加州突围：史蒂夫·希尔顿与斯宾塞·普拉特谈一党专政破局、生活成本危机与选举诚信

Host: a candidate for the governor of California who is extremely unique in a number of ways. First of all, he's a Republican. And second, he's a Brit. Welcome to the program, Steve Hilton. It's a joke. I mean, what are these Democrats doing? We already have the highest taxes in the country. Your first 100 grand tax-free. Even Katie Porter agrees with that.

Intro: Prior to that, he was in Silicon Valley as a tech entrepreneur. People are so sick of the nonsense. Is everything twice as good when they've doubled the budget? Of course not. California means to America what America means to the world. Please welcome Steve Hilton. Wake up. Wake up, buddy. Let's go.

Steve Hilton: Hi.

Steve Hilton: All right. Wake up, California. We have seven weeks to save our state. Are you ready?

Chamath / Jason: Are we going to do it? We got seven weeks. That's all. But we can do it.

Steve Hilton: Seven weeks. Um, there's a lot of people here who aren't from California.

Chamath / Jason: Well, actually, who's from California? Raise your hand. Some

Chamath / Jason: res California. Yeah. What's but but help explain why California is so important.

Steve Hilton: California is not just the biggest state uh the richest state and the richest most important country on earth. It's it's as I said just then and and you know I'm an immigrant moved here in 2012 in Chamath's neighborhood actually. Why? I chose it because of what it represented and has represented for a century or more which is in many ways the absolute essence of what we love about America. Innovation, energy, ambition, grit, that rebellious spirit, and that's why we've created so many industries here that completely change the world, starting right here in Los Angeles over a century ago with entertainment; technology, which you're all very familiar with; but also our wonderful agriculture industry. We lead the world in so many things and that's why it's so important we don't let it slide any further.

Chamath / Jason: What is the state of the state then?

Steve Hilton: This state, I'm afraid, despite all our incredible advantages, and of course, we still have them. The things that the people in charge haven't managed to destroy yet, our incredible natural beauty, weather, the energy in our entrepreneurial community, top universities. But look at the facts. We've had 16 years of one-party rule. Today in California, the highest poverty in the nation, the highest unemployment, and of course, the highest cost of living. We have the highest housing cost in the country. People are leaving. Millions have left. And the people left behind are struggling.

Chamath / Jason: You got two right here.

Steve Hilton: And exactly. You've got now Chief Executive Magazine has ranked California in its annual survey of business leaders for more than a decade 50th out of 50. We should be leading the world, but instead we have strangling regulation and bureaucracy that drives job creators and families away.

Chamath / Jason: created the worst outcomes. Not just um bad in comparison to other states, the worst out of every state. So look, we know we know how you measure productivity in business, but up in Sacramento, they seem to measure success by how much money they can spend and how many regulations they can pass, regardless of the results.

Steve Hilton: It's ex exactly right. Um we this is what happens with one party rule actually and you see that in history. um whether it's on the from the right or the left, when there is no competition, you get complacency and corruption. In Sacramento, legislators measure their success by how many laws they pass. Every single year thousands of bills are introduced, piling regulation upon regulation, and every single one adds cost to ordinary Californians.

Chamath / Jason: Very productive. We'd very exact productivity going up there. We're going to we're going to be doing this year's in Sacramento on Thursday. We printed out all the bills that have passed. Who is actually writing these laws? It's not the legislators; it's the special interests, the public sector unions, and the lobbyists who profit off the state's dysfunction.

Steve Hilton: Well, it's definitely the case that we have this very uh powerful and corruptly funded machine that's running everything. The special interest groups, the public sector unions, and the lobbying apparatus literally hand legislation to lawmakers. They vote on bills hundreds of pages long that they haven't even read, and the consequences fall directly on the citizens in the form of crumbling infrastructure, sky-high utility bills, and homeless encampments.

