Transcript: Steve Toth on Tucker Carlson Show: Everything You Should Know About Dan Crenshaw

This is about boots on the ground right down on the border, understanding what we’re dealing with down here. So you understand firsthand what’s really, truly going on. Because he has no clue what’s really going on.

TUCKER CARLSON: But you’re in Houston. I mean, it’s not that far. Houston has been completely, I have family there. And so I go, completely transformed by illegal immigration. Completely. It’s unrecognizable. And it hasn’t gotten better. It’s gotten much worse. That’s my read as a visitor. But how could he ignore that?

The Medicaid Crisis in Texas

STEVE TOTH: 58% of the births in Texas are Medicaid births. 58%. So think about this a second, Tucker. 20 years ago, Medicaid was 3% of the Texas budget. Now it’s the number two driver of the budget, and it’s due in large part to illegal immigration. People come across the border, have their babies, sometimes they go back, sometimes they don’t.

TUCKER CARLSON: So that’s like collapse. I mean, that’s not sustainable. Not even in the short term is that sustainable.

STEVE TOTH: Good hearted people want to say, “Well, we should do this.” And to which I say, I think God would say, “We should do it. We should do it.” Yeah. Not the government.

TUCKER CARLSON: Exactly.

STEVE TOTH: We should do it. The church, if they care so much.

TUCKER CARLSON: Use your own money.

STEVE TOTH: The church should do it. We used to. We used to go down to the Mexican border, I mean, to the border towns in northern Mexico and build churches. We would build schools. We would build homes. We’d go down there and do medical missions work.

We can’t go down there anymore because Mexico, for all intents and purposes, is a failed state. I mean, it really truly is. It’s a failed state. And so you can’t go down there anymore. And so people say, “Well, we can’t go down there anymore, therefore the United States government needs to bail this all out.”

No. We are destroying our children and grandchildren’s ability to have any kind of future whatsoever. We’re drilling holes in the bottom of the lifeboat.

The Bipartisan Border Bill Debacle

TUCKER CARLSON: I mean, Crenshaw doesn’t know this. I mean, his constituents, I know, are upset about it because I know a lot of them.

STEVE TOTH: Tucker, he came to a town hall meeting three years ago when the Senate bipartisan, which, anytime you hear a Senate bipartisan border bill, run, run fast. Right? Democrats are not looking for any kind of solution on the border. Democrats are not looking to close the border.

TUCKER CARLSON: They created this.

STEVE TOTH: They completely created this. And so they have this wackadoodle bill that allows 5,000 people into the country a day, 1.8 million a year. And if you look at the bones of the bill, yes, the bones of the bill say it did call for more ICE agents, but it wasn’t to close the border, Tucker. It was to process people coming into the country.

So all it did was it just streamlined their ability to come into the country and be lost into the system. “Okay, show up for your court date in a year and a half, two years,” which they don’t show up for. They’re gone. They’re lost into the fabric of the nation. And they’re a drain on our schools. They’re a drain on our infrastructure. They’re a drain, really huge drain on our criminal justice system in Texas and across the United States. It’s killing us.

The Loss of National Cohesion

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, they also make it impossible to have a cohesive country. I mean, if a huge percentage of the population just got here, then what is it to be American? No one is pausing to ask that question. And when there is a financial downturn or a national disaster or we’re tested as a nation, how do we hold together?

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. Twenty years ago, a friend of mine that grew up in Toronto said the great thing about America is that you’re a melting pot where Canada’s more like a quilt and we’re tearing apart at its seams.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: Y’all have a common language. Did I just say y’all? Yes, I did.

TUCKER CARLSON: It’s okay.

STEVE TOTH: You have a common language. We don’t have a common language in Canada. We have French and we have English. And in America now we have English and we have Spanish, and we are becoming a quilt that is tearing apart at the seams.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes. And do you feel that where you live?

Violence in the Classroom

STEVE TOTH: Oh, terribly. Yeah, terribly. You especially see it in the classroom right now. We keep hearing the left say we’re losing teachers in public education because they’re not being paid enough money. Well, that’s not what the polling’s telling us.

I sat down with Texas Classroom Teachers Association in 2019, and I said, “Quality of life, violence in the classroom, teacher pay. What’s the most important issue?” Quality of life and violence in the classroom.

TUCKER CARLSON: Violence in the classroom.

STEVE TOTH: Violence in the classroom. Teachers are being assaulted like you have never seen before. I mean, there is one school in the state of Texas, and I think it was on TikTok, 72 assaults or, I’m sorry, 72 fights that were recorded. So that’s basically two fights a week in the school that were recorded and then were on TikTok. And those are just the ones that they’ve caught.

And you see this in classroom after classroom after classroom. So you bring children together that can’t speak the language and then you poison them with critical race theory to tell them that the children of color are oppressed and the white kids are oppressors. What could go wrong? Right?

TUCKER CARLSON: I mean, it’s just, you got a…lot of attacks on whites as a result of that.

STEVE TOTH: You have a lot of race hate and a lot of attacks on white teachers as well. And again, a lot of this, it stems from what we’ve done with the border and our unwillingness to close the border. This is not about understanding, better understanding what’s going on in Mexico. Mexico’s a failed state and we’ve got to treat it like a failed state. We’ve got to close the border.

The Ukraine Obsession

TUCKER CARLSON: And yet Crenshaw, every time I’ve seen him speak, it’s about Ukraine’s sacred borders, its territorial integrity, standing up for democracy, fighting Putin, Hitler or whatever. Why the emphasis? I mean, I think it’s fair to have views on all kinds of foreign questions, but in his case, it’s so much the center of his focus. Why?

Crenshaw’s Obsession with Ukraine and Border Hypocrisy

STEVE TOTH: You know, and I get that. You can go from Trump was, you know, Russia went into Crimea, right, under Barack Obama and his silly line in the sand. And Trump came in and where Obama had given them blankets and band aids, Trump came in and gave them, you know, anti-tank missiles, and he gave them serious weaponry to stall the Russians.

And then Biden comes in and does the exact opposite, right, but starts talking tough. And I, so I guess I can get initially saying, okay, I want to get back to doing what Trump did. But the obsession that he just, that he displayed in the midst of it was sickening. Was absolutely sickening.

Especially again when you call into account the fact that we have an open border in the south and he was doing nothing to help us. In fact, when the Senate deal came about, he held a town hall for elected officials in our district. And I put my hand up and I said, Dan, you’re allowing 5,000 people into the country a day.

And he just absolute, totally pissed, really, that I was bringing this up. And I’m not the only one. Senator Creighton also was like, we cannot do this. And he said, “You guys should be absolutely thankful that we’re doing something now to close the border, because you can’t do it.”

And like, we have done it. We just need you guys to stay the hell out of the way. Texas on its own could close the border. We just need you to keep out of our business. If you’re not going to help us, get out of the way.

And he was just emphatic that we couldn’t do it. We needed to pass this legislation. Meanwhile, Trump was saying, you don’t need any legislation. You just need to close the border. You just need to show some stones, some backbone and close the border.

Crenshaw’s Troubling Behavior and Mental State

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, you have a National Guard in Texas. I mean, I never understood that, but I’m interested in his reaction. I’ve seen this with him a lot, and it suggests that there’s something. I think he’s mentally ill. I’m just going to say that. I’m not saying that it’s an attack. I’m saying that with sympathy.

There’s something really wrong with him. I think he was damaged by his service. I think it’s partly our fault as a country for sending these guys into these horrible positions and then not helping them when they come home. I know that you help run Mighty Oaks, which is a group dedicated to helping servicemen when they come back so they don’t kill themselves. I know you spent a lot of time on this.

I don’t want to attack him too much personally because I want to be compassionate. But boy, I’ve never seen any elected official respond to criticism the way he does. I mean, it’s like anyone who asks him a question, it’s like, “You’re evil.” I saw him recently say, “If you don’t agree with me on this foreign policy issue, you’re evil.” It’s like, what is that?

STEVE TOTH: You can’t enter into any kind of dialogue with him. He just takes it personally. He gets offended. He’s completely thin-skinned over it. I just can’t.

TUCKER CARLSON: And attacks you for asking the question.

STEVE TOTH: Then attacks you and attacks your integrity, your character and your intellectual capacity. I can’t put words to it.

Crenshaw’s Establishment Backers

TUCKER CARLSON: So who’s for him?

STEVE TOTH: I think the lobby is absolutely for him. I think establishment Republicans and you know, the Karl Rove, the Associated Republicans of Texas are for him. It should be called the Associated RINOs of Texas.

But it’s so sick. These guys, Associated Republicans, Associated Republicans of Texas. So they come after conservative Republicans. Every two years, I’ve got one of the most conservative voting records in the Texas House in the top five, top four.

My last four sessions, I pass some really important, critically important, comprehensive legislation that’s part of the Republican priorities. Banning critical race theory in the classroom, banning the social transitioning of children. And yet this group comes after me every two years.

