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Steve Hilton & Spencer Pratt: Fixing California, Cheaper Gas, Ballot Fraud & CA Republicans

55m 44s

Steve Hilton & Spencer Pratt: Fixing California, Cheaper Gas, Ballot Fraud & CA Republicans

Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for California governor, presents a sharp critique of the state’s political and economic decline, attributing it to 16 years of Democratic dominance, rampant regulation, and rising costs that have led to the highest poverty, unemployment, and housing prices in the nation. He argues that one-party rule has created a corrupt "machine" where powerful interest groups—such as unions and nonprofits—control policy, leading to a stifling bureaucracy, legal overreach, and a hostile environment for businesses. His campaign promises sweeping reforms: cutting state regulations from over 420,000 to under 200,000, eliminating hidden taxes on gas and vehicle registration, and introducing a state income tax break for the first $150,000 of earnings. He also highlights the failure of the state’s economy, where massive wealth from Silicon Valley has not translated into jobs. Spencer Pratt, an independent candidate, adds to the narrative by showcasing grassroots activism and viral content that expose systemic failures, including drug distribution by nonprofits and the neglect of public safety. Both candidates stress that the current system is unsustainable and that voters—especially non-college-educated working people—must break free from complacency and actively participate in the election. They present a unified message: change is not just possible, it’s urgent. The election, they argue, is a pivotal moment where common sense, transparency, and accountability can restore California’s vitality and return it to its historic role as a hub of innovation and opportunity.

