In this episode, we break down last week's California gubernatorial debate, highlighting the lack of substantive discussion, notable gaffes, and the absence of real solutions from the candidates. If you're tired of political grandstanding and empty promises, this summary is for you.
Original air date 2.10.26
Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction and debate overview
01:17 - Initial thoughts: debate’s tone and candidates’ performances
03:53 - The debate’s lack of depth and candidate grandstanding
10:32 - Steve Hilton’s surprising poll victory and candidate differentiation
15:48 - Key moments: attacks on Bianco, immigration, and policy gaffes
22:52 - The recurring theme of empty promises and unrealistic solutions
38:08 - Misconceptions about abolishing ICE and federal versus state powers
44:04 - Critical analysis of proposed solutions for housing and economic growth
50:22 - The role of California’s budget and mismanagement criticisms
60:26 - Candidates’ unrealized solutions and opportunistic positioning
65:56 - Final thoughts: debate’s lack of substance and future expectations
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00:00:06
Last week in San Francisco, most of the gubernatorial camps
00:00:10
showed up. There were some missing like
00:00:11
Chad Bianco, Katie Porter and Eric Swalwell who were not
00:00:14
there, but most of them showed up and sort of debated for 2 1/2
00:00:19
hours. We're going to discuss that and
00:00:21
break down some of the highlights so that you didn't
00:00:24
have to sit through the 2 1/2 hours all on tonight's episode
00:00:27
of The California Underground, starting right now.
00:00:47
What's going on, everybody? Thanks for tuning in to another
00:00:49
episode of the California Underground.
00:00:51
I am your host, Phil. Tonight we are going to do some
00:00:55
highlights from last week's gubernatorial debate, audio
00:00:58
technical difficulties and everything.
00:01:00
We sat through 2 1/2 hours of that debate so you didn't have
00:01:04
to. That's the whole point.
00:01:06
We do this all for you. And before we get started, I
00:01:08
want to bring in my trusty Co host, the best, the fastest
00:01:11
researcher in the West. Camille, good evening.
00:01:13
How are you doing? I'm.
00:01:15
Good. How are you?
00:01:17
Well, I made it through the 2 1/2 hours of that debate.
00:01:20
I know we're texting back and forth about how awful that was
00:01:25
and just, I mean, we can start there.
00:01:27
Like we can just say our initial thoughts.
00:01:30
It was boring. It was a boring debate.
00:01:32
I feel like nothing really happened in that debate.
00:01:35
Like, and that's why the title of tonight's episode is they
00:01:39
debated sort of because I don't think they actually debated each
00:01:46
other. They just kind of grandstanded
00:01:49
and used the time to talk about themselves.
00:01:52
Like there was maybe some jabs thrown by Steve Hilton, but
00:01:57
outside of that, there wasn't really anything.
00:02:00
It wasn't a debate, it was more of a showcase.
00:02:03
We were joking about the the photos for the the thumbnail for
00:02:07
the YouTube. Like do we need photos of his
00:02:10
yawning, sleeping? Like, yeah.
00:02:13
It just. Wasn't that exciting?
00:02:16
I mean, let's put it this way. We are two political nerds who
00:02:21
are, you know, knee deep in this every single day because we
00:02:25
enjoy it and we're passionate about it.
00:02:28
And even I was checking the time on this video going and this
00:02:32
thing's not over yet. Like what?
00:02:34
What is going? And then they had an
00:02:35
intermission. I'm like, oh geez, we're only
00:02:37
halfway through this. Thing like we're only 45 minutes
00:02:41
into this. What?
00:02:42
I'm like what? Usually I love a good debate and
00:02:45
I love to sit there and take all the, but I'm like, I don't.
00:02:50
But either way, for all the people who we know, last week
00:02:53
during the live stream, there were people who jumped out,
00:02:56
watched it, and then they came back and they were like, yeah,
00:02:58
it's kind of pretty brutal what's going on over there.
00:03:00
So we cut to the chase and we're giving you the Cliff notes with
00:03:05
our commentary. I'm really glad we didn't go
00:03:08
through with our idea of sitting there and live streaming it.
00:03:11
It may or may be a little bit more entertaining if you and I
00:03:13
actually live stream the whole debate and edit our commentary,
00:03:17
but that has a lot of nothing going on.
00:03:20
I don't know if I could have come up with anything to say for
00:03:23
I barely even. Drink alcohol and I would have
00:03:25
needed alcohol because I when I watched it, I had to pause so
00:03:30
many times just because I just got bored.
00:03:33
Sorry, we're now we're we're like talking so much about it
00:03:36
versus watching it. But I love a good debate too.
00:03:39
And honestly, the the best as far as California politics go,
00:03:45
when Gavin Newsom challenged Ron DeSantis to that debate, that
00:03:50
was kind of the most interesting thing.
00:03:52
It was an interesting debate I've seen in a while.
00:03:55
I want more of that I. I you.
00:03:57
Know they were not running for the same seat I I want to see
00:04:02
more of that because I I think it's good.
00:04:04
I think it's actually healthy, yes.
00:04:06
Raise issues on both sides. Give me more of that.
00:04:10
Yeah, why not? Why does every debate have to be
00:04:13
around an election and not just people who who want to debate
00:04:18
their ideas? I thought that was a good debate
00:04:21
because neither of them were running for anything.
00:04:25
They were both firmly entrenched as governor of their own state.
00:04:30
And a lot of times, like you watch this debate tonight or the
00:04:33
one that we're going to go over and so much of it is just like
00:04:38
you're not getting answers. You're getting so much fluff
00:04:41
that it's, it's really annoying 'cause you're like, give me
00:04:44
something to grapple onto here. You're all just saying the same
00:04:48
thing. Some of them say the same thing
00:04:49
over and over again to the point of I want to pull my hair out.
00:04:52
Tony Thurman. But all right, before we really,
00:04:57
we got a lot to cover tonight, we pulled at least a couple
00:05:00
topics for you tonight. We're going to start off with
00:05:02
their opening statements so you can be introduced to all of the
00:05:06
players and we're going to be pausing and stuff throughout and
00:05:09
giving our commentary. So also be watching the chat.
00:05:13
Hi everybody in the chat, let us know where you're checking in
00:05:15
from, whether you're in California or anywhere over all
00:05:19
across the nation. So let's get started with that
00:05:21
first, please. Add to your comments about the
00:05:24
the debate. Yes, yeah, make sure you add
00:05:27
your comments in the chat as well.
00:05:28
If you haven't watched this debate, you'll be watching it
00:05:30
with us. I want to say this going in, I
00:05:34
sincerely do not know who I'm voting for for governor.
00:05:38
I probably got to say things are to sound biased, but I sincerely
00:05:41
and Phil, I tell him like every day I sent him a text.
00:05:44
I'm like, well, I don't like this.
00:05:46
Oh, I like this. Like I, so I just, you know,
00:05:50
we're never going to endorse anyone here anyway, but I just
00:05:54
sincerely don't know yet who I'm voting for.
00:05:57
Hopefully there'll be more debates or whatever 'cause I do
00:06:00
need to make up my mind at some point.
00:06:01
So I just anything that I say, please don't take that as like,
00:06:05
oh, that's obviously her. I I don't know.
00:06:09
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I don't know who I'm voting for,
00:06:12
and this debate certainly didn't help me make it made me actually
00:06:16
like all of them less because they were so unimpressive.
00:06:19
So all right, let's get started with these opening statements.
00:06:27
I am the first in my family to have a chance to graduate from a
00:06:30
university. Right now.
00:06:32
We need leadership that knows how to govern through crises,
00:06:36
whether it's the man made crises coming out of Washington, DC, or
00:06:40
if it's the affordability crisis that we see here at home as your
00:06:45
AGI did exactly that. I governed through crisis.
00:06:48
I defended the Affordable Care Act and the DACA program for
00:06:51
Dreamers all the way to the Supreme Court and beat Donald
00:06:54
Trump in the Supreme Court. I took on Donald Trump over and
00:06:58
over. How many times?
00:07:00
Over 120 court actions against Donald Trump, and we kept
00:07:04
winning. As your Secretary of Health and
00:07:06
Human Services, I protected you during the global pandemic.
00:07:11
I made sure that we negotiated lower prescription drug prices
00:07:14
for the first time in history, and I balanced the budget five
00:07:17
times larger. If we were doing this live, I
00:07:23
definitely would have created a drinking game where every time
00:07:25
they mentioned Donald Trump, we had to take a drink.
00:07:28
I was going. To say that that was one of my
00:07:30
comments. Go ahead.
