In this episode, we dive into the dynamic and sometimes controversial topic of Texas independence with Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement. We explore the political, cultural, and economic implications of Texas potentially becoming an independent nation. Daniel shares insights into the history and mission of the Texas Nationalist Movement, the legalities of secession, and the practicalities of Texas governing itself independently.
We discuss the current political climate, including the recent election of Donald Trump as President-elect, and how this impacts the movement. Daniel addresses common concerns such as the future of federal military bases in Texas, the fate of Texans serving in the U.S. military, and the economic prospects of an independent Texas.
Listeners will gain an understanding of the potential challenges and benefits of Texas independence, including the handling of Social Security and Medicare, defense strategies, and economic growth. Daniel emphasizes the importance of a referendum and the role of Texans in deciding their future.
Join us for this thought-provoking conversation as we explore the possibilities of Texas reasserting its status as an independent nation.
For more information on the Texas Nationalist Movement visit TNM.me or TEXITNOW.org
You can follow the TNM on X (Twitter).
You can follow Daniel Miller on X (Twitter).
Purchase Daniel's book here
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(00:00:43) Introduction and Current Events
(00:05:34) Texas Nationalist Movement Overview
(00:11:38) Interview with Daniel Miller
(00:34:29) Post-Texit Considerations
(00:52:01) Economic Implications of Texit
(01:04:19) Call to Action and Conclusion
https://www.joerooz.com/support
[00:00:06]
Unknown:
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[00:00:43] Unknown:
Welcome to the podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits. Nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:01:02] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. Welcome to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and it is great to be with you again this week. And, folks, it is Monday, December 2024, and Donald j Trump is the president-elect of The United States. Folks, I wanna wish you a very, very happy Monday. And I know we weren't here last week, and I I do apologize for that. But we had a few things going on, working some stuff here behind the scenes. So, hopefully, you didn't miss us too much. I doubt you did, but that's okay. But we're here today, and, I hope you guys all had a great fantastic week. And can you apps can you believe that we are less than a month away from inauguration day already?
Less than a month away. That is just amazing. I'm excited. The, you know, the insanity of the left, is gonna be out the door. And, I'm I'm looking forward to seeing what Donald Trump is actually gonna do for us here, in These United States. Now, you know, I I I know that things have been crazy for the last four years. You know, what's right has been wrong, what's wrong has been right, black is white, white is black. It's it's, you know, it's it's just been completely, completely upside down. But, and I know that also it's not gonna be a fix that's gonna take place overnight. It's gonna take time to fix this. And I I don't know if he'll be able to do it in two years.
And I say two years because we have midterm elections. You don't know what's gonna happen in the midterms. But, going into this, going into the Oval Office in January, he's gonna have the house. He's gonna have the senate, and, of course, the White House. So the potential to get a lot of work done is there. The question is, will it get done? And we've seen a lot of, pushback, in the last couple of days, you know, from from the Uniparty, from the Rhinos, in the house. I I think we got a huge huge backstabbing by the, the current speaker of the house.
And, and I think he needs to I need to be I think he needs to be vacated. I think they need to take a vote, vacate the seat, and put somebody else in there. A lot of names have been floating around already. I'm I'm I'm not sure, you know, who I would wanna see in that position right now. But one of the names that I would like to see in there would be Byron Donalds, if if possible. I know that, you know, people have been floating Elon Musk, and and it's not improbable or impossible for it to happen. I I'm not sure about the constitutionality of it because of his, of his immigration status, but I I I don't know.
I would have to really kinda look into that a little bit more. It's just something that popped in my head right now. I wasn't even thinking about it before we got on the show. But, you know, it it it's gonna take time. It's gonna take time to turn these things around. I'm I'm hopeful and and I'm prayerful that, that he'll be able to do it in, in the first two years and and really turn things around, because, you know, that there's a there's a growing sentiment out there. And and I know that over the past year, you've heard this phrase, national divorce in the news.
And, and I'm sure you've seen it across your social media platforms, you know, and that that really kinda came about when, representative, Marjorie Taylor Greene, brought it forward, in an ex post that she had made, national divorce. And, you know, believe it or not, states like California, Vermont, New York have all been talking about seceding from the union. And, you know, all in all, I I think if I'm not mistaken, there are there are 25 states that have movements within the states to leave The United States and redeclare their sovereignty. So in other words, there there are 25 states that have enough popular support that if it went to a vote to leave the union, they would probably do so.
Now, of course, of the 25 states that, that that we're talking about, there's one that's probably closer to leaving the union than any other state. And, I'll I'll give you a second to think about which state that is. Yes. You guessed it. You guessed it. The state of Texas. Texas is probably closer to leaving the union than any other state that has been talking about it or at least floated, referendums on it, or or proposals. You know, no matter how you wanna phrase it. Texas is the closest state to that. Alright. Now, what we're gonna do today is, when we come back from our break and and in just a few minutes, when we come back, we're gonna sit down with the current president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, Daniel Miller. Now, you might be asking yourself that what's the Texas Nationalist Movement? I've not heard of them. Believe it or not, the Texas Nationalist Movement is a is a very popular, organization right now in in the state of Texas, over 600,000, membership at at this point. And, what the Texas Nationalist Movement does or is, it's a movement that, that's looking to to return the right of self government, that's looking to return the right of self determination to Texans, and make Texas a free and independent prosperous nation once again. And, you know, I'll I'll yeah. Full disclosure.
Full disclosure here. I am a member and I am a supporter of the Texas Nationalist Movement. So, when we sit down with, with with Daniel Miller, I I really do hope that you, that you enjoy the chat that we're that we're gonna have. It was, you know, I've spoken to him a few times, have his book. Really smart guy, and I'm really looking forward to, to getting into this conversation. And I and I hope that you're gonna get something out of it. I hope you're gonna learn something out of it. And, what we're gonna be doing also is up on our website, we're gonna put information directing you to the Texas Nationalist Movement and, and how you could, register your support. And, we're looking forward to getting into that discussion with Daniel, when we come back from the break. Now, before we get into all of that, though, I wanna tell you about one of our sponsors, ArmoryOne.
ArmoryOne provides Texas license to carry certification and leverages over thirty years of military and law enforcement experience in instructing students in the safe use of firearms. Omry one also offers numerous courses in self defense with a handgun, active shooter preparedness, home defense, and so much more. Right now, you can get 50% off all Omry one gift certificates redeemable for for a private range time, training, or merchandise. And when you do check them out at armory1.com, be sure to mention that you heard it here on the podcast. And when you do that, OMRI one is gonna take a a don't a portion of the of, of your purchase and donate it to the show.
And now it's not gonna change the price of of whatever it is you're purchasing. It's not gonna add anything to it. It's not coming out of your pocket. He's taking that out of the purchase price of what you're buying. So visit armory1.com, armory 1 Com, and get more information about this in upcoming classes. That's armory1.com. Now, also, don't forget to head over to our website, joerusiello.com. And when you get there, look for that contact form. And why don't you open that thing up, send us over a message. Let us know any questions, comments, cares, concerns that you might have, any any issues that might be coming to mind, any suggestions for future guests, you know, let us know. Let us know what you're thinking. We want you guys to be involved in all this. Also, while you're on the website, if you would, look for the look for the, support page that we have set up and, you know, click that support button.
You can do it in two ways. We have a donation tab. You can you can get a or donation button, I should say, that you can click on. And we also have a button that you can click on for, donating cryptocurrencies. Satoshis. So, so just head over to the website, look for the support page, and get on there and and help us out here. Alright? You have to remember that this is a value for value podcast. And, really all that means is that if you've received anything of value from what we've been doing here, what we're asking you to do is to return that value in the form of a donation. You can make a one time donation in any amount that you feel appropriate. You can also donate your time and you can donate your talent.
But if you set up a monthly recurring contribution, a monthly recurring donation of $17 and $17.76 cents, that's $17.76, you will receive an associate producer credit. And that means that you'll get a shout out every show, and your name is gonna be listed in the show notes as an associate producer for every show. But that's not all. If you set up a monthly recurring donation of $18.36, you'll receive producer credit. And that means a shout out every show, Your name will be listed in the show notes as a producer in every show. And then finally, and this is new. We we we just starting this one now. Any monthly recurring donation of $25 or more gets all the perks of the other two, except you get the coveted executive producer credit.
So folks, take advantage of the opportunity here. Get involved and help keep this show going and improving. Click that support button and help us out. Alright, folks. So this is the the podcast with Joe Ricciel. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show, and, we'll be back right after this short, very short break. Stay with us.
[00:10:58] Unknown:
Do you blame all your problems on Trump? Do you have blue hair and a bunch of metal in your face? Do you not know what a woman is and confused about your gender? Good news. You have TDS, and it's a very treatable condition. Please take the time to find a mental health professional near you and prepare yourself for all the lies you've been told. When you finally recover, the rest of reality would love to welcome you back. Warning, severe TBS can cause rapid tearing and tearing outbursts, being dumped by your partner, and brain damage from too much hair dye may also cause severe butthurt and nonsensical outburst that make everyone around you know you're stupid.
[00:11:37] Unknown:
Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the cofounder of Goodpods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Goodpods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than 2,000,000 podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure out what to listen to. On Goodpods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Goodpods on the web or download the app. Happy listening.
[00:12:17] Unknown:
Alright, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and, man, I hope you're excited for this this, this segment that we're gonna be doing here. As you know, we've been interviewing quite a few different people over the course of the the last several weeks. We've spoken to, some content creators. We've spoken to, we've spoken to some local politicians. We had the city manager for Eagle the former city manager of Eagle Pass on a couple weeks ago. And then we also, we had, some tech folks on. We have another, tech person coming up. We'll be talking to, to, the the founder of, Albi, which is a, a Bitcoin hub that you could use. And, it's it's it's geared toward podcasters.
So, it's a it's a great tool, and we're gonna be talking to him next week. Oh, I'm sorry, two weeks. But coming up this week, I have with me right now, sitting on the other side of that screen, a guy that I've been looking forward to, talking to for for since at least 02/2016. And, we have some history on this one. And, in full disclosure, I am a I am a member of his organization. And, so so yeah. So we're we've been looking forward to this. So I have with me right now, I have Daniel Miller, who is a, sixth generation Texan, technology consultant, a best selling author, which I did order your book. It's on its way. And, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement.
He's also an outspoken advocate for Texas independence since 1996. And, he is considered the, the founder of the modern day Texas movement. Daniel, welcome to the podcast. How are you tonight? I'm great, Joe. Thanks for having me. No. This is this is great, man. I I've been so looking forward to this. You know, I I believe in the mission of the Texas nationalist movement. I did that even out when I was, you know, a Yankee up in New York. You know, but, I I It's aspirations. I understand. Yeah. Well, of course. Absolutely. Absolutely.
But, one of the one of the questions that I I wanted to ask you is, what what brought about the Texas Nationalist Movement? Like, what was the what was the the point where it started? Like, what did it?
[00:14:27] Unknown:
You know, it's it's interesting. I mean, it's it's a bit of a history. I'm not gonna go through the whole thing, but, you know, the TNM was founded back in 02/2005. And, you know, the the short version of the story is is that it was really the culmination of about a two year study, in research from about a half dozen people that were really committed to seeing Texas become a self governing independent nation. And, you know, you you go back to the time before that, there were people out there advocating for it. There were, some I think if you loosen up the definition of the term group, you could say there were some groups that were out there that were in alignment with that idea that Texas should be independent. We knew there were a lot of people out there that weren't like us, but for some reason, nothing ever really took hold. I mean, no no legitimate organization that was really making any progress stepped up. They just didn't exist.
So, you know, about a half dozen of us, said, look, we look around the world. We know that since the second World War that, you know, we grew from about 54 recognized fully sovereign countries at the end of World War two, up to at at the time when we started the research, we were, I think, a little over a 95, maybe one ninety six. And so, you know, that's a growth of a 40 brand new self governing independent nations around the world, and and somehow they were able to do it. You know, you look around the world, and the vast majority of self governing independent nations have far less than what we have here in Texas. Mhmm. Not not necessarily I mean, they were not on paper well suited to be independent before they gained independence. So, you know, we we dove in feet first, man. I mean, we just jammed right into it. And we said, look, let's let's look at these 140 since World War two. Let's go back furthering history. Let's look at the issue of self determination and independence. Let's look at the political motivators. Let's look at the organizations, what they did, how they did it.
We looked at ones, you know, beyond that and not just ones that succeeded, but we looked at a whole slew of them that had failed. And we said, okay. Look. Out of this, you know, let's let's see what we can see. Let's see if any of this is applicable to us. And and, you know, if it it it can be repurposed or retooled for what we're trying to accomplish, which is Texas independence. And so that's what we did for two and a half years. We took that. We are two really two and a half years. But we took that information. We we played it into a a bunch of data and projections and research over Texas politics and the way the electorate was and, more polling numbers than you could possibly imagine. And what what it came with the culmination of all of that work was the foundation of the Texas nationalist movement with the mission to secure and protect the political, cultural, and economic independence of the nation of Texas. And so, from that moment, in February, we've been executing
[00:17:50] Unknown:
the the plan and the strategy that we concocted all those years ago. Oh, wow. I didn't know that much about the history that far back. That's that's that's incredible. But I have a quick question though for you about that, that just popped into my mind. What's the difference between what the T and M is looking for and what, this this group that I've I've learned about, called the Republic of Texas? Are you familiar with them? Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:18:15] Unknown:
And the group calling itself the Republic of Texas now is as much as they would like to, you know, say that they are that same continuation of that that group that was back in the nineties. There is a fundamental difference. And the fundamental difference is is we're not running around trying to play government, pretending like, you know, we're, elected officials when, you know, a dozen people voted for us. Right? We're a legitimate political political and social movement. You know, we're we're we you could be classified as a mass movement. I guess we could be. Trying to do this in accordance with article one, section two of the Texas constitution.
