The MeidasTouch Podcast - Turning Red States Blue with Matthew Dowd

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

On today’s episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, the brothers have on a very special guest who recently announced his candidacy for Lt. Governor of Texas, Matthew Dowd! During the interview, we cover everything from the tangible changes Matthew would pursue if elected to the current problems with Texas’ current administration. The conversation shifts gears and the brothers discuss the latest breaking news of the week, including Trump’s most recent deposition in NYC, the passing of Colin Powell, Ted Cruz getting DESTROYED by Australia’s Chief Minister for the Northern Territory and much more! If you enjoyed today's episode please be sure to rate, review and subscribe. As always, thank YOU for listening! Support our sponsors: HoMedics -- Right now if you go to HoMedics.com/MEIDAS and use promo code MEIDAS, you’ll receive a FREE REPLACEMENT FILTER with the purchase of your Air Purifier…up to a $99 value! Wondery -- Listen to new episodes of American History Tellers on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or you can listen ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Nuts.com -- MeidasTouch Podcast listeners get free shipping on your first order at Nuts.com when you text TOUCH to 64-000! Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 Zoomed In: https://pod.link/1580828633 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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exclusively on FanDuel Casino, where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly welcome to the Midas Touch podcast Ben Brett Jordy with you today fighting for our democracy we've got a great show for you today we've got Matthew Dowd recently announced. Yeah, let's go. Matthew Dowd recently. Let's go, Matthew Dowd. Let me get one sentence in here. Matthew Dowd recently announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of Texas. Let's go. Let's go. He will be running against Dan Patrick. Dan

Patrick is a GQ peer. He's responsible for the voter suppression and anti-abortion, anti-childbearing person, fascist laws in Texas. Lieutenant governor in the state of Texas is a very important role. They work with the Senate on all of the legislation. It's a very, very, very important role. And excited to talk with Matt Dowd about his candidacy and lots of Midas Mighty were just on their own without even knowing that we had Matt Dowd booked as a guest. We're saying you have to have Matt Dowd as a guest. I love when it works out like that because it feels like we're just so like prescient. We are prescient. We are prescient. Brett, nice. Nice studio. Yeah, nice studio. For those listening, you can

see it. For those watching, you can see Brett has a full-fledged studio right now. I'm working on the Midas Touch podcast studio over here. And I'm hoping that it looks better, sounds better, all the above. And it has the unique benefit of allowing me to sit down while I do the podcast. I don't have to stand the whole time, which I don't hate for sure. But just to be clear though, that's the same room that you always podcast in. Same room, but I just built the studio. I'm sure my wife loves that I've converted the one office we have into a podcast studio. No, she actually helped me do it. She was great. But the room looks fantastic and I hope it sounds better. All about improving the show constantly. And guys, we are back live with a live new guest.

I love the Midas gold mines that we did these past couple of weeks. The response was off the charts, but I feel like now that we're back in the groove of the live thing, we had to step up our game. At least one of us thought we had to step up our game. I don't know about you guys.

Who's the one of us? Jordy and I have been stepping up our game like crazy. Brett, are you referring to me and Jordy? I'm talking about the studio, everybody. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that makes sense. You had to step up your game to get on Jordy and my level. Jordy, how are you doing?

I'm doing well. I'm a little banged up, actually. I'm super hungover. I went to the Pittsburgh Steelers game last night and went into overtime. Stayed the entire time. It was an absolute blast. Drank way too much. Honestly, I'm done drinking.

I'm banged up. I'm going to have to get it together before I interview with Matthew. No more Jordy coming in hungover. Very important interview. Well done, Jordy. We appreciate that. As I was saying, one of us has to step up here. Exactly.

Jordy just went from a 10 on the step up chart. We just put you on a pedestal. I'm honest. If anything, I'm honest. Tell me about it. That's why everybody loves you. Let's get into it, fellas. First, we should address some tragic news this morning.

Colin Powell, the first black U.S. Secretary of state died from COVID-19 related complications. Colin Powell had a serious battle with cancer over the past years. We know that the complications that having cancer and COVID, regardless of your vaccination status, could always be problematic. Cancer that suppresses the body's immune response, which was the kind of cancer that he had. Colin Powell was fully vaccinated. There's nothing here. And prayers go to his family and everybody. And no matter where you stood politically, I think Colin Powell was someone who fought

for this country, someone in the Vietnam War. It was a military general, secretary of state. He acknowledged the mistakes that he had made as secretary of state in connection with the war in Iraq. He was very outspoken against Donald Trump. And you can never doubt that in a situation like this, the GQP will try to politicize something like this in their wild and ridiculous anti-vaccine campaigns to basically say, see the fact that an 84-year-old man who was suffering from an incredibly serious form of cancer that was a deadly form of cancer anyway, who got COVID, that's what they've been trying to turn to as proof that the vaccine is not effective. It's like, why can't they just

follow what the science actually is here? These people are so warped and so disgusting that they want to latch on to anything that, you know, to pursue an agenda that kills people. Look at John Roberts from Fox. By the way, we know that Fox has mask mandates, vaccine mandates. And John Roberts is someone who's probably vaccinated as its requirement at Fox News. And he tweets out the fact that Colin Powell died from a breakthrough COVID infection raises new concerns about how effective vaccines are long term. He then deleted the tweet. There's nothing more in line with GQP as in then spreading misinformation. John Roberts is Fox's serious reporter. He's the straight news guy on Fox News. He's the guy who

everybody points to and goes, look, Foxes, they have some real serious reporters on the network. Look at John Roberts. Don't ever think any of these people on Fox News are serious reporters. If you are working for Fox News, you cannot be a serious reporter. I think the fact that before I even woke up this morning, I didn't even see the Colin Powell news. I saw the argument about vaccines. The fact that it turns so quickly into this anti-vax QAnon conspiracy tunnel, I think shows how far gone the GQP is. The facts are that if you are unvaccinated, I believe you are at least six times more likely to spread the virus to other people. You are 11 times more likely to die from COVID. And no vaccine is 100% foolproof,

