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Sept. 16, 2021 - Dennis Prager Show
09:58
Larry's first Post-Candidacy Radio Interview with Mark Davis
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Larry has been on a bit of a sabbatical, been going at some very, very important business over the last few weeks, making all of us so very, very proud.
Now, the California recall did not go the way I wanted.
Didn't go the way Larry wanted.
But there are so many positive takeaways.
But listen, I won't bore you with mine.
Let's find out about his.
After decompressing a bit, and he has a statement that we'll parse and diagram those sentences here in a minute, but what a pleasure to welcome my friend, my hero, an incredible figure, already was, but now just another chapter in the amazing biography of Larry Elder.
Larry, welcome to The Dennis Prager Show, and I'm so glad to be hosting it and so glad to tell you personally how proud...
Well, Mark, thank you so much for that.
I'm hearing that from a lot of people, a lot of friends, a lot of people that feel that I ran a noble race, that I stuck to the issues, that I ran credibly, and I can tell you how moved I am by that.
I was asked many times, do I regret anything?
Not one moment, not one thing I've said or done did I regret.
So, going into it, the calculus that I made is that you inspired a ton of conservatives.
You inspired a ton of people who wondered if leadership could ever change in California.
The odd pendulum swing was that the force and the success of your campaign, you were so out there, so eloquent, so important, that you might well have energized a whole lot of Democrats who don't give a flip about Gavin Newsom, but they were scared to death of you.
Well, that's right.
If you look at Gavin Newsom's commercials, when you run, Mark, you gain weight, you lose your voice.
I understand.
So, if you look at his commercials, they were all, this is a Republican takeover, Republican takeover.
Larry Elder is more Trump than Trump.
Not one word about the rise in crime, which has gotten tremendously high.
Not one word about the rise in the cost of living, the average price of a home in California.
Just hit $800,000, 150% higher than the national average.
Nothing about the way this man shut down the economy, shut down schools.
His own kids were enjoying in-person education.
He's up there at the French Laundry restaurant, incurring a $12,000 wine, Ted, that we paid for.
And Mark, I don't know that much about wine.
All I know is I doubt he was drinking Mad Dog 2020. Not one word about the rise in homelessness.
Not one word about the ridiculous way he failed to manage our forest fires so they've gotten more deadly.
Nothing about the fact that we're running out of water in California.
Nothing about the rolling brownouts, which are necessary because we're failing to properly invest in our energy grid.
Nothing about any of the issues I talked about.
I, of course, challenge him to a debate.
He refused to debate me.
It was all about this is a Republican takeover.
When you consider about a quarter to a third of the people that signed the petition were independents and Democrats who voted for him just two years earlier.
Sixty-three percent of Hispanics voted for him two years earlier, Mark.
The majority of Hispanics wanted him gone.
The majority of independents wanted him gone, but he was able to successfully characterize it as a, quote, Republican takeover, close quote, outspend me six to one.
And the margin of defeat was far, far bigger than I ever suspected it would be.
On the other hand, my margin of victory over my opponents, to recall this, to replace this guy, was stunning.
The highest I ever saw...
I had about 23 percent.
My closest rival maybe 10 or 11 percent.
I ended up getting 47 percent.
The closest rival was a Democrat who got 9 or 10 percent, and then the other Republican got about 9 percent.
Even though these guys were running a longer time, John Cox ran against him the first time, ran against him again this time, spent probably collectively in those two races maybe $20 million of his own money, ended up getting single digits.
So now among people who love and admire you and wanted you to win and have loved your career and wonder what you're going to do next, to the people who are scared to death of you, we all have a similar question.
What's next for Larry Elder?
Are you soon to return to radio?
Or has this given you a thought that maybe there are a couple of other bases to touch before heading back to the microphone?
Well, I was talking with Phil Boyce, our boss, just a few hours ago about this very thing.
And I told him, I just need some days just to think about it.
I didn't think it was going to hurt this much to lose.
I didn't think I was going to enjoy running as much as I did.
And when I lost, that didn't occur to me, it didn't hit me until the next morning when I was thanking my campaign staff, and all of a sudden I started crying.
I didn't think that was going to happen.
So I was thinking about Bob Dole, and Bob Dole lost, I think he lost in 96, wasn't it?
Correct.
And he called George McGovern, who got slapped.
It started in 1972. And he asked George McGovern, when did it stop hurting?
And George McGovern said, I'll let you know when it's going to happen.
So, you know, Mark, you put everything out.
You raise money.
