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The Find Out Podcast
Texas Republicans Aren't Ready For This Latino Deputy Sheriff Running For Congress As A Democrat
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dream summer spot with early booking deals from homes with pools to poolside loungers. When you book a vrbo, you don't have to reserve any loungers. They're all yours. All you have to do is book early book with vrbo. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Findout podcast. Well, we didn't have a lot of great news last week about elections where we, the Supreme Court in Virginia tossed the maps that the, the people of Virginia voted on. And we also saw some horrible things happening in both Tennessee and Louisiana. But we want to come with you some good news and some opportunities for pickups here. So with us today is a deputy sheriff. He's also a public information officer and he's running to be the next representative of the new Texas 35th district. We have Johnny Garcia with us. Johnny, thanks for joining us.
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A
Thanks for having me on, gentlemen. You know, big fan of the podcast and glad to, glad to be on here as well to, to represent TX35.
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B
Oh, it's so nice to have fans come on the show too. This is going to go well. Really well. You know how to butter us up before we ask you some questions. So, Johnny, so tell us a little bit about the new district because obviously this was part of the Republicans gerrymander which kicked off this whole insanity a few months ago. So tell us a little bit about your district, where you are in that district and, and then we'll go from there.
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A
Yeah, as you just mentioned it, with the, with the Virginia outcome. Right. We saw what we had here in Texas when, when Donald Trump decided to call Greg Abbott demanding five new seats and Greg Abbott said, yes, sir. And well, here we are. Republicans weren't anticipating pissing off a Texas Democrat deputy sheriff to step into the race and say, I'm not going to let this happen on my watch. Just a couple of months into this new administration last year, we were seeing our communities being ripped apart financially. And when they decided to carry out Trump tactics with ICE attacking our communities, I began to see my profession that I have served for nearly two decades being driven into the ground and our badge began to be tarnished. At the same time, working class families were not able to make ends meet with the increased groceries and healthcare costs that we were all facing as a nation. And you know, I wasn't anticipating running for office this soon in my career. I was doing things great at the sheriff's office, putting on my uniform every single day, going to serve and protect our communities, but I just could not allow this dummy Mander to happen. And what they didn't anticipate was drawing in a majority Latino electorate, the same electorate that, that felt attacked with everything that was going on in. And here we are in, in this race, we're making significant gains. We still have a real job to do. We still need to make it out of this runoff and give the best representation that this community deserves. We say in law enforcement representation should reflect the community it serves. And I feel very strongly that I am a direct reflection of our community here in this district.
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B
Yeah, I think that's right. And I think that Republicans clearly feel the opposite after we saw what we saw in Tennessee and Louisiana, basically redistricting out black districts so that they will be white majority, which is just awful and horrendous. But I want to talk a little bit about the, the Latino community because in 24, in 2024, there was a massive shift towards Donald Trump from the Latino community. But like, you know, in the last two years, he's done nothing but alienate them. So can you talk a little bit about what that was all about and how we pull more Latino, especially men, back to the progressive side?
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A
Yeah. You know, we know that Democrats got it wrong here in Texas, especially on the border. And my time at the sheriff's office was seeing our party walk away from us as this district has seen Democrats walk away from the party for decades now. And my time in this district letting people know I'm just an old school Democrat running to restore old school Democratic principles, fighting for the working class, fighting for to provide you and your families a strong education and so many other things. It's getting people energized in this district. And we know that we still have to convince Latinos that we are fighting for them and their families. This party, in the administration, they just don't know how much is at stake with everybody here in this district. Many of the people here rely on SNAP benefits. And when we saw SNAP benefits lapse, that was a direct slap in everybody's face. Here in this district, families here, they just want to be able to make ends meet, be able to go to HB to buy their groceries, be able to put gas in their vehicles to go to and from work. And families here in south central Texas, they just want to be able to afford to make it to Sunday so they can buy their barbacoa and Big Red and I'm not sure the neck of wood y' all come from. I know Ohio and some of our east coast barbaco and Big Red here is A big thing. And it, it goes to show that, gosh, you know, we, we have to win over our base. I was, was talking to an elected constable in Carnes county, red Republican held stronghold county in Texas. And I introduced myself to him and I tell him, hey, I'm a deputy sheriff in, in San Antonio. I'm running for congress here in this district. And he knows my sheriff is a, is a Democrat. And he says, oh, I'm sorry about that. And I responded right back by saying, you don't have to be sorry. We do our jobs just like any other law enforcement agency here in Texas. Except our sheriff is a cops cop and he understands what transparency and accountability is. He didn't like that answer.
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B
I walked back, I walked back to
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the truck that, that we had and the ladies are like, hey, he's, he's coming back. I was like, okay, well I guess he didn't like that response. We decided, he decided to have a full on debate right on the side of, of the parade route, asking me, you know, why is your D A prosecuting cops? Because they're breaking the law and abusing their authority. What's your stance on, on women's health care? That decision doesn't need to be in the hands of a man. It should be with, with a woman and their doctor. And I just kept beating him on all his issues that he wanted to bring up, not knowing he was debating hostage negotiator and what normal people.