especially if you have a horrible form of cancer that suppresses your immune system. But you are 11 times more likely to die if you are unvaccinated. That is the science. Those are the facts. And from the party that used to say facts don't care about your feelings, they seem to be in their feelings a whole bunch these days. The GQP, they don't know what side of the argument to even be on anymore. They're just yelling, right? They just want to be heard because when COVID first started taking over and there was no vaccine and people would die from COVID, right? Immediately they would say, no, that person was old. No, that person had a disease. No, that person's this. Now when our people are vaccinated and they die of COVID, COVID complications or something,

they're so quickly to point out the vaccines don't work. They died of COVID. It's all performative bullshit. And Ben, something that you guys, you and Popak said on Legal AF, and everybody subscribe to Legal AF right now when you're done with this show. I love Legal AF, the best hard-hitting legal analysis out there. Amazing podcast, Legal AF by Midas Touch. But what you said on Legal AF about the fact that Republicans used to mock liberals for their

anti-vax beliefs. They used to be like, oh, dirty hippie liberals who don't get vaccinated. And they become those people. That's who they are. Yeah, the parody that never existed amongst democrats and the boogeyman that the gqp had created in the past they literally just wore that outfit and are proudly it's crazy the thing that you and all you have to do is look at their past tweets from before covid and you just see how full of shit these people are like ben shapiro who really you see that all these people are it's performative they're making money off this, right? They're grifters. That's what they're doing.

And you have Ben Shapiro, who in 2015, I believe it was, said, spent the day watching my fully vaccinated 13-month-old cough until blue with pertussis because others didn't get vaccinated. Thanks, dolts. And now today, he is saying, why do people need to get vaccinated if it doesn't affect other people? If you're fully vaccinated, you should be okay. Meanwhile, he knows better than that. In 2015, he was saying the facts, the scientific facts. I saw a lot of people say, oh, that tweet didn't age well. Actually, that tweet aged fantastic. Ben Shapiro didn't age well. Ben Shapiro went

off the deep end. Ben Shapiro double, triple down with Trump and MAGA and QAnon. That's what happened. The tweet aged just fine. You know, I'm not sure if you saw it too. The Democrats just need to do a better job framing arguments. And Democrats seem ill-equipped in debates to even like stand up and hold their position because the GQP literally lies and just makes up shit. Like when they're debating and just comes up with fake facts, like during the debate that totally changed the subject of the debate. We need to reframe arguments, I think, all together. I don't think the labels anymore are applicable. I really don't. I don't think the right-left paradigm is a genuine paradigm that

exists. I don't think the conservative-liberal paradigm is a dichotomy that exists. Progressive, non-progressive, those terms don't exist anymore, in my view. My views line up as a progressive, but I am pro-democracy. I don't think that it should be progressive or conservative that you support the United States Constitution the way we do. That just should be something that you do. You support democracy. And we really need to frame the debate as there are people who support death, death cults, nihilism, fascism, and that is the Ted Cruz's, the Trump's, the Marjorie Taylor Greene's, and their lackeys, the Ben Shapiro's, the Fox News's, and those who support them. And then there's a group of

pro-democracy loving people out there. It should be that simple in the debate. And where I was going, Brett, where I think Democrats are ill-equipped, I saw Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the Joe Rogan show. And what would you think about it? I mean, I thought he did a horrible job, Sandy. Horrible. I'm just going to be honest. I think he did a terrible job. And that's somebody who is a doctor who should be equipped to handle the question. For those who don't know, Joe Rogan basically asked him, hey, why was CNN saying that I took horse medicine? I took ivermectin and my doctor

recommended ivermectin. So why is CNN going around saying that I took horse medicine? And Sanjay Gupta's answer was horrible. I mean, it was just like, um, uh, yeah, you know, I, well, I don't know. Um, but like, like frame the issue in the right way, you know, ivermectin, yes, you're a doctor, right? So you should be able to say, well, the ivermectin that you are taking while it's for human use is for parasites. You do not have a parasite. And the amount of the drug that you would be required to take in order to kill a virus like COVID would kill you first. First off, you want to make that point.

Second off, you want to say, why are we saying you're taking horse medicine? Because the most popular form of ivermectin out there and the most easily accessible form of ivermectin out there is the most easily accessible form of ivermectin out there is the horse paste that people find in veterinarian stores. And that is what has been sold out of stores across the country. And it's because you, Joe Rogan, have a platform to push ivermectin that people are running in droves, not to their doctors to get prescribed ivermectin, but they're running to veterinarian shops and they are buying literal horse medicine

because they think that it is the same thing. That's why you see stores around the country putting up signs that say, you need to show us proof that you have a horse to buy this drug and you need to, and that they're sold out of this drug because- Proof of horse. Proof of horse, you need to show proof of they're sold out of this drug. Proof of horse. Proof of horse.

You need to show proof of horse. Proof of horse. A horse passport. But I thought Gupta just shit the bed on that one. And then when you go on people's shows like that, what you have to be aware of is they are not bringing you on to be like, oh, let's have like a discussion so that, you know, we both discuss, hash these issues out and

everybody will be better for it. No, they're looking for that one moment to catch you in exactly what Sanjay Gupta walked into so that they could post it on their social media and hold you up as an example of their anti-vax beliefs. And what Gupta did was he actually, I think, affirmed these anti-vaxxers beliefs to a large swath of people when he could have been a voice to push back. I thought he did horrible, horrible. Yeah, I was I was very disappointed because he's so well spoken on CNN. It's a great job talking. And I thought he would be ready for what was going to come his way.

But, you know, he had the short sleeve shirt. He tried to, like, be cool to like, you you know to to like hang with rogan and i just thought he did a really really horrible job donald trump getting peed on again is in the news segway donald trump getting peed on the p tape um that we all know about lots of leaks coming out you guys lots of lots of leaks christopher st Steele has been now speaking publicly in ABC documentary with George Stephanopoulos. He's interviewed Christopher Steele. Christopher Steele acknowledged that there are some aspects of his dossier that may be opinion, but he did believe that the P-tape is real or something like that. And it kind of makes sense when you think about it too. I mean, one, Donald Trump recently out of nowhere in an interview just randomly said, I don't like getting peed on. He said it like a Republican retreat, Ben.