The best, most optimistic projection was that Elder might raise $10 million.
I raised $20 million.
And you do everything you can.
I hit every mark.
I didn't lose a day.
My voice got a little raspy, but it got stronger and stronger near the end.
I hit every interview.
I hit every fundraiser.
I hit every rally.
My campaign manager was very experienced.
He's never seen a politician work this hard.
So I left everything out, and you still get creamed.
It hurts.
I can imagine.
And there's something about having 2.3 million people vote for you.
There is something about that.
It wraps around your heart and makes you think, okay, how can I serve these people best?
I have just as a suggestion, purely selfish motive, get back to the show as soon as you're comfortable and consider your options while doing shows talking about them.
That's a very good idea.
And of course, obviously, I've considered that.
That's probably the first thing that I intend to do.
I gotta tell you, Mark, it is just so disturbing.
We're outnumbered here in California two to one.
And was I lying when I said the average price of a home hit $800,000?
No, no, right.
No, no.
Was I lying when I said crime has gotten up 41% shootings and homicides here in L.A.? Was I lying when I said this man released 20,000 convicted felons?
And based upon history, the majority of them are likely to reaffind.
Was I lying when I said kids before the pandemic, Mark, half of our...
Well, third graders could not read at state levels of proficiency.
They lost a whole year of in-school education, and the math scores are even worse.
Was I lying when I said we've got anywhere between 25 and half of the nation's homeless population, and it's getting worse?
You know, nothing I said was challenged on the merits.
It was all Republican takeover, Republican takeover, and they kept showing a picture of me with the former president with both of our thumbs up.
So that's it.
That's it.
The only person less popular in California than Donald Trump is Charlie Manson, and he's dead.
Exactly!
And I think you've answered my very next question.
This is what you have achieved.
This is the glory and the victory within a technical loss.
And it goes like this.
The campaign you ran was an act of genius because you didn't walk around saying, hey, vote for me because I'm conservative and he's liberal.
That's self-evident.
You wound up doing a campaign that was meant to appeal to absolutely everybody.
Your campaign was about homelessness, about the economy, about COVID restrictions, about fire management.
It was about things that...
People of every political stripe can care about.
And if California is ever to be saved, that's the kind of campaign that will do it.
It might take 30 of them in a row to do it, but that's the way to do it.
Well, I appreciate that.
And, you know, Mark, I was, of course, called the blackface of white supremacy in particular.
A woman in a gorilla mask, a white woman in a gorilla mask, throws an egg at me.
If that had happened to Barack Obama campaigning, it would be called a hay climb.
They'd be talking about it in Bangladesh.
And you know, Mark, I've never, ever, ever asked anybody to vote for me because I'm black or to vote against me because I'm black.
I've never made a big deal out of it.
As far as I'm concerned, after Barack Obama became the first black president, everything else is anticlimactic.
But when you want to play that game, New York Times, front-page article about me, negative, of course, never mentioned that I'm black, never mentioned that if I were to have won, I would have been the first black governor.
On the very same page, New York Times, big article about, quote, the first female governor of New York, close quote.
If she's got a D at the end of her name, it's a first.
Because I have an R at the end of my name, I'm no longer black.
It's funny because I retweeted an article, I think it's from Slate, and the headline was, Larry Elder is not going anywhere.
And I said, you know what, the headline is the only thing that's correct, because he's not going anywhere.
Everything that followed was a lie and a smear of you, but I said, I smell their fear.
This is the badge of honor that Larry can wear.
I'm so proud that you're my friend, so proud that you're my co-worker, whether it's on the air, off the air, or anywhere in between, just God bless you, and we'll all stay tuned, as you've asked us to do.
Well, you know, Mark, that article, I read the article this morning, and it really is white people.
Larry Elder makes white people's racism okay.
Wow!
What do you say about white people?
Well, we could spend the rest of our lives explaining that.
And I am so grateful.
Thanks for hanging out here with us on your first post-election interview.
Well done, good and faithful servant.
I'm so proud of you.
Thank you, Mark.
God bless.
You bet.
That is Larry Elder, everybody.
Oh, my goodness me.
So I think I offered a quality suggestion.
If he's in there wondering about, gee, what might I do next, that's great.
I totally understand that.
I'm sure it's been an amazing and compelling and life-changing thing.
Why don't you hash out those options while doing the show?
I flesh out all kinds of things doing the show.
Lord knows that's apparent.
So let's get back to that and the various other calls we've been talking about.
Let's talk about Larry and anything else you want.
Mark Davison for Dennis.
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