Battle lines drawn in major Texas Senate Race; Inside the room when Trump decided to bomb Iran

Summary

Podcast Summary: 10 Minute Drill

Host: Matt Whitlock
Episode: Battle lines drawn in major Texas Senate Race; Inside the room when Trump decided to bomb Iran
Date: March 5, 2026

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Overview

This episode offers a brisk yet incisive rundown of key political developments, focusing primarily on the high-stakes Texas Senate race, behind-the-scenes intelligence regarding Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, and heated moments from Capitol Hill involving Minnesota’s COVID aid fraud scandal. Host Matt Whitlock adds sharp commentary and levity throughout, wrapping up with a lightning round of notable soundbites from Texas's new Democrat Senate nominee James Tallarico. The tone is fast-paced, irreverent, and loaded with insider political context.

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Key Segments and Insights

1. Texas Senate Race Shakes Up (00:37–05:25)

• Democratic Primary: Jasmine Crockett’s defeat is detailed with a medley of her controversial and colorful moments.

  • Host lampoons Crockett's style and reactions, highlighting her Kendrick Lamar-inspired rhetoric and swift turn to election interference claims.
  • Notable exchange:
    • Jasmine Crockett (impersonated/quoted): “So long as they know that they can win, even if it means cheating, then they will continue to do it. Unfortunately, this is what Republicans like to do.” (01:44)
  • Whitlock quips: “She is, in fact, not like us in that we are currently still employed.” (01:27)
  • Crockett's loss by over 100,000 votes is noted as a stark contrast to initial Republican-driven polling and expectations.

• Nominee: James Tallarico emerges as the Democrat candidate, teased for his “far left buzzword bingo” (see below).

• Republican Primary:

  • John Cornyn and Ken Paxton head to a runoff, with Donald Trump signaling an imminent endorsement (reading from Trump’s Truth Social post at 02:38).
  • Whitlock predicts Trump will endorse Cornyn, citing:
    • Cornyn’s overperformance vs polling
    • Paxton’s vulnerabilities that “Democrats would heavily use against him, forcing Republicans to spend a lot of money in the state they would much rather spend in states like Georgia, Michigan and others...” (03:32)
    • The need to “take that state off the map from Democrats completely” (04:02) by rallying the GOP.

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2. Inside Trump’s Decision to Bomb Iran (05:25–06:56)

• ** Axios Reporting:** The episode highlights an Axios story on Trump’s private call with Netanyahu spurring the Iran strike.
  • Netanyahu alerted Trump that “Iran's supreme leader and his top advisors were all set to meet at one location...” (05:48)
  • The administration debated building a public case for the strike versus seizing the rare opportunity to target Iran’s top leadership in one blow.
  • Whitlock summarizes the decision: “Do they miss that opportunity, take that month to build up the case, but then have a much more difficult time... Or do they strike while the opportunity is there... And they chose the second.” (06:20)

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3. Capitol Grilling Over Minnesota’s Somali Fraud Scandal (06:56–08:10)

• Tim Waltz and Keith Ellison Face the House: Heated questioning about the massive COVID aid fraud, particularly involving Feeding Our Future.
  • Key soundbites from the confrontation:
    • Tim Waltz: “Do you think it's racist or Islamophobic to highlight and try to stop fraud? It is not.” (06:11)
    • Keith Ellison: “Why didn't you tell the truth about why you restarted the payments?” (06:22)
    • Allegations focus on Ellison promising fraudsters support, per an audio recording:
      • Waltz: “You told them that, quote, ‘of course I’m here to help.’” (06:56)
  • Host underscores the lasting impact of the scandal and JD Vance’s prominence in anti-fraud efforts.

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4. Energy, Lawsuits, and Louisiana’s Legal Gambit (08:10–09:23)

• Democrat Blame-Shift Over Energy Costs: Whitlock rejects the narrative that Trump’s Iran strike is responsible for energy prices, blaming Democratic policy and climate lawsuits instead.
• Louisiana Bill:
  • Louisiana Rep. Brett Gaiman introduces legislation to shield the oil industry from state-level climate lawsuits, instead preempting them with federal law.
  • Host emphasizes the national security implications of energy litigation and the left’s links to foreign influence:
    • “Many of which are funded and led by, by China and the Chinese Communist Party.” (09:04)

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5. Gavin Newsom Runs Into Trouble on Book Tour (09:23–10:00)

• Tough Interview with Mark Halperin:
  • Halperin challenges Newsom directly:
    • “I think because so many people dislike you, it’s just true. Maybe the book will take the edge off of that.” (09:34)
    • “Because you’re gonna get scrutiny for stuff you’ve never gotten scrutiny before.” (09:38)
    • “I just think my gut says you’re not gonna run in the end.” (09:45)
  • Host notes Newsom’s scandalous personal history and weak political record, predicting further scrutiny.