00:07:36
Are you done? No, I just wanted to say because
00:07:40
we didn't. This is Xavier Becerra and I The
00:07:46
man made crisis in Washington DC at the affordability crisis in
00:07:52
California. I don't even know what he's
00:07:53
talking about. I know there's a for an
00:07:55
affordability crisis in California, but what is he
00:07:57
talking about? The man made crisis in DC?
00:07:59
What are isn't the affordability crisis in California also man
00:08:02
made? I I sincerely was like, what are
00:08:05
you even talking about here? So, yeah, that was his dig at
00:08:10
Trump. And yeah, he sued Trump 120
00:08:13
times, which is not like, I don't know.
00:08:15
That's not really a brag. You're you were the attorney
00:08:17
general and you have unlimited taxpayer funds to go sue Donald
00:08:20
Trump. So cool.
00:08:23
How many of those did anything and how many were just talks?
00:08:26
Back We know where the affordability crisis in
00:08:28
California may have come from. Maybe from an overblown attorney
00:08:31
general who spends all their time suing Donald Trump and not
00:08:34
doing what they're supposed to, like going after illegal grows
00:08:38
in Northern California, but whatever in the.
00:08:40
State of California, that's what I bring to the table as your
00:08:43
next governor. Mr. Also, just as a pretext,
00:08:50
they were told the audience don't clap as much.
00:08:53
So if it sounds like awkward that nobody's doing anything,
00:08:56
it's because they were told not to clap.
00:08:59
Yeah, but they clap for all the Democrats, and then they pay
00:09:02
attention. Steve Hilton doesn't get much
00:09:04
clapping. No, Steve is the one person who
00:09:07
doesn't get a lot of love in the room.
00:09:09
It's also in San Francisco. It's at the Opera House in San
00:09:11
Francisco. Old Opera House or something.
00:09:13
In San Francisco, Yeah. Mr. Hilton, why should voters
00:09:16
send you to Sacramento? California needs an outsider to
00:09:21
shake up a system that is obviously not working.
00:09:25
I love California, but after 16 years of one party ruled by
00:09:29
these Democrats, we've got the highest poverty, the highest
00:09:33
unemployment, the highest cost of living in America.
00:09:35
It is time for some balance. I was raised in a working class
00:09:40
family. I worked construction, started
00:09:42
businesses of my own. For the last three years I've
00:09:46
been travelling our state listening to Californians.
00:09:49
I understand what needs to change.
00:09:52
We need to end the Democrats climate crusade so we can have
00:09:56
$3 gas and cut your electric bills in half.
00:09:59
We need to end the fraud and wasting government so we can cut
00:10:03
taxes your first 100 grand tax free.
00:10:07
We need to end the insane regulations that make it so
00:10:10
expensive to own your own home. You're going to hear a lot of
00:10:13
promises tonight, but remember, these are the people who got us
00:10:17
into this mess. It is time for an outsider with
00:10:20
positive practical plans for change, not more of the same.
00:10:25
Mayor Mahan, why should you be the one to head out the state of
00:10:28
California? Good evening.
00:10:30
Thank you all. I'm just going to go ahead and
00:10:33
spoil the ending for you, according to the poll that was
00:10:37
conducted afterwards of viewers. But by 53%, Steve Hilton won the
00:10:42
debate. Interesting.
00:10:45
So he was like the shock winner but it's probably because he was
00:10:47
the only Republican and the rest were Democrats.
00:10:50
But a lot of the comments on the video were people saying Steve
00:10:54
made the most common sense solutions or or common sense
00:10:59
points. Yeah, I like what he said.
00:11:01
Like I don't disagree with what he said, except for the outsider
00:11:04
part. I don't, I don't think that's
00:11:07
necessary. I sad if we don't have it, you
00:11:11
know, a state of how many people, 40 million people.
00:11:15
We don't have someone inside the state that is not an outsider
00:11:19
that can do a good job. That's yeah, that's weird.
00:11:24
Thank you all for being here. I want to thank the Black Action
00:11:27
Alliance and PTVU for gathering us in this historic hall.
00:11:32
We're we're all here tonight to earn your votes, but we need
00:11:37
California leaders to do something.
00:11:39
Much harder. Restore your trust.
00:11:43
Whether you agree with me or not, I want you to know that my
00:11:48
vision for getting California back to basics isn't driven by a
00:11:53
need to win win election. It's driven by my passion for
00:11:58
creating the change that we need to make all of our lives better.
00:12:02
This campaign, I'm going to show you the respect of telling you
00:12:06
the truth as I see it, for how we can actually lower costs and
00:12:10
unsheltered homelessness, make all of our communities safer,
00:12:15
and expand economic opportunity for everyone.
00:12:19
That's why I'm in this campaign, because you deserve real
00:12:24
answers, not the easy one. Mr. Steyer, why should voters
00:12:29
hand the keys to you? Well, I want to start by
00:12:32
thanking the Black Action Alliance for getting us here on
00:12:35
the 100th anniversary of Black. So it's in San Francisco.
00:12:40
It's the Black Action Alliance who's hosting it, just to give
00:12:43
you a context of the crowd. And we'll hear later on their
00:12:47
reaction to Steve Hillen. History of Black History Month.
00:12:55
I'm running because the number one problem in California is
00:12:58
that Californians can't afford to live here anymore, and I'm
00:13:01
going to go after those costs aggressively.
00:13:03
And I have a history of getting results.
00:13:05
I come from a family that believes in service.
00:13:08
My mom was a teacher, my dad was a Navy vet.
00:13:12
I started a business. It went really well and I walked
00:13:15
away from it 14 years ago to give back.
00:13:19
No. You're shaking your head.
00:13:21
You didn't walk away. He loves to use that statement.
00:13:24
Politicians, he didn't walk away from a business.
00:13:27
He acts like he just like threw a match lit and walked out.
00:13:31
Now he sold it. He got so much freaking money
00:13:35
for it, which yay yay that's great that's capitalism.
00:13:38
Like I am all for that but stop mincing words.
00:13:44
Yeah, he, he tries to make it sound like he was doing so well
00:13:48
and he was such a big successful person that his his pole to be
00:13:53
in public service. He just walked away from it all.
00:13:56
It's like, no, you, you made a lot of money to walk away from
00:13:59
that business. So people talking about Bianco,
00:14:02
he couldn't make it. It was Bianco, Katie Porter and
00:14:05
Eric Swalwell. Swalwell was still in DC Katie
00:14:09
Porter, I don't know, was busy doing something with
00:14:13
whiteboards. And Bianco, I think, was at a
00:14:15
sheriff's convention that he already made a like he already
00:14:19
had said he was going to be at the sheriff's convention, like a
00:14:22
national sheriff's convention or something, some sort.
00:14:24
Of training or something? Yeah, he had already like
00:14:27
committed to it, so he stuck with the first thing.
00:14:31
I took the Giving Pledge to guarantee that I give the bulk
00:14:34
of my money away before I died. And during those 14 years, I
00:14:39
took on the special interest in California on behalf of working
00:14:43
families. I delivered billions of dollars
00:14:45
to this state without charging Californians a penny.
00:14:49
I'll continue to do that as your governor.
00:14:53
In a world where politicians routinely serve special
00:14:56
interests, I can't be bought. In a world, Thurman.
00:15:03
Oh, I'm sorry, just, you know, that whole like, it's not like a
00:15:05
movie trailer in a world. In a world where politicians in
00:15:11
special interest, I can't be bought.
00:15:16
Why should you be the 41st governor?
00:15:18
Good evening everyone. For the last 18 years, it's been
00:15:21
my honor to serve you as your council member, school board
00:15:24
member, state assembly member, and twice as your state
00:15:27
Superintendent. Together we provided free
00:15:29
preschool for every 4 year old in our state, free meals for
00:15:33
every hungry student, $4 billion in mental health programs, and
00:15:38
$6 billion to make sure we close the digital divide in this state
00:15:42
once and for all. As your governor, I'm going to
00:15:45
build 2 million housing units. This is also if we were drinking
00:15:50
every time Tony Thurman said 2 million houses, we would be dead
00:15:54
because he says that literally every answer he says he brings
00:16:01
it back to he wants to build 2 million houses.
00:16:03
Now. Gavin Newsom promised when he
00:16:05
was governor he's going to build 3.5 million houses.
00:16:09
And I think he's built and I don't know how how you gauge how
00:16:14
the governor and the state government builds housing, but I
00:16:18
think he's only built like 180.
00:16:20
So he's a little off. Better speed it up if he wants
00:16:23
to meet that goal before the end of this year.
00:16:25
So one thing I noticed about Tony Thurman during this whole
00:16:29
debate, he was the Superintendent for all public
00:16:35
school here in California. No one attacked him on the fact
00:16:38
that our education is in the toilet.
00:16:43
Did you notice that? No one.
