Senator Bill Hagerty (2:13)

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Steve Hilton (2:14)

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Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (2:15)

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Senator Bill Hagerty (2:19)

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Buck Sexton (2:33)

Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast.

Clay Travis (2:38)

Welcome in everybody. Third hour of Clay and Buck gets going right now and we are joined by Senator Haggerty. Mr. Senator, appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much for making the time.

Senator Bill Hagerty (2:50)

Thank you, Buck. It's always great to be with you, Clay. Good to see you both.

Clay Travis (2:54)

All right, so it would be great if you could walk us through a little bit here of what exactly is going on with, with the fcc, with Verizon. Verizon's got a probe about, well, your phone records. Take us through this. Because I don't think a lot of people know the backstory and it's important stuff. But we need to educate ourselves here, including us here on the show, about exactly what you're facing here. So take us through this.

Senator Bill Hagerty (3:22)

Certainly, Buck. Well, if you go back to 2023, this is when the Biden administration weaponized every aspect of the government to try to block Donald Trump, to try to destroy his candidacy for president, to go after their political opponents. And it wasn't just President Trump, it was also his allies. So no surprise, within days of President Trump announcing that he is running for president in the 2024 race, the Biden administration brings in Jack Smith, initiating this program called Arctic Frost, where initially they go to Mar a Lago, the document search that they undertook there, that invasive process made for TV again, trying to smear President Trump, trying to hurt him. And just days after that, Jack Smith's team requested the phone records for myself and several other US Senators, again, allies of President Trump, all of us Republicans. That's one thing that we had in common. But they went after our phone records again in an attempt to, I presume, go after President Trump's allies, go after President Trump's friends. They requested records for a number of days that were surrounding the January 6th incident back in 2021. Again, Jack Smith is looking for anything that he can do to discredit President Trump or his allies. I presume the sad part is the Senate's process is constitutionally protected. We are not supposed to be invaded in this manner. And if we are, we're supposed to be informed of it. What happened was Verizon willfully, gladly handed over my phone records, even more information than was requested. And if you think about that, why would they have done this? As I dug into it further, I find out that Verizon's chief legal officer is a former staffer for one Henry Waxman, one of the most partisan Democrats from California to ever serve in the halls of the U.S. congress. You've got this activist operating there in the halls of corporate America more than willing to cooperate and collaborate with the Biden administration to try to harm Republicans and to try to harm President Trump, to coalesce around this strategy they called Arctic Frost, to try to take down President Trump and to see Verizon step up and do this and to see the again, law enforcement weaponized in the way that it has been absolutely terrible. I'm doing this. So Verizon never does this to the American public. But if you think about it, if they would do this to a sitting senator, if Verizon would hand over our phone records without telling us, violate our due process, violate the Constitution institution, not put up any resistance because they have a political objective, I presume if they're willing to do that to me, what would they do to the rest of their customers? And I have been a Verizon customer for decades. And for them to do this to me, I think was just outrageous. But it would be even more so if they begin doing this broadly to the general public. Then we find out Jack Smith just continues to pursue this sort of thing. And if corporations like Verizon decide to align with partisan actors like this, I think it's terrible for America. So I hope that the FCC will take this very seriously. Verizon certainly did not take it seriously. When I reached out to the CEO and the chief legal officer, I pretty much got ignored. They had some low level person respond to me. They didn't even respond to me directly after multiple attempts to communicate with them. So now we'll see if the FCC has better results again dealing with partisan operatives in these large corporations. I don't think America needs this type of collaboration, this cooperation aimed at Republicans, aimed at taking us down. It doesn't stand in America. It's not going to stand. And I hope the American public will feel better after the SEC has had an opportunity to dig into this.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (7:01)

We'll appreciate Senator Hagerty joining us breaking down all of this information. He will be on the ballot in November. In my home state of Tennessee, he has my support. You've done a great job, Senator. I know you'll be campaigning and spend a lot of time on the road this fall. Let me ask you this. You're talking about the FCC and the importance of just trying to have evenhanded treatment. There's been a lot of discussion about the power of these big media companies, whether it's Verizon, whether it's Netflix. What do you think about this Netflix, Warner Brothers potential merger? How much attention have you paid to it? I know Netflix's CEO was on the Hill, I think last week, answering a lot of questions. Warner Brothers is trying to, to sell itself. Netflix is bidding, Paramount's bidding. For all of us out there that are in the media ecosystem, which is pretty much everybody, how concerned should we be about the streaming era and the amount of power that some of these companies are coming to, to, to, to garner?