You know, we're not we're not playing government, and that's that's a key difference here. I I fundamentally look at what they're doing, the approach that they're taking, and I find it I find it almost indistinguishable from the sort of tyranny that we get out of Washington DC. You know, we look in our chief criticism of Washington DC as we're sick and tired of having policies forced on us by people we didn't elect. Well, that's sort of the same thing. We believe that governments govern by consent of the government. We believe article one section two of the Texas constitution that says all political powers inherent in the people, and it's the people that have the inalienable right to reform, alter, or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient.
And so, you know, that's that's, I think, really the fundamental difference. It's fundamental difference of approach. Okay.
[00:19:48] Unknown:
Alright. Well, what what I did also, as and we talked a little bit before we we started this, but, is, I I I took the opportunity to go around and and talk to some folks, that I that I work with and and and that I know in the community here and and so on. And, just to gather some sense. And the question I asked them was, if they if they were in my spot right now sitting here talking to you, what questions would they have? And, so, I'm gonna go through some of those questions with you right now, if you don't mind. And, I think some of them are pretty interesting. Some of them, you know, you can easily find information on on the the t and m website and, and get the information from.
So, one of the first questions that that that came up to me was, can Texas legally leave the Union of States?
[00:20:35] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. You know, it's I I will tell you, until I understood, in the early to mid nineties until I really understood the relationship of the states and the federal government. Because, you know, they don't teach it in in school. No. You know, they they don't they don't teach it. So and that's no slam against, you know, my old alma mater, but, you know, I didn't get it in the high school or middle school. I didn't get it in college. You know, they there was not this big emphasis. But once I understood that and I understood article one section two of the Texas constitution, which I just quoted, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that it was not only, I mean, legal. What what does that even mean, you know, in in this particular sense?
And and here's here's the basic rundown. Right? But but I think it opens up a much larger question that that I wanna get to, and it's this. If you look, the constitution is a document that lines out what the federal government can and cannot do. Mhmm. Right? It's it's it's a document. The states created the federal government. The constitution is that governing document that governs the relationship between the states and a federal system. Right. Consequently, article one section two excuse me. Article one section 10 of the US Constitution contains a list of the things that states are forbidden from doing. Right. K? So, you know, coining money, declaring war, engaging in, you know, foreign agreement. I mean, you know, it's those things that have effectively been specifically delegated to the federal system.
What's not on that list is withdrawing from the union, withdrawing our membership. That's not in the list. It's something that's forbidden. Well, pretty clear, the tenth amendment to the constitution, which had to be added, unless they were gonna be down some, members before they ever got started, is very clear that any powers not delegated to the federal government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states and to the people. K? So Right. What does that mean? That means if the constitution is silent in its prohibition to the states, then it is a power reserved to the states. And so that brings you to article one section two in a post civil war constitution.
I might add it. Our constitution here in Texas is from 1876, the one that we have now. And and it's very clear when it says that the people have the inalienable right to alter, reform, or abolish their government such manner as they may think expedient. So it is a power that is ultimately reserved to the to in Texas, to the people of the state of Texas to deter determine whether or not we wanna continue in a relationship with the federal government. Some people may bring up Texas versus White. I'm I could spend an hour on that. I'm not gonna take up all your time, but the point here is is that Texas versus White is deader than Judas Iscariot. Okay? Yes. I mean, it's just it's pretty pathetic.
Mhmm. There it's indefensible, and and I just put it that way. And some people may say, well, that doesn't matter. That's what the Supreme Court said. But I just I cast it to you this way. Let's take a look at the second amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. Second amendment to the US constitution. Right to keep and bear arms or, you know, the let's take a look at the first amendment with its protections for speech and assembly and worship. K? How you you can work according to the dictates of your conscience. K? Right. If tomorrow, Congress passed a law or the Supreme Court rendered a decision that said that, you know, that said you have to turn in your firearms.
No ifs, ands, or buts. You have to do it. Or if Congress passed a law and said that we're all now Scientologists, and you know, and the Supreme Court upheld that law, what would your reaction be? Right? What because we look at those rights as inalienable. Mhmm. They can't they can't be taken away by government because government didn't grant them. Correct. You know, we don't have constitutional rights. We have rights that are enumerated in the constitution, but those government didn't create those rights. So, you know, how would we react if the federal government infringed on one of those inalienable rights? Well, it just so happens one of the keywords in article one section two that I mentioned a moment ago is the people have at all times the inalienable, inalienable right Right. To alter, reform, or abolish your government. And it and it gets down to the fundamental right of self government. Who you know, and and what I said earlier, governments govern only by consent of the governed. So, I wouldn't care if they pass 10,000 laws against Texas withdrawing from the union. If the people of Texas go to a lawfully constituted referendum and vote that they want their independence, then it doesn't matter what anybody says. It's not their decision. It's ours.
[00:25:32] Unknown:
Alright. Now you mentioned, a referendum. Now I I know that the TNM has been working on that, to get a referendum a referendum passed. And then I just come close. So where are we now with that? How how is it looking with with the with the news the new,
[00:25:48] Unknown:
with the with the new season coming up in the legislation? Yeah. The new the new legislative session. Yeah. Look, it's it'll by far be the best session that we've ever had, but I I think it's it's important. Look, we we can talk about the referendum, but it's important to understand the referendum is part of the process. It's not the process. It's part of the process. And so, you know, there have been we have, you know, ever since Bitterman filed thirteen fifty nine two sessions back, you know, that was that wasn't our first attempt to get the bill filed. We had to do a lot of leg work from 02/2009 all the way to that session just to get to that point.
And, you know, we got it filed last session. And this session is looking even better for us, simply because we've got more t and m aligned legislators in the Texas legislature than we've ever had before. We've shifted the Overton window on the discussion about whether or not Texans should be able to vote on this issue. And that's ultimately the the question that I think all of these people, whether they're for or against or on the fence, they have to answer is, what are you afraid of? Why are you afraid to put the question to the people of Texas? I would I would posit to you that anyone who is afraid of letting the people of Texas vote on the issue, is already aware in their minds of what the outcome will be. And I will tell you that no one who has for Texas is against having a referendum.
It's only the people that are against independence Yes. That are against having a referendum. And I and I was gonna actually, I was gonna make a point on that as well. The exact point you just made, what they're afraid of is losing that power and that control. Well, they will. Look, they'll if this goes on the ballot, it wins. I mean, there's just there's not there's not a a loss here. And I don't think it's Joe's it's not even gonna be close. You know, we're not gonna squeak in the, you know, 5644 territory.
You know, we're not gonna be like, you know, Scott the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 where they came in at, like, 47, 40 eight percent. You know, it's not gonna be a bear I mean, this is gonna be extraordinarily lopsided in our favor, and it's just it's simple. The I mean, the rationale for this is simple. The question that we wanna put to the people of Texas is this, should the state of Texas reassert its status as an independent nation? It's a very simple question. But what what this question for Texans does is it gives them an opportunity to take a a a look at the fundamental issues of governance that they don't get a chance to look at every two to four years. Right? Right. And and it lets them kick over a lot of rocks. And and I gotta tell you, it's easy to make our case for independence. Right? We're the eighth largest economy in the world. We're I mean, you know, you can go through all those positives, but the easiest case in the world to make is, look, right now if Texas was a self governing independent nation, and we had control over our own immigration and border policy, we had our own military and defense policy, our own currency and monetary and taxation policy, we had everything that 200 other countries around the world have. And instead of talking about withdrawing, this was a discussion about whether or not we should give up that control and join the union. Knowing everything you know about the federal government right now, would you vote to join?
And and, you know, that's that's the case. The case to be made is one of, do we believe that we're best to govern taxes or the two and a half million unelected federal bureaucrats in a dysfunctional federal system that's plunges into $36,000,000,000,000 worth of debt. You know, who is that? Imagine if you were on the opposite side of this thing, Joe, and you had to go make the case for why Texas should stay in the union. You know? What what does that look like? How do you sell that turd sandwich?
[00:29:37] Unknown:
I don't know how you would because I don't think Texas should be part of the union. So I cut I can't even think of it in that in that regard. And and, you you talk about immigration policy, you know, I live I live in Eagle Pass. I'm right here on the border. We, you know, we have this open porous border. You know, I appreciate everything that that governor Abbott's been doing to try to secure the border down here. It it's I I've I've been living here for eight years, and I've seen the change. I've seen the difference since the the current administration took over and and threw the doors open. You know, it's, you see you see these these illegals coming through. You see them lining up. There there's a gas station not too far from where I am. You and sometimes in the early morning when I'm on my way to my regular job, you'll see them all lined up by the gas station. They're all holding that same yellow envelope and this unmarked white bus pulls up, you know, those big, tour buses.
And they load them all up and then they're gone. So you you you see this coming through. You see, you know, people that are are just wandering the neighborhoods here. It's it's a very dangerous thing, what we have going on here. And I I firmly believe that, even if, even with the incoming administration, I think the damage has been done. I don't think there's gonna be anything that's gonna be able to really, to fix the problem. Yeah. Mass mass deportations is sounds like a great idea. Is it really gonna happen? Can it really happen? You know, you don't we don't know where where more than how what's the estimate? 15,000,000 people?
[00:31:13] Unknown:
Oh, it's it's it's enormous. And I don't think and those numbers are even projections. I I don't think those numbers even really scratch the surface, because they're, you know, they're estimates by and large. Right. You know, all they can track is is what they've had contact with. Beyond that, you know, how many more slip through? But look. This is what you're saying gets down fundamentally to the issue, which is, to quote my my departed mother, I wouldn't trust him in an outhouse with a muzzle on. You know, if if you believe that if you have it's like I told this this reporter from the epic times today.
You know, he he he asked the question about whether or not we, you know, we were seeing that people had because of Trump's election, we, you know, we're running into people that had this this renewed confidence in the federal government. And I and I tell them, look, man. The the only the only prerequisite to having increased confidence in the federal government is a head injury. Mhmm. Right? I mean, that's that's literally it because, look, the federal government, everything they touch goes bad, and and that goes for the border and immigration. And so I while I appreciate the fact that some people may feel like you're gonna get some some okay policy from the federal government with Trump in office related to the border and immigration, The reality has shown us.
My my first interaction down at the border where I got to see how bad it really was was 02/2001, where I went down to do relief work at at a ranch down there from a a property owner in Webb County, whose ranch had been overrun. You know, it was just, essentially the thing. Fence is cut, you know, you know, whatever. And so we've got on there, we we would help out. Okay? And and what I saw then, where we're at now is magnitudes of order worse, and it was bad then. I mean, really bad. So, you know, if you follow the trajectory, the trajectory has been that the federal government is going to do absolutely nothing substantive about the border and immigration. Right. We're not gonna get that we're gonna not gonna get substantive change. It's just not where it is. There's too much organizational inertia where where the federal government is concerned to make that happen. And so for Texas, there's only one way that we're ever going to get control of immigration in in the border, and that is to do it as a self governing, independent, sovereign nation. Because sovereign nations have the right to set their own immigration policy and control their own borders. Right. And that and, of course, that ties into defense issues. And one of the bigger questions that I've gotten,
[00:34:01] Unknown:
in in doing my little survey Mhmm. Was, you know, what would, how would it how would Texas be able to I'm trying to find my note, it just disappeared off my screen. The what will come of all the federal military bases that are here, and and then how, of course, would we defend ourselves? That was that was the question, one of the bigger questions that came about aside from the immigration stuff.
[00:34:29] Unknown:
Right. And, and I'll tell you, look, those are those are post Texas questions that touch on a little bit of the tail end of the process where we secure our independence. So the assumption is is we have voted. People of Texas have said we want out. Mhmm. And what happens then is we go through four stages. Right? We have to deal with four issues, constitutional issues, statutory issues, international covenants, treaties, and agreements, and finally negotiated issues with the federal government. K? So wanna just get that out there so we have a baseline to start from. Because the answer to this deals in in really speculation.
K? Because we don't know what the people of Texas are going to decide. But I think we can make some pretty good estimates, pretty solid probabilities. K? So understand, right now as it stands, every self governing independent nation in the world is responsible for their own defense. It's just the way that it is. Right? And so that means when you take out the globe and you spin it around and you put your finger on any land mass that is populated, you know, Antarctica doesn't count. Okay. What you're gonna find is a country that has had to deal with issues like defense and currency and all all of these sorts of things. K?