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a candidate for the governor of california who is extremely unique in a number of ways first of all he's a republican and second he's a brit welcome to the program steve pelton it's a joke i mean what are these democrats doing we already have the highest taxes in the country your first hundred grand tax free even katie porter agrees with that prior to that he was in silicon valley as a tech entrepreneur people are so sick of the nonsense is everything twice as good when they've doubled the budget of course not california means to america what america means to the world please welcome steve hilton wake up wake up buddy let's go hi all right wake up california we have seven weeks to save our state are you ready are we gonna do it we got seven weeks that's all but we can do it seven weeks um there's a lot of people here who aren't from california well actually who's from california raise your hand some applause the resident from cali i think there's a lot it's about half california california yeah what's but but help explain why california is so important california is not just the biggest state uh the richest state in the richest most important country on earth it's it's as i said just then and and you saw california means to america what america means to the world i'm an immigrant moved here in 2012 neighbors with chamath so how about that i picked a good spot um and i was inspired by this state it represents for me and for so many people over the like century plus that this state has been growing and leading in so many ways the absolute essence of what we love about america innovation and energy and ambition and hustle and that kind of rebel spirit that that create that's why we've created so many industries here that have completely transformed the world starting right here in los angeles over a century ago the entertainment industry obviously tech that you're all so familiar with but also our great ag and we have the leading agriculture industry in the world we've been so many different fields we have led the world that's why it's so important we don't let california go down what any further what is the state of the state then this state i'm afraid despite all our incredible advantages and of course we still have them the things that the people in charge haven't managed yet to ruin um our incredible natural beauty and the weather and the energy that you see in our startup communities the best innovation ecosystem anywhere in the world great universities but look at the facts we've had 16 years of one party in control today in california we have the highest poverty rate in the country the highest unemployment rate the highest cost of living by far look at how we have housing cost the highest in the country that's why people are leaving they are leaving millions of people leaving california this beautiful place you got two right here and exactly you've got now chief executive magazine has ranked the highest cost of living in california in its annual survey of business leaders for more than a decade 50th out of 50 for business climate it's just incredible when you look at the range of issues where the policies that we've been subjected to have just created the worst outcomes not just um bad in comparison to other states the worst out of everything so look we know we know how you measure the outcome but go go back and look at what's happening in california and what's happening in a few layers about just the root causes. Democrats have run this state for a long time. Democrats used to be sort of like peace and love and permissiveness and openness. So just corral that for us, because I think this is a place now that has become rules on top of rules on top of rules. How did a group of people who basically were just like peace and love and leave us alone become the rule police? It's exactly right. This is what happens with one-party rule, actually. And you see that in history. Whether it's from the right or the left, it always ends up with a kind of insular, self-regarding elite that just forgets about their responsibility to everyone else and just gets obsessed with their own ideology, their internal motivations, whoever their interest, and the political groups are that they represent. And by the way, in Sacramento, we have one of the most corrupt systems anywhere in the country in terms of the power of the donors to the politicians who make the decisions. The unions, the trial lawyers, that's why we have the worst litigation risk anywhere in the country. You run a business in California, you start a business in California, 90% chance you're going to end up in litigation. So it's just a complete mess when you get one-party rules. Now, 16 years, the Democrats have run everything. All eight statewide elected positions, the state legislature with a two-thirds majority, every big county, every big city, the state Supreme Court with a 6-1 Democrat-appointed majority. So this is what happens. The rules get piled up because every year, they pass legislation that just adds to the burden and the bloat. Last year, the Sacramento legislature passed 1,118 bills. We printed them out. Very productive. Very productive. Productivity going up there. We're going to be doing this year's in Sacramento on Thursday. We printed it all out. I mean, I'm not that tall, but it was twice my height. Okay? Nobody's reading this. You think Gavin Newsom is reading all this before signing it? No. It's written in the interest of the narrow groups that control that process, and it benefits them but hurts everybody else. That's why we have by far the highest regularity. That's why one of the things I'm announcing today, actually, is that we're going to cut the number of regulations in California from where we are today, which is over 420,000, by the end of my first term to under 200,000, which makes us competitive with the rest of the country. Now, if there's a narrow interest group that controls the legislature, is it not also the case that that narrow interest group controls the machinery that I would argue doesn't necessarily. Well, I think it's the case that there's a narrow interest group that controls the legislature, which is over 420,000, by the end of my first term to under 200,000, which makes it difficult for rational outsiders to have a shot at a true kind of democratic campaign, that they own the ballot harvesting machines, that they own the campaigning machines, that they get everyone in the state behind them, all the unions, all the votes, everything is aligned under one controlled mechanism, and therefore it is at this point gotten so far down the road that it's impenetrable, and we cannot actually break in. Well, it's definitely the case that we have this very powerful. And corruptly funded machine that's running every. I agree with that. In fact, one of the ways that we're telling the story of this campaign is the people versus the machine. That's what this is. But there's a majority of Californians who want change. That's clear from every single poll. When we started the general election part of this campaign, if you look at the primary results on primary night in California in the governor's race, if you add up myself and the other Republican, that's 35%. I got 25%. The other Republican. You add up all the Democrats, 65%. That's a 30-point gap. The first poll came out, it was a 25-point gap. I know a lot of people were discouraged by that, but we were just beginning our campaign. And look what's happened just in the last couple of months. From a 30-point gap on primary night to 25 points, 18 points, 14 points, the latest poll, an 8-point gap. We are showing that people want change in this state, and I just don't accept that we have to put up with this. And your only choice is to put up with it. All this nonsense and bloat and tax and cost and all the hassles of living here or trying to work here, your only choice is to put up with it or leave. If I may say so, as a new American citizen, that's a very un-American attitude, that it can't be done, that we can't make change happen. We've got to fight for it. There are plenty of people who believe that the state needs change. We just have to show in the. In the next seven weeks, that change really is possible. If we get more votes, we'll win. It's pretty simple. Steve, why do you think that people feel that it would be almost a betrayal, though, even if they want change to not vote Democrat? Why is that? There seems to be in California, at least as I've lived it, a lot of very rational people who feel sort of out of place. They're not quite sure whether they should be a Republican. They're made to feel guilty for not being completely a Democrat. So they either. Don't vote or they just go in and they find the D and check the box. And so all of the insanity sort of compounds. And if that continues to happen, don't we need to hit rock bottom? Like, isn't there going to be some financial event or otherwise that needs to happen to reset? I've got to tell you, I think it's pretty rock bottom now in terms of what it's actually like to live here. I mean, I travel this state. I've been to every one of our 58 counties. No candidate's done that in a very long time. We've done hundreds of events. Town halls up. I'm down the state. Every single day, I see just the pain and the struggle in people's eyes to live here. I mean, look, you try and. own a home here we used