July 11, 2025 • 31 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jim, you don't get enough credit for the transition here
to the Walkers. There's no better show. Turn that up.
There's no better show to end that montage. What is that?
Is that a trumpet?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Turn it up?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
My brother's cringing right now because he was a trumpet player.
So if it is a trumpet, that should have been
able to know it's a trumpet. And if it's a
if it's a sack. And he's because in his mind,
you don't mix up. You don't mix up a saxon
a trumpet. But grave, well, I've had a highly tuned ear.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Turn that up.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I can't hardly hear it. I need to know where
to end for might be a fringe one. I guarantee
there's a retired band teacher out there that knows exactly
(01:07):
what it was and could have told me in one
note seven one thousand, I record Jeopardy, and I have
Jeopardy going back some distance, and my buddy Alex Miller
and I that's our little group activity. And so we'll
(01:28):
we do the family dinner and Alex will join us,
and then Alex and I repair to this little cottage
outback that we call the Boys Room, and we watch
our episodes of Jeopardy, and so we were watching last
night and there was a question that was the Waltons,
and I answered the Waltons. And we have this little
(01:52):
thing we do. When one of the other of us
gets the answer right, the other one says, good job.
So I said the Waltons, and he said good job,
and it went to commercial break. This was an old show.
This show was over twenty years old. The Jeopardy I
was watching. I like to watch the Ken Jennings episodes.
So I said, did you ever watch Walton's He said no,
(02:12):
he's a lot younger than me, his early forties. I
just couldn't imagine not having watched the Waltons. That felt
it just felt like something wrong about that, something very
very wrong. Before the end of the show, I'm going
to address something. I read a great piece about this.
(02:34):
These state reps are all trumpeting the Donald Trump, and
Donald Trump has endorsed them. And I told you this
was going to happen. So Greg Abbott cut a deal
that these Republicans would vote for Oh oh, oh, go
(02:57):
to Andy. That makes sense. Andy, You're only Michael Berry show.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Go ahead, sir, Hey, Michael, you was saying that was
a trumpet or that was what a saxophone? And what
I'm pretty sure that was a clarinet.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And how do you know that?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I was in the band for for probably about fifteen
years playing trump I played trumpet.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So yeah, what about it tells you it's the clarinet.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And and I watched the Waltons.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
What about it tells you it's the clarinet.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Uh just the sound of it, my I mean, I
just have the ear for that, so I just that's
just a clarinet. It's a smoother, not a raspier sound,
and a saxophone to me as a more raspier sound.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I like that Rasby cellar. I like the kind of
rattle of a saxophone. I mean, I'm not the only
one people love, Yeah, the saxophone. I can listen to
Chuck Man Jony an hour at a time, just just
listening to that dude blow. I tell you, I came
across something the other day, Andy. It was it was
(04:09):
Herb Albert Albert and Tiajuana Brass and they were playing, Uh, shoot,
it's the one everybody knows. And I had never noticed
a trombone. And if you're watching her, oh yeah, and
you watch him blow, and then the guy beside him
blow and the one to his right, your left is
(04:30):
the trombone. And uh, you just don't see a trombone
show out like that. But it has that kind of
I don't I don't have enough music theory to describe
the word, the kind of the rattle to it when
it when it like like a like a an elephant,
you know, when it makes its noise, there's more layering
to that sound. Do you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh? Yeah, so best friend played the trombone.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Oh it's that. That's got to be a bear. That's
a big old instrument.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yep, he's a big I. Uh.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Crockett and I were in Denver a couple of years
ago and we were we had a little bit of
a layover from we were flying into Aspen and coming
back to Houston, and but I was they were filming
a they were making a movie about bum Phillips, and
(05:26):
so my shoot was in Denver because that's where the
studio was that we were doing this. And not to
brag Jim, but it was me and Peyton Manning. They
were leaving my interview to do Peyton Manning. I don't
want a brag or anything. Oh either, Three the dude?
What was the guy's name? He kind of a cerebral
(05:47):
dude compared to what he looks like. Black guy. He
wore glasses. He was a great defensive lineman. It's like
player of the Year. I'm talking about. Hold on just second,
Andy Miller is it? What's his name?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Man?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
But anyway, we were gonna go see Trombone Shorty at
Red Rocks. But I couldn't get out what was her name?
I know it was Genie? What was her name? In
real life? I do too. I can't think of it.
You know, Jeopardy is so good for me. I enjoy playing,
(06:25):
but it also keeps my mind much what Barbara Eden
it is? Yes? And Larry Hagman. People forget Larry Hagman.
The character Larry Hagman is in that show. Versus j R.
Really shows you the chops on Larry Hagman. He was
(06:46):
a hippie in real life. I didn't know that lived
on the beach and did not know that. How good
was Dallas? You're not old enough? Yeah you are? You're
my age? I forget You're Dallas? Was so good that
show I didn't appreciate it at the time. I was
too young. But when Johnny Lee married Charlene Kilton, I
(07:13):
thought he was the coolest cat ever. And about ten
years ago I asked him about that and he said, yeah,
every dude in America thought I was about the coolest
cat ever. Oh. By the way, I'm not bragging on
my musical sense, but my brother played the trumpet. So
from the time I was probably in fourth grade, in
(07:36):
the room next to me was a trumpet blaring because
my brother was always practicing because he would have solos.
