well they are, and that's the breaking news this evening.
4:06
Speaker 2: So I'm reading from one news story here in Texas.
4:09
Speaker 2: ABC thirteen is confirmed with multiple sources that House Democrats
4:13
Speaker 2: will return to Texas. Eyewitness News has not confirmed the date,
4:16
Speaker 2: but we do know that the Democrats believe they've accomplished
4:19
Speaker 2: their mission by killing the first special session and raising
4:22
Speaker 2: national awareness about the mid decade redistricting effort. It is
4:26
Speaker 2: unclear which day they will be in Austin at the Capitol,
4:28
Speaker 2: but they stress that they will push for Hill Country
4:31
Speaker 2: flooding relief to be the priority. After our initial reporting
4:35
Speaker 2: online and on television, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic
4:38
Speaker 2: Caucus set the following statement to ABC News quote, members
4:42
Speaker 2: are still assessing their strategies going forward and are in
4:45
Speaker 2: private meeting to make decisions about future plans. Currently, if
4:49
Speaker 2: and when the Texas House Democrats breaking quorum decide to
4:52
Speaker 2: go home is squarely dependent upon the actions of the governor,
4:56
Speaker 2: Speaker and Texas Republicans in charge make with regard to
5:00
Speaker 2: prioritizing flood victims over redistricting.
5:03
Speaker 4: That hurts Texans.
5:04
Speaker 2: So that's their talking point, but the ultimate bottom line
5:08
Speaker 2: is they've announced they're coming back.
5:09
Speaker 4: Now, why are they coming back? They're coming back.
5:12
Speaker 2: Number one because the governor and the Speaker of the
5:15
Speaker 2: House is issued in order to arrest them, to bring
5:17
Speaker 2: them back forcibly and arrest them.
5:19
Speaker 4: Number two, the.
5:20
Speaker 2: Speaker of the House has the authority to find them
5:23
Speaker 2: five hundred dollars a day for every day they are
5:26
Speaker 2: absent and break quorum.
5:27
Speaker 4: They change the rules in the hent in the House.
5:30
Speaker 2: And by the way, that five hundred dollars cannot be
5:32
Speaker 2: paid from campaign funds. You can't raise money for it.
5:35
Speaker 2: It's five hundred dollars out of your personal pocket if
5:37
Speaker 2: you refuse to show up.
5:39
Speaker 1: It's amazing how that changes everything for the Democrats. So
5:41
Speaker 1: hold on a second. We can't can't talk about her money.
5:44
Speaker 1: What money, What do you mean money?
5:46
Speaker 4: Yeah?
5:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
5:47
Speaker 2: And number three, and the Governor is proceeding in front
5:51
Speaker 2: of the Texas Supreme Court to seek to declare those
5:55
Speaker 2: offices vacant and remove them from office. And so they
5:58
Speaker 2: were facing a legal barrage and they knuckled under it.
6:04
Speaker 4: They were engaged in.
6:09
Speaker 2: That, they were engaged in a lot of smoke and
6:11
Speaker 2: mirrors and show they were throwing a hissy fit. But
6:14
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, Ben mark myert words.
6:18
Speaker 2: The result, Texas will pass this redistricting bill, and the
6:24
Speaker 2: consequence of it is going to be five additional Republicans
6:27
Speaker 2: elected to Congress from the state of Texas. That is
6:30
Speaker 2: going to happen, and the Democrats, they may decide to
6:33
Speaker 2: play out and to have their righteous anger while they
6:37
Speaker 2: rush off to their comrades to say, we think it
6:40
Speaker 2: is terrible when Republicans are elected, but they will lose
6:44
Speaker 2: because they don't have the leverage. And I'll tell you, Ben,
6:47
Speaker 2: that this is actually a topic that I've got some
6:49
Speaker 2: personal experience in.
6:51
Speaker 1: You've dealt with this before, literally in your own life.
6:55
Speaker 2: Well, So, in two thousand and two, Greg Abbott was
7:00
Speaker 2: elected the Attorney General of Texas. He'd been on the
7:02
Speaker 2: Texas Supreme Court, he was elected AG. When he was
7:05
Speaker 2: elected AG, he interviewed this this young kid lawyer to
7:12
Speaker 2: be Solicitor General. And Okay, I'm actually going to take
7:16
Speaker 2: a break. Have I ever told you the story of
7:18
Speaker 2: how I got the job of SG.
7:20
Speaker 3: No?
7:21
Speaker 2: Okay, So I'm in DC. I'm working in the George W.
