The Eric Metaxas Show - Steve Hilton is Running for Governor of California

Episode Date: August 9, 2025

Steve Hilton joins the show to discuss his campaign for Governor of California.

Welcome to the Eric Metaxis show. Did you ever see the movie The Blobs starring Steve McQueen? The blood-curdling threat 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 him. 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 the Texas! I know this because I'm actually here, but in case you didn't know, and the audience didn't know, I'm in Los Angeles. I'm in the West Coast. I travel. I don't know how I do all this stuff, but if it weren't for planes, man, I'd be in trouble. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

Wow, that's incredible. You're, you're, you are a jet setter. I do think when you stay someplace for long enough, it starts to affect you. So I don't think it would take a lot longer for you to become a Californian. It'll, it would mess me up, man. It would mess me up. So, so today I'm in. I have to look at my calendar.

Today I'm in Rancho Palos Verdes, I guess. It's L.A., basically, right? So next week, Suzanne is forcing me to take three days vacation. So I don't know, we're going to be in the Hamptons or something at an undisclosed location in a bunker with Dick Cheney. But, of course, I'm working on a book on the American Revolution. So I don't really get vacation vacation. like I'm working on the book. I'm working hard on the book.

And you know what? This is a good opportunity for me to ask my audience here, folks. If you're a praying person, I ask you to pray because this is a lot of this stuff is tough. It's tough. Writing is not easy to get it right. And when I do something like write about the American Revolution, I take it very seriously. I believe this is God's assignment to tell an important story. in the right way in a way that communicates the truth of it.

And so I, to use the Christian phrase, I covet your prayers because I've been working hard. And it's, I take it seriously. It's a joy. It's a privilege, but it's a serious thing. Next week, I don't think I've mentioned this, but John Zmirak is going to be in New York. He may be staying with us. And he's a wild child. So pray about that.

But John, I just am thrilled to think of him. as in New York. So John's visiting New York. But when I look at my schedule in the weeks coming up, it is just, I mean, I'm going to be in Colorado Springs in October. I'm sorry, in September. I'm going to be in Colorado Springs. I'm going to be in Washington, D.C. in Colorado Springs, because I've been appointed to the President's Commission on Religious Liberty. So every six weeks or so, I'm going to be in Washington, D.C. I'm going to be doing stuff in D.C. I'm going to be doing stuff in Dallas in September. I got a lot, I got a lot going on. How am I going to do all this? This is absolutely nuts. I'm going to be back in Colorado in October. I'm going to be in Waco,

Texas, October 7th. I'm speaking here in that pregnancy center of Central Texas in Waco on October 7th. I'm going to be in, I'm doing something for Summit Ministries. I love those guys. That's in Colorado Springs. I'm going to be in Pensacola, Florida. I better stop reading because I'm getting dizzy. I'm going to be in Houston, October 28th, and on and on it goes. Unbelievable. So I'm traveling a lot. But you didn't tune into this program to hear my travel schedule.

You can find that, by the way, at Ericmetaxis.com. Let me just say that. If you want to know if I'm going to be in your town, go to Ericmataxis.com. My schedule should be posted there. Today, before we continue, I just want to remind you, we have an emergency request. from our friends at Food for the Poor, because of the horrible flooding that has happened in Texas, I'm sure you know all about it.

Food for the Poor has come to us. Again, this is an emergency request. Obviously, this was not planned. But asking us to go to you, my radio audience, to ask you to help us out, to help them out, because they are on the ground, in central Texas. I think we don't normally think of this because of the horror of what happened. We just think, oh, lives were lost, and that's so horrible that we can't even comprehend it.

But we forget that, unfortunately, there's a lot more that has happened. This kind of flooding has wiped out many, many, many homes. There are many, many people displaced. They're not going back to these homes. You can imagine the damage. businesses have been wiped out. Whole communities have been, have been wiped out. As I mentioned, flooded out homes, closed businesses, and people simply displaced.

So they need help. So Food for the Poor asks us to reach out to you. The easiest way to help is to go to metaxis talk.com. There's a banner at the top says, Help Texas. Metaxistalk.com. There's a help Texas banner right there. And I want to say, you know, this is, I'm not trying to, if you can't afford to give, don't even just skip it. But I know that there are people like me who thought, gosh, I wish I could do something.

