Will Cain Country - Who Is Allowing Illegals To Get Trucking Licenses? (ft. Shannon Everett & Rep. Wesley Hunt)

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

After years of lobbying, trucking standards have become increasingly more lax, allowing for illegal immigrants to be hired for pennies on the dollar and with little ability. Earlier this month, in a t...rend that's continued over the last few years, four Americans lost their lives as a result. Co-Founder of American Truckers United Shannon Everett joins Will to explain the growing presence of illegal immigrants in the trucking industry, how so many illegals get commercial driver’s licenses, why certain states allow it to happen, and what we can do to set things right.Plus, Congressman Wesley Hunt (R-TX) sits down with Will to discuss his current run for U.S. Senate and his belief that Congress should have a maximum term limit of 12 years, before sharing some of his personal background and reacting to his Democratic opponent James Talarico’s (D-TX) views on religion. Subscribe to ‘Will Cain Country’ on YouTube here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country!⁠⁠⁠Follow ‘Will Cain Country’ on X (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), Instagram (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), TikTok (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), and Facebook (⁠⁠⁠@willcainnews⁠⁠⁠)Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WillCain⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Last August, Harjinder Singh, an Indian national who entered the country illegally in 2018 from Mexico, pulled an illegal U-turn on a Florida turnpike. A minivan struck the back of his 18-wheeler killing three people. Singh had failed English proficiency and basic knowledge tests in gaining a commercial driver's. license. 17 crashes just like that in 2025. Illegal immigrants terrorizing our roadways. Congressman Wesley Hunt is running for Senate from the great state of Texas. What does he have to say about Marco Rubio, James Talariko, Jasmine Crockett. Will Cain Country on this Monday. Streaming live at the Wilcane Country YouTube channel,
Starting point is 00:01:10 the Wilcane Facebook page. On demand. Follow it, Spotify. or on Apple. Earlier this month, a Krijik-Stany National, who was released into the United States on parole through the CBP One app, caused a head-on collision, ran into a van carrying four Amish workers who'd asked someone else, hired someone else, to drive them from a job site to a home site. From Tennessee to California, from Colorado to Florida.
Starting point is 00:01:45 stories of illegal immigrants driving 18 wheelers, illegal immigrants, with CDLs, but in an ability to speak English or understand the basic rules of the road, suggests we have a problem in trucking in America. Shannon Everett is a trucking industry veteran. He's the co-founder of American Truckers United, which is an advocacy group focused on turning safety and policy issues into success. He's become spokesman over the debate of commercial driver's license and the workforce and illegal immigrants. And Shannon joins us now on Will King Country. Hey, Shannon. Thank you for having us back, Will.
Starting point is 00:02:27 Good to have you on the show. Good to dive into this issue a little bit deeper with you, Shannon. Let's start with this. You represent and you have participated in the trucking industry. You've stopped at way stations. You've stopped at truck stops. You've walked into the showers and the bathrooms and the restaurants. I'm curious if we did so today.
Starting point is 00:02:54 How different does that entire world look from the way it looked, say, 20, 30 years ago in America? Oh, it's dramatically changed. You know, we hear from our drivers all of the time that not only has their pay suffered, but also their working standards, their living standards. You know, there's a lot less healthy options for the truck drivers to dine, but also the cleanliness of the truck stops and the cleanliness of the restrooms. A lot of the manufacturers and shippers because of the different cultures now have locked out their restrooms where drivers, when they're getting loaded or unloaded,
Starting point is 00:03:34 are not able to access the facilities. And so, you know, the history and the culture, of the American trucking industry that everybody's grown up with and has been used to has completely shifted on everyone. And that's why we're seeing, we have seen an exodus of our legacy American truck drivers go into other trades. And that's because the standards have been reduced so low that the pay is just not there. The experience is not there. And people have fled from it. And what is it like? What is the racial, ethnic, and immigrant story background today of the American trucker. Yeah, so we have these different groups that have really come into, that have
Starting point is 00:04:20 really come into the country. And we kind of illustrated that in an investigation that we've done in 2024 when we sent a freedom of information request to the Arkansas Highway Police, and we asked to see all of their inspection data. And when we pulled 20,000 records, we saw that there were specific groups, mainly by naming convention, that were coming out of different areas of the country. So out of California, we saw the Punjabi community, mainly concentrated in Fresno and lower Los Angeles. And then out of the Chicago and Indiana area, we saw a lot of people coming from Eastern Europe, typically Serbia, Minnesota. We were seeing Somalians. Of course, out of South Texas, around San Antonio and Austin, you're seeing people from Central America. When you go and you look
Starting point is 00:05:05 at the population in Florida, those are all Cubans and Haitians. And then when you get up around New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, all of those areas. Again, it seems to be mostly people from the Putin job community tied to those groups out of California. That's really fascinating, Shannon. And of these various racial and ethnic groups who are going into trucking, what would your estimate be of how many of these new truckers are legal immigrants, are work visa immigrants? Our green card are American citizen.
Starting point is 00:05:48 The vast majority of the truck drivers who have been stopped by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. We actually had a random sampling of this to answer that question. When ICE conducted Operation Guardian in Oklahoma, they stopped 500 trucks at the western port. Of the 500 trucks, 120 of the 500 did not have lawful status in the United States. And so one of the gateways that really opened this up, historically, the American trucking industry was primarily American citizens. There's been a trickle over time of H2Bs, I think EB3, some other work visas, valid work visas that were issued, that were regulated. People counted them. We knew how many were being issued and how many people were coming in. But what happened in 2019 was the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued new guidance.
Starting point is 00:06:44 It's important for everybody to understand. There was not new statutory law, okay, but new guidance that said that state DMVs could accept employment authorization documents when they issue commercial driver's licenses. That was the key inflection point. So since 2019, we've had an explosion of these different communities come into the trucking industry. And all of those drivers who have EAD cards do not have lawful. status in the United States. So I would argue the majority of all of the immigration that you're seeing on our highways, driving commercial motor vehicles, are illegal. So let's put those two scenarios, that timeline side by side with the demarcation point being 2019. Prior to 2019,
Starting point is 00:07:37 a truck driver was either an American citizen or the holder of a legal visa that allowed them to operate on America's highways. After 2019, an illegal immigrant who got an employment authorization document could then go into a various state and apply for, I presume, and pass a test, I presume, to then get a CDL? So they only went into specific states. So even though their guidance was issued that a driver could come in with an EAD card and be given a CDL, we only saw participation by a few states. And so that's why I think, you know, your question about the different demographics and geographic regions of where they're located is important because almost all of those align with sanctuary cities. And in those sanctuary cities, we have very liberal immigration judges. And so these applicants were able to sneak across the southern border.