Senator Bill Hagerty (8:06)

Well, I'm, I'm not going to try to get ahead of the determination, Clay. You're, you're, you're a great attorney. You understand all of this. But I would say America ought to be quite consistent. If you look at the consolidation of power here, if you look how the mainstream media has abused its position, how it's abused its authorities, how they cover, you know, things on a very one sided basis. I think we ought to be asking some very serious questions here about the degree and the extent of control that might be, that might be the result of this type of merger. I'm certain that there will be a very thorough questioning that takes place and I look forward to the results of that. But again, I'm not going to try to jump ahead and prejudge the conclusion, except to say I think that concerns are very, well, very warranted.

Clay Travis (8:46)

How do you think we're looking, Senator Hagerty, in the Senate going into this midterm election? You know, this has to do with more your possible future colleagues and which side will control the Senate more than something that is going to be phasing you. But do you have some sense as to what you think it's looking like? I'm sure it's going to matter a whole lot for the second half of.

Senator Bill Hagerty (9:09)

The Trump administration, certainly. Buck. Well, I think first and foremost with respect to my own race, I'm taking this very seriously. Running hard. I'll be all over the state, as Clay said, and I'm garnering support. I feel like the people of Tennessee are supportive of me. I'm just going to make certain we have a strong, solid turnout at home. That way I can be more effective helping my colleagues around the country. And I'm optimistic, optimistic about what we see around the country. We've got open seats that I Think could be great. Possible pickups for us. Think about Michigan. Mike Rogers, a great candidate. He came extremely close in the last election two years ago. I'm pleased that he stepped up again. But again it was just several thousand votes that he lost by last time I was with Mike this weekend. He is on message, ready to go. And I think the people of Michigan will see in Mike a real leader. Somebody that's got great experience and someone that would be a great addition to the United States. Senator, if you look at other states like that, we want to maintain, I think Maine, North Carolina, these are always closed states. But Susan Collins is a terrific campaigner. We will be putting effort and support behind making certain that Susan maintains that seat in Maine. There's another opportunity in the Northeast and that's New Hampshire. We see a real opportunity there with Senator Shaheen retiring. New Hampshire, a very independent state. If you look at the rules there in New Hampshire, they have historically allowed what they call same day registration of voting. This is what's used on campus. I was there campaigning for General Bulldock back in 2022, who ran and lost the same day I was there campaigning. Elizabeth Warren was over on the campus at the University of New Hampshire rousing up her students. Her probably kids from Massachusetts, showing them where to go to get the bus. They're going to take them down to the polling station. All they have to do is show their student id. They can register and vote that moment. This type of thing happened when Kelly Ayotte lost her seat. 30,000 of those same day ballots were cast mainly by students and Kelly loses by 1200 votes. Those rules are being tightened up right now. I think we've got a great candidate. We have great candidate possibilities there. John Sunudu just came into the race. His name is well known. I think we're going to have a real opportunity to pick up New Hampshire. You look at Georgia, Jon Ossoff, again, hard for me to believe that Jon Ossoff could be in a strong position in Georgia given the nature of that state. I do not believe that Georgia is a blue state. Ossoff has voted along every liberal line since he's been in the United States Senate. So there's a possibility there. We've got a three way primary going on in Georgia right now. We need to see how that evolves. But as soon as that primary is behind us, I think we've got another opportunity. Opportunity in Georgia. We need to make certain that we maintain North Carolina, that is a notoriously purple state. Thom Tillis is retiring. Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate, I think will be very strong. Michael was the chairman of the rnc, the Republican National Committee. He understands campaigning, understands the mechanics of this very well. And he's going to be a very good candidate, strong candidate. So I'm optimistic about what will happen there in Iowa. We're watching that race closely. Joni Ernst is retiring. It's a state that I think we can carry. I think we'll be in good stead. But again, we can't take anything for granted. They say if you're not running unopposed, you should be running scared. And I think what we're going to be doing is running hard at every step.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (12:32)