Let me just rewind. So in a Republican retreat where Donald Trump is speaking to this GQP fascist base, no one's asking him. This is a former president of the United States is saying, just want to let everyone know, I don't like being peed on. I don't like having pee on me. I mean, just think about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Truman. I mean, United States presidents, Eisenhower, you know, talking about getting there. Four score and seven Ps ago. I didn't pee on anybody. I don't like getting peed on. I don't like getting peed on. I want to make that clear. I mean, this is just a disgusting former president, like just horrible in every respect of the word. And look, we did a video called Trump in hiding about the fact that Donald Trump is essentially persona non grata in Virginia.

Youngkin, who's the radical extremist, pro fascist, pro insurrection, wants to kill your child. Individual running for governor against Terry McAuliffe. He's the Republican GQP candidate, Youngkin, Trumpkin, as we like to call him and others have called him. He embraced the endorsement of Trump, but now he wants like nothing to do with Trump to come in this day. He's trying to play both sides, Youngkin. He's trying to both play to the Trumpers. And this is why you can't go down this path. It's impossible. You can't play to both sides. He's trying to play to the Trumpers and he's also trying to play to the suburbs where people hate Trump. And so the Republican Party and Youngkin put out an edict out there and it's pretty known. It's not like they put out a public

statement, but everybody knows this is what's happening. And they said, Donald Trump, stay the hell away from Virginia. You could call in here. You could release statements. But please do not show your face in Virginia because every time you do, our poll numbers drop because we cannot be associated with you if we want suburban voters to vote for us, if we want pro-democracy voters to vote for us. You can't be here. And so our ad, which I think is quite

effective, is goading Trump a little bit into trying to go to Virginia and lay out the stakes. Trump, you're not wanted. Why? Because you're a loser and every body you touch gets your loser stank and stench. Stanky, stanky Trump. That's my favorite part of that video, the loser stench. Here, just play the clip if you can. Donald, why are you so scared to go to Virginia? Is it because you know Glenn Youngkin wants nothing to do with you? Or is it because your loser stench rubs off on everyone you touch?

President Obama is showing up. President Biden is showing up. And Dr. Biden is showing up. Stacey Abrams is showing up. If you weren't too weak or scared or washed up, you would get to Virginia fast. But you won't. Instead, you're just phoning it in like a coward.

Midas Touch is responsible for the content of this advertisement. And look, one of the others that took it. It's really good. I love the Newsweek article that mentioned the loser stench in a Newsweek article. And we'll tell you guys right now here. So we're going to be airing that ad. Is this an exclusive?

Is this a breaking news? Are we breaking news? We are breaking news here. We will be airing that ad in Mar-a-Lago when Donald Trump returns to Mar-a-Lago. So stay tuned. Let's keep that our little secret. And we'll have that beaming on his television on Fox News quite frequently for the next week.

So stay tuned for that. And when he returns, Donald Trump is currently in New York being deposed. He's having his deposition taken in connection with the case that arises out of an incident in 2015 when Donald Trump was then a candidate and his private security at the time, is alleged to have assaulted Latino protesters who were out in front of the Trump Tower. It's taken about four years before this deposition was being scheduled, but Donald Trump will be deposed today about what he knew about that incident, what he knew about the private security company. As we discussed on Legal AF, even though the deposition is limited in scope to this incident, in depositions, the standard

when you ask deposition questions is not whether or not it's relevant to trial, it's whether or not your questioning and the answers you could elicit are reasonably calculated to lead to relevant admissible evidence in the future. And so it wouldn't surprise me if the questions being asked, because Donald Trump has a history of encouraging violence a la the insurrection, a la all of the rallies where he would say, punch that person in the face or kick that person, that those questions will be asked if Donald Trump is trying to claim that he had no knowledge about the attack that took place outside of Trump Tower. But again, a president,

a former president who is denying being urinated on his face and a president currently in a deposition for private security, assaulting innocent protesters outside. That is the state of the GQP and their cult leader. Boy, oh boy. But you know how I get rid of disgusting stuff in my house? How? Home Medics. Oh, Home Medics. Home Medics. This podcast is

brought to you by Home Medics. Look, I have two dogs who are constantly bringing germs into my house and it's been super important for me to have clean air in my home. Let me get milk. Keep going. Keep going. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. And so I have this HomeMedix device that's in my room and it has made the air quality so much better in my room. I breathe better. It's helped me with my allergies. HomeMedix has really been like a dream come true for me personally. Brett, have you tried the HomeMedix? Yeah, the HomeMedix. I mean, literally you feel it when you walk in. I turned the Home Medics on. I'll pull up a video of my little Home Medics device that I got in this very room right now. And it's an incredible device. It cleans the air brilliantly. I have a dog too. All dogs have sort of dander and

germs or whatever. It cleans the air perfectly. And Jordy, you got Mellow over there. I'm pretty sure Home Medics saved your life. I don't know if's, you know, whatever. I don't know if we can legally say that, but I'm pretty sure HomeMedics has saved Jordy's life. HomeMedics has been great for Jordy. Jordy absolutely needs an air purifier. Like this is why you have to check out HomeMedics, H-O-M-E-D-I-C-S. They sent me this Total Clean air purifier. It is amazing. Total Clean's air filtration system and UVC light removes up to 99% of airborne allergens, including pollen, pet dander, smoke, and mold that purifies the air in large rooms up to 343 square feet. And it's much cheaper than those crazy expensive air purifiers. Plus it's

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So you know it's a brand you can trust and rely on. I am super excited to be recommending HomeMedics to you. And I want everybody, though, to go to homedics.com slash Midas. That's H-O-M-E-D-I-C-S.com slash Midas. Use the promo code Midas. You'll receive a free replacement filter with the purchase of your air purifier up to a $99 value. That's a free replacement filter when you go to H-O-M-E-D-I-C-S.com slash Midas and use the promo code Midas. I truly love my home medics and hopefully you get your home medics today. We now have Matt Dow joining the Midas Touch podcast running for lieutenant governor in the state of Texas against probably one of the worst human beings in the world.