Two election cycles ago, they spent $300,000 to $400,000 against me and were able to get 36% of the vote. This last election cycle, the Associated Republicans of Texas spent $700,000 against me and got 34% of the vote.

TUCKER CARLSON: Really?

STEVE TOTH: But Dan Crenshaw helps fund him.

TUCKER CARLSON: Why?

STEVE TOTH: So he takes his lobbying money and he writes checks, tens of thousands of dollars to the Associated Republicans of Texas. That isn’t doing anything to help us expand the majority in the Texas House. They just come after the conservatives.

TUCKER CARLSON: It’s trying to make you more like Democrats.

STEVE TOTH: Completely. Yeah.

Karl Rove and the Texas Establishment

TUCKER CARLSON: So what is it and who runs it and where does its money come from?

STEVE TOTH: It’s Karl Rove. And it’s just kind of big establishment money, lobby money.

TUCKER CARLSON: Karl Rove. Every time I ask someone involved in Texas politics, how does this conservative, this great state get such horrible, like, how does a John Cornyn or Dan Crenshaw get elected in Texas? They always mention Karl Rove.

STEVE TOTH: Texas is the 8th largest economy in the world. Our economy is bigger than Russia. Our economy is bigger than Australia. It’s bigger than Canada. It’s bigger than Mexico. It’s a huge economy. We have a $300 plus billion budget.

TUCKER CARLSON: And so when you’re budget, state budget, over $300 billion.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah, yeah, per biennium. And so when you’re talking about that kind of money, it attracts a lot of bottom dwellers. So you hear about the Washington cartel. Now it’s pretty much the same thing in Austin, Texas. There’s just a lot of money, just a ton of money.

And they will get fixated on things like bringing gambling to Texas as an example. The neocons desperately want to bring gambling to Texas. Why? I’m very libertarian on this issue. Like if you want to have a card game and you want to gamble, what you do in your house is up to you.

TUCKER CARLSON: No, I agree, it’s none of my business.

STEVE TOTH: But at the end of the day, if you’re going to say this is state sponsored and we’re only going to give out two or three licenses and we’re going to give them out to our friends that have given tons of campaign money, right, then it’s corrupt. It’s crony capitalism to the max.

The Casino Gambling Push

TUCKER CARLSON: Does it improve people’s lives?

STEVE TOTH: Does it improve people’s lives? And at the end of the day, you look at any of the states that have implemented it and we have a national treasure in Houston by the name of Jim McIngvale. His name is Mattress Mack and he owns Gallery Furniture. He’s the most amazing man in the whole world. And he’s a gambler.

And he would say the worst thing that Texas could possibly do would be to bring gambling to Texas. Why? They build these billion dollar resorts, right, with cash, these multinational corporations. What happens to that money? People go and gamble and that money leaves our economy.

So you have less money moving within the economy. They’ll say, “Well, yeah, but it’s a great tax revenue. There’s great tax revenue from it.” Yeah. But eventually the pool in which you’re drawing from dries up.

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, where’s it worked?

STEVE TOTH: I mean it was going to save…

TUCKER CARLSON: The state of Maine, for example. No. It was going to save East St. Louis, Illinois. No. It was going to save Mississippi, Gulf Coast. No. So is there a place where gambling has actually made people’s lives better? No. Just enrich like some of the worst people in the world.

STEVE TOTH: It’s all it is. And this past session, the past two sessions, they’ve been trying to do it and I got a call from the lobbyists which they assigned two lobbyists to me. So there are 150 House members, each of us had two lobbyists assigned to them for gambling.

And it became the “no lobbyist left behind” session when it came to gambling. And they’re like, “Hey, we want to write you $25,000 check for your reelection campaign.” I’m like, I don’t want it. “We’re not asking for your guaranteed vote in favor of it.” No.

And I’m like, I don’t want it. If Planned Parenthood wanted to give me money so I could vote against abortion, I would take that money so I could vote against abortion. But I’m not going to take your dirty money that came at the hands of somebody that lost their house or lost their marriage or lost their business as a result of it. Dirty money.

TUCKER CARLSON: What were the gambling lobbyists like?

STEVE TOTH: Some of the nicest guys.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, charming, I bet.

STEVE TOTH: Very wonderful people. Did they call it gaming? Some did, yeah. And “Steve, don’t you understand about the money that we’re going to be able to spend on public education as a result of doing this?” Right. “It’s about the children, Steve.”

TUCKER CARLSON: It’s about the children. We’re starting to say it, but this is not a very safe country. Walk through Oakland or Philadelphia. Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: Good luck.

TUCKER CARLSON: So most people, when they think about this, want to carry a firearm. And a lot of us do. The problem is there can be massive consequences for that. Ask Kyle Rittenhouse. Kyle Rittenhouse got off in the end, but he was innocent from the first moment. It was obvious on video. And he was facing life in prison. Anyway.

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The Fate of Casino Gambling Legislation

TUCKER CARLSON: So what happened to the legislation?

STEVE TOTH: It went down in flames. So typically, and I appreciate Dan Patrick over in the Senate because he pretty much guaranteed that as long as he’s going to be the lieutenant governor, and hopefully Brandon Creighton will come in after him, we’ll do the same thing. I think he will, but I don’t think it has a future in Texas, thankfully.

Gambling. Gambling. I want to be clear on this. Casino gambling again. You want to have card games at your house, invite people over and of course, no, I don’t care.

TUCKER CARLSON: Bringing in casinos. Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: Wow, that’s. So where was Dan Patrick on this? Did he…

STEVE TOTH: He killed it over in the Senate.

TUCKER CARLSON: Okay, so he’s lieutenant governor. Where was Crenshaw?

STEVE TOTH: Silent.

TUCKER CARLSON: Really?

Texas’s Shrinking Margins and the Education Crisis

STEVE TOTH: And that’s the problem is that, you know, there’s so many things that are threatening Texas right now. And Dan Crenshaw has been absolutely silent. So in 2014, when Abbott became governor, when Ken Paxton became the attorney general, those guys won with 23 and 24 point margins over the Democrats.

We’re winning now with eight point margins. Where did the margin go? Where did these huge wins evaporate to? And it’s not people moving into Texas. Seven out of ten of them, Tucker, Texas is still red from people moving into it. Republicans that are refugees, if you will. Where we’re losing is our children.

TUCKER CARLSON: Our…

STEVE TOTH: Our kids. Our kids are being absolutely indoctrinated in the classroom, in immigration.

TUCKER CARLSON: I grew up in California. I was at Reagan’s last rally in California in 1980, and it was a right-wing state. It was. California was a, Bill Clinton lost California in 1992 and won West Virginia in 1992. So, like people. And now California is of course, bright blue and West Virginia is bright red.

Why is that? Because California is a completely different state due to immigration, and West Virginia had less immigration than the other state.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. The big problem, though, is that politicians like Dan Crenshaw refused to take on the teachers unions. They refuse to stand up to the teachers unions.

TUCKER CARLSON: Why?

STEVE TOTH: They’re afraid of them. They spend tons of money. And Randi Weingarten and her ilk scare the heck out of these people.

TUCKER CARLSON: So Crenshaw is afraid. So he’s like, I mean, it’s the…

STEVE TOTH: Only thing I get. You can’t. There’s been zero activism on his part whatsoever at standing up to these people.

TUCKER CARLSON: You hate ever to suggest that someone’s doing something for the money.

STEVE TOTH: Right.

Crenshaw’s Ukraine Position vs. Border Priorities

TUCKER CARLSON: But in Crenshaw’s case, his position on Ukraine is so far out that it’s obvious to me he’s being paid to have that position. But you tell me, is sending 100 billion more to Ukraine—are Ukraine’s borders really huge issues in your district?

STEVE TOTH: The border is the biggest issue.

TUCKER CARLSON: The US Border.

STEVE TOTH: The US Border. And when you ask people, and this is not anecdotal, it’s empirical, there have been plenty of people polling in Congressional District 2 in Montgomery County. Why? Because it’s the biggest red county left in Texas. The governor polls it, we poll it, other people are polling it.

And people see the contrast between the way Ukraine is being taken care of and the Texas border is not. And they draw a contrast and they should.

TUCKER CARLSON: It’s kind of that simple, isn’t it?

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

Karl Rove’s Influence in Texas Politics

TUCKER CARLSON: Where’s Karl Rove on this question?

STEVE TOTH: You know, I think a lot of these guys are just big government neocons that don’t care. They don’t see it as a threat at all. At all.

TUCKER CARLSON: Do you ever see Rove around?

STEVE TOTH: Never.

TUCKER CARLSON: But he still has a hand in Texas politics completely. Do you ever talk to Crenshaw?

STEVE TOTH: The last time I talked to him was at that town hall three years ago when he dismissed myself and Senator Creighton for not accepting and not wholeheartedly buying into this crappy Senate bipartisan bill that they wanted to push through.