Starting point is 00:08:36 That's another thing that was identified in Operation Guardian. Of all the drivers they had rested within the last four years, they had come across our southern border. so they can come across our southern border, go to an immigration judge, apply for asylum, and at the point of application, not the point of being approved, they issued this employment authorization document or this EAD card. And it was that EAD card that was the vehicle that allowed this explosion. And so you don't see states like Arkansas or Tennessee or Missouri or any of those states participating in this egregious behavior.
Starting point is 00:09:10 It was really only these states that have these sanctuary cities. that have done that. And that's why you're seeing these pockets or these communities of truck drivers all across our country. And that's because they're located next to these immigration judges and these DMVs. Okay, so I come across the southern border illegally. I turn myself into immigration authorities. I claim asylum. I go before a judge and I apply for asylum. I am not approved for asylum, but they don't remove you from the country during the application for asylum. While my asylum claim is pending, I will be issued this employment authorization card. I can then take that employment authorization card.
Starting point is 00:09:52 I'm an illegal immigrant in the country who's applied for asylum. I can take that employment authorization card then to a state DMV, not all state DMVs, but some state DMVs, and now apply for a CDL, primarily California, Illinois, New York. and even though I'm an illegal immigrant, what I presume, there's still some things I have to do to get approved for a CDL, even in the state of California. That's right. So you're supposed to go through training.
Starting point is 00:10:25 You're supposed to receive a written test, a physical driving test. But what's happened is because these populations are all working out of these dense pockets. They also have their own truck driving schools. So not only do they have capture of the immigration judge process and the sanctuary city, but they also have capture of these training schools. And that's why you've seen the FMCSA taking action on the schools of recent as well. But we've got incidents of drivers who have an EAD car that's issued for a certain date, and within five days, he's issued a commercial driver's license.
Starting point is 00:11:05 So there's no way he possibly received the proper training and qualification. and vetting that was required for him to be issued that commercial driver's license. Okay, so you've got these schools. You've got these schools that become fast tracks. These schools are probably, I presume, tied to certain immigrant and ethnic backgrounds. But you still would have to, I presume, let's stick with the state of California, Shannon. I still, even though I've attended the school, I have to pass an exam, right? I have to be able to pass some type of exam to get to the CDO.
Starting point is 00:11:39 Now, is the school the one that administers the agency? exam? Are they incredibly forgiving on the test results? Does the state not have a role in ensuring that the ultimately licensed driver understands the rules of the road and can speak English? That's right. So the standards for the testing, the standards for the issuance, all of that stuff has been reduced. And so what the American people are now seeing is what American truck drivers have been experiencing for the last four years. And that's really, there's been a war. There's a war between Wall Street and Main Street, a war between earnings per share and public safety. And this is a war we can't afford to lose. And that war has been these large publicly, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:19 multi-billion dollar brokerages using illegal carriers with forced labor versus our American-owned legacy trucking companies using American truck drivers. Well, they've made an effort over the last, you know, I would say six to ten years to say that we have this epidemic of a truck driver shortage. And because we have this truck driver shortage, we must reduce all of these barriers to issuing commercial driver's licenses, whether that's on-site testing. When I applied for my commercial driver's license, I was at 19 years old when I got my commercial CDL. I had to go to the state DMV. I had to take a written test there in front of state police. I had to then take my driving test with a state police officer in the truck with me and drive around town.
Starting point is 00:13:02 And so what they've done by reducing all of these standards is all of that stuff, now is being done at the school. And they're taking certificates up to the DMVs and saying that they've properly trained and vetted these drivers and they can now be issued to CDL. I'll take a quick break, but I want to go deeper into this mess on America's roadways with illegal immigrant truck drivers and Shannon Everett on Will Kane Country. This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcasts.
Starting point is 00:13:36 or wherever you listen to podcasts. Welcome back to Will Kane Country. We're still hanging out with the co-founder of the American Truckers United, Shannon Everett. Wow. And so now even though Shannon there are, for example, federal rules about English proficiency or the ability to read a road sign, there's no real state enforcement mechanism to ensure that the driver speaks English or to ensure that the driver can read a road sign.
Starting point is 00:14:01 It's only essentially the certificate, the vouching of the school now that it's a is telling us this is a safe driver? That's right. We've ripped all these barriers away. The industry has. And the lobbyists who have really pushed this have really been, you know, they've done that because there was this driver shortage narrative that's absolutely false. What we have is we have a, it's false. By the way, just to just to verify. That's a false narrative, Shannon. There is not a driver shortage. Absolutely. It's supply and demand. You know, when you flood supply, When you flood in all of these illegal alien truck drivers, it goes back to what I was describing earlier about the working conditions of our truck drivers and the pay of our truck drivers. American truck drivers just aren't willing to work for slave wages.
Starting point is 00:14:50 They're not willing to be treated like indentured servants. And so do we have drivers leaving the industry? Yes. Are they leaving the industry because they don't want to be truck drivers? No, they're leaving the industry because they cannot compete with slaves. they cannot compete with forced labor. Because that's what it is. These nest or these groups are bringing in these drivers.
Starting point is 00:15:11 They're forcing them to work under terrible conditions. They're working over the hours of service. The reason that we're seeing these massive blow-up crashes that when these drivers crash that three or four people are killed and it's like a bomb goes off is because the drivers are physically exhausted. American truck drivers are limited to working only 11 drive hours per day and 14 total hours per day. And we have to follow those standards because if we don't,
Starting point is 00:15:41 the judiciary system will make an example out of the truck driver and they'll make an example out of the company. They'll make an example out of the dispatcher that was involved. And so we have a ton of self-policing that takes place in the American trucking industry because we know that we're going to be held accountable. These operators, when they have accidents, there's no accountability. So most of them are operating as chameleon carriers with only a limited amount of insurance and no balance sheet. So let's just say you're in an accident with one of these guys.
Starting point is 00:16:11 And we've got several instances of this, by the way. The truck driver flees back to his foreign country, so there's no accountability on the truck driver. The owner of the trucking company shuts down that entity, opens up a new one. He had no balance sheet on the previous one. So all you're left with is $750,000 or a million dollars worth of insurance. And now the Supreme Court is hearing a case this year, Montgomery versus Corribay, to give the people who gave the load to the trucking company immunity from claims for damages. So your family can't prosecute the driver.
Starting point is 00:16:48 Your family can't get any money out of the trucking company. And now they don't want you to get any money out of the shipper and the broker who gave the freight to the illegal trucking company. Let's go back for a moment. We'll come back to that. We're going to talk about the business side of this in just a moment. Let's go back to your characterization of these drivers as slave labor. What is the difference between how these immigrant truck drivers are living and working compared to the American trucker? What are they doing?