to have the highest rate of home ownership in the country in california and the most affordable housing now the median house price in california is nearly a million dollars the median salary in california for an individual 65 000 i mean it's just completely broken and people are broken by this and they are desperate for change the number one thing that people say to me when i'm out and about and where they come up to in the airport the street wherever we are my events it's not good luck hope you do well there's an intensity this year the number one it's almost word for word this is what everyone says to me i've heard it even here backstage you have to win there's an intensity about it this year um and i think that this is the year we can really do that just to your point about democrats that's true that you've had this habit of voting democrat even though the results have been increasingly disappointing but i think that's changing you : just i don't know i give friday 9-11 i was at the 9-11 memorial event in sacramento not there participating i was just there to show my respects i took my seat in the back um people came up to me take pictures and so on as they often do just there just randomly in a pretty small event i had a number of people must have been four or five people just randomly all almost said the same word for word thing i'm a lifelong democrat but i'm voting for a new government and i'm voting for you this year it's just i think we have reached that point and that's why i'm saying we got to wake up because the other thing i hear all the time from business leaders or business owners every single day is if you don't make it in november we're out and i'm just serious about this if we if we think that it's bad now i think that the exodus of business that we've seen from california in the last couple of years if we don't show some change here and some balance in our system it's going to turn into a stampede for the exits it really is i think this is a now or never election for california let's talk about the metrics and the path to victory here polymarket has you at five percent chance of winning the actual polls have you as close as eight percent to twenty percent and it's incredibly polarized you have ninety percent or eighty-nine percent of republican voters okay mission accomplished you've only got thirty percent of independence work to do and then if you look at democrats you've got less than ten percent so you've captured the republicans making some headway with independence but you're not making aside from the anecdotal stories you're telling us massive headway with these democrats yet but you have one debate september 30th versus becerra what do you have to do in that debate to change the narrative and to shake this up so what's the plan no it's a great question it's the question in many ways um and i'll just give you our metric and our numbers which is you know we wanted to see what is the pathway to victory for real so this is not us cooking the numbers at all this is a poll that we took right at the beginning of the of the campaign when it's clear that it was myself and uh javier becerra and these are the numbers thirty-three percent solidly with me forty-one percent solidly with becerra twenty-six percent um up for grabs now most of that twenty-six percent have voted democrat before but they are not committed democrats they are open to persuasion and then you ask well who are those people and what are they focused on overwhelmingly uh non-college educated regular working people in california who are at breaking point financially and their overwhelming interest is practical things to help with the cost of living and that's what our campaign's been all about not just in well you have a very specific but since the beginning of the campaign and i can tell you what it is very simply um to reduce the bloat and the waste in our budget they've doubled the budget of the state of california in the last 10 years with two million people having left the state everything's gotten worse we're going to cancel high-speed rail we're going to have a 10 percent headcount reduction in the government five percent efficiency say many other things stop the funding of these non-profits the number of people that are making homelessness worse and that all adds up to enough money for us to cut state income tax your first hundred and fifty grand tax-free no state income tax that puts thousands of dollars in the pockets of regular working people secondly we can have a sensible energy policy instead of shipping oil halfway around the world pretending that we're doing something about climate change even though we're actually increasing emissions by doing that we're going to use california energy policy instead of shipping oil halfway around the world pretending that we're doing something about climate change even though we're actually increasing emissions by doing that we're going to use california energy resources and that means and and get rid of the ridiculous outdated regulations and the hidden taxes on gas so we can deal with the number one thing that's hurting working people every day which is gas prices instead of six dollar gas we can get towards three dollar gas in california like you have in other states right now by getting rid of the emissions um premium no there's getting rid of the cleaning of the gasoline no it's not that at all it's the hidden taxes the local all these things the low carbon fuel standards the cap and invest program that's about a dollar fifty on the gas price right there guess where that money goes the cap and invest program that's what's funding high speed rail i mean you dig into all these things in california they are gouging you on every single possible thing they can the announcement we made last week it's going to help regular working people uh to register your car or truck in california hundreds of dollars many people paying eight nine hundred dollars over a thousand dollars in most other states it's under a hundred dollars it's another hidden tax well we are going to cap vehicle registration at the flat registration rate of seventy three dollars per vehicle per year by abolishing the dmv which is a symbol of the a symbol of this this this absolutely ridiculous bloated nanny state bureaucracy that is driving everyone crazy and driving up everyone's costs you just need to send an outsider to sacramento that wants to shake up this system that's clearly why shouldn't people vote for bassara what is the flaw in this character well i i mean the short answer is i'm going to quote uh the people who worked with him he touts the fact that he's got so much experience yeah he's a 36 year career politician let's look at uh the verdict not of other republicans but democrats who work with him susan rice president biden's head of domestic policy was president obama's national security um head of national security advisor she worked with him for four years her description bassara is a quote idiot okay so the reason not to vote for him by the way she also said and i don't know quite what she meant by this he's a bitch ass so make of that what you will sounds like he's pretty qualified for a role to run california exactly maybe it's just he's a bitch ass idiot bitch ass idiot so that give him the keys another one right uh from the biden cabinet said but the thing about javier you need to know is he's a bitch ass idiot he's a bitch ass idiot he's a bitch ass idiot he's a bitch ass idiot he's a bitch ass idiot he's a bitch ass idiot he's a bitch ass idiot he's a bitch ass idiot running a large executive agency is not exactly his skill set i mean this is just if if you don't think it can get worse after gavin newsom i have two words for you javier becerra he is exactly what the machine to your point wants a puppet who will do the bidding of the unions and the trial lawyers and all these activists that have ruined uh the the business climate in california made everything more expensive he'll just go along with it he's even worse than newsom i want to get you in sax here um why haven't the republicans invested in california more because you're coming in steve i think with a lack of infrastructure correct and you obviously speak for all republicans so why haven't well on this podcast we haven't we haven't had a candidate as good as steve so we needed the right candidate right so can can you get some more money from president trump he just called in but when he calls in this afternoon can we get him some more funds here he's he's got a lot of money in his pocket he's got a lot of money in his pocket he's got a lot of money in his pocket he's got a lot of money in his pocket he's got a lot of money in his pocket seems like he's got a punch or shot i mean if you put this energy into the debate maybe you take this guy out how look i think i've gone into california california i mean look what we need is for this election to be about the state not about national politics right and steve is focused on the problems here let's not bring in the rest of the country because we have to appeal to the independence and steve is right the state's really broken we have all these budget deficits for no reason we're gifted with so many unbelievable assets we have silicon valley we have the by the way you know what one observation peter till made years ago was that silicon valley was like a resource curse for the state of california because it