And again, they blamed President Trump, who was out of office at the time, saying Trump is just torpedoing this thing and they’re all angry about it. And Trump was just saying, you don’t need legislation to close the border.

TUCKER CARLSON: Right.

STEVE TOTH: You just need to have the will to do it. And Dan Crenshaw and 100% of the Republicans or 100% of the Democrats in Congress said, no, we need this legislation. No, you don’t. Close the border.

Lack of Congressional Support for Crenshaw

TUCKER CARLSON: Who among Texas elected officials supports Crenshaw?

STEVE TOTH: You know what’s funny is when the day we announced, we had, I think, 30 of the most conservative members of the Texas legislature that endorsed me. And he came out with a list of people to endorse him. Not one single member of Congress was behind him. Not one, really. Not one active congressman came out to endorse him.

TUCKER CARLSON: Do you ever talk to members of Congress about him who work with him? What do they say?

STEVE TOTH: I’m not going to comment on that. I just can’t.

TUCKER CARLSON: But it sounds like he’s not a favorite among his colleagues.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. So when I came into the legislature, I came in with one of the biggest classes since the Sharpstown scandal in the 70s. I think there were 42 people in our class, and many of them have gone on to serve in Congress in Washington. And I have a good relationship with all of them.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah, but Crenshaw doesn’t sound like he does. Is he close to Cornyn?

STEVE TOTH: You know, I don’t know if they have a relationship or not. I know that Cornyn is supporting him for obvious reasons, but that’s okay.

TUCKER CARLSON: What are those reasons?

STEVE TOTH: Well, just, they’re both donor class, lobbyist-centric people. We’re called representatives because we’re actually supposed to represent the people that vote us into office. And there are just some that just don’t give a flying flip about it.

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, that’s obvious. In Crenshaw’s case, it’s clearly he’s hostile to them.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

The Jesus Christ Controversy

TUCKER CARLSON: So it’s not just you that he’s snapped at for asking a question. I want to play a video, and maybe you can explain what we’re watching. A young girl comes up to him. She looks very young in the video, and asks him about comments that he made about Jesus during a podcast. Before we play this, can you tell us the backstory?

STEVE TOTH: So he was on a podcast, and Dan wants to show himself off as this intellectual.

TUCKER CARLSON: Dan is dumb. No offense. No, I’m not being mean. By the way, my dogs are dumb, and I think they’re going to heaven. I have no—I don’t think that’s a moral category. I’m not attacking him, but he is dumb. Like head injury dumb. And I don’t—anyway, sorry. Sorry to be mean.

STEVE TOTH: No, I actually think he’s—I’m going to disagree with you. I think he’s incredibly smart. I think he’s vacuous when it comes to wisdom, though.

TUCKER CARLSON: Maybe that’s what I’m referring to. Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: So I think he knows a lot. And when I’ve listened to some of his podcasts and some of the different things, he’s a really smart guy, but he completely lacks the wisdom to know what to do with all those smarts.

And so he’s doing this podcast with this guy, and they’re talking about—he brings up, “Well, the American people need archetypes. Spider-Man, Superman, and Jesus Christ.” And he says, “And then real ones, too, like Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln.” And they’re like, “What?”

TUCKER CARLSON: You just actually said Rosa Parks is real, Jesus is not.

STEVE TOTH: Jesus is not.

TUCKER CARLSON: And so this—that’s a Karl Rove position, I think.

STEVE TOTH: Probably. I saw it on Wikipedia. Let’s be real. So this young woman at the Montgomery County Tea Party on a Monday night asked Dan Crenshaw, she said, “I’m trying to get my arms around this.” And then she read the statement verbatim of what he had said on this podcast.

And he said, “I can’t get my arms around that.” And he said, “You put a period after Jesus and don’t question my faith.” And the whole place just lost it.

TUCKER CARLSON: So let’s play that.

STEVE TOTH: “You not only lied about Jesus not being real, but you lied about being a Christian.”

TUCKER CARLSON: “To give consciousness.”

STEVE TOTH: “Said, quote, ‘The most important thing here is that we have the core hero archetypes that we look up to. Jesus is a hero archetype.'”

TUCKER CARLSON: “‘Superman is a hero archetype.'”

STEVE TOTH: “‘Real characters, too.'”

TUCKER CARLSON: “‘I could name a thousand. Rosa Parks, Ronald Reagan.’ I can’t wrap my head around this.”

STEVE TOTH: “I’ll help you. Put a period after Jesus, and don’t question my faith.”

TUCKER CARLSON: Wow.

STEVE TOTH: So I think it’s fair to—

TUCKER CARLSON: You know, to not want to be attacked for your faith. Okay, I’m with Crenshaw on that. But she wasn’t really attacking him on his faith. She was asking, like, what do you mean?

STEVE TOTH: She wanted clarity.

TUCKER CARLSON: What do you mean?

STEVE TOTH: Yeah, exactly. Like, have you ever said anything? You’re like, “I could have positioned that differently.” Have I ever said anything? I get asked that all the time. Especially, I’ll come home, my wife will be like, “Did you mean to say that?” “Okay, what should I have said?” Right?

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, I’ve lived that.

STEVE TOTH: Like, okay, yes, honey, that makes sense. Right? But so you just say, “Wow, I guess I could have handled that different. That’s not what I meant. I would have put a period after Jesus,” and then I would have shut my mouth and laughed and laughed it off totally.

But instead, he got all defensive at this young woman and tried to ridicule her.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, he attacked her instantly.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

A Pattern of Hostility

TUCKER CARLSON: So the First Amendment is the one truly distinctive thing that makes America America. It makes this country great. You are a citizen. That means you can speak openly and honestly without fear about what you actually believe. The government doesn’t own you. You own the government. That’s the premise. And for 250 years, we’ve lived it. We hope to keep living it.

So what you’re seeing on display there is a fragile, very unhappy, and above all, hostile person. I mean, why would a person like that want to be in elected office in the first place?

STEVE TOTH: I don’t know. Because you are—the reality is that you are the center of scorn. You know, you just are. Of course you’re going to take some hard positions and you’re going to get shot at.

TUCKER CARLSON: Of course. So how did that video go over in Texas?

STEVE TOTH: It went viral like overnight. And the next morning it was on all the different radio talk shows. And yeah, went over like a lead balloon.

But at no time did he ever say, “Well, I handled that—it was a bad night for me. Probably shouldn’t have said that. That was silly on my part.” Right? I mean, there’s just no ability to be gracious and kind to that young woman, even in the absence of—in seeing whatever what happened. Nothing. It was just bizarre.

Intelligence Agencies and Domestic Manipulation

TUCKER CARLSON: I want to play one other clip that I think reveals a lot, not just about his temperament, but about his agenda. So he was asked by a reporter whom I respect called Liam Cosgrove, coming out of Congress. This was earlier, this was the spring, early summer.

And he was asked about legislation that he had voted for. And basically his position was the intel agencies are not in any way playing in American politics. Here’s the exchange.

STEVE TOTH: “With data and with access to your app that you’re addicted to, you can vastly manipulate an entire population, which the Chinese have done.”

TUCKER CARLSON: “Are you worried that our intelligence agencies are doing the same thing domestically?”

STEVE TOTH: “Am I worried that—well, I know that they’re not.”

TUCKER CARLSON: “They’re not manipulating Americans. They’re not.”

STEVE TOTH: “Yes. Did you have some evidence otherwise that you’d like to share? I mean, okay, any serious—”

TUCKER CARLSON: “Congressman, you asked for an example of the US Intelligence agencies meddling in our information. What about before the 2020 election when 50 members came out and said Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation? Does that count?”

STEVE TOTH: “No. Because, I mean, they were—they were retired.”

TUCKER CARLSON: “They were retired. But the FBI had the laptop. The FBI had the laptop.”

STEVE TOTH: “Nothing even close to a TikTok.”

The Deep State Reality

TUCKER CARLSON: So that I felt, again, I’ve spent the last half an hour sort of defending Crenshaw in a backhanded way. I think he’s a victim of the war on terror, if I’m being honest. That’s what I think. He’s clearly so damaged and screwed up and tragic personal life and all the rest. But when I saw that, I thought, this is not a good person.

STEVE TOTH: Actually, the most egregious thing about that is that as I talk to friends in DC, they see this on a daily basis.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, yes. So wait, see what?

STEVE TOTH: This is the deep state. This is the deep state at work that he’s denying exists.

TUCKER CARLSON: The intel agencies playing in American politics.

STEVE TOTH: Right. So what the left has done is they’ve positioned this fourth branch of government so that even when they’re not in power, they’re in power.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: That’s what they’ve created. They’ve created a system whereby—so you lose Congress, you lose the White House. We don’t care. They don’t care because they have the fourth branch of government that’s still running the show. It’s so blatantly obvious.

