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Radical Then, Moderate Now? The Great Tallarico Retreat Begins · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

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  Speaker 1: And just with the in-between comment, I know you're a preacher,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: so you know this. I don't have to tell you,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: but Mark 10, 6 states, quote, from the beginning of creation,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: God made them male and female. Clearly in the Bible,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: it doesn't state that in between.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I think God is so much bigger than every
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: human category. God is bigger than any of our understandings.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: And it's important for us to remember that when we're
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: having these discussions. What is clear from Scripture is that
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: we are commanded to love thy neighbor as thyself.
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  Speaker 3: You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
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  Speaker 4: Good Friday morning. It's so nice to have you with
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  Speaker 4: us on the 47 Morning Update as we are live
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: from Dallas. I tell you what, it was an amazing
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  Speaker 4: midterm convention. And there's one thing that we're getting from
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  Speaker 4: this convention, and that is what we're up against. Well,
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  Speaker 4: James Tallarico... He's now trying to undo every single thing
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  Speaker 4: that he ever said, saying he didn't really mean it. Well,
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  Speaker 4: we've got the tapes of what he actually said and
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  Speaker 4: now what he's trying to walk back. Senator Cruz joins
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  Speaker 4: me from the convention as we break it all down
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  Speaker 4: for you in a special edition of the 47 Morning Update.
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  Speaker 4: And before I get to that, I want to talk
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  Speaker 4: to you real quick about this. 25 years ago on
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  Speaker 4: September the 11th, 2001, America faced the heartbreak of terrorism
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  Speaker 4: at home. And three years ago, on October the 7th, 2023,
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  Speaker 4: Israel endured that same heartbreak in the Holy Land. Now,
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  Speaker 4: this was in different decades, different attacks, but the same evil.
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  Speaker 4: Each year, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews hosts
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: something that's incredible that you can get your church involved with.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: It's called Flags of Fellowship. It's a movement where thousands
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: of churches display memorial flags and to honor the 1,200
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  Speaker 4: lives lost on October 7th. It is a way to
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  Speaker 4: stand with Israel in faith, prayer, and remembrance, as well
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  Speaker 4: as solidarity. Now, each flag represents a loved one, a
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  Speaker 4: family forever changed, and a promise that we will never forget. Today,
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  Speaker 4: hatred and violence are still threatening our world. Yet, Scripture
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  Speaker 4: calls us to stand firm, to comfort the grieving, honor
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  Speaker 4: the lost, and shine a light in the darkness. And
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  Speaker 4: together we remember and we honor and we declare that
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  Speaker 4: evil will not have the final word, whether it is
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  Speaker 4: the 25th anniversary of 9-11 or the anniversary coming up
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  Speaker 4: of the October 7th attacks in Israel. I want you
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  Speaker 4: to join thousands of churches. Get your church involved. All
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  Speaker 4: across the country this will happen. It's a powerful act
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  Speaker 4: of remembrance and also support for Israel. You can learn
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  Speaker 4: how your church can participate in Flags of Fellowship, at joinfof.org.
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  Speaker 4: That's joinfof.org. It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts
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  Speaker 4: right now.
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  Speaker 3: Story number one.
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  Speaker 4: Senator, I want to go back into what was a
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  Speaker 4: very interesting week politically for the Democratic Party and specifically
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  Speaker 4: the big race in Texas. James Tallarico decided, I'm going
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  Speaker 4: to do a bunch of interviews today and rewrite history
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  Speaker 4: and basically say, hey, my past was just entertainment or
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  Speaker 4: pathological lying. It's not actually what I believe now. And
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  Speaker 4: everything that's become controversial, we're just going to make it
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  Speaker 4: all disappear overnight. It was hysterical to watch him try
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  Speaker 4: to backtrack, and I hope it's not working with the
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  Speaker 4: voters at all.
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  Speaker 5: Well, let's talk for a minute about the state of
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  Speaker 5: the Texas Senate, Dave. all of the polling that has
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  Speaker 5: come out shows it's basically tied. It is a one
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  Speaker 5: or two point race, and it's exceptionally close. But what
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  Speaker 5: it also shows is a real difference in, when you
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: look at political polling, one of the important measures is
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  Speaker 5: what's called fave-unfave. And that is a comparison of, when
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  Speaker 5: you ask people if you have a favorable impression of
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  Speaker 5: Ben Ferguson or an unfavorable impression, and you get a number, fave-unfave,
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  Speaker 5: and you obviously want higher faves than unfaves. Well, The
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  Speaker 5: current polling shows Ken Paxton with a fave-unfave of minus 15.