Well, this is something you can do. So we just make this available to you. The need is very real. Food for the poor would not come to us unless. the need were very real. So they are there, they're working with one of their partner organizations in San Antonio and specifically they're delivering shipments of emergency relief supplies to help these families that have been displaced and that are in a very bad place right now. So the emergency relief kits contain hygiene items, tarps,

That tells you something. TARPs, women's care kits, liquid IV, diapers, children's activity materials, and other essentials needed to ease the crisis that is facing these flooded out residents. And, of course, this is going to go on for some time. The devastation is incomprehensible. So food for the poor is there. They asked us, it's an emergency, would you reach out to your audience? So I'm doing that right now. the website I mentioned, it's always our radio website,

metaxis talk.com, and the banner is Help Texas at the top of the page. And if you click through that, everything is there. If you prefer to call and just to give that way, there's no specific ask, whatever you'd like to do. The phone number is 844-863-4673. Again, if you'd like to call, you can call right now, 844-8-6-3-4673. I'm always wondering, are people writing this down?

It's always a challenge. 8-4-8-6-3-46-73. That's the phone number. If you prefer to do it via text to get the link, you can just text my last name, Metaxus, M-E-T-A-X-A-S. text metaxis to 5155.5.5. Again, text metaxis to 5155.5. Text metaxis to 51555. The number again, 844-863, 4673. They really need your help, whatever you can do. Or you can go to metaxistalk.com. You'll see the banner at the top. Help Texas. Metaxistalk.com. God bless you.

A major retail chain just canceled a massive order, leaving My Pillow with an overstock of the classic My Pillows, and this is your gain, because for a limited time, my pillow is offering their entire classic collection at true wholesale prices. Get a standard My Pillow for just 1798. Want more upgrade to Queen Size for only 2298 or King Size for 2498? Snag body pillows for 2998 and versatile multi-use pillows for just 998. Give your bed a whole new pillow set only. supplies last. Visit mypillow.com today. Use promo code Eric or call 800-9778-3057 to score these amazing deals while they're in stock. Plus, when your order totals $75 or more, you'll receive $100 in free digital gifts, no strings attached. That's right. Premium pillows at unbeatable prices and

bonus gifts to top it off. Don't wait. Head to MyPillow.com today or call 800-9783057. Now. Don't forget to use promo code Eric to grab your standard MyPillow for only 1798 only while supplies last. Folks, just to remind you, the flooding in central Texas has taken over 100 lives. Many people still missing. We on this program are asking you to join us in Food for the Poor as we rush emergency relief to devastated families. Please call 844-863-4673 or text Metaxus to 5155 to give right now, or you can click on the banner, metaxus talk.com. Thank you. A major retail chain just canceled a massive order, leaving My Pillow with an overstock of the classic my pillows. And this is your gain because for a limited time, my pillow is offering their entire classic collection at true wholesale prices.

Get a standard My Pillow for just 1798. Want more upgrade to queen size for only 2298 or king size for 2498? Snag body pillows for 2998 and versatile multi-use pillows for just 9998. Give your bed a whole new pillow set only. while supplies last. Visit mypillow.com today. Use promo code Eric or call 800-9778-3057 to score these amazing deals while they're in stock. Plus, when your order totals $75 or more, you'll receive $100 in free digital gifts, no strings attached. That's right. Premium pillows at unbeatable prices and bonus gifts to top it off. Don't wait. Head to MyPillow.com today or call 800-9783057. Now. Don't forget to use promo code Eric to grab your standard MyPillow for only 1798 only while supply applies last. Folks, right now in Texas, families are reeling from this historic flooding. Food for

the poor is delivering life-saving relief, but they need our help. I'm Eric Metaxus. Call 844-863-4673, or text Metaxus to 51555 to send emergency supplies or visit Metaxistalk.com. Click on the banner. Metaxistalksotoccom. Thank you. Hey there, folks. Welcome back. It is a real privilege to get on the program for the first time, Steve Hilton. Many of you already know him from his innumerable appearances on Fox and other places. But now you need to know him, I hope, as the next governor of the great state of California. Steve Hilton, welcome. Great to be with you, Eric. It's a very big deal to run for governor in California. You, you know, you've established your conservative bona fides over the years. What made you decide to take this great leap? Because I really can't, I, the idea of somebody like you was Governor California, you know, gives a lot of us hope, frankly. But what was it that led you to say, I actually want to run for office? It was a gradual process, actually. And I think the sort of starting point is that I love California so much.