generates so much wealth and taxes that they don't need a good government here right it's like one and that's how you get a one-party state i just want to pick up on that if i may so if you actually that there's there was a brilliant moment i mean a depressing moment with becerra just before the the primary where he was on cnn and he was asked um that question and neither to be fair to this the host said look we got some problems here homelessness highest poverty rate highest unemployment rate terrible cost of living uh what do you think really would you have done differently one needs to change from a policy point of view he literally said well you know we're the fourth biggest economy in the world and many people still love coming to disneyland and our beaches so things must be going right and the point about the resource curse is exactly right this is what you hear from gavin houston the whole time fourth biggest economy in the world that's mainly driven by the fact that we have this incredibly successful sector that's generating a lot of revenue but not creating a lot of jobs It's a very imbalanced economy. The other reason that we have the fourth biggest economy in the world is that that number is the GDP number Includes the size of the government they've doubled the size of the government in the last ten years the number that the figure for net Job private sector job creation since the pandemic in California is basically zero It's a disaster economically, but we're kept afloat by That one sec a lot of this home. Oh, by the way, if prop 40 passes, I think they'll no longer be go. It's going exactly That's why honestly Wake up everybody. This is a really serious moment. Hey a Friedberg. We had an idea You have another guest here who might be great to join Steve yeah, so Steve, you know, you've obviously I think been running a great campaign Someone else ran a great campaign here in LA and we were hoping you'd be okay to have him come out early Maybe join you for a little bit Yeah I don't know who you could be thinking of Yeah, I don't know who you could be thinking of Yeah, I don't know who you could be thinking of let's find out He's trying to make the campaign a reality show no no my my dear You made my life a show when you burned my town down You know his face, you know his name his name is Spencer Pratt a media entrepreneur to be clear I never wanted to run for any political office or have anything to do with politicians like to see him do well. He's a Character mayor bass and I are definitely not working together. I blame this person for burning my house and my parents' house and my town and all my neighbors down. I'm only running for mayor to do one last Hail Mary. Please welcome Spencer Pratt. Wow, you're popular. Popular with this crowd. Nice to see you. All right, welcome. Steve, Spencer, Spencer, Steve. How are you? You guys have some things in common. I mean, how hard is it to break the machine in California, Spencer? He keeps calling it a machine. I like to call it a corrupt criminal mafia cartel. You know, machine is when you're a candidate. You have to call it a machine. These are criminals. It's that simple. They launder all of our tax money to increase people dying on our streets. And then they say, oh, he's a Republican candidate. You can't vote for him. Let's let people keep dying on our sidewalks because we have compassion. So no, those are criminals, actually. The criminal machine. Spencer, you did something worthy of a round of applause. Spencer, you did something extraordinary in terms of an independent candidate getting massive earned media with these videos. You did something extraordinary in terms of an independent candidate getting massive earned media with these videos, AI generated, but they were incredibly deft at communicating messages. Who made them? Did you direct them? Was this like a covert group chat? And then how can we get Steve to do these? I am. We're on the same team. Okay. Tell us what's going on. Yeah. And the impact it had because we saw them. Initially, what kicked off was just the truth. That's all I did. I went out on as many platforms and I just started saying the truth. And what that created was a grassroots movement. And to reference a machine, it became a machine that creative people across the country could throw their genius or their ideas into it. I wouldn't say it was the AI that worked. I think it was a piece of a lot of things that were working. Same with Steve. AI is a piece of it. People just expect these things now. But for me, it's the message that was cutting through. It wasn't the AI. It was what was in these videos. I was saying in real life, just as Steve is saying in real life, people are tired of being lied to. People want the truth. I didn't set out to be, as the president would call me, a big MAGA guy or the guy with the mojo for the Republicans. I set out as a guy whose town burned down, my neighbors burned down. I just wanted somebody speaking the truth. And that wasn't political to me. And so that's why most of the people, that voted for me, were Democrats. I would have won 100% and beat all the super meth addicts that voted for Nithya Raman and Bass if the 200,000 Republicans that are registered in Los Angeles actually voted. And that's what we need people to do for Steve. People need to vote. We've got to this idea with the mail-in ballots and all the alleged voter fraud and the non-alleged voter fraud that we can't beat this system. But people just need to show up. One of the great things the president did say was the too big to rig. And not only is that work, I've talked to a lot of people behind the scenes, you can beat these margins of cheating with voting. Steve, I mean, Spencer, can you actually explain what happened in your election? Because for the casual observer, it seemed like there was a period you were winning and then something happened and then a lot of votes showed up at the end. So for those of us that were not steeped in what happened in LA, can you just give us a summary of what happened? I was at Don Antonio's celebrating while my opponent Nithya Raman from the Kami DSA was crying on camera because she was losing by 10%. And then mathematically, the most impossible thing in the history of politics happened. The third place candidate started slowly each day winning, but of course they'll say, oh yes, but Democrats, they vote by mail-in ballots. But this Democrat was against the current mayor, who's also a Democrat. And so I was at Don Antonio's celebrating and the third place candidate somehow bypassed not just me, but the first place Democratic candidate to get just enough votes to beat me. And here's my favorite part of the 43,000 votes she got in those mail-in ballots. How many naked drug addict zombies are there in downtown LA in this area? 43,000. There's really about 100,000, but they say 43,000. So again, I'm not saying they cheated. Because the system. I think you just did. Guys, guys. But hold on a second. You just did say they cheated. Okay. The system is designed. So what we think is cheating is not cheating. Because ready for this? Mail-in ballots, the witness can sign with a smiley face, an X. This witness can be a witness to. They're not allowed to check. This witness can be a witness to 43,000 ballots. All right, guys, listen, these two are only here because Steve's got to go to another thing. But I want to see if Spencer and Steve can sign. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe have you guys met or talked much about his campaign? And is there anything you can share about the experience here that you've just went through? Can I just want to say one thing to underline what Spencer said at the beginning, which is the deep thing that's going on here about what's happening with our money for everyone who put their hand up and said, I'm here in California. So you'll know this story. You've seen it. You've been there. You told the story. I was with at Langer's the other week, Langer's Deli, right by MacArthur Park. And we nearly 80 years in business. A couple of years ago, Norm Langer wanted to shut it down because the chaos all around in L.A., the customers rallied around. It's still in business. And the chaos is back, even though you've got a D.A. now in L.A. that's cracking down on the drugs and the crime. And you've got a U.S. attorney, Bill Asaley, good friend of ours, who's doing a great job trying to go after the criminal gangs and the cartels. But what's actually happening? This was a Tuesday morning last week, about 10.30, mid-morning. He said, come and see what's happening. It's like whack-a-mole because you go out into MacArthur Park, 10.30 on a Tuesday morning. Every single place you look, you've got the people you described. You've got crack pipes, people smoking crack, injecting drugs, folded over with fentanyl in the middle of a beautiful, sunny day in the center of L.A. Dozens and dozens of people. Why? Because every single day, non-profits show up, handing out crack pipes, handing out needles, handing out drugs. Who's paying for that? You are. We are. We are paying these people. What do you mean we're paying for drugs? Because the taxpayers are funding the non-profits who are handing out the crack pipes, the needles, and the drugs. No, what drugs are we talking about? Fentanyl. They hand out fentanyl needles, a black jeep. I pay taxes. They take the taxes. They buy fentanyl, and then they give it to