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B
What a poor choice. Yeah, not a good idea.
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A
Know as an awkward silence in a conversation in negotiations, it's actually an effective pause. And you allow all of that defeat to just start marinating. And that's what I was doing, right?
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B
I love it.
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A
I give it a couple of seconds and I said, hey man. And he didn't know this line. I said, look, in law enforcement, when we respond to calls for service, we don't ask dispatch whether that home we're headed to is Democratic or Republican. He interrupted me and said, you're right. We just respond. And I turn over to him, surprised. And I said, well damn, look at you sounding like a Democrat. And he said, I ain't no damn Democrat, man. Not mega all the way through. And I turn over to the ladies and I said, hey folks, I think we got one. If I know my people in law enforcement, I know we're just a little bit harder to convince, but we're convincible. I let that set in for a couple of seconds and lo and behold, he turns to me and he says, you know man, look, about 20 years ago, I used to be a Democrat.
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B
Shocked.
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A
I said, well, what the hell happened? He said, well, we just felt that Democrats abandoned our views here in this district and they started, they forgot what was important to us, Public safety, law and order. And, and obviously that was well before my time. And I said, look, I, I don't know what the party did to you back then to make you feel abandoned, but today's a different age, now is a different time. And I'm running in this race to make sure that, that we put people before politics, that we're championing pragmatic solutions because there's so much at race, there's so much at stake in this race. And another term we say in law enforcement is, or at least I say in law enforcement, we don't have the luxury to lose. When we lose, people die. And we know in this midterm election cycle, lives are on the line. People depending on affordable health care, people depending to, to bring home their wages and make ends meet. And it just goes to show why it's so important that Democrats win this seat and ultimately restore a lot of the chaos that is coming with this administration.
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B
Yeah, I mean, I think that's all 100% true. And I a, you know, we do hear that about people who say we, that Democrats, you know, have lost, lost their way a little bit. And I think that's a, that's a brand problem that we have to talk about. But one thing I want to ask you though, Johnny, is like, we're talking about law enforcement and being pro police. I actually would argue that Democrats are, are more pro police than, than Republicans. I mean, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that ICE coming into your communities is making your job more difficult. Would I? Is that. That's correct? Right. So talk, yeah, talk to me a little bit about the response of people in your district, about what ICE has been doing in the district. And of course we've seen the horrible images and videos across the country. How does ICE make your job more difficult on a day to day basis?
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A
It is eroding the public trust that many of my fellow brothers and sisters have literally died for when we put on our uniforms every single day. We know at any given point it could be our call and we ultimately, you know, our, our tour of duty can end that day. But we know very well the importance of going out and protecting and serving our communities. And with the tactics that are being put in place, you know, people wanted a strong border. They didn't want our bana being attacked. They didn't want our construction sites being attacked. They wanted a strong border. They wanted public safety, they wanted accountability. They didn't want masked officers going in and preventing you from speaking out and against and exercising your God given rights. They didn't ask for, you know, this, this shadow agency to come in that wasn't going to have any accountability measures with no body cams or name plates on. And I say to people, thankfully I've worked in this profession as a public information officer holding my agency accountable. I know the realities of what accountability and transparency is. And it starts by holding this administration and federal law enforcement to the same accountability measures that your local law enforcement agencies are being held to. And these are very simple policies and procedures that is being overruled by this administration. And that's what we need to get back to. And that's what I stand firmly on, that we have to demand accountability and transparency. And it starts with these three core principles and then we're able to make significant gains and forward improvements after that.
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C
Yeah, Johnny, thank you so much for being here. Something I keep thinking about is, you know, we see this abuse, we see what ICE and Border Patrol, dhs, Christine Home, Tom Homan, like, we see what these people are doing, we see what they've done to the community and I think especially how hard it's hit states like Texas. I was looking up some data about California recently and you know, California in the 90s, all the way up to the 90s, was a red state with a huge Latino population. It was proposition 187, which, pause me if you've heard this story before, but they used economic misery to demonize the Latino community and try to pass horrifically racist legislation which ended up getting overturned and thrown out. But it had this forcing effect of consolidating Latino support not for Democrats, but like Latino integration into the Democratic movement. And it changed the party in California forever. But I think what people, what I've seen among liberals is taking the, you know, minority vote for granted and thinking that there's not work to be done. It's just these people need to come to the left because it's the best for them and just like vote for the right people. How have you seen this change and evolve in Texas over the past year, year and a half in terms of not just saying, well, Latinos should vote for Democrats because they're not awful or they're less awful, but in terms of actually working in the community and doing the work Latinos and non Latinos working together to build a different version of the party in Texas.