Senator Bill Haggerty with us. One big topic of conversation that many people on our show have been calling in and reacting to is voter ID and requiring it Nationwide. It's overwhelmingly popular. White, black, Asian, Hispanic, everybody's in favor of it. I saw one of your colleagues on the Democrat side, John Fetterman, come out in favor of it. I imagine the Republican core is all in favor of it. A lot of people just think it's crazy that there would not be a voter ID required to cast a ballot. What's going to happen there and are you optimistic in terms of anything being able to happen? We know the filibuster is a major challenge.

Senator Bill Hagerty (13:12)

Well, it shouldn't be a challenge, Clay. If you think about it, this is, this is a popular with more than 80% of the public here in America, more than 70% of Democrats agree that there should be voter ID presented because only citizens should be voting. And you should be able to demonstrate that you are an American citizen to be able to exercise that right. Sadly, the Democrats are not even listening to their own base. This is all about power for them. They want to have the rules as loose as possible. If you saw what they tried back in 2021 with HR1S1, that major piece of legislation, the number one piece of legislation that they had was again to loosen all the voting rolls, to do away with voter ID, to register 16 year olds to vote, to give the vote to felons in violation of the 14th amendment, to force US taxpayers to pay 6x what their small dollar contributions would be, to help fund campaigns and actually allow their candidates to get a paycheck from these funds. That is where the Democrats want to go with this. What we would like to see is Republicans is, is just a solid fundamental baseline. And that is you have to be a citizen to vote. That doesn't mean that states can't set the time the place, the method for voting that's provided for in the Constitution. But you should be a US Citizen, and that's something I've worked on with other legislation. Every Democrat has opposed me when I've tried to force the United States Senate census to count citizens and to only allow citizens to be utilized for the apportionment of congressional districts and electoral votes. The Democrats, all against it.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (14:40)

Yeah, I want to hit that really quick here, and I appreciate you coming on. We're talking to Senator Bill Hagerty, who is running for reelection, state of Tennessee. He's got my vote. He's done a fantastic job. You and I were texting about this. Verizon may know about those texts, by the way, since they've been been hacking your phone. But the fact that we are counting illegal immigrants for purposes of House districts and also for the apportionment of electoral votes as a result, as you just laid out, is, I think, one of the great flaws of the way that our country is set up right now and so few people still understand it. Are you optimistic the Supreme Court is going to eventually take this up? What, in your mind, should happen there?

Senator Bill Hagerty (15:23)

I certainly hope so, Clay, because I can't imagine the Founding Fathers wanted people that, you know are visiting this country to be able to affect the allocation of congressional districts here and therefore the allocation of electoral votes to count illegal aliens. As happens, you think about California, with millions of illegal aliens resident there. Those illegal aliens are being counted. California, therefore, has disproportionate power, if you will. And every one of those aliens, they don't even have to vote, but they're shifting representation, more congressional districts to that state at the expense of states like our own in Tennessee. Tennessee was very close on the cusp of getting another congressional seat. We didn't get one. What happens as these states set up electoral. As they set up sanctuary cities, as they set up sanctuary states? Why are they doing this? The incentive is because they want these people to be counted. They want these people to come to their states to backfill the departure of actual citizens. Think no further than how many people have left California to come to Tennessee, to Texas, to Florida, New Jersey, New York. These are all sanctuary states. Illinois, where are the sanctuary cities located? In New York City and Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles. They are backfilling with illegal aliens in order to maintain their congressional power and to retain the electoral votes that they have. Those. Those. Those votes should be moving to states that are growing like ours in Tennessee.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (16:41)

Amen. We're being disenfranchised of a congressional seat based on these illegal immigrants being caught counted in Tennessee. It's having a real impact where you and I live. Thank you Senator, appreciate all the time and we will talk to you again soon.

