The Eric Metaxas Show - Luke Macias

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Luke Macias on the Texas civil war forming over Paxton and filmmaker Jeff Celentano presents "The Hill"

Folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxus show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m. Investments.com. That's LegacyPMinvestments.com. Welcome to the Eric Metaxis show. Did you ever see the movie The Blob, starring Steve McQueen? The Blood Curdling Prep of The Blob. Well, way back when, Eric had a small part in that film, but they had to cut his scene because the blob was supposed to eat them. but he kept spitting him out. Oh, the whole thing was just a disaster. Anyway, here's the guy who's not always that easy to digest. Eric Pataxon.

Hey there, folks. Welcome back. In case you didn't know, there's a film. It's called The Hill. And it's starring Dennis Quaid. I don't know what more you need to know. It's starring Dennis Quaid. It's in 1,500 screens across the country.

That's a lot. We have the director of this film of the Hill with us, Jeff Chalendano. Did I pronounce it close? Celentano. Celentano. Hey, Chalentano. You grew up in New Jersey, correct? I did.

Okay. So that's why I got a name like Chalendano. You know, that's just an Italian name. But you... I want to ask you, this is a film about... You grew up in a small town in a small rural town. in New Jersey. A lot of people don't know that those exist, but they certainly do, if you know, the state of New Jersey. But this is a film about someone who grew up in a rural town, small

town in Texas. And his name is Ricky Hill. That's why the film is called The Hill. And again, is starring Dennis Quaid as the father of this athlete, Ricky Hill. But I just kind of ask you right out of the gate, Jeff, how did you find your way to directing this story? Because this is a story that I had not heard until I heard about this film. Yeah, well, none of us heard about this story. Ricky was an obscure guy who had never really told many people about his story. Dennis Quaid, when I hired him to play Ricky's father, said, I just read the script. Is this true? Did this kid really do this? This is like a miracle. I said, yeah, he did the impossible. And he said, how come I've never heard of this story? And I said, well, there's so many stories out there

nobody's ever heard of. And so that's why we're telling this one. It needs to be on the big screen. So my brother was in a hotel room, sorry, in a hotel lobby, and he was talking to somebody in a meeting, and he overheard Ricky next to him, the real Ricky Hill, talking about his life story and how he couldn't find a director that he liked. He had been through like 40 directors, and he never felt they had the right honesty and heart for the film. And my brother slinged over and said, excuse me, sir, once he was off the phone, this is my brother on the phone. He's your director. Talk to him. And Ricky was like, my brother's very aggressive. And Ricky talked to me and we just bonded and he said, you have to read my story. I'm going to send you the script tonight. I read the script. I cried my eyes out through the whole thing. I was so touched that I've said this so many times, but it's the same every time.

It got in my heart and it's not left even today that I had to tell this story. It was like I was on a mission. I just never gave up. And so that's how it ended up getting made. But it took 17 years to get it funded. I had been funded four times. The money fell through every time. And the last time it fell through was six years ago.

Dennis had already been hired. And I thought we were going to lose Dennis. And he called me and said, listen, I love this story. It's the best story I've read in 20 years. I'm on for life. As long as you can find a time span on my schedule, I will do the film. Well, now, for people who are, you know, tuning in and saying, what is the story? Tell us what is the story.

Because the story is about a little boy, eight years old. who was very poor. His father decided to be a minister and a preacher and travel around the country. And they got kicked out of a couple churches because his father was very adamant about no smoking in the church and treating the church badly. Ricky would be very poor and go out on a railroad track and hit stones all day. But he wore egg braces because he was crippled from the hip down. So he just got so good at hitting rocks because he was so poor. He had nothing else to do.

He hit 2,000 rocks a day. And of course, that transferred into baseball. He wanted to play baseball. He was addicted to it. And his father would not allow him to play baseball. He was like, you're going to be a preacher? Because when Ricky was eight, he started preaching to the family, imitating his father.