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A
It starts by communicating with our community and letting them know they have a true champion that says willing to bear all the burdens, to make sure that we do everything right, that, that we sit down for the tough conversations to best represent our party. And I tell folks this, that siempre luchare por mi gente yunca olvidare de donde bengo. And essentially what that means is I'm always going to fight for you and for your families. And I'll never forget where I come from, right? Letting people know that there is a strong Latino Democrat that has served this community for nearly two decades, risking my life just to make sure that the families in this district can live safely. And it's going to take. And I feel we are. This body that is running for Congress is one of the most diverse that we've seen, especially here in Texas. Right. I'm a Texas sheriff's deputy running for Congress. We know a little bit south from me is, is Bobby Pulido, Tejano Democrat singer. And it just goes to show that, that we are not your run of the mill script politicians. We are people that are coming from this community. The same people that have, at least I could speak for myself, have lived paycheck to paycheck, have faced the realities of when you overdrafting your account just to have groceries on your table and be able to make ends meet and deal with the repercussions of, of inflated rent prices. And I, I think people are, are finally understanding just the gravity this election holds for us. And it's, it's, it, it goes to show that this community is frustrated with what's going on. We've already seen, at least in this primary, the Democratic body outvote the Republicans in this district. And I'll take every win that we have. And even if it's just a clear indication right now in this primary, although we're still in a runoff, we have to make it out. I feel very strongly that we're going to be able to bring people back to the Democratic body, letting them know just that message that we're putting people before politics. We are going to be their representative, regardless of party affiliation. And I've already had Republicans tell me when I give them that line that every time I responded to a call for service, people just say, gosh, that's so refreshing to hear. It seems like, like you're that person that is not just going to be a typical Democrat. And I also say, look, Folks, I, I understand the term liberal and I said if there's anything liberal about Latinos is the liberal amounts of seasoning that we use in our food. But when it comes to policies and my visions on the party it comes to these, it comes back towards the middle and that's when we succeed in our nation as Democrats. Ryan Reynolds here from IT Mobile. I don't know if you knew this but anyone can get the same premium wireless for 15amonth plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities.
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B
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I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
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A
See full terms@mintmobile.com yeah well Jody, you
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B
I'm from Maine so you guys have got us beat down there by a mile, that's for sure. I'll take that. L. But Iowa wins it all the way. There you go. From some very non seasoned states, let's put it that way.
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C
Tim's Thanksgiving dinner looks like his hair. It's just
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B
salmon tidies and, and tuna
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A
patties are all good for me too man.
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B
Oh guys, actually I had a salmon patty last week. I kid you not, my wife, I
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D
grew up on salmon patty.
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B
Yeah, yeah, yeah but, but, but I think your point about the, the, the quality of candidates is also really important and I think that, that Democrats have a great slate this year and you're actually part of something that's the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee calls the red to blue group which is basically the people they think are most likely to win in their races. And we have a link in the show notes and in the newsletter that goes out that if you donate on that link it will go to all of the candidates. But also if you know you can go. It's, it's vote johnny garcia.com right? You're vote Johnny Garcia.
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A
Yes sir. Yeah. Vote Johnny Garcia.com directly there.
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B
I know like especially because the names are always taken and all that stuff but yes, we want it like I think that stuff really matters. And one thing I want to ask you, we've asked a lot of people that are in these sort of swingy districts is what are like you obviously are encountering Republicans. I know you mentioned the, the law enforcement line which is really great. How many people have you spoken to that have are like deeply regretful or, or feel like they made a mistake by voting for Donald Trump in 2024.
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A
Overwhelmingly regretful. Yeah, I, I don't say voters remorse. I say voters regret because what they thought they were getting with a president with never ending wars, with, with the reduce of, of grocery costs and inflation, they're seeing the direct opposite of that play out in real time. And we still have unfortunately, more time in this administration before we. Exactly right before we put an end to this. And it's why people are, are waking up to the reality that we got to elect a common sense candidate that just wants to make sure that, that we get back to a nation that is uncharted, that is heading in the wrong direction, that is doing nothing good for everyday Texans that are being affected by everyday costs. I continue to, to meet people just as I did what two weeks ago in, in Highland Hills where she said, you know, we don't want our, our law enforcement defunded, but at the same time we do want accountability. And, and I said, look, you know, ICE has a job to do, right? They need to be focusing on cartels, human trafficking, making sure that bad actors and bad people obviously don't need to be in our community. And it's also making sure that the illegal flow of drugs coming into our communities is not reaching, you know, high school age students. And fentanyl is not impacting our communities here. Like that's the job that they need to be doing. Not pushing down women, you know, killing innocent civilians in our communities, that's only hurting us. And when people hear just these messages that I'm bringing, it's waking people up, it's, it's making people agree with our message. It's getting people to come back to our party and it's, it's just why I'm excited that, that we have an opportunity to represent TX35. Hold on to it, regardless of this gerrymander.