Probably. Probably. He's amongst a handful of people who are being peed on and spreading COVID and otherwise disgusting individuals, inspiring insurrections. Dow was an advisor in 2000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign. 2004, he was chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, but came out very publicly against Bush-Cheney in 2007, became an independent, now a Democrat and running in Texas. Matthew Dowd, welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. Great to be here. Y'all are great. So happy to join y'all.

Thank you so much. And first, obviously breaking tragic news about the passing of Colin Powell. You had obviously a relationship there from your past political work. Any immediate response? No, I think he, I mean, he served the country in so many different capacities exceedingly well as a public servant. He made some mistakes that I think he acknowledged in his life, especially in what happened with the Iraq war. In all of that, he came out very strong, as you know, as a Republican against President Trump. So I think he's a many public, did a wonderful job, but also acknowledged mistakes he made in his life. Recent Vanity Fair article came out about your run, your candidacy.

It was called As Texas Goes, So Goes the Nation. Lone Star candidate Matthew Dowd on how Dems can win in 2022. Now, Matthew, we've been hearing, I don't know, I since think for a very long time in 2013, it's going to go blue. Texas is a purple state, 2018, the same, 2020, the same, even Midas put resources into the 2020 election. There were some gains in some local areas, some disappointments at the national level. But why now? Why do you think it will be different?

Why do you think you could win? So I think it's a great question. I mean, I think the trend line on Texas over the last 10 years has been in the positive direction towards a purple state. But purple or blue is defined by who shows up on election day. If you look at the population of Texas as a whole, it's at least a purple state, if not a blue state and where people stand. But how people have shown up in the voting has not often reflected where we are as a state. I think because of how bad the leadership has been over the last couple of years. I mean, it's been bad for a decade, but it's been really, really awful the last 10 years, especially this legislative session and

all the things they've done. Highly unpopular with all Texans, way to the right, way far past even the Trump stuff extreme that we see here. So I think the governor is incredibly vulnerable. I think the lieutenant governor is even more vulnerable in this state. I think it's going to take again, it's going to take who shows up. Democrats have to show up. We have to win as candidates, as Democrats have to win independence. And we have to pick off that certain percentage of disaffected Republicans who may not like and love the Democratic Party, but can't not stand the Republican leadership in this state and where it's gone, because they believe the same as I do. It's hurting Texas, it's hurting Texans. And ultimately, I think it's going to have an effect

on business in Texas, because they've gone so far that businesses are now sort of don't know what to do with it. And I think they're going to begin to have trouble recruiting people to come here to work because of what they've done in the state. So I still think it's a state that you have to fight, which I'll do. But I also think it's a state where you have to have a compelling message with candidates that know how to talk to Texans in order to win. And I think it's a real shot this year. I wouldn't have done this race being somebody that's run a lot of races in a lot of different places in the country. I was the one that helped elect the last Democratic lieutenant governor here in the 90s. Bob Bullock, who was the last, I helped elect him and ran his campaign.

So I understand campaigns. I wouldn't have run unless I thought I could win. But again, it's going to depend on all of us and who shows up. Matthew, how is it even close in Texas? I mean, we talk about that. They have a lot of, you know, the governor and the lieutenant governor and the attorney general are unpopular. They are killing people in mass in Texas, over 70,000 deaths in COVID when there was, you know, the natural disaster.

You have people like Ted Cruz who flee to Mexico. It's a parody of fascist evilness. And it's so like in a nasty way directed at the population. Like how is there a group of people who look at them and go, you know what, I'm going to I'm going to vote for Abbott again. You know what, Ken Paxton, I like this guy. Like, how is it even close there? And is that a failure of Democratic messaging as someone who's been in messaging? And do we need to step up our messaging and tell people, look, here's what Democrats are doing. At the least, we support democracy. Well, I think your run-up just now is perfect capsulation of, I think, of where we are today. And so there's many factors in it, some of which is, as I don't think, statewide candidates and a

lot of candidates, Democratic candidates here and in other places in the country who could have won have delivered a message in a compelling way and a real way that basically that that we that we really go after the Republicans in this and not make it. I don't want this race. This race is going to be about Dan Patrick. And if there's a day in this campaign over the next 400 days that I don't talk about Dan Patrick and his awfulness, I view that as a bad day for me. So every day is going to be taking the case to him in this. But one thing to keep in mind, even before these voting restrictions that were put in place last month, that were put in place that took us further back from a universal suffrage, Texas ranked 50th in ease of voting, 50th, number five, zero, last in ease of voting, behind Mississippi, behind Alabama, behind Arkansas. In the 1990s, when I was working for the Democrats, Ann Richards and Bob Bullock, we ranked 14th in ease of voting. We've dropped 36 places in 20 years while the Republicans have held power in this. And so that's part of it. We have more impediments in Texas to overcome as voters

in this. So it's a difficult state. We can overcome them and we need to overcome them, but that's part of the problem. The other part is Democrats, I don't think, and having worked on campaigns on both, Republicans are much better at making a values-based argument in why you should support them. And voters ultimately vote based on values. Issues are important, incredibly important, but issues are only important as an indicator of a value that you connect with somebody in their heart and in their gut. Democrats have often a tendency to say, here's the rationale, the head reason to vote, here's 10 points on what we should do on education or nine points on what we

should do on the tax code and don't establish a values connection. And to me, this is a great values debate we ought to be having as Democrats, especially here in Texas, both on integrity and honesty and care about others and the common good and all the things we were all raised on as kids, like here's values that are important. We ought to have an expectation that our politicians retain those same values, that that'll be the lowest bar we have. Before you even get an issue conversation, we ought to say what values are important to you in your life. Okay, great. Those values are not represented by the Republicans in power in Texas today. And so I think part of it is voting restrictions that have been in place for Texas for two decades. But part of it is, is we have to run a different values-based campaign and take the fight every day to the Republicans in a compelling way, but in a very strong way and not