And I have listened to a trumpet more than ninety
seven percent of people ever will I thought that was
a trumpet in the theme song, but I heard from
several people clarinet. Clarinet. Okay, it's okay, Well, it's a
(08:00):
trumpet and it is played by trumpeter Graham Young, who
is a famous trumpet player. And the stringed instruments in
there is a zither, which is I had to look
this up, but I'm just telling you, I guess what
I'm trying to say is I was right and I
(08:20):
like to get credit. Okay, So here's what happened. The
Democrats had sixty members out of the one hundred and
fifty in the state House in Texas. So the Democrats
do what they've done for twenty five years. They go
(08:40):
over and pick a Republican. They go, look, we can
give you a block of sixty votes. In order to
be speaker, you need seventy six. So what you got
to do is find sixteen out of your ninety or so,
you just got to get sixteen. You combine with us,
(09:04):
we got seventy six votes. You'll be the speaker, and
you do mostly what we want you to do, we'll
make you the speaker. Well, that guy's never the most conservative.
If he was, he wouldn't agree to be elected by
the Democrats. He would be supported with ninety percent with
the ninety Republican voters. So you got a lot of
squish Republicans at least sixteen. So you've got your hardcore
(09:28):
Republicans over there going wait a second, they've already rigged
the election by going behind the scenes and cutting a
deal with the Democrats. So then if you're Steve Toath
and Mitch Little and all these guys, you come running
out and go, hey, they rigged a system. And Texas
cor Card will tell about it, and I will tell
about it, and Luke Macius will tell about it, and
(09:51):
your Republican precinct judges will tell about it. But the Chronicle,
Texas Monthly, Texas Tribune, they're not going to tell what
happened because this is how Democrats still govern the state. Well,
then it gets worse. Abbot desperately wanted his school voucher program,
which turns out not to be such a good program,
(10:11):
but whatever he gets to say. He got his school
vouchers and that's what he's going to run for president on.
And in order to do that, they needed some Republicans
to vote for it who are in rural districts where
the largest employer is a school district. So they didn't
want to be for it. So how do you vote
for something that is going to cost you votes in
(10:33):
your district, in your rural district where you got a
lot of school teachers and superintendents and principles that are
going to be mad at you because it seems like
you voted against the school district. So Abbot went to
Trump's people and got them to agree that they would
endorse anybody who voted for school vouchers. Well, Trump's worried
(10:54):
about bamb and Iran. He's not looking at the internal
activity of what's going on at the State House in Austin.
So now at the end of the session, Dustin Burroughs
and all the liberal Republicans are running around on Twitter
going so honored to have President Trump's endorsement. Yes, it's
a real honor to have President Trump's endorsement. Well, did
(11:18):
you really get his endorsement? You're calling him auto pin
endorsements because it doesn't appear that Trump was in any
way involved with it. That's not to say that he
is denying the endorsement, but he is not endorsing the endorsement.
He is not validating the endorsement. There was Originally there
(11:41):
was a wonderful piece written by a guy who writes
under the name Amuse. I don't know who he is,
but he writes very very perspicacious things on state of
Texas political particularly the internacine workings of the state Capitol
that most people back home don't know about. These guys
are pros. They're swamp creatures that live in Austin. Their
(12:02):
lobbyists for big firms, and their job is to get
the State House to do what they want and still
keep the people elected back home where you're very conservative,
and they're going up there and doing swamp creature things.
That's their job is to make sure this happens and
that they get the protection for these people, all right,
(12:24):
So he writes the auto pen endorsements betrayal in the
name of Trump. Let us begin with the premise so
basic it should not require stating. An endorsement from a
president is a deeply personal political act. It is a
deliberate extension of political capital, a gesture imbued with consequence
(12:44):
and intent. In Donald J. Trump's case, the value of
his endorsement is almost talismanic among Republican voters. It elevates, protects,
and often determines electoral destiny. But what happens when the
jeshuture is no longer personal? What if the president's name
is used not as an expression of will but as
(13:08):
a tool of manipulation. What if those surrounding him use
the prestige of that endorsement not to defend his agenda,
but to undermine it. Such appears to be the case
with a recent spate of endorsements in Texas. On July ninth,
twenty twenty five, a cascade of letters bearing Donald Trump's quote,
(13:29):
complete and total endorsement end quote arrived in the inboxes
of dozens of Texas state legislators. These were not ordinary legislators.
They were, in many cases, enemies of the president's America
First agenda, representatives who openly opposed Trump's closest allies and
voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, a longtime Trump
(13:53):
supporter and ally. These lawmakers had in most cases colluded
with Democrats to elect a House speaker hostile to the
conservative grassroots, and yet here they are clutching letters bearing
Donald Trump's name and what purported to be his enthusiastic
blessing more coming up. I don't like him, and there's
(14:23):
just something cooler about having Jed Clampett singing the song.
So back to the story of these endorsements, because you're
going to hear that Trump endorse these state reps who
are sellouts, and then why am I trashing them in
Trump's farm. I'll continue with the piece which which Deryl
Kunda will post to the Blast today, but a close
(14:45):
examination reveals something troubling. These endorsements did not appear on
the familiar digital soil of Trump's truth social or his
ex account. They did not carry the familiar weight of
a press release from Trump himself, as so many of
his previous endorsements had. Instead, they arrived by email delivered
(15:09):
by John George, a Special Assistant to the President and
Southeast Regional Political director for the White House Office of
Political Affairs, from an address tied to TEAMDJT dot com.
The stationery was not Trump campaign or presidential letterhead, but
(15:29):
the stationery of Never Surrender Ink, a political action committee.