7:25
Speaker 2: Bush administration. I'm the head of policy at the Federal
7:27
Speaker 2: Trade Commission and a buddy of mine calls and says, hey,
7:32
Speaker 2: Greg Abbott was just elected AG. And I said, well, yeah,
7:35
Speaker 2: I knew that I wasn't a complete idiot. And he said, well,
7:39
Speaker 2: he's looking for an SG. Are you willing to have
7:42
Speaker 2: your name considered? And I said, well, let me think
7:45
Speaker 2: about it. Let me talk with Heidi, and I'll call
7:46
Speaker 2: you back tomorrow and let you know. And I talked
7:49
Speaker 2: with Heidi. I said, what do you think? She said,
7:51
Speaker 2: absolutely yes, put your name in. I think that's great.
7:54
Speaker 2: So I pulled together a resume, I sent it down,
7:57
Speaker 2: and a day or two later I got a call
7:59
Speaker 2: asking me to come down to all interview.
8:00
Speaker 4: So I did. I went down and interviewed.
8:02
Speaker 2: Now I didn't know Greg Abbott at all, and I
8:06
Speaker 2: frankly assumed I'd never get the job. That he would
8:09
Speaker 2: hire someone who'd known twenty years. That's kind of the
8:12
Speaker 2: way of the world. He'd hire a buddy of his,
8:13
Speaker 2: another lawyer.
8:14
Speaker 1: He knew baseball in politics, right, you go with someone
8:17
Speaker 1: you're familiar with.
8:18
Speaker 2: So I went down there. Now, I'm thirty one years old,
8:21
Speaker 2: I'm a kid. I do the interview. I don't know
8:25
Speaker 2: him at all, and a couple days later, I'm actually
8:30
Speaker 2: out with Heidi. We're in California at her parents' house
8:34
Speaker 2: and it's about six in the morning where but we're
8:36
Speaker 2: both asleep in bed and my cell phone rings. I
8:39
Speaker 2: answer it and it's Greg Abbott and he's calling to
8:42
Speaker 2: offer me the job of SG and I was I
8:47
Speaker 2: was floored. But I got to tell you, Heidi almost
8:50
Speaker 2: fell out of bed. She was so shocked, and she
8:54
Speaker 2: told me she said, well, look, I told you to
8:57
Speaker 2: interview because I knew there was no chance you could
8:59
Speaker 2: get the job. I knew it was absolutely hopeless. And
9:03
Speaker 2: I actually almost didn't get the job. Abbott told me
9:06
Speaker 2: later that he almost didn't make me the offer because
9:10
Speaker 2: he didn't think I had the wine, because he didn't
9:13
Speaker 2: think I had the experience to be a very good
9:15
Speaker 2: oral advocate.
9:17
Speaker 3: At the time, you didn't put debate champ on your resume.
9:21
Speaker 3: I'm a little disappointed in you. There.
9:23
Speaker 2: Well it was there, But at the time I had
9:25
Speaker 2: only argued two cases in my life, so I was
9:28
Speaker 2: thirty one. Now I won both of them. The two
9:32
Speaker 2: cases i'd argue I'd won. One was a Court of
9:35
Speaker 2: Appeals case in private practice, and the other was in
9:38
Speaker 2: a federal district court in New York on behalf of
9:42
Speaker 2: the FTC. Now, I will say, in the case in
9:44
Speaker 2: New York on the other side was the head of
9:47
Speaker 2: litigation at Crevass, Swain and Moore, which is one of
9:49
Speaker 2: the top law firms in the country. And I took
9:52
Speaker 2: him on and beat him in court. And so those
9:54
Speaker 2: two arguments, I leaned in hard and said, look, I've
9:57
Speaker 2: done two arguments. I'm two and oh. They were both
9:59
Speaker 2: hard cases. They mattered and somehow. You know, if you
10:03
Speaker 2: ever saw the movie Job, if you ever saw the
10:05
Speaker 2: movie Chicago with Richard Gear where they go and now
10:09
Speaker 2: a tap dance.
10:13
Speaker 4: So I get the job. I head back to Texas.
10:17
Speaker 4: I'm in Austin.
10:19
Speaker 2: Spring of two thousand and three, the Texas House, for
10:24
Speaker 2: the first time in decades becomes Republican, and so the
10:28
Speaker 2: Texas House begins to do mid decade redistricting. Now what
10:32
Speaker 2: is mid decade redistricting. Ordinarily, redistricting happens right after the
10:37
Speaker 2: turn of the decade. So if you get a new
10:39
Speaker 2: new decade, you get a new census, and with a
10:41
Speaker 2: new census, you do redistricting with the new numbers that
10:44
Speaker 2: have come out from the census. That's how it ordinarily happens. Well,
10:48
Speaker 2: back in two thousand and one, Texas had done redistricting,
10:53
Speaker 2: but the Democrats controlled the House, and so Texas had
10:57
Speaker 2: the most egregious partisan jerymander in the country because even
11:02
Speaker 2: though Texas was voting overwhelmingly Republican on the statewide level,
11:07
Speaker 2: Texas was electing a majority of Democrats to the congressional delegation.