And he got so good at it that he could recite the Bible back to front. And this is not a faith movie, but it's got so much faith in it because of the father. It just translates into that. So Ricky, behind his dad's back, ended up becoming an all-star player in high school. And right when the scouts were about to look at him, they came to the stadium to look at him, he trips over a sprinkler head and breaks his ankle. Now, wait a minute. This is unbelievable.

I just want to go back. So here you have a kid wearing braces who knows he can hit a ball. How does he play baseball with leg braces? So at about nine years old, he was in a sandlot game, and they were calling him Robot Boy and making fun of him. So he knocked his brace off with his bat, and he drug it across the field. And then the other one he took off, and he could actually walk because he had worn them for so many years.

And his father couldn't believe it because they wanted him to stay in the braces. You know how parents are. They're very worried, you know. So he ended up, his dad finally gave in and let him not have the braces on. So he started to learn how to run. And he got really good at it. But he could run. He could play just like a normal kid.

He became an all-star player. But what happened when I'm about to tell you is the story. So he breaks his ankle. he goes to the hospital. The doctors look at him, you know, examine him for the broken leg, and they find out that he has degenerative spinal disease. He has discs missing in his back, and he has the spine of a 70-year-old man.

How old is he at this point? 17. And the tryouts were coming in two months. So he didn't have money to operate on the ankle to get him in shape for the event, you know, for the tryouts. So a man who, like, Shepard his life played by, Randy Houser, the country singer, wrote a check and paid for his surgery, and the rest of the money they raised in the town. And Ricky got the surgery and then cut his cast off because he still wasn't ready for tryouts.

And when you see the end, what he did, it's a miracle, like what he achieved. I mean, he got cut at the tryouts, and he still came back and went up to the famous scout Red Murph had discovered Nolan Ryan and was crying. And he said, you have to give me a chance, sir. I'm hitting balls out of the park, one after the other. I think I hit 16 home runs, and you won't even see me because of my bad leg. So what was his career then? So because I'm not clear on that. So he ends up getting a career.

Well, I'm trying to tell you a little bit at the end of the movie, but he does get signed to the Montreal Expos for five seasons, and he played on farm teams because the way he ran and because he became a designated hitter, he wore the Montreal Expos jersey. And he played pro baseball, but it wasn't major league. So the story really is what he achieved up to that point. And after five seasons, they discovered his degenerative spinal disease. He hit it from everybody.

Because back then we didn't have computers and we couldn't internet. We couldn't follow every little detail, you know. And so what decade are we talking about? 1972 was the time when he got signed, but he started out as a kid in 60. So it goes from 1960 to 72. or yeah, 60 to 75, sorry. So this is obviously an inspiring story. So anybody who wants a family film that's inspiring and happens to be true, it's amazing.

I'm also amazed to hear how you got to direct this film. You mean to tell me that Ricky Hill knew that this needed to be a film? I mean, I find that part interesting, that he knew that he's working for years to get his story told because he knew that it was inspiring and that somebody needed to tell it. Yeah, at first he didn't want to tell it. the story. His brother wrote the story 50 pages and said, read it to the family, and Ricky didn't want anything to do with it because his dad had just died two years after his career was over. And then his mother died not long after that. So he didn't want the story really to be told.

It was when we screen the movie now, most of the screenings, Ricky just breaks down every time and I have to console him. It's just he's seeing his whole life flash before his eyes, and he wasn't ready for that. So he was not really super strong about getting his story told. He had to shepherd it around with people telling him, you've got to tell your story, Ricky. And I'll tell you a great thing. He told me that only until a week ago, he never knew why his career was cut, why God took his special ability away that he had to play in baseball. He said when the first baseball came in him because he hit so many rocks, it looked like a beach ball. It was so big.

He could just hit the balls straight out of the park. And I researched all this. I have it all documented. It's all true. And so he said that he lost his faith. He was so upset. He never knew why his whole life, why this was taken away. And he just realized it last week.