We moved here in 2012, my wife and my two sons became an American in 2021. This is my home. And, you know, I started at Stanford and started a business here, raised my family here. But it's not just literally my home. I feel at home in California in a way that I haven't anywhere else I've ever been. I just completely love everything that I think California. should represent as far as I'm concerned, the best of America. So the starting point.

Some people might not know that, although as you mentioned, I've been a familiar face on Fox News and elsewhere in the last few years. Really, that's not been my main experience in my career. I've mainly been in business and working in politics and government directly. In fact, just before moving to California, my job was in 10 Downing Street. I was senior advisor to the UK Prime Minister, really leading the implementation of our domestic policy reform programs.

I'm very familiar with government and politics and policymaking and actually trying to make change happen in government. So I've got that background, started and run companies, including here in California. And as the years went on, it just dawned on me that I was getting increasingly frustrated with just talking about the problems in California, of which, you know, I don't know when I start. There are so many.

Of course, everything is such a disaster because of this 15 years now of one party rule. But I was getting frustrated just talking about it, complaining about it. And I started to get into, in a way, going back to what I used to do before, thinking about policy solutions. I started a policy organization called Golden Together about three years ago, started developing policy solutions to many of these problems, starting with our housing crisis, which is the number one reason actually people are leaving California. It's just so impossible to afford the California dream.

And so gradually, as I started working on the issues, engaging with the political system here in California, going to Sacramento, seeing how it worked or more precisely how it doesn't work, I just got to the point where I thought, I don't just want to talk about it. I want to actually do something about it. And really, that would have been probably sometime in the last year or so. That's the downside of being a talking head is that people would assume that's all you've ever done. And I think that many people thought Pete Higgseth, that's all he did. You know, he's on Fox TV talking. But of course, that's not true in his case. And it's dramatically less true in your case. I was unaware that you worked at 10 Downing Street.

Which prime minister did you work with? So it was David Cameron elected in 2010. Before that, I'd actually worked for him. I left the company that I started in about 2006 for four years worked on developing, when he was leader, I helped run his campaign to become leader of the opposition leader of the conservative party in the UK and then develop the plan, the policy platform that we went into the election with and then started to implement. I have to tell you, I'm not holding that up as some great example of success. In many ways, I found it a very disappointing experience, but I learned

the tricks of the bureaucracy and how they work and how you can make change happen and what you need in order to make change happen because frankly I saw it not happen the way that I wanted to. One of the things that we really tried to do, and I led the work on, was very similar to what we would now think of here in America as Doge, because just as here in the UK, there's a massive with government bureaucracy, ridiculous regulations holding everything back, bloated, nanny state government, centralized government that takes power away. different people and families, local communities. And that was the agenda that I developed with others, obviously, as a team going into the election.

That's what we campaigned on. But honestly, once we got there, I found that there was very little political support for actually trying to make it happen. So I was in many ways battling the bureaucracy almost on my own there. And I learned a lot of lessons from that. And now that I'm leading the charge, I'm really excited about bringing that whole agenda. to Sacramento. Because when we think about the bureaucracy in Washington and how the federal government is, of course, in Washington, over the years, at least we've had some injection of an alternative worldview because you've had Republican presidents alternating

with Democrat one. So it's not just been a one-way street. In Sacramento, in California, that's exactly what we've had. For decades now, basically, you've had this one-party mindset in operation. So the whole system is infected with this bureaucratic leftism, which is the reason why everything is such a disaster in California. But I'm really excited about taking that on because I've tried to do it before. I learned the lessons and I'm raring to go. Well, it's fascinating to hear of your experience in England, in the UK, because it's hard for those of us who love England to see how far is drifted. And I was really, I found it very entertaining to see President Trump hosting Prime Minister Starrmer at his, Donald Trump's glorious residence in Scotland. It really was interesting

because he's become such a world leader. And he seems to be, I guess, giving people all around the world hope, that there are people, even in the UK, who think whatever he's doing, we'd like some of that here. And I just, I guess I wonder about the future of the UK, well, since you, you have that kind of experience there. Do you suppose that there is, that there could be enough of a groundswell, that there could be real reform there? Well, look, I hope so. I mean, it's a pretty desperate and sad situation. And we can all see and the decline has been so strong. I mean, remember, I left in 2012 to move here to California.