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B
Yeah, I mean, I. Are you suggesting that them snatching six year olds and shoving them into vans and driving them across the country is not making America safer?
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A
Oh, goodness gracious. You know, I mean, yeah, we don't need Liam Ramos's jailed. Right. I've worked in a jail that is a facility for people that are not able to walk amongst us, not for people that we're mad at as a society. Little children don't need to be jailed and locked away. It's horrible what this administration is doing. And not to mention, you know, high school age students being jailed as well. We don't need that. Jail is for bad actors, not for young children.
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B
Well, and also, just because you have it, you have a lot of experience in law enforcement, like, you know, the three of us do not. But like, we have seen, you know, a lot of reports about these facilities that have sort of been built up, some of which that are in Texas that do not meet basic, like, sanitary standards. Can you speak to a little bit about, like, what those are actually like, because I don't think most Americans fully understand, like, when you take a Leo Ramos and you put him in a van and you drive him from Minnesota to Texas and you drop off, like, we've seen lots of reports of people getting sick in these places, which I know there's issues with our regular jails in prison system, but just talk a little bit about, like, what, what these places are like.
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A
Yeah. Look, we know that these corporate entities that buy up these facilities to profit off of incarceration are held to no standards versus state jails. And although it's still a broken system that, that needs reform and everyday improvement, we know that these corporate entities are held to no standards as state institutions are. And, and you're talking about a balanced meal three times a day. Uh, you're, you're held to certain standards and requirements that our administration and, and our policymakers rather are, are realizing just how grave these situations are that, that these detention centers are locking people up and under. I could very well assume that they don't have the same medical standards that your, your average jail does. And when you have a child like Liam Ramos, who we know, thankfully to the great work of Congressman Castro, was being depressed every single day. It just goes to show that these facilities do not have the infrastructure to continue on. And it's why they need a major overhauling, if not to be condemned and just eliminated.
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B
Yeah. And then just changing topics quite a bit. But another issue that is happening across the country is the war in Iran. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about what the district thinks of that. I mean, I could tell you the three of us have absolutely no idea what we're doing there other than potentially hiding from the Epstein, distracting from the Epstein files in Minnesota and all these things. But like, what. What does the Latino community in, in Texas 35 have to think about this war?
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A
You know, San Antonio is, is proud to call itself Military City usa. And here in this district, Randolph Air Force Base is, is rooted in our community. We have many veteran families in our community, many veterans that, that live here, people that, that come back to this community after after serving our country and they are opposed to the way we went into this war. There was no clear path and obviously there's, there's no clear off ramp to, to this war. We're seeing things back here at home as, as we continue to say, and we sound like a broken record, unfortunately, overs and overs. But gas costs are continuing to skyrocket. 50% of what gas used to be is, has now risen. Groceries aren't being driven down any further. And it just goes to show that people don't want our service members being put in harm's way for, for this political agenda that, that Trump continues to carry out. I'll let y' all speculate and that that's a good conversation to hear on, on why we think that they're over there, but we know very well it's doing nothing for us good back here at home and people in this community don't agree with it and don't want to continue this war in Iran overseas.
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B
So. And I think we'll get you out of here in a second.
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A
The.
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B
You, you started to touch on the affordability issue, and I think obviously that is affecting Americans across the country, no matter what states they're in. So if you win in November and you are sworn in in January, like, what, what are your plans to address the affordability crisis in this country?
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A
We have to make sure that this administration isn't allowed to use sweeping tariff policies as they did last year, and they continue to do. On. It just hurts our communities. Your, your hundred dollars doesn't go the same way as it used to before these policies.
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C
And one, one bag of groceries?
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A
Absolutely, man. You know, I, I continue to, to go to the grocery store and look at how many items I'm able to get with that hundred dollars. And sometimes it's eight, sometimes it's right. That's how we measure these terrorists that are just a hidden tax. Also, strengthening, expanding the Affordable Care Act. A resident that I met a couple of weeks ago in Oakwell Farms pulled me to the side after our forum and he said, johnny, the Affordable Care act has impacted me tremendously. When, when it lapsed in December, I was paying just $75 a month for my COPD medication that I was using to treat my, my cancer. And he said when the ACA subsidies lapsed, it immediately jumped to $200 a month. He said, Johnny, I'm paying $700 a month for my medications as it is. I had to stop it because I couldn't afford to pay 900amonth like these are the realities. These are the life or death sacrifices people are making in our communities. And it's why we have to put this at the top of our agenda rather than going and waging war in Venezuela and Iran. These are the everyday issues. This is putting America first. And it's, it's what will be my priority.