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6. Far Left Buzzword Bingo: James Tallarico’s Greatest Hits (11:00–12:03)

• Whitlock spotlights some of Tallarico’s most controversial and meme-worthy statements, capturing the host’s irreverent tone:
  • James Tallarico:
    • “Modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.” (11:00)
    • “Before God comes over Mary and we have the incarnation, God asks for Mary’s consent.” (11:24)
    • “God is non binary.” (implied/presented by the host following previous quote)
    • “Our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front.” (11:48)
    • “Our trans community needs abortion care, too.” (11:58)
  • Whitlock quips: “Nobody knows what that means. You could sit down with the furthest left person you know and they will say that is crazy. And that is just the beginning. The ads write themselves.” (12:03)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “She is, in fact, not like us in that we are currently still employed.” — Host, Matt Whitlock (01:27)
• Trump’s ultimatum for Texas Senate GOP: “I will be making my endorsement soon and will be asking the candidate I don't endorse to immediately drop out of the race." — read by Host (02:38)
• On Trump’s Iran strike dilemma: “They chose... to take all these people out at once and simplify the attack...” — Host (06:20)
• Tim Waltz: “Do you think it's racist or Islamophobic to highlight and try to stop fraud? It is not.” (06:11)
• Mark Halperin to Newsom: “Maybe the book will take the edge off... because so many people dislike you, it’s just true.” (09:34)
• James Tallarico: “Modern science obviously recognizes... there are six [biological sexes].” (11:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Texas Senate Race: 00:37–05:25
• Trump’s Iran Decision: 05:25–06:56
• Minnesota Fraud Scandal: 06:56–08:10
• Energy and Lawsuits: 08:10–09:23
• Newsom's Book Tour Grilled: 09:23–10:00
• Tallarico Soundbites/Buzzword Bingo: 11:00–12:03

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Style & Tone

The episode delivers hard political news with a mix of biting wit, policy analysis, and rapid-fire highlight reels—typical of Matt Whitlock's fast, fun, and light approach. The summary preserves this irreverent edge, offering newcomers a clear picture of both the political landscape and the podcast’s punchy, insider flavor.

Transcript

[Host]

Recapping Tuesday night's major primaries across the country, including particularly in Texas. Tim Waltz and Keith Ellison are on Capitol Hill getting grilled. We've got some of the best highlights from that. And once again, Gavin Newsom takes a little punch in the jaw. All of that and so much more today on 10 Minute Drill.

[Commentator 1]

Everybody get up. Get up.

[Commentator 2]

The story of America is the story of an adventure.

[Commentator 3]

I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.

[Host]

On Tuesday night, there were a series of major primaries across the country, but the ones that perhaps got the most attention are related to the Texas Senate race. First, on the Democrat side, we pour one out for our dearly beloved Jasmine Crockett. I don't have anything in here, but we're gonna pour one out for her. Here are some of her greatest hits.

[Commentator 2]

About this new one.

[Host]

They have their new star, Crockett. How about her?

[Commentator 2]

She's the new star of the Democrat Party. Jasmine. Cut. They're in big trouble.

[Commentator 3]

But you have this woman, Crockett. She's a very low IQ person that,

[Commentator 1]

as Kendrick Lamar says, they are not like us. He is not like us. You not. We done picking cotton that it's not just the libtards.

[Host]

My favorite of those was, of course, Jasmine Crockett's famous rendition of Kendrick Lamar's They Not Like Us, which is true for Jasmine because she is, in fact, not like us in that we are currently still employed. But she wasted no time in calling out election interference.

[Commentator 1]

So long as they know that they can win, even if it means cheating, then they will continue to do it. Unfortunately, this is what Republicans like to do.