00:16:44
And that's why this I say like, this wasn't really a debate
00:16:47
because there was so much stuff to attack Tony Thurman on, say
00:16:51
like education is in the toilet. Like you're what?
00:16:55
What did you do while you were Superintendent?
00:16:57
Because it's obviously not good because we're like 38th and 39th
00:17:01
in education. Like reading scores are way
00:17:03
down, math scores are way down. So.
00:17:06
Yeah, it kind of feels like they almost didn't know a lot about
00:17:09
who they were debating. Yeah, it was.
00:17:13
It was a weird debate. It was a boring debate, but here
00:17:16
we are. And provide housing for the
00:17:18
homeless. I'm going to provide you with a
00:17:21
tax credit so you have more money in your pocket every month
00:17:24
to pay for the rising cost of gas of groceries and housing.
00:17:28
And as your governor, I'm going to continue to fight against
00:17:31
this Trump administration, as I've done with my.
00:17:34
Yeah, OK. Sorry, we're never going to get
00:17:37
through this. So while we all appreciate a tax
00:17:42
credit, I think most of us just want the cost of everything to
00:17:47
be lowered so that we don't need that tax credit.
00:17:51
You know, like, let's address why the rising cost of
00:17:55
groceries, why gas is so out of control, electricity, everything
00:18:00
in California. I don't need to go down the
00:18:02
whole list. Why is everything here so
00:18:04
expensive and unaffordable? And Hooray for looking forward
00:18:09
to a tax credit every year if you're even eligible for it.
00:18:13
But let's tackle the other issues so that the tax credit is
00:18:18
not what we need or what we're looking forward to or, or saving
00:18:21
grace for any sort of affordability.
00:18:26
Yeah, he talked about that during the they talk about gas
00:18:31
in California and he said that he would not support drilling
00:18:36
for more oil and gas here in California.
00:18:39
Of course not. His solution was a tax credit,
00:18:43
which doesn't make sense because he wants to give a tax credit so
00:18:47
people can save a couple 100 bucks on gas.
00:18:51
Why not just get rid of the gas tax?
00:18:55
Because now you're reducing revenue at one point, but you're
00:18:58
not reducing revenue through the gas tax.
00:19:00
Like it doesn't. I don't know.
00:19:02
It doesn't really add up to me. Like just get rid of the gas tax
00:19:05
or just get gas and oil from here like here in California.
00:19:10
And remember. Folks, if you're getting any
00:19:13
sort of tax back from the government, that just means that
00:19:15
they held onto your money earning interest that you could
00:19:19
have been earning interest on yourself, so.
00:19:22
Yeah, that's such an important thing that people don't realize
00:19:25
is you're loaning the government money and they give it back to
00:19:29
you. It could have been sitting in
00:19:30
your savings account or your portfolio making you money, but
00:19:32
no, you lend it to the government for absolutely no
00:19:35
interest, but they give it back to you, so that's nice of them.
00:19:39
With my legislation that keeps ICE out of our schools and out
00:19:43
of our hospitals, and my new legislation that says any
00:19:47
company that operates or supports an ICE detention center
00:19:51
will be taxed. Yay.
00:19:55
Congress, until we abolish ICE, we create a pathway to
00:19:58
citizenship. A better California is possible,
00:20:01
and together we will build. Mayor Mayor Villaraigosa, why
00:20:07
should voters choose you? They.
00:20:11
Should choose me because I'm here today, because there's a
00:20:14
Civil Rights Act and a Voting Rights Act.
00:20:16
I grew up in a tough neighborhood where the mother
00:20:19
single. Because it's like the fourth
00:20:21
time I'm running for this. Please elect me.
00:20:23
Like it feels like Antonio Villaraigosa has been running
00:20:26
for governor for 20 years. He also feels like he showed up
00:20:29
and had no idea where he was and what he was debating.
00:20:33
Yeah, a lot of times he kind of just stared off and he
00:20:36
miscalculated a lot of his stats and facts and stuff like that.
00:20:39
And you're like, Tony, Tony, come on, man.
00:20:43
It might be time for you to hang it up, man.
00:20:44
Like you're just not as sharp as you used to be.
00:20:47
Single mother who struggled to make ends meet.
00:20:49
I understood growing up back then that to whom much is given,
00:20:53
much is expected. My entire life I have fought for
00:20:57
justice, fought to open up the door.
00:21:00
I've said many times that the role of the first is not to bang
00:21:04
on your chest and say how great I am.
00:21:06
The role of the first is to bring in the rest.
00:21:08
And I've done that. I was.
00:21:11
I was a civil rights leader, president of the ACLU, labor
00:21:14
leader. You forgot to mention I was
00:21:17
speaker of the California State Assembly before I became mayor.
00:21:21
Balance. I don't know why it's so funny
00:21:24
that he had to check what finger he put up because he goes he
00:21:30
goes he like put up 1 and he's like, is that is that one
00:21:34
finger? Is that one?
00:21:35
Oh, yeah, that's OK. I put up one finger.
00:21:38
OK, one like you have to check to make sure you put up the
00:21:41
right finger. Is that one What?
00:21:44
OK, I'm. Dying over here, right?
00:21:48
Now poor viewer goes. I'm sorry, He starts up with
00:21:53
like, I was taught to be humble, basically, like, don't you know,
00:21:57
beat on my own chest. But let me tell you, love you.
00:22:01
I I was taught to be humble, but also I was speaker of the
00:22:05
Assembly. You forgot to mention.
00:22:07
That. Wow.
00:22:09
OK. Thanks, Tony.
00:22:10
I'm sorry you guys, I'm just cracking up over here right now.
00:22:14
Yeah, it's oh boy, let's keep going 2.
00:22:18
Budgets with a surplus, more money for education as mayor.
00:22:24
Crime went down 50%. Graduation rates went up 60%.
00:22:28
But 200 thousand people to work in the worst recession.
00:22:33
I'd be honored to be your mayor, your governor, and your mayor.
00:22:40
Miss, you forgot what he was running for.
00:22:42
Voters handy keys to you. Good evening.
00:22:45
It's good to be home and to stand in this historic landmark
00:22:48
theater. I grew up with my five siblings
00:22:51
and immigrant parents in a studio apt.
00:22:53
I went to public school here and made my way through UC Berkeley
00:22:57
and built a career as an expert in California's finances.
00:23:01
I went on to win two statewide elections and became
00:23:03
California's state controller as the underdog candidate and was
00:23:07
reelected with the highest number of votes of any statewide
00:23:09
candidate in California history. Although as controller I managed
00:23:13
hundreds of billions of dollars, I never forget from where I come
00:23:18
and how hard it is for people to earn every single dollar.
00:23:21
Small businesses are still the heart of our economy and as at 8
00:23:25
years old I did the bookkeeping from my parents dry cleaning
00:23:27
business. I remember the weeks when we
00:23:29
didn't have enough money for milk on the table.
00:23:32
Some say I'm an underdog now, but that fuels me.
00:23:36
I've exceeded expectations all my life, and I'm not stopping
00:23:39
here. If you feel like an underdog,
00:23:42
exhausted, worn out and counted out, know that I see you as your
00:23:46
governor. I will fix the state budget so
00:23:48
that it works for all of our hardworking Californians.
00:23:51
Thank you. All right, Betty Yee, if you
00:23:55
don't know who she is, it's not surprising.
00:23:57
She's been the controller for how many years?
00:24:00
Controller is basically the treasurer of the state.
00:24:02
And based on how much we are mismanaging fraud and where the
00:24:07
money's going, I think she should be disqualified almost
00:24:11
immediately based on the fact that the state spends way too
00:24:16
much money, has no idea where it goes.
00:24:20
They even ask about like the $24 billion.
00:24:22
I don't know if we'll get to that, the $24 billion in
00:24:25
homelessness. And one of her answers was, oh,
00:24:29
yeah, I think it's, it's the we have to make sure we're
00:24:31
accountable. We have to be accountable to all
00:24:35
the dollars we spend. That's your job.
00:24:40
That's literally your job is to make sure that you're
00:24:44
accountable to all the money that you bring in and spend as
00:24:47
the controller. But now all of a sudden she's
00:24:51
going to be accountable for all the money that goes out.
00:24:54
So I think she should be disqualified right away.
00:24:57
But you know, I don't make the rules.
00:24:59
If I did I, I would say you're out you you've mismanaged our
00:25:04
money. Any thoughts before our next
00:25:06
clip? Question for the chat, did any
00:25:10
of you even realize she was running?
00:25:12
Like I'm not gonna lie, would I watch this?
00:25:15
And all of a sudden she was there.
00:25:16
I was like, wait, did I just completely forget this woman is
00:25:20
running? I don't think anybody I I would,
00:25:25
yeah. She's not a prominent name.