be apologetic about any of this. In my view, progressive issues like raising the minimum wage and pro-choice and pro-gun reform, all of which I'm for, you can get elected in Texas with those as long as you can relate it to people from their own values. One of the things that we've done at Midas Touch along those lines is the motto unapologetically pro-democracy. We align our views with progressive values, and if you lined up what progressive values are, we'd probably hit those. But I think it's time to frame these issues as pro-democracy versus fascism. Those images that we see on January 6th are fascist. The decision to kill Texas citizens by having these outrageous policies that ignore the risks of COVID, that ignore common sense policies like

vaccines are those type of emperor has no clothes policies of dictators in the past who believe they have this divine intervention of God to lead and not actually implement common sense science. When we use those terms, what Governor Abbott is doing is fascist. What Ken Paxton is doing is criminal. What your current adversary is doing is criminal and needs to be arrested. Are we using words that are hyperbole or do you think that like these are the terms that Democrats really need to be using and that's what's really going on here? So I meditate every day, every morning I meditate and I'm a very Zen person in most regards. You can't use two hyperbolic words in this moment that we're in. To me But after January 6, which, in my view, is the greatest attack on our democracy since the opening shots of the Civil War, and the Republican response to that, which is hold no one accountable for what happened, and then now, in the aftermath, celebrate it as if it was some patriotic move, I believe right now that there's only one vehicle

that is pro-democracy, and that is the Democratic Party. You may disagree with us on certain issues. You may have a dispute on certain things. But of the two legacy parties in our country, only one is pro-small d democracy in this. And so in my view, everybody ought to put aside all their disagreements on all of the sort of other stuff that we've argued about and basically say the only way we can fix this problem is to defeat the Republicans resoundingly from governor's race down to a sheriff's race in every single state because they're not going to change on their own. Right now, they see no incentive to change on their own, to reform themselves. The only way they'll come back from this is if they're beaten so badly in such a hard way that they've actually become rational again in this process and become an enlightened party that may be conservative, but believes in the same constitutional principles we do.

One of the things I think sometimes Democrats don't do well on this is this isn't a theoretical argument, as you just laid out. As you just laid out the real world effects. This has consequences to real people. People die because of this. People are harmed because of this. People lose their constitutional rights because of this. And people no longer feel like in this process, they can hold somebody accountable. Our vote and our voices are the only way

to hold politicians accountable. We can't afford lobbyists. We are not going to give thousands and thousands of dollars of contributions to campaigns in this to try to influence it. Our voice is our only way and our vote is our only way. And so to me, it's taking the pro-democracy stance and say, yeah, it's a problem. It's a constitutional problem, but it's having real world effects. Your neighbors, your friends, whether it's people of color, women or people that live in rural areas, urban areas, suburban areas are being harmed by this in ways and all

the different ways. COVID, we've lost thousands of people that didn't need to be lost. 700 people died when the grid failed. The Republican governor, Lieutenant Governor did nothing to fix it. The only thing they did, the only thing they did was made it easier for energy companies to charge rate payers more. That's the only thing they passed. And so people's utility bills will rise because of what they did in the legislature. They didn't even require weatherization. They didn't even require in the aftermath of that requiring weatherization. So it's not, I think what we have to do is we talk to people and say, yeah, it's a democracy problem and it's a fundamental problem. It's probably the most important election we're about to face in my lifetime, more important in my view than 2020

in this, but it has real world effects. And Matthew, why do you think Texas has become this breeding ground of fascism? It seems like it is ground zero for fascism in America when you have literal bounty hunter laws to ban abortion. You have all these voter suppression laws. You have this minority rule instituted, these pro-COVID policies. Why Texas? And why do you think people are putting up with it? Or are they not? Is that just kind of how we're seeing it from the outside? So I love Texas. I absolutely love Texas, but I hate our politics. And the common word that is used from Texans, no matter what their jersey color is in this time, is this is embarrassing. This is embarrassing. It's,

I mean, it's obviously has destructive effects, but most people say this is embarrassing. They want to go to another state and say, I'm from Texas and be proud about it. They're not that way anymore. They're basically start apologizing for it. I don't know the answer to that. You know, I could say humorous, everything's bigger in Texas, even the bad is bigger in Texas. I think it's a combination of one, there is a conservative element here that has existed for a long time in our state, that guardrails were put on for a while that the fringe groups, the fringe groups are no longer fringe, they're the Republican Party in Texas. I also think it's a combined

with irresponsible leaders who could have pushed back on this and said, no, no, no, that's not true or no, no, no, we're not going to do that. But they've completely abandoned any desire to do what's best for all, to do what's interesting, the common good. So I do think you're right. Texas is now the center point, which in today's day is bad because it pushes out the bad to other states. So we do bad here and then other states then take it on and say, Texas is doing it. We'll do it. I do think it gives us an opportunity for the opposite, which is if we can defeat this

here, it will actually have a ripple effect across the country. So if we're able to win here against this, that'll then move to other states and say, wow, they defeated in Texas. We better pay attention to this. The nationalization of this race, which is amazing for a lieutenant governor's race, it's already been nationalized for a variety of reasons, is actually a really good thing because it allows us conversations like this today where people people might not pay attention to quote unquote, a sleepy lieutenant governor's race, may pay more attention to because we have national where it's becoming a part of the national discourse. So I don't know, I have a full because there's other fringe groups in other states. But I think the leaders here have been

incredibly irresponsible of putting no guardrails, but basically inviting the fringe groups into power. I mean, Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, is there something in the water there? What's going on? I mean, it's amazing. And you all know my feelings about Ted Cruz. I mean, I worked with Ted Cruz. To know Ted Cruz is to dislike Ted Cruz in this. I said once that the common thing that was said in the campaign when people would ask us about Ted Cruz and they could say, why do people take such an instant dislike to Ted Cruz? And I said, because it saves time. I mean, it is a miserable, it's a miserable thing that we're faced with. I described the three leaders here, Abbott and Dan Patrick, whom I'm running against, and Paxton as craven, cruel, and crook. And I'm running against the cruel one. But it is, we are, if you rank the worst politicians in the country, Texas would have three or four in the top 10, three or four or five in the top 10. And Brett, they all follow the same path though. Like Patrick, he runs like a fraudy business.