people. No, they buy the needles. And interestingly, enough, one of these people from the NGOs that was handing out the needles, Bill Asaley also caught him selling the drugs, too. So, technically, you're not buying the drugs, but the people that were paying for the needles happened to also be selling the drugs on the side. Can I just tell, I'm going to be. It's called the side quest in our industry. I just want to say one other story that really captured. Side hustle. Side hustle. I just want to tell this other story that captured. This story that we've just. We've just had experience of, and one other that actually captures for me in a deeper way what this election is all about. Just a couple of days before that experience in MacArthur Park, there's this Latino couple wanting me to come and see their business. In South Central LA, it's, you know, it's not Skid Row, but it's pretty rough, and it's the usual squalor that I'm afraid we're used to in this city because they don't know how to run the place. But in the middle of all that squalor, this beautiful little store, they run a store. It's a shoe store, and they've been running it 14 years, Latino couple. We went in, we were talking, they gave me all the usual things that I'm very familiar with, the taxes, the ridiculous bureaucracy, the permits that get more complicated and costly every year the electric bill etc but that's not why we wanted you to come here come with me they took me outside you walk along we went for a walk two city blocks could have gone even further every single part of the sidewalk street vendors you think illegal street vendors what are they selling shoes and apparel and t-shirts just the entire sidewalk this 14 year business a lovely little local business everything spotless everything clean exactly what we would want to see is going out of business because you've got people there that are not paying tax not paying electric not paying rent not complying with any licensing and then i said to the guy when did all this happen uh when did it start was this has this been here all the time you've been here no it's the last six or seven years that is it something to do with the pandemic no i looked into it eight years ago in 2018 they passed a bill in sacramento to legalize street vending in california across the state cities can't do anything about it counties can't do anything about it um you've got in langers you've got food stands there that are pouring their grease into the drain right in front of their store you got rats you got all of it legalized and what does it tell you when you take that into account and then what you see in macarthur park with the drugs you know what you guys should do can i just tell you what this lesson is from this that we've become a state where if you do the right thing you're punished and if you do the wrong thing you're rewarded that is upside down but that's the story beneath everything and that's what we need to turn around that's what this election is actually about no i i really think it's important for you guys to be able to tell the stories of these specific laws because it doesn't it doesn't matter your political persuasion when you hear that if it is as accurate as you say it's functionally one of the stupidest things to do and it's not the case that you're going to be able to get away with it it's not the case that you're not going to be able to get away with it it's not the case that you're going to be able to get away with it it's not the case that you're going to be able to get away with it it's not the case that you're going to be able to get away with it it's not the case that you're going to get away with it it's not the case that you're going to get away with it and if there's a 20 or 30 of these examples it's important for people to know this because that's the only thing that cracks this entrenched system because i do think that these belief systems are very difficult to turn over and you have to just hit them with facts over and over but these things are insane if if as accurate as you said steve it's insane the craziest part about this so there's they say there's 50 000 food vendors 50 000 and they made it more affordable, so most of them don't even have the permit that costs $21. But our city council, greenlit, and they already did this, they gave these food vendors $500,000 to give them an actual cart. My town burned down because Mayor Bass and the LADWP didn't repair the reservoir cover that was $200,000. So they have money to have, a lot of these people are not tax-paying citizens, they have the money to give them $500,000 for food carts, but they can't get, the Pacific Palisades is paying most of the taxes for the whole city, they can't get the reservoir cover. What does it say, Spencer, if this city elects Karen Bass again, and what does it say in terms of lessons about your campaign, that you can't beat somebody that incompetent? I mean, we're up against dumb and dumber. I would say they're less dumb than picking this socialist, communist, alleged terrorist supporter, Nithya Raman. So we're in a position where it's either worse or worse, and at least with Mayor Bass, we know, oh, she only burns out one town every four years. How many does Nithya Raman burn down? We'll find out. I hate to say this, let's hope we don't. What can I say? It's not a complaint. It's an elite joke, right, what you just said. So we launched our general election campaign after the primary in Boyle Heights, East L.A. Why? Because that was the site of another fire where Karen Bass was out of town. Incredible. The warehouse fire that burned for a week. She was out of town for that one as well. And it was a warehouse. You had 85 million pounds of rotting meat that was left there for five weeks. This is a working class. Latino neighborhood in L.A. It's just, we'd launched our campaign. The press wasn't very happy because you have flies everywhere. The whole place stinks. You have rats, medieval diseases. This is in the second city of America. I mean, it's just what these people have done is actually unforgivable. We've got to kick these people out this year. We really do. Spencer, before Steve leaves, any advice for him? I feel like Steve doesn't need my advice. He's doing incredible. What he just needs to continue doing, and he does it, is appealing. Because you're never going to win as a Republican in California. But what he's running is common sense. And the message is, you know, for the people that are like, I'm voting for Basara. What does Biden call him? I think we say we're going to take Basura from Karen Bass and apply it there. These people think they're voting because he says, I'm going to fight the president. The president is gone. He's gone in two years. So then what? You're just going to have another entrenched, terrible person running the state? And don't worry. The whole entire state is run by Democrats. If there's one registered Republican, it's okay. So I would say the message is Steve is about common sense. And he just wants our tax money to stop being stolen. And he wants kids being able to go back to parks. These aren't a Republican or a Democrat. It's just a non-communist. It's just a non-communist message. Spencer, you're going to stay with us for a bit. Steve, I know you've got to run. Any last words? Anything you want to say before you head out? I just want to tell everyone that actually it's not just about stopping the crazy stuff that we've been talking about. There's so much we can do in this amazing state. I've got a plan here that we're publishing today. Ten new cities for California. We've got so much opportunity here. If we just have some common sense, we get rid of these insane regulations and laws. Lawsuits and fees and taxes. The talent is here. The energy is here. We can once again be the place where people are coming to build amazing businesses and companies and houses and the great things we built in the heyday of California. We can be all that again and very, very quickly because we've got everything we need to be truly magnificent again, except a good governor. But very soon we'll have that as well. Thank you very much. Thanks for being here. Thank you. What's your favorite viral Spencer Pratt video? I know mine. It's we have the money. It's just being stolen. You remember that one? I do. I mean, what I loved about running so much is it was finally a way to channel all of my anger. And it was it was so therapeutic. This feels so good. But yeah, Steve's incredible. I pray for him. Obviously, everybody who I thought was a genius involved in my campaign connected these people. So he's got Spencer. What's going to happen in this election now? If people vote, Steve wins. But people need to vote. It's like you think that you think there's still an opportunity to vote in the state versus having the machine fill it out for me? Correct. I I is I'm I'm so optimistic. Psych. No, I mean, you just got to be got we got to. Try. People need to vote. And I don't think the the machine and the idea that we can't win should stop from trying. Yeah. If I had thought that way, I mean, I had my plan. I would 100 percent been the mayor. I didn't know they were going to pull what they pulled that soon. I thought they were going to wait till November. So I had the plan to win. But I'm going to save it for my next election. So, you know, what? What does that mean exactly? Well, I mean, behind offstage, I can tell you, you