David Sacks: Steve, why do you think that people feel that it would be almost a betrayal though, even if they want change to not, you know, vote Democrat? Why is there this psychological barrier in California where people feel guilty not checking the box next to the 'D'?

Steve Hilton: I got to tell you, I think it's pretty rock bottom now in terms of what it's actually like to live here. I mean, I traveled this state. I've been to every single one of our 58 counties. The average home price in California is nearly a million dollars, while the median wage is around $65,000. People come up to me at events and say, "Steve, I've voted Democrat my whole life, but I'm voting for you because we simply cannot afford to survive here anymore." If we don't bring balance back right now, the exodus of families and businesses will become permanent.

Chamath / Jason: Let's let's talk about the metrics and the path to victory here. Poly market has you at 5% chance of winning. The actual polls have you as close as 8% behind to 20% behind. You've got Republicans locked down, but what is the actual math to flip enough independents and moderate Democrats?

Steve Hilton: What's the plan?

Steve Hilton: No, it's a great question. It's the question in many ways. Um, and I'll just give you our metrics and our numbers. In our polling, 33% are solidly with me, 41% with Xavier Becerra, and 26% are undecided. That 26% is made up of working-class Californians without college degrees who are living on the edge. They are completely open to voting for change. Our platform gives them immediate relief: first, no state income tax on the first $150,000 of income, putting thousands back in the pockets of working families; second, eliminating the hidden taxes, the Cap-and-Trade and Low Carbon Fuel Standard mandates that make California gas $6 a gallon, bringing it down to $3 a gallon; and third, cutting state budget bloat by 10%, killing the High-Speed Rail boondoggle, and defunding the corrupt homeless non-profits that worsen the crisis.

Chamath / Jason: How do you pay for zero state income tax on the first $150,000 without crashing the state budget?

Steve Hilton: California's state budget doubled over the last decade, from roughly $140 billion to over $300 billion, while we lost millions of residents! Did public services double in quality? No, they got twice as bad. By shrinking bureaucratic bloat by 10%, terminating the catastrophic high-speed rail project, and shutting down the unaccountable non-profit industrial complex profiting off homelessness, we have more than enough savings to fund tax cuts for hardworking families.

Chamath / Jason: What about the upcoming debate on September 30th against Xavier Becerra? How do you expose his record on stage?

Steve Hilton: Xavier Becerra is the walking embodiment of Sacramento's failed ruling class. As attorney general and in Washington, he has spent decades expanding government without ever producing positive results or creating a private-sector job. I will hold him directly accountable for the 50th-ranked business climate, the highest gas prices in America, and the failure to protect Californians from rampant street crime and homelessness.

Host / Jason: You know his face. You know his name. His name is Spencer Pratt. He's shaken up local politics in Los Angeles like nobody else. Welcome to the stage, Spencer!

Spencer Pratt: Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together. I blame this person and the entire city leadership for burning Los Angeles to the ground and making it unlivable for normal people.

Steve Hilton: Spencer, great to see you, buddy.

Host / Jason: I mean, how hard is it to break the machine in California? Spencer, you did something extraordinary in terms of an independent campaign challenging the entrenched establishment.

Steve Hilton: Spencer, you challenged the political machine head on.

Host / Jason: Spencer, you did something worthy of a round of applause for sure.

Spencer Pratt: Initially, what kicked off was just the truth. That's all I did. I went out on the streets with my phone and filmed the reality: public parks overrun with open-air drug markets, businesses being terrorized, and our leadership doing nothing. My opponent was Nithya Raman, an open member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). On election night, I was at Don Antonio's celebrating because I was winning by 12 points!

Spencer Pratt: Yeah, I was celebrating while my opponent from the DSA looked defeated. But in California, election night isn't election night anymore. Over the next two weeks, tens of thousands of late-arriving mail-in ballots flooded in, and suddenly the lead evaporated. The system is designed so what any normal observer considers cheating is completely legalized through loopholes and ballot operations.