00:25:27
I'm I remember her announcing I forgot she was running because
00:25:30
she's been overshadowed. We forgot and.
00:25:34
I have no idea. What being an underdog has
00:25:37
anything to do with. If you feel like you're an
00:25:41
underdog, I see you. Like I, I don't, I don't get how
00:25:45
that translates to voting for governor.
00:25:48
I'm I'm at a loss there. Well, we're going to move into
00:25:52
immigration. This might be one of the more
00:25:55
spicy topics for tonight, and it features Steve Hilton getting a
00:26:00
little little sassy. Immigration, of course, we've
00:26:08
seen the crackdowns that are happening across the country,
00:26:11
protests, deadly violence in places like Minnesota.
00:26:14
My question to all the candidates on the stage tonight
00:26:16
is, what is your message to those who are in this country
00:26:20
legally, those who are undocumented, and California
00:26:23
families in general? Mr. Hilton, I'd like to start
00:26:26
with you. Before we go on, I really think
00:26:29
I need to address the elephant in the room or perhaps, as some
00:26:33
might say, the rhino who's not in the room.
00:26:35
My Republican colleague Chad Bianco is not here tonight to
00:26:40
face these Democrats or his record.
00:26:44
In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter riots, he took a knee
00:26:49
when told to by BLM. Now he says he was praying.
00:26:55
Well, watch the video for yourself at blmbianco.org.
00:27:00
That is BLM bianco.org. We cannot risk splitting the
00:27:07
Republican vote and letting the Democrats in.
00:27:11
Chad Bianco has got more baggage than LAX.
00:27:15
We cannot have BLM Bianco, the shifty sheriff, as our
00:27:20
candidate. Chad Bianco.
00:27:23
He needs to drop out of this race just as he dropped out of
00:27:26
tonight's debate on the question of immigration.
00:27:30
It's very clear I'm a legal immigrant.
00:27:32
I am here for the legal. Well, I guess we can just jump,
00:27:35
jump right in right there. I don't know what the purpose of
00:27:40
that was. I guess we're gearing up for the
00:27:46
primaries are coming up in June to figure out like who's going
00:27:51
to be a nominee for the Republican Party.
00:27:55
I don't know why he's attacking Bianco.
00:27:57
It came off as like Bianco's not there.
00:28:01
There's no reason to bring up Bianco like you.
00:28:04
You actually benefit from the fact that you're the sole
00:28:07
Republican on the stage and he's not there.
00:28:11
You could have just presented all of your options and said I'm
00:28:16
different. I'm different than all these
00:28:17
Democrats on here who most of them have been in state
00:28:20
government for 20 years. That's why we have all these
00:28:24
problems. All of them promise they're
00:28:25
going to fix it, but none of them have fixed it.
00:28:27
That could have been your perfect opportunity to really
00:28:30
differentiate yourself. And he does a good job of
00:28:32
differentiating himself and saying like, I'm different than
00:28:34
all these Democrats. I just don't understand why
00:28:37
going after Bianco was necessary in that way.
00:28:44
Maybe it's because he's leading by like a point in the polls,
00:28:49
But again, these polls move so quickly.
00:28:52
It's just, it didn't make sense to me.
00:28:54
It, it just came out of left field.
00:28:55
It was it, This was probably the spiciest moment of the whole
00:28:58
debate. It was a debate between Bianco
00:29:00
and Hilton. Bianco wasn't even there.
00:29:02
So what were your thoughts when you first saw this?
00:29:05
So this was the the second question after introductions.
00:29:08
This was the second question, 'cause I know if you didn't
00:29:11
watch the debate and were to show you these clips, you don't
00:29:13
know where this clip fell within the 2 1/2 hours.
00:29:17
And so we have a minute to answer these questions.
00:29:21
And the question was regarding ICE and immigration.
00:29:23
And I almost feel like he used this as a deliberate way to kind
00:29:28
of dodge the question to be safe.
00:29:30
But it's funny because this is an event put on by the Black,
00:29:35
what is it called? The Black Alliance.
00:29:37
Black action committee or something?
00:29:40
Yeah, in San Francisco. And he's like, he took the knee.
00:29:44
And I would think the audience would be like, oh, oh, sweet.
00:29:48
He he bent for us like he was on our side.
00:29:54
You know, I mean, that's probably who the main audience
00:29:58
is. I think he just kind of gave
00:30:00
Bianco fly. Sorry, a point there.
00:30:03
Oh my God, like being attacked. So yeah, he only has a minute to
00:30:09
answer this question and we don't really get to hear his
00:30:13
answer to the question. And I so I don't know if that
00:30:16
was his way of just avoiding the question or if he just really
00:30:20
wanted to get this job in. And like you said, his time
00:30:23
would have been better spent saying, unlike my, you know,
00:30:26
everyone, my opponents here on the stage, this is where I would
00:30:30
because of XY and Z. And we just we don't get it from
00:30:34
him. And I think it's a really
00:30:35
important question, especially right now.
00:30:38
Yeah, it's just going to get like, it's going to get ugly.
00:30:42
I feel like between these two for whatever, for really no
00:30:47
reason for him to fight the. I well, I mean, I guess they
00:30:49
figure one of them's got to end up being the probably the top
00:30:52
Republican who moves on to the actual general election, and one
00:30:56
of them's going to be nominated by the Republican Party here in
00:30:59
California. So it's time to start fighting
00:31:02
each other. Both move on to the general.
00:31:05
Technically they could both move on to the general.
00:31:07
It's a jungle primary. They could both get the most
00:31:10
votes in the primary and fight each other.
00:31:14
But yeah, I just felt really out of place.
00:31:16
But let's keep going with everyone else's responses to
00:31:19
immigration. Illegal immigrant.
00:31:22
Community so they can have the California dream and I will make
00:31:26
sure that all laws, including our immigration laws, are
00:31:29
peacefully enforced. Mr. Hilton, thank you so much.
00:31:33
Mayor Mahan, I'd like to get your answers to the question is
00:31:35
what is your message to Californians, including
00:31:38
communities? Well, the way that the Trump
00:31:42
administration is enforcing immigration law is dividing us,
00:31:47
creating fear. And now we're seeing cases where
00:31:52
residents rights, civil liberties are being threatened.
00:31:56
San Jose, we've sued the administration to defend our
00:32:00
civil liberties. We've passed rules around law
00:32:02
enforcement not unnecessarily wearing masks.
00:32:05
We've ensured that the federal government can't commandeer
00:32:07
public space for these activities.
00:32:11
But the reality on immigration is both parties have failed
00:32:14
them. The truth is, it makes sense to
00:32:18
have a secure border and know who and what comes into the
00:32:20
country to have orderly immigration.
00:32:23
But we should not be demonizing people who are here to do the
00:32:26
most American thing, which is work hard and create a better
00:32:28
future for their kids. But we need to create a legal
00:32:31
path for people who want to be here and are as A and in their
00:32:35
desires and actions as any of us.
00:32:37
And we should come together, get the partisan politics out of the
00:32:40
way, and create a compromise path forward that respects our
00:32:44
values as America. Do we have legal paths?
00:32:47
Mr. Steyer. Like, aren't there already
00:32:51
created legal paths? Yeah, just because if you choose
00:32:57
not to use them, I guess that's not really the interesting thing
00:33:04
about. I don't know if we'll hear it in
00:33:05
this clip. These are California Democrats
00:33:09
running for governor, and it almost sounds like they are.
00:33:13
They're inching back closer to Bill Clinton Democrats on
00:33:19
immigration. And they all sound very moderate
00:33:23
in the sense of, yes, we need a secure border.
00:33:26
Yes, we need to enforce our laws.
00:33:28
So to me, it almost sounds like what I take from that is that
00:33:33
their internal polling shows that immigration and like
00:33:38
enforcing immigration laws and securing the border is still
00:33:41
very popular with voters and independent voters.
00:33:45
So I think the the inside baseball is that that is still
00:33:49
very popular and Democrats realize that and they're all
00:33:52
trying to moderate their positions on immigration.
00:33:55
They've come way back from open borders and let everybody in and
00:34:01
nobody's illegal and all that to yes, we need a secure border and
00:34:07
yes, we need to enforce our immigration laws, but we need to
00:34:09
do it, blah blah, blah and whatever else they want to add
00:34:12
on to it. Yeah, it's safe.