When we screened it for some people and it said they changed their lives and their kids now know what they want to do in life. He said the whole reason that's happened to me, I was put on earth to tell this story to give it back to other people. Folks, I think you know what you need to do. If this film got made and now you need to see it. It is all around the country. Jeff Chalendana, congratulations. The film is The Hill. Check it out.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having us on. For 10 years, Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. And when I say only, trust me, they're the only one. Glenn and the team have been great supporters of this show, which is why I'm proud to partner with them. Patriot Mobile offers dependable nationwide coverage, giving you the ability to access all three major networks, which means you get the same coverage you've been accustomed to without funding the left. When you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're sending the message that you support free speech,

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That's LegacyPMinvestments.com. Welcome back. As you may know, there is a civil war raging in this country between evil, dead rhinos and people who love America. Let's just put it that way. that war is being fought also, also more than any place being fought right now in Texas. And I have as my guest, Luke Macias,

who has written an article at American Greatness on this very subject with regard to what's been going on with Ken Paxton. So let's bring on Luke Macias. Luke, welcome. Thank you for having me, Eric. And now it's pronounced Macias, but the Castilian is Mathias. There you go. You know that, right?

Luke Mathiaf. Okay, tell my audience, most of whom don't live in Texas. What is going on in Texas? Why have they demonized Ken Paxton? Who is Ken Paxton? Give us the overview. Very short explanation is simple. The Texas House of Representatives is a much more liberal chamber

than the Texas Senate. In most states, it's the opposite. Usually the Senate is the more moderate chamber, and the House ends up being the more conservative chamber. And in Texas, we've flipped that. And so the Texas House of Representatives is heavily governed by the Democrat minority who team up with a handful of Democrats and end up killing a lot of conservative policy and then passing some bad policy. Well, ultimately what happened is the Speaker of the Texas House, one of his biggest political opponents, is Ken Paxton because Ken is one of the most conservative statewide elected officials. And so they secretly investigated him for a number of months and then literally gave their chamber 72 hours notice and said in 72 hours, we're going to vote to impeach the attorney general of the state of Texas. And when that vote happened and passed on the House floor with all but one Democrat voting for it, one voted present, and that's only because he's been there for 40 years.

So he was so offended by how bad the process was done that even this Democrat said, I can't be part of this. they passed the impeachment he was removed from office and now his impeachment is before the senate for their consideration ultimately as ken paxon has been one of the most conservative attorney generals in the country not just one of the most conservative elected officials in texas but one of the most conservative attorney generals in the country he has painted a target on his back for not only the democrats but also the more liberal republicans so they decided to come after him this has only happened two times in texas history once with a governor who was kicked out in 1917 for vetoing the funding of the University of Texas. So I don't know much about the guy, but he sounds like a patriot. His wife actually ran and replaced him. And then one district judge in the 70s. So it's this rare tool that's never been used. We actually don't believe in overturning elections.

And ultimately, that's what this was. They're literally making accusations some against him of things that happened 10 years ago. So why do the rhino bums in Texas? And I say that not in a judgmental way. say rhino bums in the in the neutral sense why do they have it out for ken paxton basically i think that in texas one of the in some ways this is positive in texas we have seen a continued rise of conservative dominance in in texas politics the republican party of texas chairman is one of the most conservative state party chairs in the country that hasn't always been the case the texas house

and the texas senate have become increasingly more conservative every two years so what we have set up is the fact that the moderates who have this last little bit of power in the Texas House are really flexing because they know that their power is slipping away. And Ken was just an easy person for them to target. They knew the Democrats would go in lockstep with any impeachment against any Republican. And so they really just needed their top lieutenants to vote in line. And once they had a majority vote, they just had to bully enough people into submission. And so I think that the reason it's happening now is because conservatives have been on the rise. And more and more often in these primaries that the House leadership is competing in, they're losing their preferred moderate candidate.