So that being said, the short answer is how will Texas defend itself in in the way that every other country does. Right? I mean, it's just that that's the short answer. The drill down for that is is people generally don't realize how close Texas is already to being in that position. Right? Texas already has its own military. A lot of people don't even realize we have what's called the Texas military department. It's made up of two branches, three branches. It's the Army National Guard, the Air National Guard, and the Texas State Guard. K? So those are those are Texas soldiers. Right? They the the two that I mentioned, formerly, those two are, under bifurcated command, but all three as part of the Texas military department are already under the command of the state with the governor as the commander in chief.
K? So super important to understand that Texas already has established a a budget for those things, and and the National Guard units are supplemented by the federal government simply because they can be called in the federal service. Mhmm. But the Texas State Guard is all is 100% funded already by Texans for Texas. Right? So it's important to understand that that's where where we already are. And, you know, to quote from Napoleon's military maxims, to to have an army, you have to start with a competent corps of officers. And that's where we are. In other words, the the maxim here is you have to have the framework if you intend to build an army from scratch. You have to start with something. Well, we've got a lot more than just something. We've got a full blown military already.
So the question then becomes, well, how how does that play out post Texas? Well, I mean, it could play out in any number of ways. Right. If we go and say, you know, hit go go for the 2% of GDP for defense spending, right, which is the NATO floor Mhmm. Allegedly, not saying we're gonna join NATO, but that's the NATO floor. That's the defense spending target as percentage of GDP. It's 2%. Well, that would put Texas as the eleventh, most well funded military in the entire world. K? If if we shot for for 2%. If we went for 4% of GDP, which is where on the books the federal government is generally at 4% of GDP, we would have the fifth most well funded military in the world.
But an independent Texas is probably not about force projection, which is where a lot of The United States comes in. Right? They're they're projecting force. So our military spending being focused entirely on defense won't have to be nearly as much. K? There are some components that we will probably wanna engage in. You know, maybe some next generation fighters for our air force, perhaps even a deep water navy to a certain extent. Mhmm. But, you know, I find those things, you know, those are things that have a tendency to to get squared away. The the key thing here is we have the Texas military department that we can already pour those resources into Right. Actually, even before we get our independence.
So that that's key. But the to your first question, which is what will happen in the military basis, that's another aspect of that transition process. Right? Post referendum where we get into negotiated issues. So by by international law and custom and convention, at the moment that Texas is officially independent, those things belong to us. They they belong to us outright. They the federal government can technically lay no claim to them, and that includes Johnson Space Center in Houston. Right. Those things. I mean, all of that belongs to us. And there's actually sort of historically a funny story about that where, during the second second Quebec referendum, when it looked like they were going to win, the the starting the day of the referendum when the actual vote was being held because it looked like Quebec was actually gonna cross the finish line. The Canadian military began shipping all their equipment and assets out of Quebec because they understood that point of international law that if it's here and that referendum goes through, we may lose title to it. So I gotcha.
But but that being said, you know, we don't have to be mercenary or jerks about it. Right? There are a lot of things that that could transpire. If Texas is gonna have a military, we're gonna need military bases. Those military bases would technically belong to us, the land would, even though a lot of them were either reservation or lease by the federal government. But those things, you know, those things revert back to ownership for us, And the federal gov those federal military bases will be Texas military bases where we will have to house Texas military troops. But there's nothing saying that we don't, enter into a a mutual defense pact with The United States, and house both troops there. You know, we still will have common defense concerns Right. And and national security concerns. We we will still have a lot of those same things with the federal government. So cooperation post tax it is almost an inevitability.
There will be very likely a mutual defense compact. There will very likely be, you know, some sort of, I'm not gonna say NATO, but at least,
[00:41:16] Unknown:
at least an agreement between Texas and The United States for that for defense purposes. Right. It would be something similar to what The United States is already involved with with with stationing troops in every other country around the world.
[00:41:29] Unknown:
Yeah. And, you know, ultimately, that's up to the people of Texas. Look. If the people of Texas say they don't want that, they want them gone gone, baby, gone. I mean, I I'm just one of 30,000,000 Texans. You know? I can I can guess and project what the people of Texas might want? Mhmm. But, you know, depending on how the federal government behaves during this process, the people of Texas may just say, look, you know, we thought about maybe, you know, having this as a joint base, but actually, we'd be a lot more comfortable if you were in Oklahoma. Yeah.
[00:42:00] Unknown:
I agree. And, you know, you actually touched on a couple of the other questions that came about there, so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go into those. But, one of the other questions that came up is, what happens to, to Texas, soldiers serving in the US military at post Texas? Again, just just to back up for one second. Sure. The the fact that the the types of questions that I've gotten, to me, they're all they are all post texted questions, which makes me think that people that just the average person on the street knows that this is a very, very good possibility, and that's why they're thinking of these questions.
[00:42:40] Unknown:
Oh, look, Joe. I mean and, you know, we'll we'll talk about the soldiers thing, but but you just hit on something that I think is is pretty fascinating. Right? Because people there are people out there, particularly opposition, who say that Texan will never happen. And we tell them all the time, you're not paying attention because Texan is already happening, because Texan is the process. And and part of that process and, you know, and we were able to divine out a good bit of this from, you know, that that two two and a half year study ahead of the formation of the T and M is you you see the shift in mindset, right, where you know that you're about to be on the winning side of this thing When people switch flips and it goes from being an impossible to a possible to a probable, I better prepare. Mhmm.
And and I think that's that's where we went from. We went from, you know, can text it really happen or no. It can't really happen to, you know, this other about well, you know, but if it happens here, all these problems to people going, look, you know, if this is gonna happen, I sure would like to know practically how this thing goes down.
[00:43:46] Unknown:
And it's just it's kinda where where we are in the discussion. It's a good place to be. Yeah. It's a great place. I you know, it it's exciting, to be honest with you, you know. And, so I I guess we kinda answered the question already about what would happen with, with soldiers serving in the United States Army. They would, of course, be re they would come back to Texas, and they would serve in Texas.
[00:44:04] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, Texans that are serving in the military and and look, again, you know, you don't wanna be jerky in a in a negotiation like this. Right? This transition negotiation. Mhmm. Because disruption and instability are are your your main enemies post independence vote. Right? And that that's economically, socially, politically. So you wanna you wanna make this process as as smooth and as painless and as non disruptive as possible. So you take an issue like the military. Right? The US military might have some serious problems, in two ways. K? So it kinda puts them in a in a weird situation.
Because if they've got Texans that are serving in the military under contract, because of the sheer number of Texans that are in the military, and I think the the last statistic was one in somewhere between one in five and one in six Wow. Were from Texas. K? If that's the case, if they were to just purge all the Texas troops, and and send them to the house, I mean, that means that all of a sudden 15 to 20% of their, defense capacity just goes out the window the next day. So there is a compulsion to, number one, probably have them stay, but number two, be really nervous about having a bunch of people whose state just withdrew from the union still in their military. So Right. I mean, it's a it's a a pretty difficult position that we're in. And and I'm pretty sure the disposition of Texans in the military or non Texans that are stationed in Texas is gonna be a a pretty, I imagine that's gonna show up on the negotiating table, early in the process.
[00:45:47] Unknown:
I, I I I would imagine so. I I look, even even in in the, the War of Independence, you know, the the British didn't just pack up the the next day and leave. I mean, there was a transition process. It was, you know. You almost never historically
[00:46:02] Unknown:
see that situate even in the even in the situations with violent revolution, you know, where they have effectively thrown out, someone, you know, which are actually a a much smaller fraction than the opposition would, lead you to believe, you know, where violence settle it. I mean, welcome to the twenty first century people. But, you know, even across all of these, you know, you see that there is this this overlap period, you know, where look. We we've settled this out, and now what we're gonna do is we're gonna implement out what that plan is. And and these things, they they do take time. You know, not every British soldier was gone out of the colonies, after, you know, they signed the treaty. Right? I mean, it's they they weren't. It just it these things take time. So
[00:46:51] Unknown:
what about what about folks who are dependent upon Medicare and Social Security and and so on and so forth?
[00:46:58] Unknown:
Yeah. As you might imagine, used to be the most asked question that I got. Okay. So, so let me let me just, allay the fears. Right? Because the opposition loves to say that Texas means that we're gonna let grandma die in a ditch. And and if you think that that's me being hyperbolic, I I've heard them literally say it. Okay? So, this is the kind of fear tactics that they use. Okay? But here's the reality. So let's take these two things separately. You've got Social Security on one hand, and you've got Medicare on the other. Social Security is an is an earned benefit. Right? So you no so when when you reach the age to draw, no matter where you live, with the exception of a handful of really volatile countries that are typically under banking sanctions due to terrorist activities or, you know, financing terrorism or something along those lines, you can collect your Social Security. It really is more an issue of, can can your check be deposited in that foreign bank account more than it is anything else.
So, you know, think about how many expats have retired out, that are on Social Security pension benefits, and they move to Mexico or they move to another country where the standard of living is less. They so their money goes further. Well, that tells you right there that just because Texas withdraws from the union doesn't mean seniors lose their Social Security. You know, those work credits stay there. So Texas is not a threat to Social Security, but what is a threat to the social to Social Security is the federal government. That's right. Yes. You know, when they're the one they're the ones that are projecting that Social Security program will be effectively bankrupt by 2033. So, and they keep edging that date ever closer, to the point that they're either gonna have to tax, the the young people, far more to fill money into that Fonzi scheme, then, you know, people could ever these young people won't be able to work enough hours to fund it. So something will give. Right? So that the federal government is the biggest threat. But so Social Security that's the so the answer to the Social Security question no matter where you live. K? The the, the answer to the Medicare question is is a little bit different. Right? Because Medicare is administered in a very different way.
What we have now is we have a situation where the money for Medicare goes into the Medicare trust fund. And and, actually, the Medicare trust fund is far more solvent than the actual pension fund for Social Security. And so part of the part of what will need to happen in relation to Medicare will be have to happen at the negotiating table. As Texans have paid into that trust fund, whatever funds Texans have paid into it should come back out and and come here. They will very likely, if, you know, if they were to acquiesce to that plan, essentially block granite to us, kick it back with the promise that it will go toward that similar sort of program for seniors right now.
On the other hand, Texas could effectively cut its losses and just say, look. Here's the deal. We don't care if you cut off Social Security. We don't care if you cut off Medicare because here's what we're gonna do. Instead of overpaying you a hundred and 3 to a hundred and 60 billion dollars every single solitary year, we're gonna keep that money here. Right. And we're gonna pour that money into this these programs to keep them afloat, because, you know, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that's how much money we overpay on an annual basis into the federal system. You know, so just take take Social Security for instance. If they didn't pay a dime, if we just said, you know what? Keep your keep your checks in DC.
We got this. That amounts to about $74,000,000,000 annually in pension benefit payments here and and Social Security payments here in Texas. So that, you know, that covers that all in. Well, you take that out of the hundred and 3, a hundred $60,000,000,000, and not only do we cover all of those chips on the table that those guys welched on, but we've got enough to lower the burden for every taxpayer in Texas and do something crazy like a I don't know, eliminate property tax or something along those lines. That would be lovely. So, you know, that's that's the beautiful part about it.
You know, Social Security and Medicare, not gonna be serious issues for us. There will be some haggling in negotiations over those sorts of things, but, seniors have absolutely no reason to be nervous or scared about this situation. Alright.
[00:51:39] Unknown:
What about, now we already said that Texas is, right now, on its own, it's it's the eleventh largest economy in the world? We're the eighth now. Eighth eighth now. Yeah. So by by separating from the from the from the union, how would that, improve Texas's economy?
[00:52:02] Unknown:
I think in in major ways. Right? And and one of the things I I cited in the book, is I talk about, the the two studies that were done out of George Mason University about the negative economic impact of, of, federal regulatory accumulation. Right? Basically, if something sits still long enough or thinks about moving, the federal government roll out a regulation to somehow regulate it. Right? And that's just the thing. So there was this the study that was done, George, with two separate ones that showed what the the negative economic impact of that was. And and, essentially, what they showed was that because of federal regulatory accumulation accumulate, you know, regulations piling one right on top of the other year after year, it causes a 2% annual compression of GDP.
Well, when you compress that every 2% year on year, you get this cumulative effect, which effectively means that throughout the duration of that time, it means that, you know, the tail end of the whip take us to modern times. Texans are basically taking home about 15% of what they should be taking because of federal regulatory commission that chews up everything, increases the cost of goods and services, etcetera. So, you know, you you take that out of the equation. You take the ridiculous federal regulations out of the equation, and all of a sudden now you're looking at effectively about a 600% pay rise for everyone. Right? So, you know, take your paycheck and go six x, and eventually, that's the value that comes back to you. Now that's not day one. Right? But but you do that. Or, you know, look at the effect of the hundred and 3 to hundred and $60,000,000,000 overpayment that I mentioned a moment ago. You know, that money comes out of our pockets and goes up to Washington DC, and it never comes back into our economies.
But you take all of that nonsense out of the equation with the federal government and you keep that hundred and 3 to hundred and $60,000,000,000 in your pocket, what does that do for your personal economy? What does that do for your personal finances? What does that mean for your saving or your spending? What does what is the effect of dumping another let's just average about a hundred and 30, you know, billion dollars annually into the you know, circulating that through the Texas economy. What does that look like? Well, I could tell you it don't look bad. You know, so you take the federal government out of the equation.