I had a quick little story. I had a young woman call me. She was referred to me by someone from Texans for Vaccine Choice. She transitioned and she’s transitioning—she bought into the lie that she was a male, and at 26 years of age, she’s trying to transition back. And she called me up and said—

TUCKER CARLSON: And she’s been shot full of hormones and the whole thing.

STEVE TOTH: Hysterectomy.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, come on.

STEVE TOTH: Mastectomy. And when you shoot someone.

TUCKER CARLSON: Hysterectomy. In her twenties.

STEVE TOTH: No, earlier than that. And the problem is when you put people on cross-sex hormones, I’m getting way afield here, but it screws up their system. Right? And she’s the most beautiful young woman, but she has a driver’s license with a male name on it. And so I just called up the head of DPS and I said, can we take care of this for her? And by the next morning, she had a new driver’s license with her name on it and brought her to tears. Like, that’s her identity now. Right.

You can do things like that at the state of Texas level because we haven’t turned the fourth branch of government into anything that can hurt people. It’s been done at the federal level.

TUCKER CARLSON: There’s still democratic control, too. Like, the people still have a voice as screwed up and corrupt as the state may be. And it is, in my opinion, there’s still a possibility to make change.

STEVE TOTH: In the Texas Education Agency, where you see a lot of this stuff, but you still can make change. Right. At the federal level, if you were to call immigration or something like that, they’d laugh at you. Of course, you’re just a silly congressman. We don’t care what you think.

TUCKER CARLSON: Why would they?

STEVE TOTH: Why would they? Right. And they do the same thing with the executive branch. They are just completely aloof. They don’t care what we think. They don’t care what the elected officials think. They don’t care whether a constitutionally elected person holds office. They don’t care what you think.

TUCKER CARLSON: Even though.

STEVE TOTH: Even though your department may be underneath an agency that you oversee as a sitting member of Congress, they don’t care.

TUCKER CARLSON: No, this is why Doge was a good idea. And really, until people are really fired, people who work for us, then there’s no incentive for them.

STEVE TOTH: But here’s the problem, Tucker, is that we’ve got a responsibility, I think, as elected officials, to say to the American people, this is going on. I see it with my own eyes. This is what’s going on.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: And guys like Crenshaw are saying, no, I’m going to defend it.

The Intelligence Community’s Role in American Politics

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, how could you defend that? I mean, he was asked specifically. The intel agencies had basically nullified democracy because they are playing a role in American politics, a very big role. And that’s documented. It’s not a matter of guesswork at this point. We know that. And it’s, as you just said, anyone who works in Washington sees it every single day. So if he’s denying that angrily, what does that say about his role?

STEVE TOTH: I mean, he was asked specifically about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: And it was called Russian disinformation by the intelligence community.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, yes.

STEVE TOTH: And he blew it off. Completely blew it off. Just like they blew off Biden’s daughter’s diary.

TUCKER CARLSON: Of course. Well, they put the people who had it in jail.

STEVE TOTH: Right.

TUCKER CARLSON: For the crime of having Ashley Biden’s diary in which she said she showered with her dad and it screwed her up sexually.

STEVE TOTH: How couldn’t it.

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, exactly. How couldn’t it. But that was just, they put the guy in jail for that. I mean, for having it.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. Or, you know, the young woman who was a staffer for Joe Biden when he was in the Senate.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, I know her. Tara Reade. I know her well. She lives in Moscow now because she was basically driven out of the country.

STEVE TOTH: They destroyed her.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, I know her well. Yes. Literally.

STEVE TOTH: No one cares. My heart just breaks for her.

TUCKER CARLSON: Just sweet woman, too. Very sweet woman. Yeah. She had to leave this country, be away from her family, her child. I mean, it’s, and no one cared. The feminists said not one word.

STEVE TOTH: The same players in government don’t treat Republicans that way. I mean, it’s only people that say bad things about the power structure of Washington, D.C. They’re the only ones that get held accountable.

TUCKER CARLSON: I noticed.

STEVE TOTH: It’s so sick. It’s just so sick.

Crenshaw’s Campaign Promises vs. Reality

TUCKER CARLSON: So why do you think, I just am fascinated by the very first thing you said when we sat down was, I have to confess my role in Dan Crenshaw’s victory because he made this really compelling case that he was going to fight the corruption in D.C. and I…

STEVE TOTH: Understood that he knew what we wanted to hear.

TUCKER CARLSON: But why not fight corruption a little bit? Why immediately start making excuses for the CIA controlling US elections? Why would you ever make excuses for that?

STEVE TOTH: I can’t for the life of me get my arms around it.

Congressional Stock Trading and Insider Information

TUCKER CARLSON: Okay, well, I have a little bit. I just have a guess. I don’t know either. I don’t talk to Dan Crenshaw directly, but there was this kind of amazing moment right after COVID when people started taking a look at the performance of various members of Congress’s stock portfolios. And, you know, I personally know hedge fund managers who’ve underperformed the market.

STEVE TOTH: Right.

TUCKER CARLSON: People who do this for a living, maybe billions some years, they just don’t, you know, it’s very hard to beat the market. But Dan Crenshaw did somehow. He made a lot of trades, including after getting classified briefings on COVID policy. And he was called out on this. And he wasn’t the only one. I mean, Nancy Pelosi, famously. But Dan Crenshaw did pretty well.

And, you know, I don’t think there’s any evidence to suggest he’s a market expert. So how exactly did that work? And this was his response. He didn’t, you know, he immediately started attacking anyone who asked him, and he said, “You don’t let us trade stocks. You don’t let us make any money either. We haven’t gotten a pay raise since 2008.”

So, I mean, I don’t think members of Congress are overpaid exactly, but they’re paid at multiples of what the average person makes, and they get a lifetime pension, so it’s a pretty good deal. And free health care and dental. So it’s, he’s clearly very focused on money.

STEVE TOTH: He was vicious, too, about the way he said it. I mean, the level of anger in his voice that he would be questioned about the way he’s trading stock or what he gets paid. So the average Texan is paid $76,000. Dan Crenshaw’s making $174,000 of your tax dollars. He’s being paid by our tax dollars in Texas, of course, and he thinks he should make more.

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, for a young man, too, the lifetime value of the package that he’s already gotten because he’s already served multiple terms.

STEVE TOTH: Right.

TUCKER CARLSON: So is many millions of dollars over the course of a life.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah, yeah. It’s crazy.

TUCKER CARLSON: It is crazy. So, I mean, what do you make of the stock trading? How did Dan Crenshaw beat the market?

STEVE TOTH: Well, multiple people have talked about it, and multiple people over the years have said that we’ve got to stop it because we have access. They have access to information the average person doesn’t have access to. And it’s really not a lot different in Texas. Again, we’re the eighth largest economy in the United States. I see deals that are coming our way, and I could own stock in those companies, but my wife and I have chosen to stay out of the market. And for that very simple reason.

TUCKER CARLSON: You’re not in the market at all?

STEVE TOTH: At all. At all. So I own real estate. I own some rental houses, and that’s my retirement. But I don’t want to be, I want to avoid the appearance of evil. This has been an issue. This went all the way back to, remember Eric Cantor very well. Eric Cantor was thrown out of office. Dave, I can’t think of his last name.

TUCKER CARLSON: I know them both.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. But anyways, Cantor lost because of his defense and voted against legislation. This is going back 10, 12 years that would have stopped this. And the American people have just had enough with it. They just have absolutely had enough of it. And I don’t blame them. It’s just absolutely stupid. You’re taking advantage of the system and enriching yourselves. And that creates a perverse incentive inside you to do the wrong thing and to vote the wrong way.

TUCKER CARLSON: Why not? I mean, if you’re Nancy Pelosi or if you’re Dan Crenshaw, whose politics are very similar, by the way. Dan’s a liberal. I guess if that’s not obvious, I should just say that Dan’s a liberal.

STEVE TOTH: But, you know, both of them have…

TUCKER CARLSON: Taken a lot of crap for this. I mean, they’ve really been attacked for the appearance of insider trading. I can’t call it that. But certainly what it looks like. Clearly it looks that way. Why wouldn’t you just ban it and then you can get rich when you leave and you can go lobby for AIPAC or whatever he’s going to do. But I don’t…

STEVE TOTH: The simplest thing would be to file legislation and then dump your portfolio or dump it into a blind trust. At the very least, if you’re going to say, okay, you can’t own stock. At the very least, we should be encouraging these guys to dump them into a blind trust so that they can’t manipulate the market or manipulate their own portfolio as a result of what they know.

TUCKER CARLSON: Doesn’t it make people cynical about their government?

The Threat of Political Cynicism

STEVE TOTH: That’s the problem. I mean, I think probably the greatest threat to the United States right now is the cynicism that we have towards our elected officials.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: I think especially conservatives, every time we hear “lock her up,” they’re not going to lock her up.

