Talarico's Skeletons Come Out of the Closet

**Comfortably Smug** (0:00)
If the folks in Texas find out who Talarico is, he's so cooked.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:04)
It's a wrap.

**James Talarico** (0:04)
I am so thankful that you asked this question, and also thankful that young activists have really drawn the link between climate change and white supremacy and capitalism in our country. And I think only in the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together, are we going to be able to begin the process of dismantling them.

**Comfortably Smug** (0:22)
Talarico is on the record right there, telling the folks in Texas, you know what, let's get rid of oil, let's get rid of all those jobs. It's white supremacy, is what he's saying. If you are gainfully employed in the state of Texas, providing energy to America, you're a white supremacist, you're a problem.

**Michael Duncan** (0:44)
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You guys are killing it.

**James Talarico** (1:54)
I just saw you're number one. So congratulations.

**Josh Holmes** (1:56)
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This is why you listen to the Ruthless Podcast, because nobody else would ask that question.

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It's time for our main event.

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The Ruthless Podcast.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:18)
Good Thursday to you.

**Josh Holmes** (2:22)
Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with company smug, Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right across our radio dial as absolutely always. So we mentioned on Tuesday's episode that we're going to talk a little bit about midterms.
And while we couldn't help but notice there's a bit of a problem down in Texas. And look, this is going to be a challenging election cycle for Republicans, no question about it, but you can't have problems in places like Texas. And it occurs to us that if every Texan knew what you, as a listener of the Ruthless Variety Program, knew, we wouldn't have a problem here.

**Comfortably Smug** (3:03)
And honestly, like the biggest, truly, the biggest problem for Democrats would be for everyone in this country to hear what we're telling them and to tell your neighbors and everyone, because if the folks in Texas find out who Talarico is, he's so cooked. It's a wrap.

**Josh Holmes** (3:17)
Absolutely cooked. And we've done incredible segments on this cat. I mean, stuff that you can't even conjure up in your mind about how crazy somebody could be.
And yet it just keeps coming, keeps coming. It's a little Plantner-esque in some ways.

**Michael Duncan** (3:35)
Well, I think there's another aspect to the Texas electorate that has changed over the last 10 years. If you look at the migration numbers, and we've all seen these on X, of the number of people who have left California and the left coast and moved elsewhere. Some of them moved to Nashville, an awful lot of them.

**Comfortably Smug** (3:55)
North Carolina, problem too.

**Michael Duncan** (3:57)
North Carolina. An awful lot of them are moving to Texas. So it is a very different set of voters this time around than probably ever before in any election cycle previously. And you hear a lot of Republican consultants out there saying that Texas is a suburban state in a way that it's never been. You look at the way Dallas has spread out, Houston has spread out, Austin has spread out.

**Josh Holmes** (4:25)
San Antonio.

**Michael Duncan** (4:27)
I mean, it's not. No, you're right. Everybody's not walking around in boots and a hat anymore.

**Comfortably Smug** (4:33)
Fort Worth is not like the Red Fort anymore.