You have Texas with its own currency that's not over inflated, that's pegged to actual value. Mhmm. And you keep Texas taxpayers money in their pockets and circulating through the economy, and now we're not the eighth largest economy in the world. We're the, you know, the sixth or the fifth. I mean, that's the reality that we're looking at. Opportunity and prosperity like Texas has never seen before.
[00:54:50] Unknown:
That would be amazing. And, you know, it's it's I I think that, that's something that that folks that are against Texas or or against, Texas independence, they they look at that. I'm talking about the political class, the the ones that are that are really connected with Washington, that that are really just they just tow the line, you know, that they don't they don't have an original thought of their own. They they do whatever the party tells them, however the party tells them, whenever the party tells them. They're afraid of unleashing that power.
[00:55:26] Unknown:
Oh, a hundred percent. I mean, that's that's the the the reality of it, Joe, is that, you know, the you have to look at at really what the position is here. Right? This is not a right versus left, Republican versus Democrat. This is just this is a people versus the political establishment. That's the real paradigm. And so, you know, this goes back to the debate that we will have to have during the referendum. And understand that when people are against Texas, that means, you know, there there are no neutrals in this in this fight. Right? There are there are no people that could be neutral on this issue because, you know, unless unless someone is out there positing something very different than the existing status quo, then on the text at issue, you were either for independence or you are for the status quo. Right? You're you don't get to nobody gets to sit on the sidelines for this thing.
And so supporting the status quo means supporting the the gas prices or the grocery store prices or unrestricted immigration or, you know, a a broken system. I mean, you know, two and a half million unelected federal bureaucrats. It's like, you know, you got 440 separate federal agencies right now. And I know everybody's super high on the fact that Elon Musk and Vivek are gonna talk about chopping it down to 99. But do we need to be under the thumb of 99 federal agencies? You know? Right. You know, it at the moment, you just treat it like a number and not look at it for its real impacts. Well, then then you've effectively bought into the fact that, well, you know, the federal government can be trusted, and I'm just not there. No. I'm not either. You can. It's especially
[00:57:09] Unknown:
which is another issue altogether, talking about this drone activity going on over there. You know, and the stories coming out of the government. You don't you can't trust any of that stuff. You can't believe them. You know? It's like I saw a meme somewhere. It says, you know, about UFOs. It's like, I wanna believe until the government got involved. You know? Yes. But, I was gonna ask you something and I just flipped that on my line. I I guess but okay. Back to the constitution. Talking about 99, government agencies, you know, whether it's 400 and plus or it's 99. The constitution of The United States only has 13 enumerated powers.
And look where we are now.
[00:57:49] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, it's it's You you give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Of course. You know, and that's I mean, this is why this is why we're at in the situation that we're in right now. You know, I would honestly, Joe, I would rather not have to be talking about Texas becoming an independent nation. But here's the thing. I live here. I have children. Now I have a grandchild. I have family. I have neighbors. I have people that I care about. And so, you know, I have to look at what what the most realistic path is to get all these things done. You know, it's like I I I liken it to the story about Alexander the Great and the Gordian knot, you know, where they had this this Turks head knot or whatever it's called that, you know, no one could ever untie the thing. And they the legend was the person who could untie it would be the ruler of Asia. Mhmm. And Alexander cuts in comes in with his sword and he cuts the Gordian knot. And it's like done. You know? Yes. I I look at it I look at it that way. You know? I I'm not looking for, you know, reform out of the federal government because they have proven that the federal system has proven that it is immune to reform.
And and if anyone out there thinks that I'm I'm being a doomsayer, please understand that if you've been through enough presidential elections and congressional elections and heard every one of them promise to make it better, then look back on that track record and ask yourself, has it? Right. Right? Yeah. You know, they talk about politics being a pendulum, but it's not. It's a ratchet.
[00:59:21] Unknown:
Especially when you have career politicians that have been have been sitting there in Washington, in the senate, in the congress, you know, for twenty, thirty years. And every election cycle, we're gonna do this and make it better. We're gonna do that and make it better. Well, what were you doing the last twenty or thirty years you were there?
[00:59:35] Unknown:
Exactly. You know, the I mean, you you I'm sorry. It's oh, no. I'm just gonna say I don't mean to interrupt, but it's look. It's the equivalent of Kamala Harris coming out and going during her campaign and talking about all these sweeping changes that she's going to make to improve things. It's like, where have you been? Right. You know, you're you're running like a brand new candidate. You've been there as vice president for four years, and trust me, you have the opportunity to point president Peapaw in whichever direction you feel comfortable Right. Because he didn't know any better.
So, you know, it's this is where where this has really come down to. Anyone who who believes that the federal system can be reformed needs to be able to point out give me give me five examples in the last fifty years where there has been significant fundamental reform. Right. I'll tell you one place they won't point to, and that's the federal debt. Right. You know, I mean, they won't. They they won't be able to point to, to our monetary policy or our currency because that thing's inflated. I mean, they'll be taking it down the street at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade next year. The tax systems? So, the tax system, I mean, you could go on and on. So, you know, we can continue to to play. We can do this ridiculous Punch and Judy show every two to four years where we get out there and, you know, each side points fingers at each other and, you know, you're you made it this way. No. You made it this way. You know, we can do that, or we can agree and go, look. Maybe the best thing we can do is is not be in this mess.
You know? I I'm not looking at this like Texas is leaving the union. I'm looking at the federal government is our 40 year old son who refuses to get a job, continues to raid the refrigerator and stop up our toilet, and we're now we're kicking him out of the house. And we're saying, you know,
[01:01:22] Unknown:
go go do go do your thing. It's time for you to go adult, but you're gonna do it someplace else. Right. Yeah. And that makes total sense. Absolutely total sense. And I I agree with you on that one. And that's a great analogy too. I know you have other other obligations you have to get to for your own podcast, your own show. So we're gonna well, because we listen, we I could go on, another hour, two hours, you know, talking about this stuff. And I'm sure we'll get together. With a good time. Hey. Why not? And I'm sure we'll get I'm sure we're gonna do this again really soon, I hope anyway. Sure. So, what oh, actually, quick question for you. Sure. Not directly related to Texas, but a book that that I've read, I've gone through it twice. And I I I have it somewhere on my bookshelf. I'll send you a picture of it later. But, it's called Rethinking the American Union for the Twenty First Century. And I don't remember the author's name. I'll find it when I when I get up and look in the bookshelf.
If you haven't read that book or if you haven't checked it out, you really, really should. It's very, very interesting.
[01:02:20] Unknown:
I think I think I have a copy of that one. Let's see. Yeah. Okay. Hang on. I'm sorry. It, it's one of those things that it will continue to, itch my brain until I till I find it. Yes. I know this book. That's, that's Donald Livingston. Yes. Donald Livingston. Correct. Yep.
[01:02:44] Unknown:
Excellent book. I I recommend it. If you haven't read it, know, anybody listening, if you haven't read it, definitely check that book out. It's a it's a very thought provoking book. But it's a series of essays and it's really what it is. But it's it's really, really detailed, well written. You're gonna find a lot of really great information in there. And, I mean, that's that's that's the book I read before I found the T and M, and that's what led me to the T and M.
[01:03:09] Unknown:
Yeah. It look. And I I would encourage people. Look. And and I don't know. You know, your your listeners may be stretching their heads right now and and have a lot of questions. I I would just encourage them to do a couple of things. First, if you have questions about TEX IT or the TEX IT process, go to TEXITNOW.org. You know, we have answers to about the hundred most asked questions over there. But the other is, you know, do do your research. Do your soul searching. You know? I mean, I I would encourage people to find out all they can, you know, re read the read that book. You know, you know, people can go to texitnow.org or they can order my book, text it.
But honestly, unless you wanna hear what you get on texitnow.org just in my voice. That's the only reason you get the book. But but the bottom line is is the answer is there. And and if that's the case, if if people are listening to this and saying, you know what? I understand the value of independence, then I would encourage them to do what you did so many years ago, and that is to get involved in it. You know, when I said that there are no there are no spectators in this, I I meant it, 100%. Right. Because the the one thing that I found, to tie this back to the very beginning, is that if you look at article one section two, and it says that all political powers inherent in the people, fundamentally, it will be the people that make the decision about Texas independence. I don't mean just at the ballot box, but they're the ones that are going to have to make the ballot box question a reality.
The fact that we have to fight for the right to be able to have our voices heard on this is just part of the thing that makes it all that much sweeter. So that when we get our independence at the tail end of this, we will know that all of us had the opportunity to participate in birthing a brand new self governing nation on this planet, and I'm here for it. Until we get it done or until the gravedigger passed me in the face with a shovel, whichever comes first.
[01:05:11] Unknown:
And I'm right there with you, brother. I'm right there with you. Alright, Dana. Wait. But I know. You can't pat me in the face with a shovel. That's just morbid, man. No. Well, not some I'll scoop a handful for you. Thanks. Alright. Thank you. Alright. So why don't you give us your contact info? Tell us tell us where we can find your podcast, and, and then we'll say goodbye.
[01:05:31] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. You know, I gave text at now dot org if you have texted questions, but I look. I would encourage anyone if you want a a play to find a place to jump off for anything related to us, head over to tandm.me. That's tandmasinTexasnationalistmovement.me. And there, you can jump off to where you can find register your support, become a member, get our social media, go over to our news page, and where you can find all of our podcasts.
[01:06:00] Unknown:
Everything is in that one handy spot. That's great. And we're gonna include all the information, to the for the websites, for your podcast links, are on our website already, actually. If you go to our website, jorociello.com, you'll see, a recommended podcast, a recommended show tab. Just hit that thing. Mister Miller's show is right there on the page, and, I would encourage you to check it out. Check it out. You're on Apple, Spotify. You're on all the big guys. Right?
[01:06:24] Unknown:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. We're we're there, YouTube. I mean, we we do videos for the podcast as well. And, a return after the first of the year, I do a live I will be doing a live stream. I've been doing it for years now, but we're going back to a weekly format. I do a live stream q and a, every Wednesday night on the t and m's YouTube channel or will after, the first of the year. And so, if you come out of this podcast and you still have questions and you want to hear more of what just transpired here, then I would suggest go to our YouTube channel, be sure to like and subscribe, hit the notification bell, and then you get to pepper me every Wednesday night with whatever questions come between your ears.
[01:07:04] Unknown:
Alright. Daniel Miller, thank you so much for taking the time out to be with us here on the podcast. I really do appreciate it. God bless you, sir, and, we'll talk to you in a few. Thank you so much, Joe. You betcha.
[01:07:15] Unknown:
This podcast is hosted on PodHome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. PodHome comes with many intelligent features like Pod Home AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use Pod Home AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free seven day trial at pothome.fm.
[01:08:02] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and, man, I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation with Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement. And, you know, this guy is super smart, man. You know, we we we talked for almost an hour here, and, most of the stuff that he was pulling out of his head was, you know, from memory. I mean, dates, times, references, I mean, that to me, that's just incredible. The the the guy really knows his stuff. And, if you have any questions whatsoever about the Texas Nationalist Movement, you could always head over to their website, tnm.me, and is also, what is it? It is, texttextitnow.org.
You can head over there as well. And we're gonna have links to it in our show notes. And then within the next couple of days, we're gonna have some, information up on the website as well. So make sure you head over there and check that out. But, I hope you I really hope you guys learned something from this today. And, you know, we're gonna be, giving more time to issues like this in upcoming shows. So, so, you know, pay attention to it. It's important stuff. And if you're listening and you're here in Texas, you need to get involved with this. I mean, we need to, we need to really, really focus on this. This is such an important decision. It's not often that in your lifetime, you get the opportunity to, to to form your own country.
You know? And, this is an opportunity that's being laid out before us. You know? This is a process. It's not, you know, Texas Texet isn't going to happen overnight. It's gonna be a process. There's gonna be a transition period going on. You know, should this happen, you heard you heard Gangambilla say it during the course of the interview that, we are closer now than we ever have been, since, since the T and M started, with this, this push to text it. And, so it's it's really important that you that you get involved in this. If this is something close to your heart, you wanna see Texas rise again among the nations, this is your time to do it. And, I would highly recommend you head over to their website and check it out. Again, we're gonna have links up on our website. We're gonna have all the information, listed up in the show notes.
Alright, folks. Well, I think, that is just about gonna do it for us for today. So, why don't you head over to our website, joerussello.com. That's joerusiello.com. Open up that little contact form that we have there. Send us over any questions or comments that you might have. Any questions you might have for, for Daniel Miller, we could always forward them to him. And, you know, I'm sure they'd be happy to receive those. Also, while you're on the website, take a look for that support button. Again, help us out with a donation in any amount. Remember, a, a recurring donation of 17 sec 76 gets you the associate producer credit with the shout outs, the mentions, the show notes, all that stuff.