Even the signature was odd identical across all letters. It
appeared to be a copied image of an autopen generated signature,
itself a mechanized substitute for presidential intent, and rather than
(15:51):
produce fresh autopen versions, the team behind the operation appears
to have photocopied the same one across every letter. Not
just automated but lazy. This demands explanation. The letters were
all dated June twenty, twenty twenty five, yet they were
only delivered on July ninth. What explains the nineteen day delay?
(16:15):
Two days before the date appearing at the top of
each endorsement. The Republican Party of Texas issued a formal
resolution titled resolution calling for withholding endorsements until the cinsure
process is complete. The resolution made explicit reference to Trump's
credibility and to the fact that certain Texas legislators were
(16:39):
facing cinsure under party Rule number forty four. That rule
allows the party to disqualify Republican lawmakers from appearing on
future primary ballots if they betray the party platform. In
other words, the Texas GOP was actively trying to expel
the very people that Trump or someone using his name
(17:03):
would soon endorse. The resolution cited Trump's past undefeated record
endorsing America First candidates in the twenty twenty four primaries,
and begged the president not to endorse any current Texas
lawmakers until the cinsure process concluded. On November eighth, twenty
(17:24):
twenty five. This was not subtle. Texas Republican leadership clearly
believed the president was unaware of what his operatives were doing.
Let me read that again. Texas Republican leadership clearly believed
the president was unaware of what his operatives were doing,
(17:48):
and they had reason to believe it. On June twenty third,
just days after the letters were written but withheld, I
wrote an op ed titled why are Matt Brasso and
Steve Munisteri Betraying President Trump and Texas Republicans. At the time,
sources within the Texas GOP believed the endorsements would be
(18:11):
halted precisely because they presumed Trump, when properly informed, would
not authorize such support. They were wrong, or, more accurately,
they were circumvented. Instead of a clean withdrawal of support,
the endorsements were quietly distributed weeks later by John George,
(18:34):
using the infrastructure of a political committee and not the
president's own platform. This is where the architecture of betrayal
becomes visible. John George, though technically a White House staffer,
was coordinating, would never surrender ink a political action committee
to execute campaign endorsements. He used his campaign domain, his
(18:56):
taxpayer funded title, and political access to do what should
be strictly prohibited merge official executive duties with overt partisan
political action. This is not a gray area. It is
a flagrant violation of the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act
(19:16):
prohibits executive branch employees from engaging in partisan political activity
while acting in their official capacities. By using his White
House credentials and political authority to coordinate with a pack.
George has done more than blur a line, he has
obliterated it. There is no plausible deniability here. His position
as special Assistant to the President gives him daily proximity
(19:39):
to the White House, while his actions betray a willingness
to politicize that access for the benefit of establishment Republicans
actively working against the MAGA agenda. And this raises a
more serious concern, what did Trump actually authorize? Trump is
a man of legendary loyalty. His vindication of Ken Paxton,
his war against disloyal Republicans, and his long record of
(20:01):
confronting the GOP establishment are not superficial performances. They are
expressions of core political instinct. Does it seem likely that
the same man who endorsed true America First Warriors in
Texas would suddenly turn around and bless their enemies. I
submit that it does not. What seems far more plausible
(20:22):
is that these so called endorsements were engineered by the
very Trump people, by the very people Trump should be
able to trust. John George, along with Matt Brasso, Deputy
Assistant to the President and Director of Political Strategy and Outreach,
appears to have orchestrated the rollout of these endorsements in
a manner that bypassed both transparency and accountability. This scheme
(20:44):
devalues the president's endorsement, undermines his brand, and misleads Texas
voters into believing that Trump is unaware or worse, has
abandoned his own allies. It is precisely this sort of betrayal,
carried out in the bureaucratic shadows that has long bedeviled
conservative reformers. Packs are useful tools through Never Surrender Ink.
(21:10):
Trump can fund races, build alliances, and project power into
key districts, but those who operate its machinery must be
loyal to the mission. If the money is used to
reward enemies and punish allies, the entire mechanism becomes a
parody of itself. This is not merely theoretical. These endorsements
may serve as a blueprint for twenty twenty six. Never
(21:31):
Surrender Ink is already preparing to pour millions into House
and Senate races, not to mention gubernatorial contests. The risk
is not that Trump will lose power, but that the
people claiming to serve him will use that power to
perpetuate the uniparty establishment he has spent a decade fighting.
Let us not forget Matt Bresso and John George are
not elected. They are political operatives. However competent, they are
(21:55):
not immune from scrutiny. If they misled the president, they
should be removed. If they acted with his full knowledge,
they should explain to the grassroots why never trumpers now
wear MAGA endorsements like camouflage. For the sake of transparency,
for the integrity of Trump's political brand, and for the
future of the Republican Party, this matter cannot be allowed
(22:17):
to fade. Trump should be told clearly and directly that
John George's coordination with the Political Action Committee while serving
as a government official is both legally and morally indefensible.
John George must resign or the president must fire him.
Trump's endorsements mean something. They should never be automated. They
(22:39):
should never be weaponized against his own movement. You want
to know why, it feels, folks, like even when you win,
you lose. It feels like we never make any headway,
We never get ahead because even on our side, especially
on our side, the Republicans have snakes that slither into
(23:00):
our midst and fooled our people. Jacob sent me the
photos of h of his motorcycle on fire. I could
see where he thought his motorcycle is gonna blow up.
I mean it's it's it's a full on fire. It's
it's not a flicker. I mean it's a it's a
full on fire. And the the funny thing is he's
(23:22):
got I don't know what you call those boxes, a
fanny pack or a sissy bar man. There's some term
for off the back side of his vehicle. Saddle bag
very good. What's name gym? Very good? Yeah, saddle bag,
thank you. And it's a flame. It's got flames on it,
(23:43):
like yeah, I don't I don't think he ever expected
that there would really be flames. But here we are.
