>> weekends on "c-span2" are an intellectual feast, every saturday in history tv, documents america story and sundays, book tv brings you the latest nonfiction books and authors, fighting for "c-span2", is from these television companies and more, including mexico. ♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪♪ >> medico along with these television companies, supports cpn to the public service, seized into. >> representative heard it's good to see was back it is great to see them please only well. >> okay were talking about your book american recruits, angelaa started to getting big things done but enjoy this book.

>> look at, i read this book but didn't think i would write the book because i had some year olds me in a jet and sit have you ever thought about writing ♪ ♪ said no and he said well, if you were going to write a book what would it be about that when i was in congress the things that i try to talk about the things that are taught that were important in order for the country to move forward and evolve and that it is not always the same that way we are reflected in social or on cable news and so when i thought that this is the concept is those what i i consider to be five generations of defining challenges that will prevent america the leader for the rest of the century have the framework of why or how i came up with the idea and ultimatelyn to paper and because 72 percent of the country think that the country is on the wrong track and this is a that is been

growing over the years and we cannot sustain the past the path of around we have to do something different and this is why as of the book out some of the is callingha get off the docks, that is the second lesson that you learned after super super cia training where i was a member and these to call it supersecret was on google maps. [laughter] [laughter] >> i wish that was a joke, is truly on google maps and the teacher to get off the x and is a location where something is going down in the laste place oithat you want to be, when something is going on is where it is going down and so move. i was kind of how i start the book off to say that we are at a moment to that is within our control to change we have to change if we want to make sur' that we continue to exist for another 247 years. >> let's talk about you in congress, republican and

representing the 23rd congressional district of texas, massive district since 20 oh down to thel border,. >> a black republican and a latino district, is okay. [laughter] [laughter] >> okay, but all of that massive space along the texas mexico border. only talk about vegas, whatt happens in vegas stays in vegas will what happens in the border does not say the border and impacts the rest of the country and you are representative of the biggest part of the border and so, when you think of it. >> what is happening right now is indeed a crisis in the crisis on the border is the worst that itis is ever been. it is going to have impacts on our election and when you are on the border, the border security actually means public safety when you think about the county judges in the city councilmembers that had to deal

with the last few here's how i'm not just talking about the illegal immigration crisis, i am also dealing with covid-19, those communities along the border, 50 percent of their income comes from taxes of legal immigration coming back and cross the border that was shut down for your naps of the cities, did not happily basically had to cut half their budget and they are dealing with covid-19 like everybody else isn dealing with and on top of that, they were doing with a growing illegal immigration crisis and overseeing send this ist what we are seeing along those communities should we do about it. >> in my contacts, 825 miles of the border is when represented andd that is 2000 miles between the united states and mexico. ... to

travel in alias and violate board other countries borders. and so i have a unique i may or may not have a unique perspective on on these issues. and and so step one stop treating everybody that comes across the border as an asylum seeker. good. this was something that started under the trump administration. and the trump administration did this in order to gum up the system. now this was strange in this kingdom of the system. now this has been continued under president biden. why do i sayfi that? asylum is a very specific thing pretty have to be a member of a protected class. usually engenders special preference. you're following af specific religion. you have to be part of a

protected class and your government has to be persecuting you because you're part of that protective class.o' or, your government is not protecting you from someone who is persecuting you as part of that protective class.g coming here it just because you want a better paying job is not a reason for asylum. since seeing everyone is in asylum-seekers .1. point to we have to dismantle the human smuggling and networks throughout central and south america federate moving people here to the united states. it is hard to get to a cuneo. there is a lot of infrastructure there are payment systems, buses to get you from point a to point b. there are half way you get to stay. we have a lot of that information and we should be working with our partners to dismantle those things.

.3 how about we streamline illegal immigration. every industry. let's streamline illegal immigration and address the root cause of your directions. because we need to do it to address this. something i've been advocating for a long time. it immigration for the longest chapter inoo the book because te important it is to the country. >> so we talk about a border crisis i spent a t lot of time n the border many years living and working on the border in mexico living in mexico and covering these issues. i wonder if it is because we cannot take everyone in the country and i know what you are saying but not everyone should be created as asylum but we have laws in place when someone approaches to sale one asylum they get a certain amount of treatment from her immigration system.

