Bigger In Texas

As we adapt to a world where Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for President, we figured we ought book some very grounded guests for this week’s show. So listen in as we welcome Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Governor has a new book, Broken But Unbowed: The Fight to Fix a Broken AmericaWe also discuss bathrooms and his good friend Ted Cruz’s plans for the future. Then, The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes stops by to proclaim that he will never, ever, endorse Donald Trump, and goes deep into his reasoning. Sigh, it’s going to be a long summer.

Music from this week’s episode:

Why Can’t We Be Friends by War

The brand new opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.

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There are 17 comments.

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  1. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Love that artwork, EJ.

    • #1
  2. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    I recognize the marshall and the bad guy (black hat) but who is the town drunk?

    • #2
  3. Rob Long Contributor
    Rob Long
    @RobLong

    Man With the Axe:I recognize the marshall and the bad guy (black hat) but who is the town drunk?

    Who it usually is.

    • #3
  4. Rob Long Contributor
    Rob Long
    @RobLong

    By the way, James:

    These recorded intros keep getting better and better.  Today’s is incredible.

    • #4
  5. RyanM Inactive
    RyanM
    @RyanM

    Haven’t listened, yet… but I wonder if James/Peter/Rob were able to listen to the most recent Law Talk before interviewing Abbot.

    Richard and John were not terribly impressed, and I think addressing their concerns head on would be pretty interesting.

    • #5
  6. Salvatore Padula Inactive
    Salvatore Padula
    @SalvatorePadula

    RyanM:Haven’t listened, yet… but I wonder if James/Peter/Rob were able to listen to the most recent Law Talk before interviewing Abbot.

    Richard and John were not terribly impressed, and I think addressing their concerns head on would be pretty interesting.

    Didn’t happen. I suspect that Rob and Peter would like to have Abbot as a repeat guest.

    • #6
  7. RyanM Inactive
    RyanM
    @RyanM

    Salvatore Padula:

    RyanM:Haven’t listened, yet… but I wonder if James/Peter/Rob were able to listen to the most recent Law Talk before interviewing Abbot.

    Richard and John were not terribly impressed, and I think addressing their concerns head on would be pretty interesting.

    Didn’t happen. I suspect that Rob and Peter would like to have Abbot as a repeat guest.

    Ahh – unless he listens to Law Talk.  ;)

    • #7
  8. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    RyanM:Haven’t listened, yet… but I wonder if James/Peter/Rob were able to listen to the most recent Law Talk before interviewing Abbot.

    Richard and John were not terribly impressed, and I think addressing their concerns head on would be pretty interesting.

    We discussed this right before we started taping and realized there wasn’t a way to ask him about this without a really long wind up question. In the next Uncommon Knowledge, Peter does read the Governor a quote from John Yoo on the topic and the Governor responds to Yoo at length (including taking a shot at Berkeley). That show will be out early next week.

    • #8
  9. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Rob Long:By the way, James:

    These recorded intros keep getting better and better. Today’s is incredible.

    I like the sound bites. But the old music was better. It’s the same tune obviously, but the sound quality seems to have suffered from remixing and whatever effect was added doesn’t work.

    And the cackling witch… Would you please dial that back just a bit, so to avoid nightmares?

    • #9
  10. RyanM Inactive
    RyanM
    @RyanM

    Blue Yeti:

    RyanM:Haven’t listened, yet… but I wonder if James/Peter/Rob were able to listen to the most recent Law Talk before interviewing Abbot.

    Richard and John were not terribly impressed, and I think addressing their concerns head on would be pretty interesting.

    We discussed this right before we started taping and realized there wasn’t a way to ask him about this without a really long wind up question. In the next Uncommon Knowledge, Peter does read the Governor a quote from John Yoo on the topic and the Governor responds to Yoo at length (including taking a shot at Berkeley). That show will be out early next week.

    That will be very interesting.

    Richard was particularly brutal in his analysis.

    Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think that reflects on Abbot’s intentions (Richard acknowledges this), but the suggestion is that a constitutional convention is misguided at best.  I am inclined to agree.  It’s pretty funny when people complain about the simplification of legal language.  There’s a little exercise that sometimes happens in law school:  “describe an orange.”  Precision is necessarily complicated, and like Chesterton’s fence (overused, perhaps, but so ridiculously apt), tearing down complex documents or traditions in favor of simplicity will necessarily lead to something vastly different from what you hoped to accomplish.

    • #10
  11. filmklassik Inactive
    filmklassik
    @filmklassik

    Another great podcast. I came away with profound respect for Mr. Hayes and — dare I say it? — somewhat less respect for Mr. Abbott.

    While I recognize the pragmatism in supporting Donald Trump because of conservatism’s vulnerability on the High Court, I also know that some things transcend mere pragmatism, and avoiding a stain on one’s soul is one of them.

    • #11
  12. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    If a president decides to act beyond his Constitutional authority and the defense of the rule of law is limited to individual states rejecting his demands, then other state governors and attorney generals (friendly to that president’s ideology) are permitted to defy the Constitution in accordance with his directive. We will end up in the absurd situation of states like Texas and Oklahoma abiding by the rule of law while California and Massachusetts abide by illegal dictates?

    Congress must figure out how to counter a president’s violations of limited authority aside from relying on the courts. Otherwise, a lawless president like Obama can routinely defy the Constitution without penalty, expect his unlawful commands to be obeyed (by many, if not all) until overturned by SCOTUS years later, and roll the dice on the chance that a left-leaning court will rule in his favor.

    In other words, relying only on the stalwart governors of more sensible states to enforce Constitutional restraints is license for a dictatorial Executive branch. And, by the way, neither Clinton nor Trump demonstrate any regard for lawful restraint, so this is a pressing concern.

    Granted, defense of the Constitution begins and ends with a national culture amenable to limited government and rule of law. But in the meantime…

    • #12
  13. Lady Jane Grey Inactive
    Lady Jane Grey
    @LadyJaneGrey

    In the area of gratifying sponsors, I wish to point out that http://www.betterment.com/Ricochet generated a 404 error when I clicked on the above link.  Betterment does know Ricochet is sending people their way already, right?

    • #13
  14. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    Lady Jane Grey:In the area of gratifying sponsors, I wish to point out that http://www.betterment.com/Ricochet generated a 404 error when I clicked on the above link. Betterment does know Ricochet is sending people their way already, right?

    We’ll let them know. Thanks for the heads up.

    • #14
  15. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Rob Long:By the way, James:

    These recorded intros keep getting better and better. Today’s is incredible.

    Thanks!

    • #15
  16. Sarah Joyce Inactive
    Sarah Joyce
    @SarahJoyce

    I wasn’t overly impressed by Gov. Abbott. I felt his answer to Rob was kinda weak on the bathroom business. Maybe he was tired from running that big state. Texas can do whatever it sees fit, but we do have bigger fish to fry. Can you bring back Haley Barbour? He might be supporting Trump, but, man, he’s sharp! On a side note, I feel like Obama must really dislike Hillary cuz his bathroom mandate is a yuuuuge plus for Trump.

    Stephen Hayes was great as always. It’s a pleasure to look around the #nevertrump camp and see such good people. Loved how he explained to his kids why he could never vote for Trump.

    I save the Ricochet podcast to motivate me on long walks, so I am a little late to the game.

    • #16
  17. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    Blue Yeti:

    Lady Jane Grey:In the area of gratifying sponsors, I wish to point out that http://www.betterment.com/Ricochet generated a 404 error when I clicked on the above link. Betterment does know Ricochet is sending people their way already, right?

    We’ll let them know. Thanks for the heads up.

    After a long back and forth, the sponsor is asking that we use the URL Betterment.com/RAPID , at least for now. They think Ricochet is too hard to spell. OK…

    • #17
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