You know, I could see it's it's a real on,
full on fire. And now I got people emailing me, Hey,
what's the name of that pool repair company? Uh? Sheryl,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. Go ahead, sweetheart, Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
You know. I never did hear President Trump say he
endorsed school vouchers. I've never heard him say it. And
when that came out, the people down in Texas City,
Lamar Galveston. The black people, they were left kind of
flabbergasted about this, and they tried to get together in
(24:27):
some meetings, but by then it was time to be
planning for Juneteenth. But those people are absolutely not for
any kind of school vouchers. It just guts the public schools.
And I think Trump is a man of the people.
I honestly cannot imagine him throwing his weight behind that.
(24:48):
But I think it's just what you said. It was
an auto can signature. They stuck it in front of
him when he was busy on something else. And what
this is going to do is turn the black voter,
at least in Galveston County against him because of this
one issue.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Cheryl, I'm in an odd position here. This is where
my wife wishes would I would stop talking, because while
I agree with you that this is politically bad, I
feel like you might think that I am against the
(25:34):
vouchers and that that's why I did this. I am
for vouchers. I'm just not for this voucher program because
this isn't even really a voucher program. A voucher program
of any significance might actually gut some school districts. I
believe that's a good thing. I am not a hug
(25:56):
the school system and throw all the money in the
world at them. Quite the opposite. I believe that the
problem with public education in this country is that it
is overfunded and unaccountable. There is so much money being
poured into our public schools in Texas, so much money
(26:19):
being poured in and more by the day, because it
is not about the education of the children, the growth
and development of the children. You know, we worry about
what books are in the library, and you know, grown
men wearing a bikini to come in and prants around
and show their willy to little kids. But they're also
(26:39):
they're also running massive budgets that get bigger by the year.
Why why does the cost of education increase dramatically? And
everybody says, we've got to do this for the children.
It's for the schools. Got to pay the teachers more.
How much the teachers make I don't know, it's got
to pay them more. Well, what if if we don't
(27:00):
pay the teachers more. What if I say, hold on,
how much are the teachers making. I'd like to know
how much the teachers are making and how many days
a year they work. Teachers are noble. Okay, I'd like
to know how much they make and how many days
of year they were. I didn't realize you hate teachers.
We need teachers. Teachers are like police officers. They're public servants.
(27:24):
We've got to pay them more. Okay. What will be
the point at which we don't have to pay them more?
Is there a number? I don't think we'll ever get there. Nope,
help me out here. What will be the number at
which we don't have to pay them more? We always
have to pay teachers more. We hear that politically, got
(27:46):
to pay the teachers more. Michael, you're scaring me. I
like teachers. Teachers or they give up a lot. You know,
a lot of them buy supplies themselves and bring it
in because the kids don't have money. Okay, how much
do we pay them? Well, we should sure pay a more.
(28:07):
What we ought to do is pay a more. And
the schools are falling down. They are. Yes, you ask
a teacher, they'll tell you that the roofs leak, Oh
my goodness, the doors don't close. The kids don't have supplies,
you know, they have to buy supplies themselves out of
(28:28):
their own pocket. Really, so it's worse than it ever was. Yeah,
well that's odd because we're spending more than we ever did.
It's almost as if pouring more money into the public
schools is not improving the things that are supposed to matter. Hmmm,
what about the administrators? Should we pay the administrators more? Well,
(28:54):
you know, I mean, I don't think that's a big deal.
But we got to pay the teachers more? How much more?
One hundred thousand, let's start them all at a hundred. Well,
you're just being you're just being difficult. Now, No, I
want to know, let's have a minimum wage for teachers
in Texas. I want to know two things. How many
days a year do they teach? And how much are
(29:15):
you going to pay them? Well, that's just I didn't
realize you were against the TA. You're always bragging you
loved your teachers. I did love my teachers, and I
think teaching is a very noble goal. But I think,
like everything else, police officers, military, you want to go
down that road, you want to go down the who's
getting underpaid road? Let's go down that whole path. You
(29:40):
can't just have emotions, and based on emotions, let people
with an alternate agenda run wild with the checkbook because
that's what you're doing. So my position is the vouchers
didn't do enough. Give people control of their money and
where they spend it. Why are we sending money to
(30:01):
schools and then the schools are recruiting kids to come there.
It's a public school. How crazy is this? Nobody's out
begging on a particular street that you drive down this
street because we gave them a bunch of money for
the street and they want to get more. You've created
an incentive for schools to squander their money. You've created
(30:27):
an incentive to get more money constantly. Because remember, it's
not just the taxpayer dog. What nobody factors into this
is the bonds that they float and the new buildings
that they build. You want to build a professional sports
team at your high school, fine, pay for it yourself.
I don't want to pay for Jerry Jones's stadium. I
don't want to pay for yours. That's not what school's
(30:47):
about anyway. You don't need a better stadium to have
a better football team. What the hell? How do we
lose sight of all this? Well, I like to have
a good football team. I'd like to put a garage
on my house, but I can't because the taxes are
being paid to you. You're taking people's money to build
these things because you created a whole industry of people
(31:07):
who float bonds and get paid them muni fees and
get paid all the finance fees on it. You've got
administrators making all this money, and yes, we have to
pay them teachers more. How come well? Because now, why
help tell me how much they make and how many
days a year they work. Somehow you're supposed to be
offended if they do. Wouldn't you like to know? Jim
Jim, you don't get enough credit for the transition here
to the Walkers. There's no better show. Turn that up.