And so now you have them flexing and saying we need to use the power we do have to try to tamp down on the conservative rising in Texas. Isn't this basically what's happening on the national level? In other words, you have people horrified by Ken Paxton. And so they're willing to do things that they never would have done. before. You have people horrified by the prospect of Donald Trump going back to the White House. And so they're doing things, really monstrous things, ugly, unprecedented things because of their tremendous desperation. There's a level of desperation that makes them say, we don't care how ugly it looks. We can't let somebody like Ken Paxton be the Attorney General. He's at war with everything

we believe in, and of course they believe in nothing but their own power, and he's at war with that. But it seems to me similar, that we're seeing the breakdown of tradition in American politics and that the left allied with the, I believe the term is bum rhinos or rhino bums. I always get a mixed up, forgive me, but that they're allied with them because they realize that their end is nigh, that they are, they're on the way out, and they're hoping desperately to do anything they can, whether it's indict the President in the United States on preposterous counts or to impeach the Attorney General. Do you think that the Senate in, that the Texas Senate will allow this to continue? So I'm very hopeful that the Texas Senate,

they as a chamber have been much more responsive to grassroots conservatives. They've been more responsive to the Republican majority and the will of the Republican majority. So I am a lot more hopeful that the Senate will not impeach Ken Paxson. And that trial begins on September 5th. I have told every Texan, if you are a Texan, please contact your state senator. Because if you're a Texan, you haven't reached out to your state senator to say, I don't want Ken Paxon to be impeached, then the senators aren't hearing from you. Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate is responsible.

to their constituents. So I encourage every Texan to do that. One other, I think, similarity that you pointed out with the very neutral description of rhino bums on the national level and the state level is the fact that they really disdain the decision voters make. I mean, they hate the fact that voters want to reelect Donald Trump right now. And they're doing everything they can to stop it. I'm sure you have these conversations with people all the time, people that are not sure they're supporting Donald Trump, supporting another candidate. And they just seem so. angry at the voters. And I do think that you see that same disdain at this level where they're saying, we are mad that voters heard these accusations, the Dallas Morning News, Texas Tribune, all these

liberal media outlets have been hitting Ken Paxton with these same accusations for years. And the voters said, no, I'm going to reelect him. Texans for lawsuit reform, Eva Guzman, George P. Bush, a Bush family member. These moderate groups went against him, spent millions in the primary. And he won against the moderate, you know, challengers. So you have this situation where when the voters make the wrong decision, these elected elites say, you know what, we know better. We have this tool. We're going to overturn this election.

And then we're going to have the governor place somebody in there that's more of a caretaker that we all respect. And we all feel like we have influence and control over, not someone who's actually responsive to the people. So I think that that also is a parallel to the national level. Yeah, a caretaker we respect. dead wood we can control. It's so pathetic. Honestly, it's so pathetic. And, you know, while we're at it, I've been calling for Mitch McConnell's head on a pike. It's interesting that we, in America, on the conservative side of things, have put up with the malfeasance of figures like Mitch McConnell and down the line. I never would have thought that I could think of George W. Bush in that way.

But as the years have passed and as Trump has forced us to see the real division in this country and the participation of people on the GOP side with what the left has been doing to this country over the years, it's a new day. And we're seeing that folks, like I mentioned, of course, George W. Bush, that they're not who we thought they were, that they really aren't willing to fight for the people. They seem to have kind of over time drunk the Kool-Aid of the uniparty of the bureaucratic state, and George W. Bush is more inclined to be friendly with Bill and Hillary Clinton and Michelle and Barack Obama than with Donald Trump and Melania. It's an extraordinary thing to see this development in American politics.