TUCKER CARLSON: No, they’re not.

STEVE TOTH: “Throw them out of office.” They’re not going to throw them out of office. “Arrest them.” They’re not going to throw them out.

TUCKER CARLSON: Liars.

STEVE TOTH: It’s just, we’re so sick of it. And this is going on here in Texas as well, with the quorum busters that while we were trying to do redistricting, they went to Illinois and they went to California and we heard “lock them up, lock them up.” And we’re going to lock them up. We’re throwing them out of office. No one’s going to get thrown out of office. And it just feeds the cynicism that we all rightfully have right now because it’s so fake.

TUCKER CARLSON: I feel like that cynicism is the most intense and the most dangerous among patriotic, normal Americans. They have really been betrayed.

STEVE TOTH: Oh my gosh.

TUCKER CARLSON: Because they really believed in it. I mean, frankly, everyone who got arrested on January 6th was carrying a pocket constitution. These were people who really believe in the system.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. And yet you see people that were part of rabble rousing in Washington D.C. that day that never went to jail.

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, they don’t even, they hate the system. They want to tear it down.

STEVE TOTH: So I’m talking about the insiders, of course.

TUCKER CARLSON: No, no, I agree. But I mean, someone like Crenshaw or Nancy Pelosi, they don’t believe in the system. They’re grifters, obviously. But the people who do believe in the system and are the victim of this just serial, decades-long betrayal, those people, and I feel like I’m one of them, being honest, it just makes me so mad. I can barely see. Because you feel like you’re betrayed by your own leaders.

STEVE TOTH: Do you feel that? Oh, completely. It’s harder because when you’re in office you’re kind of like, okay, because of what you’re doing right now, I’m going to get painted with that same brush.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, so you, I mean, you’re in the Texas house, so.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: How often do you see that?

STEVE TOTH: All the time. And like, I’ll post something about what’s going on with the Cornbreakers right now. They’re like, “oh, you’re just a piece of crap. You’re going to tell us what we want to hear.” And it’s like, I don’t blame that guy for feeling that way. Yes, he should feel that way. Because our government has done nothing to bring the hammer down on these people. It’s just all talk.

Growing Anger Toward Republican Leadership

TUCKER CARLSON: I mean, it feels like we’re getting to a dangerous level of anger. I feel it anyway. I feel like I hate everyone. All these people, especially the ones who claim to represent me. They’re just liars. I know I’m less mad at Pelosi than I am at some Republicans who I formerly believed in.

STEVE TOTH: I’m more mad at us right now. I’m way more mad at Republicans than I am Democrats.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, I agree with that completely.

STEVE TOTH: When I have, look, Republican, Democrats, Democrats are like trail horses. Each one sticks its nose in the ass of the horse in front of them. And Republicans are like mustangs. We’re biting each other, we’re kicking each other, we’re fighting. They work in lockstep together and they take people out that don’t believe in their radical views.

There was a woman in the Texas legislature last session, Sean, theory Democrat, that voted with us and against the gender mutilation of little girls and boys. And the Democrat Party responded by running somebody against her and spending a million dollars to take her out.

TUCKER CARLSON: Did they?

STEVE TOTH: They did. They took her out for that. For that. We, on the other hand, we try and take out members of our own party that fight for our values.

TUCKER CARLSON: I’ve noticed.

STEVE TOTH: And it’s just, it’s so sick.

TUCKER CARLSON: Where is that?

The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans

STEVE TOTH: Here’s the reality is that the modern day Republican Party, when we win elections, we take office. When Democrats win elections, they will power. They fully believe in what they’re fighting for. We just have people that want power, that want to get elected.

And it’s sad because don’t you care about anything? Is there no holy discontent inside your soul that bothers you about what’s going on in our country today that you’re willing to fight for, or are you just willing to play it safe so you can stay in office? Democrats fight. They believe in everything that they’re doing.

TUCKER CARLSON: What do you think the answer is?

STEVE TOTH: Honestly? Yeah, I think we need a spiritual renewal in America and we need to get back to our founding principles and our Constitution was meant only for holy and religious people. And we’re starting to see our nation and our society just fray and tear apart right now.

And as a result of that, we’re raising up people that should not be in office, that are serving and have no place in serving within the Republican Party. I’m talking about within the Republican Party.

TUCKER CARLSON: Of course you are. Oh, I believe that. And I know so many of them. I’ve always felt like the problem was the, you know, what they call RINOs, though. I’m not even sure what a Republican is now anyway. So it doesn’t even, I don’t know.

STEVE TOTH: I’m not even sure what a conservative is.

TUCKER CARLSON: I’m not either.

STEVE TOTH: When Mitt Romney says “I’m an extreme conservative,” like, what?

TUCKER CARLSON: What?

STEVE TOTH: No, you’re an extreme conservative.

TUCKER CARLSON: No, you’re a, you’re a guilty old lady. But it, it now it feels like there are, you know, people jumping up and down about America first who are.

STEVE TOTH: You know, they’re biding their time until Trump’s gone. Oh, yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: You feel that?

STEVE TOTH: Oh, completely. Yeah.

The Texas House Speaker Situation

TUCKER CARLSON: So among people you serve with in the, in the House, in Texas, how many are really sincere, do you think?

STEVE TOTH: So 88 Republicans, 62 Democrats, and 67 of us got together and selected David Cook as Speaker. And the balance, the small balance of.

TUCKER CARLSON: This is the new, the new speaker.

STEVE TOTH: No, he should have been the new speaker.

TUCKER CARLSON: Okay.

STEVE TOTH: After all, 67 of us got together.

TUCKER CARLSON: You had the drunk guy.

STEVE TOTH: Dade’s gone. And we led. There are four of us that led a revolt against Dade.

TUCKER CARLSON: And this guy was actually hammered on the House floor.

STEVE TOTH: It would appear from.

TUCKER CARLSON: It would appear.

STEVE TOTH: I’m still getting. I’m trying to. I have to work with these people.

TUCKER CARLSON: Let me just say, as a former drunk person, I recognize that.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. So 67 of us got together. We started cobbling together this coalition. We got it up to 67 people out of 88 Republicans. So more than a majority. Yeah, right.

TUCKER CARLSON: A super, super majority.

STEVE TOTH: And then this little group of Republicans got together with all 62 of the Democrats, and they picked Burroughs. So, yeah, we have a Speaker that was picked by the Democrats.

TUCKER CARLSON: So the Texas House is overwhelmingly Republican, but it’s actually run by the Democrats.

STEVE TOTH: Correct. They’re about 40. I would, I would put the number to about 40 strong conservatives out of the 88.

TUCKER CARLSON: But even a sort of tepid conservative, even a RINO, by definition, wouldn’t want the Texas House to be run by the other party. Yet they do.

STEVE TOTH: Do you think the Democrats would abide by this? Do you think the Democrats, if they were in the majority, would include any of us on their team? No, of course not. Elections have consequences.

TUCKER CARLSON: And also the people should have a say. So if the majority of the state votes for Republican leadership, you should have it, because that’s called democracy. It’s about responding to what the citizenry, the owners of the United States, want in the administration of their government. And they’re getting, once again, the opposite of what they voted for.

STEVE TOTH: Correct.

Foreign Aid and Voter Disconnect

TUCKER CARLSON: And on every issue, they get the opposite. There’s never been one public opinion poll in the last two years said, “number one issue for me is Ukraine.” And yet all the money’s going to Ukraine or to all these other foreign countries. It’s like, why are we giving all this money to Egypt? Are there a lot of people in your district who are like, we need.

STEVE TOTH: To add another billion dollars to the.

TUCKER CARLSON: Egyptian foreign aid budget this year?

STEVE TOTH: Like a big issue. Yeah. Lemonade stands and everything else. We’re all working hard for Egypt.

TUCKER CARLSON: What? So I just feel like. Well, let me ask you. Do you feel like we’re at a point where people are becoming. I’m feeling way more radical than I’ve ever felt in my life.

STEVE TOTH: Because no one’s listening.

TUCKER CARLSON: Right.

STEVE TOTH: Thank you. No one’s listening. And we just, after a while, you just get frustrated and angry over it.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes. It’s the sincere people who are the most angry. Right. Because the cynical people never expected a real system in the first place.

STEVE TOTH: The only skin that they have in the game is their patriotism. There’s nothing financially in it for them at all. It’s just love of country. It’s just, Tucker, it’s just love of country.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes. So that’s why I wanted to talk to you. And I’ll just be honest. I think turned out to be one of the most sincere, thoughtful politicians I’ve talked to in a long time.

STEVE TOTH: It’s because I’m not a politician.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: I’m glad. In fact, my wife, when you hang out with me, my Babette will be like, “no, you can’t hang out with Steve if you call him representative.”