Starting point is 00:17:19 They're living out of the cab. Don't all truck drivers, to some extent, live out of the cab while they're on a long haul? What are they doing differently that allows the wages to be so depressed than the American worker? The American truck driver has a wife and children at home and wants to get home on a semi-typical basis so that he can have a good quality of life. You know, so you can spend time with his wife. He can go to his son's football game, his son's soccer game. Most of these drivers have come over here without their families. There's single adult, what are they call them, military-aged males that are willing to work from their truck, stay in their truck all the time, live out of their truck essentially.
Starting point is 00:17:58 In fact, a lot of these guys, when you go back to the address of the companies and you look at how many motor carriers are in those areas, there's been a lot of talk about these adult males living with each other, so there'll be multiple of them in one residence. And so they have no interest in getting back home. They have no interest in taking time off. They have no interest in vacation time. The pay here is, even though it's half or more or less than what an American truck driver makes, it's a lot more than what they were making in Serbia or what they were making in Ethiopia. and so, you know, they're willing to make those sacrifices and then send those remittances back home.
Starting point is 00:18:34 And Americans aren't willing to do that. And the business side of this is something that you brought up, the immunity for not just the broker, but the shipper as well. Let's talk about the incentive angle in this. I mean, the long arc of capitalism always points to lower cheaper and more efficient. It just does. So how much of this do you lay at the hands? Well, ultimately it has to go back to the consumer.
Starting point is 00:19:06 I want something for cheaper, right? And if there's a pool of labor out there that's willing to do something for cheaper, well, the company's going to want to maximize their volume and ultimately their profit margin. How much of this is just following natural incentive within capitalism? Well, if that was the case, then you would find a lot of money. lot of these, you know, family-owned legacy American-owned trucking companies also employing these non-domiciled CDLs or these truck drivers, but that's not the case. In fact, I think most of the viewers will be shocked to know that maybe in a 25-year industry veteran, until we saw legislation
Starting point is 00:19:48 entered into the Arkansas House of Representatives, I had never heard the term non-domicile CDL. Since we formed our organization and started rally in other trucking companies and other industry executives, likewise, none of them until this issue got, this battle got started in Arkansas between two competing bills, had ever heard of non-domiciled CDLs. And so in every case where I'm working to help the families investigate what happened to them in their crashes, in every case, the truck driver was not working for legacy, well-known, American trucking companies, they were all working for brokers. They're all working for these multi-billion dollar brokerages who are using illegal carriers
Starting point is 00:20:35 with forced labor versus our historical American-owned legacy trucking companies. And so brokers historically would have to go to, you know, they filled a gap in the industry. You know, with today's technology and AI, I argue that had it not been for this invasion of all of these illegal alien truck drivers, there really wouldn't be. be much of a need for brokerage because they're really a middleman, a matchmaker. And with today's technology, it's pretty easy for American-owned trucking companies to find the shippers that match their lanes. But they have this new illicit captive capacity that we
Starting point is 00:21:12 don't have access to. So American trucking companies cannot compete with these companies or these brokers when we're not pulling from the same driver pool, essentially. So according to that stat you shared a little bit earlier, if we were to extrapolate from what happened in Oklahoma where they pulled over 500 truck drivers, 120 were non-domiciled truck drivers, illegal immigrants, or people on an employment authorization document and seeking asylum, that's well over 20 percent of the American trucking industry right now doesn't fit the public's vision of American truck drivers. You said a moment ago to me that these accidents, for example, we can show this one up on the screen. This is just from a few weeks ago in Indiana where a man from Krizykstan and who came through the CBP One app, released on parole, had a head-on collision. This is with the Amish men who had hired a van to take them from one job site to another, killing all four. the Amishman in that in that fan you told me a little bit earlier this is due to the conditions under which these illegal drivers work shannon so long hours little sleep is it that or is it
Starting point is 00:22:36 understanding the rules of the road speaking english the other things that a lot of people are concerned about when we ride on the roads well yeah all of those things are playing playing a role I was talking specifically about the high-speed rear-end collisions where a guy doesn't even hit his brakes and he's traveling at 75 or 80 miles per hour. And the reason he never even touches his brakes is because he's physically exhausted. In the case of the crash that we just saw in Indiana, that's obviously a situation where a guy's not properly been trained and hasn't been instructed on how to react in a situation like what he approached when he came upon stalled traffic instead of, Every truck driver is trained that you have to make the sacrifice and you take the ditch. You take the open path to the right of the road, which unfortunately leads to woods and trees a lot of times or ditches and rivers and all kinds of other hazards. But that's always better to take that route than it is to swerve into oncoming traffic and put other people's lives in danger.
Starting point is 00:23:40 And that's what this driver did because he wasn't properly trained and qualified. As soon as there was a hazard, he immediately jerks it to the left and hits a van head on. A moment ago, Shan, you brought up AI. I wonder to some extent how much of this. And you're not going to like this question, I'm sure, but I know it's something that you guys have thought about and addressed. How much of this, as awful as these accidents are, is a bit of a tempest in a teapot in that this is exactly one of the industries that will adopt and will move towards driverless trucks, AI, robotics, in replacing not just American truck drivers, but the pool of illegal truck drivers. So in other words, what will end the illegal trucker problem is actually technology, is actually AI.
Starting point is 00:24:32 You know, that's definitely a battle that we've got on the forefront. You know, one of the challenges that they're going to have really is producing all of those vehicles, you know, the production capacity of getting out a bunch of autonomous trucks. You know, obviously there's going to be some other. software that's able to come out on existing hardware and existing assets. We know that. But most American trucking companies aren't going to survive this epidemic of this flood of illegal alien truck drivers long enough to experience what it looks like when we receive
Starting point is 00:25:05 autonomous trucks. And that's because they cannot compete. You know, if you look at some of these, there's one publicly traded trucking company, for example, that's reported five different loss quarters here recently with the last that they announced being a hundred and thirty operating ratio. You know, so these these companies, these American-owned companies, are bleeding cash. And we won't, we won't make it to see that. But, but absolutely, I think, I think we need to use technology.
Starting point is 00:25:36 But we also need to use, you know, the regulatory authorities to come in here with solutions that give safe, trained, and qualified American truck drivers the opportunity to have more flexibility in their hours of service. If all of these guys are operating for 18 and 20 hours a day and we're keeping all of our American guys at 11 hours with 10 hours of sleep and break time, we can make up for banning and revoking all of the non-domiciled CDLs by just adjusting the time that we allow our safe operators to work. You know, one of the things that a driver's not allowed to do is when he starts his day at 7 o'clock in the morning or 8 o'clock in the morning, he doesn't get to stop his 14-hour clock. He can't split that time. So if he's, let's just say he drives for three
Starting point is 00:26:24 hours and he gets to a shipper and it takes that shipper five hours to load him, well, all of that time counts against his duty day. If that time, if that driver could take a five-hour nap while he's waiting to get loaded and that time go back towards his availability to drive for the day, then we can pull a lot of waste out of the system and we can actually offset the revocation of the non-domiciled CDL through common sense regulatory activity. And so there's a lot of things right now that are put on our safe drivers that don't make sense that the other drivers could care less about, you know, following. All right. Shannon Everett is the co-founder of American Truckers United.