Senator Bill Hagerty (16:55)

Wonderful to be with Oak. Thank you.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (16:57)

That's Senator Bill Hagerty of the great state of Tennessee and that's a real tangible impact when you talk about, hey, we lost a congressional seat because they are counting. Would have been a red seat here in Tennessee because they're counting illegal immigrants. Look, Price picks available in all 50 states. California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, wherever you are, all 50 states. You can play along and you use my name. Clay, get 50 bucks deposited in your account. We'll have some picks for you for March Madness coming up. A lot of fun there. Download the Price Picks app today if you haven't already. A lot of you played along with us during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately we didn't have a great performance by Jackson Smith in Jigba and as a result we did not hit our number. If Sam Darnold hadn't missed an early touchdown throw, for those of you who remember in the first quarter he had a chance to hit about an 85 yard touchdown, boom, we would have been over on the number. Instead we took the L. But the Seahawks still won and you can take the dub and get signed up for prize picks today in all 50 states. Trust me, it's easy to use. You just pick more or less two or more players. You will love it. Prizepix.com Code Clay for $50 in deposits in your account. That's prizepix.com Code clay.

Clay Travis (18:20)

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Buck Sexton (19:13)

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Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (21:20)

Thanks to Senator Bill Hagerty who just joined us. Steve Hilton's going to join us at the bottom of the hour. There are a bunch of stories out there relating to the Nancy Guthrie case. We updated you at the end of the hour, but in case you have not seen it, video has been released of the alleged case kidnapper. They are asking for everybody's help on that. The videos are up at Clay and Buck, I believe, at Buck Sexton, at Clay Travis. We have retweeted them. They've been shared by Cash Patel, in case you're wondering, as I was, how did they manage to get these videos when the it was destroyed, Evidently they were able to go back into, and I'm not a tech expert certainly on how these work, but they were able to go back in and recover even though this camera had been destroyed by a area where it had been held. So this is pretty good work by the FBI. Now, again, you're seeing the guy as we talked about, Buck fully clad in this. You know, he's covered his entire body. Very planned, maybe methodical in the sense of exactly what was intended here. But hopefully somebody might see something that. That draws their attention here.

Clay Travis (22:36)

Yes, that is. That is the hope that everybody has. And I know that they are devoting as many resources to this as they can. We're also going to come back here in a moment, speak to Steve Hilton about the situation in California. Another bill, another. Not just a billionaire. You know, there's being worth a billion dollars and then there's being worth like, what is Zuckerberg worth? 100 billion or something? I mean, 150 billion something. He's a mega billionaire and another one has moved. I mean, technically he still has houses a lot of places, but he's going to be a South Florida resident for tax purposes. Trust me on that one. Or a Florida resident for tax purposes. And we'll talk to Steve Hilton about what that's doing to the state budgets there. And want to tell you right now, I wasn't even planning this. You might be like, buck, what is that liquid you are drinking? Clay, see what I'm holding up right here?

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (23:21)

Yeah, I see it right now.

Clay Travis (23:22)