11:12
Speaker 2: The Texas Democrats had drawn a map to elect the
11:16
Speaker 2: opposite congressional delegation from the way the state was voting,
11:20
Speaker 2: and it was the nastiest partisan gerrymander in the country
11:24
Speaker 2: by the Texas Democrats. That's what they'd done. So in
11:27
Speaker 2: two thousand and three, when Republicans took the House, they decided, Okay,
11:32
Speaker 2: we're going to do redistricting so that we can draw
11:35
Speaker 2: a map that alects a congressional delegation that reflects the
11:38
Speaker 2: values of the voters of Texas. So they did so,
11:42
Speaker 2: and the Texas Democrats in two thousand and three did
11:44
Speaker 2: exactly what the Texas Democrats did in twenty twenty five,
11:48
Speaker 2: which is they fled. They said, run away, run away,
11:51
Speaker 2: And so the House Democrats they went north to Ardmore,
11:54
Speaker 2: Oklahoma state, a little holiday inn just over over the
11:57
Speaker 2: Red River, and that the Senate Democrats they went to
12:02
Speaker 2: New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a fancy, a very
12:06
Speaker 2: fancy hotel. And I thought it was really funny that
12:10
Speaker 2: the senators, the Democrats senators were going to a shishi hotel,
12:13
Speaker 2: and that the House members were at a holiday inn
12:16
Speaker 2: in Oklahoma. But so one of the first things that
12:21
Speaker 2: happened is is that the Speaker of the House, Tom Cratick,
12:24
Speaker 2: a great guy, picks up the phone and he calls
12:27
Speaker 2: Greg Abbott, the brand new Attorney General, and he says, General,
12:32
Speaker 2: can I arrest the fleeing House Democrats? And Abbot said,
12:37
Speaker 2: I don't know. He said, let me let you let
12:39
Speaker 2: me figure it out. So Abbot picks up the phone.
12:41
Speaker 2: He calls me, I'm brand new in my job as SG.
12:44
Speaker 2: He goes ted. The Speaker wants to know can he
12:47
Speaker 2: arrest the fleeing Democrats who are fleeing the state. I said, General,
12:51
Speaker 2: I don't know, let me research it. I'll give you
12:53
Speaker 2: an answer. So I sat down, I did the legal research.
12:57
Speaker 2: It turns out the answer is unequivocally yes, and The
13:02
Speaker 2: reason is the Texas Constitution has a provision in it
13:06
Speaker 2: that is copied word for word from the United States Constitution,
13:10
Speaker 2: and the US Constitution has a provision that gives both
13:13
Speaker 2: Houses of Congress the power to forcibly compel the attendance
13:18
Speaker 2: of absent members so that members do not have the
13:20
Speaker 2: right to defy a quorum. And in fact, multiple times
13:26
Speaker 2: that has been used carrying House members or senators into
13:29
Speaker 2: the chambers in lake irons in handcuffs. And so I
13:34
Speaker 2: came back and said, the answer is unequivocally yes, you
13:37
Speaker 2: can arrest them. Now became a little bit complicated when
13:39
Speaker 2: they crossed state lines because crossing state lines, particularly going
13:43
Speaker 2: into states with Democrat administrations, it is possible that if
13:48
Speaker 2: Texas DPS troopers showed up there, that those states could
13:52
Speaker 2: try to prosecute the officers for kidnapping. That was a
13:57
Speaker 2: possibility if the governor or the local des decided to
14:00
Speaker 2: be belligerent, you could get into uncharted legal territory.
14:04
Speaker 4: And so the safe.
14:05
Speaker 1: Fanti is that why, by the way, Democrats have all
14:08
Speaker 1: picked these liberal cities like Illinois, where the governor says
14:11
Speaker 1: we're going to back you, We've got you come here,
14:13
Speaker 1: you'll be safe.
14:14
Speaker 3: We won't let them arrest you.
14:16
Speaker 5: Right.
14:16
Speaker 2: It is more complicated to do it in a liberal
14:20
Speaker 2: jurisdiction if you have someone who is partisan and politically motivated.
14:25
Speaker 2: What is unambiguously clear is that when the Texas Democrats
14:29
Speaker 2: are back in Texas, you can arrest them and you
14:32
Speaker 2: can forcibly produce their bodies on the floor to get
14:36
Speaker 2: a quorum. So this will end, they will lose, and
14:40
Speaker 2: the Texas Legislature will pass this redistrict.