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  Speaker 5: That means the number of people saying they have an
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  Speaker 5: unfavorable view of him are 15 points higher than the
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  Speaker 5: number of people saying they have a favorable view of him.
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  Speaker 5: That is not ideal. James Tallarico right now has a
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  Speaker 5: fave-unfave of plus 9. So that means the delta, the
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  Speaker 5: difference between minus 15 and plus 9, is 24 points.
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  Speaker 5: That's a problem. That is why this race is tied
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  Speaker 5: right now. Now, here's the good news. Most of the
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  Speaker 5: voters of Texas don't actually know James Tallerego's record right now. Look,
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  Speaker 5: Ken Paxton went through a brutal primary. He had $ 200
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  Speaker 5: million of attack ads run against him. It was the
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  Speaker 5: single most expensive Senate primary in American history. Turns out
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  Speaker 5: $ 200 million of attack ads... leaves a mark. It does
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  Speaker 5: some damage. And so those hits, there's a reason that
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  Speaker 5: Ken's numbers are upside down, because $ 200 million of attack
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  Speaker 5: ads have done some damage. In contrast, Tallarico went through
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  Speaker 5: basically a cakewalk of a primary. His opponent, Jasmine Crockett,
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  Speaker 5: had very little money, and she didn't have the money
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  Speaker 5: to really hit it. And so for three months... James
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  Speaker 5: Tallarico has been alone on the airwaves running just positive
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  Speaker 5: ads about what a sweet, wonderful guy he is. And
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  Speaker 5: so his numbers reflect that. Also good news is the
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  Speaker 5: polling is quite clear that when the voters hear his record,
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  Speaker 5: they don't like it. The voters of Texas do not
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  Speaker 5: agree with his radical left-wing record. And so that means
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  Speaker 5: for the next two months, the job of Ken Paxton,
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  Speaker 5: the job of Republicans, is to tell the voters of Texas,
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  Speaker 5: Tallarico's record and Paxton's record. And I will say there's
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  Speaker 5: a broader phenomenon. This is true in the Texas race,
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  Speaker 5: but it's true in races across the country. Conservatives win
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  Speaker 5: when we effectively articulate what it is we believe. There's
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  Speaker 5: a reason for that. I think most voters in Texas,
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  Speaker 5: and I also think most voters across the country, are center-right.
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  Speaker 5: They believe in common-sense conservative ideas. So if you articulate
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  Speaker 5: effectively common-sense conservative ideas of the candidate, that is a
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  Speaker 5: winning message. The inverse is true as well. Liberals win
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  Speaker 5: when they effectively obfuscate their views and obfuscate their record.
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  Speaker 5: So Ken Paxton's entire objective is communicate his record and
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  Speaker 5: communicate Tallarico's record. Tallarico's entire objective is hide, mislead, cover up,
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  Speaker 5: deceive about Ken Paxton's record, and hide, mislead, cover up,
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  Speaker 5: deceive about Tallarico's own record. So you have all of
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  Speaker 5: these left-wing positions Tallarico has taken that he is now
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  Speaker 5: in the process of desperately trying to run away from
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  Speaker 5: and insisting that, no, no, I didn't mean that. That
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: was a mistake. That was wrong. No, no, no. So,
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  Speaker 5: for example, James Tallarico famously said, God is non-binary. Now
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  Speaker 5: that's a pretty bizarre and weird statement. Well, he did
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: an interview with Fox this week where he tried, he
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: doubled down on it and then he tried to back
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: away from it. So give a listen first to him
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: doubling down.
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  Speaker 1: And just with the in-between comment, I know you're a preacher,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: so you know this. I don't have to tell you,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: but Mark 10, 6 states, quote, from the beginning of creation,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: God made them male and female. Clearly in the Bible,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: it doesn't state that in between.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Well, and I think God is so much bigger than
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: every human category. God is bigger than any of our understandings.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: And it's important for us to remember that when we're
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: having these discussions. What is clear from scripture is that
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: we are commanded to love thy neighbor as thyself.