that system that is in place right now under law cannot be turned off and on at will. we have to deal the system is buckling under theuc strain. but congress has been reluctant to address those issues. >> i don't disagree with any of that. that the one point i might push back slightly on see current statute allows for flexibility of an individual border patrol agent to make an assessment. just like officer in an embassy to go through get a b1, b2 visa. there is an incredible amount of responsibility from the individual to make that call. that gives to border patrol agents. dhs is an organization has interpreted that ability and a varro narrow way.

so right now as things are written this notion of stop b treating everyone as an asylum-seekers can be done without additional legislation part it would require dhs to change how they implement of the language of the legislation that's already past. >> as we speak monday it would have been the date title 42 would have been lifted. that was a rule, a lot of us put in place by the trump administration. that was supposed to prevent people from seeking asylum due to concerns about covid-19. now covid-19 we are past covid-19 pretty much. and people are saying okay, lifted title 42 it was a covid restriction. but we have people on the right side saying keep it in place. these are theou same people you don't have to wear masks on an

airplane of it was a hoax and all these other things. is title 42 about immigration or is it about covid and disingenuous trying to use it as a way to keep people from coming into the country and seeking asylum? >> there's an absolute lack of ideological consistency on those supporting it and not supporting it. and most people are viewing this as a way, is another tool to present illegal immigration from coming in the country. dhs own projects if title 42 is removed you couldav potentially have 400,000 people a month coming to our border illegally this is their projection not my projection. give a context the first year of donald trump he deported for the entire year 200,000 people. so that influx would have been a pretty significant. >> wanted things i get frustrated on this entire t

immigration issue is that lack of ideological on both sides. as most frustrated with when i was in congress is not getting a solution that have only known the united states of america as their own. a couple of us renegade republicans try to gain republican leadership at the time we came in essence two votes away from pulling something off will be billed to north of 250 votes and it likely would've put in as well. it was a bill signed into law. bill is on a table somewhere in the current leadership to bring that forward he would be able to get a super majority this is one

of those issues that when you look at a political issue of any percent if not more believe we should be solved in this it is probably 70% of republican primary voters support things like permanent legislative fix for daca men and women excuse me. instead nothing happens because people would rather ease this issue as a political bludgeon against each other rather than going to solve the problem. >> too that point about the political aspects, looking at this as aee republican seeing hw democrats use immigration as an issue to see it as a loser issue for democrats frequently that this is more to the right against them than actually accomplish anything? >> it is going to be something that will be used against democrats and upcoming

elections. if you look at the border of texas, five members of congress represent the border. i was the only republican of five. my successor is the only republican now. there is a scenario in which three of those five are going to be represented by republicans after this next i election. and it goes back to the fact you have democratic mayors and county judges and elected officials along the border that are tired of the lack of anything getting done. it started with the issue of defund. the median democrat does not believe. public of the far left wings talking about that the entire party gets painted with that. just like that median democrat does not believe in defund the

police. the fact that enough people in the far left doing it well you have crime and other issues. all of these things are going to play in the elections coming up in november where you're going to see in south and west texas if not record, near record latino turnout for republican c candidates in areas that most people would not expect it. it goes with not solving an issue that could be solvable. >> we have seen this is called the red shift onn the border. we are seeing counties that have been solid blue making huge transitions to support the republican party in the last election. what issues was immigration for another was law enforcement, another was concerns about the greening of our energy economy it would take away the future they have in these areas. is that a good thing that people are voting this way or are

voting for republicans going to help these people? others t see it is not in their best interest. >> it goes back to here's the thing i learned when i was in congress. nobody thought a black republican could win a 71% latino district. the reason -- my strategy was simple i was going to be everywhere. the 29 counties to time zones, eight or 25 miles to the border takes ten and a halff hours to drive across at 80 miles an hour. which is the speed limit and most of the districts. but nancy and bianchi found out the speed limit and all the districts, sorry ladies. a third of the district does not have cell phone service. i would go everywhere. whether it was colonialist of el paso are the dominion here in

san antonio. when you shut up and listen to what people are talking about c you find out everybody talks about the same things. they care about putting their food on s the table putting a rf over their head when you talk about those issues you can be successful. let's talk about energy policy. type but the greening the number is somewhere and let's cult issue. they areto somehow connected to the energy sector. you have the permanent basis in south texas. to them this is about their livelihood. in getting rid of their livelihood. we talked but defending the police are defunding laweo enforcement the number of people