14:44
Speaker 1: By the way, if you are arrested and taking to
14:45
Speaker 1: the four the way that you were described, I think
14:47
Speaker 1: a lot of people just want to know this around
14:49
Speaker 1: the country. You can be there like not wanting to
14:52
Speaker 1: be there. Right, they can drag your butt literally into
14:55
Speaker 1: the chamber and you're counted there as a human being
14:58
Speaker 1: that's a member of the legislature. And that's how you
15:00
Speaker 1: get to a quorum. It's not forcing you to vote, right,
15:03
Speaker 1: it's just that your present.
15:04
Speaker 2: Correct And it can be literally with handcuffs and leg irons.
15:08
Speaker 4: I mean it now.
15:10
Speaker 2: It's not being arrested for a crime. You're not going
15:13
Speaker 2: to jail. It is the authority to physically force your
15:18
Speaker 2: presence in the room because the reason they're fleeing is
15:22
Speaker 2: is the requirement that there be a quorum. The legislature
15:25
Speaker 2: cannot do business if they're not sufficient members there for
15:28
Speaker 2: a quorum. And that's why both the United States Constitution
15:32
Speaker 2: and the Texas Constitution give the authority to physically compel presence,
15:37
Speaker 2: because no individual member has a right to prevent the
15:40
Speaker 2: body from being able to legislate from being able to
15:43
Speaker 2: do it. Its fundamental constitutional responsibility.
15:47
Speaker 1: So they're back now, and this has actually brought up,
15:49
Speaker 1: I think a bigger issue and I want to take
15:52
Speaker 1: the time. I actually think this may be one of
15:54
Speaker 1: the biggest backfires in political modern history, in my opinion
15:58
Speaker 1: on an issue of jerryman A lot of people I
16:01
Speaker 1: don't think understood just how much abuse of power with
16:08
Speaker 1: Democrats in charge in different states with jerrymandering, and how
16:11
Speaker 1: many Conservatives were so underrepresented in Congress. A great example
16:16
Speaker 1: of that is California. There are several other states that
16:20
Speaker 1: have like zero representation of Conservatives of Republican members of
16:24
Speaker 1: Congress because the way they've drawn the district lines to
16:28
Speaker 1: make sure that it's almost all Democrats all the time.
16:31
Speaker 1: And a lot of people did not know how much
16:34
Speaker 1: abuse there was, how much jerry mannering was happening all
16:36
Speaker 1: over the country in Democratic states until the big Texas
16:40
Speaker 1: issue happened. I think this could be a backfire for Democrats.
16:43
Speaker 2: Look, just about every big Democrat state has gerrymandered the
16:49
Speaker 2: hell out of their map and is frustrating the will
16:52
Speaker 2: of their voters in their states. So let me give
16:54
Speaker 2: you some specific examples. California, biggest Democrats state in the country.
16:59
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty four, or fifty eight percent of Californians
17:01
Speaker 2: voted Democrat. Thirty eight percent voted Republicans. So fifty eight
17:05
Speaker 2: percent Democrat. They have a total of fifty two congressional seats.
17:11
Speaker 2: Of those fifty two, forty three of them are Democrat,
17:16
Speaker 2: nine are Republican. What does that mean. It means the
17:19
Speaker 2: Democrats win fifty eight percent of the vote in California
17:22
Speaker 2: and they get wait for it, eighty three percent of
17:26
Speaker 2: the congressional delegation.
17:28
Speaker 3: That's what they Democrat there.
17:30
Speaker 2: So the thirty eight percent of Californians that vote Republican
17:34
Speaker 2: get a total of seventeen percent of the congressional delegation.
17:37
Speaker 2: They're basically shut out. How about New York New York.
17:43
Speaker 2: Fifty six percent of New Yorkers vote Democrat, forty three
17:47
Speaker 2: percent vote Republican. There are twenty six congressional seats in
17:52
Speaker 2: New York. Nineteen of them are Democrats, seven are Republican.
17:55
Speaker 2: What does that mean. It means Democrats get fifty six
17:58
Speaker 2: percent of the vote statewide in New York. Can they
18:00
Speaker 2: get wait for it, seventy three percent of the statewide
18:05
Speaker 2: congressional delegation. How about Illinois? All right, Illinois is really
18:10
Speaker 2: egregious Illinois. Fifty four percent of people in Illinois vote Democrat.
