James Talarico Humiliates Ken Paxton with Viral Ad

Now, on the long list of misdeeds of Ken Paxton, Penn Steeling is low on the list. I know he's a Michael Jackson super fan, but I think he took the lyrics, beat it a little bit too literally. Welcome to Political Experts React. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. Joining me is Democratic strategist Liz Smith. Liz, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me, Dan. We're going to start today with a brand new ad out this morning from Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, James Tallarico. Let's take a watch. This is Ken Paxton, and this is Ken Paxton stealing someone's $1,000 pen. Here's what happened. The incident happened at the Collin County Courthouse, the same courthouse where Paxton would later be indicted for investment fraud. Paxton walked up to the trays next to the metal detectors, rummaged through them, and came across someone else's expensive Montblanc pen. He decided to take it for himself. The pen belonged to Joe Joplin, a local attorney who'd accidentally left it behind. After the police got involved, Joe got his pen back. He could have pressed charges, but he decided against it, because Joe's a nice guy. He'd never take someone else's pen, but he also hasn't forgotten who took his. Hi, I'm Joe Joplin, and I endorse James Tallarico for the United States Senate. Vote for James Tallarico. He won't steal your pen. Now, on the long list of misdeeds of Ken Paxton, pen stealing is low on the list, but what do you think of this ad? Well, that's why I actually think they focused on it. Ken Paxton, for people who don't know him, has just this rap sheet that really competes with Donald Trump's, to the point that there are so many misdeeds, so many allegations of corruption, and, you know, illegal, immoral behavior, that they almost cancel each other out. It's, like, overwhelming to try to consume and understand all of them. You know what is not overwhelming? To consume this story. Because you see this guy, when no one's looking, taking someone's pen. And they say, you know, character's what you do when no one's looking. Well, Ken Paxton's the type of guy that will steal your pen. Now imagine what he would do when no one's looking, and he's in the U.S. Senate. So, I think it's pretty effective, because it takes a very petty incident that tells you so, so much about who Ken Paxton is. Yeah, I cannot agree more, I think. Like, as you mentioned, so Ken Paxton has been involved in influence peddling, financial fraud. He has been cheating on his wife. He's been on vacation with his mistress during this campaign. He's been impeached by the Texas Republican House. Like, think about that. Texas Republicans, not a bunch of woke libs somewhere in a blue state. Texas Republicans impeached him and was spared by the Senate and Donald Trump. He's now the Republican Senate nominee. But you're right, like, the rap sheet is so long. The crimes are all a little, like, to people who pay a lot of attention, you understand influence peddling and essentially bribery. Like, within your office and making policy decisions for people. But stealing someone's pen is just so petty and so obvious. And it's just like a gross thing to do that it's, even though it is, like I said, it's so low on the list of crimes, I do think it will stand out to people. The other thing I like about this ad is it doesn't really look like a political ad. It is, and in a world, and it's essentially kind of a lighthearted mini documentary telling a story with this found footage of the security footage. And I think it's, like, it will stick to people. This will be something that will probably not be on TV a lot, but will be a digital ad that will be shown to people on Instagram. And, you know, another, and it will go viral on TikTok and things like that. And so it's, like, giving people information they did not have. And I think that's helpful. Yeah, and we saw during the primary, right, the Republicans threw everything at Ken Paxton and all these scary ads with dark voiceovers. And I don't know, I think sometimes people sort of, to your point, those look and feel like political ads, sometimes people just sort of tune them out. Right. This is funny, though. This is funny. And I think anyone who, across the political spectrum, can enjoy it because it has that sort of storytelling aspect. And I think it was a really, really effective use of humor from the Tallarico campaign. Just to your point about that primary, like, we all, people who pay attention to politics, know that Ken Paxton is this crook. And you would think that people in Texas would know about it. But in the New York Times Siena poll of Texas from a couple months ago, I think it was something like only, like, 38% had heard a lot about the campaign. About Ken Paxton's scandals. And so that would sort of suggest that a lot of, obviously a lot of voters aren't paying a ton of attention to the impeachment proceedings in the Texas House. But a lot of these ads are just, like, white noise to people and they're not noticing it. So here's a way that might actually break through. So it's pretty interesting. Yeah, that was a wild stat and really good point there. If you like this video and you like Pod Save America, I think you'll love my newsletter, The Message Box, where I use data and my experience of working to elect Democrats to help you understand what's actually going on in American politics. If you go to the link in the description, you can sign up and get a 20% discount off for an entire year. That's 20% off your subscription price for an entire year at the link in the description. Thanks so much. I really think you'll enjoy