know, I can't give the basically you need a better vote stealing operation than they have. Right. I mean, what I've learned is it's not stealing. It's legal. Right. I got my own harvesting. They call it. Yeah. You know, I got something up my sleeve. Well, no, no. In seriousness, Spencer, he is being serious. I'm dead. OK, so you have legal recourse. Voter fraud is a very significant crime. People have been prosecuted very regularly for committing voter fraud. You're making these claims. Freiburg's making these claims. You're piling on. Hold on. What claims did I make? You just said if you can actually win or that somebody automatically signs it for you, you're insinuating that the system is corrupt. Let me make that was a joke about the. OK, fine. But in our private in our private chat, you say all the time. No, totally insinuated. I'll assert it anyway. The point is, this is corrupt. It's statistically impossible. We all saw the line here. Here. OK, but hold on. Let me let me let me know where this is going. Everyone says, well, why didn't you why didn't you investigate that? So obviously, I got the top law firms like, yeah, we're going to get them. And then you ready for this. The second those mail in ballots get to where they count the votes because they say, come down here, check this out. The second they get there, you know what they do with the ballots. They separate them from the envelope. So let's say I know forty two thousand of these were cooked with the NGO drug addicts. And the people that are paying them billions of dollars because they want that money to keep. I know it's all from there. Oh, well, we can't connect those ballots to those envelopes. We separated the change. of custody from those so the certification signature is on the envelope to be clear it's like right there so you so i know let's say i know this dsa terrace commie person signed all these i know that's this one they go and this is where they're from oh we don't have that person's signature to connect those ballots so you can't i could have definitely said i want to recount you can't audit is basically like and they would have recounted the same ballots so i'm not alleging anything this is just a fact in california this is what i'm okay so i didn't get to ask my question because this is legal and the way it's set up legally is what makes it impossible to intervene unless you are willing to go play that game where you're now going to go collect all the ballots from the apartment buildings and fill them all out and get someone to put a happy smiley face on it and be like here you go so that's the mechanism that ultimately i think the other side is going to end up having to employ if they actually want to get people elected in a state that's two-thirds one side of the uh so president trump did 60 of these lawsuits when he lost last time and claimed the same thing all 60 he lost you're not even willing to do a lawsuit but is your contention that you lost because of fraud yes or no it's a trick question well no it's a simple question it's a trick question i without evidence i would say no okay so it's a possibility the thing is he can't collect data so if i had the evidence i would tell you i would be the mayor right now okay well what i would say what i would say is that on an election night you were the clear number two and then a week later you had been narrowly displaced by a bunch of ballots that were counted yeah the it seems like there would have to be in this case correct me if i'm wrong tens of thousands of faked ballots no i'm not saying fake this is where this is again it's not fraud jason it's that they're following the law that was created to let them do what they're doing it's legal voter id illegal all right so watch this watch this watch i'm in favor of voter id to be clear but you still haven't explained where the crime occurred here watch this the ready for this i'm awake now all right here we go so if i go up to you when you go to like a basketball court to vote you know with the nice people and they say in california they say don't show us your id you that's illegal those people if i go up to you and i'm wearing like mayor pratt hat and i say who's on your ballot you this is why you should vote for spencer pratt this is electioneering this is illegal but it's not illegal for dsa commies to ride around on their bikes and to go into your apartment building knock on your door say hey this is your ballot you got to vote for nithya raman she's going to make everything cheap give you free money a cell phone she's going to pay for your netflix all these things fill it out we'll take it in this it would be illegal at the gym but it's not in california with ballot harvesting so what these dsa soldiers these are sold these are true believers do they do it in new york they're doing all of it they go around thousands of them and they go get these ballots so they're not fake ballots it's ballot harvesting and they can people pay these people i did legal ballot harvesting you just can't pay them per ballot and this became law legal in california how many years ago like a decade ago now the claim is eight years ago so i understand i just want to make sure i understand the claim the claim now is that dsa soldiers went gave money to people and convinced them to place their vote and then brought their document they're not giving anyone will you let him answer freeberg the dsa operatives are being paid got it and some do it as for free because they are true belief like people who knock on doors and say so my campaign i'd like you to vote legal door knockers yes half a million dollars they knock and they say spencer's so great and they say no i don't want to vote and the door shuts and they walk away these people continue you go on the dsa website they'll tell you a whole there'll be a whole breakdown on ballot harvesting and they'll say go back three times it becomes harassment finally somebody's like here yeah take this get out of my so now the claim is the dsa is persistent and you weren't you go one time they go three just so i'm clear no what i'm saying it's illegal to harass people into who they vote that's what the dsa has any of those people ever filed a complaint about being harassed do you know where they're going these people don't you can't i'm asking you you're the one making this claim that you lost because of fraud no i also didn't i said i don't have the evidence you literally tweeted that the fraudsters stole the election from i said no i said 200 000 republicans didn't show up and vote okay so that's why you lost there's many reasons to not win and lose in games also do you think do you think that the other side that republicans are going to start to employ the ballot harvesting tactic it won't work i did it unless you are nefarious it doesn't work if you are just like a genuine like hello knock knock like you like to vote like that doesn't work these people so tell me this talk about claims why won't california clear their voter rolls what does that mean just to yeah right now the voter rolls if you're dead these are all the ballots there's an empty parking lot downtown la that gets hundreds of ballots mailed to it an empty parking lot so people have registered to this address hundreds of ballots show up there so back to your thing these are fake ballots they're not fake ballots there could be potentially a million ballots out and about that now a dsa person could harvest get these ballots fill in a circle and then do a smiley face as the witness and mail that in so we can call it a claim or we could call it who knows it's like who knows what's going on the point is we need voter id people need to get that on the ballot so yeah no i mean you're the person who made this claim so i'm just asking you the questions and for the record i think if you hold on let me finish i haven't had this response yesterday for the record i i think if you have to show an id to get on a plane it's quite reasonable that you should show one to vote so i'm for a voter but you also need an id you also need an id to shop at commie mom dami's new markets so if you want if you want commie food you need an id what are you doing next let's move on past oh this is it this is the you're joining the show fifth bestie you know i have zoom you have zoom and you have time i do love premium tequila uh you know this could work this could work fifth bestie there's a lot of i mean brad is very popular but i think you have a he we might need to move him to six bestie what uh i will continue doing because i only ever ran for mayor to increase my message of fighting these people who have destroyed my beautiful state my beautiful city and then and your home my home my parents home all my neighbors so let me ask you a question about the incompetence of these idiots you they burn your home down because they can't keep water in the reservoir and then have you been able to rebuild what's the state of the palisades right now so here's the best part that empty reservoir is still empty and the reservoir across the street from my house that i was convinced i was my house was never going to be the one they didn't talk about that one's still empty they have a hose i just posted a video about this they have a hose that comes all the way from topanga through all the regrown dead brush this is the hose now supplying the palisades but back to rebuilding what happened is we all had farmers and