00:34:15
Yeah, go ahead. No sorry I just said it's just
00:34:18
it feels like safe answers. Yeah, they were very safe, but
00:34:23
you would think for in a state like California, you wouldn't
00:34:27
have to worry about being safe. You could be very radical and it
00:34:34
just felt like they were all very moderate except for one of
00:34:36
them. I think one of them is a little
00:34:37
out there. Mr. Steyer, if you become the
00:34:40
state's next top lawmaker, immigrant families are going to
00:34:43
be looking to you. What is your message to them and
00:34:45
to Californians? This country was built by
00:34:48
immigrants. This state doesn't work without
00:34:51
immigration. Of course we need to have a fair
00:34:55
justice system, but this is the exact opposite of that.
00:34:59
I'm very straightforward about this.
00:35:01
I should be abolished. There's you really can't reform
00:35:07
an organization which is absolutely wrong and criminal
00:35:11
from top to bottom. But I think we have to look at
00:35:14
this ICE example as just the start of what the Trump
00:35:18
administration is very clearly trying to do.
00:35:22
They are trying to use terror. They are trying to use violence
00:35:26
and they are starting with immigration, but they're not
00:35:28
going to end with immigration. I, I started a grassroots effort
00:35:32
to impeach Mr. Trump in 2017 because I could see had a
00:35:36
criminal administration. That hasn't changed.
00:35:39
It's accelerated, it's gotten bigger and it's not going to
00:35:42
stop. The governor of California needs
00:35:44
to stand up for the values of Californians, immigrants and non
00:35:49
immigrants alike. The obvious is you can jump up
00:35:56
and down as much as you want as California governor and say you
00:35:59
want to abolish ICE. You won't because that's not
00:36:04
your job. And to all that talk about
00:36:07
impeaching Donald Trump, you spent millions of dollars on a
00:36:11
campaign to impeach Trump, and he's now serving his second
00:36:14
term. So money well spent, Tom Steyer,
00:36:20
money well spent. Super gender.
00:36:24
Thurman, we heard you mention about schools.
00:36:26
Talk to us about what you would tell immigrant communities here
00:36:29
in California and California families in general.
00:36:32
My maternal grandparents were immigrants.
00:36:34
They came here from Columbia, from Jamaica, my mother born in
00:36:38
Panama, a teacher here in California on my dad's side.
00:36:42
They were immigrants too, the descendants of slaves by way of
00:36:47
Detroit and Mississippi all come in here for a better life.
00:36:51
My grandparents clean bathrooms for a living.
00:36:54
And we have to create a real path for citizenship for those
00:36:57
who want nothing more than to work hard and pay taxes and
00:37:01
contribute to the American Dream for all of us.
00:37:04
I want to pay taxes. Out of our schools.
00:37:08
What was that? I want nothing more than to pay
00:37:10
taxes. You want nothing more than but.
00:37:14
And as we said, the folks who want to work hard and want
00:37:17
nothing, nothing more than to work hard and pay taxes.
00:37:20
That's whatever the American dream is.
00:37:22
To work really hard did. I miss this.
00:37:25
Yeah, that's the American dream, not to own a house, raise a
00:37:29
family or anything like that, have a good job, stable life,
00:37:32
stable future. Now you're the American dream is
00:37:35
to work hard and pay your taxes because we're all just serfs in
00:37:39
this feudal system of California.
00:37:43
And out of our hospitals, I mean, people are afraid to even
00:37:46
see a doctor. And when I am governor, I will
00:37:49
restore universal health care for all, including undocumented
00:37:54
immigrants in the state of California, because we know that
00:37:57
health care is a right. We will abolish ICE.
00:38:00
We will create a pathway to citizens.
00:38:08
You can't abolish ICE, you moron.
00:38:13
Now I know why our schools are failing.
00:38:17
Now I know why education is 39th or whatever in the state.
00:38:22
Because idiots like Tony Thurman think you can abolish ICE as
00:38:27
governor of California. You can't abolish ICE.
00:38:29
It's a federal program. It's a federal agency.
00:38:33
Oh my gosh, they will say anything to just try and get
00:38:37
people to vote for him. Abolish ICE.
00:38:41
What was the other thing He said?
00:38:43
Universal Healthcare. Oh, universal healthcare.
00:38:46
Wasn't the question about keeping ice out of schools?
00:38:50
Yes, it was about, yeah, ice in schools.
00:38:54
But First off, we never had universal healthcare in
00:38:58
California. That you want universal
00:39:01
healthcare in California, you keep pushing for it.
00:39:04
And Democrats in Sacramento keep pushing for it because they
00:39:07
think it's the greatest idea ever.
00:39:09
We can't afford universal health care.
00:39:12
Gavin Newsom signed an order to allow for undocumented
00:39:16
immigrants of any age to get onto medical.
00:39:19
And less than a year later, it broke medical to the point where
00:39:24
they had to borrow money to keep it afloat for a month, $6
00:39:28
billion to keep it afloat for a month.
00:39:31
Because you let too many people on to medical.
00:39:35
And he's basically admitting I'm going to bring all those people
00:39:37
back on the medical without any plan of how he's going to pay
00:39:42
for it. Texas people, Well, American
00:39:45
Dream is to pay taxes. The American dream, like you
00:39:48
said, is to work hard and pay taxes.
00:39:52
This is why I said this whole debate just made me angry and
00:39:55
just made me like all these people even less.
00:39:58
And right now I have legislation that puts a tax on any single
00:40:02
company in California that does business with ICE and ICE
00:40:06
detention centers. Bear Bear Garosa, Your message
00:40:11
to immigrant communities in California.
00:40:14
I've never in my life seen ICE agents dressed from head to toe,
00:40:21
all covered up like the Ku Klux Klan with assault weapons, flash
00:40:26
bang grenades, beating up on women.
00:40:32
Define define. You already know what I'm going
00:40:35
to say. Define assault weapon.
00:40:39
Define assault weapon. Excuse me, former mayor and
00:40:43
former speaker of the Assembly and former civil rights activist
00:40:47
and whatever else you want to pump out your chest.
00:40:49
All those things, all those things you want to be humble
00:40:52
about. Define assault weapon.
00:40:57
We'll give you one minute. You can.
00:40:58
You can use the whole minute. Define what an assault weapon
00:41:02
is. Also wearing ball caps and I
00:41:08
guess those those like ski masks is now dressed like the Ku Klux
00:41:12
Klan. Is that the clan's new uniform
00:41:17
is baseball caps and ski masks I guess.
00:41:20
I just want to know if those ICE agents are paying their taxes.
00:41:24
Are they working hard in paying their taxes like Tony Thurman
00:41:26
wants them to? Children and innocence kill,
00:41:32
arresting 170 U.S. citizens. Wait, children are being killed?
00:41:37
He stopped himself. Like did you hear that?
00:41:39
He goes, he goes, hey, being take it.
00:41:43
He like be arrested. He like stopped himself because
00:41:46
he was going to say killing. And it's like, Nope, Nope.
00:41:49
Even even as out of touch as you are, Antonio Villaraigosa and
00:41:53
you have to use your thumb to count what point you're on.
00:41:57
They're not killing children. But.
00:42:02
Killing two people in the last two weeks.
00:42:05
We will stop ICE. We will stand up for America's
00:42:08
Constitution. We will stand up for civil
00:42:11
liberties in this state when I'm governor and what I've said,
00:42:14
yes, we will pass those laws, all of them to protect our civil
00:42:19
liberties in this state. But we will do more.
00:42:22
We will use the courts. We will use the ballot box.
00:42:25
I come out of the movement and I'll tell you what, we're going
00:42:28
to build a mass, peaceful movement in support of our
00:42:31
rights and in support of our democracy.
00:42:34
We've got to say no to ICE, and we've got to take on Trump
00:42:38
wherever he raises his ugly head.
00:42:44
Dignified. That was so dignified.
00:42:49
You and I brought this up before.
00:42:52
The current year is 2026. You as future California
00:42:57
governor will not be inducted or inaugurated.
00:43:03
Not inductive. This is in the Hall of Fame
00:43:04
inaugurated until 2027. Meaning you have last little
00:43:11
over a year or so with Donald Trump left in office.
00:43:15
Most of you are campaigning on the fact that you're going to be
00:43:18
anti Trump most of your time as governor.
00:43:23
Trump will not be president. What is your solution to the
00:43:28
rest of the problems that you can't blame on Trump?
00:43:33
That's the question I would ask if I were that any of those
00:43:36
presenters, I'd say, look, you're all sitting here bashing
00:43:38
Trump. He's not going to be president
00:43:41
forever. So what are your what are
00:43:44
solutions? And don't mention Donald Trump
00:43:46
because he won't be around forever.
00:43:48
But I don't, I don't think any of them can, you know, just I'm
00:43:53
looking at the somebody said Iceman said security detail are
00:43:57
messed up with assault rifles. Somebody said the KKK we're
00:44:02
Democrats. Yeah, true.