A recurring donation of $18.36 gets you that producer's credit, that shout out, and all the mention and all the stuff that goes along with it. And then, of course, now we have our executive producer with a donation of $25 and up. And, you get all of the perks of the other two, including that executive producer title. So so it's, it's important. It's really, really important, that you help us out and keep this whole thing going. I know we're just getting started, but, we really wanna bring on more guests. We wanna be able to expand what we're doing here. We wanna have more folks in the studio, but we need your help to do that. So, hit that support button. Help us out with the donation in any amount that you that you can, you can you can, any amount that you find appropriate, we would appreciate all that. And again, don't forget, this is a value for value podcast. So, you can donate your time, your talent, or your treasure.
We appreciate all of it. Alright, folks. So, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show with, all of your friends, your family, and your followers. Now next week, we're gonna have, we're gonna have a chat with Moritz Kaminski, the cofounder of Bitcoin Wallet, and hub GetAlbi. So you won't wanna miss it. We'll see you soon. Thanks for listening, folks. I'm hungry. Let's get a taco.
This podcast is hosted on podhome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. Pod home comes with many intelligent features like Pod home AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use Pothome AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free seven day trial at pothome.fm.
[00:00:43] Unknown:
Welcome to the podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits. Nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:01:02] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. Welcome to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and it is great to be with you again this week. And, folks, it is Monday, December 2024, and Donald j Trump is the president-elect of The United States. Folks, I wanna wish you a very, very happy Monday. And I know we weren't here last week, and I I do apologize for that. But we had a few things going on, working some stuff here behind the scenes. So, hopefully, you didn't miss us too much. I doubt you did, but that's okay. But we're here today, and, I hope you guys all had a great fantastic week. And can you apps can you believe that we are less than a month away from inauguration day already?
Less than a month away. That is just amazing. I'm excited. The, you know, the insanity of the left, is gonna be out the door. And, I'm I'm looking forward to seeing what Donald Trump is actually gonna do for us here, in These United States. Now, you know, I I I know that things have been crazy for the last four years. You know, what's right has been wrong, what's wrong has been right, black is white, white is black. It's it's, you know, it's it's just been completely, completely upside down. But, and I know that also it's not gonna be a fix that's gonna take place overnight. It's gonna take time to fix this. And I I don't know if he'll be able to do it in two years.
And I say two years because we have midterm elections. You don't know what's gonna happen in the midterms. But, going into this, going into the Oval Office in January, he's gonna have the house. He's gonna have the senate, and, of course, the White House. So the potential to get a lot of work done is there. The question is, will it get done? And we've seen a lot of, pushback, in the last couple of days, you know, from from the Uniparty, from the Rhinos, in the house. I I think we got a huge huge backstabbing by the, the current speaker of the house.
And, and I think he needs to I need to be I think he needs to be vacated. I think they need to take a vote, vacate the seat, and put somebody else in there. A lot of names have been floating around already. I'm I'm I'm not sure, you know, who I would wanna see in that position right now. But one of the names that I would like to see in there would be Byron Donalds, if if possible. I know that, you know, people have been floating Elon Musk, and and it's not improbable or impossible for it to happen. I I'm not sure about the constitutionality of it because of his, of his immigration status, but I I I don't know.
I would have to really kinda look into that a little bit more. It's just something that popped in my head right now. I wasn't even thinking about it before we got on the show. But, you know, it it it's gonna take time. It's gonna take time to turn these things around. I'm I'm hopeful and and I'm prayerful that, that he'll be able to do it in, in the first two years and and really turn things around, because, you know, that there's a there's a growing sentiment out there. And and I know that over the past year, you've heard this phrase, national divorce in the news.
And, and I'm sure you've seen it across your social media platforms, you know, and that that really kinda came about when, representative, Marjorie Taylor Greene, brought it forward, in an ex post that she had made, national divorce. And, you know, believe it or not, states like California, Vermont, New York have all been talking about seceding from the union. And, you know, all in all, I I think if I'm not mistaken, there are there are 25 states that have movements within the states to leave The United States and redeclare their sovereignty. So in other words, there there are 25 states that have enough popular support that if it went to a vote to leave the union, they would probably do so.
Now, of course, of the 25 states that, that that we're talking about, there's one that's probably closer to leaving the union than any other state. And, I'll I'll give you a second to think about which state that is. Yes. You guessed it. You guessed it. The state of Texas. Texas is probably closer to leaving the union than any other state that has been talking about it or at least floated, referendums on it, or or proposals. You know, no matter how you wanna phrase it. Texas is the closest state to that. Alright. Now, what we're gonna do today is, when we come back from our break and and in just a few minutes, when we come back, we're gonna sit down with the current president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, Daniel Miller. Now, you might be asking yourself that what's the Texas Nationalist Movement? I've not heard of them. Believe it or not, the Texas Nationalist Movement is a is a very popular, organization right now in in the state of Texas, over 600,000, membership at at this point. And, what the Texas Nationalist Movement does or is, it's a movement that, that's looking to to return the right of self government, that's looking to return the right of self determination to Texans, and make Texas a free and independent prosperous nation once again. And, you know, I'll I'll yeah. Full disclosure.
Full disclosure here. I am a member and I am a supporter of the Texas Nationalist Movement. So, when we sit down with, with with Daniel Miller, I I really do hope that you, that you enjoy the chat that we're that we're gonna have. It was, you know, I've spoken to him a few times, have his book. Really smart guy, and I'm really looking forward to, to getting into this conversation. And I and I hope that you're gonna get something out of it. I hope you're gonna learn something out of it. And, what we're gonna be doing also is up on our website, we're gonna put information directing you to the Texas Nationalist Movement and, and how you could, register your support. And, we're looking forward to getting into that discussion with Daniel, when we come back from the break. Now, before we get into all of that, though, I wanna tell you about one of our sponsors, ArmoryOne.
ArmoryOne provides Texas license to carry certification and leverages over thirty years of military and law enforcement experience in instructing students in the safe use of firearms. Omry one also offers numerous courses in self defense with a handgun, active shooter preparedness, home defense, and so much more. Right now, you can get 50% off all Omry one gift certificates redeemable for for a private range time, training, or merchandise. And when you do check them out at armory1.com, be sure to mention that you heard it here on the podcast. And when you do that, OMRI one is gonna take a a don't a portion of the of, of your purchase and donate it to the show.
And now it's not gonna change the price of of whatever it is you're purchasing. It's not gonna add anything to it. It's not coming out of your pocket. He's taking that out of the purchase price of what you're buying. So visit armory1.com, armory 1 Com, and get more information about this in upcoming classes. That's armory1.com. Now, also, don't forget to head over to our website, joerusiello.com. And when you get there, look for that contact form. And why don't you open that thing up, send us over a message. Let us know any questions, comments, cares, concerns that you might have, any any issues that might be coming to mind, any suggestions for future guests, you know, let us know. Let us know what you're thinking. We want you guys to be involved in all this. Also, while you're on the website, if you would, look for the look for the, support page that we have set up and, you know, click that support button.
You can do it in two ways. We have a donation tab. You can you can get a or donation button, I should say, that you can click on. And we also have a button that you can click on for, donating cryptocurrencies. Satoshis. So, so just head over to the website, look for the support page, and get on there and and help us out here. Alright? You have to remember that this is a value for value podcast. And, really all that means is that if you've received anything of value from what we've been doing here, what we're asking you to do is to return that value in the form of a donation. You can make a one time donation in any amount that you feel appropriate. You can also donate your time and you can donate your talent.
But if you set up a monthly recurring contribution, a monthly recurring donation of $17 and $17.76 cents, that's $17.76, you will receive an associate producer credit. And that means that you'll get a shout out every show, and your name is gonna be listed in the show notes as an associate producer for every show. But that's not all. If you set up a monthly recurring donation of $18.36, you'll receive producer credit. And that means a shout out every show, Your name will be listed in the show notes as a producer in every show. And then finally, and this is new. We we we just starting this one now. Any monthly recurring donation of $25 or more gets all the perks of the other two, except you get the coveted executive producer credit.
So folks, take advantage of the opportunity here. Get involved and help keep this show going and improving. Click that support button and help us out. Alright, folks. So this is the the podcast with Joe Ricciel. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show, and, we'll be back right after this short, very short break. Stay with us.
[00:10:58] Unknown:
Do you blame all your problems on Trump? Do you have blue hair and a bunch of metal in your face? Do you not know what a woman is and confused about your gender? Good news. You have TDS, and it's a very treatable condition. Please take the time to find a mental health professional near you and prepare yourself for all the lies you've been told. When you finally recover, the rest of reality would love to welcome you back. Warning, severe TBS can cause rapid tearing and tearing outbursts, being dumped by your partner, and brain damage from too much hair dye may also cause severe butthurt and nonsensical outburst that make everyone around you know you're stupid.
[00:11:37] Unknown:
Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the cofounder of Goodpods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Goodpods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than 2,000,000 podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure out what to listen to. On Goodpods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Goodpods on the web or download the app. Happy listening.
[00:12:17] Unknown:
Alright, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and, man, I hope you're excited for this this, this segment that we're gonna be doing here. As you know, we've been interviewing quite a few different people over the course of the the last several weeks. We've spoken to, some content creators. We've spoken to, we've spoken to some local politicians. We had the city manager for Eagle the former city manager of Eagle Pass on a couple weeks ago. And then we also, we had, some tech folks on. We have another, tech person coming up. We'll be talking to, to, the the founder of, Albi, which is a, a Bitcoin hub that you could use. And, it's it's it's geared toward podcasters.
So, it's a it's a great tool, and we're gonna be talking to him next week. Oh, I'm sorry, two weeks. But coming up this week, I have with me right now, sitting on the other side of that screen, a guy that I've been looking forward to, talking to for for since at least 02/2016. And, we have some history on this one. And, in full disclosure, I am a I am a member of his organization. And, so so yeah. So we're we've been looking forward to this. So I have with me right now, I have Daniel Miller, who is a, sixth generation Texan, technology consultant, a best selling author, which I did order your book. It's on its way. And, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement.
He's also an outspoken advocate for Texas independence since 1996. And, he is considered the, the founder of the modern day Texas movement. Daniel, welcome to the podcast. How are you tonight? I'm great, Joe. Thanks for having me. No. This is this is great, man. I I've been so looking forward to this. You know, I I believe in the mission of the Texas nationalist movement. I did that even out when I was, you know, a Yankee up in New York. You know, but, I I It's aspirations. I understand. Yeah. Well, of course. Absolutely. Absolutely.
But, one of the one of the questions that I I wanted to ask you is, what what brought about the Texas Nationalist Movement? Like, what was the what was the the point where it started? Like, what did it?
[00:14:27] Unknown:
You know, it's it's interesting. I mean, it's it's a bit of a history. I'm not gonna go through the whole thing, but, you know, the TNM was founded back in 02/2005. And, you know, the the short version of the story is is that it was really the culmination of about a two year study, in research from about a half dozen people that were really committed to seeing Texas become a self governing independent nation. And, you know, you you go back to the time before that, there were people out there advocating for it. There were, some I think if you loosen up the definition of the term group, you could say there were some groups that were out there that were in alignment with that idea that Texas should be independent. We knew there were a lot of people out there that weren't like us, but for some reason, nothing ever really took hold. I mean, no no legitimate organization that was really making any progress stepped up. They just didn't exist.
So, you know, about a half dozen of us, said, look, we look around the world. We know that since the second World War that, you know, we grew from about 54 recognized fully sovereign countries at the end of World War two, up to at at the time when we started the research, we were, I think, a little over a 95, maybe one ninety six. And so, you know, that's a growth of a 40 brand new self governing independent nations around the world, and and somehow they were able to do it. You know, you look around the world, and the vast majority of self governing independent nations have far less than what we have here in Texas. Mhmm. Not not necessarily I mean, they were not on paper well suited to be independent before they gained independence. So, you know, we we dove in feet first, man. I mean, we just jammed right into it. And we said, look, let's let's look at these 140 since World War two. Let's go back furthering history. Let's look at the issue of self determination and independence. Let's look at the political motivators. Let's look at the organizations, what they did, how they did it.
We looked at ones, you know, beyond that and not just ones that succeeded, but we looked at a whole slew of them that had failed. And we said, okay. Look. Out of this, you know, let's let's see what we can see. Let's see if any of this is applicable to us. And and, you know, if it it it can be repurposed or retooled for what we're trying to accomplish, which is Texas independence. And so that's what we did for two and a half years. We took that. We are two really two and a half years. But we took that information. We we played it into a a bunch of data and projections and research over Texas politics and the way the electorate was and, more polling numbers than you could possibly imagine. And what what it came with the culmination of all of that work was the foundation of the Texas nationalist movement with the mission to secure and protect the political, cultural, and economic independence of the nation of Texas. And so, from that moment, in February, we've been executing
[00:17:50] Unknown:
the the plan and the strategy that we concocted all those years ago. Oh, wow. I didn't know that much about the history that far back. That's that's that's incredible. But I have a quick question though for you about that, that just popped into my mind. What's the difference between what the T and M is looking for and what, this this group that I've I've learned about, called the Republic of Texas? Are you familiar with them? Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:18:15] Unknown:
And the group calling itself the Republic of Texas now is as much as they would like to, you know, say that they are that same continuation of that that group that was back in the nineties. There is a fundamental difference. And the fundamental difference is is we're not running around trying to play government, pretending like, you know, we're, elected officials when, you know, a dozen people voted for us. Right? We're a legitimate political political and social movement. You know, we're we're we you could be classified as a mass movement. I guess we could be. Trying to do this in accordance with article one, section two of the Texas constitution.
