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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Texas Tribune trip Cast for

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I don't even know what date, because we're recording live

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from the Texas Tribune Festival. I am Matthew Watkins, editor

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in chief of the Texas Tribune, joined as usual by

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my co host Eleanor Klibanoff.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Eleanor, Hello, I see you did not even attempt

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to get my title this time.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, too much pressure. And we are joined this

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week by a very special guest, former House Speaker Dade Feelin.

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Thank you for joining.

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Speaker 3: Us, my pleasure, Thank you for having me, and I

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appreciate the audience. You're being sponsored by petro Chemical. Beyond

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petro chemical, that appears to be the case. Yes, yeah,

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well we love petro chemicals to Southeast Texas, so thank

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you for doing that. It doesn't smell like Southeast Texas.

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But anytime you have petro chymicals around me, that's a

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good day. Yeah, appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, Speaker for feeling. It has been about

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I think two and a half months since Chuck Norris

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announced that you would be retiring from the Texas House,

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and I will say that we and the Tribune newsroom

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have have enjoyed watching your Twitter feed from there, you

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seem like a weight is lifted from you as you've

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taken tell us a little about your feeling you're thinking about,

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you know, not running again, and how you're feeling about

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that right now.

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Speaker 3: It is phenomenal. You wake up and you really like,

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why did it ever do this? To begin with? I

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see my colleagues doing fundraisers and town halls. I was like,

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never again, do what I have to do that. I'm

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two itches taller, I'm five years younger, I'm regrowing my

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hair a good It's a good thing. But truthfully, honestly,

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when I got in in twenty thirteen, when I announced

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in my first session in twenty fifteen, I always thought

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ten years was kind of like to cut off from me,

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and I ended up going twelve, mainly because of the

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speaker thing. I mean, I probably would have been done

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with it ten years, so it was a good time

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to exit. I'm very proud of my accomplishments. I'll put

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them up against any member that's ever served in the

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Texas House, especially what I've done for my community back

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home in Southeast sex Is. I couldn't be prouder and

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I couldn't do alone. I mean, I had wonderful staff

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and colleagues and friends along the way in both House

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and Senate to make it happen. So it was just

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a good time to do it. Just turned fifty, and

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so I've got many chapters ahead of me that just

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won't involve fundraising and block walking and knocking on doors,

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and I'm very excited about them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm curious, having been a member of the of

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the House, speaker and then a post speaker member of

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the House, which one's the most fun? Which one did

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you enjoy the most?

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Speaker 3: Oh, without doubt, when you first get elected, that's the

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best time because you could screw up all the time.

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You say that much as a dumb freshman, and you

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got to get out of jail free card over and over,

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and you use it. You know, the states get a

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little higher when you when you move up the ladder

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a little bit, and when you become a chairman, and

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of course when you come speakers, it's not near as fun.

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It's it's it's important business for the state of Texas,

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and it's wonderful work for your community and for your colleagues,

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but it's it's not as fun.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel over those years that you've been

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in the House, how do you feel about the way

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the chamber has changed? Are you feeling better or worse

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about the same?

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Speaker 3: About about No, I don't feel good about it, and

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it's because so much has change, and I'll be everyone

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blames social media. Social media, Yeah, but there's some truth

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to that. There's a lot of truth to it. It

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was not it was not as front and center in

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twenty fifteen as it is in twenty twenty five. I've

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watched members of the Texas House changed their votes based

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on a tweet that someone put out just seconds ago.

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That was not the case ten years ago. And so

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you know the way that it's digested. Sometimes it's you know,

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Twitter's not real life. Everyone always says that it's really

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notly not real life, and and you start peeking behind

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the curtain and you realize the the analyticals and house

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it's able to be abused. And I mean, I know,

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I know people who've set up algorithms and bots just

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by buying burner cell phones and able to create profiles

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that interact with one another and talk about things that

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these aren't real people, these are just cell phones. But

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it impacts some elected officials and that's real. Uh, and

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it's it's it's interesting, and it's also the the small donor.

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The small donor. Uh world is new to me. Uh.

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You see members that are able to raise hundreds of

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thousands of dollars and just a moment. I mean, you know,

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Matt Gaetz, for instance, as soon as he was able

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to dispose of Kevin McCarthy within seconds, had a fundraising

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tweet and email go out and these hundreds of thousands

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of dollars that didn't happen ten years ago. So it's

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a whole new world and we had to get our

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arms around it a little bit and ultimately elect officials

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who are not beholden to such swings and on their

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cell phone. It's just done.

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Speaker 1: Make any sense, Yeah, I mean, I think you the

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traditional way to gain power in the House or any

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legislative body, right would be to work well with others,

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build relationships, grow trust, and be there for a while,

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grow some seniority. That is still obviously a way to

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gain power and influence in the chamber. But I mean

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we are seeing members who you know, are are taking

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alternate paths right and using their their Twitter feed, their

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x feed to stir things up, using it to you know,

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go against any kind of compromise and things like that.

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Did that make it harder for you to preside over

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the Chamber?

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Speaker 3: Yes, obviously it's a distraction, but you're right, it is

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a different path forward for some individuals, and we're it's

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it's a bipartisan problem. They are Republicans and there are

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Democrats who do this. They're not just in the Texas

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House the Senate, they're in the Congress. Obviously. It's just

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a whole new world. And they're not there to legislate.

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They're not there to vote their district. They're not there

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to they'll tell you they don't want to pass a bill.

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They're there to put sand in the gears. Which that's fine.

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It plays well, it gets them clicks and retweets, and

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it does raise them money. It's terrible for their district.

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I mean, if you're in the Texas House, that's two

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hundred thousand people back home who aren't being represented, and

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that's that's a shame. But yes, it definitely definitely makes

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it more difficult, no doubt about it.

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Speaker 2: I feel like there's that balance that House members have

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to sort of find between party, your own district, the

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workings of the House itself. I mean, how did you

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sort of balance those pressures And do you feel like

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that's a there's a shift in in that balance.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if there's a shift. I truly believe

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most members are voting their district ninety nine percent of

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the time, for the most part of the time, they're

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voting their districts because that will. That is what gets

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you beat ultimately, is when you vote start voting against

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the people, the very people who send you up there.

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You can only do that so long and get away

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with it. You could do it for a couple of

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sessions and then bounce off to Congress or you know,

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run statewide. That may work for you, but it's not

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gonna work long term in the Texas House, which is

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a good thing. But yes, my philosophy was vote your district. Members,

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Always vote your district, and I'll support you no matter

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what you do, as long as you're voting your district.