Starting point is 00:27:06 That's a great amount of insight into what's going on on America's Roadways. When we see the stories pop up of horrible crashes, here's the story behind the story. Thank you so much, Shannon Everett. Thank you, Will. All right. There he goes. When we come back, Congressman Wesley Hunt is running for Senate from the great state of Texas. Marco Rubio gave an incredible speech yesterday at the Munich Security Conference. One asked him about that and some of his would-be Democrat opponents, Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico, when we come back on Wilcane Country. Every single day, thousands of women hear the same devastating lie that abortion is their only option, that they're alone, that there's no,
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Starting point is 00:29:26 Facebook. That laugh you hear, by the way, is Congressman Wesley Hunt. What tickles you hear, Congressman? You know, it's just I love the honesty of our people on our side of the aisle, brother. And people are just willing to call balls and strikes. When you just see that, it just cuts right to the heart of where America really is. And if you just stop listening to the fringes and listen to just regular American speak, that's exactly why we are in a position that we're in. I think we're heading in the right direction. You're running for Senate. You're criss-crossing. across the state of Texas.
Starting point is 00:29:54 Yes, sir. You're hitting a lot of small towns, media market towns, middle media market towns, your Lubbock's, your long views. What are you hearing from people in America? What I am hearing, all across Texas is the number one thing I'm hearing is, especially on our side, the president is doing very, very well. They are very, very pleased, but they are concerned with safety. They are concerned with the consternation that we're seeing with ICE agents.
Starting point is 00:30:20 They are concerned about codifying President Trump's agenda for the future. We all know that in three years she's not going to be around. They are really concerned about having people that have been in the Senate for too long. They really want to see term limits. They want to see the next generation of leaders kind of step up and lead for the future in the vein of Pete Hex-F and who's in his mid-40s in the vein of our Secretary of State. Our vice president is 41 years old. And then most importantly, I'm hearing people want alternatives. people want to be given the option of some real young America first fighters to enter the fray now.
Starting point is 00:30:55 And if you go to these small towns, if you're actually traveling around Texas, you're actually getting in front of voters like I'm doing, this is kind of what I'm hearing over and over and over again, which means that I think I'm right over the target zone, brother. Term limit. Yes. They want to see, you say, you hear from citizens of Texas, term limits. That's obviously a reference to one of your primary opponents, John Cornyn. What in your mind would be a good term limit? 12 years. Two terms, 12 years is long enough.
Starting point is 00:31:24 And I've actually already committed to that. You know, I'm a millennial. I think we're a millennial. I'm going to top into that scale. We don't do anything for longer than 12 years, just generally speaking. But I think people love the fact that I'm committed to doing 12 years. I also have a three-year-old little boy at my house. But at the time he gets to high school, I need to be the father to him like my dad was to me at some point.
Starting point is 00:31:44 And flying back and forth and doing this job and doing it a fact. effectively, a decade is literally long enough, and then you move on and then allow the next generation to step in and lead for the future. It's what our founding fathers intended. They intended for somebody from a sector of this country to go to D.C. and make good laws. But you better make good laws because at some point you have to go back home and live with the laws that you've made.
Starting point is 00:32:09 But when you've been around for 20, 30, 40 years, you don't go home anymore, so therefore you really don't care about the laws that you make. And so as I am traveling around, I want to be out of this game by the time I'm in my mid-50s. I'm giving the best years of my life. The average Fortune 500 CEO is between the ages of 56 and 58 years old, which is kind of your professional prime. The average age of the Senate is 211 years old. And I think people just want to see that next generation get in, brother. I am as well in favor of term limits.
Starting point is 00:32:42 The argument made in reverse to me against term limits is that, while it might fulfill the vision of what we and I, you and I would describe as the citizen farmer, the service-oriented in Washington, go, give your time, and then come back to your life, come back to your family, come back to your business. What you do, the argument is made is that you turn Washington, D.C. over to the staffers. You turn it over to the policymakers who are permanent, who work in each office, who work in each department, and then you have the least responsive version of Washington, D.C. Well, you know, I do hear that argument, and that's why I do say 12 years is still a substantial amount of time to get work done.
Starting point is 00:33:21 And if you know that you have a finite amount of time, well, then you're going to work harder. You're going to ensure that you get your agenda across the finish line. If you were to tell me, Wesley, you're going to be in the Senate for the next 20 years, you get real lazy real quick. And so the other piece of this is you are correct. Bureaucrats also need to be term limited as well. And that's the biggest problem that I see in Washington is no matter who's in charge, The bureaucrats last forever that have been around for 30 and 40 years, and they often are the people that are the most obstructive to what President Trump is trying to do with his agenda. And also, I do believe that if we can work, if we can work as a country, that when we are in charge and when we have the House and the Senate and the presidency, and to codify President Trump's agenda, we have a very truncated period of time to do that, we have to act and we have to act right now.
Starting point is 00:34:12 It's, go ahead. Do you feel like when you're talking to people in all of those places, primarily right now across the state of Texas, what do you hear about the economy? We are very concerned about the economy. People are very concerned about the cost of living. Here's something that I always tell people, it could have been way worse. If President Trump was not our president right now, we could have had a Harris Wall's presidency. And yes, things are still high. Yes, prices are still high.
Starting point is 00:34:40 But thank God that we have. President Trump because things would have been exponentially worse. President Trump won because of the price of gas and because of the price of eggs and because of the border. Those were the top three things. Well, eggs are down. The price of gas is down. GDP is up. Inflation is down. The Dow is up. We are heading in the right direction, but it just takes time for it to trickle down to the everyday American and also tell people this all the time. President Trump and this administration has been in charge for just about one year. It's only been one year. It's only been one year. He has moved at lightning pace to get a lot of things done. It also goes from Marco Rubio, who has done a heck of a job, obviously. I mean, he's an all-star. Pete has done a heck of a job with our military, getting rid of the woke stuff, getting rid of the DEI stuff, focusing on war fighting, holding companies accountable for the contracts that they signed with us to ensure that they get it on time, on target. And if you go over budget and take too much time, you're going to pay for it, not the American taxpayer. peace on a great job with this stuff.