[Host]

I'll note there, as she said, that if Republicans were actually trying to rig this at all, it would have been to help Jasmine Crockett winning. You might remember that the main reason that she got in this race was Republicans baited her into it by releasing polling showing that she would be competitive. The fact that she lost by over 100,000 votes shows that that didn't really bear out. But I think that's more her fault than the polling's fault. But that leaves James Tallarico as the Democrat nominee. We're gonna get to him at the end of this program because I believe that if Republicans created a perfect Democrat candidate saying nonsensical things to run against, it would look a lot like James Talarico. But on the Republican side, we are moving to a runoff where incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn will face Ken Paxton, the current attorney General of Texas. There is a lot going on in that race and it's moving very quickly. Yesterday, President Trump posted this on Truth Social. The Republican primary race for the United States Senate and the great state of Texas, a state I love and won three times in record numbers, cannot for the good of the party and for our country itself be allowed to go on any longer. I will be making my endorsement soon and will be asking the candidate I don't endorse to immediately drop out of the race. Is that fair? We must win in November. Thank you for attention to this matter. President Donald J. Trump My prediction is that an endorsement for John Cornyn is coming and there's a few reasons why. One, John Cornyn over performed the polls. A lot of polling throughout this race had showed Ken Paxton far ahead. In the end, it was actually a very close race. The second piece of this is while there are a lot of things Ken Paxton did for the conservative movement, he was the face of a lot of really important lawsuits and litigation. He's done very valuable things to move the ball forward. He has very unique vulnerabilities that Democrats would heavily use against him, forcing Republicans to end up spending a lot of money in the state they would much rather spend in states like Georgia, Michigan and others where they have a chance to actually go on offense. I believe President Trump's advisors are telling him the smartest path for for Republicans to take that state off the map from Democrats completely is to endorse John Cornyn and move forward with a unified ticket. On Iran. One of the most valuable sources on what's led up to this point has been reporting from Axios, and they have a new story yesterday highlighting a call between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that set all of this rolling with some incredibly unique, valuable color exclusive. The Trump Netanyahu call that Changed the Middle East Last Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called President Trump with a stunning tip. Iran's supreme leader and his top advisors were all set to meet at one location in Tehran on Saturday morning. What's valuable about this piece is President Trump and the Israeli team had been talking for months now about Iran and about the potential of taking out their leadership after seeing so much bad behavior, the consistent threats, and of course, the 47 years of violent attacks from Iran against American troops, American personnel, and of course, Israel. So this discussion had been going on for a long time. But there were essentially two tracks to this that this Axios piece details. The first being President Trump and his team planning out the long case they would like to make to the American people for this strike. They would like to have been able to spend a lot of time making the case that this is necessary and needed the case that they're making now. The problem is they were presented with the opportunity of having the Ayatollah and his top leadership team in the same room at the same time with the opportunity to take everybody out all at once. So the value proposition there, what they had to consider was do they miss that opportunity, take that month to build up the case, but then have a much more difficult time individually targeting each of these leadership members? Or do they strike while the opportunity is there to take all these people out at once and simplify the attack that is needed? And they chose the second. Now they are making that case. But I think this Axios intelligence or Axios reporting is incredibly valuable in helping us understand how President Trump got to this decision. Despite all the other crazy things going on in the media. The story of the Minnesota Somali fraud scandal, the $9 billion plus taken from American taxpayers, has not fallen off the radar. House Republicans hosted Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, and there were a lot of fireworks. First we look at Tim Waltz.

[Tim Waltz]

Do you think it's racist or Islamophobic to highlight and try to stop fraud? It is not. And I certainly it's not. But that was the message your administration was sending to multiple whistleblowers.

[Keith Ellison]

Why didn't you tell the truth about why you restarted the payments?

[Tim Waltz]

Well, Chairman, we did tell you and Feeding Our Future grew because of the pandemic and asked that question.

[Keith Ellison]

I said, why didn't you tell the truth about why you restarted the payments?

[Host]

And a key point that Republicans in this committee wanted to focus on with Keith Ellison was his role in this massive fraud scheme. The meeting that was recorded of him telling fraudsters that he was going to support their efforts both by ensuring that government money was flowing into their fraud scheme, but also that the investigations into them were shut down.

[Tim Waltz]

There's a 54 minute audio tape of your meeting with these criminals in December of 2021. And during your meeting, they complained to you about increased scrutiny of their nonprofits and you told them that, quote, of course I'm here to help, end quote.