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And it's one of the reasons I ran for reelection.

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You know, this last cycle is what I didn't you know,

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I didn't want to walk away and leave a lot

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of members who voted their districts safe, like for instance,

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on school choice. I mean, these are you know, men

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and women who voted their district and not to have

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a speaker there to fundraise and try to help them

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out as best someone could. I mean, I was never

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envisioning the onslaught of money coming out of the state

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and having to compete with that. But yeah, you know,

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I didn't care whether they were four against school choices,

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just vote your district. And a lot of them felt

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like they were voting the district and and you know,

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of course they got beat and the message back home

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was not about school choices. They weren't strong on the

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border and that was the message. And many of them

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voted for every border initiative we had. So you know,

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I think speaker Boroughs and the speakers you know, bonding

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and and and strouss and cracking. It wasn't you know.

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In my lifetime, I've always encouraged members to vote their district.

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And you know, a speaker who doesn't do that won't

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be speaker along.

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Speaker 1: So, as I recalled the you brought up school choice

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right the as I recall that as it played out

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in twenty twenty three, you sort of took a neutral

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stance on it. You know, well, if it has the

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votes in the Chamber, it'll go through. If it doesn't,

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it won't. That you mentioned was very costly for you know,

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you in for a lot of members in the Chamber.

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Came back in twenty five and you were, I believe,

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a vote against the bill. Right. I wonder, just as

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you look back at that process, are there are there

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any regrets there? I mean, if the measure ended up

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going through, you know, two years later the House changed

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dramatically as a result of that, do you ever look

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back and think, maybe I should have just gotten it through?

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You know, two years earlier.

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Speaker 3: There was no getting it through. The votes just were

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not there. I mean, that is probably the only time

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in my tenures Speaker did I bring a bill to

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the House floor that I knew did not have the votes. Now,

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there are times when bills get the House floor and

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crazy things happen, and someone gets in the back mic

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and blows up a portion of it that no one

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paid attention to or and then I was like, well,

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we're not voting for this piece of crap, and it

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goes down. That happens on occasional, right, And sometimes it's

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petty people are sending a message to someone they don't

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like when they vote their build down. Right, that happens.

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It's been not on a major piece of legislation. And

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I brought school choice to the floor's just because you know,

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the votes weren't there, and I'm going to show you

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the votes are not there, and what't me put my

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thumb on the scale. And honestly, it gave a handful

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of members who voted against the Herrera Amendment, which has

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always been a litmus test whether or not it's basically

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always an amendment to ban any money in the budget

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being used for vouchers, and it's always a test vote.

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And the Horra Ament passed again earlier that session, and

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there were members who flipped their vote on the Horrerad

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Amendment to the school voted yes some school choice and

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they were spared the wrath of in that primary. So

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really it got about four members out of the you know,

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out of trouble, so to speak. But I brought it

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because the votes weren't there and the only way we

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were going to in the NonStop special sessions was to

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have that vote. I mean, I knew we were going

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to come back over and over again until we had

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the House vote. You know, after three or four special sessions.

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The only people who were winning out there are divorce attorneys.

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Divorce attorneys and bankruptcy attorneys. Those are the ones who went.

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After about three or four specials it was just time

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to go home, have the vote. Let the chips follow

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they may uh.

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Speaker 2: And go home the I mean this session there was

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a lot of pressure also on members to vote for

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school choice. What did that feel like from your perspective?

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I mean, what sort of pressure were you facing? What

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were you hearing?

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Speaker 3: Zero?

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Speaker 2: Okay?

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Speaker 1: Do they?

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Speaker 3: I mean, listen, I've never been more at peace with

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the vote that was as controversial as that. My district

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is just they're not for it. And I mean I

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did my homework, trust me, I would make certain I

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was voting my district on this deal. And when I

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say it was ninety percent against, I'm probably you know,

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a little light there. It may be ninety five percent against.

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And I constantly was out there on social media and

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I was only and I know who's living in my district?

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Speaker 1: Hot?

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Speaker 3: I know, doesnet I polled in my district when I

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was running for an awful election last cycle and run

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off and whether or not that was an issue that

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was a problem, and how do I you know, at

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least message it right. It wasn't a top five issue.

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And you know, no one, no one's even no one

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even comes up to me at the grocery store the

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hardware store and asked me about it, like they asked

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me about everything else. And then no one's come up

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and saying when do I can get in this pipeline

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for this program. It's just it's a big deal in

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some districts, like a lot of things are. I mean,

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every all one hundred and fifty districts are different. But

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in Southeast Sex's it's just not something we talk about.

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Speaker 1: So why do you think it became I mean, I

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think I know the answer to this, but I'm going

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to ask you why do you think it became sort

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of the dominant political issue in Texas for you know,

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multiple years.

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Speaker 3: It's always been a dominant issue. I honestly think we've

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run out of things to talk about, and we've done

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a lot of conservative things, whether you believe or not.

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And I think it was just an unchecked box and

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there's a lot of money behind it.

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Speaker 2: Well, I was gonna I mean, you maybe jumping ahead

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but like you allude to this, like a lot of

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conservative things have happened into the Texas legislature, a lot

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of conservative things while you were speaker. You have since

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been portrayed pretty by many as a rhino, a secret,

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a closet liberal, a democrat. If you will, what do

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you make of that? I mean, are you hiding any

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secret ACLU memberships we should know about?

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Speaker 3: Listen? If I'm a closet liberal, we got some problems

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in this world. I'm not going to go through all

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my conservative bona fides because a lot of people in

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this room will probably stone me on the way out.

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I don't know if I could get out of Austin,

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Texas a live. If reminded you all the conservative things

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we did, but let me tell you why we did them.

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It is because the votes were there, right, But we

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also did things like you know, maternal health care for women,

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Medicaid expansion, you know, from sixty days to twelve months.

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Why because the votes were there. And in the Senate

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they do it differently. They only passed legislation if the

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majority of Republicans are in favor of it, and the

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House no, if you get the seventy six you get

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to pass your piece of legislation. It's called a constitutional

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representative republic. And if you've got seventy six votes, you win.