And it sounds like that's exactly what's happened with Ken Paxton and what's happening in Texas. What's an easy way for folks in Texas to contact their state senators on this issue? Because, folks, this is an important issue. Ken Paxton is a hero. You need to do what you can. And even if you have friends in Texas, email them this information. But what is a good way to connect? You can literally go to the Texas Senate website.

If you just Google Texas Senate, you'll pull up all the different state senators. There's find who elects, find who represents me. Even at Texas scorecard, where I produce a weekly podcast, we have a Find Who Represents Me tab. You can type your address into. But if you say, find who represents me in Texas, you can type it in. And their number is right there. The Texas Senate website has the same tool you can use. So it's very easy to find out what senator represents you and then to call them.

Remember, if you happen to be in an area that has a Democrat senator, they're going to vote. to impeach him because that's in their best interest. Okay, hang on. We're going to be right back, going to a heartbreak. Luke Macias is my guest. Don't go away. Tell me why Relief Factor is so successful at lowering or eliminating pain. I'm often asked that question just the other night. I was asked that question. Well, the owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal.

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Visit Mypillar.com today. Or dial 800-97830577 to grab this deal with. promo code Eric, act fast, they won't last. Use promo code Eric for more specials. 800, 9783057. Use promo code Eric or Mypillow.com. Welcome back. I'm talking to Luke Macias, who has written an article for American greatness about the civil war that's happening in Texas over the soul of the GOP.

and it's fascinating to me that this is happening in Texas is happening all over the country. So, Luke, let's talk about who the players are. I mean, when I think of Texas, I think it's the classic case. You have Ted Cruz, who's a real, you know, MAGA Republican, an America First Republican, whatever you want to call it. He's an actual America-loving conservative. And then you have John Cornyn who strikes me as the class.

classic rhino, you know, political hack. And again, I say hack in the most positive sense of the word hack. But somebody who is just a career politician who does not really have fire for America. And he's just willing to say and do what he thinks is prudent, which is always, you know, code for the safe thing that's going to help him to stay in power. So does John Cornyn, have any views on the demonization of the heroic Ken Paxton at this point? Yeah, I think you bring up a great example. I mean, look, prudence is something that can only be appropriately used when you know that there are times to fight. Okay, so prudence requires that. Cornyn doesn't seem to get that. Cruz and Cornyn are perfect examples of the Civil War that's happening in Texas. Ted Cruz literally came out before the Texas House voted and said,

this is absolutely wrong. This impeachment should not happen. John Cornyn, who's Mitch McConnell's buddy. I mean, he's literally probably the one closest in line to replacing McConnell. Not only did he come out and push the impeachment, the Defend Texas Liberty Pack, a pack that I run here in Texas, we literally pulled statewide Republican voters three, four months ago. And Ken Paxton is beating John Cornyn already in a matchup in 2026.

This is before the impeachment, anything came up. So Cornyn knows he's literally six points under Ken Paxton, and now he's coming out. saying, yeah, we should impeach this guy. Well, no, duh. He's a threat to your re-election to the U.S. Senate. Well, are you saying, did I, did I just miss you saying that Ken Paxton might run for the Senate? I think that that is a very real possibility. And I will tell you this, even if he got impeached in the Senate, he's still eligible to run for, for U.S. Senate in 2026. The last, the only state official we've ever impeached was in 1917, and the guy's wife ran to replace him as governor. and got elected in 1918.

So you look at these situations and go, all you're doing is creating this martyr who's going to stay around. I think that is a real possibility. And one reason why Cornyn is joining all the other rhino bums to make that determination. So it's just very clear that the line is being drawn. Ted Cruz on one side saying, you know,

this is wrong and John Cornyn on the other. I'm sure, you know, John Cornyn in his private time skateboards with Beto O'Rourke. I'm pretty sure that that is what he does. That is where that's where he spends his time, folks, just so you understand. Skateboarding with Beto.