18:16
Speaker 2: It's not that huge margin. Forty four percent, forty three,
18:22
Speaker 2: forty three percent vote Republican. There are seventeen congressional seats
18:28
Speaker 2: from Illinois, fourteen of them are Democrat, only three are Republicans.
18:34
Speaker 2: So here are the numbers. Democrats in Illinois get fifty
18:38
Speaker 2: four percent of the vote and they get eighty two
18:42
Speaker 2: percent of the congressional delegation.
18:45
Speaker 1: And so the governor, I'm sure, was like, come on down, Texas,
18:48
Speaker 1: we'll keep you safe.
18:49
Speaker 4: Here.
18:49
Speaker 3: We're experts in this, we know exactly what we're doing
18:51
Speaker 3: with this.
18:53
Speaker 2: And by the way, some of the smaller Democrat states
18:56
Speaker 2: are even more egregious. So, for example, Connecticut, Trump won
19:02
Speaker 2: forty two percent of Connecticut. You know how many Republican
19:05
Speaker 2: House members there are in Connecticut.
19:07
Speaker 3: I'm going to guess zero to one zero there there
19:10
Speaker 3: you go.
19:11
Speaker 2: Democrats have one hundred percent. New Mexico. Trump won forty
19:16
Speaker 2: six percent in New Mexico. You know how many Republicans
19:20
Speaker 2: are elected in New Mexico to Congress?
19:22
Speaker 3: Is it zero? Again?
19:24
Speaker 4: Zero? Wow? Three Democrats? Zero Republicans.
19:27
Speaker 1: But by the way, is that not the actual definition
19:30
Speaker 1: of Jerry mannering when you have forty seven percent or
19:32
Speaker 1: forty three percent going for a party and they get
19:34
Speaker 1: zero representation in Congress?
19:36
Speaker 3: Yep?
19:37
Speaker 2: Maryland, Maryland, Trump won thirty four percent of the vote
19:40
Speaker 2: in the state. And you know how many Republicans they
19:45
Speaker 2: have in their delegation.
19:47
Speaker 4: One one is the only one.
19:50
Speaker 3: There we go.
19:51
Speaker 2: And by the way, you know what their Democrat governor.
19:54
Speaker 3: Is saying, what Texas is terrible.
19:57
Speaker 2: If Texas does this, we'll get rid of the only
20:00
Speaker 2: Republican we elect, will take it to zero. We want
20:02
Speaker 2: it to be one hundred percent. New Jersey, New Jersey,
20:07
Speaker 2: Trump won six percent of New Jersey, their twelve congressional
20:12
Speaker 2: seats Republicans have three of them.
20:15
Speaker 3: Incredible Oregon.
20:17
Speaker 2: Trump won forty one percent of the vote in Oregon.
20:21
Speaker 2: Republicans have one out of the six seats. And here's
20:25
Speaker 2: the one I love. Massachusetts. Yeah, the People's Republican Massachusetts.
20:32
Speaker 2: Trump won thirty six percent of Massachusetts in twenty twenty four.
20:38
Speaker 2: They're nine congressional seats out of Massachusetts. How many Republicans
20:41
Speaker 2: do you think they elect. I'm gonna go with zero
20:44
Speaker 2: again zero goose egg. Understand that Massachusetts so agregious. They say,
20:49
Speaker 2: the thirty six percent of you Republicans in the state,
20:52
Speaker 2: you get nothing. Yeah, that is their answer, nothing whatsoever.
20:56
Speaker 2: And to give you a sense of just how ridiculous
20:59
Speaker 2: the Democrat politicians are, the Governor Mara Healey, a Democrat,
21:06
Speaker 2: threatened to redistrict in Massachusetts in retaliation for Texas. So
21:11
Speaker 2: right now Massachusetts elects nine Democrats and zero Republicans. After
21:15
Speaker 2: she redistricts, I guess they'll still elect nine Democrats and
21:19
Speaker 2: zero Republicans. They've literally maxed out their jerrymandering, and yet
21:26
Speaker 2: that they're still engaged in theater.
21:30
Speaker 3: So let me ask you this question.
21:31
Speaker 1: You hear these numbers, this is where I think Democrats
21:34
Speaker 1: screwed up nationwide when they were coming to the aid
21:37
Speaker 1: of the Democrats from Washington, I mean from Texas. They're like,
21:40
Speaker 1: you know, we're going to stand by you and will
21:42
Speaker 1: Jerry Jerry manner even more if they take away seats
21:46
Speaker 1: from you in Texas. YadA, YadA, YadA. Now people see this,
21:50
Speaker 1: we're talking about it. Everyone else to put a gold
21:53
Speaker 1: talking about it. There's a lot of Republicans are.
21:55
Speaker 3: Gonna be angry.