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And so you know, there are there some things that

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we did that you know the conservatives don't like. Well,

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go change the constitution and say only the prevailing party

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can win. Right, That's not how it works. And you

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know to those folks, listen, the day day you become speaker,

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you are the boogeyman. You're everyone's boogeyman. You're not statewide,

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not everyone voted for you. You know, it's easy to

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demonize you. You know, you don't have one hundred million

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dollars in the bank to defend your elf. Right, you

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can't fund raise your round. You know, when I'm in session,

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I can't fundraise, and then in special sessions I shouldn't fundraise.

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And so yeah, I mean, when you become speaker, you

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know your your your one hands tied behind your back

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quite often. And you know, trust me, anyone who becomes

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speaker becomes a rhino overnight, whether they deserve it or not.

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So it is what it is.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I know you said you weren't going to

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list off your conservative accomplishments. But I did bring a

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list of but I'm going to say this for a reason,

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right to the next question. Right, the so SBA passed

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under your time the abortion bill that essentially stopped abortion

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in Texas. You know, a few months before the Dobbs decision,

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Constitutional carry, a measure that you know, before until you

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became speaker, was you know, too far to the right

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for Dan Patrick. He had been resistant to have it

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brought it forward. Tens of billions of dollars in property

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tax cuts, DEI bands on college campuses, banning ready blockers

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for for children, billions of dollars on border security in

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the border wall. I mean these are some rhino Yeah. Well,

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and that's that's my point, right is, what is why

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do you think you got painted that way with with

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this list of measures past? What's what's the reason that

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that keeps happening to speakers?

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, a good you know, before I even

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became speaker, when I had the votes and before I

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was sworn in, my party chair called me a trader

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because I had votes from both parties to be speaker,

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which is every every every speaker in modern history has

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gotten had votes from both sides. That's how you win.

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I had the supermajority of the Republican caucus locked down

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when no one else could beat me in caucus, and

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then I went out and got enough Democrats that no

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one could go around my back and get all the

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Democrats to beat me. That's called winning, right, And that

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was a problem for some people. How dare you work

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across the eyes and by the way, we have a

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very robust history in say Texas of working across the isle.

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It's and you know, eleven hundred people move every day.

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If things are so terrible, why is everyone coming here? Right?

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And they're coming from places like New Jersey and California

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and New York. I mean, y'all, I mean, and they're

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they're some of them are very conservative. H You're welcome

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to go back by the way anytime you want to return.

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You you hauls go that way too, you know. But

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you know it's at the end of twenty three, the

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chair of the party at the time send out an

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email saying we just had the most conservative session ever,

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sending five dollars, ten dollars, fifteen dollars, and twenty five dollars,

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and then three weeks later said we got to get

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rid of that liberal speaker. Send me five dollars, ten dollars,

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fifteen dollars, twenty five dollars. So it's a it's a grift.

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They gotta have to some They always have to somebody

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that the fundraise off of me. Personally, I've never been

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with this, the Mago movement, Uh, this West Texas billionaires

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who you funded my opponent last sight, I've never been.

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I've never met them, I've never seen them. I've never

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physically seen them. So maybe that's part of it. You know,

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I'm just not in that crowd, and that's made that

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scary to him. I don't know.

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Speaker 1: So the House seems to be going through something of

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a cycle here though, right this dating back to Joe Strauss,

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who I think, you know would probably be the last

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speaker who you could legitimately call, you know, a pretty

359
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moderate guy. Right, He gets elected with the help of Democrats,

360
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then eventually leaves. Then you have Dennis Bonnen, runs the

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House very conservatively, he leaves, you come in, then you know,

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of course Dustin Burrows after you. It seems like we're

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sort of going down this path of you know, every

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single speaker faces a whether you want to call it

365
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grass roots or hardline or you know, whatever kind of opposition.

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They eventually are sort of pushed out. Someone else comes who's,

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you know, an ally of the person who came before them,

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but maybe a little bit more conservative. You could make

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the argument. The question I'm sort of building toward is

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just how long do you think this can continue? I mean,

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and do you think that there's a tipping point where

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you know, that type of speaker is no longer in

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place that could fundamentally change the House. And if so,

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what does that mean for the chamber?

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Speaker 3: Great question, I'll I'll push back on a little bit.

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I will say Strauss was very moderate, but I mean

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there was a lot of pro life legislation passed with

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Joe Strauss. I mean, campus carry and open carry pass

379
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with Joe Strauss. I mean those were big things at

380
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the time, right, you know, the big and I wasn't

381
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in the legislature of them, but the big abortion bill

382
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with Twennye Davis and all that, and that was all

383
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you know with Speaker Strauss. I mean he had conservative

384
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resume as well, but for some reason got painted, you know,

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as a moderate by a lot of folks. I will

386
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say that you know, you bring up Speaker Bonn and

387
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also a very conservative individual. But you know what happened

388
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going into that cycle is a couple of folks almost

389
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lost and they got him real close to losing them

390
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just a couple of percentage points, and it was it was.

391
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It was a kumbai a session, I'll be honest with

392
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There was not a lot of red meat on the table.

393
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Republicans were scared of red meat that cycle.

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Speaker 1: This is twenty eighteen when when the correct Democrats picked

395
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up a lot of ground.

396
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, they picked up twelve seats and the state wides.

397
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You know, a couple of moments went down. So what's

398
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the tipping point? The tipping point, in my opinion, is

399
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when the first Republican statewide officeholder loses their seat deskally.

400
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Speaker 2: The tipping point, you say, when, not if? Do you

401
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:53,480
think they any?

402
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Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's I mean, one party ruled

403
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for three decades. You know, yeah, sometimes you slip up.

404
00:21:01,559 --> 00:21:03,880
I mean again, in twenty eighteen, it almost happen. We're

405
00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,519
going into another midterm right now. The party in control

406
00:21:07,839 --> 00:21:11,079
usually does not do well in midterms. I watched the

407
00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:13,359
news last week. I saw what happened in other states.

408
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:18,039
That's not an eye opener. I don't know what is inflation.

409
00:21:18,599 --> 00:21:21,960
Regardless of what mister Trump says, prices are not going down.

410
00:21:22,839 --> 00:21:26,000
Your healthcare bill is about the double depending on what

411
00:21:26,039 --> 00:21:29,839
you use. Right now, there's some whistling past the graveyard

412
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right now. We've got to get a handle on this

413
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or we're gonna have a very messy, very messy November

414
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of next year. And you know, swing voters independence will

415
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decide that. And you know, I'm concerned, and be honest

416
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:45,160
with you, I am concerned.