There's no better show to end that montage. What is that?
Is that a trumpet?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Turn it up?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
My brother's cringing right now because he was a trumpet player.
So if it is a trumpet, that should have been
able to know it's a trumpet. And if it's a
if it's a sack. And he's because in his mind,
you don't mix up. You don't mix up a saxon
a trumpet. But grave, well, I've had a highly tuned ear.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Turn that up.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I can't hardly hear it. I need to know where
to end for might be a fringe one. I guarantee
there's a retired band teacher out there that knows exactly
(01:07):
what it was and could have told me in one
note seven one thousand, I record Jeopardy, and I have
Jeopardy going back some distance, and my buddy Alex Miller
and I that's our little group activity. And so we'll
(01:28):
we do the family dinner and Alex will join us,
and then Alex and I repair to this little cottage
outback that we call the Boys Room, and we watch
our episodes of Jeopardy, and so we were watching last
night and there was a question that was the Waltons,
and I answered the Waltons. And we have this little
(01:52):
thing we do. When one of the other of us
gets the answer right, the other one says, good job.
So I said the Waltons, and he said good job,
and it went to commercial break. This was an old show.
This show was over twenty years old. The Jeopardy I
was watching. I like to watch the Ken Jennings episodes.
So I said, did you ever watch Walton's He said no,
(02:12):
he's a lot younger than me, his early forties. I
just couldn't imagine not having watched the Waltons. That felt
it just felt like something wrong about that, something very
very wrong. Before the end of the show, I'm going
to address something. I read a great piece about this.
(02:34):
These state reps are all trumpeting the Donald Trump, and
Donald Trump has endorsed them. And I told you this
was going to happen. So Greg Abbott cut a deal
that these Republicans would vote for Oh oh, oh, go
(02:57):
to Andy. That makes sense. Andy, You're only Michael Berry show.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Go ahead, sir, Hey, Michael, you was saying that was
a trumpet or that was what a saxophone? And what
I'm pretty sure that was a clarinet.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And how do you know that?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I was in the band for for probably about fifteen
years playing trump I played trumpet.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So yeah, what about it tells you it's the clarinet.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And and I watched the Waltons.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
What about it tells you it's the clarinet.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Uh just the sound of it, my I mean, I
just have the ear for that, so I just that's
just a clarinet. It's a smoother, not a raspier sound,
and a saxophone to me as a more raspier sound.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I like that Rasby cellar. I like the kind of
rattle of a saxophone. I mean, I'm not the only
one people love, Yeah, the saxophone. I can listen to
Chuck Man Jony an hour at a time, just just
listening to that dude blow. I tell you, I came
across something the other day, Andy. It was it was
(04:09):
Herb Albert Albert and Tiajuana Brass and they were playing, Uh, shoot,
it's the one everybody knows. And I had never noticed
a trombone. And if you're watching her, oh yeah, and
you watch him blow, and then the guy beside him
blow and the one to his right, your left is
(04:30):
the trombone. And uh, you just don't see a trombone
show out like that. But it has that kind of
I don't I don't have enough music theory to describe
the word, the kind of the rattle to it when
it when it like like a like a an elephant,
you know, when it makes its noise, there's more layering
to that sound. Do you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh? Yeah, so best friend played the trombone.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Oh it's that. That's got to be a bear. That's
a big old instrument.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yep, he's a big I. Uh.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Crockett and I were in Denver a couple of years
ago and we were we had a little bit of
a layover from we were flying into Aspen and coming
back to Houston, and but I was they were filming
a they were making a movie about bum Phillips, and
(05:26):
so my shoot was in Denver because that's where the
studio was that we were doing this. And not to
brag Jim, but it was me and Peyton Manning. They
were leaving my interview to do Peyton Manning. I don't
want a brag or anything. Oh either, Three the dude?
What was the guy's name? He kind of a cerebral
(05:47):
dude compared to what he looks like. Black guy. He
wore glasses. He was a great defensive lineman. It's like
player of the Year. I'm talking about. Hold on just second,
Andy Miller is it? What's his name?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Man?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
But anyway, we were gonna go see Trombone Shorty at
Red Rocks. But I couldn't get out what was her name?
I know it was Genie? What was her name? In
real life? I do too. I can't think of it.
You know, Jeopardy is so good for me. I enjoy playing,
(06:25):
but it also keeps my mind much what Barbara Eden
it is? Yes? And Larry Hagman. People forget Larry Hagman.
The character Larry Hagman is in that show. Versus j R.
Really shows you the chops on Larry Hagman. He was
(06:46):
a hippie in real life. I didn't know that lived
on the beach and did not know that. How good
was Dallas? You're not old enough? Yeah you are? You're
my age? I forget You're Dallas? Was so good that
show I didn't appreciate it at the time. I was
too young. But when Johnny Lee married Charlene Kilton, I
(07:13):
thought he was the coolest cat ever. And about ten
years ago I asked him about that and he said, yeah,
every dude in America thought I was about the coolest
cat ever. Oh. By the way, I'm not bragging on
my musical sense, but my brother played the trumpet. So
from the time I was probably in fourth grade, in
(07:36):
the room next to me was a trumpet blaring because
my brother was always practicing because he would have solos.