Then in 2016, the UK had the Brexit referendum. Now, I went back to the UK to campaign in favour of Brexit because I'd always been on that side of that argument. And in fact, in 10 Downing Street, and in fact, it's one of the reasons that I felt so frustrated, many of the things that we were trying to do, we were blocked from doing by the European Union and by bureaucrats in the European Union

that nobody ever elected, whereas we were elected as a government to deliver a certain set of things, and we were blocked by these bureaucrats in Brussels. So I was always very much in favour of Brexit. That went through, and the real tragedy, I think, is that it has not really been implemented. The promise of Brexit was never really achieved.

What was the central thing in a way? It wasn't the only argument, but the driving argument that really, I think, resulted in the Brexit vote being successful was about immigration and controlling the UK's borders. Immigration's gone up since Brexit. It's got more chaotic since Brexit. You've got, you know, their equivalent of what we saw at the southern border under Biden, with the people just, you know, walking across the border and, you know, through the Rio Grande

and all those scenes that we remember, Eagle Pass, all of that night. It seems so long ago because it's been so incredibly effective at putting an end to it. But the UK has that with these boats, you know, small boats coming across laden with illegal immigrants that are just welcomed into the UK by the Coast Guard, ushered into a new life in the UK, totally illegal. That was happening after Brexit and under a conservative government, which is why they lost so massively, because it seemed to me it was a conservative government that completely lost its way and wasn't conservative at all,

didn't cut taxes, didn't cut regulations, didn't control immigration, all the things that were supposed to happen after Brexit, the conservative governments failed to deliver. It seems that you don't, it's almost as though you don't have, it's the same in blue states here, it's almost as though we don't have genuine representative government. You have elites not doing what the people want, which is bizarre, and at some point the people have to rise up.

Well, that's why you see, I mean, and you see right now that is happening. I mean, look, it's, there's obviously, you know, there's a difference between an opinion poll and an actual election. But you look what's happening right now in the UK. You've got Keir-Starma, that's a polling prime minister as far as I'm concerned, pretty much to the left. I mean, look, President Trump has established a good working relationship with him. That's his job.

And it's delivered a great result in terms of a trade deal, UK-U.S. Trade deal, which is good for us here in America. so I'm happy to see President Trump working well with him on that front. But in terms of the domestic policy of the Kia-Stama government, is a complete disaster. They've got a massive parliamentary majority because the conservatives were such a disaster. They were pretty much wiped out in the last election about a year ago in the UK. But despite the fact that Stama's got this huge parliamentary majority,

he's basically doing nothing to solve the problems. They all seem to be getting worse. So guess who's in the lead now in the UK? top of the opinion polls in the UK, Nigel Farage. I was going to say, I hope you'll bring up Nigel Farage eventually. We're going to go to a break. When we come back, folks, I'm talking to Steve Hilton. He is running for Governor of California.

Very exciting. We'll be right back. Welcome back talking to Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California. Very exciting, Steve. We're talking about your former home, the UK. And you said that Nigel Farage, who was very much behind Brexit in the polls is in the lead. That gives me hope, I have to say.

Well, look, people want change, and they keep voting for change one way or another, and it's not delivered. So you saw Brexit. Nothing happened, basically. Then they've just voted for change of a different kind. One I don't agree with, the Labor government, nothing's happening. So they just get increasingly frustrated. It doesn't matter what you do, who you vote for, however you express. yourself through the normal process.

System always seems to win out. And that's why I think Nigel's message, which is very similar in many ways to the Trump message here. And also he has the same kind of characteristics. I mean, very different people. I know Nigel, and he's a really engaging character,

really charismatic, speaks very plainly, talks in that language of common sense, just like President Trump. Look, he doesn't have the business background that President Trump has, nothing like or anything in terms of the personal career that they've had. But there's a lot of similarity there in how they speak in practical, plain English about the problems that are in front of them and don't really have an ideological approach. That's what I love about President Trump,