417
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,000
Speaker 2: I think before we sort of look ahead, although I

418
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,720
guess this is sort of a twenty twenty six question

419
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,839
in a way, when I've got something else that happened.

420
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:56,240
At the end of twenty twenty three, the House under

421
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your leadership voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, a

422
00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:03,640
fellow publican. You know, he was acquitted by the Senate.

423
00:22:04,279 --> 00:22:07,359
That Texas Senate is now the front runner for US Senate,

424
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:09,440
you know, seems to have not really slowed him down

425
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,200
that much. But you meanwhile, you know, are You've faced

426
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,759
a very tough reelection, lost the speakership, and now are

427
00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:18,599
you know, stepping down sounds like happily do you have

428
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:20,720
any regrets about how that played out? Do you sort

429
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:22,799
of look back on that now and see it any differently?

430
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,839
Speaker 3: Well, of course, hindsight's twenty twenty. I was, I was

431
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,880
naive to the fact that how it would be handled

432
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:34,880
the trial phase. And there's a lot that was never

433
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:39,279
brought to the jurors attention, that was not entered into evidence,

434
00:22:39,319 --> 00:22:42,079
a lot of it. But was it the right thing

435
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,200
to do? Absolutely, I mean, I've seen all the files.

436
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:47,960
I'm I'm one hundred percent convinced it was the right

437
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,319
thing to do. I would I would disagree with you.

438
00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:52,920
I don't think he's the front runner in this election.

439
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:55,480
I think he has more headwinds than he even knows,

440
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,279
and he's not raising money, and he has not gotten

441
00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:03,640
this key endorsement that he thought he was going to get,

442
00:23:03,799 --> 00:23:05,279
and that didn't tell you what you need to know,

443
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,160
then I don't know what does right, So that race

444
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,160
is wide open, and I would not call him the

445
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front runner, but you know his that issue honestly did

446
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:19,440
not play in my primary, or to my knowledge, anyone's primary.

447
00:23:19,559 --> 00:23:23,359
It really didn't quite. Frankly, it was not even a

448
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,559
fifty to fifty deal. I mean didn't. It wasn't moving

449
00:23:25,599 --> 00:23:28,279
voters one way or the other. And you know, if

450
00:23:28,279 --> 00:23:30,720
you looked at who he endorsed and for and against,

451
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he wasn't particularly successful. No, but hey, listen, it was

452
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the right thing to do. I wouldn't be able to

453
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sleep at night knowing what I know and what those

454
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:43,559
whistleblowers went through, who were, by the way, exstaunchly conservative Republicans.

455
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,279
I mean, look at where they came from, and look

456
00:23:45,279 --> 00:23:47,519
at where they are now that you cannot impeach their

457
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,920
true conservative bonafies, right, and then look whatever, Look what

458
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,799
all's come out since then with that gentleman all you

459
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,000
want to say his name, but look what's come out

460
00:23:57,039 --> 00:24:00,160
since then? And you tell me if that wasn't the

461
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,359
right thing or the wrong thing to do. I know,

462
00:24:02,559 --> 00:24:04,880
I'm one hundred percent convinced was the right thing to do.

463
00:24:06,759 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: You're clearly someone who's concerned about some of the direction

464
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:16,640
the Republican Party has gone, both nationally and statewide. You

465
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,519
just talked about how possibly the only thing that could

466
00:24:21,599 --> 00:24:25,680
change it is, you know, defeat for the Republicans in

467
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,599
a year like twenty twenty six. I mean, are you

468
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,079
do you feel like that needs to happen. I mean,

469
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:33,279
do you how do you watch that?

470
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Speaker 3: Then you're a I know, by no means why I

471
00:24:35,759 --> 00:24:37,839
want it to happen. I'm just telling you that's what

472
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:42,400
gets people's attention. Elected officials are concerned about one thing,

473
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losing it their next election, and if they think that

474
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,880
there's a path forward that is the safest, they're going

475
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:51,599
to take that path forward. I mean, that's just the

476
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,680
natural war of business. That's what you would do in

477
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,640
business or anything, you're running for school board whatever. If

478
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,160
they feel like, okay, this is now a liability, yea,

479
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,000
you know, then I need to change I need to

480
00:25:03,079 --> 00:25:05,519
change course, I need change messaging. Again, go back to

481
00:25:05,559 --> 00:25:09,000
twenty eighteen. That twenty nineteen session was totally different than

482
00:25:09,039 --> 00:25:13,519
seventeen and twenty one, entirely different. Why because there was

483
00:25:13,519 --> 00:25:17,039
a wake up call at the ballot box, right, and

484
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,319
we went down to eighty two seats in the Texas House.

485
00:25:21,799 --> 00:25:24,920
That's not a lot. I mean, that's as close as

486
00:25:25,039 --> 00:25:27,960
losing that we've had since it was seventy six, seventy

487
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:34,039
four years ago, right, and just a session of two

488
00:25:34,039 --> 00:25:37,119
before that, we had one hundred and two Republicans. So

489
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,279
no losing is the ultimate wake up call. And I'm

490
00:25:41,319 --> 00:25:43,240
not saying I want it to happen. I'm just telling you,

491
00:25:43,279 --> 00:25:48,359
if it happens, there's going to be a reset. And truthfully,

492
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,279
if you want to impact these elections. And of course,

493
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,960
the Republican Party of Texas wants to close primaries, they

494
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,400
want fewer people to vote. My recommendation was, no, we

495
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,960
want as many people involved in the process as possible.

496
00:26:03,039 --> 00:26:06,680
Because this is a democracy, and we elect someone to

497
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,839
go represent us as a constitutional republic. We want more

498
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,680
people involved. We know, And I'm not saying I'm going

499
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,319
out there and recruiting Democrats and voting Republican primary. I

500
00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:17,519
don't want that to be the headline. But I know

501
00:26:17,599 --> 00:26:19,640
there are a ton of Republicans who vote in the

502
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,160
general election that do not vote in the primary year

503
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,599
after year. And I don't know why. It's mind boggling

504
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:31,839
to me, but it happens. And so why we cannot

505
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,720
you know, both parties, why can't they get those Democrat

506
00:26:35,839 --> 00:26:39,039
voters to shroping Democrat primary, Republican voters to stroking the

507
00:26:39,039 --> 00:26:42,119
Republican primary, and then you don't have the five percent

508
00:26:42,319 --> 00:26:44,119
of the left and the five percent of the right

509
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,000
controlling the entire process.