And I have listened to a trumpet more than ninety
seven percent of people ever will I thought that was
a trumpet in the theme song, but I heard from
several people clarinet. Clarinet. Okay, it's okay, Well, it's a
(08:00):
trumpet and it is played by trumpeter Graham Young, who
is a famous trumpet player. And the stringed instruments in
there is a zither, which is I had to look
this up, but I'm just telling you, I guess what
I'm trying to say is I was right and I
(08:20):
like to get credit. Okay, So here's what happened. The
Democrats had sixty members out of the one hundred and
fifty in the state House in Texas. So the Democrats
do what they've done for twenty five years. They go
(08:40):
over and pick a Republican. They go, look, we can
give you a block of sixty votes. In order to
be speaker, you need seventy six. So what you got
to do is find sixteen out of your ninety or so,
you just got to get sixteen. You combine with us,
(09:04):
we got seventy six votes. You'll be the speaker, and
you do mostly what we want you to do, we'll
make you the speaker. Well, that guy's never the most conservative.
If he was, he wouldn't agree to be elected by
the Democrats. He would be supported with ninety percent with
the ninety Republican voters. So you got a lot of
squish Republicans at least sixteen. So you've got your hardcore
(09:28):
Republicans over there going wait a second, they've already rigged
the election by going behind the scenes and cutting a
deal with the Democrats. So then if you're Steve Toath
and Mitch Little and all these guys, you come running
out and go, hey, they rigged a system. And Texas
cor Card will tell about it, and I will tell
about it, and Luke Macius will tell about it, and
(09:51):
your Republican precinct judges will tell about it. But the Chronicle,
Texas Monthly, Texas Tribune, they're not going to tell what
happened because this is how Democrats still govern the state. Well,
then it gets worse. Abbot desperately wanted his school voucher program,
which turns out not to be such a good program,
(10:11):
but whatever he gets to say. He got his school
vouchers and that's what he's going to run for president on.
And in order to do that, they needed some Republicans
to vote for it who are in rural districts where
the largest employer is a school district. So they didn't
want to be for it. So how do you vote
for something that is going to cost you votes in
(10:33):
your district, in your rural district where you got a
lot of school teachers and superintendents and principles that are
going to be mad at you because it seems like
you voted against the school district. So Abbot went to
Trump's people and got them to agree that they would
endorse anybody who voted for school vouchers. Well, Trump's worried
(10:54):
about bamb and Iran. He's not looking at the internal
activity of what's going on at the State House in Austin.
So now at the end of the session, Dustin Burroughs
and all the liberal Republicans are running around on Twitter
going so honored to have President Trump's endorsement. Yes, it's
a real honor to have President Trump's endorsement. Well, did
(11:18):
you really get his endorsement? You're calling him auto pin
endorsements because it doesn't appear that Trump was in any
way involved with it. That's not to say that he
is denying the endorsement, but he is not endorsing the endorsement.
He is not validating the endorsement. There was Originally there
(11:41):
was a wonderful piece written by a guy who writes
under the name Amuse. I don't know who he is,
but he writes very very perspicacious things on state of
Texas political particularly the internacine workings of the state Capitol
that most people back home don't know about. These guys
are pros. They're swamp creatures that live in Austin. Their
(12:02):
lobbyists for big firms, and their job is to get
the State House to do what they want and still
keep the people elected back home where you're very conservative,
and they're going up there and doing swamp creature things.
That's their job is to make sure this happens and
that they get the protection for these people, all right,
(12:24):
So he writes the auto pen endorsements betrayal in the
name of Trump. Let us begin with the premise so
basic it should not require stating. An endorsement from a
president is a deeply personal political act. It is a
deliberate extension of political capital, a gesture imbued with consequence
(12:44):
and intent. In Donald J. Trump's case, the value of
his endorsement is almost talismanic among Republican voters. It elevates, protects,
and often determines electoral destiny. But what happens when the
jeshuture is no longer personal? What if the president's name
is used not as an expression of will but as
(13:08):
a tool of manipulation. What if those surrounding him use
the prestige of that endorsement not to defend his agenda,
but to undermine it. Such appears to be the case
with a recent spate of endorsements in Texas. On July ninth,
twenty twenty five, a cascade of letters bearing Donald Trump's quote,
(13:29):
complete and total endorsement end quote arrived in the inboxes
of dozens of Texas state legislators. These were not ordinary legislators.
They were, in many cases, enemies of the president's America
First agenda, representatives who openly opposed Trump's closest allies and
voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, a longtime Trump
(13:53):
supporter and ally. These lawmakers had in most cases colluded
with Democrats to elect a House speaker hostile to the
conservative grassroots, and yet here they are clutching letters bearing
Donald Trump's name and what purported to be his enthusiastic
blessing more coming up. I don't like him, and there's
(14:23):
just something cooler about having Jed Clampett singing the song.
So back to the story of these endorsements, because you're
going to hear that Trump endorse these state reps who
are sellouts, and then why am I trashing them in
Trump's farm. I'll continue with the piece which which Deryl
Kunda will post to the Blast today, but a close
(14:45):
examination reveals something troubling. These endorsements did not appear on
the familiar digital soil of Trump's truth social or his
ex account. They did not carry the familiar weight of
a press release from Trump himself, as so many of
his previous endorsements had. Instead, they arrived by email delivered
(15:09):
by John George, a Special Assistant to the President and
Southeast Regional Political director for the White House Office of
Political Affairs, from an address tied to TEAMDJT dot com.
The stationery was not Trump campaign or presidential letterhead, but
(15:29):
the stationery of Never Surrender Ink, a political action committee.