all these great insurance but i don't blame the insurance companies because it's our gavin newsom and our state parks that allowed the 60 years of dead fuels dead brush to surround our communities knowing that there's no fire break all they would have had to do i talked to the top guy that does all the cutting of this brush and i said how much would this have cost to cut a whole fire break 300 yards around the palisades he said under five hundred thousand dollars to save billions of dollars so back to insurance dropped everybody because they were smart they saw all this dead brush into every it's illegal if i go cut so if i'm my backyard has gavin newsom state park dead brush coming into it if i cut it those are protected milk vetch you're going to get a fine i can the ladwp got fined one million dollars for cutting some dead brush around a downed pole in these state parks so the carb who's in charge of this these people that care more about plants they're all in charge of this they're also ruining the federal fire service right now and they're fighting literal the federal government to protect these plants again over people so back to building no i won't be able to build until we win the lawsuit against gavin newsom and his state parks and the city and the ladwp which we are what is the lawsuit that you filed it's a mass tort it's 10 000 victims for the negligence they let so but people don't realize because they're not in the weeds or we should we in the milk vetch on this uh on new year's eve there was a fire in the pacific palisades eight acres they put it out the state park did not monitor that fire which is in their state park manual and they let it smolder leading into a known wind event that was coming on january 6th january 7th i've now had firefighter whistleblowers tell me that there was clearly smoldering coals on the side of this hill and now in the depositions with the state park employees we have their photos they took photos of the hillside just smoking and when asked why didn't you do anything they say we're not firefighters. So the state park is liable for allowing a dangerous condition to burn down the community. The LADWP is liable for leaving the reservoirs empty and having no water. And the city is liable. So basically you're just trying to set the record straight, hopefully get back some recompense for you and these other families. But is most of it, this first part of just like make the record public of, of all of this incompetence and the hope that people realize that it doesn't need to be this way? That was initially why I was out making my videos and doing the content to like help my community. And then when I saw Mayor Bass was just automatically going to be the mayor again, I was like, Oh, no way. And then I called Rick Caruso. I said, are you going to run or what? He's like, no. He's like, Oh, it's on. So then I ran with the intention to just try to stop her from becoming mayor. If that meant me being mayor, it honestly, people are like, Oh, you have no experience. Oh, to enforce the law. What LA needs is a mayor. It enforces the law. Neither Mayor Bass nor Nithya Raman have any intention on enforcing the laws because it doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. If you tell the illegal food vendors that they can't ruin a small business that's been paying taxes for 40 years. Oh, you're, you're messing with this community, this at-risk community. No, this is illegal. They're, they're destroying this family's business. So these simple things that I would have been able to do as mayor, that's unfortunate that it's going to take four years of, of pure destruction for them. People to call me up in four years, like, let's go. And I'll be ready. So are you, are you still, are you still doing content? Like what are you doing right now with your time? So there's three opportunities that, you know, are in play and yes, I'll, you know, content. What I realized when I got out of this is the media, and this sounds very POTUS, but the media just lies. Like there's so many lies that I witnessed all day, long firsthand in my city. That was like, I need to be out here making content with the truth. It's not, it's not a, it's in the center. I keep saying like, oh, he's a Republican. No, the truth doesn't have a side. It's that, it's that, that simple. And these people across the country now are trying to destroy it. They truly are. And when you start living this all day long, like me, it's not for LA now. And I'm like, damn, I got to fight for America. Like I'm like Jason Bourne. This is crazy. So yeah, no, I, you know, now I'm flying to New York. Meeting with people in New York, trying to help them because I don't want New York to go down even worse than. I have a suggestion for you. What were the other two things? You said there was three things. Is that, that all three? No, there's, there's three plays, you know, but I mean, I was going to be the big guy in AI as mayor because I was going to turn Skid Row into all just data centers. So. I mean, you're weaving, you're speaking our language. I had a, I actually had a call trying to like get the information about data centers with a guy that knows. Data centers. And he said, Spencer, do you understand this is the time for like a city like LA whose infrastructure is collapsing into the ground to take private business and billions of dollars? Like, Hey, yes, you can put this data center where we have naked drug addict zombies and no actual human being can go for 50 blocks. We're going to put that here, but you need to redo our water pipes. You need to redo our. We can retrain the fentanyl addicts to be electricians. Meta's got a program for that. You know, as I drove over here, I was off two problems at once, you know, there's a, I was going to solve a lot of problems. So that's the Spencer in all seriousness, you're incredibly quick witted and entertaining on camera. You should consider doing reality TV. You know, you know why I don't like reality TV and it's only thing worse than people in politics is there's too much image crafting and that's what makes a bad reality shows. Now everyone is image crafting, trying to create a persona. What's going to be in the comment section. What are people going to say on the blogs? You cannot be on reality. The last reality show I was on when they rebooted the hills, you were on a reality show, a couple, a couple, you know, you know, I am the reality candidate, reality check, but everybody was just faking their actual identity. And now what's so funny is if you watch any politician, they're just a bad Tik TOK influencer, like you look at Abdul Said, he thinks he's Alex Earl. It's like, what are you, what are you? Honestly, I get to kind of tell you, I love you. And what a mistake, because not only would you have gotten some great done, this would have been the most entertaining mayorship in history. Well, he's got time. Yeah. You got to run again. Got a lot of time. This is amazing. Yeah. No, I, what's funny is I actually am way more of a threat to these people now because I have, you're dangerous two years to really get into these communities. I suggest you torture them, torture Karen Bass for the next two years. You know, Karen Bass is not our worst nightmare and I will never say anything positive Nithya Raman and the DSA people like people do not get my Democrat friends do not understand what the DSA is. I keep telling them, go on their website. It's not a conspiracy, read their website. And you tell me, abolish the police. I mean, the list goes on and on, and this is what they stand by. And then I used to call them commies and it'd be like, oh, you can't call them commie. Now I'm like, that sounds nice. It's a compliment to them. They're anarchists. Like gassing them up. Crazy. Ladies and gentlemen, Spencer Pratt. Wow. Thanks. All right. Great stuff.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate, argues that California is in crisis due to 16 years of Democratic control, excessive regulations, and rising costs that have driven poverty, homelessness, and mass exodus of businesses and residents.
  2. He claims the state’s economy is imbalanced, with Silicon Valley generating massive wealth without creating jobs, and government spending ballooning despite zero private-sector job growth.
  3. A central critique is the "machine" of one-party rule, where powerful interest groups—unions, trial lawyers, and nonprofits—control policy, leading to corruption, legal overreach, and a hostile business climate.
  4. Hilton’s campaign promises to cut regulations from over 420,000 to under 200,000, eliminate hidden taxes on gas and vehicle registration, and restore affordability through tax reductions and policy reform.
  5. Spencer Pratt, an independent candidate, highlights grassroots activism and viral content that expose systemic failures, such as illegal drug distribution by nonprofits and neglect of public safety.
  6. Both candidates emphasize that voters are fed up with the current system and that the election is a turning point where common-sense reforms can reverse decades of dysfunction.
  7. They jointly stress that voters must take action—through ballot participation—because the current political system is designed to suppress meaningful change.
  8. The campaign frames the election as a battle between a corrupt, bloated bureaucracy and a return to fiscal responsibility, innovation, and community well-being.