510
00:26:49,039 --> 00:26:51,799
Speaker 1: All right, I want to you know, we've we've beaten

511
00:26:51,839 --> 00:26:55,319
around the bush for long enough to bring up Donald

512
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:59,640
Trump tweet. Right, we were joking about this in the

513
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,119
green room before he came on, just a couple of

514
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:07,160
days before, a couple of days ago. You well, actually,

515
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,079
let me take a step back real briefly. Since you

516
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:13,440
announce your retirement, you've been you know, unfiltered, i'd say,

517
00:27:13,559 --> 00:27:17,519
on on social media, you know, criticizing some of the

518
00:27:17,559 --> 00:27:20,440
decisions that the president has made and other things like that,

519
00:27:20,839 --> 00:27:23,519
this leading to a truth post.

520
00:27:24,279 --> 00:27:25,880
Speaker 2: Are you going to do a Donald Trump impression?

521
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 1: No, I'm not, absolutely not about where he says. Fortunately

522
00:27:31,519 --> 00:27:34,440
for the great State of Texas, their former speaker who

523
00:27:34,519 --> 00:27:35,559
is no longer speaker.

524
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:39,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, who is no longer speaker.

525
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,920
Speaker 1: I liked that. Yes, yes, Dade Feelin is quitting politics.

526
00:27:44,319 --> 00:27:47,160
He was the one responsible for killing every bill having

527
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,400
to do with voter integrity, capital the capital I and

528
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,519
school choice. Good luck in your next life, dad.

529
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 2: So that's nice.

530
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 1: Good luck.

531
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,720
Speaker 3: You know, it's very nice. I'm glad. One first name basis.

532
00:28:01,039 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 1: This?

533
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,039
Speaker 3: Okay, First of all, it's nothing really new. Before I

534
00:28:03,079 --> 00:28:05,119
became speaker, I was a little critical of the man.

535
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,599
The problem with becoming speaker is and at least I

536
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,720
felt this way that everything I did was the reflection

537
00:28:11,799 --> 00:28:14,759
of the body, and the people who supported me would

538
00:28:14,799 --> 00:28:17,599
have to answer to anything I did. So if I'm

539
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,599
going to be critical of the President of the United States,

540
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,839
whether it's Joe Biden or Donald Trump, then my members

541
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:25,880
would be asked, well, are you still going to support

542
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,400
the speaker who just did that? Right? So I turned

543
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,519
my Twitter over to the professionals for four years, the

544
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,839
comms people people like you, and I didn't tweet. I

545
00:28:35,839 --> 00:28:38,839
didn't look at it, I didn't care. But this is

546
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,359
nothing new. So first of all, I didn't We passed

547
00:28:41,359 --> 00:28:44,359
one of the largest voter integrity bills in Texas history

548
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,359
as as a speaker. If you recall, the Democrats hated

549
00:28:47,359 --> 00:28:49,680
it so much they left for seven weeks. If it

550
00:28:49,759 --> 00:28:52,119
was such a terrible bill, I'd be such a rhino

551
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,960
bill they would have stuck around. Right. And again, school

552
00:28:56,039 --> 00:28:58,039
choice didn't pass because of me. School choice just didn't

553
00:28:58,079 --> 00:29:00,680
have the votes. So both of those are just fallacies.

554
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:03,200
But no, this is a funny story. I think you'll

555
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,680
get a kick out of this, all right, So I'm

556
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,759
at the Texas OU game, and I took a picture

557
00:29:07,799 --> 00:29:10,680
with Jay Hartzel and he tweets it out, and so

558
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:14,200
people know I'm at the Texas OU game, and one

559
00:29:14,319 --> 00:29:16,880
person in particular, who I probably crafted this tweet and

560
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,200
got the president to send it out. So Texas is

561
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:24,400
winning the game, beautiful day, horns, your up, everything is great.

562
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:30,519
Fourth quarter, Texas OU takes the lead. Fifteen seconds later,

563
00:29:30,559 --> 00:29:34,960
Donald Trump tweets out Ryan o'dade feeling I'm gonna find

564
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,599
you an opponent. You're the worst. You need to audit

565
00:29:37,599 --> 00:29:40,559
your elections. We just won an election where Republicans won

566
00:29:40,599 --> 00:29:44,759
across the board. Why am I questioning the integrity of

567
00:29:44,799 --> 00:29:47,920
Texas elections when we just won? He won? I mean,

568
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,680
why would I do that, sir? Waste the tax payer dollars.

569
00:29:51,359 --> 00:29:52,640
So I get home, I'm a wife, is like, I

570
00:29:52,759 --> 00:29:54,319
drive home that night. My wife's like, so, what was

571
00:29:54,359 --> 00:29:58,599
worse Donald Trump tweeting it you guaranteeing you an opponent, which,

572
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,599
by the way, I didn't get, or losing to you.

573
00:30:03,039 --> 00:30:06,240
I was like, without question, losing, oh you. I mean,

574
00:30:06,799 --> 00:30:09,200
there's nothing worse than losing to you, especially after you

575
00:30:09,279 --> 00:30:11,279
had the lead for three and a half quarters. So

576
00:30:11,319 --> 00:30:13,000
it's really nothing new to have him come at me.

577
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,200
That's fine. Listen, I'll be the first. You know, it's

578
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,160
not a it's not a secret. I am not a

579
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,400
mag a Republican. I never have a bit of a

580
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:23,680
magi Republican. You know, I'm not a Donald Trump guy.

581
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,200
And it's again, it's the reason I decided not to

582
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,680
be speaker. Again. I could not carry his agenda through

583
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:31,559
the Texas House. It just wasn't and I wasn't put

584
00:30:31,559 --> 00:30:33,480
my members in the position to choose between me and

585
00:30:33,519 --> 00:30:39,559
Donald Trump. I will say since that truth social tweet

586
00:30:39,559 --> 00:30:42,079
went out, it's been a very interesting thirty six hours

587
00:30:42,079 --> 00:30:45,279
for the President of the United States. And so you know,

588
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,599
maybe that was the turning of the tide here. And

589
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,920
I don't say that globally, because the subject matter is

590
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,359
very serious. You know, women, maybe one thousands of women

591
00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:01,559
were abused and and and there are very powerful men

592
00:31:01,559 --> 00:31:03,799
and possibly women who are out there who are guilty

593
00:31:03,839 --> 00:31:09,039
of that, and the American public and these victims deserve justice.