This is, this is. This is Chad mode from Chalk with a little bit of OJ that I had left over from this morning. Look, it's delicious. What can I tell you? I am drinking Chad Mode currently in this clear glass. Usually it's this nice blue color, but I mixed it in with the orange and that's why it kind of looks like green. But the point is it tastes yummy and it gets me fired up because after this, I'm gonna be going to the gym, working on my health. My friends down about 30 pounds. A lot of this is proper diet, exercise, exercise, supplementation altogether. And the proper supplementation comes right from my friends at Chalk Choq. I'm drinking their Chad Mode Pre workout. Right now I take the chalk daily as part of my vitamin regimen. You need to have the right chemistry. It's not just about hard work, my friends. Get a subscription today for yourself. The male vitality stack. Go to chalk.com, choq.com get a $99 bag of chalk lit powder with your first Delivery. Go to Chalk.com promo code Buck. All right. We're joined by our friend Steve Hilton, who is running for governor of California. You all know him from his show on Fox News and just from being a voice of sanity amidst the madness of the Golden State. Mr. Hilton, we have all kinds of questions for you today, but I need to start with this one because we talked about the top of the show. I got a new neighbor. I mean, his house is a lot bigger and more expensive than mine and it's a couple miles down the road. But I have a new neighbor in Mark Zuckerberg, the latest mega billionaire to flee your home state, Gavin Newsom. Still not getting the message on this, apparently.

Steve Hilton (25:05)

It's unbelievable. By the way, I love the music intro as well. Smooth operator. I don't know, I kind of think that's kind of newsome, but you know, I'll take it. Bit of shadow there to get us going. Look, it's just insane, isn't it? They just are working overtime to destroy everything that made California once the greatest place on earth to start and raise a family, to start and run a business. They're just doing whatever they can. The latest insanity is this asset seizure scheme that the unions have come up with. They call it the billionaires tax. It's basically insane, unconstitutional, totally un American. But the threat of it, this threat, before they even get it on the ballot, which they're trying to do, has already caused $1 trillion of wealth to leave the state. So these geniuses who have put this forward in the name of we need more money for health care. That's the rationale, by the way. They'd have a lot more money for health care if they didn't have $20 billion a year spent on free health care for illegal immigrants, which I would stop as governor anyway in the name of raising more money. They've already lost billions of dollars in tax revenue even before they enact this insanity as people are leaving the state. I mean, this is why, actually I'm really confident we're going to do it this year. It's 20 years since a Republican was last elected statewide in California. But the insanity is so extreme now. The damage is so great. People are suffering so much. I really think we're going to vote for change this year and I'm going to be by the time we speak this time next year, I'll be the governor.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (26:37)

I hope that that is correct. And I texted you because I was out in California for the past week, Los Angeles and San Francisco, super bowl going on. I know you've got something that you've put out that you're going to do for, for athletes out there. I'll get to that. But I think a lot of people are going to have some of these primaries sneak up on them. We're going to be down in Texas in March. I mean, I think voting in Texas starts next week for their primary. That's early voting. In fact, I know it does, but I believe the California primary is also early. It's in May. I think you walk us through this. But it's not partisan and basically two people, I think advance tell us how this works because I was reading all about it and it snuck up on me and I said, oh, we need to have Steve on, because I don't think a lot of Californians even are aware. I know you had the debate, you did great in it. But for people out there, what is the status of this race and how does it work?

Steve Hilton (27:33)