I think he did like sports bars. They go totally bankrupt. He declares bankruptcy like a Trump move, totally like screws over his creditors. Probably gets money from the government in some way. Then he leans in, becomes a conservative radio host like Mike Pence for a little bit. And then boom, you know, there he goes in Texas, then kills people. It's like the path. I'll give Tan Patrick a compliment, which is he's very consistent. He's very consistent in a Trump way, which is his first response to any big problem is to first lie. He first lies, completely lies. And then he puts in place a policy that makes it actually worse. He's done that in everything, guns, COVID, the grid, choice, everything. He lies. And then he puts a policy in place to make the problem worse. Did you see the chief minister from the Northern Territory in Australia respond to Ted Cruz today?

I don't know if you saw it. So Ted Cruz did a tweet saying basically, I love the Aussies, but their COVID tyranny of their current government is disgraceful and sad. Individual liberty matters, making his Ted Cruz argument. And I'll read you the statement because I think you'll appreciate it. He said, hey, Ted Cruz, good day from the Northern Territory of Australia. Here are some facts. Nearly 70,000 Texans have tragically died from COVID. There have been zero deaths in my territory. Did you know that? Vaccination is important because we have vulnerable communities and the oldest continuous living culture on the planet to protect. Did you know that? We've done whatever it takes to protect the territory. They've kept us safe and free. We've been in lockdown for only eight days in 18 months. Our businesses and schools are all open. Did you know that? We don't

need your lectures. Thanks, mate. You know nothing about us. And if you stand against the life-saving vaccine, then you sure as hell don't stand with Australia. I love Texas. Go Longhorns. But when it comes to COVID, I'm glad we are nothing like you." Pretty strong words from Australia. And I think just Ted Cruz, a total international embarrassment. Well, he's a galactic. He's a galactic. I hear there's people on Mars that hate him, and they haven't even met him yet. Those new life forms they're finding on Mars. The first thing they say is, oh, Ted Cruz. Undiscovered planets. Undiscovered planets are not going to let him in. I mean, one of the amazing things about Ted Cruz, but all the Republicans, including my opponent, Dan Patrick, is, as you guys know this, they've often talked about their pro-freedom, right? Their pro-freedom They're pro-life and they're pro-local control.

On all three of those things, they're none of them. They're absolutely none of them. They're not pro-freedom. They're taking away the freedom of women to decide. They're taking away freedom of people to be safe from gun violence. They're taking away freedom to vote. They're taking away all those freedoms. They're not pro-life.

They're just letting, they think it's okay if thousands and thousands of people die. They don't want to expand Medicaid. They don't want to do anything about gun violence. They're not pro-life at all. And the thing they have done here in Texas is basically in this time, taken away cities and counties ability to protect their citizens. So during COVID, they kept, they're keeping the cities from putting protocols in place, from putting mandates in place and all that. They have banned the ability of cities and counties to protect their own citizens and centralized state power in Austin. And so on all three, they're not pro-life, they're not pro-freedom, and they're not pro-local control, something they constantly say, none of which they are. Nothing small government about that. Absolutely. And the Biden administration actually just asked the Supreme Court to block the Texas law banning

most abortions while the fight over the measures of constitutionality plays out in the courts. What are your thoughts on that? And if they are not able to block this law, what are you able to do as Lieutenant Governor to prevent a law like this from affecting childbearing persons in Texas? So I hope they're successful. I've had my criticisms, and I voted for and support Joe Biden, and the alternative was so bad. And I mean, I'm with Joe Biden, and I was one of the biggest defenders of Joe Biden on the Afghan withdrawal. I actually thought he should be congratulated on it and not criticized for it. I agree 100%. He's the first president and four presidents to actually do what he promised to do and get us out of a 20-year war that wasted thousands of people's lives. I don't think they have been as strong and as firm in what they should have done. I think the attorney general's

office could be utilized in a much more stronger way in this process. I'm glad they're entering into this case. It is actually not even a six week. The six weeks thing is a BS deal because most women don't as you've talked to him, don't even know in this. And so it basically bans 99% of all abortions in the state, 99%. It doesn't even give people an allowance for rape and incest in Texas in this. So as Lieutenant Governor, I mean, you'll get candidates that talk about all the great things I'm going to do. The first thing I want to do is roll back all the bad, just roll back the bad, the crazy gun bill that allows people to openly carry a handgun with no permit or training that they passed in this. When we have the most mass shootings of any state,

3,500 people died last year from gun violence in Texas. We're the number one in gun violence in the state. And so roll back the voting rights, roll back basically the attack they did on Roe versus Wade and roll back the voting rights thing that the impediments they put in place. Lieutenant governor in Texas is incredibly powerful. It's not like other states where it's a ceremonial position, where they sit in an office, you know,

not far from the governor and call the governor's doctor every day to see how healthy they are. That's basically what most of lieutenant governors do. Lieutenant governor runs the state Senate. So every piece of legislation has to go through the lieutenant governor. He appoints all committees. He or she decides what bills go to what committees, and he or she decides who to recognize on the floor when you stand up for debate. So basically, it's the lieutenant governor who runs the show. That's what I would do first, is roll back the bed as quickly as possible. And it's also been rumored that Beto O'Rourke might be running for governor.

Now, I know it's not the same ticket per se, but if you guys were to be both in office together, is that something that excites you? Is that something that you would look forward to? It tremendously excites me. I mean, I supported Beto when he ran against Ted Cruz. I've known Beto for a long time. He and I are friends. He was one of the first people I talked to this summer when I was thinking about this. We sat down together because I wanted to get a sense where he was and where I was. If Beto's the Democratic nominee and I'm the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor, it's going to be a very coordinated effort in this. And if he's governor and I'm Lieutenant Governor, it'll be, as was said in that movie, that there's a new sheriff. There's new sheriffs in town and how this will be done.