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B
I mean, it's just, it's absolutely horrific to hear these stories. We hear them all across the country and it's, it's just devastating to folks. And you know, going up 125 for one drug and $200 for another, like people can't afford it. And so, you know, you sit there and you watch this, know, war in Iran or threatening tariffs, then taking them off, then put them back on because, you know, the market loves volatility and. Yeah, right. Like every, it's just, it's just like this guy was theoretically supposed to be a businessman. He's the worst businessman in the history. I mean, he did bankrupt a casino. So, you know, but I'm, I, you know, the other thing I want to point out to people that are listening because I think a lot of people thought these districts that were gerrymandered, these five in particular, are unwinnable. But looking at the numbers, that is absolutely not true. I mean, you have some districts that are single digits and Democrats have been overperforming across the country in special elections from 15, 20 points. And your district is well within that reach. And I think that, you know, I, I don't think they're going to win all of them. I think you've got a real shot at carrying this. I think your background in particular and like that, the fact that the community knows you is a real plus. And I just, I am not willing to give up on Texas. You know, you'll also have really strong top of the ticket carrying with you as well. And so when people are thinking about spending their money, I want them to spend their money in Texas and I think they absolutely should spend their money in the 35th district with you. Like I said, we have a link or you can go to vote johnny garcia.com but like, people need to understand that, yes, there's some bad stuff happening in Louisiana, there's bad stuff happening in Tennessee, but there are good things happening in Texas and we've got strong candidates like you that are, that are there. And I, I, I hope everybody, you know, pulls out the credit card, gives you a donation because I think it's really, really important. And like, we're going to win. We, I like in our newsletter today, I talked about, you know, last week was bad, but we are going to win in November. We are absolutely the House back, but we need everybody to step up and do all their things and support you and others across Texas of the country. But I think you got a real shot. So, Johnny, I thank you very much for coming on the show. We really, really appreciate it. Maybe someday you'll have to tell us some of, some of your stories about oh, man, being out in the field. Because I'm always endlessly curious about that stuff. So that's part two. That's part two. Yeah. We'll do that when we can when we call you Congressman Garcia.
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A
There you go.
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B
How about that? So thank you very much for your time and everybody. We'll be right back after this. All right, welcome back, guys. Wow, he is a great guest. I think he is going to do really well in November.
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D
Yeah, I, I, I'm bullish on Texas, just like Rich.
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B
Yeah, I mean, I think like they like made some of these districts plus sevens for Republicans. That's not enough for them.
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D
These people are stupid. They don't realize, they don't, like, I don't think they understand how mad they're making people every day, all day.
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B
Right. Well, I mean, and we saw it late last week and over the weekend with what Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana have done, which in Tennessee, they gerrymandered out the one black majority district and spread it around so black people do not, will not no longer have a voice in Tennessee if those stand. Louisiana was based on that Supreme Court decision. So Cleo Fields, who came on our show, raised the alarm about this last year or earlier this, I can't remember when he came on earlier this year. Maybe last fall.
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D
Spring, yeah, last fall.
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B
Yeah. Like they've moved out the, the, the, the black majority districts in Louisiana. And then you were just telling me, Luke, what, what were they doing in Alabama?
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D
Yeah, in, in Alabama, they were redrawing the maps and a tornado warning siren went off because there was a literal fucking spinning cloud of death and carnage. And they stayed in session to finish fucking drawing the maps and signing them to get them into effect. These people looked at a whirling cloud of death that was headed in their direction and said, yeah, all right, but this is more important, the racism is more important. You know, if we get swirled away to meet Sky Daddy, that's fine as long as we finish these racist fucking maps.
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B
It's, it's just unbelievable. I mean, this is what people fought for in the 50s and 60s. Well, and now it's being, like, ripped away from them 60, 70 years later. You'd think that the society had moved beyond some of this, but very clearly not.
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D
See, but you'd think that. But did you know that 40% of the House and over 65% of the Senate was born before the Civil Rights Act?
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B
Oh, my God. Yeah.
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D
See, the thing is, like, these people, they grew up in a time where their parents were mad that they had to share a water fountain. It's, you know, people are, like, really surprised by this. But the only people who are surprised by this are white people. Everybody else knows exactly who they're.
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B
Who.
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D
Everybody else knows exactly who's around.
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B
I mean, there is a photo of Mitch McConnell standing in front of a Confederate flag. Right?
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A
I mean.
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B
I mean, he's still there. Like, he's still in office.
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D
Well, half these fucking reps and senators were upset about the fucking Confederate statues getting ripped out.
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B
I know, and I don't.
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D
That right there, in my opinion, should be a disqualifier from office.
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B
First of all, if you're. Go ahead, go ahead. Sorry.
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D
I mean, if you're sad, a bunch about a bunch of statues of racist losers getting ripped down. See, you never.
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B
Well, that's the thing, right? These people are losers. They didn't win anything. They didn't. They didn't win. Like, they didn't stop anything. They're just losers.
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D
Like, I mean, the Marvel Cinematic Universe lasted longer than the Confederacy.