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: So there he is doubling down on it and saying,
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  Speaker 5: oh yeah, God is definitely non-binary. And then he realizes, uh-oh,
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: Texas voters think that's a wacky position. So now listen
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  Speaker 5: to him try to run away from it and dismiss
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  Speaker 5: the comment.
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  Speaker 1: In 2021, you said God is both masculine and feminine
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  Speaker 1: and everything in between. God is non-binary. Do you still
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  Speaker 1: stand by that?
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  Speaker 2: I was being provocative with that statement.
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  Speaker 5: I get that.
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  Speaker 2: What I was trying to say is that you can't
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  Speaker 2: use human categories to define God. And that's not controversial theologically.
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  Speaker 4: It is really just hilarious, but also not surprising that
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  Speaker 4: you're seeing this Tallarico 180 from years and years of
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: constant rhetoric on these issues. And now it's like, I
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  Speaker 4: just want to make it all go away. Hand me
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  Speaker 4: a white bucket of paint. Let me just paint over
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  Speaker 4: everything I've ever said or preached or done in the past.
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  Speaker 4: And none of it I really meant. Yeah, because I'm
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  Speaker 4: just trying to win an election.
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  Speaker 5: Well, and look, his explanation there, I was just being provocative.
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  Speaker 5: You know, I'm Howard Stern. I'm a shock dog. I
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  Speaker 5: just was saying something provocative, but I don't believe it.
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  Speaker 5: And one of the things to understand about James Tallarico,
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  Speaker 5: this guy is a different cat than Beto O'Rourke, who
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  Speaker 5: ran against me in 2018, and then Colin Allred, who
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  Speaker 5: ran against me in 2024. One of the differences is generation.
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  Speaker 5: James Tallarico is 37 years old. All Red is 43.
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  Speaker 5: Beto is 53. All Red and Beto didn't necessarily believe
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  Speaker 5: every woke idiocy that took over the world during COVID lockdowns,
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  Speaker 5: during the height of DEI, during the height of transgenderism.
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  Speaker 5: Tallarico does. He believes this nonsense. He believes that this
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  Speaker 5: is who he is. As I said in my convention speech,
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  Speaker 5: when they tell you who they are, believe them. So
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  Speaker 5: listen to him trying to now run away from his comment,
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  Speaker 5: another comment he made. famously, is there six genders? Now, Ben,
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  Speaker 5: I'm not smart enough to know what the other four are.
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  Speaker 5: I know two of them, but beyond that, I literally
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  Speaker 5: have no idea what the six are that he thinks
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  Speaker 5: that exist. But today he realized, well, gosh, Texans think
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  Speaker 5: they're men and women and they don't think they're anything else.
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  Speaker 5: So let me run away and pretend that doesn't exist.
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  Speaker 5: Give a list.
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  Speaker 1: During the 2021 hearing, you said there are six biological sexes.
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  Speaker 1: Do you still believe that standing here with me right now?
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  Speaker 2: No, I've missed the mark on some of my past statements.
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  Speaker 2: I will be the first to admit it. What I
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: meant is that there are two sexes and then there's
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: a small percentage of people with genetic abnormalities. I obviously
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  Speaker 2: didn't say it correctly. There are not six sexes. There
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  Speaker 2: are two.
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  Speaker 5: Wow. Look, look, The fact that he's just willing to
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  Speaker 5: run away from that, he categorically said there were six.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: And to be clear, he still believes there are six,
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: or he probably believes there are 57. If you remember
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  Speaker 5: what Facebook had years ago, you could opt into 57.
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  Speaker 5: You could say you were like, I don't know, two spirits.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: I don't even know. The list of 57 was the
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: most bizarre list I think I'd ever read. you know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: another area, he's extreme in a lot of things, but
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: when it comes to transgenderism, he's obsessed with transgender. So
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: at one point he did an interview and said, you know,
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: who do you love? And he says, I love transgender children.
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: In the legislature, there was a bill to ban the
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: sterilization and genital mutilation of kids to do transgender surgery.
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: And he voted no, and he was passionate. You cannot
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  Speaker 5: do this. Well, Now he's running away from that eagerly.
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  Speaker 5: Give a listen.
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  Speaker 1: Down here standing with me, you can confidently say there
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  Speaker 1: are two sexes, a man and a woman.
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  Speaker 6: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of gender, would you vote in favor of a
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  Speaker 1: national ban for transgender surgeries when it comes to minors?