this newsletter. Okay, the next ad we're going to watch is from Kate Connolly, who's the Democratic nominee in the 17th District of New York running against Mike Lawler. It's one of the most competitive house races in the country. Let's take a look at the ad. Special ops community, there's a saying, run to the sound of the guns. That's what I've done my entire life. Joining the army after 9-11, combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, hunting down brutal terrorists, protecting what makes us better, what makes this country great is why I'm running now. Because the politicians who created this mess are not going to be the ones who fix it. How do you tolerate what's being done to our country, to New York? The answer is you don't. I fought for my country, fought to protect our democracy, and now I'm ready to fight for New Yorkers. Let's f***ing go. I know you have worked with Kate and you have a lot of thoughts on this, but what can you tell our audience about Kate and how this ad works? So this ad is absolutely brilliant. Conley has one of those bios that is just incredible. She is a total outsider, a badass. She does not look or feel like a normal politician. And why that bio is so important and so powerful in this district is, you know, she grew up in the Hudson Valley, just right outside of New York City. And the day after 9-11, you know, when the towers fell, she decided, I'm going to go serve my country. So she decided to go to West Point. You know, goes to West Point, does six tours overseas, places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, literally hunting terrorists in special operations, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, you name it. And this is a district that didn't, you know, experience 9-11 as a news event. People experienced it personally. They knew people who died, who were affected by it. And so this is one of those districts, where a terrorist hunter, Al-Qaeda hunter, is just a sterling, sterling credential. Now, even more so, when you compare it to the resume of her opponent, the incumbent, Mike Lawler, who is just, you know, the typical operator, political operator, right? I remember years ago, the first time I ever saw Mike Lawler, I was at this event with a friend and sort of, looking around, I'm like, why is there a middle schooler in a suit here? Turns ahead, I see facial hair, I'm like, oh my God, that is a grown man. You know, emphasis on grown, with air quotes. And, you know, that's sort of who Mike Lawler is. He sort of gives off the, I'm wearing a suit and model UN vibes. He definitely had business cards when he was 12 years old. But one thing that people don't know about, Mike Lawler, that is sort of interesting, is he is a Michael Jackson super fan. Super fan. He makes Swifties look like casual. And when he was 18, he flew out to Los Angeles to attend Michael Jackson's trial for child molestation. Not only that, he was kicked out of the courtroom for disrupting it. And, you know, apparently in an effort to defend Michael Jackson's honor. And you could be like, oh, okay, he was a kid, he just did a weird thing there. But sort of look at a pattern here. You know, he then goes to Congress, cozies up to Trump, we know all of Trump's issues. When there was that effort to discharge for a vote, the Epstein files to release them, you would think a member of Congress in a vulnerable seat like his would jump right in and say, okay, I'm gonna do that. But he didn't. And then this past week, just yesterday, Dana Bash on CNN asked him, you know, will you give back $10,000 from Max Miller? For people who are not familiar with Max Miller, he's a congressman from Ohio whose ex-wife accused him of breaking their toddler's collarbone, posting naked photos of their toddler online, holding a gun to the wife's head. Bad guy, very bad guy. Really, really bad guy. And Mike Lawler says, defends him, says, I know him personally. This is a private matter. And, you know, everyone online is like, why is he keeping the money despite the allegations? And I don't know, you sort of look at this pattern from Mike Lawler and you maybe wonder, maybe he's keeping the money because of the allegations. I do not think Michael Jackson meant those, that you should be beating your wife and toddler. But this is a really great contrast for Kate Conley, because she can say, you know, when I was preparing for a life of service where I was going to fly to Baghdad, Afghanistan, et cetera, to fight terrorists, this guy was flying to Michael Jackson's trial for pedophilia to defend him. And I just think these stories tell you a lot about the character of a guy like Mike Lawler and why he's going to go down in November. The ad is great. I mean, Kate Conley, like you said, this is a you would dream a bio like this up in a lab for a candidate. You the the ad like looks better than your typical political ad. She's obviously doing all of this, you know, this training and flipping the giant tires over and talking about being a terrorist hunter and being very explicit that she's not a politician. It's an outsider appeal. And it's all great. It's great. And this is a you know, this is one of four districts that that have Republicans in them. The Kamala Harris one, she won it by point six percent. So narrowly. But this is a district Democrats absolutely should win. We have the right candidate. Mike Lawler has been a little bit of sort of a white whale for Democrats. We've gone after him many times because he's in this swing district. We have failed repeatedly. This is our best chance to do so. I think we have a great candidate to do it. So I'm pretty excited about this one. This is like this is if Kate Conley