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B
Right, Right. It, like, it's just mind blowing to me. And, you know, but I. You're right, though, that they have. There is an anger that I've, you know, we started to see over the weekend that is palatable or palatable? Palpable. Palpable.
- [32:24]
D
Palpable, yes.
- [32:25]
B
The other one's not the right one, but anyway, palatable is yummy. Like, and I think there's been a lot of despair around it, which is understandable because this is. This is taking power away from black people, giving it to conservative white people. And a lot of people have been asking, like, what they could do. And there are actually some things. And, you know, we. We want to support our. Our friends, our brothers and sisters in the South. And, you know, we saw this weekend there is going to be a march in, of all places, very appropriately, in Selma, Alabama, on Saturday, May 16th. We'll put all this information in the show notes and in the. In the newsletter, and then if you want to learn more information about how you can help, because I suppose people won't be able to get down there, their website, which I love the name of this website, the black power war room.com dayofaction so blackpowerwarroom.com dayofaction everybody should go to. We're not associated with this. I just saw Cheryl and Eiffel put it on Blue sky. And I think it's up to us, especially us in the north who, you know, like, we have our own racism problems, don't get me wrong. But like, you know, it's, it's a different situation down there and so we need to help them. And so go to that website and make sure also that you're giving money to candidates that are going to fight back. I mean Johnny's a good example in Texas, which is some would call the south, some call kind of the middle of it. But you know, they, they try to steal five seats away and some of those from, from Latino voters. And so like making sure that people like Johnny win means a bigger majority in the House where they could put a stop to some of this nonsense. Or if we take the Senate to, there could be, you know, a new, I mean Trump won't, won't vote for it. But you know, there's probably is going to have to be a new Voting Rights act written because of this being ripped away.
- [34:12]
D
The next one better outlaw gerrymandering.
- [34:14]
B
Well, right. I mean I, or just a gerrymander. Just like take like fixing gerrymandering solves some of the voting rights problems. Not all of them, but if you make it so that they're independent commissions and they, you can't make these snaking districts.
- [34:27]
D
I mean some of these things, it literally goes up and around and who's he? Who's he? It looks like a kids drawing.
- [34:33]
B
Well because they're looking at the voter data and seeing who's voting and they're, and they're mapping it that way. And for people who go, well, Democrats do it too. I tell you what, if you put a bill, a clean gerrymander bill on the, on the floor of the House, every Democrat would vote for it. And you know who wouldn't vote for it? Republicans. I know. And so sometimes you just have to fight back. Like we had to do the Virginia thing. Even though like that doesn't look like that's going to come through. New York's going to do it in 28. Maryland is a question mark. But like California did it with the ballot initiative. But like the other answer would have been to just do nothing and that.
- [35:10]
D
Yeah, I mean what, what, what, what do you want us to do, just lay down and take it? I mean, in the immortal words of Lutheran Rail on andor you're condemned to use the, the tools of your enemy to defeat them. That's it.
- [35:21]
B
Yeah. I mean, the other option is to just give up. And I'm, I, I refuse to do that and I'm unwilling to do that. I don't think any of us on this program or anybody who listens is doing that. I, what I want to caution against is the too much of the doom and gloom. You can be sad and devastated that these things happened because it is sad and it is devastating. But you have to get back up and you have to keep moving forward, especially people who look like us. Right. Because we have relied on black voters, black women in particular for years to save our asses. And we have to return that favor now. And I hope everybody who is listening will go to that website and also donate to those candidates in that link that we put and we fight back because I don't think Texas is going to win all those five. And I don't know some of those other places too because like, you do have to put the Democrats somewhere.
- [36:09]
A
Yeah.
- [36:09]
D
I mean, that's the thing. They don't just disappear.
- [36:12]
B
Right, right. They still vote. And like they're going to vote in bigger numbers this time because basically what the Republicans in these states said to these black voters is you. Right. That's what they say. You, we don't care.
- [36:24]
D
It's crazy, crazy that I've seen some of these people that are talking about how most of the, the logic that these Republicans have used for these maps is based on the 24 election because it's the most recent.
- [36:33]
B
Oh, that is a bad idea.
- [36:35]
D
Absolutely. Brain dead. One of the, a low turnout election for us with a candidate that some people didn't find attractive. And then you go and do two years of fascism where you obliterate protections and you murder innocent civilians and you abuse children and all of that and you think that's not going to be a big turnout the next time. Brain dead.
- [36:59]
B
I mean, look at the Latito, like the 180 of the Latito vote in the last, in the last few years or the favorability for Donald Trump, like he won or he just barely lost Latino men for the first time. I think he won them. And, and, and women, Latino women. We won, but not by that much. Those numbers are going to swing because they rightly, wrongly, they thought Donald Trump was going to go get rid of people who were violent criminals who Were not supposed to be here. And he has not done that. You know, Liam Ramos, he fucking threw him in a van and drove him 2,000 miles to a detention center in Texas where he got sick. You know, they've killed, murdered at least nine Americans. Also, the guy, I think you were the one that told me the guy who killed Renee Good is back on the beat.