00:44:06
Here's The thing is, they all keep saying I'm gonna abolish
00:44:09
ICE. OK, besides the fact that they
00:44:11
can't abolish ICE, what is their plan to abolish ICE?
00:44:15
Like they, they say free puppies and ice cream for everyone.
00:44:19
OK, but how are you going to provide these free puppies and
00:44:21
ice cream for everyone? Or is the government going to
00:44:25
start breeding puppies? Like what's, how do you get to
00:44:29
your point? Like I, you know, I could stand
00:44:33
here and tell you that I'm going to buy a $5 home next
00:44:37
year and you're going to be like, I know you, Kabil and I, I
00:44:40
know that you actually can't afford a $5 home.
00:44:43
So what's your plan to afford the $5 home?
00:44:46
But that's all they talk about is we're going to do this and
00:44:49
this and this, but how are you going to do this and this and
00:44:51
this? Nobody has any meat in their
00:44:54
solutions. Yeah, this whole debate was like
00:44:58
this. There was no solutions at all.
00:45:00
No one really. Just like.
00:45:01
However, what is and that's what's so frustrating is they're
00:45:03
all just full of ideas, and ideas are great, but if you
00:45:08
can't execute them, see your way out, Ted.
00:45:15
Mayor V Ragosa, thank you so much, Missy, your response.
00:45:19
Oh, thank you. First of all, it's a proud
00:45:21
daughter of immigrants. What I want to say to our
00:45:23
immigrant communities, I see you, I know you, and I hear you.
00:45:28
And we're going to do everything we can to keep you safe.
00:45:31
We're going to be sure that our communities are standing up for
00:45:34
you. Everyone should be taking a know
00:45:36
your rights training to be sure that we know how to stand up for
00:45:38
you and to keep you safe. But here's what we need to do in
00:45:41
addition to we need to build economic power in our immigrant
00:45:45
communities to be sure that we can resist against this mass
00:45:49
immigration enforcement when people understand that
00:45:51
immigrants are such a contributor to our economy and
00:45:54
to our society here in California.
00:45:55
And that's what we're going to build together.
00:45:58
We are a sanctuary state. We're going to lean in more to
00:46:00
that and be sure that we are making our own community safe.
00:46:04
ICE has no business coming in and tearing up communities,
00:46:07
tearing up families, And we're going to help bring you back
00:46:09
into the full. You pay taxes.
00:46:11
What I want to say to you, all of the immigrants out there.
00:46:14
Thank you. So she sees you underdogs.
00:46:18
She sees you immigrants. She sees you, she wants you to
00:46:23
get she wants you to come back into the fold so you can pay
00:46:26
taxes. That's that was her.
00:46:29
Yeah. That was a lot of gobbledygook
00:46:32
of I don't not really sure. Like I stand with you.
00:46:35
I see you. We're going to do know your
00:46:37
rights training so we can take care of you.
00:46:39
Who's the we that's taking care of you?
00:46:41
Ice doesn't belong here. We're going to keep ice out.
00:46:44
You can't keep ice out unless you want to secede from the
00:46:47
United States. Have fun with that IA.
00:46:52
Lot of these views, like either they are too stupid to
00:46:55
understand that what you're proposing can't be done, or
00:46:59
they're just such bald faced liars that they know they can't
00:47:06
do this, but they tell voters this anyway just so they get
00:47:09
their votes. It's either one or the other,
00:47:11
like there's no in between. You're either too stupid to
00:47:13
understand that like these solutions don't work.
00:47:15
You Tony Thurman, you can't abolish ICE.
00:47:20
Are we not teaching civics in California schools?
00:47:22
Probably not this lady. There's probably cut for
00:47:27
something else. Like either you're too stupid to
00:47:31
understand civics and federalism and how our government works, or
00:47:35
you're lying because these are things you cannot do.
00:47:38
And that's one or the other. And I'll let the chat figure out
00:47:43
what they either they're too stupid or they're all liars.
00:47:46
All right, next, this is probably our last clip for
00:47:49
tonight. Let's do I think homelessness
00:47:53
was a homelessness or affordability?
00:47:57
Are you asking me? Yeah, I need to count on my
00:48:00
fingers. You're going to count on your
00:48:02
fingers. You choose just queue up
00:48:03
whatever. Let's see.
00:48:07
So let's do everyone talks about, let's talk about
00:48:10
affordability. Yeah, I actually was going to
00:48:12
say that. So, OK, yeah, let's talk about
00:48:14
this. This is a good one.
00:48:19
Can't make rent at the end of the month, but I'm also in favor
00:48:22
of building a million houses. And the ability to do that is
00:48:26
not just there's no silk. The government does not build
00:48:34
houses. I want to see these guys get out
00:48:39
there and like nail two boards together.
00:48:41
I want to see them do the old Jimmy Carter where they go out
00:48:43
there and they they're actually out there like Habitat for
00:48:46
Humanity, like they're out there building houses.
00:48:48
Let's do it. Where's the governor?
00:48:50
He's too busy. He's out there building a
00:48:51
million houses because that's what he promised.
00:48:54
Tom Steyer is out there building a million houses.
00:48:59
The government doesn't build housing.
00:49:00
It doesn't. It's either the government gets
00:49:02
out of the way so you can build more housing, or there is there
00:49:08
is no or it's you get out of the way so that developers can build
00:49:11
housing or you try and build state housing, which nobody
00:49:16
wants to live in that anyway. There's.
00:49:18
A silver bullet. It's silver buckshot.
00:49:22
We need to deal with permitting, we need to deal with zoning, and
00:49:25
we also need to build houses much cheaper on a per square
00:49:28
foot basis, which we can do with new technology.
00:49:32
But the other thing I'm going to do is I'm going to go after the
00:49:35
electric monopolies. That charges twice as much for
00:49:38
electricity as the average in the United States of America.
00:49:42
Monopolies always overcharge and under produce.
00:49:46
And lastly, I'm going to bring money to the table, revenue to
00:49:50
the table. I'm going to close 2 corporate
00:49:53
tax loopholes, a real estate loophole, and a place where they
00:49:56
declare their income and bring 15 to $20 billion to
00:50:00
Californians every year. That goes to healthcare, that
00:50:04
goes to childcare, and that goes to education.
00:50:07
We need revenues, and I'm going to bring them.
00:50:09
I've done this before. I'll do it as government.
00:50:13
California. I'm sure people watching,
00:50:16
listening. California does not have a
00:50:18
revenue problem. It does not.
00:50:22
It does not have a revenue problem.
00:50:24
The proposed budget for this year is like $350 billion by
00:50:28
Gavin Newsom. We don't have a revenue problem.
00:50:32
We have an absolute spending problem.
00:50:35
And people like Tom Steyer who say we're going to cut these tax
00:50:37
loopholes. I don't know if anyone saw the
00:50:40
news today that Mark Zuckerberg has left California.
00:50:45
He's moved, officially moved to Florida, which means that the
00:50:48
total now is $2 trillion of wealth has left California just
00:50:54
on the premise, just on the premise that there is a
00:50:58
billionaire's tax trying to get on the ballot.
00:51:02
It it hasn't qualified yet, nor is it even on the ballot.
00:51:06
But just the mere mention of a billionaire's tax has sent $2
00:51:09
trillion of wealth fleeing out of the state.
00:51:13
And Tom Steyer is sitting here talking about closing more
00:51:17
loopholes to punish the rich. And let's see where everyone
00:51:22
else goes. That's not going to create more
00:51:24
revenue. People are just going to head to
00:51:26
the exit. They're just going to head to
00:51:28
Florida. They're going to head to Texas.
00:51:29
They'll walk over to Arizona. Like it's not.
00:51:32
You don't have a revenue problem.
00:51:35
You have a spending problem. That is the bottom line.
00:51:37
And Mr. Businessman, I walked away from billions of dollars.
00:51:41
Tom Steyer should know of all people that California makes
00:51:45
enough money, they just don't spend it well.
00:51:51
I I think we both agree with what he said about the power
00:51:54
companies. However, he hasn't said exactly
00:51:57
what his solution for the monopoly is.
00:51:59
And it's likely government, which is again, not a solution
00:52:04
that just somehow increases our taxes.
00:52:06
It's it's just, you know, I, I don't know because he hasn't set
00:52:13
a solution again, he's just they always say they're or he hasn't
00:52:16
said how they always just say their solution.
00:52:18
Like I just ranted about a couple minutes ago, but.
00:52:21
His. Government.
00:52:23
Thank you, Mr. Steyer. Mr. Thurman, you're playing on
00:52:26
day one to lower prices. You know, I grew up in a
00:52:28
household where we often didn't have food.
00:52:30
I grew up on the free lunch program.
00:52:33
I grew up on food stamps and a whole lot of government cheese.