594
00:31:09,519 --> 00:31:12,200
And it's been justice denied, and it's been justice delayed.

595
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,319
And that is a Joe Biden problem, and that is

596
00:31:14,519 --> 00:31:17,799
the current president's problem. And I'm glad that Mike Johnson

597
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,440
is guaranteed a up and down vote next week on

598
00:31:21,519 --> 00:31:23,839
this issue. Let's get it out there and let's get

599
00:31:23,839 --> 00:31:27,039
it past us. But you know, the emails that were

600
00:31:27,759 --> 00:31:34,640
released from you know, the foundation or the family of

601
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:39,319
Epstein or very concerning I mean I'm not implementing or telling,

602
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,960
you know, asserting guilt, but very concerning messaging in those emails.

603
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,519
Speaker 2: I'm curious with I mean, the president getting so involved

604
00:31:48,599 --> 00:31:53,039
in the Texas legislature. I mean, we've had presidents who

605
00:31:53,039 --> 00:31:54,880
were former Texas governors, so I don't think got this

606
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,200
involved in the Texas legislature. I mean, how has that

607
00:31:58,319 --> 00:32:01,119
made it? How has that impacted the body itself sort

608
00:32:01,119 --> 00:32:02,200
of how they govern.

609
00:32:03,839 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 3: Well, I mean he's the president out of states, he's

610
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,240
the leader of the party. I think if any president

611
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,640
would have gotten involved, they would have had a huge impact.

612
00:32:11,039 --> 00:32:12,599
I'm not saying he has a I mean he does

613
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,839
have a very large role obviously, and maybe more outside

614
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:18,720
influence than other presidents in the past. But I think

615
00:32:18,759 --> 00:32:22,599
if other Republican presidents were gotten involved in in policy

616
00:32:22,759 --> 00:32:25,319
at the at the state level, it would have a

617
00:32:25,359 --> 00:32:27,839
similar impact as just no one's ever done it before.

618
00:32:28,799 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: A lot of you said, you know, maybe someone wrote

619
00:32:31,039 --> 00:32:33,839
that tweet for him. You know a lot of people

620
00:32:34,759 --> 00:32:37,400
wonder whether you know the person who has his ear

621
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,559
on a lot of these Texas issues is Lieutenant Governor

622
00:32:40,839 --> 00:32:45,119
Dan Patrick? Do you see his fingerprints on on some

623
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:47,400
of those posts?

624
00:32:48,759 --> 00:32:53,359
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know. I don't think about the man.

625
00:32:53,519 --> 00:32:55,640
I don't you know I did. I didn't spend a

626
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:57,200
lot of time thinking about him when I was speaker,

627
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,559
and I'm sure don't spend a lot of time thinking

628
00:32:59,559 --> 00:33:02,039
about him that If that's how he wants to spend

629
00:33:02,079 --> 00:33:03,759
his free time, then you know, go for it.

630
00:33:04,319 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 1: What was it What was it like to I mean,

631
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,160
you know, you the two of you were two thirds

632
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,839
of the Big three, right for multiple sessions. What was

633
00:33:11,839 --> 00:33:14,559
it like to work with him across the capitol?

634
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,079
Speaker 3: I mean, uh, sometimes it was it was it was

635
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,400
very pleasant and we were agreeable. And other times it

636
00:33:22,519 --> 00:33:27,359
was you know, World War three. But my job is

637
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,359
not to make his job easier. My job is not

638
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,119
to represent his senators. My job is to represent the

639
00:33:34,119 --> 00:33:37,759
one hundred and forty nine House members whom you know,

640
00:33:37,839 --> 00:33:40,599
I am their speaker. And so you know, maybe there

641
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,599
was some disconnect there, like not understanding my job, my role.

642
00:33:45,119 --> 00:33:47,559
But I'm very proud of how I protected my members

643
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,680
and how represented my members, whether they were Republican or

644
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:52,640
whether they were Democrats. You were the speaker of the

645
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,839
Texas House, not the speaker of the Republican Caucus.

646
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:58,799
Speaker 2: The other member of that big three, I mean Governor

647
00:33:58,839 --> 00:34:02,839
Abbott obviously, you know, waged a pretty significant war against

648
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:07,440
members who had voted against school choice, unseated several of them.

649
00:34:07,839 --> 00:34:10,760
What was your relationship like with him when you were speaking,

650
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:11,840
and what is that like now?

651
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,559
Speaker 3: We had a fine relationship, you know, I was very

652
00:34:16,119 --> 00:34:18,440
I told him, you know, we were trying to get

653
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:22,239
this bill done and those specials and we were I

654
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,199
mean my staff and Kelly's right here. She worked in

655
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,719
the school choice thousands of hours to try to get

656
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,119
something done, and it was it was just impossible. I

657
00:34:31,119 --> 00:34:34,119
mean every time, it was just there was so many

658
00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:36,360
moving parts, and it was at that point in time,

659
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,199
it was impossible the House. The House members who were

660
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:42,639
opposed to school choice, especially the Republicans, were just not

661
00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:44,800
going to agree to anything that was put in front

662
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,159
of them, and anything they wanted was a bridge too far.

663
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,239
And the Senate didn't want it or the government didn't

664
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:52,920
want it, and we spent I mean, I cannot tell

665
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,880
how many hours we spent on this issue. And I

666
00:34:56,199 --> 00:34:58,119
was very up upfront with him. I just the votes

667
00:34:58,119 --> 00:34:59,519
aren't there. We're going to take the vote, put the

668
00:34:59,599 --> 00:35:01,280
votes on there. And then I went to my members

669
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,800
and said, he is not bluffing. He is going to

670
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:08,119
come after you. You do realize like you will be

671
00:35:08,159 --> 00:35:10,840
in the crosshairs. And he's well within his right. Other

672
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,639
governors have done this, and he he's this is not

673
00:35:14,679 --> 00:35:17,360
a joke. And they said, we get it, we're but

674
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:21,039
I just I voted against school choice for twenty some

675
00:35:21,039 --> 00:35:23,599
odd years or fifteen years or whatever it was, and

676
00:35:23,639 --> 00:35:25,519
my district doesn't want it, so I'm not doing it.