You know, we're not we're not playing government, and that's that's a key difference here. I I fundamentally look at what they're doing, the approach that they're taking, and I find it I find it almost indistinguishable from the sort of tyranny that we get out of Washington DC. You know, we look in our chief criticism of Washington DC as we're sick and tired of having policies forced on us by people we didn't elect. Well, that's sort of the same thing. We believe that governments govern by consent of the government. We believe article one section two of the Texas constitution that says all political powers inherent in the people, and it's the people that have the inalienable right to reform, alter, or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient.
And so, you know, that's that's, I think, really the fundamental difference. It's fundamental difference of approach. Okay.
[00:19:48] Unknown:
Alright. Well, what what I did also, as and we talked a little bit before we we started this, but, is, I I I took the opportunity to go around and and talk to some folks, that I that I work with and and and that I know in the community here and and so on. And, just to gather some sense. And the question I asked them was, if they if they were in my spot right now sitting here talking to you, what questions would they have? And, so, I'm gonna go through some of those questions with you right now, if you don't mind. And, I think some of them are pretty interesting. Some of them, you know, you can easily find information on on the the t and m website and, and get the information from.
So, one of the first questions that that that came up to me was, can Texas legally leave the Union of States?
[00:20:35] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. You know, it's I I will tell you, until I understood, in the early to mid nineties until I really understood the relationship of the states and the federal government. Because, you know, they don't teach it in in school. No. You know, they they don't they don't teach it. So and that's no slam against, you know, my old alma mater, but, you know, I didn't get it in the high school or middle school. I didn't get it in college. You know, they there was not this big emphasis. But once I understood that and I understood article one section two of the Texas constitution, which I just quoted, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that it was not only, I mean, legal. What what does that even mean, you know, in in this particular sense?
And and here's here's the basic rundown. Right? But but I think it opens up a much larger question that that I wanna get to, and it's this. If you look, the constitution is a document that lines out what the federal government can and cannot do. Mhmm. Right? It's it's it's a document. The states created the federal government. The constitution is that governing document that governs the relationship between the states and a federal system. Right. Consequently, article one section two excuse me. Article one section 10 of the US Constitution contains a list of the things that states are forbidden from doing. Right. K? So, you know, coining money, declaring war, engaging in, you know, foreign agreement. I mean, you know, it's those things that have effectively been specifically delegated to the federal system.
What's not on that list is withdrawing from the union, withdrawing our membership. That's not in the list. It's something that's forbidden. Well, pretty clear, the tenth amendment to the constitution, which had to be added, unless they were gonna be down some, members before they ever got started, is very clear that any powers not delegated to the federal government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states and to the people. K? So Right. What does that mean? That means if the constitution is silent in its prohibition to the states, then it is a power reserved to the states. And so that brings you to article one section two in a post civil war constitution.
I might add it. Our constitution here in Texas is from 1876, the one that we have now. And and it's very clear when it says that the people have the inalienable right to alter, reform, or abolish their government such manner as they may think expedient. So it is a power that is ultimately reserved to the to in Texas, to the people of the state of Texas to deter determine whether or not we wanna continue in a relationship with the federal government. Some people may bring up Texas versus White. I'm I could spend an hour on that. I'm not gonna take up all your time, but the point here is is that Texas versus White is deader than Judas Iscariot. Okay? Yes. I mean, it's just it's pretty pathetic.
Mhmm. There it's indefensible, and and I just put it that way. And some people may say, well, that doesn't matter. That's what the Supreme Court said. But I just I cast it to you this way. Let's take a look at the second amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. Second amendment to the US constitution. Right to keep and bear arms or, you know, the let's take a look at the first amendment with its protections for speech and assembly and worship. K? How you you can work according to the dictates of your conscience. K? Right. If tomorrow, Congress passed a law or the Supreme Court rendered a decision that said that, you know, that said you have to turn in your firearms.
No ifs, ands, or buts. You have to do it. Or if Congress passed a law and said that we're all now Scientologists, and you know, and the Supreme Court upheld that law, what would your reaction be? Right? What because we look at those rights as inalienable. Mhmm. They can't they can't be taken away by government because government didn't grant them. Correct. You know, we don't have constitutional rights. We have rights that are enumerated in the constitution, but those government didn't create those rights. So, you know, how would we react if the federal government infringed on one of those inalienable rights? Well, it just so happens one of the keywords in article one section two that I mentioned a moment ago is the people have at all times the inalienable, inalienable right Right. To alter, reform, or abolish your government. And it and it gets down to the fundamental right of self government. Who you know, and and what I said earlier, governments govern only by consent of the governed. So, I wouldn't care if they pass 10,000 laws against Texas withdrawing from the union. If the people of Texas go to a lawfully constituted referendum and vote that they want their independence, then it doesn't matter what anybody says. It's not their decision. It's ours.
[00:25:32] Unknown:
Alright. Now you mentioned, a referendum. Now I I know that the TNM has been working on that, to get a referendum a referendum passed. And then I just come close. So where are we now with that? How how is it looking with with the with the news the new,
[00:25:48] Unknown:
with the with the new season coming up in the legislation? Yeah. The new the new legislative session. Yeah. Look, it's it'll by far be the best session that we've ever had, but I I think it's it's important. Look, we we can talk about the referendum, but it's important to understand the referendum is part of the process. It's not the process. It's part of the process. And so, you know, there have been we have, you know, ever since Bitterman filed thirteen fifty nine two sessions back, you know, that was that wasn't our first attempt to get the bill filed. We had to do a lot of leg work from 02/2009 all the way to that session just to get to that point.
And, you know, we got it filed last session. And this session is looking even better for us, simply because we've got more t and m aligned legislators in the Texas legislature than we've ever had before. We've shifted the Overton window on the discussion about whether or not Texans should be able to vote on this issue. And that's ultimately the the question that I think all of these people, whether they're for or against or on the fence, they have to answer is, what are you afraid of? Why are you afraid to put the question to the people of Texas? I would I would posit to you that anyone who is afraid of letting the people of Texas vote on the issue, is already aware in their minds of what the outcome will be. And I will tell you that no one who has for Texas is against having a referendum.
It's only the people that are against independence Yes. That are against having a referendum. And I and I was gonna actually, I was gonna make a point on that as well. The exact point you just made, what they're afraid of is losing that power and that control. Well, they will. Look, they'll if this goes on the ballot, it wins. I mean, there's just there's not there's not a a loss here. And I don't think it's Joe's it's not even gonna be close. You know, we're not gonna squeak in the, you know, 5644 territory.
You know, we're not gonna be like, you know, Scott the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 where they came in at, like, 47, 40 eight percent. You know, it's not gonna be a bear I mean, this is gonna be extraordinarily lopsided in our favor, and it's just it's simple. The I mean, the rationale for this is simple. The question that we wanna put to the people of Texas is this, should the state of Texas reassert its status as an independent nation? It's a very simple question. But what what this question for Texans does is it gives them an opportunity to take a a a look at the fundamental issues of governance that they don't get a chance to look at every two to four years. Right? Right. And and it lets them kick over a lot of rocks. And and I gotta tell you, it's easy to make our case for independence. Right? We're the eighth largest economy in the world. We're I mean, you know, you can go through all those positives, but the easiest case in the world to make is, look, right now if Texas was a self governing independent nation, and we had control over our own immigration and border policy, we had our own military and defense policy, our own currency and monetary and taxation policy, we had everything that 200 other countries around the world have. And instead of talking about withdrawing, this was a discussion about whether or not we should give up that control and join the union. Knowing everything you know about the federal government right now, would you vote to join?
And and, you know, that's that's the case. The case to be made is one of, do we believe that we're best to govern taxes or the two and a half million unelected federal bureaucrats in a dysfunctional federal system that's plunges into $36,000,000,000,000 worth of debt. You know, who is that? Imagine if you were on the opposite side of this thing, Joe, and you had to go make the case for why Texas should stay in the union. You know? What what does that look like? How do you sell that turd sandwich?
[00:29:37] Unknown:
I don't know how you would because I don't think Texas should be part of the union. So I cut I can't even think of it in that in that regard. And and, you you talk about immigration policy, you know, I live I live in Eagle Pass. I'm right here on the border. We, you know, we have this open porous border. You know, I appreciate everything that that governor Abbott's been doing to try to secure the border down here. It it's I I've I've been living here for eight years, and I've seen the change. I've seen the difference since the the current administration took over and and threw the doors open. You know, it's, you see you see these these illegals coming through. You see them lining up. There there's a gas station not too far from where I am. You and sometimes in the early morning when I'm on my way to my regular job, you'll see them all lined up by the gas station. They're all holding that same yellow envelope and this unmarked white bus pulls up, you know, those big, tour buses.
And they load them all up and then they're gone. So you you you see this coming through. You see, you know, people that are are just wandering the neighborhoods here. It's it's a very dangerous thing, what we have going on here. And I I firmly believe that, even if, even with the incoming administration, I think the damage has been done. I don't think there's gonna be anything that's gonna be able to really, to fix the problem. Yeah. Mass mass deportations is sounds like a great idea. Is it really gonna happen? Can it really happen? You know, you don't we don't know where where more than how what's the estimate? 15,000,000 people?
[00:31:13] Unknown:
Oh, it's it's it's enormous. And I don't think and those numbers are even projections. I I don't think those numbers even really scratch the surface, because they're, you know, they're estimates by and large. Right. You know, all they can track is is what they've had contact with. Beyond that, you know, how many more slip through? But look. This is what you're saying gets down fundamentally to the issue, which is, to quote my my departed mother, I wouldn't trust him in an outhouse with a muzzle on. You know, if if you believe that if you have it's like I told this this reporter from the epic times today.
You know, he he he asked the question about whether or not we, you know, we were seeing that people had because of Trump's election, we, you know, we're running into people that had this this renewed confidence in the federal government. And I and I tell them, look, man. The the only the only prerequisite to having increased confidence in the federal government is a head injury. Mhmm. Right? I mean, that's that's literally it because, look, the federal government, everything they touch goes bad, and and that goes for the border and immigration. And so I while I appreciate the fact that some people may feel like you're gonna get some some okay policy from the federal government with Trump in office related to the border and immigration, The reality has shown us.
My my first interaction down at the border where I got to see how bad it really was was 02/2001, where I went down to do relief work at at a ranch down there from a a property owner in Webb County, whose ranch had been overrun. You know, it was just, essentially the thing. Fence is cut, you know, you know, whatever. And so we've got on there, we we would help out. Okay? And and what I saw then, where we're at now is magnitudes of order worse, and it was bad then. I mean, really bad. So, you know, if you follow the trajectory, the trajectory has been that the federal government is going to do absolutely nothing substantive about the border and immigration. Right. We're not gonna get that we're gonna not gonna get substantive change. It's just not where it is. There's too much organizational inertia where where the federal government is concerned to make that happen. And so for Texas, there's only one way that we're ever going to get control of immigration in in the border, and that is to do it as a self governing, independent, sovereign nation. Because sovereign nations have the right to set their own immigration policy and control their own borders. Right. And that and, of course, that ties into defense issues. And one of the bigger questions that I've gotten,
[00:34:01] Unknown:
in in doing my little survey Mhmm. Was, you know, what would, how would it how would Texas be able to I'm trying to find my note, it just disappeared off my screen. The what will come of all the federal military bases that are here, and and then how, of course, would we defend ourselves? That was that was the question, one of the bigger questions that came about aside from the immigration stuff.
[00:34:29] Unknown:
Right. And, and I'll tell you, look, those are those are post Texas questions that touch on a little bit of the tail end of the process where we secure our independence. So the assumption is is we have voted. People of Texas have said we want out. Mhmm. And what happens then is we go through four stages. Right? We have to deal with four issues, constitutional issues, statutory issues, international covenants, treaties, and agreements, and finally negotiated issues with the federal government. K? So wanna just get that out there so we have a baseline to start from. Because the answer to this deals in in really speculation.
K? Because we don't know what the people of Texas are going to decide. But I think we can make some pretty good estimates, pretty solid probabilities. K? So understand, right now as it stands, every self governing independent nation in the world is responsible for their own defense. It's just the way that it is. Right? And so that means when you take out the globe and you spin it around and you put your finger on any land mass that is populated, you know, Antarctica doesn't count. Okay. What you're gonna find is a country that has had to deal with issues like defense and currency and all all of these sorts of things. K?
So that being said, the short answer is how will Texas defend itself in in the way that every other country does. Right? I mean, it's just that that's the short answer. The drill down for that is is people generally don't realize how close Texas is already to being in that position. Right? Texas already has its own military. A lot of people don't even realize we have what's called the Texas military department. It's made up of two branches, three branches. It's the Army National Guard, the Air National Guard, and the Texas State Guard. K? So those are those are Texas soldiers. Right? They the the two that I mentioned, formerly, those two are, under bifurcated command, but all three as part of the Texas military department are already under the command of the state with the governor as the commander in chief.