Even the signature was odd identical across all letters. It
appeared to be a copied image of an autopen generated signature,
itself a mechanized substitute for presidential intent, and rather than
(15:51):
produce fresh autopen versions, the team behind the operation appears
to have photocopied the same one across every letter. Not
just automated but lazy. This demands explanation. The letters were
all dated June twenty, twenty twenty five, yet they were
only delivered on July ninth. What explains the nineteen day delay?
(16:15):
Two days before the date appearing at the top of
each endorsement. The Republican Party of Texas issued a formal
resolution titled resolution calling for withholding endorsements until the cinsure
process is complete. The resolution made explicit reference to Trump's
credibility and to the fact that certain Texas legislators were
(16:39):
facing cinsure under party Rule number forty four. That rule
allows the party to disqualify Republican lawmakers from appearing on
future primary ballots if they betray the party platform. In
other words, the Texas GOP was actively trying to expel
the very people that Trump or someone using his name
(17:03):
would soon endorse. The resolution cited Trump's past undefeated record
endorsing America First candidates in the twenty twenty four primaries,
and begged the president not to endorse any current Texas
lawmakers until the cinsure process concluded. On November eighth, twenty
(17:24):
twenty five. This was not subtle. Texas Republican leadership clearly
believed the president was unaware of what his operatives were doing.
Let me read that again. Texas Republican leadership clearly believed
the president was unaware of what his operatives were doing,
(17:48):
and they had reason to believe it. On June twenty third,
just days after the letters were written but withheld, I
wrote an op ed titled why are Matt Brasso and
Steve Munisteri Betraying President Trump and Texas Republicans. At the time,
sources within the Texas GOP believed the endorsements would be
(18:11):
halted precisely because they presumed Trump, when properly informed, would
not authorize such support. They were wrong, or, more accurately,
they were circumvented. Instead of a clean withdrawal of support,
the endorsements were quietly distributed weeks later by John George,
(18:34):
using the infrastructure of a political committee and not the
president's own platform. This is where the architecture of betrayal
becomes visible. John George, though technically a White House staffer,
was coordinating, would never surrender ink a political action committee
to execute campaign endorsements. He used his campaign domain, his
(18:56):
taxpayer funded title, and political access to do what should
be strictly prohibited merge official executive duties with overt partisan
political action. This is not a gray area. It is
a flagrant violation of the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act
(19:16):
prohibits executive branch employees from engaging in partisan political activity
while acting in their official capacities. By using his White
House credentials and political authority to coordinate with a pack.
George has done more than blur a line, he has
obliterated it. There is no plausible deniability here. His position
as special Assistant to the President gives him daily proximity
(19:39):
to the White House, while his actions betray a willingness
to politicize that access for the benefit of establishment Republicans
actively working against the MAGA agenda. And this raises a
more serious concern, what did Trump actually authorize? Trump is
a man of legendary loyalty. His vindication of Ken Paxton,
his war against disloyal Republicans, and his long record of
(20:01):
confronting the GOP establishment are not superficial performances. They are
expressions of core political instinct. Does it seem likely that
the same man who endorsed true America First Warriors in
Texas would suddenly turn around and bless their enemies. I
submit that it does not. What seems far more plausible
(20:22):
is that these so called endorsements were engineered by the
very Trump people, by the very people Trump should be
able to trust. John George, along with Matt Brasso, Deputy
Assistant to the President and Director of Political Strategy and Outreach,
appears to have orchestrated the rollout of these endorsements in
a manner that bypassed both transparency and accountability. This scheme
(20:44):
devalues the president's endorsement, undermines his brand, and misleads Texas
voters into believing that Trump is unaware or worse, has
abandoned his own allies. It is precisely this sort of betrayal,
carried out in the bureaucratic shadows that has long bedeviled
conservative reformers. Packs are useful tools through Never Surrender Ink.
(21:10):
Trump can fund races, build alliances, and project power into
key districts, but those who operate its machinery must be
loyal to the mission. If the money is used to
reward enemies and punish allies, the entire mechanism becomes a
parody of itself. This is not merely theoretical. These endorsements
may serve as a blueprint for twenty twenty six. Never
(21:31):
Surrender Ink is already preparing to pour millions into House
and Senate races, not to mention gubernatorial contests. The risk
is not that Trump will lose power, but that the
people claiming to serve him will use that power to
perpetuate the uniparty establishment he has spent a decade fighting.
Let us not forget Matt Bresso and John George are
not elected. They are political operatives. However competent, they are
(21:55):
not immune from scrutiny. If they misled the president, they
should be removed. If they acted with his full knowledge,
they should explain to the grassroots why never trumpers now
wear MAGA endorsements like camouflage. For the sake of transparency,
for the integrity of Trump's political brand, and for the
future of the Republican Party, this matter cannot be allowed
(22:17):
to fade. Trump should be told clearly and directly that
John George's coordination with the Political Action Committee while serving
as a government official is both legally and morally indefensible.
John George must resign or the president must fire him.
Trump's endorsements mean something. They should never be automated. They
(22:39):
should never be weaponized against his own movement. You want
to know why, it feels, folks, like even when you win,
you lose. It feels like we never make any headway,
We never get ahead because even on our side, especially
on our side, the Republicans have snakes that slither into
(23:00):
our midst and fooled our people. Jacob sent me the
photos of h of his motorcycle on fire. I could
see where he thought his motorcycle is gonna blow up.
I mean it's it's it's a full on fire. It's
it's not a flicker. I mean it's a it's a
full on fire. And the the funny thing is he's
(23:22):
got I don't know what you call those boxes, a
fanny pack or a sissy bar man. There's some term
for off the back side of his vehicle. Saddle bag
very good. What's name gym? Very good? Yeah, saddle bag,
thank you. And it's a flame. It's got flames on it,
(23:43):
like yeah, I don't I don't think he ever expected
that there would really be flames. But here we are.