Well, what else do we need to know about what's going on in Texas? Because Texas is such a big state, not just physically, but it looms so large. I know that, I know Dan Patrick personally, Lieutenant Governor, he seems to me to be a real

hero. Has he been involved in some of the stuff that we're talking about? Well, he hasn't. And now, Dan can't take a public position because he's now put in the position as kind of the judge in this situation. And so he has avoided making too strong a statement one way or the other. And I think a lot of people have respected his decision to do that. That being said, Dan Patrick passed dozens of conservative bills that the Texas House killed. He knows where the divide is.

I mean, Dan Patrick passed detransitioner protection policy against all these kids that are now regretting what was done, and the Texas House killed that. He passed a ban on China land purchases that the Texas House killed. He passed a dozen election integrity policies, a dozen election integrity policies. One of them just saying China can't manufacture things that are in our voting machines, that died in the Texas House of Representatives. You have to keep – so these are the type of things that Dan's up against. Okay. I always knew that Dan Patrick was a huge. hero. He's one of the absolute brightest lights in American politics. And the idea that he would

put up bills like this in Texas, they would be shot down by the Texas legislature. How is that possible? Like help somebody like me who lives in New York, how can I understand that the Texas legislature could be this wicked? How is it possible? You know, attitude reflects leadership, right? That's the old, remember the Titans line. And so attitude reflects leadership. Dan Patrick came into a Senate that honestly had killed a ton of conservative policy itself and then actually turned it around and said, I want to pass conservative policy. And slowly, the Senate has become this chamber that passes a lot more of the conservative policy in Texas due to the leadership. And in the House, you have the opposite. You have a speaker who lines up the support of Democrats

prior to the Republican caucus meeting to choose its choice for speaker. So the Texas scorecard is actually just about to put a documentary out tomorrow on this issue. And there's a 30-minute documentary. I participated in it. Many others did. And it's literally revealing exactly how the process works because the Republican caucus meets a selected speaker. I know this gets in the weeds, but I think it helps explain things to people. The Democrats literally go and pick their Republican horse before the caucus and they give him their votes so that all he needs to do is get a couple dozen Republicans to sport him and he gets to be the Speaker of the Texas House. And what that means is that our speaker's more beholden to Democrats through governing. We'll be right back with

Luke Macias, folks. Don't go away. Hey folks, you've all helped support MyPillow and their employees in these tough economic times. Mike Lindell knows this and continues to give back to listeners with deals on his most popular products. You've heard me recently speak about the MySlippers, the Giza Sheets, My Pillo 2.0, and more. For a limited time, the My Pillar 6-pack bath towel set is back in stock. These towels are highly recommended. They're luxuriously soft and super absorbent, meaning they actually function like a towel should. With a special deal, you'll get two bath towels, two hand towels, and two wash cloths.

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Advisory services are offered through Inspire Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor with the SEC. Hey there, folks. I continue my conversation with Luke Macias. The Castilian is Mathiaf. And we're talking about, well, a lot of things. Luke is. Texas-based political consultant. He's written an article at American Greatness called Texas GOP Civil War will erupt if impeachment upheld. Let's start there before we get into the transgender lunacy.

If the impeachment is upheld, if the Texas Senate does not do the right thing, and Ken Paxton is impeached preposterously as Trump was impeached. It's just so crazy. When you say a, a civil war will erupt. What do you mean by that? I will tell you, I've been involved in Texas politics since I was 16 years old in 2006. And traditionally, you'll have a dozen, maybe 15, 20, 30

Republican incumbents be challenged to their right by somebody in their Republican primary. There are well over 40 challengers today that are literally gearing up campaigns. I wouldn't be surprised if almost all but a dozen Republican state representatives are challenged in their primary. The reason being that people are more so than ever sick and tired of a legislative body that is going to hand these type of victories to Democrats. They don't see the Texas Senate in that way. I do think in the event that the Senate does decide to go along and endorse the House's actions, then it will only increase the temperature in the room. It won't actually take it down. So I do hope, I've said this before, the Senate is much more responsive to the will of the grassroots.