And both of us have an open door policy. But you have to have to believe in the common good and you have to believe science and facts drives policy. And if anybody believes that, I don't care who they are. you're fine. We'll be happy to talk policy. It'll be a new day, which I'm hoping we'll celebrate a year from now in November, if he and I were the nominees and were to win in this race. And I'm looking forward if he's the nominee to running with him. That's fantastic. And so I just feel like in the left, like so specifically, there's such a defeatist mindset with our party at times. It's infuriating to the brothers. I'm sure you see it and infuriates you. Why do you think our party gets so, I guess, like down on themselves and constantly like with the infighting, for example? I mean, it's just really ridiculous. And I think if we were just more coordinated and got behind the same values and the same sort of things, like we would be a dominant force. What do you think, what do you think that's all about?

Well, so part of it has to do with the Democrat, obviously, is a much more diverse party than the Republican Party, both in demographics, and who's there, the people in the room, but also in thought, it's a more diverse party. I think Democrats have to learn a lesson, we can do everything that's ethical, and we can do everything that's legal. But we have to realize we have to learn a lesson. We can do everything that's ethical and we can do everything that's legal, but we have to realize, we have to look at the world and politically as it is and as it should be. I think Democrats constantly, not all, but a lot stare at each other and I wish the world was like this. I wish the world was like this. It's not. It's not like that and so instead of just playing the games with the marquee you know of uh of of rule game playing that we did this before and these were the norms and this is how we treated people and let's have a subcommittee meeting on x y and z for two months and let's do this those

days are gone those days are gone and democrats have to quit they have to understand who the opponent really is in this and what's the problem. It's not us. It's not each other. It's not each other. It's the other side that's autocratic and systematically taking away people's rights and hurting people. And we have to just and I'm not saying line up and be all the same, but realize who the enemy is, who the enemy in this process is, and what we need to do to win. And we should do everything that's, again, I said, ethical and legal, we should do everything possible to get those victories. Because if we don't get those victories, this is only going to get worse. Like if they if Republicans win in 2022, after they've done what they've done, can you imagine what they're

going to do when they weren't held accountable? And I think I have great hope and I'm an optimistic and hopeful person. But I also know that unless we really recognize reality for what it is and then say, OK, now we know reality. What do we do? That's what we have. That's the bridge we have to overcome in this. Not sit around and think, oh, I wish the world was like this.

It's not. Matthew Dowd, running for Lieutenant Governor of Texas. We thank you for joining us on the Midas Touch podcast. Oh, great to be here. Thank you all for what you do. Great interview, Brett. Great interview, Jordy. Brett really did step up his game, Ben.

He wasn't just playing around. I mean, Brett's got the new background, the new studio. He needs to step it up. When you dress the part, when you are up in the upgraded studio, it just comes to you. You got to step up your game. It's all about environment. How's my beard looking?

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The headline is alarming. 9% of Georgia Republicans would consider sitting out the 2022 election unless 2020 is audited. I don't say alarming. I say good. I say good riddance. And we've talked about this on the Midas Touch podcast. The one great thing that we have going for us as pro-democracy loving people in 2022 and 2024 is the Trump GQP base is a bunch

of losers. They don't believe in voting the same way they welcome the idea of COVID. They promote COVID parties, basically. They also don't believe that voting is a real thing. So that 9% of Republicans who consider sitting out of 2022, look, we saw that in Georgia in 2020. They didn't vote in the Ossoff-Warnock election. And you have the Republicans who used to be viewed as a very reliable voting base are no longer a reliable voting base, which is why Democrats, we need to go out and vote. The margins for victory in any election, as we know, are typically very, very thin, literally one to two to three percentage points. And so the fact that you have 10% of Georgia Republicans who are trying to sit out 2022 if the ridiculous audit and Donald Trump's big lie is in pursuit,

I think bodes very well for Democrats. Yeah, that's why we need to keep our energy up. What I want to see is I want to see a shift in both directions, right? I want to see 9% of people in the Republican Party say they will not vote. But I also want to see 9% more of Democrats saying, hell yes, I am getting to the polls. Don't let any voter suppression stop you. And yes, voter suppression cannot be overcome with just activism. We need to fight all these voter suppression laws across the country, but I never want anybody to get defeatist. I never bought anybody to get discouraged out there because we have the numbers, even in states like Texas. If you look at the trends, like we were talking about with Matthew Dowd,

we have the trends, we have the numbers, and that's why we need to step on the gas at all times our next test is going to be this race in virginia and that's why we need everybody in virginia or everybody around the country to help promote terry mccullough for governor of virginia we need to win every race because you know what the media is going to do also you know what the stories are going to be if we win it's going to be democrats eek out a close race in Virginia amongst backlash across the country to Biden's policies. And if we lose, it's going to be Democrats in peril. The Democratic Party is game over. There's no winning either way here in terms of the media. So ignore the media. Let's get to the polls. Let's step up. Let's take advantage of these problems.

The Republican Party is freaking out about these issues, and Trump is doing nothing to help it. So we need to exploit this weakness. This is when we got to go on the attack. And by the attack, I mean, this is when we show up and we vote. Let's do what we do. Let's participate in our democracy, guys. Let's be clear.

The media has no clue what they're doing. Like, like let's just accept the fact that the media as a, as a group that covers elections, the media does some good things. You know, there, there's some good reporting that they've, that they've done over time, but overall the way the media covers elections, like a horse race, it's just stupid. It's, it's even this morning on CNN, for, for example, just to show you what I'm getting at, and you can look out for this when you're watching MSNBC or CNN or any of the networks. I saw the fight over the Build Back Better bill, how is this affecting Democrat chances in 2022? I mean, I think that's just an incorrect framing of the whole issue. I mean,

the Build Back Better bill is about helping people, right? It's about child tax care credits. It's about improving roads and bridges. It's about giving internet to rural families. The issue should not be about how is this bill that is being debated that is going to help millions of Americans going to help Democrats in 2022. I want the media to highlight how it's going to help Americans in 2022. And that's why this messaging is so hard to break through because they play it from the frame of the horse race. And they also

