'Puppet Politician': Talarico CHALLENGES Paxton to 3 Debates

[0:00] I want to turn this a little serious. This guy felt comfortable also judging your faith. [0:10] This guy and others felt comfortable saying you're going to hell. Now, I find this absolutely [0:18] fascinating that somebody could be so ignorant of the gospels of Jesus Christ that they would [0:27] make such a proclamation in a political campaign not even knowing that Jesus said judge not that you [0:34] be not judged. Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy. The same, you know, by the [0:40] measure that you use for other people, I will use that measure against you. I mean, the fastest [0:45] way to hell if you believe what Jesus Christ says is to be focused on the speck in your neighbor's eye [0:54] instead of the plank in your own. And yet again, they continue to attack your faith and your [1:02] relationship with Jesus Christ, which again, I not only find offensive, but I also find it [1:09] self-defeating because people that actually read the Bible, that read the red letters, [1:14] understand that is the last thing a Christian is supposed to do. [1:19] Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, my granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas in Laredo. [1:24] And when I was real little, he told me that as Christians, we're supposed to follow the two [1:30] commandments that Jesus gave us to love God and to love neighbor. That's it. Christianity is a simple [1:37] religion. He would always tell me not an easy religion because it's not always easy to love [1:41] our neighbors, but it is a simple religion. And if we can focus on those two commandments, [1:46] if we can love our neighbors, not, not just our neighbors who look like us, not just our neighbors who [1:51] pray like us, not just our neighbors who vote like us, if we can love all of our neighbors, [1:57] including our enemies, that's when we are truly following that barefoot rabbi from 2000 years ago. [2:04] It's that commandment to love thy neighbors. What it got me into public service. It's why I became a [2:10] public school teacher on the west side of San Antonio. It's why I ran for the state house. [2:14] It's why I've passed those 60 bipartisan bills to lower people's costs. I'm trying to love my [2:21] neighbor through public policy. I'm trying to make my neighbor's life a little easier, [2:25] a little better, a little less stressful. Yeah. [2:27] And it feels like that kind of love has been missing from our politics, from our public service [2:32] for a long time now. And it really does feel like in Texas, that message from 2000 years ago [2:39] is still resonating with people today, particularly today, given the divisive, [2:45] corrosive politics we've all been suffering under for 10 years now. [2:50] Yeah. You know, and I don't want to get too deep into theology here, but there is something really [2:56] important that needs to be said based on what you just mentioned, what your grandfather preacher [3:02] told you. Jesus is very clear. All the laws, they all collapse into two things. Love God, love your [3:12] neighbor. And then, and this is so important to explain, I will say to my Republican friends [3:19] who don't understand this, who may not have read the Bible, but also people that want to understand [3:26] more of like what's going on on the hard right, how it's the antithesis of what Jesus preached. [3:32] So Jesus said to the disciples, love God and love your neighbor. [3:35] Stiple said, oh, who's my neighbor? That's right. After Jesus said, love God, love your neighbor. [3:40] So what does Jesus say? He goes, let me tell you a story. And he tells the story of the good [3:46] Samaritan and tells how, how a man's beaten up. He's left on the side of the road and all of his [3:52] friends, all of his neighbors, all of his own people passed him by, left him in the ditch to die. [3:59] It was a despised Samaritan. It was a foreigner. Jesus specifically picked a foreigner who was the [4:05] most despised to save this man in the ditch. And he said, that is your neighbor. So when I see [4:15] people being gunned down in the streets, when I see people despising the others, whether they are [4:24] black or they are brown, because they don't fit into their vision of what a white America is, [4:31] like, can you explain how that is the antithesis of everything Jesus taught his disciples, [4:38] especially when he was telling them how to get to heaven? Yeah, you're taking us to church, Joe. [4:47] This parable of the good Samaritan, I think, has so much to offer us in this moment in our country, [4:54] this moment in the world, because you're absolutely right. For Jesus's listeners 2,000 years ago, [5:00] that story of the good Samaritan would have been shocking. You know, these days we think of a good [5:06] Samaritan as someone who just helps people on the side of the road. And that's important. You should [5:11] help people on the side of the road. But we're forgetting how radical that message was, that he [5:16] picked a Samaritan, not just an enemy, but a religious enemy. And so he lifted up the heretic. He [5:23] said the heretic is where salvation comes from. That is such a shocking message. It's still [5:28] shocking today. I've said it's as if Jesus stood in the middle of DKR Memorial Stadium at the [5:36] University of Texas and told a story called the good Aggie. Like, it would be shocking to the folks [5:42] who were listening. And no, my dad's an Aggie, so I can make that joke. But, you know, I think we have [5:48] to remember that the other, the outcast, the enemy has something to teach us. And I would say that's [5:56] true for the Democratic Party, too. Jesus would be telling us that the person who's going to help us [6:02] is our MAGA uncle. And that would be shocking for Democrats to hear. So we all need to check [6:08] ourselves because these media systems, particularly social media, these algorithms, they divide us [6:15] for the profit of a few people at the very top. They're pitting neighbor against neighbor, telling [6:21] us that our enemies are the problem. And Jesus is trying to break all of that. From 2,000 years ago, [6:28] his message is as relevant today as it's ever been. And I think if we can learn to love thy neighbor, [6:34] if we can learn to love our enemies, that is the key to saving this American experiment [6:40] in self-governance, not just here, but this experiment in democracy all over the world. [6:45] So how do you take this message to the voters in Texas, but also to your competitor, [6:52] Ken Paxton? We understand you have an announcement. [6:56] Well, you know, Ken Paxton's billionaire handlers don't let him answer questions in public. He hasn't [7:03] appeared on a debate stage in more than a decade. He refuses to answer really basic questions like, [7:11] why did you give an Epstein-style sweetheart deal to an admitted child predator, Adam Hoffman? [7:19] How did you become a multimillionaire on a government salary? Did Tim Dunn and Ferris Wilkes, [7:26] your top two billionaire megadonors buy an acquittal in your impeachment trial? He won't answer, [7:32] I think, those very relevant questions. He doesn't answer to the public because he's not a public [7:38] servant. He is a puppet politician. And I want him to prove me wrong, as we just talked about. We have [7:45] to be focused on forgiveness and redemption and second chances. And so that's why I am challenging Ken [7:52] Paxton to three televised debates. I'll be on that debate stage because I answer to the people of [7:58] Texas. Ken Paxton answers to his billionaire megadonors. We'll see if they let him show up.