677
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,480
And so it was a very upfront conversation, like all

678
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:30,119
the cards were on the table. Everyone knew what they

679
00:35:30,159 --> 00:35:35,840
were getting themselves into. And what happened happened. You know,

680
00:35:36,079 --> 00:35:38,039
I hope for the best. I was at a public

681
00:35:38,159 --> 00:35:41,559
education event last night in Waco, and and I hope,

682
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:45,599
I hope it works out, and I hope, you know,

683
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:51,960
there is synergy between you know, the school choice and

684
00:35:52,079 --> 00:35:55,079
homeschoolers and public education and private schools and you know,

685
00:35:55,119 --> 00:35:57,320
prochial schools. I hope it all works out because that's

686
00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,119
what really this is all about the children. We want,

687
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:01,880
we want want, that's for the children in the end

688
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,880
of story. And so I do. Now it's the law

689
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,400
of the land, and I hope it is successful because

690
00:36:08,159 --> 00:36:11,079
we just need a very We need more smart kids

691
00:36:11,159 --> 00:36:15,480
in Texas, and everyone's moving here, they're moving their companies here,

692
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:18,559
and we need we need more school labor in the

693
00:36:18,599 --> 00:36:20,960
state of Texas. We got a lot of high paying

694
00:36:21,119 --> 00:36:25,320
opportunities in this great state. And you know, the way

695
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:29,840
AI is changing the world overnight, there's gonna be jobs.

696
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:31,960
You know. I saw an interview other day where a

697
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,800
guys said, it's not gonna be years, it's gonna be months.

698
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,360
With some of these professions are phased out, but other

699
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:40,760
jobs are going to take off and and and be

700
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:44,440
more efficient, be more opportunity. So we got to get

701
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:46,599
ahead of it. And it doesn't start with someone who's

702
00:36:46,639 --> 00:36:48,639
in college. It starts with someone who's in grade school.

703
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,760
It starts with ten, eleven, twelve year olds. They get

704
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,599
them excited about, you know, the future here in Texas.

705
00:36:54,679 --> 00:36:57,440
So I hope it all works out. It was not

706
00:36:57,519 --> 00:36:59,440
a fun time to, you know, be running on the

707
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,519
pro looking primary. Trust me. Uh my poor district. Uh,

708
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:05,840
they never see anything like it. I can tell you

709
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,159
I got one hundred percent a name iudy Now though

710
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,320
I can't go to Achi b anymore and incognito, that's

711
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,320
for sure. Everyone knows who I am for better or worse.

712
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:19,519
So I still have not h I checked my bank

713
00:37:19,519 --> 00:37:22,800
account the when I sold that land of the Communist

714
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,519
Party of China. The check never cleared. I'm still waiting

715
00:37:25,519 --> 00:37:31,079
for that money. Apparently Amazon and everyone else didn't get

716
00:37:31,079 --> 00:37:34,079
the memo that we're canceling Christmas for Ramadan, because that

717
00:37:34,159 --> 00:37:37,639
was going to do that too. Trying to think what

718
00:37:37,639 --> 00:37:39,920
else I did, Yeah, you had.

719
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,679
Speaker 1: Perhaps my favorite tweet maybe of the year, was when

720
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:47,400
Nancy Pelosi announced she was retiring. And for folks who

721
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,320
don't remember this or might not have ever known, there

722
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,559
was a political mailer right that had a photoshop of

723
00:37:53,599 --> 00:37:57,159
your face hugging being hugged by Nancy Pelosi, right and.

724
00:37:57,800 --> 00:37:59,639
Speaker 2: Not unattacked by Nancy Pelosi.

725
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,199
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, that was a very intense embrace. Yes, I've

726
00:38:03,199 --> 00:38:05,360
never been in the same zip code of Nancy Pelosi.

727
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,960
I don't know her, obviously, it's funny. I go back home.

728
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,880
I to have people saying, how can you be speaker

729
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:14,000
and Nancy Pelosi? How can you have two speakers? Like

730
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,079
people just don't get it. And I'm like, she's in

731
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:19,199
Washington and I'm in Austin. You block walk from me.

732
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:27,159
How do you not know that? Anyway, Yeah, my wife

733
00:38:27,519 --> 00:38:29,480
looks at my Twitter every now and then she's like,

734
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,119
why are you doing this? Like cause it's fun. I mean,

735
00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:35,239
it's so fun, and it's it just points out the

736
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:38,639
absurdity of it, all the absurdity. And I had a bill,

737
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:41,559
of course, HB three sixty six was which was the margin.

738
00:38:41,639 --> 00:38:45,480
I won about three and sixty six votes, And I'm

739
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,599
telling you that they're gonna we passed it out of

740
00:38:47,639 --> 00:38:49,880
the House. The Senate never gave it a hearing, and

741
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:55,280
they elected officials in that building and around the country

742
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,079
and especially in the state because that's where we're applied

743
00:38:58,079 --> 00:39:00,679
to obviously, but around the country they talk about it too.

744
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:04,440
But you know, AI, is it has gotten so much better,

745
00:39:04,559 --> 00:39:07,440
like even every month it gets better or every week,

746
00:39:07,599 --> 00:39:10,159
like and I'm like an old boomer, I guess because

747
00:39:10,199 --> 00:39:12,800
I'll pull up social media and be like, how did

748
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:17,000
that ape jump off a diving board? I'm like, oh,

749
00:39:17,079 --> 00:39:19,559
it's a you know, like I can't believe that dad

750
00:39:19,599 --> 00:39:21,559
did that to this child. And you're like, oh, that's

751
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:23,880
because it is that real. If you don't think that's

752
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:28,639
coming to politics, you are insane. What's going to happen

753
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:30,599
is that someone's gonna run an ad with about ten

754
00:39:30,679 --> 00:39:33,400
days left an election, and it's gonna have someone saying

755
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:38,039
awful things about somebody that aren't true, using horrible language,

756
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,280
and it's gonna be anonymous, and you're never gonna know

757
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:43,679
about it, and it's going to change the election, and

758
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:48,239
it's gonna be entirely one legal. My bill had nothing

759
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:51,679
to do with memes and people on Twitter. It only

760
00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:56,519
applied to candidates, officeholders who are running, who are also candidates,

761
00:39:56,519 --> 00:39:58,880
and people working on a campaign who are getting paid

762
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,800
by a campaign. Dealt with our little world that the

763
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:06,599
Texas at this Commission already regulates. Well, it's just gonna

764
00:40:06,599 --> 00:40:09,280
be real photoshops one thing, but when you see a video,

765
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:12,559
it's pretty powerful. And with all due respect to some

766
00:40:12,599 --> 00:40:15,639
of our voters out there who may be a little

767
00:40:15,639 --> 00:40:18,840
bit older in age, they're a little more susceptible to AI,

768
00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:23,000
my parents included, and they fall forward all the time

769
00:40:23,079 --> 00:40:25,920
like that's I mean, it just doesn't compute that that's

770
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:28,519
not real. It just sounds and looks so much like

771
00:40:28,599 --> 00:40:32,159
that person. So, yes, that was a fun, obvious, you know,

772
00:40:32,679 --> 00:40:35,480
joke about how silly all this is, but also kind

773
00:40:35,519 --> 00:40:36,920
of how scary it is at same time.