Summary:

Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for California governor, presents a sharp critique of the state’s political and economic decline, attributing it to 16 years of Democratic dominance, rampant regulation, and rising costs that have led to the highest poverty, unemployment, and housing prices in the nation. He argues that one-party rule has created a corrupt "machine" where powerful interest groups—such as unions and nonprofits—control policy, leading to a stifling bureaucracy, legal overreach, and a hostile environment for businesses. His campaign promises sweeping reforms: cutting state regulations from over 420,000 to under 200,000, eliminating hidden taxes on gas and vehicle registration, and introducing a state income tax break for the first $150,000 of earnings.

He also highlights the failure of the state’s economy, where massive wealth from Silicon Valley has not translated into jobs. Spencer Pratt, an independent candidate, adds to the narrative by showcasing grassroots activism and viral content that expose systemic failures, including drug distribution by nonprofits and the neglect of public safety. Both candidates stress that the current system is unsustainable and that voters—especially non-college-educated working people—must break free from complacency and actively participate in the election.

They present a unified message: change is not just possible, it’s urgent. The election, they argue, is a pivotal moment where common sense, transparency, and accountability can restore California’s vitality and return it to its historic role as a hub of innovation and opportunity.

FAQs

Steve Hilton is running as a Republican because he believes California’s current political system is dominated by one-party rule, leading to excessive regulations, high costs of living, and poor economic outcomes. He emphasizes common-sense policies and a return to fiscal responsibility and innovation.

Steve points to the highest poverty, unemployment, and cost of living rates in the U.S., including skyrocketing housing prices and a massive government budget that has doubled over the last decade without creating jobs or economic growth.

Steve plans to cut California’s number of regulations from over 420,000 to under 200,000 within his first term, arguing that this will make the state more competitive and reduce the burden on businesses and individuals.

Steve advocates for a state income tax reduction, with no tax on the first $150,000 of income, and for lowering gas prices by eliminating hidden taxes like the low carbon fuel standards and emissions premiums.

Steve argues that 16 years of Democratic control have led to a corrupt, bloated system with excessive legislation, high litigation risks, and a lack of accountability, driven by narrow interest groups rather than public benefit.

Steve says people are leaving because of the high cost of living, housing unaffordability, and a lack of opportunity, making it difficult for working families to thrive in the state.

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