anchor themselves in conservative talking points, in fascist right-wing crazy talking points. And they view that as like the norm that Democrats have to answer to. And I'm sick of that framing. Why should everything be anchored by what the right is saying by what Ted Cruz is spouting off on Twitter? No, we got to take control of the narrative. And that's what podcasts like us do. That's what your voices online do. And that's what we all got to be doing on a daily basis to fight back. Rush me an urgent donation. That's what Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz, not a bad Ted Cruz. Yeah. Rush me an urgent donation. Play the clip of Ted Cruz talking about how he wants to

prevent mask mandates and then finishes it off with a like, wait till you get a kick out of that tic-tac, what's the commercial? The Kit Kat bar. Like, give me a kick of the Kit Kat bar. Not the slogan, but let's play the clip. It's simple. There should be no mandates. That's why I've introduced legislation to ban vaccine passports, to ban vaccine mandates, and to end mask mandates on airplanes. Will you help me in this fight by rushing an urgent donation now?

What a loser. I mean, these are private businesses that want to have common sense solutions so people don't die from a global pandemic. And the biggest issue confronting the GQP is how they kill more of their people. The American people are watching, though, and they look by and large at the GQP as a crazy anti-democratic group. We just have to keep exposing them episode after episode. You ever get the feeling that these people are just grifting us into fascism? Just grifting that array into fascism. Yeah, look, you got Green and Gates as well. Their pack is nearly broke right now.

Remember they created what they called the Anglo-Saxon Caucus, which is basically their white supremacist caucus. And they kind of changed the name and just said they're going on the American First Tour. Walter Masterson, who worked hand in hand with midas touch confronted them on that tour where they were literally on a beach and walter masterson asked matt gates um or told matt gates you are definitely not a pedo and walter's seen this firsthand go in all these events he's gotten you know he signs up for all of them he's a maniac in the best way and so he gets these text messages from them saying oh we had to move venues oh we had to

cancel oh we had to downsize because nobody's showing up to these things no one's showing up to see marjorie taylor greene and matt gates speak all they really care about that base they care about trump which is why all these people the one thing that they learned from Trump is how to grift, how to lie, how to spread fascism. And that's what you see Ted Cruz attempting here. That's what you see Marjorie Taylor Greene doing. That's what you see Matt Gaetz doing. That's what you see Madison Cawthorn doing. Oh, play the clip of Cawthorn. I got to tell you, the new Republican Party is not going to be the one of old. We're not going to sit around and not hold these people accountable.

Because I literally watched in real time as Anthony Fauci lied to Rand Paul in a Senate hearing. Is Anthony Fauci lying? I hate it. It's a crime to lie to Congress. And when we take the majority back, I will make sure that man is charged. And when we take the majority back, I will see every single Chinese asset in America as a down payment for the reparations they owe us for what they've done to our country. And my friends, I'll tell you, there's a new day rising in America.

There's a new patriotic fervor rising in America. And when I look at the Americans all across this country, and I'll say something that might not be so kosher to hear, but I'll tell you, I think we all just need to start wearing shirts that say, we the people are pissed off. I

didn't think I'd have to make this obvious point, but seizing the assets of companies, not conservative, not even something that happens in a democracy, not something that happens in a capitalistic society. I mean, seizing assets is communist. That's what communism is, right? It's seizing the assets of private entities and having the government seize those assets and prosecute your political enemies, which are actually just health professionals telling

you to wear masks. That's your enemy, a guy who's telling you to wear masks and get vaccines. That crosses over into just pure unadulterated fascism. We really are against is the CDC. We are against the health organizations of the United States in the bureaucracy of the United States, all the health organizations that encourage us to follow science. We're against those. Corthorne also went on to say that he said, our culture today is trying to completely demasculate all the young men and issued a plea to parents saying, if you are raising

a young man, please raise them to be a monster. That's his advice to the parents across America. I think Madison, I think your mother did a fine job at raising you to be a monster, Madison. I mean, you literally praised Nazis. You said going to where Hitler lived was the moment of your life, or you used some sort of phrase that that was the moment that you've always wanted to do. You've always wanted to be where Hitler was. You literally lied about being accepted into the Naval Academy. I mean, this guy is a fraud, and he's one of these other people also

who following the theme of Ted Cruz and Marjorie and all these other fucking maniacs who is grifting us into fascism. I like that, Brett. One, as a title for the podcast, the GQP grifts us into fascism. We're stopping the GQP grift into fascism. And when they tell you who they are, listen, they're monsters. He said that he wants to demasculize or they shouldn't demasculize the children and that you need to raise your children into monsters. That's what the GQP is telling. That's their closing argument. Okay. Democrats, our closing argument is how do we make the environment better? How do we build our infrastructure better? How do we make a more diverse, a more open, a more

embracing, compassionate society? How do we better our economy? For the GQP, you need to turn your children into monsters. you need to turn your children into monsters. We need to turn our children into monsters. I'm Madison Cawthorn. We need more masculine men out there to turn our children into monsters. I mean, where do these people come from? They all have issues. They all wear their issues very publicly. And they are, I think going back to the Matt Dowd interview, when it comes to values and making the value argument to the American people, that's my closing argument. We are not a country of monsters. We are a country of compassion. We are a country of success. We are a country of democracy. Trump, GQP, they are a party of grift.

They are a party of monsters and they are a party of fascism. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the Midas Touch podcast. You got the three brothers back in action. The three brothers are back live on the Midas Touch podcast. We're back here talking to you. We're back. I want to give a special thanks to all of our sponsors, Omedics, Wondery, and Nuts.com. Go check out those sites.

We'll see you later this week on the Midas Touch podcast. But for now, Ben, Brett, and Jordy signing off. Wait, wait, wait, before we go. Hey, if you're still listening, you're still watching. We are doing a sale, fall sale, Midas Touch store. Check it out. That's the gear I'm wearing right now. If you're listening, as Ben always likes to point out, you can't see what I'm wearing, but that doesn't matter. Watch us on YouTube too. Subscribe there. 10% off, promo code democracy. Let's do it. Store.MidasTouch.com.

Shout out to the Midas Mighty.