774
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:40,679
Speaker 1: I think I know the answer based on the fact

775
00:40:40,679 --> 00:40:43,679
that you're tweeting photoshop pictures of you hugging Nancy Pelosi.

776
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:49,320
But do you see any political writing for other political

777
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,599
office or you know, campaigns in your future.

778
00:40:52,679 --> 00:40:57,199
Speaker 3: Oh not unless you know a good divorce attorney. No,

779
00:40:57,239 --> 00:40:59,480
not anytime soon. I mean, things have got to calm down.

780
00:41:00,119 --> 00:41:03,440
It's just not the right political always. I joke about

781
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,159
this too, but you know, everybody running for office should

782
00:41:07,199 --> 00:41:09,960
have to take a self awareness test and if they

783
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:11,760
can't pass it, they can't run for office.

784
00:41:12,199 --> 00:41:14,079
Speaker 2: Oh, I don't think we'd have that many people running

785
00:41:14,079 --> 00:41:15,400
for office.

786
00:41:15,119 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 3: Maybe that's not a bad thing. We got too many

787
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,039
political offices out there as is, But there are so

788
00:41:20,039 --> 00:41:22,360
many people who run for office it doesn't matter what

789
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,400
office it is, and they have no idea how other

790
00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:28,320
people see them, right, and they're able to get elected,

791
00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:31,719
and you know, it's almost embarrassing to see them, you know,

792
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:36,159
on the stage and passing legislation or city councilor whatever

793
00:41:36,199 --> 00:41:38,760
it might be. But I mean, my self awareness was

794
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:41,760
again the speaker's race, you know, coming into this session. Listen,

795
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:44,840
I'm not the guy anymore. What's happening in Washington is

796
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,360
going to be center stage in Austin. I shouldn't do this.

797
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:50,360
It's not fair to the members, it's not fair to

798
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,159
my family, and quite frankly, won't be any fun anymore.

799
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:57,239
And you know, my self awareness now is that until

800
00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:01,280
things change in the Republican you know politics, You know

801
00:42:01,519 --> 00:42:03,719
my I'm just an old school Republican. I mean, I

802
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,760
just believe in things like the Second Amendment and pro life.

803
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:11,079
I mean, imagine that right, low taxes, limited government. But

804
00:42:11,159 --> 00:42:13,639
that's not really what's out there right now. It's just

805
00:42:13,679 --> 00:42:15,760
a different world and it's just not for me right now.

806
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:19,320
So until things change, I'll just keep tweeting and make

807
00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:19,840
you happy.

808
00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:22,039
Speaker 1: I guess, well, I appreciate that it's fun for us.

809
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:26,079
How do you how do you want to be remembered

810
00:42:26,079 --> 00:42:28,199
as speaker? Like what do you want people to look

811
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:30,320
back upon it asthinka.

812
00:42:30,599 --> 00:42:35,800
Speaker 3: Just fair everyone had a voice. Listen. I got great

813
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:39,360
advice going in by both Republican and Democrat former speakers,

814
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:42,360
and that is that the majority will prevail and the

815
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,119
minority shall be heard. And that happened. Some didn't like

816
00:42:46,199 --> 00:42:48,760
it that there was folks on the Democratic side of

817
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,920
it all didn't like some of the conservative wins. But

818
00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:54,199
my goodness, when you have six of your own members

819
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,400
voting for pro life bills, of course it's going to pass.

820
00:42:58,119 --> 00:43:00,320
I mean, you know we're talking ninety something of now.

821
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,239
Of course it's going to You have you have Democrat

822
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:05,480
members signing on to constitutional carry, and you think it's

823
00:43:05,519 --> 00:43:07,960
not going to pass. I mean the majority is going

824
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,079
to rule, right, But at the same time, I mean

825
00:43:11,119 --> 00:43:13,320
the minority is going to be heard. I mean, you know,

826
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,280
never was a fan of shutting off debate. I mean,

827
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:18,440
if there was six hundred amendments, we're gonna listen to

828
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,000
six hundred amendments. That's just the process. If you want

829
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,280
to go to bed early at night, that's fine. If

830
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:25,760
his job's too hard for you, don't run for it.

831
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:28,199
So I mean we have long nights. It is what

832
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:31,519
it is. I know y'all don't like it, but that's

833
00:43:31,559 --> 00:43:32,800
that's part of the deal. I mean, we're only up

834
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:34,679
there one hundred and forty days and we have if

835
00:43:34,679 --> 00:43:37,679
we have a couple of long nights because minority, whoever

836
00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:40,639
that may be. The minority may be rurald Texas. It

837
00:43:40,679 --> 00:43:44,519
may not even be Republican Democrat, right. It may be

838
00:43:44,559 --> 00:43:47,320
a school, a school debate about a faths grows, schools

839
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:52,199
versus the you know, the transportation a lotment, right, fighting

840
00:43:52,199 --> 00:43:55,000
for dollars. Minority should be hurt. So I always thought

841
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,559
it was a fair arbitrator of the rules. I mean

842
00:43:57,639 --> 00:43:59,960
I called balls and strikes. Some people didn't like that

843
00:44:00,039 --> 00:44:03,320
at but it was fair. It was it was a

844
00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:06,400
good process. And again I'll put it all. I'll put

845
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:07,719
my record up against anybodies.

846
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:10,519
Speaker 1: So you're feeling thank you for joining us on the

847
00:44:10,559 --> 00:44:11,880
trip cast my pleasure.

848
00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:12,199
Speaker 3: Thank you,