So I have a hard time seeing them go along with this madness. Well, when you say that, you know, if this happens, then there are going to be more challenges from the right for these legislative seats. It seems to me that that ought to be happening anyway. In other words, if we're in this bad of a place, even the specter of Paxton, you know, actually being impeached ought to galvanize people on the right to challenge all of these rhino legislators. Why wouldn't that happen anyway, I guess is my question? So I think in the Texas House it's happening. I think that people have already lost faith in their legislators and they're tired of having them come back and try to, you know,

the old phrases, piss on them and tell them it's raining. But the truth is these guys are tired of these state representatives coming back and telling them everything's great and then not actually admitting that they teamed up with Democrats and all these policy issues. So I don't think there's any saving state legislators from the wrath that's coming to them in the primary. I do think as a whole, they don't feel like the entire Republican,

parties against them. They feel like there's this one rogue chamber that's giving Democrats all these victories. If the Senate went along with it, then I think the reason the Civil War would erupt even more is because people would then go, okay, nobody's with us. We've got a clean house. And so that's kind of my reference in that. Well, I mean, I think that that's what's happening across the country is that anybody who loves America is finally awaking or those who haven't been awake are awaking to the nightmare in which we find ourselves because of rhino establishment quote unquote moderate candidates who are worse than useless they are you know the handmaidens of evil um for example uh you brought up earlier the uh sex change and transitioning

legislations talk about that for a little bit so we successfully passed a ban on transgender surgeries puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. That is something that the Texas House killed last session, Dustin Burroughs, Stephanie Click, Dave Feeland, but we were able to pass at this session. The truth, though, is that that is, I call it the 20-week ban on abortion, right? That's the worst possible part of all these transgendering of kids that we're going to stop. So the question is what is still legal? One of the things that's still legal is the social transitioning of children.

Literally a two-year-old picks up the wrong toy. Their parent takes them to a psychologist. The psychologist tells Tommy, you might be. a girl. And now we're on a 10-year journey where every single week he's being told by his parents and his psychologist, you're a girl, you're a girl, you're a girl, and having coming out parties and being enrolled in school as a girl. The Texas House not only killed a bill, there was a, there was a motion on policy to actually restrict grant funding to children's hospitals that are doing the social transitioning. 11 Republicans ended up voting with all the Democrats to kill that

bill. There was the Texas Senate passed a bill that said you can't change your birth certificate. Real simple. If you're born a boy, you can't change your birth certificate to a girl. Now, in Texas, you can today. There's an other option on your birth certificate, male, female, or other. So the Senate said, no, we're going to do away with that. The Texas House killed that bill. So you just have to look at this and go, yeah, they'll do the ban on the worst possible part of it. But all this other sexualization of kids that are happening with this transgender religion that's in our state is being allowed to continue. So these are the battles that we are still having. and the battles we have to continue to have.

When I think of how many people in Texas think of themselves as Christians who are attending churches that are silent on these issues, it's deeply sickening. And I want to say, folks, if you are going to a church anywhere in the country that is being silent on these issues, get out of that church and take as many people as you can with you. We are in an absolute battle, a spiritual battle, a political battle, an ideological battle. And anybody who at this stage of the game is willing to look the other way is utterly a part of the problem. This is inevitable. This is not my opinion.

This is where we are. We have many examples from history. But that's where we are. And people need to take a stand. I'm just fascinated as you're talking, Luke, to think that, you know, to think that, This is happening in Texas. That's, you know, I have to say that if you want to know how things can be so bad in America, it's because, yeah, even in Texas, this kind of battle is happening.