in texas that have a family member working for border patrol of the sheriff's office the local pd that's a larger group of people. it is this assault on their ability to provide for themselves. now here's what's going to happen. it's almost accepted itubca is accepted that there taken the house back in 22. read about today some people say likely the senate as well. this is not a mandate from the american people like a gop we love you. [laughter] for those watching on tv everybody laughed we don't like what these other folks are trying to do. republicans come in and do not have a vision of how are going to solve these problems we only talk about the things we are against, all of the problems that we are dealing with in the country being blamed on joe

biden and the democratic party is going to be blamed on the republican party. so we have to have a vision of what are we going to try to solve? it starts with havingil elected leaders to inspire rather than to fear mongering. we go here through here in texas provide their prime real runoff election. in the primary 3 million people voted. a 1.8 million republicans one point to million democrats. that is 3 million people out of 30 million. that's a terrible part regarding their runoff election excuse me a runoff with a primary right now. maybe on the republican side of center 50000 people though. which means 375,000 that is texas that's going to happen the

general election. inspiring people to come out and vote. the music, tv, and movie i'm on a number panel of youtube stories. four of the other panelists combined with the milling youtube describe her's. i had 64. and i see seven of those people here in the crowd right now. and one of the people that was there is a digital director for the rock. dwayne johnson. this is when the movie no one was coming out. set if the want fails at the box office,on are we going to blame the consumer, the moviegoer? or are we going to blame the

product, the movie. she said chris are c going to blame the product at the chromate movie. the success at the box office. she went on to say politics or we blame the consumer, the voter rather than the product rather than the politician. i think the opportunity is for people to do things a little bit differently and inspire rather than fear mongering and that's why it wrote this book. american reboot. >> most important real estate we have in america is the kitchen table and every home in america. and that is where we are seeing prices going up. when i was at my kid i did my homework weeded family meetings talking about may be good news to got bad news it's all come

together for the kitchen table everything happen to the kitchen table. what are we doing to make the kitchen table a happy place? that's going to be the big question. so for me i talk about my kitchen table with my parents my dad's a black, my mom is white. they met in l.a. and got married and moved to san antonio 1970. buy a house 1971. and my father was a traveling salesman. he was not i en vogue to be an interracial couple in south texas in the 70s. and so seeing some of things they did was my parents looked in the same house the last 54 years. it was the only neighborhood in san antonio that would sell to an interracial couple.

which meant that neighborhood in the schools at service that neighborhood were the only schools my brother, sister and i werei' able to go too. knowing turned out okay, i am a proud john marshall llama. a proud aggie. and so for me seeing that grow up in the opportunity for my dad my mom started business when he retired to go out and become a partner in an engineering firm for me too get exposed to robotics and want me too be a computer scientist, we were lucky to have those opportunities. we need to be making sure that's not getting a lot of focus we are looking at the decrease in

the number of kids in school across the united states, what dhec? where are they? what are they doing? what is happening. we have income inequality of education and equality. this is the one of things we need to focus on. these are some the stories i talk about in the book. the reality is we have to be preparing our kids for job to do not today. the technological that wilson x47 years will make the last 47 years look like we are monkeys playing in the dirt was stick. anything from bioengineering we can program the dna in the movie program computer code. i am on the board of a company's going to artificial general intelligence and algorithm is going to be smarter than most people on a certain think this is going to happen. prwe have to make sure we have t

workforce that is prepared for that. and people currently in the workforce got to make sure they are ready for that. those issues is what's going to drive those conversations kitchen table. seniors and their seniors who thought they had squirreled away enough money in their retirement account or having a hard go right now looking at their retirement account. how are we making sure american businesses those 401ks because this is not just about us achieving our best. we are in a new cold war with the chinese government. this is not my opinion it's with the chinese government is said about themselves. they are trying to surpass the united states of america as a global superpower. one of the feedbacks have gotten on the y book is most people ark saying hey the things you talk about china and technology in the book is kind of scary. i said that is just the tip of

the iceberg. so this is what we have to be ready for? and this is why we have to get beyond these political food fights that are not solving some of these major issues. recently been able to move up the economic ladder is because we have given educational opportunities for people to do that. but we fail that. >> for watching what's happening inhehe ukraine. it's incredible the videos were getting out of combat and of the wars being fought and how war is being redefined in. one of things forgive me out these drove these high-level consumer drones that been modified to drop munitions, bombs on russians in their tanks and blowing them up. what is to stop anyone in the united states for modifying