Starting point is 00:35:42 And so if you look at just how fast we've been able to move in a short period of time, I always tell people, tranquil, po favor. Relax. It's going to be okay. Let the man cook. And then we have to make sure that we have a very strong midterm so we can continue to codify where President Trump's into law. Do you worry a little bit about that message, Congressman?
Starting point is 00:36:00 It's not that you're wrong. Yes. Everything that you said and more is true about the direction of the economy. The Dow is at $50,000. We have 5% GDP growth. Yeah. 150,000 jobs in January. There's a lot of really good objective metrics, but then there is a gap between that and the way people feel.
Starting point is 00:36:18 You're correct. What you described as the affordability message. Yes, eggs and gas are down, but everything that went up for four years remains up. Yes. Outside of basically those categories. And people still feel that inflation. They still feel this economy. And you are right, again, objectively, it takes some time for that time.
Starting point is 00:36:39 and work its way through the economy, but people don't, I'm afraid people don't want to hear Tranquilo, Porfavor. They want to hear Zoroamam Dani say, I am going to control the cost of housing. The beauty of socialist and the beauty of Marxists is that I do believe that our side is a little bit more patient and we can wait a year and a half or a year in three quarters, which is literally how long it takes for the economy to respond to the changes that we've seen over the course of the past year. because when we are threatened with the alternative,
Starting point is 00:37:11 and I'm always, I'm always acutely aware of that. When you are threatened with what the alternative could have been, we would be in way worse shape. Communism does not work, which is exactly what they're pitching. Look at the leaders of their party. We're talking about AOC, Mom Donnie, and the governor of California. He is really nice here, but I don't even like saying his name because it's kind of ridiculous. Gavin Newsom are the people that are leading this party for the future.
Starting point is 00:37:38 That's terrifying. And so while you are correct, the prices are still high. People still are concerned. We have a president who is acutely aware of this, and he is acting in the best interests of the American people. This is the first president I've ever heard say in modern history that insurance companies and credit card companies are making too much money. He said these words.
Starting point is 00:38:01 So if this is a man that understands that and is trying to fix things via executive fiat, it's up to us to also codify this until all, which is the reason why I'm running for Senate. But you are correct. We have a very fickle population because people are trying to live month to month and figure out what we are going to do. And that's why it's a very big challenge for us from a messaging standpoint to get to the everyday American.
Starting point is 00:38:22 Look, you're going to have to wait a little while longer. Help is on the way. Please let us work. You mentioned the vice president. I think you mentioned the Secretary of State. I know you mentioned the Secretary of War. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was at the Munich Security Conference. He gave a barn burner of a speech, one that is really.
Starting point is 00:38:37 going viral. He had some incredible things to say. I thought we might listen to a little bit of it together. And I want to get your response. This is him talking to Europe about our future relationship with Europe. But in that, in that spirit, he's talking about our past relationship with Europe and what Europe has meant to America. Our expansion into the interior followed the footsteps of French fur traders and explorers whose names, by the way, still adorned the street signs and towns names all across the Mississippi Valley. Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos, the entire romance of the cowboy archetype that became synonymous with the American West. These were born in Spain.
Starting point is 00:39:20 He went on Congressman to talk about the fact that America's biggest city was once named New Amsterdam. Now that city is known as New York. He talked about the German influence in the Upper Midwest on both the agricultural and industrial industry and beer. He talked about the French explorers, the Spanish who brought the Cowboys. He talked about the English, who brought us our system. of law, injustice, and our primary language. He talked about the Italians that brought Christianity and discovered this continent. And it was really an amazing characterization of what made America.
Starting point is 00:39:54 America is truly a melting pot. America is the best thing going. There's nothing like it. My father would always tell me, if you can't make it here, then you can't make it everywhere. And that's it, you can't make it anywhere. And that's exactly what that speech is all about. And I want to tell you, what Marco Rubio is basically articulating is the definition of American exceptionalism and what it means for us to get here, but to do it the right way. Yes, we are a country of immigrants, obviously, as he articulated, yes, we have a very rich history.
Starting point is 00:40:24 But now we have our own American culture that we must inculcate everything of the past into what we have in the present. And they continue to grow from that. And that's exactly what he just articulated. But also, it's time for America to take all of that and lead for. from the front. He was asking Europe to join in the defense of Western civilization. He is saying to them, we will not sit by quietly as you wither on the vine. We will lead the way. You will not go quietly into the night. Because this is what we have to fight for, Western civilization. Yes. Western civilization and ensuring that, again, we Americans have our own culture. You know, another big thing that I'm
Starting point is 00:41:00 hearing while I'm traveling around is the Islamification of Texas. I'm hearing about the implementation of Sharia law in certain communities. And look, I'm not xenophobic. I'm not racist. I've been black for my entire life. I can assure you, but I am a red-blooded American that also believes in American culture. We have our own constitutional republic. We have our own set of laws that you must come to this country and assimilate to and abide by. I was somebody that was stationed in Saudi Arabia for two years. I've lived in countries that fell under Sharia law, and I can assure you it has no place in this country. Now, I can tell you that you can serve whatever God that you want within the confines of your own home. I'm not against that.
Starting point is 00:41:36 But again, if you are a culture that wants to come here, you have to assimilate to our laws. We have Chinese communities. We have black communities. We have Vietnamese communities. We have Hispanic communities. And you know what they all abide by? The laws in our own constitution. And this trickles down from what, from what Secretary Rubio was saying, on down to our own communities.
Starting point is 00:41:56 We are a melting pot. But over the years and over the generations, we have become the most powerful nation in the world. We have to lead from the front. We have our own cultures. And if you want to come to this country, like in every other country, you must assimilate to how we do things here in America. Let's talk about you for a moment. Where are you from? Where'd you grow up?
Starting point is 00:42:14 Born and raised in Houston, Texas. Okay. Grew up in Houston. Yes, sir. Born and raised. Went to high school at St. Johns. Went to a private school. I drove one hour, one way to attend a private school in Houston.
Starting point is 00:42:27 And by the way, the distance that I would drive, this is some 20 years ago, actually ended up being the boundaries of the congressional district that I would ultimately represent. So what took you to St. John's and that commute you had to make? I'm familiar with St. John's. It's a very, very prestigious private school in Houston. What took you to St. Johns? My father and my parents wanted to afford us the best education and make sacrifices for us to have the best education that money could buy.
Starting point is 00:42:57 And again, my parents made a lot of sacrifices for us to do that. And I always talk about me having what's called parent privilege. I had an outstanding father who's a retired colonel in the Army. My sister, also a West Point grad, retired lieutenant colonel in the military, my brother and I and my sister, all three of us went to West Point. All three of us graduated. And it came from a family, from a conservative home that taught us about the importance of hard work, grit, and determination.