00:52:37
We ate so much government cheese that I thought that USDA was a
00:52:40
brand name. These.
00:52:42
Programs help my family to overcome poverty and I know what
00:52:45
it is for those who are struggling.
00:52:46
Many are working 2 jobs just to make ends meet on day one.
00:52:51
I'm going to give all of you a tax credit so you have a few
00:52:55
$100 a month more in your pocket to help you pay for the high
00:52:59
cost of groceries, of gas and. Slow clap for Tony Thurman.
00:53:07
Thank you, Tony, for giving us a tax credit so we could all get a
00:53:12
couple extra 100 bucks for those those necessities of groceries
00:53:17
and gasoline. Thank you.
00:53:18
Thank you, benevolent leader, for giving us an extra couple
00:53:22
100 bucks. And also, can a governor give a
00:53:25
tax credit? Isn't that the legislature who
00:53:27
has to sign off on any sort of credit?
00:53:29
You can't on day one as governor give a tax credit you asked to
00:53:33
pass through the legislature. Government Cheese.
00:53:39
Government Cheese. USDA.
00:53:41
So over this debate. And we this is the second time
00:53:45
we're watching it. We've already sat through the
00:53:47
whole 2 1/2 hours and this is the best we could come up with.
00:53:50
This is the best we polled from 2 1/2 hours.
00:53:53
I, I watched the debate and like kind of, kind of would like tune
00:53:58
out. Then you're like, we're going to
00:54:00
talk about the debate and you were like, here's the time
00:54:03
stamps. So I had to watch again and now
00:54:05
here I am. This is your third time watching
00:54:08
them. And housing and how are we going
00:54:11
to accomplish this? I will be clear and direct about
00:54:14
it. We're not going to tax you.
00:54:15
We're going to tax billionaires who earn so much off of
00:54:19
everything that this state has to offer to make sure we have
00:54:21
more revenue for you, for our schools, and.
00:54:25
Billionaires who are fleeing towards the exit, just to be
00:54:27
clear. And for health care.
00:54:30
And so we're prepared to get this done on day one.
00:54:34
And I'm going to build 2 million housing units so that we have
00:54:37
affordable housing all across our state.
00:54:41
Thank you, Sir. 2 billion. Mayor Villaraigosa, you're
00:54:44
playing. On a 2 million homes.
00:54:46
Take a shot. I grew up in a home with a
00:54:48
single mom who struggled to make ends meet raising 4 kids on her
00:54:52
own. I I know affordability.
00:54:55
That's why I've been saying for a long time now.
00:54:58
Politicians love to acknowledge and celebrate the fact that we
00:55:02
have the 4th largest economy in the world.
00:55:05
What they don't say is we have the highest poverty rate in the
00:55:08
United States of America. So what do we do with housing?
00:55:11
We cut red tape. We streamline our environmental
00:55:15
rules, we make zone changes and we invest in a first time buyer
00:55:19
program. Utilities, we got to stop over
00:55:23
relying on electricity. So he brought up this first time
00:55:27
buyers program, which has been implemented as part of one of
00:55:33
Gavin Newsom's half baked ideas where they were the state of
00:55:37
California. And now I can remember the name
00:55:40
of it, but the state of California is basically loaning
00:55:43
money to first time home buyers for a down payment.
00:55:48
The caveat is, is you have to pay that back at some point.
00:55:52
It's not free money. They're not giving you the free
00:55:55
money. The state's going to make money
00:55:56
off of it. And the caveat is, is that if
00:56:00
the value of your home goes up after you put this down payment
00:56:06
on, the state recoups a certain amount more on their down
00:56:10
payment as like a return on investment.
00:56:13
So you have to pay them back plus interest based on the
00:56:16
capital gains of your home when you pay it back.
00:56:20
If you default and you don't pay it back, the state now owns an
00:56:26
interest in your home, which means that the state can then
00:56:28
foreclose on your home and the state will effectively own your
00:56:31
home. That was their first time home
00:56:35
buyers program that the state came up with.
00:56:39
I don't know if it's really doing anything.
00:56:40
I don't know anybody. I think they they opened up the
00:56:43
application process in the there were so many applicants it
00:56:47
crashed. I think we talked about this,
00:56:49
they ran out of money and it crashed.
00:56:52
But either way, I definitely. Like right away filled it up and
00:56:56
then they opened it up to undocumented immigrants, but
00:57:01
there was no room for undoc. Like it was like another like
00:57:05
virtue signalling thing. Like like, OK, I say like too
00:57:09
much you guys, I apologize. So they basically were saying
00:57:14
undocumented immigrants, it doesn't matter what your status
00:57:17
is, you can apply for this loan. However, we're already maxed out
00:57:21
at applications, so you can't apply for this loan and I
00:57:25
haven't heard about it opening up again.
00:57:27
I'm not, I'm not sure where it stands.
00:57:29
I don't know if it's like an annual thing, a lottery, like I
00:57:32
don't know how this works, but that's I remember, that's what
00:57:35
they did with it. Yeah, I remember we covered it
00:57:37
because it it, it was a big uproar about how California was
00:57:40
giving money to undocumented immigrants, indocumented
00:57:43
citizens, whatever illegal immigrants for down payments on
00:57:47
homes. And it made national news
00:57:48
because people were like, Oh my God.
00:57:49
And then we looked into it, we talked about it.
00:57:52
It was like, yes, they they opened it, but there was no
00:57:55
money left anyway. So it was completely just a
00:57:57
empty promise. And then just virtue signalling
00:58:00
by Gavin Newsom and all them. The notion and by the way, when
00:58:04
I was mayor #1 American city and reducing carbon emissions #5 in
00:58:08
the world, the port which is the biggest emitter of greenhouse
00:58:12
gases in the United States of America is the greenest port.
00:58:15
We've got to acknowledge we're going to have an all of the
00:58:18
above strategy when it comes to energy.
00:58:22
And finally gas prices. The way to end them to be so
00:58:26
high is to address the fact that we over regulate refineries who
00:58:29
produce the cleanest fuel in the United States of America.
00:58:32
That's your time Sir. Thank you.
00:58:34
Miss you your answer on affordability?
00:58:35
Sure. So first, we've got to be sure
00:58:38
that we are bringing new housing units online much more quickly.
00:58:41
So this means expediting approval processes, but also
00:58:44
looking at where we can build, how we can build using our
00:58:47
financial tools a lot better. I do want to bring back
00:58:50
redevelopment because we know in every jurisdiction there are
00:58:52
places where we can build quickly, where we are talking
00:58:55
about rehab and reuse, adaptive reuse, and we can bring some
00:58:58
units online much more quickly and not have to think about the
00:59:00
underlying cost of the land with respect to energy.
00:59:03
Look, immediate relief. I know many of you have been
00:59:08
just really shouldering a lot of rate increases from your
00:59:10
utilities just one after another after another.
00:59:13
They need to be audited to be sure that they have really
00:59:16
raised just what they needed, rather than probably owing you a
00:59:20
refund. So I would say it's CPUC.
00:59:22
Get to your auditing job and be sure that you're giving us the
00:59:25
oversight to consumers that consumers deserve.
00:59:28
Again, not to beat a dead horse here, Betty Yee is the
00:59:32
controller of California. This is a statewide position.
00:59:37
It's not a little position. It's a big important position.
00:59:40
It's up there with attorney general.
00:59:42
It's up there with Superintendent like these are
00:59:44
big positions. Where were these solutions until
00:59:50
the moment they came out of your mouth right now at this debate?
00:59:56
Is that not important to you to go over to CPUC and bring this
01:00:00
up? Is this not what like they, they
01:00:03
all have these big solutions, yet they've all been in state
01:00:06
government at the highest levels.
01:00:09
Xavier Becerra was attorney general.
01:00:12
You have Tony Thurman, who was Superintendent.
01:00:15
You're Betty Yee, who's controller.
01:00:17
You are all like 2 steps away from the governor and now all of
01:00:21
a sudden you have all these solutions.
01:00:23
It's like where have you been? So.
01:00:27
It doesn't feel genuine, like they were holding on to these
01:00:30
ideas just for them to be able to run on something higher, the
01:00:34
governor's office. And so it's it's almost like
01:00:38
they they just didn't care until until they needed to care.
01:00:44
Yeah, these, these issues were not important to them until they
01:00:47
needed to be important to them so they could run for governor.
01:00:50
This is our and then healthcare, we have so many that are on the
01:00:54
bridge fringe of losing their healthcare.
01:00:56
We have to grow this economy and really center it on growing our
01:00:58
healthcare workforce throughout the state of California.
01:01:01
That's how we grow the economy, generate our revenue and also be
01:01:04
able to keep those that are on health coverage insured.