21:56
Speaker 1: How do you fight back if you're in a state
21:57
Speaker 1: where I don't know, thirty forty percent right of the
22:02
Speaker 1: more than forty percent some of these states are voting
22:04
Speaker 1: Republican and they're getting zero representation in Congress. What do
22:08
Speaker 1: you do now? Is there a legal way to say
22:10
Speaker 1: this is jerrymandery?
22:12
Speaker 2: Well, look, they are being shown to be complete hypocrites,
22:16
Speaker 2: and I want you, I want you now to listen
22:17
Speaker 2: to this clip from NBC where the governor of Illinois,
22:22
Speaker 2: Governor Pritzker, is called out on his uto hypocrisy. Give
22:27
Speaker 2: a listen.
22:28
Speaker 6: Every major group that grades the fairness of congressional maps
22:31
Speaker 6: gives your state an f Common Cause and nonpartisan government
22:36
Speaker 6: watchdog even says your map and I'm going to quote,
22:39
Speaker 6: represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go
22:42
Speaker 6: wrong with redistricting. And I guess the question is, you
22:45
Speaker 6: talk about preserving democracy, how do you preserve democracy if
22:48
Speaker 6: you're using the same tactics that you've criticized Texas Republicans for.
22:53
Speaker 7: But, as I say, what they're talking about is a distraction.
22:57
Speaker 7: The reality is that the violation of people's voting rights
23:01
Speaker 7: is what Texas is attempting to do. That's what's wrong
23:04
Speaker 7: with their efforts right now. And the fact that the
23:07
Speaker 7: President of the United States knows it and nevertheless is
23:11
Speaker 7: asking them to do it, that is what's wrong with
23:14
Speaker 7: what we're seeing right now.
23:15
Speaker 4: Democracy is at stake.
23:17
Speaker 3: I love it.
23:18
Speaker 1: They always go back to democracy is at stake center, Like.
23:21
Speaker 2: Don't sit the question, man, how do you know that
23:24
Speaker 2: a Democrat is lying?
23:25
Speaker 3: They start talking about democracy at.
23:27
Speaker 2: Stake, his lips are moving. Yeah, it's true, it's true.
23:31
Speaker 2: It is utterly brazen. So let's go back to the numbers,
23:36
Speaker 2: because the numbers matter. So Illinois, fifty four percent of
23:39
Speaker 2: people in Illinois vote Democrat, and yet their map right
23:43
Speaker 2: now elects eighty two percent of the congressional delegation is Democrat.
23:48
Speaker 4: Now Texas Texas.
23:50
Speaker 2: Right now today Texas, fifty six percent of the state
23:56
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four voted Republican. Our map, we have
24:00
Speaker 2: thirty eight seats in it, twenty four Republicans, fourteen Democrats.
24:05
Speaker 2: That means that right now in Texas, fifty four percent
24:09
Speaker 2: of the Republicans elect sixty three percent of the congressional delegation.
24:16
Speaker 2: So it's slightly more than the statewide percentage, but not
24:19
Speaker 2: nearly as egregious as the other states. Now, what Texas
24:23
Speaker 2: is doing is redrawing the districts so that five new
24:27
Speaker 2: Republicans are likely to be elected. So instead of breaking
24:30
Speaker 2: down twenty four to fourteen, it is likely to break.
24:33
Speaker 4: Down twenty nine to nine.
24:36
Speaker 2: That means that we would go from sixty three percent
24:40
Speaker 2: of the congressional delegation being Republican, we would go from
24:44
Speaker 2: that to seventy six percent. Now, seventy six percent is
24:48
Speaker 2: still lower than California, which is eighty three percent.
24:53
Speaker 4: It is lower.
24:56
Speaker 2: Than Illinois, which is eighty two percent, and it's obviously
25:01
Speaker 2: lower than Massachusetts, which is one hundred percent. And the irony,
25:06
Speaker 2: the loudest voices that are denouncing what Texas is doing.
25:11
Speaker 2: Are the governors of California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, three Democrat
25:15
Speaker 2: hipocrats that are all saying, you guys are drawing your
25:21
Speaker 2: maps not nearly as bad as we've drawn it, but
25:24
Speaker 2: how dare you get even close?
25:27
Speaker 1: And by the way, don't forget the New York governor
25:30
Speaker 1: Hochel got in on this as well. She was called
25:32
Speaker 1: out for it on Fox News Channel. Listen to this
25:35
Speaker 1: summrised it.