- [37:49]
D
Yeah, he's just in a different. He's got a different color mask on and in a different state now.
- [37:53]
B
Right.
- [37:53]
D
Oh, oh, and important, important thing to note. He has a million dollars in his pocket.
- [37:59]
B
Right.
- [37:59]
D
Because of the, the give, send, go
- [38:01]
B
they did for that. Right. That awful website. Which, by the way, if anybody ever sees that website, do not go to it. They are a right wing GoFundMe that allows. Like that woman who was like calling that those kids the N word.
- [38:14]
A
Yeah.
- [38:14]
D
She called that kid on the playground the N word. She made 750.
- [38:17]
B
Oh, it was over a million. Like, also, what kind of depraved, like, piece of do you have to be to be like, that's where I'm gonna spend my money?
- [38:26]
D
Well, the comments on. The comments on the transactions were literal Nazi propaganda.
- [38:30]
B
Right.
- [38:30]
D
They were putting lightning bolts and SS and.
- [38:32]
B
Right.
- [38:33]
D
And Hail Hitler and all of the things. Like they're getting money from literal Nazis there.
- [38:38]
B
Yeah. So like when, when people, when people vote for this and then they get mad that we call them fascists, there's a simple solution to that problem. Don't do fascist. Don't support fascist shit. And they do. Whether implicitly or with their silence, they do.
- [38:56]
A
Yep.
- [38:57]
D
And I think sitting at a table with 12 Nazis, there's 13 Nazis sitting at the table.
- [39:01]
B
Yeah, yeah. Like, you don't get to be friends with them. You don't get to talk to them, nor should you want to. So if you are sitting with them,
- [39:10]
D
wake the fuck up.
- [39:11]
B
Yeah. It's just. It's just crazy. So. Well, one of the ways that we are going to try to fight back on all of this stuff too, is that. And we've talked about this, but we've built our own social media platform and we launched it on Tuesday. And we, we set a goal of a thousand users by the end of the first week. The first week ends tomorrow. We're already at 3, 500. So we are very like a small team. We are not backed by Meta and Twitter. But no billionaire can own our app. It's built on the Fediverse, which you don't need to know about. But like, we have a great community in there. And here's the thing, folks. You could post links in there. You will not get suppressed. As long as you're not doing hateful, violent speech in there, you could do whatever you want. And right now it's a very respectful community and people really say it feels like old school Twitter, which was actually my favorite app back in the day. And we're just a little community that, you know, we want to have a big voice and we want to make sure that, you know, we can get information to folks. Because if I post a link on threads, it gets seen by like five people, even though I've. Right. I mean, 6,000 followers.
- [40:14]
D
Like, even if we get to, we get to 10,000 and we never gain one more person. A community of 10,000 people that you can actually get to do. Shit is a lot of fucking people.
- [40:23]
B
Right? Right. I mean, think about divided by 50 and you got people in every, every state and you know, we've already got the 3400, so 3500, whatever it is. But like, and we're, you know, we're making some upgrades this week. We're always listening and you know, like, you're never going to have to worry about, you know, being suppressed for making a political statement as long as it's one that's safe and not hurtful to anybody. And you know, like, we can't rely on these billionaires because they're all right wing and you know, we've seen lots of progressives and leftists throttled on these platform. We've experienced it. Right. Like Twitter. Excuse me? Well, yes, Twitter, but Twitter's a garbage dump. You should not be there. But like on Tik Tok, we were all killing it last year and then they shut off, they shut the views off. So, you know, it. You can't rely on the Ellison family, Musk and Zuckerberg to get our information out. So that's why we're doing it. So, and like I said, we have no massive backing behind us. We are working with a foundation in the UK called the NewsMass foundation, who's working to democratize social media. So all you got to do is go to the Apple or the Android store and type, find out social. And it should pop up. But we'll also put the link, we're sending it in our newsletter fairly regularly. So, you know, we just want to make sure that we have a place that we can communicate to you before they shut shit off, which they may or may not do. So with that, what do we got going on? And get angry this Week we, we
- [41:48]
D
actually, we were having our pre production meeting this morning. Brian goes, it was kind of a slow week. And then we pulled up our news reels. Like both of us keep like clippets of like different shit talk about. I went oh, here's 15 topics. And then we said oh. And so then we, we had a lot to talk about. The biggest thing. Well, the thing. Brian. Brian. Normally I asked Brian what pissed him off most and then we start from there. This week we flipped it because I. That data center in Utah, I rage and it's, it's such an obvious like monstrosity of a thing and I don't understand how anyone can be supportive.
- [42:27]
B
Is that the Kevin Leary one?
