ArchiveFM

Live from the Texas Tribune Festival, Jon, Tommy, Lovett, and Dan discuss the dream of a blue Texas and how the campaigns there are doing, from James Talarico's debate challenge to Ken Paxton, to Gina Hinojosa's momentum in the governor's race, to Donald Trump's decision to stay away entirely. Then they discuss Trump's special welcome — and ballroom tour — for Chinese President Xi Jinping and an assorted cast of tech oligarchs, and the Republican Party's growing frustration with their underperformance in typically purple states like North Carolina and Georgia. Then, award-winning Tejano artist Bobby Pulido, the Democratic nominee in Texas's must-win 15th district, stops by to talk about his race to unseat Trump-backed Rep. Monica De La Cruz.Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel.You can request a transcript by emailing [email protected]. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.
Duration
1h 1m
Broadcast on
27 Sep 2026
Audio Format
other
(upbeat music) - Welcome to Plata Save America, I'm John Fabro. - Ah, I'm John Lovett. - I'm Tommy B. Thor. - I'm Dan Ffeiffer. (crowd cheering) - We're excited to be here at TripFest. We're gonna get into all the big races across the country and here in Texas. Bobby Polito is here, he'll be coming out soon. (crowd cheering) And before we get to the news, if you guys are free tomorrow and you wanna help elect Democrats, we will be doing two events. We'd love to have you out. We're gonna be at, we're gonna be from one to three, we will be joining Votsave America and the Travis County Democrats for a canvas at Pan American Park in East Austin. So come join us. You don't need to sign up, just show up. All right, let's start with the number one Texas Longhorns. (crowd cheering) And you know who's excited for the game tomorrow? Donald Trump. But you know what, he's going to Tennessee. And he has no plans to come back to Texas so far. I don't think he's coming back again before election day. (crowd cheering) He is however planning trips to Alabama and Oklahoma. Yeah, I thought I would get some booze there. But no real competitive races in either of those states. He has no plans to come back here and Republicans, meanwhile here in Texas, Republicans are spending like the equivalent of the GDP of like a mid-sized country to try to save Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott and maybe even the Republican majority in the state. Dan, what do you make of this new deep red state tour that Trump is on? Like I did not expect five weeks out or whatever it is from the midterms, Trump to be going to Alabama and Oklahoma. - I think we should just begin by saying, it's so funny that Trump, if that if Trump wants to see the Texas Longhorns, he could have come to Texas, but he's gonna get booed like Ted Cruz.

Transcription truncated.

Live from the Texas Tribune Festival, Jon, Tommy, Lovett, and Dan discuss the dream of a blue Texas and how the campaigns there are doing, from James Talarico's debate challenge to Ken Paxton, to Gina Hinojosa's momentum in the governor's race, to Donald Trump's decision to stay away entirely. Then they discuss Trump's special welcome — and ballroom tour — for Chinese President Xi Jinping and an assorted cast of tech oligarchs, and the Republican Party's growing frustration with their underperformance in typically purple states like North Carolina and Georgia. Then, award-winning Tejano artist Bobby Pulido, the Democratic nominee in Texas's must-win 15th district, stops by to talk about his race to unseat Trump-backed Rep. Monica De La Cruz.Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel.You can request a transcript by emailing [email protected]. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.