drones that you can buy at best buy and turning that into a weapon and attacking a church or a supermarket or times square? >> not trying freak everybody out. but nothing is preventing them from happening. that is why we have to be thinking through not only drone technology because look it's going to be awesome when i am barreling down i-10 and i can get a drone i'm driving this car and a jerome and drops out whataburger through my sunroof that's going to be awesome. i am ready to make that happen. but to your point every tool, every tool that used for good can be used for bad. we need to be thinking through some of these strategies. your doom scrolling on your phone search for swarming

drones. like these drones that operate and they use ai and they look like birds. you're late at night like how are they moving that way to get drones to be able to do that? it's not just that. okay covid-19 was that didn't designed in the lab? i don't know. the covid 47 may be in it will be designed in a lab. it's going to be designed to have a greater impact on people in north america based on her dna sequence. we can do that. that technology exist today. wouldn't ukraine what is happening, and this is why what the russians were doing int sierra, the russians were using some of the latest drone and technology in sierra in order to perfect it to use it for other warfare. we have. seen some of those

techniques and procedures they were doing in sierra we see that now in the ukraine. the future of conflict is going to be driven all lot by technology. and a lot of that technology -- a lot of it works. so space is as important as to what's happening on the ground as the ground is. and all of these things are connected. we have to remember the united states of america we have had an edge. we became a superpower because we had an edge in advanced technology since the end of world war ii. that edge ise decreasing. and if we ever get to the point where we are on the losing end, that is what is going to erode our hard power. >> you are talking about an american reboot in your book. people are wondering if you're actually talking about a

republican party reboot? and what would it take to hit that all control delete on the republican party and is that going to be the loss of elections? >> unfortunately i think most people learned major lessons from a loss rather than again. and so the first section of the book is about how the republican party does not look like america. and that the republican party needs to start looking like america.re and i outlined why that matters pretty republican should care, democrats should care, should care, people who don't vote should care. it is important to have two strong parties in order to have that competition of ideas. so yes, i do believe there needs to be a reboot of the republican party. and starts getting back to be a party based on our values. the formula for the gop has always been simple.

it has been an opportunityss excuse me freedom leads to opportunity. opportunity leads to growth, growth leads to progress. we talk about those issues then we can have some success. so what is going to take?e it was good to take a complete blow operate i can make an argument losing 63 seats in 2018 should have been a wake-up call. right? it didn't. but i think it's also an opportunity where the system can be shocked from the outside because thegn opportunity of getting new voters into a primary is fairly significant. >> the american dream what is the status of the american dream? >> look, i think the american dream is still bright and it's hopeful.

the american dream is different things for different people. and the fact that a young kid from the north side of san antonio who had a big head, size 13 shoe and he was in the fifth grade, speech impediment, messed up teeth and last name rhymes with nerd you all should not laugh at that you should not laugh at that. to be able to be an undercover officer in the cia to represent his hometown in congress. that is awesome for this is where the few places that can happen. in one of the values for me having lived overseas when i was in the cia is seeing other people's views on our country.

and the opportunity that you can do anything does not exist inwh other places. and that is what'ss exciting. one of the things i learned researching this book, america's power is in our values. in the value we top the world for the last 240 years is that a government's legitimacy and its ability to exercise a power of the states flows from the consent of the government. we the people are sovereign. not the government. that is a novel idea. that is five and we started every said this is an experiment it had been 1800 years for the last democracy, that was in rome and julius caesar screwed that up. [laughter] it was another 60 years until there is another democracy on

the planet, switzerland. there were only 14 other countries that are been in democracy more than 100 years. we assume because it's always ever known. democracy is fragile, always has been fragilenm and always will e fragile. it's our system of government that we have shown the world that has allowed so many people to move up the economic letter t to ultimately uplift humanity. i am proud of that i'm excited about that in that is as real today as it ever has been. garcia took questions from the floor from her audience. but real quickly what happened on january 6? >> it wasn't insurrection. and it was a propagated by people that were feeding lies. simple. [applause] >> questions from the audience? anybody have any questions you

want to make? we've got a microphone let's bring it overed too some and get that that captured for everyone to hear. our radiate. >> in addition to the two things you said the politicians of products and the voter public there is the third element of the republican propaganda. in defending the police for the police only spent 5% of their time solving crimes. obviously there needs to be a term for social services for the other things that they do. but for instance when aoc did the green to jell the republicans turn that into a curse word. now i am just going to propose a ridiculously ideal solution. the federal taxes of new york, oregon, washington, and california actually support the republican gerrymandered states of the south. what if the payers of the taxes actually designated what they