- [42:28]
D
Yeah, that's the size of 30,000 football fields.
- [42:32]
B
30,000.
- [42:33]
D
30,000. It will use twice as much electricity as the entire state of Utah does. The, the energy output of it is equivalent to 23 nuclear bombs a day. And the, the temperament of the temperature effect is it shoots it up 5 degrees during the day and 28 degrees at night year round all the time.
- [42:56]
B
28.
- [42:57]
D
28 as in.
- [42:59]
B
And I think I read that that
- [43:00]
D
was within a mile radius. So like in the wintertime when there's snow, a mile radius will melt nothing. No, no.
- [43:09]
B
A state that relies on snow for tourism, skiing, all the public lands, yada yada, yada. Well, that drops on Wednesday, is that right?
- [43:17]
D
Yeah, it drops. It's going to be a banger.
- [43:19]
B
Yeah. So we've got Wednesday, we've got Get Angry. We also have American Power Will Come Out. You guys go in the morning and they. No, it's the other.
- [43:28]
D
No, I, we go in the morning. You're in the morning, the car goes in the evening.
- [43:31]
B
And then we also will have a new episode of Nola Haynes is Not a Spy, which you should definitely check out as well. And I don't know, we were talking about having a guest on Thursday, someone. Oh you mentioned we might be potentially
- [43:42]
D
some Iowa, some Iowa friends.
- [43:45]
B
We want to talk about some more potential bright spots because I actually think there are potentially five races in Iowa that are winnable for Democrats this fall. So we should start highlighting those people.
- [43:56]
D
Crazy. I'd really like Iowa to get turned around because this place sucks. You could check your cancer rates by county here because of how, how lax the. The runoff fertilizer, all of the laws are. Like they know exactly how bad it is in each state, in each county.
- [44:12]
B
Are you saying that you're not a fan of Governor Reynolds?
- [44:15]
D
No. Kim Reynolds.
- [44:17]
B
Well luckily she's retiring or Terminal limited or whatever.
- [44:20]
D
But like something. She's not coming back.
- [44:22]
B
I, I really do think that there's a lot of opportunity in Iowa, especially with the quality of candidates that I've seen. So we will potentially have an Iowa specific show which everybody should care about because there's a Senate seat there and there are House seats there. So we have to pay attention to these places and we have to start taking shots in places that we don't think we can win. But I think we can win in Iowa. We won in Iowa in 2008, 2012. It wasn't that long.
- [44:49]
D
It wasn't that long ago.
- [44:50]
B
It wasn't that long ago. And honestly it. They weren't, they were kind of close, but not really. So like there should be an opportunity. Especially all the shit that's happened to farmers and fuel prices, you know, because I know you've got the. That going through Iowa is a major trucking through a. Yeah. And so like diesel interstate 80s where
- [45:08]
D
like half the fuck a fuckload of stuff goes through there. Which on that topic. Did you see that Trump wants to pause the national excise and use his tack on tax on gas which will reduce it by 18 cents. But also the US loses out on $2 billion in revenue a day because of it.
- [45:24]
B
Right. So less, less work on roads essentially.
- [45:27]
D
And then the prices will eventually still come up again.
- [45:30]
B
Right. So the 8. First of all, 18 cents isn't even worth it.
- [45:34]
D
You can shit in your hands and clap with 18 cents the prices have
- [45:38]
B
gone up about $2 a gallon on average across the country. I mean it was like, I think I Remember it was 329 in New York City we're weirdly not the most expensive, which is strange. But 329 and it's $5 or $4.99 now in diesel's like five 50s, five
- [45:54]
D
60s or 60 for like mid grade gas with no ethanol. And then it's so over 550 you
- [46:01]
B
will get an 18 cents reduction but then the roads will go to.
- [46:07]
A
Yep.
- [46:08]
B
Which what do you think's going to do to. That's going to do to people's cars when the road ship. Right. As a guy from Maine, I know you've experienced this with the frost heaves and down. You have to, you have to repair this every year. There's nothing you could do about it. We're gonna just rob. Did you say it was $2 billion? How much a day?
- [46:23]
A
A day? Yeah.
- [46:25]
B
That's the entire transportation and infrastructure budget. Crazy.
- [46:29]
D
Yeah.
- [46:30]
B
Because that's almost $700 trillion, right? Or billion. Excuse me? Billion. Yeah, if you do it for the whole year, yeah. Oh, my God. It is over 700 billion. Actually, it is. See, I could do math sometimes. Well, that's infuriating. But we will go into that more on Thursday. So I think with that, everybody again, go check out, find out social on the Android and Apple stores and we'll see over there. And I hope you guys have a great rest of your week. And we will see you on Thursday. Bye, everybody. Early birds always rise to the occasion for summer vacation planning because early gets you closer to the action. So don't be late. Book your next vacation early on VRBO and save over $120. Rise and shine. Average savings $141. Select homes only.