25:36
Speaker 5: They said it was only three years ago that New
25:38
Speaker 5: York's Democratic legislature drew up a map so brazenly contemptuous
25:42
Speaker 5: of basic rules the governor district's contiguousness, that the state's
25:46
Speaker 5: Democrat dominated Court of Appeals threw it out. The New
25:48
Speaker 5: York Times at the time called those maps comically contorted.
25:52
Speaker 5: That's their quote. So your state's highest court at the time,
25:55
Speaker 5: all the judges appointed by democratic governors, they threw the
25:59
Speaker 5: maps out. So fair to say Democrats have done what
26:02
Speaker 5: they're now accusing Republicans of doing.
26:04
Speaker 4: No, we followed the rules. We do it every ten years.
26:08
Speaker 5: We based on that you didn't follow the rules. Well,
26:10
Speaker 5: we did follow the rules, So the court was wrong,
26:13
Speaker 5: but we followed the rules.
26:15
Speaker 1: We follow the rooves you didn't the court said you did. No, no,
26:17
Speaker 1: we follow There was no no no, The court said
26:19
Speaker 1: you didn't follow the rules. That's how bad they were
26:22
Speaker 1: in New York on that, Senator.
26:24
Speaker 2: And understand, in New York, Democrats get fifty fifty six
26:28
Speaker 2: percent of the vote and they get seventy three percent
26:32
Speaker 2: of the congressional district. And but by the way, the
26:34
Speaker 2: way they do that in New York is is they
26:37
Speaker 2: break up Long Island, they break up Republican parts and
26:40
Speaker 2: try to try to elect Democrats that they are. The
26:43
Speaker 2: way they do it in California is they break up
26:44
Speaker 2: southern California, they break up Orange County, and they.
26:47
Speaker 4: Try to break up Republican votes.
26:49
Speaker 2: The way they do it in Chicago is they break
26:51
Speaker 2: up the more conservative votes that are outside of Chicago.
26:55
Speaker 2: All of that, that's the strategy the Democrats do. And
26:59
Speaker 2: and listen, the reason Texas is acting to do this
27:03
Speaker 2: is because it matters number one nationally, if we have
27:07
Speaker 2: a Republican majority in the House.
27:08
Speaker 4: We have a very slim majority right now.
27:10
Speaker 2: Electing five new Republicans will make a difference, will significantly
27:15
Speaker 2: increase the chances of keeping a Republican majority in the
27:21
Speaker 2: twenty twenty sixth election. But it also reflects the values
27:25
Speaker 2: of the voters of Texas.
27:27
Speaker 4: Texas is a red state.
27:28
Speaker 2: Texans want low taxes, we want low regulation, we want
27:32
Speaker 2: a secure border. We support law enforcement, we support keeping
27:35
Speaker 2: our families safe. We support the Constitution. We want free
27:39
Speaker 2: speech and religious liberty in the Second Amendment, Texans believe
27:43
Speaker 2: in fundamental liberty, fundamental values. And today's left wing, lunatic
27:50
Speaker 2: Democrat Party is directly contrary to the values of the
27:54
Speaker 2: people of Texas. And so what the legislature is doing
27:58
Speaker 2: is drawing a map that will elect a congressional delegation
28:02
Speaker 2: that reflects the values of the voters. That is not
28:05
Speaker 2: only not contrary to democracy, that is the essence of democracy,
28:10
Speaker 2: which is allowing the voters to actually elect representatives who
28:14
Speaker 2: share their values. And what the Democrats are mad about
28:20
Speaker 2: is that this map will allow the voters of Texas
28:22
Speaker 2: to elect representatives who share their values. In their view,
28:27
Speaker 2: any time you hear a Democrat use the words assault
28:30
Speaker 2: on democracy, what they really mean is electing Republicans. It's
28:36
Speaker 2: just about power. It's why these same hypocrites did everything
28:40
Speaker 2: they could to remove Donald Trump from the ballot. Ye
28:43
Speaker 2: because nothing says defending democracy like taking your opponent off
28:48
Speaker 2: the ballot and stopping the pesky voters from voting for him.
28:51
Speaker 2: They don't believe in democracy. They believe in power, raw power.
28:56
Speaker 2: So they're perfectly comfortable with Massachusetts having one hundred percent
28:59
Speaker 2: of its DEWN delegation being Democrats, but they're furious if
29:03
Speaker 2: a republican state actually tries to have its delegation reflect
29:06
Speaker 2: the views of its voters.
29:08
Speaker 4: That is the beauty of democracy.
29:11
Speaker 2: And if you think I'm being too harsh, if you
29:15
Speaker 2: think I'm being to too harsh and too judgmental of
29:19
Speaker 2: the Democrats, I want you to listen to my erstwhile opponent,
29:22
Speaker 2: Beto O'Rourke. Now, Beto, you recall ran against me in
29:26
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen for the Senate. He became a cause celeb
29:30
Speaker 2: all of the Democrats, all of the media, their hearts
29:32
Speaker 2: went pitter pat, and he was a phenom.