Why Dan Crenshaw Shouldn’t Be Reelected

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, but the real reason I want to talk to you is I don’t want Dan Crenshaw to get reelected. Not because I hate Dan Crenshaw or think he’s actually going to make good on his promise to kill me. I don’t think he’s going to. It’s not personal. It really isn’t.

It’s just that if you keep electing people who are transparently corrupt and insincere like Dan Crenshaw, then after a while, like your country falls apart. Not because he’s so bad, but because it’s such an obvious lie. I guess that’s what I’m trying to express. Do you worry about that?

STEVE TOTH: I think cynicism is the greatest threat to our country.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: And Scripture says where there is no hope, people perish.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: And that’s where we’re at today in America. I think one of the things that I love about Trump and I think the reason why people have overwhelmingly flocked to Trump is Trump leads with actions and not words. He leads to capture the news cycle. Right.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: But he doesn’t use those words to do anything other than to throw the mainstream media off. He leads with action, and that’s what we want out of our leaders. We want people that are going to lead with action and not rhetoric. We’re tired of the rhetoric. Absolutely tired of the rhetoric. It’s hollow. It’s empty. It’s useless.

The Challenge of Unseating an Incumbent

TUCKER CARLSON: Incumbents almost always get reelected, especially from Republican districts. It feels, maybe not especially, but they definitely Republicans, bad Republicans. John Cornyn, multiple terms in the Senate. I can think of probably another 40 Republican office holders. It’s like, how did you get reelected? Particularly in Republican states.

STEVE TOTH: Right.

TUCKER CARLSON: You know, in Idaho and this, all through the Deep South, they reelect people with, literally with Alzheimer’s. It’s crazy. How hard will it be to unseat Dan Crenshaw?

STEVE TOTH: It’s going to be a lot of work. We’ve had a lot of people coming to my website, stevetoth4congress.com or just stevetoth.com, both work. But it’s been pretty cool. We’ve had people from all over the United States contributing the widow’s mite. 10 bucks, 15 bucks. It’s so amazing.

And this is doable. But the biggest problem, Tucker, is that there’s just like this belief, “Well, they’re a sitting member. They can’t be beat.” Yes, they can. We’ve proven it. We’ve seen it, we’ve shown it that when you mobilize as a community against these guys, you can take them out.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: I just think it would be an.

TUCKER CARLSON: Important statement about democracy and that it still can work. I’ve wanted to talk to Crenshaw, put in a million interview requests. He will not do an interview, period, except with a moderator. That’s hilarious.

I’d love to talk to Clifford as this, his main funder. The guy who’s like publicly defended short selling sleaze, true sleazeball. Of course he would never talk to me, but I would like to, I would just, I would like to know how someone like Crenshaw could get reelected. Like, who would support him? Do you feel support for him in the district?

Momentum in the District

STEVE TOTH: It’s not there. Just, it’s not there. So we did, we did a meet and greet in his neighborhood on Saturday and the place was packed.

TUCKER CARLSON: In his neighborhood where he lives?

STEVE TOTH: Neighborhood where he lives. And it was just, I walked away so encouraged with the support that we got. And it’s just, it’s really exciting. It’s going to be a lot of work. I mean, you know, he outspent his opponent two years ago 120 to 1. And the guy got 42% against him.

And so when that happens, there’s blood in the water and it attracts a lot of people. But we’re the only ones that have launched a really legitimate campaign against him where we’re going to be able to raise the money necessary. We’re going to be outspent. We get that. Really? Oh, yeah. I mean, just the amount of support that he’s going to get from the lobby is just off the charts.

But I can’t ever think, Tucker, of a time when I haven’t been outspent 2 or 3 to 1 and won. So we’re okay with it, and we’re going to beat him, and we’re just going to work.

TUCKER CARLSON: When’s the primary?

STEVE TOTH: March 3rd. March 3rd, yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: So the district is overwhelmingly Republican?

STEVE TOTH: Completely.

The Primary Race Dynamics

TUCKER CARLSON: Okay. So whoever wins the primary will win the general. How many people are in the primary, do you think? Do you expect?

STEVE TOTH: We’re pressing for roughly 160,000 votes.

TUCKER CARLSON: No, I mean, how many candidates? How many people running against him?

STEVE TOTH: I think they’re about five in right now. Five or six.

TUCKER CARLSON: Really?

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. And more will get in. More will get in. It just happens.

TUCKER CARLSON: And how does that work? Is it the guy who gets the most votes or is there…

STEVE TOTH: You have to get 50%.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: Or it goes into a runoff.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, wow. So if you’re Karl Rove or Clifford Asness or some lobby, foreign lobby, you have every incentive to get as many people into this race as possible.

STEVE TOTH: Correct? Right, Correct. But we’re already hearing from people in it that have come to me and said, “You’ve got the best chance of winning. I’m probably going to drop out before the filing period.” So the filing period hasn’t even opened yet. You’re just allowed to pick a treasurer and say that you’re running for Congress and make a statement.

But the filing period hasn’t even opened yet, and we think a lot of them are going to drop out. I’ve got great relationships with a lot of the people that are in it right now. They feel like, you know, “You’ve got the best chance to beat them, and we want to help you.”

Assessing the Political Landscape

TUCKER CARLSON: So, I mean, the reason I want to talk to you is I’ve talked to a lot of people in Texas about it just because I think it’s so important to make good on your promises. If you say you’re going to put America first, you have to have people…

STEVE TOTH: Willing to put America first.

TUCKER CARLSON: Amen. And we need it badly. So badly. And everybody I’ve spoken to has said you have the best shot at unseating him. This is not directly related to you, but since you swim in the same pool, where is Cornyn’s reelection right now, would you say? How would you assess that?

STEVE TOTH: He is in real trouble. So we’ve been looking at his numbers as well. His numbers are not as bad as Dan Crenshaw’s numbers, but they’re bad.

TUCKER CARLSON: How bad are Crenshaw’s numbers?

STEVE TOTH: He’s at 43% unfavorable in Harris County, 44% unfavorable in Montgomery County. 44%? Yeah. Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: Wow. That’s really high.

STEVE TOTH: That’s really high. And I think Cornyn’s about three points below that, but that’s still bad. Right. So, I mean, typically, people that have unfavorable numbers above 40% don’t even run for reelection. Interesting.

TUCKER CARLSON: So Cornyn, who hates Trump, obviously hates Trump…

STEVE TOTH: Right.

TUCKER CARLSON: Has always hated Trump.

STEVE TOTH: He…

TUCKER CARLSON: He’s, like, sucking up to Trump now.

STEVE TOTH: Right. It’s sick, really.

TUCKER CARLSON: It’s just sick to watch it.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: What’s he doing?

Cornyn’s Transparent Pandering

STEVE TOTH: This is so funny. So a couple months ago, there’s a picture on X of him reading “The Art of the Deal,” and just above it, it says, “What a great read.” And then in John Cornyn, who’s, like…

TUCKER CARLSON: Wants nothing more than to, like, be accepted into some club.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: You know what I mean?

STEVE TOTH: And then, like, and then a month or two later, he’s got a picture of him outside. There’s a restaurant in Texas called Trump Burger, and he’s outside the restaurant with the marquee behind him. He’s holding, you know, a Trump Burger in his hand. No way. It’s just so silly.

TUCKER CARLSON: Cornyn, who dresses like J.P. Morgan Vice President, you know, it’s like a big Trump guy now.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: Do people fall for that?

STEVE TOTH: No.

TUCKER CARLSON: No, they don’t. So he’s running against Ken Paxton is in the race. Are there others?

STEVE TOTH: That’s it so far. That’s it right now. You got to think…

TUCKER CARLSON: I mean, I’m… So Karl Rove tried to take out Ken Paxton, your attorney general, in a… I mean, tried to put him in jail, basically helped run this impeachment against him trial. Is he involved in the Senate race, do you think?

STEVE TOTH: I think he will be. He was sure involved in trying to take Ken Paxton out. There is no doubt about it.

TUCKER CARLSON: Not just take him out, but imprison him.

The Paxton Impeachment Scandal

STEVE TOTH: Oh, my gosh. So that impeachment was the biggest scam, should have been the biggest embarrassment, is… I think it is the… It will go down in history as the biggest embarrassment of the Texas legislature at the Texas House. And I was so proud of the way the Texas Senate stepped up, very seriously deliberative. Every single charge against him, they put it to the test and we rushed.

We literally rushed it through in 24 hours. We were given this 60 page document to read of the charges against Paxton. No witnesses were called for their side. None of the witnesses were sworn in, which is a violation of the Texas Constitution.

This is exactly what Karl Rove and Eric Holder did to the Alabama Pro-Life Governor 20, 30 years ago. They took him out, threw him in jail, and it was later found out to be all, you know, all nothing. It was big nothing burger, and he was set free. But it destroyed him, right? It destroyed his life, it destroyed his political career. It took everything away from the man. And they tried to do the same thing to Ken. And it was just absolutely…

TUCKER CARLSON: And Ken’s real sin, even if you disagree with Paxton, you have to say he’s been very effective.