wanted their taxes for and said not the military and not creationism and then those people -- as always follow the money. it might change. >> oh what is your question? [laughter] >> insert any way to get reason back in politics? and also i'm legally old enough to vote by mail and they have made so impossible that almost all of the mailers have been discarded because they did not fill out a font size six and number but. >> is a texas issue. that happened with greg abbott the texas legislature the voting was byo mail. but to your other points. >> so can we get reasonable stuff in? >> yes. show of hands how many of you have clicked on a news article that said congress worked? [laughter] you in the audience we have one

handhi. and so part of this is way up the model the behavior we want to see. are there some crazy politicians? absolutely but there are some that are not very. >> on both sides. >> don both sides for sure. but are we promoting and encouraging the kind of behavior that we went to see? are we promoting and encouraging that negative behavior and we are partaking in this? that is us as individuals and as voters. as elected officials again i'm up you are selling a product yes you want to make sure the people buying your product are still buying that product. but you also should be trying to get new people to buy that product. and there is this notion and has come into our political discourse for the last 30 years that the only way to get big things done is through one party rule.

that's actually the worst way to get anything done. any piece of legislation that we can name the civil rights the voting rights act of 55 the clean water act, every student succeeds act, the first step act, you name all of these bills they were passed one party in the house, a different party in the senate. on one party rule is not the way to govern. and we need more people voting in primaries because that is where a lot of physicians are being made. if i had a magic wand, yes. we should make registering to vote as easy as possible. we should be able to do the same day. we should be able to do it online. [applause] i'm shocked you look at some selections on the country that decided by plurality, 31% is not reflective of anything a. and so being able to do those

things. yes we should be able to do that in this day and age we should be making it easier. we should be able to do it by mail we should be able to do it online should be able to do all these things very. >> okay next yes, sir will get on mike to serve. >> let's get the mic to you. >> awesome thank you. >> you didha not mention there s a strength and a two-party system. but as it becomes more left and more right do you see a centrist party developing like in europe? >> so the idea of an independent party or a third party, i think a third-party candidate candidate could win any the united states of america. and i think there's a model in france and mexico. the question i have about a third party system is over time does that lead to better outcomes?

and does that lead to a country nosolving bigger problems? and i don't know if coalition politics accusing in the uk and israel is better than a system that we have now. but what i think could happen, every stock but the 60 votes in the senate. here's a novel idea, forget the far left at ten and find 20 on the other side. they exist, it is possible. it exists in the house, it exists in theha senate. and what happens is when leadership in washington d.c. and what i mean by leadership that's majority leaderen in the senate or the speaker in the house, they drive all legislation out. rather than having stuffy committees actually driving it reald. people from both sides working to craft legislation that can get past. so if we only think nancy pelosi is a bad as if she works with 20

republicans on a piece of legislation, her far left wing is going to eviscerate her. the far right did that to john weiner and paul ryan when they worked with democrats in order to pass legislation. that is a trend that is solvable and more likely to have better outcomes than a potentially a third party. but like i said, a third party is doable it's a logistical challenge at the m national levl ints the united states. but i would love to see more about with long-term impacts. >> so will hurt warmer congressmen, is there a future? you used to be the future of the republican party are you still the future? what you do not have to be in elected office to be the future. >> elected future precooked here's what i woulds say. it is unlikely my political career is over. i'm 44 years old. but if the opportunity for me too serve my country presents itself again, i will evaluate

it. i've been lucky to serve in an amazing job at the cia. it was awesome serving my hometown of san antonio and all of the communities in west and south texas. if there's an opportunity i will evaluate it. >> or some reporting this book was a feeler to see if there was a lane for will hurd running for republican nomination for president. anything to that? >> could somebody use these ideas and run for president? i think so. [laughter] says about vision process structure. we do not have enough people articulating where we want to go.ic and the reason i call this american. reporter: boat because a lesson i learned in my first job at w texas a&m university and the computer lab when the computer wasn't working and i didn't know

what to do, you turn it off and hit reboot, right? it's about getting back to a fresh operating system. this is about getting back to those values and those ideas that have made us the greatest country on the planet. i want to see this experiment continue for another 227 years. i think that's why put some these ideas out there. because we do not have to accept this feeling 72% of us feel the countries in the wrong track. it's time to do something different. >> are right too. [applause] the book is american reboot's, getting idealist guide a guide to getting big things done. the authors will heard it's great to have you at the san antonio book festival. he'll be signing books at the tents, no or bookshop tent outside of the book festival. [applause] ♪ if you are enjoying book tv

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