[Host]

Just an important reminder that this really hasn't fallen off the map. One key part of President Trump's State of the Union was the role JD Vance is going to play in fighting fraud around the country and helping root it out. Make an example of these things and make sure. That our tax dollars are much better spent. And if there are criminals out there like Keith Ellison, they are held accountable. One thing we talked about yesterday was Gavin Newsom and Democrats trying to find an opportunity to blame shift the energy costs that American people have been feeling to Republicans because of President Trump's decision to bomb Iran. It's absurd because as we know, Democrats have used every bit of power they've had in the last several years to drive up energy costs, to force people into electric vehicles, using wind and solar and all sorts of green boondoggles. But one way that Democrats have done this, Democrats have attacked energy to try and raise up costs, is through lawsuits. We've talked about that extensively here on 10 Minute Drill, where states and cities have tried to sue energy companies for bad weather events saying that they caused climate change. Well, a lawmaker in Louisiana has a novel idea to try and take that play from the left off the board. Louisiana Republican seeks to shield oil industry from climate lawsuits. Louisiana Representative Brett Gaiman has filed a bill that would limit liability for emissions of greenhouse gases and protect energy producers and related industries. Any state level legal claims related to greenhouse gas emissions, the proposed legislation said, would be preempted by federal law. One major reason for this is when these activist groups have the ability to essentially shut down major energy companies. There are massive national security concerns because of our reliance on energy to function and how it impacts relationships with other countries around the world. So there's a lot of reasons for taking this particular card away from the activist groups, many of which are funded and led by, by China and the Chinese Communist Party. Out of play. Checking back in on Gavin Newsom's book tour, a lot of the media hits that he's had have been very sort of softball. We love you. You have great hair, you're so handsome. But he ran into a bit of a buzzsaw with my friend Mark Halpert.

[Mark Halperin]

I say all the time, I don't think you're gonna run. I think you may get in and then get out. But I think because so many people dislike you, it's just true. Maybe the book will take the edge off of that.

[Host]

Yikes. That is brutally honest. But it doesn't stop there because.

[Mark Halperin]

Because you're gonna get scrutiny for stuff you've never gotten scrutiny before. That's what happens if you run it on.

[Tim Waltz]

Bring it on.

[Mark Halperin]

I just. I just. I just think my gut says you're not gonna run in the end.

[Host]

The irony with Gavin Newsom is the scrutiny that he's going to face for things. It covers the nasty, scandalous things like breaking up his best friend's marriage by having an affair with his wife. It covers all sorts of sticky personal things, but it also covers Gavin Newsom's own record is one of the most politically toxic things we've seen in politics in recent decades. And Mark Halperin gets that. So as this book tour continues, look to see who is holding him a little bit accountable and pressing him up for things and who's out there just to have a nice time with Gav bro, you can't make it Up SEGMENT today. We began this program telling you about the Texas primaries and the fact that Democrats have selected James Tallarico to be their nominee. I had previously described him as sort of your creepy youth pastor you didn't invite to the barbecue, the sort of Pete Buttigieg of Beto o', Rourkes, a guy who Democrats in the media might love but can't really pick it up on the ground. And part of the reason that I believe Republicans are going to have a fun time in this campaign is this dude has said a lot of very crazy things. We bring you today Far left Buzzword bingo with James Tallarico. First, this.

[James Tallarico]

Modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.

[Host]

Now first, consider that Tallarico's wearing a mask there and he's talking about six biological sexes. That, my friends, is hot button. But one thing that Tallarico does that Pete Buttigieg often does is uses the Bible to attack conservative ideas like this.

[James Tallarico]

But I say all this in terms of in context of abortion because before God comes over Mary and we have the incarnation, God asks for Mary's consent.

[Host]

But to take it one step further, he also said this, God is non binary, but it's not just quirky, manipulating religious themes. He also said this about immigration.

[James Tallarico]

Our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front.

[Host]

But my favorite of all, the one that really wraps up the bingo game, is this.

[James Tallarico]

Before we go further, I want to acknowledge that our trans community needs abortion care, too.

[Host]

Our trans community needs abortion care. Nobody knows what that means. You could sit down with the furthest left person that you know and they will say that is crazy. And that is just the beginning. The ads write themselves. We can't wait to see it. That is all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us on 10 Minute Drill. Please like subscribe. Subscribe Leave a review thank you for joining us. All week long Have a great day.