The president of the United States just said that I insulted Jesus.
You want to know what insults Jesus?
Kicking the sick off their health care while cutting taxes for billionaires.
You know what insults Jesus?
Deporting the stranger and separating babies from their mothers.
You know what insults Jesus? bombing innocent school children in Iran and sending our brave men and women off to die in another forever war.
You know what insults Jesus? Covering up the Epstein files and then refusing to prosecute a single person in them. I am
not a perfect Christian. I don’t claim to be.
There’s only been one perfect Christian and he was crucified on a cross 2,000 years ago.
Jesus told us. He told us to love our neighbors as ourselves. He told us on earth as it is in heaven.
Can we imagine war in heaven? Can we imagine bigotry in heaven?
Can we imagine poverty in heaven?
Then why do we tolerate these things on earth?
Christian nationalists have taken Trump as their new Christ because he’s everything the first one was not.
Jesus was poor. Trump is rich. Jesus was meek. Trump is a bully.
Jesus lost. And Trump is obsessed with winning.
I honestly think that if Donald Trump and JD Vance met Jesus today, they would ridicule him as a single childless hippie.
And in fact, in fact, Donald Trump Jr. explicitly
rejected Jesus’s sermon on the mount. He said, “Turning the other cheek has quote gotten us nothing.”
How did we get to the point where loving your enemy is weak and loving your neighbor is woke?
I mean, I think the only thing worse than Ken Paxton’s personal cheating is his public cheating.
I mean, yes, he’s betrayed the people closest to him. Um, you mentioned this being the anniversary of his famous mugsh shot. And that was because he was
indicted for securities fraud, for investment fraud. And what’s fascinating about that story, I’m not a lawyer, but
when you when you read about what happened, he was scamming his own friends. He he convinced his own friends to invest hundreds of thousands of
dollars into a tech company and then he didn’t tell them that he was getting a commission off those investments. And so I’ve said on the campaign trail, if Ken Paxton is willing to scam his own
friends for a quick buck, what makes you think he’s not going to scam you in the United States Senate? Um, and the last
thing I’ll say is, you served with um with Ken Paxton’s wife. Um, she’s a state senator in Texas, Senator Angela
Paxton, and I have great respect for the for the senator. We don’t agree on on every issue, but I respect her public service, and
the last thing I want to do is um is kind of bring up all this all this personal stuff when there’s so much public stuff to really um prosecute the
case on. And so I’m just going to stick to Kim Paxton’s public record because there’s plenty of material there uh to to run a campaign and and make the
choice in this election clear for the people of Texas. George Carlin has this great line that inside every cynic is a wounded idealist. And so I just want to
speak to all the wounded idealists who are watching this show right now and trying to figure out if they can believe that winning Texas is possible. 2018 is
when Betroor got within two and a half points of beating Ted Cruz. The backlash that we’re seeing to the extremism and the corruption in our government is bigger than it was in 2018.
And then I didn’t think it was possible to find a candidate worse than Ted Cruz, but I think we found him uh in Ken Paxton. I mean, this is the most corrupt
politician in our state, one of the most corrupt in the entire country. Uh you mentioned that since taking office, he’s
become a multi-millionaire. All while the pay of most Texans has remained stagnant for years, for decades, he now
owns 15 homes while most Texans can’t afford one. He’s taken bribes from wealthy donors, all while he blocks
overtime pay for Texas workers and guts our healthcare. I mean, he was one of the the uh the attorneys general who
led the fight against the Affordable Care Act, which has led to premiums skyrocketing for Texans all over the the state. Um
and you just saw this month that he’s taken these lavish vacations to Iceland, uh to England on the 4th of July. Quite
a a decision to spend our 250th anniversary from the British from where?
Yeah, [laughter] right. he was with the British uh on that anniversary. Um and most Texans can’t afford to take a vacation given this cost of living
crisis. So Ken Paxton’s corruption is costing us in the state of Texas and and it’s why the the people closest to Ken
Paxton know he’s unfit for office. You mentioned that his own party impeached him in the Texas House. His own staff
reported him to the FBI. Uh his own defense attorney just endorsed me in this race. Uh, I’m kind of expecting his
family dog to run away and head over to my house uh any day now. I mean, I think in a time when we’re all so divided,
there is one thing that Texans, Democrats, independents, and Republicans can agree on, and that’s that’s that we can’t afford Ken Paxton’s corruption. we
can finish the work of President Obama and pass a public option so that every single American has access to the
healthcare they deserve [applause] because healthc care is a human right.
It is not a privilege. I just since we are in church and because I said BS earlier, if you read our scriptures, if you read
the New Testament, what does Jesus spend most of his time doing? It’s not Wow, you already know. Okay. It’s not
preaching. It’s not teaching. It is healing.
Healing the sick. And in Matthew 25, scripture says that’s how we will be judged and how we will be saved. By
healing the sick, by feeding the hungry, by welcoming the stranger, by visiting the prisoner. I worked with
Representative Tony Rose, with my colleagues in the state house, with Republicans. We took on big pharma and their lobbyists and we capped insulin
co-pays in the state of Texas at $25 per prescription. That is that is the progress we can make.
[applause]
But as you know better than anybody, we have the highest number of uninsured people in the whole country.