by the way, the fact that he's just a problem solver. He's completely thrown out past ideological obsessions and just says, look, I want to fix the problem, I want to get fair trade, I want to enter the war, I want to bring back manufacturing jobs, win the AI race, close the border, whatever it is, he's just, okay, here's the problem, how do I fix it? I'm going to get it done. That kind of problem-solving, pragmatic approach is, by the way, exactly what I'm planning to bring to the campaign. And then when I've won to being governor of California, because that's what people want. They don't want all this endless ideology. They just want the problem solved, government to do its job, deal with the problems,

then get out the way so people can live their lives with their families and their community. I think there are many people maybe who listen to this program who have written California off. I live in New York City, and I love New York City, and I have not written off New York City or California. My wife and I love California. Every time I visit California, I think, you know,

if I were forced to leave New York, where would I go? and I have to say California is close to the top of the list. It's just one of these fabulous places. And anybody who knows California, who remembers the California, it's such a fabled place. I mean, all you have to do is think of the Beach Boys

and the 60s and what it represented symbolically. In so many ways, the governorship, of course, of the great Ronald Reagan, to think that Arnold Schwarzenegger rather recently was the governor. It's obviously fallen on very, very hard times. So in your campaign, what are you proposing?

In other words, do you suppose that people have had enough of the horror of Gavin Newsom and his policies to turn to a common-sense solution like Steve Hilton? Well, that's the point of the campaign. The first part of it doesn't need to, they don't need convincing that we need change, if I can put it like that. Every poll for the last, you know, three or four years has a very clear majority of people saying California is going in the wrong direction. There's a majority for change in California. What we haven't had is that desire for change matched with a really strong, energetic, positive Republican alternative being laid out.

So that's the whole point of what I'm doing in the campaign. And the theme of the campaign absolutely captures what you were just talking about, which is golden again. with a golden state. Everyone knows what that means in one way or another. In many ways, the American drawing, people thought of the American dream. They used to think of the California dream. That very simple thing of a beautiful neighborhood where you can, you know, you've got a job where you can make enough to raise your family, a home of your own, nice yard for the kids to play, enjoy the weather, a safe neighborhood, a good school. All those things were taken for granted. It was the best place in America to raise a family, to start.

and run a business. That's what we were known for. And that's really what I want to get us back to. And the answers to that are actually not that complicated. It really is common sense. We've got a massively bloated government infected by this left-wing ideology. That's why we have the highest taxes in the country. We have the highest housing costs in the country because of the climate extremism that makes it impossible to build anything anywhere, an affordable rate. We have the highest cost for gas, electricity, water, everything, the most expensive in America. So it's just for regular working class, middle class people. It's just impossible to live here.

I'm on the road the whole time in California. And we see thousands of people over the couple of months now have been running this campaign. And the number one thing I take away from those meetings, whether it's just regular people coming to our town halls or sitting down with business owners, small businesses, large businesses, everything is such a struggle. in California. That's the word that I get from it. It's just so hard. And it doesn't have to be hard. We just got to stop doing these crazy things. And so the components of my plan to make California golden again, it's very simple things. Instead of where we are now, which is $5 gas, the most expensive in the country, heading to $6 gas or even higher, I'm going to get rid of the climate regulations that cause that. So we can have $3 gas. Instead of the highest taxes in the country, your first $100,000 of income,

free of state income tax, a flat tax of 7.5% above that. We do that by cutting back the state budget, which has doubled in the last 10 years, even as everything's got worse. We've got the worst homelessness crisis. We've got the pretty much the worst results in many stages of education. We've got the worst poverty rate, the highest rate of poverty in the country. Right now, the highest unemployment rate. I mean, it's a disaster on every front. And so we just got to stop this war on business. It gives me hope that it's such a disaster that people are maybe waking up. We'll be right back. Final segment.

Hilton running for Governor of California. Welcome back. We're speaking with Steve Hilton. I'm using the Royal Wee. I'm speaking with Steve Hilton. But we on the program are speaking with Steve Hilton, who's running for Governor of California. Steve, let me ask you just the simplest question. when is the election? Is it this November and is Gavin Newsom standing for re-election?