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  Speaker 6: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: And in fact, in the legislature, I voted for an
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  Speaker 2: amendment that would have restricted the bill in question. two-way
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  Speaker 2: ban on surgeries for minors.
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  Speaker 1: In 2023, you voted against SB14. That was the Texas
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: law banning transgender surgeries for minors and puberty blockers. How
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: come you voted against that?
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  Speaker 2: Because the bill was overly broad. And in fact, if
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: you go back and check, I voted for a major
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: amendment to limit the bill to banning surgeries for minors.
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  Speaker 2: So I've been consistent on this issue.
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  Speaker 1: And what about biological men competing in women's sports? That's
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: a big deal here in Texas.
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: That's right.
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  Speaker 2: And I oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: it endangers safety or fairness. Every sport has to be safe.
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: So there he is trying to run away from his
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: vote in favor of boys competing in girls' sports. And
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: he tries to put wiggle language in about, well, if
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: it endangers safety or fairness. Understand, he's a radical and
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: ideologue who doesn't think having dudes compete against your daughters
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: endangers safety or fairness. You know, one of the most
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  Speaker 5: dimming quotes that James Tallarico has out there is a
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: recently uncovered Zoom video he was doing with a bunch
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: of left-wing activists, Sierra Club activists who are zealous. And
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: he said on that video, and you can watch him
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: say it, that he wants to dismantle capitalism. Now, I
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: got to say, if you're running in the state of Texas,
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  Speaker 5: most Texans don't want to dismantle capitalism. And so his
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: campaign realizes, uh-oh, this is a problem, so listen to
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  Speaker 5: him try to run away from that statement.
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  Speaker 2: Tallarico himself under fire for past controversial comments, like this
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  Speaker 2: call to dismantle capitalism.
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: The link between climate change and white supremacy and capitalism
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  Speaker 6: in our country, and I think only ending the ways
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: that all three of those oppressive systems work together are
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: we going to be able to begin the process of
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  Speaker 6: dismantling them.
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  Speaker 2: Did you mean that? So I've missed the mark on
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: statements that I've made in the past. I'll be the
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: first to admit that. What I was talking about when
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you listened to my entire comments was not capitalism, but
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: crony capitalism, which is what we have today.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: Senator, you listen to him, and I just envision a
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: campaign room where his advisors are like, hey, here's what
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: we got to do. We got to say everything that
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: you ever said that was radical or extreme didn't really
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: mean what you were saying. We're going to roll this
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: out as a campaign the same week as the Republican
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: Midterm Convention. And this will be your moment to say
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: all of it was just kind of a joke. It
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: was a ruse. It was for entertainment. It wasn't real.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: And then we'll just go into the rest of the
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: election over the last next 50 plus days saying we
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: didn't actually believe any of that. This is now what
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: we believe. And I guess they truly think this is
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: like their best option.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, look, it's a cynical approach, but it can be
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: an effective approach, particularly because the media is fundamentally dishonest. So.
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: On Wednesday's podcast, I played the interview I had with
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: Caitlin Collins on CNN, where I brought up Tallarico saying
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: he wants dismantled capitalism. And she clearly realized that was
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: a problem, because even the viewers of CNN don't want
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: to dismantle capitalism. And so she immediately jumps in and says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: He retracted that. He doesn't mean that. He's withdrawn from that.
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: And I'm just like... And she got mad because I said, listen, the...
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: Socialists like Mandami and Abdul El-Saeed look at Tallarico and
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: see him as a fellow traveler. And she jumped in
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: and said, he's not a socialist. And I said, Caitlin,
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: he said he wants to dismantle capitalism. What does that
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: mean if it's not being a socialist? And she suddenly
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: just had to repeat his talking. That's why Democrats lie
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: in campaigns, because they know the media will carry their
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: water and and cover it up. And it reflects the
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: reality that his record is radical. It's out of touch
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: with Texas. And so their entire campaign strategy has run away.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: I think next week he may pull on and make
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: America great, red hat, and start walking around being like,
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: I'm a Trump Republican, let's go. He won't quite do that,
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: but that's the theory, is lie to the voters, then
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: get in power, and I promise you, if God forbid
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: this guy ever got elected... He would be the most woke,
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: left-wing senator the country has ever seen. He would be
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: Bernie Sanders, but 37 and young enough to believe it's not.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: listening to this podcast right now. And for more in-depth news,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast. And we will
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: see you back here tomorrow.