can't beat Mike Lawler in this year, then we have some real problems as a party because this this would be that this would be the time to do it. Yeah. And her bio is so different from any candidate. Who's run against Lawler before. And you know, it's a district that, you know, with its proximity to West Point, all that really honors, you know, people with service backgrounds. And Mike Lawler is one of those Republicans who plays a moderate on TV. But like when it really matters, he's with Trump. You know, he said he wouldn't cut Medicaid, but then, you know, votes to reform Medicaid in a way that kicks tens of thousands of people in this district off of it. And that sort of behavior, the actual substance of this action. It's going to come back to haunt him. Pod Save America breaking news is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. With everyday interactions becoming increasingly impersonal, someone going just one extra step can be huge, like when my doctor takes the time to call me with test results instead of sending them electronically. They came back positive for gay. It makes me feel like a human being again. 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Let's take a look and then I want to get your sense of whether this is helpful, hurtful or neither for Abdul. The mail, it never fails. It makes me want to wag my tail when it comes. I want to wail. It looks like my ballot brought to me by my secretary of state and with it I can participate in democracy. The first day that I can turn this in is June 25th. But it has to be postmarked by July 21st. Thanks, Secretary of State. Thanks, mailbox. Folks gonna do what we can't do. OK, as I said, Fox is having a field day with this. Republicans are making fun of it. People are dunking on it. What do you think of the video, the original video? And what do you think about the Republican strategy to try to lift this back up again? Well, you offered a sort of options at the beginning. Is it going to help him, hurt him? Neither. I'm going to go with neither. Yeah. You know, I think it's something people will dunk on online. I remember when I first saw it, it was during the primary and at first I thought it was sort of AI. I thought it was like a little bit off putting, but sort of inconsequential. The one thing I would just say, just taking a step back from this and taking it outside of the context of the Michigan Senate races, a lot of lines have gotten blurred in politics these days between candidates. Elected officials and content creators and all that. And I really do think that campaigns, candidates should be disciplined about trying to really be on the side of being a leader versus a content creator. And what people are looking for from elected officials isn't that them like jumping on every meme, every sound, you know, doing things that you would, doing silly dances or things you expect from content creators. They want to be treated like adults. And I would just say, El-Sayed has done a lot of really good videos explaining affordability and other issues facing the people of Michigan. And I think that that's sort of a smarter route, smarter path to take for candidates. And it's alluring. I know it can be very alluring to get into the content creation game, but that's really, I don't think what voters are looking for. So as I think about this video, when I first saw it, I didn't really get it. I am way too old to be part of the Blue's Clues generation, which came out, which debuted as I learned today in 1996 when I was a sophomore in college. So I did not know what this was. Obviously this is like, it is a, it's a, it is a very cultural touchstone for a lot of people of a certain age. So I've learned a lot about Blue's Clues in preparation for this video, but I'd say a couple of things on this one you do, I think let's start with the use of the video. It is, I agree. It's inconsequential. I understand the concept of mail balloting is important. We need to explain to people mail balloting. We want to do in a way that has some virality to it here. I guess the mail was a very important part of the Blue's Clues phenomenon. We will try that. Um, now it obviously didn't work. Abdul got absolutely clobbered in mail ballots, but I understand the logic. I mean, I mean, you remember this from when we were together in the 2012 campaign, teaching people how to early vote and mail vote, hugely important. Um, and I think that's, I think that's a really important thing to do. I think that's a really important thing to do. We're going to have 10 ideas. This was one of those ideas. There were probably some other better ones on that. list. I don't think they were they were thinking ahead to a general election. Yeah. And, you know, all for taking risks. But I always go back to this thing Pete Buttigieg said in the 2019-2020 campaign is three things you're never going to see me doing on camera, singing, dancing or playing sports. And I think that's pretty safe for most people. You know, if you're Barack Obama, you can do all three. But most people aren't Barack Obama. Yeah, I think Abdul can dance. I will give him that. I don't know about his singing. And he definitely since he challenged Mike Lawler to a football game, I think he wants to do sports. But Mike Rogers, Mike Rogers. Dusty, what did I say? Lawler. Yeah. Oh, Michael. See, you have Mike Lawler on my brain. This is the already challenged Mike Rogers to a football, a football match without pads, which was quite aggressive. Maybe he'll try that one. All right, Liz, this was great. Always great to have you on the show. We will have you back again soon. And thanks for being on Political Experts React. Great. Thanks for having me.