So it's really important everyone understands this because the stakes are pretty high in two directions. If things go well, we beat the Democrats in their absolute stronghold and that will send shockwaves through the modern left because so much of the nonsense the whole country's had to deal with, the gender extremism, the climate extremism, all this nonsense starts in California. And so it's a really big opportunity for the whole country. But it could go the wrong way because of the structure of this race, which is this top two system, which is that the top two finishers in the primary, regardless of party, go through. And right now there's a possibility that you'll end up with two Democrats in the top two, which would be an absolute travesty. The reason for that is that you've got a new entrant into the race, the mayor of San Jose who's picking up a lot of money from the tech community. They're going to push him up there. And then one or other of the other two strong Democrats in the lead now on their side, Eric Swalwell, if you can believe it, and Katie Porter. She's still in there. I know, but she's still there. One or other of those is going to emerge as the union backed candidate. So there's a real possibility you will get two Democrats if on the Republican side the situation doesn't change, which is right now, people look at the polls and say, this is great news. You've got two Republicans in the top two, Myself and my main Republican challenger, Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County. In most of the polls for the last couple of months, 1 and 2 has been me and him. And people look at that and say, that's great, we'll have two Republicans in the top two. That is ridiculous. The Democrat machine will never let that happen. And so I argued very strongly in the first TV debate, which was last week, that we've got to get behind one Republican candidate, otherwise we'll get locked out. And I made the case that you can't have the other guy, Chad Bianco, for those who don't know, he's a sheriff in Riverside County. People like the sound of that. But actually, during the George Floyd protest, the riots and the BLM riots in 2020, this guy took a knee for BLM. He took a knee. And it's all there on video. Pictures are there, the videos there. We put it up on a website, blmbianco.org if anyone doesn't believe what I'm saying, he has a whole story about how he was praying and whatever. And my argument is we can't go in to the election with a candidate with that much baggage. And so this is the time we've got to get serious about this race. We've got to get behind a Republican candidate like myself. I've got the business experience, the government reform experience, the policy expertise. I'm experienced on the national stage. I won that debate massively. The audience poll had me winning at 66%. The nearest was another Democrats, 17%. It was me against six Democrats. The other Republican guy didn't show up. And I think this is our year. We can really do it if we just take this seriously, focus on the race, get behind one Republican. And I think we can beat these people after the disastrous 16 years now of one party rule.

Clay Travis (30:40)

Speaking of that disaster, Steve, we're speaking to Steve Hilton, everybody. He is running and he is serious about it. Running for governor of California, your state, which Clay and I both love. As much as we criticize the governance of it. It's. We feel like it's under occupation. It's like under communist occupation and we have to liberate it. But electricity bills, New York Post had this piece spiked 39% over six years. What? Why? What are they Doing in your well, like, because that really affects people that can't afford that kind of mad, mad increase in their, in their cost every month.

Steve Hilton (31:19)

Well, it comes from the same source as the other massive thing that's hurting working people and small business in particular, which is gas prices. So we have the highest gas prices in the country, including Hawaii, even though we have abundant oil reserves right here in California. Higher gas prices than the middle. I mean this morning literally we took a picture, we're going to put it out on social media. Gas price in LA. I'm right now in Pasadena speaking to you. 691, $6.91 gas this morning in LA. So you got that going on. Electric bills, they've actually more than doubled in the last 10 years. And we have the highest electric bills in the country, everywhere except Hawaii. Both driven by their insane climate crusade, which is just forcing up the prices. You asked specifically about electric. The reason is they're forcing utilities to use solar and wind, which is incredibly expensive. The windmills are just a joke. The next scheme that they have is literally, I'm going to say it and you will think I'm joking. They want floating windmills 20 miles off the coast of California. Floating because the ocean is kind of deep that far out. These are 1,000ft high. That's like the height of the Eiffel tower. They want 10,000 floating Eiffel Towers off the coast. It's just insane. And they have to think about the cost of that. The solar farms they claim are cheaper, but they don't count the fact that you need batteries to make solar work because the sun doesn't shine at night. So all this is driving up the cost. Meanwhile, we've got a fleet of gas fired power stations in California that are being used 10 to 15% capacity. They are literally sitting there idle in favor of wind and solar. And also we have abundant gas reserves in California that we could be using to generate electricity, but they won't do it because of their obsession with climate. It's totally insane. And the people that are being crushed, exactly as you said, the people who can least afford this stuff. That's why I think we can. And I think the revolution is exactly the right analogy. That's what's going to happen this year. I make that point. My show on Fox was called the Next Revolution. This year is going to be the California Revolution because we just can't go on like this.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (33:29)

We had Doug Burgum on the show yesterday, Interior Secretary, and I asked him directly because we get so Many questions. And I just came back from California about the coffee cost of energy and gas and everything else and how it's hitting people in their pocketbook. And you can just compare what you guys have to pay in California with much of the rest of the nation. And it's clear that there is a flawed energy ecosystem there. It's also clear there's a flawed tax system. Steve. And we're talking to Steve Hilton, running for governor's Republican in California. The primary is soon. When you look at the tax situation. Buck just mentioned front page news, Wall Street Journal. Zuckerberg has become the latest billionaire to buy a home in a different state because of the tax situation there. You mentioned the super bowl was just played a couple days ago in San Francisco. There's actually a huge tax on people who come into the state of California to play sports. And it kind of cuts through the noise and a lot of people are aware of it. Explain what you set out to do yesterday as part of your tax reform bill. You're also going to the highly skilled people who come into the state. Explain exactly.