29:35
Speaker 4: And he came within a few points of beating to
29:37
Speaker 4: be lost.
29:39
Speaker 2: And then he ran for president as a Democrat and
29:41
Speaker 2: he lost, And they ran for governor against Greg ABBOTTNY lost.
29:45
Speaker 2: So at this point he's zero for three and he's
29:48
Speaker 2: kind of pissed off about it, and so when he's
29:50
Speaker 2: pissed off about it, he's really honest and candid.
29:54
Speaker 4: Give a listen to what Beto had to say.
29:55
Speaker 8: They're not going to let him stop us.
29:57
Speaker 3: Are you with me on that handle.
30:02
Speaker 8: It also means, as Mark was saying earlier, we don't
30:07
Speaker 8: await the punch thrown by these would be fascist to land.
30:12
Speaker 8: We punch first, and we punch harder. We want California
30:16
Speaker 8: and New Jersey and Illinois and Maryland and every other
30:19
Speaker 8: state where the Democrats hold the governor's mansion, the Assembly,
30:23
Speaker 8: and the state Senate to redraw their congressional districts now,
30:27
Speaker 8: not wait for Texas to move first to maximize Democratic
30:31
Speaker 8: Party advantage. Listen, you may say to yourself, well, those
30:35
Speaker 8: aren't the rules. There are no refs in this game
30:38
Speaker 8: for the rules. We are gonna win whatever it takes.
30:41
Speaker 8: We're gonna take this to them in every way that
30:43
Speaker 8: we can.
30:45
Speaker 1: Now, you got a lot better there, family values guy, right,
30:48
Speaker 1: That's why I say he's such a just dynamic candidate.
30:51
Speaker 2: But look, he is honest. This is today's Democrat party.
30:55
Speaker 2: It is about power. Nothing else matters. Democracy doesn't matter,
31:00
Speaker 2: or the will of the voters, doesn't matter. It is
31:02
Speaker 2: they're imposing their radical left wing values. And the reason
31:06
Speaker 2: they have to be so obsessed with power is their
31:08
Speaker 2: ideas are unpopular. If you put a referendum in front
31:11
Speaker 2: of the American people, you want open borders, overwhelming majority
31:15
Speaker 2: of Americans say no, No, we don't. You put a
31:18
Speaker 2: referendument in front of the American people. Hey do you
31:20
Speaker 2: want to release murderers and rapists and child molesters? American
31:23
Speaker 2: people say no. Hey do you want to confiscate everyone's guns?
31:26
Speaker 2: The American people say no. Hey do you want boys
31:30
Speaker 2: competing in girls' sports? The American people say no. And so,
31:32
Speaker 2: if you're a party whose entire platform is wildly unpopular,
31:38
Speaker 2: is on the twenty side of eighty twenty issue after
31:41
Speaker 2: eighty twenty issue, after eighty twenty issue, the only way
31:44
Speaker 2: you can implement your crazy ideology is through brute force
31:49
Speaker 2: and power. And Beto, I'll commend him for being honest.
31:52
Speaker 2: He's just interested, ironically, in being a fascist, in being
31:57
Speaker 2: a ttalitarian the language he uses. He doesn't want the
32:01
Speaker 2: voters to have a say. He wants to force his
32:04
Speaker 2: radical policies on them. That's what the Democrats are revealing
32:07
Speaker 2: to the whole country.
32:08
Speaker 1: Just put in perspective, Democratic favorability is the lowest in
32:12
Speaker 1: history of CNN polling.
32:14
Speaker 3: What is your view of the Democratic Party?
32:16
Speaker 1: Only twenty eight percent of Americans say that they have
32:20
Speaker 1: a favorable opinion the Democratic part now fifty four percent
32:25
Speaker 1: unfavorable of the Democratic Party. Only sixteen percent of Americans
32:29
Speaker 1: have no opinion. That is the lowest in history of
32:32
Speaker 1: CNN polling that came out today.
32:34
Speaker 2: To put it in perspective, the Democrats are polling six
32:37
Speaker 2: points above gonorrhea and nine points above ebola. So that's
32:44
Speaker 2: where their radical policies have taken them. And by the way,
32:46
Speaker 2: for the fact checkers, I made those numbers up. I
32:49
Speaker 2: don't actually know where either of those diseases poll.
32:52
Speaker 1: I like it, don't forget. We do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
32:55
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33:02
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Speaker 1: a couple of days.