Starting point is 00:43:22 You know, one day I actually complained to my father. And I asked him, I said, hey, dad, I don't want to drive an hour one way every single day to go to school. My friends get to live in River Oaks, and they get to live close. and dad, it's just not fair. And you turned around, looked at me and goes, you mean to tell me I'm busting my hump to sing you to the best school that money can buy and you're complaining because you have to get up a little bit early
Starting point is 00:43:42 and you have to drive a little bit longer? Welcome to life. Life is not fair. And luckily for you, I made this decision for you. And then he turned his chair around and I realized that that was the end of that conversation. Whenever you have strong parents that lead from the front,
Starting point is 00:43:58 that believe in this country, my parents grew up in a segregated south in New Orleans, Louisiana, and then you have three of their children that then go on to West Point. We all serve our country. At one point, my brother, sister, and I were all deployed in Baghdad for two months at the exact same time. And by the way, well, I was by far the coolest one because I was the Apache pilot. Oh, yeah. And so I'll make sure that they know that.
Starting point is 00:44:22 They know that. Family dinner. But that's the kind of house that I grew up in, a God-fearing Jesus-first kind of home where my parents were like, Y'all are going to figure out a way how to serve this country, but Jesus plus education equals success. You do those things. You're going to be all right in America. Your dad and mom grew up in segregated New Orleans. Your dad served.
Starting point is 00:44:43 Did he come from a long line of family serving, or was he the first in his family to choose to serve? He was not. Actually, my great-great-grandfather, who was actually born on a plantation, served in the Civil War and was injured in the Civil War. He was born on Rosedown plantation, about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My parents who are alive and well are 75 years old. Keep in mind that my dad was born in 1949. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. My dad grew up in an era where he never spent a single day of class from kindergarten through college with a white person.
Starting point is 00:45:15 Keep that in mind. His children, all three of us, attend to St. John's, the majority white school. I ended up becoming a United States congressman in a white majority district in Houston, Texas, a district that President Trump would have won by 20 points, and I won by 25 points. I tell him that every time I see him. He doesn't. He doesn't. You know how he is.
Starting point is 00:45:36 And I'm literally being judged not by the color of my skin, but by the content of my character. And as I travel around the Great State of Texas, what I'm finding out, if it's in Lubbock, if it's in Amarillo, if it's in a panhandle, if it's in Texarkana, the thing that I hear the most is, Wesley, thank you for your service. They don't care about what I look like. All they want are good, strong Texas conservative values. Who's going to uphold these values for the next generation? And I think a lot of people are coming across to see me as being that guy. Let's take a quick break. But continue this conversation with Congressman Wesley Hunt, who is running for Senate in the great state of Texas.
Starting point is 00:46:12 Next on Will King Country. Welcome back to Will King Country. We're still hanging out with Congressman Wesley Hunt, who's running for Senate in the state of Texas. West Point, the loneliest place on earth? It can be. I've met many a soldiers who have matriculated through West Point. They love their service, but they go, boy, those four years. It was rough.
Starting point is 00:46:33 It was rough. But I cheated, though. I had a bit of a cheat code. So my brother and I are 10 months apart. My brother's my best friend. We spent our entire life together. So you can imagine having a guy that was a year behind me from my entire life. He was at West Point with me.
Starting point is 00:46:47 And then, oddly enough, my sister, who's 10 years older than we are, was in the military as a captain and as a major, went to get her master's degree and apply. mathematics and then was a West Point instructor as the captain in the major when my brother and I were there as cadets. The other cheek coach. So I had to, I had a car, right? Because I got to use the major's car because we weren't allowed to have cars until our junior year. So I got to go to the movies and drive there because I'll borrow my sister's car every now and again.
Starting point is 00:47:11 But it was kind of a family affair for us, which made it even that much kind of more special for us. Not everybody had that support system that was right there every single day. But also, you know, I thank God for those experiences. And I think Jesus that he allowed me to persevere through that because it prepared me for times just like these. It prepared me for combat in an Apache where I flew 55 combat air missions. It prepared me for my diplomatic job in Saudi Arabia for two years. It prepared me to run for United States Senate and take on all the attacks and take on all the heat and take on a lot of lies that could spread about you.
Starting point is 00:47:46 But I always know that I'm doing this for the right reasons because I love this country and I believe in it. And as somebody that's been shot out before, I think I can. can handle it. Congressman, you went to St. John, as you mentioned. You were one of the only black students at St. John's. You represent a majority white district. Life will give you what you want. If you want, I believe, to see ugliness. If you want to see the world through the lens of racism, it's going to give you the evidence that you need to see it through that. I don't know what your dad's politics are, but he grew up in a segregated America. I'm sure life gave him plenty of reason to believe certain things about America. You are correct. And I'm just curious in your time
Starting point is 00:48:24 Whether not it's in your high school years at St. John, whether or not it's in your military service or when your public service as a congressman. If life hasn't given you that evidence, given you the ammunition, should you have wanted to go that way, but you ended up seeing it another way. Of course, brother. Of course. Look, there's always going to be racist people. There's always going to be people that want to harm you. And then I've realized in my life that that's not compartmentalized based on a race. is compartmentalized based on the individual.
Starting point is 00:48:55 And what I have learned in my time is, yes, I had been treated unfairly before. Of course I have. You know, have I been, has everything been roses and have I experienced racism in my life? Sure. But then again, I also choose to look at the fact that the vast majority of people that I encounter, and I mean the overwhelmingly vast majority of people that I encounter, they really don't care. What they want is just somebody who loves this country and believes in this country. And then as I have gotten older, and as I've gotten involved in politics, have been a
Starting point is 00:49:22 conservative, and I was the first person in the country to endorse President Trump this past cycle. And then I realized something very quickly that the most racist people in the United States are benevolent white liberals. And the most racist thing that I have actually seen over the course of the past few years is the insinuation from white liberals that black and brown people are too stupid to get an ID to vote. It's called the soft bigotry of low expectations. And then as I have continued to grow up and I've continued to view this world. I've realized that if you have more in company, if you could find ways of what we have in common with people, the racial stuff breaks down very, very quickly if you just give people a chance. And my service to this country
Starting point is 00:50:06 and my time in the military taught me those very valuable essence. When you're serving with people and you're flying combat missions and people are in one mission rolling in the right direction, race goes away very, very quickly when the bullets start flying. And then once you take that feeling and you take that sentiment and then apply it to everything in life, I realize that I ignore the haters. I ignore the very loud minority that want to perpetuate race. It continued to divide us along racial lines. I listen to the bulk of everyone else.