STEVE TOTH: Oh, my gosh, he’s been incredibly effective.

TUCKER CARLSON: Right? So that’s the crime right there.

STEVE TOTH: That is the crime, is not just…

TUCKER CARLSON: Getting up and being like, “Oh, I’m a war hero, I have an eye patch, you know, I’m going to drain the swamp.” But actually doing something, he actually did it.

STEVE TOTH: And Ken, you know, like, to know Ken is to know that Ken’s not like the most articulate, charismatic speaker in the world. No, he’s anything but that.

TUCKER CARLSON: I like him more for that, actually.

STEVE TOTH: I know. It just… He leads with his actions.

TUCKER CARLSON: Hmm, Interesting. It sounds like… How influential are the Bushes still in Texas politics?

The Bush Legacy and Trump’s Achievements

STEVE TOTH: I think they’re very influential still. Still. Yeah, But I think it’s mainly through Karl Rove. They don’t support the president. They refuse to support Trump, which is an embarrassment, should be an embarrassment to them at their lack of support and everything that he’s doing for our country right now.

How can you look… How can’t you look at everything that Trump is doing right now and say what he’s doing with the border, what he’s doing with DOGE, what he’s doing with public education, and on and on and on. And look at it. How do you not look at that and just say, “Wow, this is all the crap that you guys said you were going to do. He just did it.”

Like you said you wanted to do away with the Department of Education because of the way they’re destroying public education in America. He’s doing it. You want to root out the corruption through these government agencies that are blindly giving money to other Democrats so they can… They literally are funneling and laundering money through the United States government. These different organizations that DOGE has uncovered more. I mean, specifically USAID, right?

TUCKER CARLSON: Yep.

STEVE TOTH: USAID was the piggy bank for the Democrat Party in ActBlue. And that’s why the Democrats are angry about it, because you took their funding source away. Everyone knew it. Everyone knew that that was going on. Trump’s the only one that had the stones to get up and just do it.

Do you not care about America? You don’t care about America. These politicians don’t care about America. They call themselves Republicans. They don’t care about the Republic. They care about sustaining power and keeping their own little clique in control. That’s all they care about.

Life in the Texas State House

TUCKER CARLSON: What’s it like to go to work in the Texas State House?

STEVE TOTH: You know, was it Truman that said, “If you want a friend, go buy a dog”?

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: It’s kind of like what it’s like. And it’s hard. It’s difficult. And so I’ve been blessed in that I don’t go there alone. I don’t live alone. I don’t go anywhere alone. They’ll destroy you if you live alone. They’ll accuse you. They’ll accuse you of everything and anything. I lived this past session with Nate Schatzline. Nate’s a…

TUCKER CARLSON: Wait, wait, wait. Back up just for one sec.

STEVE TOTH: Sure.

TUCKER CARLSON: What do you mean, if you live alone? So your session is… How long is the session?

STEVE TOTH: We’re in session for five months every two years, January through May and then specials.

TUCKER CARLSON: So you live north of Houston, but you have to go down to Austin for the session.

STEVE TOTH: You got to live there.

TUCKER CARLSON: You got to live there. If you live alone, they… Why does it matter if you live alone?

STEVE TOTH: Oh, they’ll accuse you of something or they’ll set you up with something.

TUCKER CARLSON: Weird sex stuff.

STEVE TOTH: Yep.

TUCKER CARLSON: For real?

STEVE TOTH: For real. And I’m convinced that’s how a lot of guys have gotten into trouble. Individuals that I know that came there with the best intentions to do the right thing and now are just part of the problem.

TUCKER CARLSON: Are you serious?

STEVE TOTH: Completely.

TUCKER CARLSON: Of course you are. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I should… I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am also… It’s not… It’s not wise for a man to live alone for five months.

STEVE TOTH: I mean, it’s not. It’s just… It’s stupid.

TUCKER CARLSON: It is stupid. I totally agree with that. Let’s stop lying. Yeah, but the way men are. Wow, that’s… So is that widely known?

Corruption and Control Mechanisms

STEVE TOTH: Oh, I think it is, Yeah. I mean, you, there’s a, you know, there’s a lot of gossip and stuff, but, you know, and I feel badly because I feel like there are some really good people that get accused of it where it’s not true, and I feel badly for them, but that’s, you know, that’s what you sign up for when you go.

TUCKER CARLSON: But it’s a means of control. It’s a leash that someone is yanking to keep people in line.

STEVE TOTH: Yep, completely.

TUCKER CARLSON: And so you think there are people who arrived with the intent of doing good, joining the swamp…

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: Representing their constituents who were caught up in some sort of immoral behavior and that has been used as leverage against them?

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. Yes, I believe that completely.

TUCKER CARLSON: Really.

STEVE TOTH: So I just, I make a point of just… I don’t, you know, if I go to an event, I don’t drink. I quit drinking back in 2019. It didn’t serve me.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.

STEVE TOTH: It doesn’t do anything for you. I, you know, my wife and I would have a glass of wine or two at dinner, but I just completely gave it up.

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, you weren’t like a slobbering drunk. You just…

STEVE TOTH: No, I’m a cheap date, so I just know. I just… But I never wanted to be seen with, you know, with beer or wine in my hand. It just doesn’t serve you at all, in any way, shape or form.

TUCKER CARLSON: I agree completely strongly.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: Good for you. So, but when you showed up in Austin for your first session, you were aware that you could be subverted.

STEVE TOTH: I don’t think I was as aware then. You know, you’d heard about stuff. Is that really true? That can’t be true. These guys are really good. They’re Republicans. They wouldn’t do that. I was completely naive when I first came in. Like, 40 of us showed up. We had this group called the No Name Group. We’re like, “They’re going to be so happy that we’re here. They’re going to love us.”

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, this is…

STEVE TOTH: They’re going to love us because we’re true. We’re fighting Republicans. They’re going to love us now. They scorned us.

TUCKER CARLSON: Really? They being the Republicans who were already there.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah, yeah. And then no time flat. In fact, I can remember one of them said we were called for such a time as this, quoting Esther.

TUCKER CARLSON: The Book of Esther, of course.

STEVE TOTH: And the reason why they hate us now, this is what we, this is what one of them said. The reason why they hate us is because we remind them of what they used to be. And I look at most of those guys that said that and shook their head like I am, say, yeah, and that’s who you are now. You’ve turned. You’re not with us anymore.

TUCKER CARLSON: How long ago was that?

STEVE TOTH: That was in 2013. I came in in 2013, served for two years, then I left for four years, and then I came back in 2019. But the guys who stayed, most of them went bad.

The Corruption of Good People

TUCKER CARLSON: Really? So what? Apart from sexual blackmail, which you’ve said is real, and I believe you, what are the other means by which good people become bad people?

STEVE TOTH: You want to be effective, don’t you, Tucker? You’re here to serve your district. You want to be effective, don’t you? Well, you’re going to be in the penalty box if you don’t become part of the Speaker’s team. And if you’re in the penalty box, you can’t pass any legislation.

And I’m kind of an outlier in that. I get really lucky. I passed some legislation as an example. I picked up a bill to take on critical race theory, and no one had even heard of it when I carried the bill. And then a guy by the name of Dick Weekley from Texans for Lawsuit Reform heard about my bill, and Dick’s daughter is a passionate follower of Christ, Allison.

TUCKER CARLSON: Dick is a good man.

STEVE TOTH: And he got behind my bill. And by God’s grace, I carried that bill. In the 87th session, we passed it into law. It was the best one in the United States. And so I got that done. And it’s like, I came home and I said to Babette, I said, we didn’t sell out. God proved to me that he could still use me, and I didn’t have to sell out to do it.

And it just made me more passionate that with God, there’s a way to get things done and he can still use you. You don’t have to sell your soul to these people. These people are evil. They don’t want to do the right thing. They’re not concerned about doing the right thing. They’re just concerned about holding on to power.

TUCKER CARLSON: But it’s interesting that they say right to you, “You want to be effective.” So they appeal, really, to your best instincts, because you do. Any good man wants to be effective.

STEVE TOTH: Right.

TUCKER CARLSON: So they don’t come to you and say, hey, I’ve got hookers and cash for you. They say, no, we can help you be the person you want to be.

STEVE TOTH: Right. You want to be effective, don’t you? Yeah. In fact, a couple people that were going to vote with us left us at the last, one guy he left, he was going to vote for David Cook. And he came in with me as a freshman.

TUCKER CARLSON: David Cook for speaker.

STEVE TOTH: For speaker. And the last second, he switched over and voted for Burrows. I said, why’d you do that? I mean, I knew he said—

TUCKER CARLSON: He voted with the Democrats.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. “I wanted to be effective for my district.” And he ended up getting a chairmanship, committee chairmanship, which these guys love getting committee chairmanships. They love being called chairman outside their office. You know, it says, “Steve Toth, House District 15,” and it shows the committees that you serve on. Well, for those guys, “chairman,” that’s like a big deal. And these guys love the being called chairman of the Texas House. It’s just such an ego boost.