So the copay cap doesn’t do a lot of good if you don’t have insurance.
So this is an emergency across the state of Texas. And I think what you’re seeing as part of this campaign is people
coming together, black, white, brown, rural, urban, suburban, Democrats, independents, and Republicans who are
rejecting the extremism and the corruption in our government and who are ready to fight to make sure that healthcare is truly a human right for every single person in this state.
Watch Senate race in the country. James Talerico taking on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a Republican
here. Now, Democrats, they always have hope. They have hope for Texas. And that hope has always been dash, but there are
signs this year might might be different. With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Eton. So, why is Texas
looking different than it did say in 2018 when Better Oor ran against Ted Cruz? Everyone thought that Better Oor
had a chance to be the Democrat who could win, but didn’t. What’s different this time? The polling is different. The polling is different. This is the best looking polling for Democrats in a
Senate race since really the 20th century. You’re going to have to go back probably the late ‘ 80s, the last time they won a Senate race out there when it
was Lloyd Benson winning in 1988 because just take a look here. This polling looks so much different than it did 8 years ago. You take a look here, James
Telerico, the latest poll against Ken Paxton. He’s actually up by three points. Look at where the race was between Bto Rook and Ted Cruz at this
point in the 2018 cycle. Ted Cruz was a hit by six. This is very different. The Democrat here is doing nine points better. And what is supercharging that?
Look at this. Independence moved from tie to plus 39 points for James Terico.
Independence, the name of the game shifting significantly to the left hand and supercharging James Terico. It could be real. Every single time I look at the
p going, hm, this can’t be right. This could be very very real. Democrats have a real shot in Texas.
So 26 different than 2018. Ted Cruz again who won but it was very very close. Very close. Less than three points.
How is Ted Cruz different than Paxton?
How is Ted Cruz different than Ken Paxton? Simply put, Ted Cruz was popular. Ken Paxton is not popular at all. That is, I think, one of the
biggest differences in this race. Take a look here. The GOP nominees net favorability. In July of 2018, Ted Cruz was eight points above water. His
favorable is eight points above his unfavorable rating. Look at this side of the screen. Very different indeed. Ken Paxton six points underwater with, get
this, among independents, 47 points underwater. No wonder. No wonder that you’re seeing major issues for Ken Paxton in this race so far.
How’s the president doing in Texas?
Well, here’s the other thing that’s going on. How’s the president doing in Texas? The president is supercharging Democratic possibilities across red states. Remember, Donald Trump won Texas
by double digits, but now he’s nine points underwater. He was slightly underwater back in 2018, but he’s much further underwater right now in the great state of Texas.
So Texas, if it were to flip, would be fairly key for the math for Democrats to try to take back the Senate. What are the prediction market saying right now about those changes?
You know, all of a sudden, you put Texas in play. You put places like Iowa, Ohio in play. You know, you’re talking about Alaska being potentially in play. Look
at this chance to win the Senate. Now it’s basically an even race. Republicans were 3 to2 favorites a month ago. Look at where we are right now. Now
Republicans chances have fallen significantly. Just a 53% chance to take to hold on to the United States Senate.
Democrats have a real shot indeed. It’s going to be a pretty tense few months here. I think we’ll hold on together. Hold on tight, folks.
Har, thank you very much. We have a lot of news this morning.
This time it’s different and this time the scandals are building up. This is the karma. It was never going to flip an absolutely uh gargantuan race, right?
It’s just not. We’re not in that world anymore where a political scandal will flip a 20 point margin. But in close races in Ohio with the Max Miller thing,
right? And now it’s a big thing where Max Miller did or is accused of doing unspeakable things to his to his wife um
who is the the the daughter of a Republican senator. That’s all ugly. And then you know all the personal scandals
of Ken Paxton and what’s happening in Texas is very real. There’s nothing this is not I know a lot of people are saying
well what about Boto or had a did a had a good run. A lot of people were excited about Badoor in 2018. Uh and he did he
he came reasonably close to beating Ted Cruz in a similar environment. You know Trump’s president first midterms after Trump gets reelected as president. You
could see how it mirrors. The thing is, Beta was never this close in the polling. Polling’s not perfect, but Beta
was never really projected in any serious poll consistently to win. Never.
Never. He made it close. He did a good job. He was never expected by anyone to win like reasonably. With this, it’s
showing that the race is the about as close as it could be. Terico has made it a razor thin race. And again, I’ve
talked about this. This is massive for a couple reasons. One, Terico making this a close race will
drain money from dozens of races in the country, maybe literally hundreds, guys.
One race getting national attention because Paxton is is might even be more hated than Trump. And having Paxton
associated with Trump actually drags Trump down. And Taler Rico is a great ambassador for the Democratic party. And
what’s great about him is that he unites the various segments. Moderates like him. Progressives like him too. I don’t know anybody in the Democratic coalition
really right now that doesn’t like James Terico, right? And so when you have his clips
playing everywhere 24/7 on all the news, he’s an ambassador to vote Democrat everywhere else because like, oh, I like
this guy. I like this this young this, you know, this thoughtful, handsome young man from Texas who’s got good ideas. Seems pretty progressive yet rooted in Texan culture.
I bet I bet there’s some great local candidates like that for me in Georgia, in Ohio, in Maine.
And I think that’s going to play big dividends.