Starting point is 00:50:39 That's why I'm sitting here today. You know, I wonder, I think one of the most fascinating interviews that I would like to conduct. I always forget when people say, who do you want to interview, Will? I always forget to say this, but it is. At the top of my wish list would be Justice Clarence Combin. Oh my gosh. And there's, I find, okay, I've spent a lot of years, Congressman. I've worked at CNN, I've worked at ESPN, I've worked at various places. This is really the first time my career where I've worked around like-minded people at Fox News. And there's an interesting effect where there's people that agree with you. Sometimes the people that dislike you and will regardless are there. the easiest to dismiss, but the people that you would hope to win over who question your loyalty or question your integrity is the one that hurts the most. So, you know, for example, a fellow a fellow world traveler, somebody sees the world through the same lens that you do, sees that you work somewhere and goes, oh, you're not real, you're fake, you're this. And I'm going somewhere with this in Clarence Thomas and what you've experienced. We kind of had this conversation so far
Starting point is 00:51:43 through the lens of perhaps racism you've experienced from a white American. What I'm curious about is how it affects you when I'm sure you have heard sellout. Uncle Tom. Uncle Tom. Yes. Yes. What I have realized is that this is also what I mean by racism and not even respecting one's opinion. We're all allowed to have different opinion in regards of what race you are. I think about Clarence Tom and oftentimes in my life. I think about the time that he came up in. he had it way more difficult than I did. I mean, I watched, I watched that, that, that, that entire
Starting point is 00:52:20 process of him becoming a Supreme Court justice. I watched that hearing when he was questioned by Joe Biden. I watched how condescending these people were. I watched how we talked about, I will not be bullied. I will not be, be put down. I will die trying to become a United States member of this, of the Supreme Court. And it doesn't. It doesn't matter what anybody says, and even if I don't get it, I will not drop out of this process. That was in the 90s. So when I think about the struggles that he had, somebody calling me and Uncle Tom the day or dismissing me as that. I'm like, yeah, I could deal with it.
Starting point is 00:52:55 It's not as bad. But does it matter to me? It certainly does. But here's also the alternative that nobody sees the direct messages, the text messages that I get of other black people, specifically a lot of black men that will tell me, thank you for speaking up. Thank you for your opinion. you have helped me look at things through a different lens. Keep in mind that President Trump got the highest percentage of the black vote of any modern Republican president. And I would argue that it's because of certain people like me and certain people like Byron Donald's
Starting point is 00:53:25 who have been saying the entire time, let's get off the Democrat plantation. Let's talk about what our party wants. Do you like border security? I think we do. Do you like the protection of our Second Amendment rights? The fastest growing demographic of gun ownership is who? Black women? Do you like the issues that strip away race and talk about what it means to just be an American and being respected and being treated and be acknowledged for your hard work, great indetermination?
Starting point is 00:53:50 Do you like the condescending tone of white Democrats? Come on board. So what I've learned is that, yes, I get a lot of hate, but quietly I get a lot of people that approach me and tell me thank you. And if that's one or two people, then by God, I've made a difference. All right. Let's get your response to some of the people out there that are directly and indirect. in disagreement and running against you. Okay?
Starting point is 00:54:14 Yeah. So we'll go past the Republican primary for the moment. We'll look at the potential general election matchup. Yes. So state Senator James Talariko has been called the rising star of the Democrat Party by no less than someone like Joe Rogan. Senator Talariko talks about his religion. A lot. A lot.
Starting point is 00:54:35 He is a seminarian studied in theology. And this is what he has to say about Christianity. I believe Christianity points to the truth. I also think other religions of love point to the same truth. I think of different religious traditions as different languages. So you and I could sit here and debate what to call this cup. And you could call it a cup in English. We'd call it something else in Spanish and French.
Starting point is 00:55:00 But we are all talking about the same reality. I believe Jesus Christ reveals that reality to us. But I also think that other traditions reveal that reality in their own ways, with their own symbol structures. And I've learned more about my tradition by learning more about Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam and Judaism. Is that right?
Starting point is 00:55:20 Is Christianity just one of the multitude of ways to arrive at the truth? They're all similar pathways to the same truth, whether or not that's Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, or Christianity? The Bible says, I'm the way the truth and the light. No man comes to the father but through me.
Starting point is 00:55:35 I take that very, very seriously. somebody that grew up in a Jesus-based Jesus-centric home. And when I hear stuff like that, I think it's blasphemous. And by the way, we get to believe in the Christ that we get to believe in. And I get to have these strong beliefs. Like, everybody gets to believe their own religion. But at the end of the day, I believe the way I believe, and I must be respected for that. And I am not going to allow that to be diluted, tainted, or tarnished by somebody that
Starting point is 00:56:02 wants to warp the truth of the Bible that I believe in. And whenever I start to see people like this, I view them as a wolf and sheep's clothing because there are some very strong tenets of Christianity that are represented by the conservative party that, in my opinion, are non-negotiable. And when I see Democrats warp the truth like that, knowing that they stand for things, like not being able to tell me the difference between a man and a woman, it's very basic tenets like, well, are you pro-life or are you pro-choice? These are very easy questions. that I believe the Jesus Christ that I serve, I think I understand and know where he stands, and I don't think he takes very kindly to those tenets being warped.
Starting point is 00:56:41 Look, I'm not saying that you can't be a Democrat, can't be a strong believer. I'm not saying that. But there are some moral issues that you're going to have to reconcile, and those issues don't exist on our side of the aisle. It is an interesting statement. He's gone on to say that atheists, he's met many atheists who have a greater sense of right and wrong than many of Christians that he knows or has experienced. I'm no expert. I don't hold myself out. I'm a studier, and I'm in my, I'm in my journey.
Starting point is 00:57:10 And I spent, I spent this weekend, by the way, had a soccer game with my 14-year-old in Tulsa. So I spent four hours, three and a half hours, both ways, driving up for, and we listened to C.S. Louis's mere Christianity, which is really, really a fascinating study on Christianity. And he was, C.S. Lewis was an incredible thinker. Yes, he was. And he explained Christianity. And in this process of sort of taking you from the basic concepts of right and wrong through the idea that you have to live Christ-like, it really doesn't leave much gray area for what Tala Rico has said there. It's not that you can't be a good person through some of these other mechanisms. Correct.