TUCKER CARLSON: Do they end up getting anything done once they make that deal?

STEVE TOTH: No. You pass some legislation, but you sell a little bit of your soul in the midst of it. It’s a transaction.

TUCKER CARLSON: And then you just become, with time, more corrupt once you’ve been corrupted.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah. It’s such a slow process, Tucker. It’s such a slow process. For some guys, it happens a lot quicker than others, but it’s a slow process where you just lose your soul.

TUCKER CARLSON: That’s so dark.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: Does anyone ever come back?

STEVE TOTH: No. I can’t ever think of a time when I’ve seen somebody that’s gone over and said, “Wow, I blew it.” I mean, I’ve seen guys that have had a bad vote that have come back next session said, “Gosh, that was a stupid vote. I was part of their team.” But they hadn’t sold their soul. They just made a bad vote and then they come back the next session. Yeah, I’ve seen that. But none that have fully gone over, become chairman and lost their soul and come back. No.

TUCKER CARLSON: Have you ever seen a really honest man of integrity get rewarded for that? Become chairman of a committee?

STEVE TOTH: No, we’re not. They absolutely want you to go there and lose your sense of conviction, your holy discontent that you come there with to change. They don’t want you to change anything. Your desire to change is what puts them in jeopardy of losing their authority and their power.

These guys cut deals, and if you’re going to push for legislation, if you’re going to push—I want to transform the way we do elections in Texas. So I want us to be able to audit. Once there’s an election, you have to hold on to the data for 22 months. But unfortunately, Tucker, we don’t have the ability to audit any of it. So why do you hold on to election material for 22 months if you can’t audit it to find out if there’s been corruption?

Election Integrity and Legislative Manipulation

TUCKER CARLSON: So I don’t know. I’m just guessing, but I’ve just seen this a lot. Basically, that was legislation, I’m guessing that was passed to protect corruption. But it sounds in the telling like a good government move, like it was designed to expose corruption. So it’s like under my election integrity bill, every candidate will have to hold that data for 22 months. What they don’t tell you is—

STEVE TOTH: They can’t look at it. It remains secret for two years. Yeah. And so myself and Paul Betancourt, Senator Betancourt, have introduced legislation that the president supports, fully supports. And these guys know it. The Republicans all know it.

But what’s the piece of legislation that Democrats say when they’re going to get behind a speaker? They’re like, there are these things that are not going to pass this year: Toth’s legislation and Betancourt’s legislation on doing audits and the transition of kids.

So I had a bill this year, House Bill 2258. I think it was 2258. I had 70 pieces of legislation, but they sent it to Ken King’s committee, where Ken King killed the bill. I had three members of his committee that became joint authors on the bill to stop the social transition of children, and they never gave the bill a hearing.

TUCKER CARLSON: Why would a Republican want to protect the destruction of children through transgender ideology? Why would a Republican be in favor of that?

STEVE TOTH: I don’t think they are. I think they basically are against it, but they compromise and say, “The only way I can do good things for my kids, for my people back home, is if I maintain my chairmanship. And the only way I can maintain my chairmanship is to cut a deal with Democrats. And Democrats don’t want this piece of legislation to pass.” And so they kill it. They just kill it.

But we turned it into an amendment and we stuck it on Senate Bill 12 at the end of session. And now social transition of kids is illegal in the state of Texas.

TUCKER CARLSON: Nice. Was that distressing to Republicans?

STEVE TOTH: Here’s the hard part about it, is that we knew that we were going to try and pass it as an amendment. And so I didn’t make a big deal about it during session because I didn’t want the Democrats to blow it up. I didn’t want them to know that we were still going to try and put it on something.

So we just stayed kind of quiet, quietly kept looking for the right bill to put it on. Found it in Senate Bill 12. We worked with Brandon Creighton to make sure that he positioned it. It’s different in Texas than it is in the United States in that if you’re going to pass legislation at the federal level on ice cream, you can’t put something on it that has to do with bicycles.

TUCKER CARLSON: Right.

STEVE TOTH: They’re not germane. In Texas, our legislation, the amendment has to be absolutely germane to the bill. And so we worked with Senator Creighton quietly behind the scenes to make sure that when the bill came over from the Senate, it would—so if that bill had come over from the Senate with banning social transition of kids, they would have killed his bill.

They never would have let that bill onto the House floor because the RINO Republicans and the Democrats would have killed the bill in committee or they would have killed it in calendars and it never would have made it to the House floor. So the bill came over, and I was able to put the amendment on it and it passed.

TUCKER CARLSON: Wow. It’s crazy that in an overwhelmingly Republican legislature, it’s that hard to ban something as transparently evil.

STEVE TOTH: Evil, absolutely. To the core. Evil.

TUCKER CARLSON: Destroying children. Just destroying them.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

The Degradation of Texas

TUCKER CARLSON: So, last question. I just want, as a lover of Texas and someone with a lot of family in Texas, I go to Texas a lot. I always wonder if the people who run the state drive around the state, just look around. Because the last time I was in Texas, a couple months ago in Dallas, which is a city I really love—dirty. It was getting dirtier. I mean, it’s just noticeable. And I guess some people—did they notice that the state needs attention?

STEVE TOTH: I honestly don’t know.

TUCKER CARLSON: Do people talk about that?

STEVE TOTH: No, not at all. Not at all.

TUCKER CARLSON: It’s one of the reasons I dislike Crenshaw so intensely. It’s like, do you notice that this is degrading? The physical environment that you live in is not as nice as it was 10 years ago. That’s kind of a concern.

STEVE TOTH: Should it not be? The hardest part of Austin, Texas, and I believe Washington, D.C. is pretty much the same thing. The very first time I stepped into the Texas House, it was about a month before I was sworn in. And I had never met any staffers, had never talked to anybody. No one knew who I was.

They said, “Representative, so good to see you.” Another person says, “Hey, Representative. Great to see you. I hear you’re a pastor. I am, too.” “Hey, representative. You’re in this business,” and they start calling you representative. Right. And it’s like they slowly—

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah.

STEVE TOTH: You know, they slowly pull you in. And I’m telling you, your ego digs it. Totally digs it. And after a while, you don’t know who you are. You don’t know where you are. You just know you want to be part of that, right?

TUCKER CARLSON: Oh, of course.

STEVE TOTH: And you become tone deaf.

TUCKER CARLSON: But since the legislature is in Austin, it’s the prettiest legislative building in the country by far.

STEVE TOTH: I know. Pink granite.

TUCKER CARLSON: Is that right?

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: When I first went there more than 25 years ago for work as a reporter, I was shocked by how beautiful it was, how cool it was that had just been restored, and I was shocked by how great Austin was. The Driscoll Hotel. And—

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: And then I went back years later, and it’s like, you didn’t even—they’re like homeless people sleeping in the vestibule of the Driscoll Hotel. Sixth Street is dangerous.

STEVE TOTH: Sixth Street is a mess.

TUCKER CARLSON: But it was so cool. So I’m not a Texan. I’m just a perennial visitor. And I noticed that. I wondered, the people who go to work at the Capitol building, do they notice that? So talk about that.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah, we actually have—Austin has actually gotten a little bit cleaner.

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah, it has. I’ve noticed.

STEVE TOTH: We passed legislation banning that. We said there are areas where you can’t camp.

TUCKER CARLSON: And why should we camp on public land?

STEVE TOTH: It’s crazy. But the problem is that while we did that for Austin, nothing’s being done about Houston. Nothing’s being done about Dallas. Nothing’s being done about El Paso. And so it’s kind of like putting makeup on, but at the end of the day, there’s still a lot of scars underneath the makeup that are being hidden in Texas.

America First Means Prioritizing Americans

TUCKER CARLSON: But what’s more important than how your constituents are living day to day? I don’t know what’s more important. I don’t know why Ukraine or any other country is more important than that.

STEVE TOTH: I don’t either. It’s just a lack of putting America first. And I think people like to say America first. They believe in America first. But what does that mean?

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah, what the hell does that mean?

STEVE TOTH: Just care about your own country more.

TUCKER CARLSON: Than any other country.

STEVE TOTH: Yeah.

TUCKER CARLSON: Well, Godspeed. I really appreciate your coming and the day that you beat Dan Crenshaw, March 10th.

STEVE TOTH: March 3rd.

TUCKER CARLSON: March 3rd. Well, maybe around March 10th I’ll call you to offer congratulations. It’ll just be a good day for America. I mean, it’ll just remind all of us that the system can still work.

STEVE TOTH: It can. It absolutely can.

TUCKER CARLSON: Steve, thank you.

STEVE TOTH: Thanks, Tucker.

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