Steve Hilton: Can I just say one thing to underline what Spencer said? The establishment changes the statutory framework to make incumbent power unchallengeable, transforming our cities into radical ideological playgrounds while ordinary residents pick up the bill.

Spencer Pratt: The craziest part about this: they say there's 50,000 illegal street food vendors in LA. They set up giant grills and fryers right on the sidewalk outside brick-and-mortar restaurants. No health inspection, no commercial permits, no sales taxes, no rent. Meanwhile, the legal small restaurant owner across the street pays tens of thousands in fees, gets harassed by city inspectors over grease traps, pays crippling taxes, and watches their customers get siphoned off.

Chamath / Jason: What does it say, Spencer, if the city re-elects Karen Bass and keeps this direction?

Spencer Pratt: It tells you that the entire incentive structure in California is completely inverted: we punish law-abiding citizens and reward lawlessness. If you follow every single rule, pay property taxes, register your LLC, you get taxed to death and ignored. If you break the law, pitch a tent on a sidewalk, run an illegal business, the city hands you free stipends and immunity from enforcement.

Steve Hilton: Spencer nailed the core issue. California has become a state where doing the right thing makes you a sucker, and ignoring the law is rewarded with government deference. That is what we are fighting to dismantle.

Spencer Pratt: Everyone kept saying to me, "Spencer, if the election was stolen from you, why didn't you pay for a recount?" Let me explain why: a recount in California does nothing! All a recount does is feed the exact same processed pieces of paper back through the scanning machine. They don't re-verify the signature on the outside envelope once it's separated from the ballot!

David Sacks: Spencer, explain the precise mechanics of ballot harvesting and the voter rolls in California. Is this illegal fraud under existing statute, or is the system designed to make industrial-scale harvesting legally permissible?

Spencer Pratt: That's the whole point: it is 100% legal under California statute! In most states, third-party ballot harvesting is a felony. In California, the legislature legalized unlimited ballot collection. Paid campaign operatives can walk into apartment complexes, shelters, and senior homes, collect thousands of ballots, and drop them off in boxes with zero chain-of-custody verification. As long as you pay the harvesters by the hour rather than per-ballot, it is fully sanctioned by state law.

David Sacks: What about the voter rolls? What makes California's active voter lists so vulnerable to mass harvesting operations?

Spencer Pratt: California sends universal mail-in ballots to every registered name, but the voter rolls are never purged. If someone moved to Texas five years ago, or moved apartments, the ballot still arrives at the old address. There are commercial lots and vacant properties in Los Angeles receiving hundreds of active ballots! These are real, certified ballots sitting in piles in apartment lobbies. Political operatives collect them, harvest them, and submit them. Without mandatory Voter ID, there is zero verification of who actually marked that ballot.

Chamath / Jason: Let's turn to the Pacific Palisades fire and the catastrophic failure of local and state governance. What happened with the water infrastructure during that disaster?

Spencer Pratt: The Palisades fire was an absolute tragedy caused by pure incompetence. We had dedicated multi-million-gallon reservoirs designed to supply water pressure for wildfire fighting in the hills, and the city literally emptied them for maintenance and never refilled them! When the fire erupted, hydrants were completely dry. Firefighters were standing there helpless while neighborhoods burned. It is a massive tort lawsuit right now with 10,000 victims suing the state and city for gross negligence.

Chamath / Jason: Spencer, what's next for you? Are you running again? What is your roadmap for Los Angeles?

Spencer Pratt: I am 100% running again. They thought they could demoralize me with bureaucratic games and corrupt ballot machines, but it only proved how terrified they are of everyday citizens exposing their incompetence. I will keep speaking out, documenting the collapse, and fighting alongside leaders like Steve Hilton until we reclaim this state for the people who actually love it and built it.

Jason Calacanis: Ladies and gentlemen, Spencer Pratt! Wow. Thanks, bro. All right. Great stuff.