Steve Hilton (34:38)

Well, we're just driving people away. So the first point I'd make is that, you know, we have the highest tax, broadly the highest taxes in the country and the worst results on everything. If you actually look at every single measure with 50th out of 50 states, it's not an exaggeration. It's incredible. We pay the most and we get the least. Then you dig into the specifics. Working people, you know, that's why the first line of my tax plan is to help workers in California. Your first tax free. Now, people may be listening around the country say 100 grand, that's kind of high. Not in California. You've got at least six counties in California where 100 grand is now the official poverty level because costs are so high. And yet you're paying 9% tax even at 100 grand. It's just ridiculous. Then you get into these specific ones, like the athlete tax. Some people call it the jock tax, which happens around the country. But it's totally punitive in California. And you have the specific case this year of Sam Donald, who ended up losing money for winning the super bowl because of this ridiculous tax in California based on the number of days he was in the state. I mean, what are we trying to do, just drive people away? Literally. That is the effect of all this. Their insatiable demand for more and more money for their bottomless money pit, where we get the worst outcome for all of this. It's got to stop. So I specifically said that's going to change next year. I mean, you already saw, based on this particular situation with Sam, that you've got former players saying, as long as this stays the same, no more Super Bowls in California. Now actually, we're scheduled to have it next year as well in L. A. And so I said very specifically, by the time the next super bowl comes around, I will be the governor and I will send in my first budget, a proposal to end this whole scam. Because we cannot be in a situation where hard working, talented people fear to come to California because it's going to cost them money. They're going to lose more than they make. That's what happened to Sam Donald this year because of our insane tax system. It's a perfect. It's a great story that broke because everyone can sort of see it captures very clearly the insanity of our system.

Clay Travis (36:47)

What is the truth of the budget? As I see it, the projection for fiscal year 2627, I guess now is for California to only be. They say it's close to revenue neutral at like a maybe a $2 or $3 billion deficit. Is that realistic? Okay, I had a feeling it was.

Steve Hilton (37:07)

Total BS let's just go through the numbers. So the first one again, what's the context here? They've doubled, nearly doubled the budget of the state of California in the last five years. Okay? So the budget that Gavin Newsom just put forward was 350, 349 billion. Call it 350 billion. Five years ago it was 180. They've nearly doubled the budget and yet everything is worse. Homelessness, worse school results, worse the roads, everything. We literally have 50th out of 50 on all these measures across the country and things have got worse and yet they spent twice as much money. Then you look at the actual budget deficit. It's all a scam. He actually went into this budget round with an $18 billion deficit. And of course the state can't run a deficit, so they plug the gap. Some of that was shifted around by moving things to future years so that it's just basically accounting tricks like paying people in the beginning of July and skipping a month so that you shift some spending into the following fiscal year, stuff like that. And then the most egregious thing is taking money from the reserves, right, the rainy day fund, as it's known, which have been built up over the years. That is specifically designed for when we're in a recession and revenues collapse and you need to keep programs going, but they're stealing that money. Now, our savings basically to plug the hole in this ballooning spending that is actually not even delivering results. In fact the opposite, it's delivering worse results because it's all going. I mean, now we get to the whole question of fraud. I mean, I started this fraud tip line just when the Minnesota scandal broke at the end of last year. Califraud.com, from the tips coming in, we made an estimate that we have $250 billion cumulative of fraud just in the last five or so in California. $250 billion. And then I launched about 10 days ago a team that are going to really, we launched our version of doge. We call it caldoge, the California Department of Government Efficiency. We've already unearthed just by using AI to go through the budget numbers. We're going to have our first announcement this week, specific numbers on fraud that we've uncovered. Last week I publicized one of the tips that we're getting, which is insane, but totally in line with what you expect in California because of Gavin Newsom's $20 billion free health care for illegal immigrants, which I would stop. You've now got Mexican citizens living in Mexico claiming health benefits in California posing as illegal immigrants. So you've got fake illegal immigrants claiming health care money funded by California taxpayers. It's just off the charts lunacy.

Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (39:45)

Last question for you as we go to break. Really quickly, when do people start vot.

Steve Hilton (39:51)

Just. It is may exactly as you said. So the election is actually June 2, but the ballots go out because we have this ridiculous election month in California. So really from the middle of April, people really have to start keying in. But the election is now. I want us to get behind one Republican candidate now, seriously, so that we can take the flight to the Democrats. And that's why anyone who wants to get involved or support me or spread the word, this is the moment to do it. My website is stevehiltonforgovernor.com follow me at Steve Hiltonx we can really do this. It's going to be amazing when we kick these people out. It's just going to be a fantastic revolution for the whole country, as I say, not just all of us in California.

Clay Travis (40:31)

Well, we want, we want a tour of the governor's office or mansion or something in Sacramento. Thank you. Thank you so much, Steve. Great to have you. Look, we love Cozy Earth products. It's just true. We love them. The PJs, the sweatshirts, the pants. I just bought a bunch of Cozy Earth pants recently because they're so comfortable, but the ultra plush Cuddle blanket. Not only is it a big hit with the wife now I just put it on her every night we're on the couch because that's just hers now. But also Ginger Spice loves it. It's so fluffy and nice, just like Ginger Spice. Cozy Earth Amazing Products and for this Valentine's Day, my friends, you gotta get some Cozy Earth products. That's a brilliant way to handle this one. Cozyearth.com is where you want to go. Use my name buck get a 20% discount on the Cuddle Blanket. You'll love this Cuddle Blanket, but they've got so much great stuff. Cozy Earth products are amazing across the board. Go to cozyearth.com, promo code Buck get hooked up. Sometimes we all need to slow down and reconnect with what really matters most. Life moves quickly and between responsibilities, stress and distractions, it's easy to lose sight of the things that bring true meaning. That's where intouch.org comes in. It's a place filled with biblical teaching, devotionals and encouragement that speaks directly to your heart. Dr. Charles Stanley's sermons are timeless, offering wisdom that applies to everyday challenges as well as the deeper questions of faith. The resources there are designed to help you live with confidence, strengthen your relationship with God, and experience his presence in a practical way. On the site, you'll find daily devotionals to keep you grounded, articles that inspire reflection, and tools that guide you toward a life of peace and purpose. Whether you're searching for hope, strength, or simply a reminder that you're not alone, intouch.org is there for you. Make it part of your routine visit today and discover the peace, guidance and encouragement you've been looking for.

Buck Sexton (42:21)

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Show Host (likely Clay Travis or Buck Sexton, possibly Clay Travis) (44:56)

Thanks to Steve Hilton. Thanks to Bill Haggerty. Tomorrow we'll update you on Nancy Guthrie and the latest because hopefully we'll have some movement there. We will also dive into some of the Olympics questions. We mentioned the Epstein revelations. We'll discuss that as well. And so all of that to come tomorrow. We appreciate all of you who have spent your Tuesday with us Wednesday. Lots of stories to dive into. We'll see you all then. Speaking Truth and having Fun. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

Clay Travis (45:41)

Sometimes we all need to slow down and reconnect with what matters most. Life can feel overwhelming, but encouragement and guidance are closer than you think. @intouch.org you'll find biblical teaching, daily devotionals, and timeless sermons from Dr. Charles Stanley. These resources are designed to strengthen your faith, renew your hope, and give you confidence for life. If you're seeking peace, strength, or simply a reminder of God's presence, visit intouch.org today. You'll be glad you did.

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