You know, I could see it's it's a real on,
full on fire. And now I got people emailing me, Hey,
what's the name of that pool repair company? Uh? Sheryl,
you're on the Michael Berry Show. Go ahead, sweetheart, Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
You know. I never did hear President Trump say he
endorsed school vouchers. I've never heard him say it. And
when that came out, the people down in Texas City,
Lamar Galveston. The black people, they were left kind of
flabbergasted about this, and they tried to get together in
(24:27):
some meetings, but by then it was time to be
planning for Juneteenth. But those people are absolutely not for
any kind of school vouchers. It just guts the public schools.
And I think Trump is a man of the people.
I honestly cannot imagine him throwing his weight behind that.
(24:48):
But I think it's just what you said. It was
an auto can signature. They stuck it in front of
him when he was busy on something else. And what
this is going to do is turn the black voter,
at least in Galveston County against him because of this
one issue.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Cheryl, I'm in an odd position here. This is where
my wife wishes would I would stop talking, because while
I agree with you that this is politically bad, I
feel like you might think that I am against the
(25:34):
vouchers and that that's why I did this. I am
for vouchers. I'm just not for this voucher program because
this isn't even really a voucher program. A voucher program
of any significance might actually gut some school districts. I
believe that's a good thing. I am not a hug
(25:56):
the school system and throw all the money in the
world at them. Quite the opposite. I believe that the
problem with public education in this country is that it
is overfunded and unaccountable. There is so much money being
poured into our public schools in Texas, so much money
(26:19):
being poured in and more by the day, because it
is not about the education of the children, the growth
and development of the children. You know, we worry about
what books are in the library, and you know, grown
men wearing a bikini to come in and prants around
and show their willy to little kids. But they're also
(26:39):
they're also running massive budgets that get bigger by the year.
Why why does the cost of education increase dramatically? And
everybody says, we've got to do this for the children.
It's for the schools. Got to pay the teachers more.
How much the teachers make I don't know, it's got
to pay them more. Well, what if if we don't
(27:00):
pay the teachers more. What if I say, hold on,
how much are the teachers making. I'd like to know
how much the teachers are making and how many days
a year they work. Teachers are noble. Okay, I'd like
to know how much they make and how many days
of year they were. I didn't realize you hate teachers.
We need teachers. Teachers are like police officers. They're public servants.
(27:24):
We've got to pay them more. Okay. What will be
the point at which we don't have to pay them more?
Is there a number? I don't think we'll ever get there. Nope,
help me out here. What will be the number at
which we don't have to pay them more? We always
have to pay teachers more. We hear that politically, got
(27:46):
to pay the teachers more. Michael, you're scaring me. I
like teachers. Teachers or they give up a lot. You know,
a lot of them buy supplies themselves and bring it
in because the kids don't have money. Okay, how much
do we pay them? Well, we should sure pay a more.
(28:07):
What we ought to do is pay a more. And
the schools are falling down. They are. Yes, you ask
a teacher, they'll tell you that the roofs leak, Oh
my goodness, the doors don't close. The kids don't have supplies,
you know, they have to buy supplies themselves out of
(28:28):
their own pocket. Really, so it's worse than it ever was. Yeah,
well that's odd because we're spending more than we ever did.
It's almost as if pouring more money into the public
schools is not improving the things that are supposed to matter. Hmmm,
what about the administrators? Should we pay the administrators more? Well,
(28:54):
you know, I mean, I don't think that's a big deal.
But we got to pay the teachers more? How much more?
One hundred thousand, let's start them all at a hundred. Well,
you're just being you're just being difficult. Now, No, I
want to know, let's have a minimum wage for teachers
in Texas. I want to know two things. How many
days a year do they teach? And how much are
(29:15):
you going to pay them? Well, that's just I didn't
realize you were against the TA. You're always bragging you
loved your teachers. I did love my teachers, and I
think teaching is a very noble goal. But I think,
like everything else, police officers, military, you want to go
down that road, you want to go down the who's
getting underpaid road? Let's go down that whole path. You
(29:40):
can't just have emotions, and based on emotions, let people
with an alternate agenda run wild with the checkbook because
that's what you're doing. So my position is the vouchers
didn't do enough. Give people control of their money and
where they spend it. Why are we sending money to
(30:01):
schools and then the schools are recruiting kids to come there.
It's a public school. How crazy is this? Nobody's out
begging on a particular street that you drive down this
street because we gave them a bunch of money for
the street and they want to get more. You've created
an incentive for schools to squander their money. You've created
(30:27):
an incentive to get more money constantly. Because remember, it's
not just the taxpayer dog. What nobody factors into this
is the bonds that they float and the new buildings
that they build. You want to build a professional sports
team at your high school, fine, pay for it yourself.
I don't want to pay for Jerry Jones's stadium. I
don't want to pay for yours. That's not what school's
(30:47):
about anyway. You don't need a better stadium to have
a better football team. What the hell? How do we
lose sight of all this? Well, I like to have
a good football team. I'd like to put a garage
on my house, but I can't because the taxes are
being paid to you. You're taking people's money to build
these things because you created a whole industry of people
(31:07):
who float bonds and get paid them muni fees and
get paid all the finance fees on it. You've got
administrators making all this money, and yes, we have to
pay them teachers more. How come well? Because now, why
help tell me how much they make and how many
days a year they work. Somehow you're supposed to be
offended if they do. Wouldn't you like to know? Jim
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