K? So super important to understand that Texas already has established a a budget for those things, and and the National Guard units are supplemented by the federal government simply because they can be called in the federal service. Mhmm. But the Texas State Guard is all is 100% funded already by Texans for Texas. Right? So it's important to understand that that's where where we already are. And, you know, to quote from Napoleon's military maxims, to to have an army, you have to start with a competent corps of officers. And that's where we are. In other words, the the maxim here is you have to have the framework if you intend to build an army from scratch. You have to start with something. Well, we've got a lot more than just something. We've got a full blown military already.
So the question then becomes, well, how how does that play out post Texas? Well, I mean, it could play out in any number of ways. Right. If we go and say, you know, hit go go for the 2% of GDP for defense spending, right, which is the NATO floor Mhmm. Allegedly, not saying we're gonna join NATO, but that's the NATO floor. That's the defense spending target as percentage of GDP. It's 2%. Well, that would put Texas as the eleventh, most well funded military in the entire world. K? If if we shot for for 2%. If we went for 4% of GDP, which is where on the books the federal government is generally at 4% of GDP, we would have the fifth most well funded military in the world.
But an independent Texas is probably not about force projection, which is where a lot of The United States comes in. Right? They're they're projecting force. So our military spending being focused entirely on defense won't have to be nearly as much. K? There are some components that we will probably wanna engage in. You know, maybe some next generation fighters for our air force, perhaps even a deep water navy to a certain extent. Mhmm. But, you know, I find those things, you know, those are things that have a tendency to to get squared away. The the key thing here is we have the Texas military department that we can already pour those resources into Right. Actually, even before we get our independence.
So that that's key. But the to your first question, which is what will happen in the military basis, that's another aspect of that transition process. Right? Post referendum where we get into negotiated issues. So by by international law and custom and convention, at the moment that Texas is officially independent, those things belong to us. They they belong to us outright. They the federal government can technically lay no claim to them, and that includes Johnson Space Center in Houston. Right. Those things. I mean, all of that belongs to us. And there's actually sort of historically a funny story about that where, during the second second Quebec referendum, when it looked like they were going to win, the the starting the day of the referendum when the actual vote was being held because it looked like Quebec was actually gonna cross the finish line. The Canadian military began shipping all their equipment and assets out of Quebec because they understood that point of international law that if it's here and that referendum goes through, we may lose title to it. So I gotcha.
But but that being said, you know, we don't have to be mercenary or jerks about it. Right? There are a lot of things that that could transpire. If Texas is gonna have a military, we're gonna need military bases. Those military bases would technically belong to us, the land would, even though a lot of them were either reservation or lease by the federal government. But those things, you know, those things revert back to ownership for us, And the federal gov those federal military bases will be Texas military bases where we will have to house Texas military troops. But there's nothing saying that we don't, enter into a a mutual defense pact with The United States, and house both troops there. You know, we still will have common defense concerns Right. And and national security concerns. We we will still have a lot of those same things with the federal government. So cooperation post tax it is almost an inevitability.
There will be very likely a mutual defense compact. There will very likely be, you know, some sort of, I'm not gonna say NATO, but at least,
[00:41:16] Unknown:
at least an agreement between Texas and The United States for that for defense purposes. Right. It would be something similar to what The United States is already involved with with with stationing troops in every other country around the world.
[00:41:29] Unknown:
Yeah. And, you know, ultimately, that's up to the people of Texas. Look. If the people of Texas say they don't want that, they want them gone gone, baby, gone. I mean, I I'm just one of 30,000,000 Texans. You know? I can I can guess and project what the people of Texas might want? Mhmm. But, you know, depending on how the federal government behaves during this process, the people of Texas may just say, look, you know, we thought about maybe, you know, having this as a joint base, but actually, we'd be a lot more comfortable if you were in Oklahoma. Yeah.
[00:42:00] Unknown:
I agree. And, you know, you actually touched on a couple of the other questions that came about there, so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go into those. But, one of the other questions that came up is, what happens to, to Texas, soldiers serving in the US military at post Texas? Again, just just to back up for one second. Sure. The the fact that the the types of questions that I've gotten, to me, they're all they are all post texted questions, which makes me think that people that just the average person on the street knows that this is a very, very good possibility, and that's why they're thinking of these questions.
[00:42:40] Unknown:
Oh, look, Joe. I mean and, you know, we'll we'll talk about the soldiers thing, but but you just hit on something that I think is is pretty fascinating. Right? Because people there are people out there, particularly opposition, who say that Texan will never happen. And we tell them all the time, you're not paying attention because Texan is already happening, because Texan is the process. And and part of that process and, you know, and we were able to divine out a good bit of this from, you know, that that two two and a half year study ahead of the formation of the T and M is you you see the shift in mindset, right, where you know that you're about to be on the winning side of this thing When people switch flips and it goes from being an impossible to a possible to a probable, I better prepare. Mhmm.
And and I think that's that's where we went from. We went from, you know, can text it really happen or no. It can't really happen to, you know, this other about well, you know, but if it happens here, all these problems to people going, look, you know, if this is gonna happen, I sure would like to know practically how this thing goes down.
[00:43:46] Unknown:
And it's just it's kinda where where we are in the discussion. It's a good place to be. Yeah. It's a great place. I you know, it it's exciting, to be honest with you, you know. And, so I I guess we kinda answered the question already about what would happen with, with soldiers serving in the United States Army. They would, of course, be re they would come back to Texas, and they would serve in Texas.
[00:44:04] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, Texans that are serving in the military and and look, again, you know, you don't wanna be jerky in a in a negotiation like this. Right? This transition negotiation. Mhmm. Because disruption and instability are are your your main enemies post independence vote. Right? And that that's economically, socially, politically. So you wanna you wanna make this process as as smooth and as painless and as non disruptive as possible. So you take an issue like the military. Right? The US military might have some serious problems, in two ways. K? So it kinda puts them in a in a weird situation.
Because if they've got Texans that are serving in the military under contract, because of the sheer number of Texans that are in the military, and I think the the last statistic was one in somewhere between one in five and one in six Wow. Were from Texas. K? If that's the case, if they were to just purge all the Texas troops, and and send them to the house, I mean, that means that all of a sudden 15 to 20% of their, defense capacity just goes out the window the next day. So there is a compulsion to, number one, probably have them stay, but number two, be really nervous about having a bunch of people whose state just withdrew from the union still in their military. So Right. I mean, it's a it's a a pretty difficult position that we're in. And and I'm pretty sure the disposition of Texans in the military or non Texans that are stationed in Texas is gonna be a a pretty, I imagine that's gonna show up on the negotiating table, early in the process.
[00:45:47] Unknown:
I, I I I would imagine so. I I look, even even in in the, the War of Independence, you know, the the British didn't just pack up the the next day and leave. I mean, there was a transition process. It was, you know. You almost never historically
[00:46:02] Unknown:
see that situate even in the even in the situations with violent revolution, you know, where they have effectively thrown out, someone, you know, which are actually a a much smaller fraction than the opposition would, lead you to believe, you know, where violence settle it. I mean, welcome to the twenty first century people. But, you know, even across all of these, you know, you see that there is this this overlap period, you know, where look. We we've settled this out, and now what we're gonna do is we're gonna implement out what that plan is. And and these things, they they do take time. You know, not every British soldier was gone out of the colonies, after, you know, they signed the treaty. Right? I mean, it's they they weren't. It just it these things take time. So
[00:46:51] Unknown:
what about what about folks who are dependent upon Medicare and Social Security and and so on and so forth?
[00:46:58] Unknown:
Yeah. As you might imagine, used to be the most asked question that I got. Okay. So, so let me let me just, allay the fears. Right? Because the opposition loves to say that Texas means that we're gonna let grandma die in a ditch. And and if you think that that's me being hyperbolic, I I've heard them literally say it. Okay? So, this is the kind of fear tactics that they use. Okay? But here's the reality. So let's take these two things separately. You've got Social Security on one hand, and you've got Medicare on the other. Social Security is an is an earned benefit. Right? So you no so when when you reach the age to draw, no matter where you live, with the exception of a handful of really volatile countries that are typically under banking sanctions due to terrorist activities or, you know, financing terrorism or something along those lines, you can collect your Social Security. It really is more an issue of, can can your check be deposited in that foreign bank account more than it is anything else.
So, you know, think about how many expats have retired out, that are on Social Security pension benefits, and they move to Mexico or they move to another country where the standard of living is less. They so their money goes further. Well, that tells you right there that just because Texas withdraws from the union doesn't mean seniors lose their Social Security. You know, those work credits stay there. So Texas is not a threat to Social Security, but what is a threat to the social to Social Security is the federal government. That's right. Yes. You know, when they're the one they're the ones that are projecting that Social Security program will be effectively bankrupt by 2033. So, and they keep edging that date ever closer, to the point that they're either gonna have to tax, the the young people, far more to fill money into that Fonzi scheme, then, you know, people could ever these young people won't be able to work enough hours to fund it. So something will give. Right? So that the federal government is the biggest threat. But so Social Security that's the so the answer to the Social Security question no matter where you live. K? The the, the answer to the Medicare question is is a little bit different. Right? Because Medicare is administered in a very different way.
What we have now is we have a situation where the money for Medicare goes into the Medicare trust fund. And and, actually, the Medicare trust fund is far more solvent than the actual pension fund for Social Security. And so part of the part of what will need to happen in relation to Medicare will be have to happen at the negotiating table. As Texans have paid into that trust fund, whatever funds Texans have paid into it should come back out and and come here. They will very likely, if, you know, if they were to acquiesce to that plan, essentially block granite to us, kick it back with the promise that it will go toward that similar sort of program for seniors right now.
On the other hand, Texas could effectively cut its losses and just say, look. Here's the deal. We don't care if you cut off Social Security. We don't care if you cut off Medicare because here's what we're gonna do. Instead of overpaying you a hundred and 3 to a hundred and 60 billion dollars every single solitary year, we're gonna keep that money here. Right. And we're gonna pour that money into this these programs to keep them afloat, because, you know, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that's how much money we overpay on an annual basis into the federal system. You know, so just take take Social Security for instance. If they didn't pay a dime, if we just said, you know what? Keep your keep your checks in DC.
We got this. That amounts to about $74,000,000,000 annually in pension benefit payments here and and Social Security payments here in Texas. So that, you know, that covers that all in. Well, you take that out of the hundred and 3, a hundred $60,000,000,000, and not only do we cover all of those chips on the table that those guys welched on, but we've got enough to lower the burden for every taxpayer in Texas and do something crazy like a I don't know, eliminate property tax or something along those lines. That would be lovely. So, you know, that's that's the beautiful part about it.
You know, Social Security and Medicare, not gonna be serious issues for us. There will be some haggling in negotiations over those sorts of things, but, seniors have absolutely no reason to be nervous or scared about this situation. Alright.
[00:51:39] Unknown:
What about, now we already said that Texas is, right now, on its own, it's it's the eleventh largest economy in the world? We're the eighth now. Eighth eighth now. Yeah. So by by separating from the from the from the union, how would that, improve Texas's economy?
[00:52:02] Unknown:
I think in in major ways. Right? And and one of the things I I cited in the book, is I talk about, the the two studies that were done out of George Mason University about the negative economic impact of, of, federal regulatory accumulation. Right? Basically, if something sits still long enough or thinks about moving, the federal government roll out a regulation to somehow regulate it. Right? And that's just the thing. So there was this the study that was done, George, with two separate ones that showed what the the negative economic impact of that was. And and, essentially, what they showed was that because of federal regulatory accumulation accumulate, you know, regulations piling one right on top of the other year after year, it causes a 2% annual compression of GDP.
Well, when you compress that every 2% year on year, you get this cumulative effect, which effectively means that throughout the duration of that time, it means that, you know, the tail end of the whip take us to modern times. Texans are basically taking home about 15% of what they should be taking because of federal regulatory commission that chews up everything, increases the cost of goods and services, etcetera. So, you know, you you take that out of the equation. You take the ridiculous federal regulations out of the equation, and all of a sudden now you're looking at effectively about a 600% pay rise for everyone. Right? So, you know, take your paycheck and go six x, and eventually, that's the value that comes back to you. Now that's not day one. Right? But but you do that. Or, you know, look at the effect of the hundred and 3 to hundred and $60,000,000,000 overpayment that I mentioned a moment ago. You know, that money comes out of our pockets and goes up to Washington DC, and it never comes back into our economies.
But you take all of that nonsense out of the equation with the federal government and you keep that hundred and 3 to hundred and $60,000,000,000 in your pocket, what does that do for your personal economy? What does that do for your personal finances? What does that mean for your saving or your spending? What does what is the effect of dumping another let's just average about a hundred and 30, you know, billion dollars annually into the you know, circulating that through the Texas economy. What does that look like? Well, I could tell you it don't look bad. You know, so you take the federal government out of the equation.
You have Texas with its own currency that's not over inflated, that's pegged to actual value. Mhmm. And you keep Texas taxpayers money in their pockets and circulating through the economy, and now we're not the eighth largest economy in the world. We're the, you know, the sixth or the fifth. I mean, that's the reality that we're looking at. Opportunity and prosperity like Texas has never seen before.