Starting point is 00:57:44 But whether or not that good is defined by the existence of God and Jesus, who came to this earth proclaiming to be the son of God. And I love this line. He said, there's no grayer. Either Jesus was a lunatic or he was the son of God. Savior. It's binary. And if you choose to believe that he was the son of God, and you choose to believe that the teachings in the Bible represent our father and represent him of giving his only begotten son, so that we believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you believe in those tenants, there is no gray area. Now, if you, this is what Tala Rico does,
Starting point is 00:58:21 if you want to talk about being nice and being kind, that's a whole, that's a whole different conversation. Do I know some devout Christians that aren't very nice? Yeah. But that's a personality conflict. That's a personality conversation, not an internal belief system. Yes. That we cannot compromise any of those truths. And that's the issue. And I think that's the biggest difference between us and them. And that is there are some universal truths that we must believe in and must adhere to. And we cannot compromise on those things at all. I understand respecting other people's opinion. But we get to have those opinions as well and feel strongly about them. Well, Tala Rico is running against, of course, a much more famous and higher name recognition in Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. And currently, it looks like this, according to the Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs. There's a ton of polls out there.
Starting point is 00:59:09 And you and I spoke before you came on air. I met a man working with you who is doing some AI analytics on your standing right now, because it does show in this particular Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs that you're at 17% while John Cornyn is at 31% and Ken Paxton is at 30. Yeah. But I'm happy for you to address the Republican side of this polling. I'm also interested in the Democrat, which is Jasmine Crockett and James Tala Rico, which Jasmine Crockett's at 47 and Tala Rico's at 39. Let's talk about, there's one commonality on both these sides, I think, and it's name recognition. Talleyco, for all the rising star status, does not have the name recognition of Jasmine Crockett. Correct. But one can say the same about you and what you're battling over here, according to the Houston hobby. School of Public Affairs. Here is the beauty of that poll. And this is what oftentimes gets skipped over in that poll that came out. Prior to that, there were lots of polling that came out that were public
Starting point is 01:00:08 polls that I did not do for my team that firmly had us actually in second place. And I do believe we are still there. This is a general election poll. What people aren't looking at is the fact that I am outperforming John and Ken, according to this hobby poll, in the general election, against any of the Democrat counterparts. So if we look kind of within that data of a general election poll, this is not primary polling. Two completely different sample sets, two completely different sample sizes.
Starting point is 01:00:38 So I want to first of all, kind of point that out. And secondly, you're right about name ID, and the good thing about name ID is name ID is quite fixable. What I've also realized that over the course of the past two weeks, if I was at 17%, then there wouldn't be a $2.5 million ad buy that was purchased a couple of weeks ago by the Cornyn team and a $700,000 ad buy that was purchased by Ken Paxson 10 days ago hitting me all over Texas.
Starting point is 01:01:03 So what I do know is that actually we're doing quite well because you just don't spend $3 million on somebody who's pulling at 17% in the Republican primary. And then also what I'm hearing as I'm traveling around the state of Texas is who has the momentum right now. Where is the bus? What I do know is I'm very, very confident that Ken Paxon is probably going to be in this runoff and there's going to be a runoff. But the issue is, is that, I believe I'm going to be second place and I won't be too far behind him if you're looking at momentum, if you're looking at,
Starting point is 01:01:35 if you look at other measures that cannot be calculated with conventional polling. So with three candidates on the Republican side, two will make a runoff. Yes. You're telling me that Ken Paxton will be in that runoff. You got it. It's a race between you and John Corny. You got it. And that's always been the case. And hence the reason why there's two million dollars being spent against me. In terms of the Democrats as well, this is also general electing polling. I think in the primary, I think James Taua Rico was doing better than anticipated. But it's very difficult to capture new faces and up-and-comers in a Republican primary this soon and this quickly. And so that's why I think the momentum is certainly behind James and the momentum is certainly behind me.
Starting point is 01:02:15 Now, if I'm being honest with you, brother, I would want nothing more than for a Wesley Hunt, Jasmine Crockett matchup in the general. You're not alone. Who would love? Attorney General Paxton would love to see the same day. Of course he would, right? Who wouldn't want to see that? I'm speaking more in terms of
Starting point is 01:02:33 of, you know, Jasmine and I are actually around the exact same age. We're around the exact, obviously, we're both black. Both of us have been black for our entire lives. She has her vision for America. I have my vision for America. And I will want nothing more than to have
Starting point is 01:02:49 a substantive, obviously a substantive, respectful debate as to how we are standing on the same stage and the same place. You got here one way. I got here the other way. And let's have a conversation about it. That would be an interesting debate. Yes, sir. Last point.
Starting point is 01:03:02 I'm curious, because this is going to take us back to the race conversation we had as well. Tala Rico and Crockett are having a little bit of a proxy fight right now. And that proxy fight is over a man who's run for Senate before in the state of Texas, Colin Alrid. Yes. Colin Alrid played football for Baylor. He's black. Apparently, the story goes, Tala Rico disputes this story.
Starting point is 01:03:20 The Talleyko said he had anticipated running against a mediocre black man, not against Jasmine Crockett. This is what Colin Allred had to say about James Tullerico. We've spoken on the phone and I offered him a chance to apologize and he declined to do that. So he didn't apologize? That's right. Did that surprise you? It is surprising. I think that's the easiest thing to do in the situation is to say, listen, whatever you can even say, I feel like that's not what the conversation went. But either way, I apologize for the offense that was.
Starting point is 01:03:52 given, which I think is what would have been the right thing to do. What's happening here? Why is all red in the middle of the race between Tala Rico and Crockett? Again, this is a food fight and a comment that oftentimes gets made again by benevolent, white, educated liberals that, quite frankly, as I said earlier, are the most racist people on the planet. Now, people don't want to acknowledge that, but I've experienced it firsthand. We were talking about being called and Uncle Tom by black people. I get called an Uncle Tom by actually, but Uncle Tom Moore by white liberals online if you're actually paying attention to the measures there. And so, again, this goes back to if it is, hopefully, me or Jasmine Crockett or me and James Tilarico,
Starting point is 01:04:35 I can assure you that I am not a mediocre black man. I am a guy that's a West Point grad, served this country, learn how to fly the most sophisticated helicopter the world has ever seen. The Apache went on to Cornell, earned three master's degrees and four years from Cornell University. I'm the United States Congressman running for the United States Senate. Nothing about my life is mediocre. And when you think about, again, my great-great-grandfather being born in a plantation and the struggles that we went through to have the progress of a man like me
Starting point is 01:05:03 and the great state of Texas as a strong conservative, nothing about me or my past is mediocre. And I would love to have that substantive debate with James Taylor-Rico as well. I think he's going to be very uncomfortable with that. But if he thinks that he could even make a comment like that, it just goes to show you how he really feels about black people as a whole. All right, Congressman Wesley Hunt, running for Senator from the great state of Texas. It's been great to spend some extended time with you today and get to know you a little bit more. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you.
Starting point is 01:05:31 Thank you, Congressman. We wish you the best of luck. Thank you, all right. Okay, that's going to do it for us here on Will King Country. We hope you will subscribe to us on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple, and we will see you again next time. And Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon Music app.

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