I don't know who comes up for reelection next in terms of the Senate. When is Cornyn back on the stump? So Ted Cruz is up right now. He's up for reelection right now. Conservatives, of course, are rallying behind his reelection. campaign. Democrats will target him. I think he'll be fine. John Cornyn is up for re-election in 26, and I think that is going to be a battle. I think there are numerous conservative voices that are considering challenging him, and I think that will be a very serious, contentious

battle in the state. Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick are not up until 2026 as well, at which point they'll decide whether they all run for re-election or whether we have this domino effect. But that's probably another reason why the liberal leadership in the House was impeaching, is trying to impeach Ken Paxton is because the fear is that he's in a position to either be the next lieutenant governor or governor. And if he is, he's going to push much more conservative policy than Greg Abbott. Greg Abbott is a actually he's one of the more conservative governors in the state of Texas, like in, let's say, Republican governors. And that's still not saying much sadly. He lets a lot of this policy die. He doesn't like the social issues.

I want to talk about that when we come back, folks. We're going to go to a break. Don't go away. Folks, welcome back talking to Luke Macias. I was written an article at American Greatness about what's going on in Texas for the soul of the GOP. You were just referencing Governor Greg Abbott. Greg Abbott is a very mixed bag. He's somebody that I wouldn't describe him as a rhino, but neither is he anything like a Ken Paxton or a Dan Patrick. I know that when we're talking about things like what he could do on the southern border, he's doing some things, but he isn't doing nearly what he might do,

which is horrifying because lives of people are being dramatically affected. What do you see in his future? I think that Greg struggles. He really does struggle between these two camps. He kind of sees where the party is going and knows he's supposed to move to the right at the same time. He raises tens of millions of dollars from the same donor class that want Cornyn to stay in power, that don't want Trump to ever come back. And so he really has both voices speaking in his ear, and he's constantly trying to figure out who to please. He rose to power as a judge, which I think affects him.

He was a district judge, a Supreme Court judge, then the Attorney General never legislated. So he was used to having everybody bring positions to him and then him pick aside. And that's how he tries to govern. He doesn't actually lead. He doesn't say here where the battlefields are. let's go take that ground. He says, everyone come to me with your concerns and I'll decide what to do. He's very weary of the transgender issue. All the other bills that passed this session, he had signing ceremonies and all these different things. And when it came to the transgender ban, you know,

it was like, oh, he signed it. Oh, it's Friday at 4.45 p.m., which anybody who does the press knows, is like the thing you do that you don't want people to cover as much as possible. He hasn't embraced that. And that's the problem that Red State governors need to understand very quickly. is that you want the liberal media to write that your state is bigoted and can't stand the LGBT community and all of that stuff. It's not actually true. The truth is we're just standing up for what is right. But every time these articles get written about the state of Florida, liberals leave the state of Florida. I mean, they literally go like, I want to go to New York.

I'm sorry, Eric, but I want to go to California. And so we actually want people to leave, not feel welcome here. Why? Because then that is actually what preserved. the ability for our state to be an example in 10 or 20 years. It's not going to happen if we literally try to make sure they all feel as welcome as possible. Well, it's so interesting, you know, that somebody like Greg Abbott is worried about the LGBTQ community because there's literally no such thing as the LGBTQ community. You talk to anybody, you know, who identifies

as gay, they will tell you that this is nonsense. We're at war with the transgender community. They're crazy. They don't speak for me. So whoever is doing the political calculating and says that this is a community and that they speak with one voice is a joke. Anybody with a brain and a heart knows that the radical trans community is at war with what I like to call reality. And when you're at war with reality, you're going to lose a lot of people.

And so the idea that people like, you know, Governor Abbott are afraid of dealing with folks like that is just, it's infuriating. It's sickening. We need bold leadership. Folks, pay attention because balance of nature has a very special offer that's only good through the day after Labor Day. Each week, you hear me talk about how vital balance of nature is in my life. It's part of who I am literally because I take it every day. And right now, through the day after Labor Day, Balance of Nature is offering 40% off your first preferred order if you use my discount code. Whether you order online at balance of nature.com or call them direct at 800-2468-751.

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