[00:54:50] Unknown:
That would be amazing. And, you know, it's it's I I think that, that's something that that folks that are against Texas or or against, Texas independence, they they look at that. I'm talking about the political class, the the ones that are that are really connected with Washington, that that are really just they just tow the line, you know, that they don't they don't have an original thought of their own. They they do whatever the party tells them, however the party tells them, whenever the party tells them. They're afraid of unleashing that power.
[00:55:26] Unknown:
Oh, a hundred percent. I mean, that's that's the the the reality of it, Joe, is that, you know, the you have to look at at really what the position is here. Right? This is not a right versus left, Republican versus Democrat. This is just this is a people versus the political establishment. That's the real paradigm. And so, you know, this goes back to the debate that we will have to have during the referendum. And understand that when people are against Texas, that means, you know, there there are no neutrals in this in this fight. Right? There are there are no people that could be neutral on this issue because, you know, unless unless someone is out there positing something very different than the existing status quo, then on the text at issue, you were either for independence or you are for the status quo. Right? You're you don't get to nobody gets to sit on the sidelines for this thing.
And so supporting the status quo means supporting the the gas prices or the grocery store prices or unrestricted immigration or, you know, a a broken system. I mean, you know, two and a half million unelected federal bureaucrats. It's like, you know, you got 440 separate federal agencies right now. And I know everybody's super high on the fact that Elon Musk and Vivek are gonna talk about chopping it down to 99. But do we need to be under the thumb of 99 federal agencies? You know? Right. You know, it at the moment, you just treat it like a number and not look at it for its real impacts. Well, then then you've effectively bought into the fact that, well, you know, the federal government can be trusted, and I'm just not there. No. I'm not either. You can. It's especially
[00:57:09] Unknown:
which is another issue altogether, talking about this drone activity going on over there. You know, and the stories coming out of the government. You don't you can't trust any of that stuff. You can't believe them. You know? It's like I saw a meme somewhere. It says, you know, about UFOs. It's like, I wanna believe until the government got involved. You know? Yes. But, I was gonna ask you something and I just flipped that on my line. I I guess but okay. Back to the constitution. Talking about 99, government agencies, you know, whether it's 400 and plus or it's 99. The constitution of The United States only has 13 enumerated powers.
And look where we are now.
[00:57:49] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, it's it's You you give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Of course. You know, and that's I mean, this is why this is why we're at in the situation that we're in right now. You know, I would honestly, Joe, I would rather not have to be talking about Texas becoming an independent nation. But here's the thing. I live here. I have children. Now I have a grandchild. I have family. I have neighbors. I have people that I care about. And so, you know, I have to look at what what the most realistic path is to get all these things done. You know, it's like I I I liken it to the story about Alexander the Great and the Gordian knot, you know, where they had this this Turks head knot or whatever it's called that, you know, no one could ever untie the thing. And they the legend was the person who could untie it would be the ruler of Asia. Mhmm. And Alexander cuts in comes in with his sword and he cuts the Gordian knot. And it's like done. You know? Yes. I I look at it I look at it that way. You know? I I'm not looking for, you know, reform out of the federal government because they have proven that the federal system has proven that it is immune to reform.
And and if anyone out there thinks that I'm I'm being a doomsayer, please understand that if you've been through enough presidential elections and congressional elections and heard every one of them promise to make it better, then look back on that track record and ask yourself, has it? Right. Right? Yeah. You know, they talk about politics being a pendulum, but it's not. It's a ratchet.
[00:59:21] Unknown:
Especially when you have career politicians that have been have been sitting there in Washington, in the senate, in the congress, you know, for twenty, thirty years. And every election cycle, we're gonna do this and make it better. We're gonna do that and make it better. Well, what were you doing the last twenty or thirty years you were there?
[00:59:35] Unknown:
Exactly. You know, the I mean, you you I'm sorry. It's oh, no. I'm just gonna say I don't mean to interrupt, but it's look. It's the equivalent of Kamala Harris coming out and going during her campaign and talking about all these sweeping changes that she's going to make to improve things. It's like, where have you been? Right. You know, you're you're running like a brand new candidate. You've been there as vice president for four years, and trust me, you have the opportunity to point president Peapaw in whichever direction you feel comfortable Right. Because he didn't know any better.
So, you know, it's this is where where this has really come down to. Anyone who who believes that the federal system can be reformed needs to be able to point out give me give me five examples in the last fifty years where there has been significant fundamental reform. Right. I'll tell you one place they won't point to, and that's the federal debt. Right. You know, I mean, they won't. They they won't be able to point to, to our monetary policy or our currency because that thing's inflated. I mean, they'll be taking it down the street at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade next year. The tax systems? So, the tax system, I mean, you could go on and on. So, you know, we can continue to to play. We can do this ridiculous Punch and Judy show every two to four years where we get out there and, you know, each side points fingers at each other and, you know, you're you made it this way. No. You made it this way. You know, we can do that, or we can agree and go, look. Maybe the best thing we can do is is not be in this mess.
You know? I I'm not looking at this like Texas is leaving the union. I'm looking at the federal government is our 40 year old son who refuses to get a job, continues to raid the refrigerator and stop up our toilet, and we're now we're kicking him out of the house. And we're saying, you know,
[01:01:22] Unknown:
go go do go do your thing. It's time for you to go adult, but you're gonna do it someplace else. Right. Yeah. And that makes total sense. Absolutely total sense. And I I agree with you on that one. And that's a great analogy too. I know you have other other obligations you have to get to for your own podcast, your own show. So we're gonna well, because we listen, we I could go on, another hour, two hours, you know, talking about this stuff. And I'm sure we'll get together. With a good time. Hey. Why not? And I'm sure we'll get I'm sure we're gonna do this again really soon, I hope anyway. Sure. So, what oh, actually, quick question for you. Sure. Not directly related to Texas, but a book that that I've read, I've gone through it twice. And I I I have it somewhere on my bookshelf. I'll send you a picture of it later. But, it's called Rethinking the American Union for the Twenty First Century. And I don't remember the author's name. I'll find it when I when I get up and look in the bookshelf.
If you haven't read that book or if you haven't checked it out, you really, really should. It's very, very interesting.
[01:02:20] Unknown:
I think I think I have a copy of that one. Let's see. Yeah. Okay. Hang on. I'm sorry. It, it's one of those things that it will continue to, itch my brain until I till I find it. Yes. I know this book. That's, that's Donald Livingston. Yes. Donald Livingston. Correct. Yep.
[01:02:44] Unknown:
Excellent book. I I recommend it. If you haven't read it, know, anybody listening, if you haven't read it, definitely check that book out. It's a it's a very thought provoking book. But it's a series of essays and it's really what it is. But it's it's really, really detailed, well written. You're gonna find a lot of really great information in there. And, I mean, that's that's that's the book I read before I found the T and M, and that's what led me to the T and M.
[01:03:09] Unknown:
Yeah. It look. And I I would encourage people. Look. And and I don't know. You know, your your listeners may be stretching their heads right now and and have a lot of questions. I I would just encourage them to do a couple of things. First, if you have questions about TEX IT or the TEX IT process, go to TEXITNOW.org. You know, we have answers to about the hundred most asked questions over there. But the other is, you know, do do your research. Do your soul searching. You know? I mean, I I would encourage people to find out all they can, you know, re read the read that book. You know, you know, people can go to texitnow.org or they can order my book, text it.
But honestly, unless you wanna hear what you get on texitnow.org just in my voice. That's the only reason you get the book. But but the bottom line is is the answer is there. And and if that's the case, if if people are listening to this and saying, you know what? I understand the value of independence, then I would encourage them to do what you did so many years ago, and that is to get involved in it. You know, when I said that there are no there are no spectators in this, I I meant it, 100%. Right. Because the the one thing that I found, to tie this back to the very beginning, is that if you look at article one section two, and it says that all political powers inherent in the people, fundamentally, it will be the people that make the decision about Texas independence. I don't mean just at the ballot box, but they're the ones that are going to have to make the ballot box question a reality.
The fact that we have to fight for the right to be able to have our voices heard on this is just part of the thing that makes it all that much sweeter. So that when we get our independence at the tail end of this, we will know that all of us had the opportunity to participate in birthing a brand new self governing nation on this planet, and I'm here for it. Until we get it done or until the gravedigger passed me in the face with a shovel, whichever comes first.
[01:05:11] Unknown:
And I'm right there with you, brother. I'm right there with you. Alright, Dana. Wait. But I know. You can't pat me in the face with a shovel. That's just morbid, man. No. Well, not some I'll scoop a handful for you. Thanks. Alright. Thank you. Alright. So why don't you give us your contact info? Tell us tell us where we can find your podcast, and, and then we'll say goodbye.
[01:05:31] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. You know, I gave text at now dot org if you have texted questions, but I look. I would encourage anyone if you want a a play to find a place to jump off for anything related to us, head over to tandm.me. That's tandmasinTexasnationalistmovement.me. And there, you can jump off to where you can find register your support, become a member, get our social media, go over to our news page, and where you can find all of our podcasts.
[01:06:00] Unknown:
Everything is in that one handy spot. That's great. And we're gonna include all the information, to the for the websites, for your podcast links, are on our website already, actually. If you go to our website, jorociello.com, you'll see, a recommended podcast, a recommended show tab. Just hit that thing. Mister Miller's show is right there on the page, and, I would encourage you to check it out. Check it out. You're on Apple, Spotify. You're on all the big guys. Right?
[01:06:24] Unknown:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. We're we're there, YouTube. I mean, we we do videos for the podcast as well. And, a return after the first of the year, I do a live I will be doing a live stream. I've been doing it for years now, but we're going back to a weekly format. I do a live stream q and a, every Wednesday night on the t and m's YouTube channel or will after, the first of the year. And so, if you come out of this podcast and you still have questions and you want to hear more of what just transpired here, then I would suggest go to our YouTube channel, be sure to like and subscribe, hit the notification bell, and then you get to pepper me every Wednesday night with whatever questions come between your ears.
[01:07:04] Unknown:
Alright. Daniel Miller, thank you so much for taking the time out to be with us here on the podcast. I really do appreciate it. God bless you, sir, and, we'll talk to you in a few. Thank you so much, Joe. You betcha.
[01:07:15] Unknown:
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[01:08:02] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and, man, I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation with Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement. And, you know, this guy is super smart, man. You know, we we we talked for almost an hour here, and, most of the stuff that he was pulling out of his head was, you know, from memory. I mean, dates, times, references, I mean, that to me, that's just incredible. The the the guy really knows his stuff. And, if you have any questions whatsoever about the Texas Nationalist Movement, you could always head over to their website, tnm.me, and is also, what is it? It is, texttextitnow.org.
You can head over there as well. And we're gonna have links to it in our show notes. And then within the next couple of days, we're gonna have some, information up on the website as well. So make sure you head over there and check that out. But, I hope you I really hope you guys learned something from this today. And, you know, we're gonna be, giving more time to issues like this in upcoming shows. So, so, you know, pay attention to it. It's important stuff. And if you're listening and you're here in Texas, you need to get involved with this. I mean, we need to, we need to really, really focus on this. This is such an important decision. It's not often that in your lifetime, you get the opportunity to, to to form your own country.
You know? And, this is an opportunity that's being laid out before us. You know? This is a process. It's not, you know, Texas Texet isn't going to happen overnight. It's gonna be a process. There's gonna be a transition period going on. You know, should this happen, you heard you heard Gangambilla say it during the course of the interview that, we are closer now than we ever have been, since, since the T and M started, with this, this push to text it. And, so it's it's really important that you that you get involved in this. If this is something close to your heart, you wanna see Texas rise again among the nations, this is your time to do it. And, I would highly recommend you head over to their website and check it out. Again, we're gonna have links up on our website. We're gonna have all the information, listed up in the show notes.
Alright, folks. Well, I think, that is just about gonna do it for us for today. So, why don't you head over to our website, joerussello.com. That's joerusiello.com. Open up that little contact form that we have there. Send us over any questions or comments that you might have. Any questions you might have for, for Daniel Miller, we could always forward them to him. And, you know, I'm sure they'd be happy to receive those. Also, while you're on the website, take a look for that support button. Again, help us out with a donation in any amount. Remember, a, a recurring donation of 17 sec 76 gets you the associate producer credit with the shout outs, the mentions, the show notes, all that stuff.
A recurring donation of $18.36 gets you that producer's credit, that shout out, and all the mention and all the stuff that goes along with it. And then, of course, now we have our executive producer with a donation of $25 and up. And, you get all of the perks of the other two, including that executive producer title. So so it's, it's important. It's really, really important, that you help us out and keep this whole thing going. I know we're just getting started, but, we really wanna bring on more guests. We wanna be able to expand what we're doing here. We wanna have more folks in the studio, but we need your help to do that. So, hit that support button. Help us out with the donation in any amount that you that you can, you can you can, any amount that you find appropriate, we would appreciate all that. And again, don't forget, this is a value for value podcast. So, you can donate your time, your talent, or your treasure.
We appreciate all of it. Alright, folks. So, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show with, all of your friends, your family, and your followers. Now next week, we're gonna have, we're gonna have a chat with Moritz Kaminski, the cofounder of Bitcoin Wallet, and hub GetAlbi. So you won't wanna miss it. We'll see you soon. Thanks for listening, folks. I'm hungry. Let's get a taco.