So there's two stages. The primary is next June and the general is next November, November 26, same time as the midterms. Gavin Newsom is termed out. He's not running. We have this ridiculous top two system in California, so there's no Republican primary or Democrat primary. Everyone's on the same ballot in June. I was very encouraged to see the first poll that was taken with me in it. as a candidate. I'm actually leading all the declared candidates. So I'm top. Right behind me is Katie Porter. She's the leading Democrat right now, all the other candidates, including a couple of other Republicans away behind. And then when they tested Carmel Harris, because of course, there's speculation that Kamala Harris might run for governor. She said she'd tell us, by the end of the summer, she's going to make her decision. When they put her into the poll, she basically

hoovered up a lot of the Democrat support. So she's just on top. But I'm second. So in any scenario right now. Look, it's early days. It's just one poll. But I'm looking like the main challenger, the leading Republican. And that's the name of the game. Get into the top two and then really make the case for change and a positive alternative. And by the way, everyone says it's impossible for a Republican to be elected in California. I hear that all the time. It's not impossible. It's just very difficult. I'm not saying this is going to be easy. But actually, there's a simple way of thinking about it. The midterm elections next year, it's always a lower turnout than in the presidential race. But President Trump did very well in California, better than any

Republican for a generation. If every single person who voted for President Trump in California last year votes for me next year, I'll become the governor. There are enough Republican votes in California. And even on top of that, there are so many people who just fed up with what's going on, maybe they're not Democrats, they just haven't been engaged, particularly working class Californians. They're the ones being hammered the most by these policies. just take the gas prices. It's working-class Californians who are driving their trucks, two, three hours a day each way to get to work because it's so expensive to live near where they work. They're sick of all of this, but they haven't had a positive alternative there.

So I think we can put together a winning coalition. It's not going to be easy, but I'm really confident we can do it. Do you think that maybe the days, the stranglehold that Pelosi and Gavin Newsom, her nephew, I guess, have had is over. I just cannot believe that we're not at a point where people finally see through this and see them as corrupt. Yeah.

It's totally corrupt. And the whole system is, if you look at the way you've got, I mean, I call it the Democrat Industrial Complex because you've got these machine politicians like Gavin Newsom, like Carmel Harris, Karen Bass in Los Angeles, they don't really believe in anything.

They just kind of climb the ladder or whatever's, you know, works for them politically they'll say and do. That's why you see Gavin Newsom now he's running for president, flip-flopping all over the place on every single issue. They don't have any real convictions. It's just whatever works for them politically. And the people really in charge,

there are three forces, I think, when you actually look at every issue in California that are driving us, you know, towards the cliff edge of disaster. Number one, it's the unions, in particular the government unions and the teachers' unions are the worst offender. They control.

the Democrat politicians. They completely fund them. They control their campaign and they are in the driving seat. That's why we have all this. Yes, why the longest school closures, the most destructive in the country during the pandemic. Then you have the trial lawyers, also massive funders of Democrat politicians. It's not discussed enough, but when you look into so much that's going wrong in California, is this endless litigation, the threat of litigation, lawsuits for everything. Other states have reformed all that. California is worse. than anywhere else. And then the third force is this climate extremism. You can't understate that. Everywhere you look is this climate elitism, I also call it, because it's the working class people

who are suffering the most from this climate policy. Those are the three things. And Newsom and Pelosi, they represent all that. But we've just got to defeat it. And we've got to make the case that it's not some natural disaster that's given us all these terrible outcomes in California. It's the direct result of Democrat policies. Did you say that your slogan is make California golden again? Golden again, exactly. That's a great slogan, just because, as I said earlier, I think a lot of us do think of California as fabled.

It's just this beautiful, you know, the coast. It's just, it represents something to Americans. And I think so many of us have been heartbroken to see what's happened to cities like San Francisco and L.A. And we want to see that turned around. What is your, what would you do, for example, in dealing with the homelessness that's going on? I mean, drug addicts, the cities have been absolutely devastated. They haven't.

What does one do? Well, just before I get into that, I just want to really underline what you just said about what that phrase, Golden Again, really means. And there's a phrase that I used the whole time to capture the, the spirit of California, how important it is to our country, which is California means to America, what America means to the world, that representation of energy and ambition and hustle and the pioneer spirit and the rebel spirit, that's California, or at least it should be. And that's what I'm hoping to reignite when I'm the governor. In terms of homelessness, it's actually pretty simple.

And again, other places don't have this problem. Other places do very simple things. Number one, enforce the law. It is illegal. These street encampments, urban camping, urban squatting, being out on the street. It is against the law. It's always been against the law. But here in California, the people in charge just never enforce the law. They're very good at passing laws.