01:01:08
Thank you, Missy. Did I miss something?
01:01:11
She said healthcare we have to grow our economy because so many
01:01:14
are on the verge of losing their healthcare, so we need to grow
01:01:17
our economy so they could afford the healthcare that.
01:01:20
She added a couple more words and then said that's how we grow
01:01:23
our economy. But I didn't hear anything about
01:01:26
that's how we grow our economy, just so we need to grow our
01:01:28
economy. Did I miss something?
01:01:30
No, no, you didn't miss anything.
01:01:31
There was, there was no solution there about how to grow the
01:01:34
economy. You just said we have to grow
01:01:35
it. So because if you grow it, then
01:01:38
more people will be on healthcare and people being on
01:01:41
healthcare helps grow the economy.
01:01:43
OK. Just so everyone's clear about
01:01:46
that out there. Secretary.
01:01:49
Just I've been a bowl that one over and try to figure out what
01:01:51
that means, but OK. Yeah, it's kind of like the sock
01:01:56
elves from South Park. Collect socks.
01:01:59
Next step, Third step. Profit.
01:02:03
Secretary Becerra, your answer on affordability, Sir.
01:02:06
So let's start by focusing on working families because some
01:02:10
folks can afford whatever California gives, but some
01:02:13
people work hard like my parents did, and it's always tough.
01:02:16
And so first and foremost, working families, the hardest
01:02:19
working the lowest paid, we have to make sure we're there for
01:02:22
them. That means I will, once I am in
01:02:24
office, I will move to freeze utility rates and home insurance
01:02:29
costs, the premiums you pay. Until we find out why they keep
01:02:32
going up by so much money, you're entitled to know that I
01:02:35
will make sure we're building as everyone is.
01:02:39
OK. That's the reason why we have an
01:02:43
insurance crisis. That's exactly why we have an
01:02:46
insurance crisis in California is because the state froze how
01:02:50
much they could increase their rate and capped how much they
01:02:53
could charge. So insurance companies were
01:02:55
like, well, we're not going to insure these homes if we can't
01:03:00
increase our rates. That makes sense for what we are
01:03:03
insuring. It's just the basic economics of
01:03:06
the insurance industry. So freezing insurance rates
01:03:11
brings you back to the same spot of why we have an insurance
01:03:15
crisis right now and why insurance companies are leaving
01:03:19
California because they can't make money here and they're
01:03:22
allowed to make money. I know most of the Democrats on
01:03:26
that stage hate the idea of people making money, except for
01:03:28
maybe Tom Steyer. But yeah, it's it's that's the
01:03:33
exact reason why we have an insurance crisis.
01:03:38
As everyone has said, I'll increase supply.
01:03:40
I will trim regulations where it's smart.
01:03:43
I will make sure our construction goes up where there
01:03:45
are transit hubs. I will stabilize rents so
01:03:48
renters aren't being gouged. I'll make.
01:03:52
How do you stabilize rent? I don't know.
01:03:56
Rent control. Are you going to implement rent
01:04:00
control in all of California now?
01:04:03
Real quick, did he say? I thought he said freeze utility
01:04:06
rates. Yes, he said.
01:04:10
Freeze utility rates and then freeze insurance rates and cap
01:04:14
them so. You would think after watching
01:04:17
this three times, I would have it memorized.
01:04:33
Well, I think that's our show. He we lost him right at nine O
01:04:38
5. So we went a few minutes over
01:04:40
and well, he's back. But.
01:04:46
OK. Might be a good place to end
01:04:48
right there. All right, so final thoughts
01:04:53
about the debate. I want to see what the chat was
01:04:56
saying. Somebody said, I thought Becerra
01:04:58
was under a criminal investigation.
01:04:59
No, his former campaign manager who was also the chief of staff
01:05:06
for Gavin Newsom, that's who is under investigation.
01:05:10
So not him. It was his campaign funds, so
01:05:17
he's tied to it. They haven't implicated him yet,
01:05:20
but so that's the highlights of the gubernatorial debate that
01:05:25
was. So.
01:05:26
Sad. Nothing really sparking.
01:05:28
I mean nothing really controversial.
01:05:30
Nobody really debated each other's ideas.
01:05:33
It was just kind of round Robin of grandstanding.
01:05:37
But we figured we needed to talk about it and point out that a
01:05:40
lot of these candidates are pretty lackluster and not
01:05:43
impressive. And some of them, like Tony
01:05:47
Thurman, are either just dumb or liars.
01:05:51
So what are your final thoughts before we sign off for tonight?
01:05:55
I want to see a debate between Steve Hilton, Chad Bianco, Eric
01:05:59
Swalwell and Katie Porter that I feel like could get really
01:06:03
spicy. It might end up being just those
01:06:07
couple at the end because I don't think Betty Yee is going
01:06:10
to be around forever, no. I don't even think Tony Thurman
01:06:12
is really polling. He's not polling.
01:06:16
So many people running who are just, they're just really not
01:06:20
polling. Danielle Mercury, I think he ran
01:06:24
in the special election and then in 2022 and he's running again
01:06:27
this year. He was a Republican, but he just
01:06:29
announced that he has left the Republican Party Party and is
01:06:33
registered to a party preference because he's just very
01:06:36
disintegranted with the GOP. Leo Zaki has been running since
01:06:43
he was old enough to run. I think at he has not been
01:06:46
polling. But now Matt Mahan may make
01:06:50
waves. I don't know.
01:06:51
People seem to like him. Maybe he's just younger and has
01:06:55
fresh ideas. He's a little more eloquent and
01:07:00
he has done things in San Jose that have like made a little bit
01:07:04
of movement with affordability, with homelessness and stuff.
01:07:08
I know that he's he's actually done a few things up there or I
01:07:12
think he's done a few things up there.
01:07:13
It sounds like it. So he's one to watch, but he
01:07:18
does seem to be more moderate. It's hard to say.
01:07:23
Again, like, I don't know who I voted for, but it's hard to say
01:07:25
just because there were some of the top candidates missing from
01:07:29
this debate. And could we even call it a
01:07:32
debate? I don't think it was a debate.
01:07:35
I think it was a round Robin presentation of Tell us your
01:07:39
point of view. So there was.
01:07:41
Which is, I mean, it's good to know with this, it's good
01:07:43
information. But none of the points even
01:07:47
really like a lot of the stuff you watched, and none of it
01:07:49
really connected the dots. It's also tough to really detail
01:07:53
what you're trying to say in a minute.
01:07:56
Yeah. I think when it whittles down to
01:07:59
less people, it will get spicier and more informative.
01:08:04
It needs to be cut down to, like, the top four people.
01:08:07
It can't be 12 people on the stage talking because it it.
01:08:12
Nobody needs to hear from Betty Yee.
01:08:13
I'm sorry. She might be a lovely woman, but
01:08:17
you're not going to be governor. So we don't need to hear your
01:08:19
point of view. We don't need to hear Tony
01:08:21
Thurman talk about how he's going to abolish ICE because
01:08:23
he's pulling at .5%. Like it's, there's a lot of
01:08:27
people who just Antonio Villaraigosa probably not in the
01:08:31
top 10 at all or close. It's, it's just like we don't
01:08:34
need to hear from these people. So next debate, hopefully they
01:08:38
they whittle it down to the people who are actually pulling
01:08:41
well and could move on. I think yeah, missing Katie
01:08:46
Porter and Bianco and Eric Swalwell deflated the the whole
01:08:51
debate. But anyway, a lot of them don't
01:08:54
really have great plans. A lot of it seems like more of
01:08:57
the same universal healthcare protect every single
01:09:00
undocumented citizen you can and put them above everybody else
01:09:03
and tax everybody into death and.
01:09:06
Do not forget to abolish ICE. Don't forget you.
01:09:09
Yeah, the next California governor is going to abolish ICE
01:09:11
from Sacramento. I don't know how they're going
01:09:13
to do that, but it's going to be 1 hell of a trick to see.
01:09:17
All right. With that said, that's our show
01:09:19
for tonight. Thank you, everyone, for tuning
01:09:22
in, hanging out with us as always.
01:09:24
We'll be back next Tuesday, same time live at 8:00 PM here on
01:09:30
YouTube. The best thing you can do that
01:09:31
is 100% free to support the show is you can go ahead and share
01:09:35
this with somebody who you think will find this interesting.
01:09:37
Tell them about the show. Tell them to tune in Tuesday or
01:09:40
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01:09:42
underground dot live and check out some of our merch like this
01:09:45
awesome mug that says political affiliation, Democrat,
01:09:48
Republican, or tear it all down and start all over, which I feel
01:09:52
like a lot of people are kind of at that stage right now.
01:09:55
So with that, we'll see you on the next one later, everybody.