Then it seemed to hate actually enforcing them. So that's step number one. And if local leaders won't do it from the state level, I'll make sure we enforce the law. Number two, over 80% of the people who are homeless have either drug addiction, problems or mental health problems. But the treatment isn't there. And in California, they passed a law in 2016 called Housing First, which actually makes it illegal to require, in exchange for housing or shelter, any of those things, abstinence, treatment in a drug program or anything like that. That's ridiculous. We've got to change that and get people the help that they need. And the thirdly,

we've got to actually spend the money that voters in California have voted for from ballot initiatives for mental health care. We're way, way under capacity. So many of the people on the streets have mental health problems that either not being treated or worse still, many of them ending up in county jails. As I was the sheriff, one of our counties the other day. He's telling me that about 50% half the people in his jails have really severe mental health problems and they're not being treated. Instead, they end up in our jails. It's completely ridiculous. Common sense solutions we need for that, just like everything else. Forgive me. We're out. out of time. Just a joy to have you on the program, Steve. We're just grateful that you're putting

yourself out there and we'll have you back, but we're rooting for you. Thanks for coming on. Eric, thank you very much. Great to be with you. Really appreciate it. Hey there, folks. So much going on on the news. I never know where to begin, but one of the things that I find interesting, as the news gallops along, we forget stuff. And most of us have already moved way past the nightmare of the floods in Texas. It's horrible, then something else happens, then something else happens, something else happens, and we forget about it. Well, the folks in Texas are suffering right now, and they need our help. And so they put the word out. This is an emergency disaster relief situation. And our friends at Food for the Poor asked us to ask you to help.

So I just want to say, let's not forget our friends in Texas. You know, you know, do unto others as you would have others do unto you. If you have lost your home or your business and you're living in a tent someplace with your family right now waiting to get back to who knows. I mean, this is the stories go on and on and on. I want to thank those of you who've already given, but I know most of you haven't yet been able to do that. So the relief operations are underway. We're continuing our efforts with food for the poor. They are there rushing emergency relief kits. this is what your money is doing, rushing emergency relief kits to people throughout the flooded area.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott had the privilege to meet him and speak with him. He says that the lives lost in this tragedy are still being tallied. Actually, we've got a clip from him. Let's play that. The numbers that I have of those who have lost their lives statewide in this flooding episode in the month of July. is now 135. Those who have lost their lives in the Currville area because of the floods is now 116. We will continue the search for everybody in every single region that was affected by these devastating floods. All right, that's Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

So a gift of $50 rushes an emergency relief kit to a hurting family displaced by these floods. $100 gets a kit. fact with supplies to two families. Whatever you can donate will make a powerful impact for the men, women, and children who are suffering right now in central Texas. So I want to remind you to the top of our website, there's a banner. Metaxistalk.com. There's a banner.

The relief kits contain hygiene items, diapers, emergency medical supplies, essentials needed to ease the crisis facing these flooded out residents. And to remind you, food for the poor is working with a trusted partner in San Antonio. delivering shipments of emergency relief supplies. So if you can help, this is a big deal. Now, some of you listening, I know, can give a lot. If you can, I don't know, you've heard enough about these floods. Let me give you a phone number as well.

It is 844-863-4673, 844-863-4673, 8-4-6-7-3, 8-4-6-7-3. Or you can simply text metaxus to 5153. 555. TextMetaxis to 5155. We really need your help. Before we go today, I want to remind you of our friends at the Herzog Foundation. If anybody listening to this program today is interested in homeschooling or you've thought about it, you don't know whether you can do it. You're interested in getting your kids out of public schools because you understand that what they're learning there is not what you would want to teach them. Maybe you're interested in Christ-centered, Cape 12 education, our friends at the Herzog Foundation are there to help you. They're not asking for anything from you. They want to help you. Herzog Foundation.com is their website.

Herzog is Herczog. Herzog. Herzog Foundation.com. And I've said this, and I will always say it, education is everything, folks. If these kids, you know, that are getting this Marxist indoctrination in public schools, If they get the truth, this sets them up for life and this is our future. And I keep meeting kids that have been homeschooled. And I'm amazed at their wisdom, at their knowledge.

They are the hope for the future to use a cliche. So go to HerzogFoundation.com. HertzogFoundation.com. And then to remind you finally, metaxis talk.com, help Texas at the top of the page.