Steve Hilton & Spencer Pratt: Fixing California, Cheaper Gas, Ballot Fraud & CA Republicans
Steve Hilton, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in California, discusses his campaign focused on reducing government bloat, lowering taxes, and addressing homelessness, while Spencer Pratt, who ran for LA mayor, shares his experience challenging the political establishment and critiques ballot harvesting practices and government incompetence that he claims contributed to his electoral loss.
Summary
Steve Hilton, a British-born tech entrepreneur turned Republican candidate for California governor, presents his campaign platform centered on practical solutions for working Californians facing high costs of living. He argues that California's one-party Democratic rule for 16 years has resulted in the highest poverty rate, unemployment rate, and cost of living in the nation despite its natural advantages and innovative sectors. Hilton's specific policy proposals include: cutting state income tax by making the first $150,000 tax-free through budget reductions (cutting 420,000 regulations to 200,000, reducing government headcount by 10%, canceling high-speed rail), addressing gas prices by eliminating the low carbon fuel standard and cap-and-invest program to reduce costs from $6 to $3 per gallon, and capping vehicle registration fees at $73 annually by eliminating the DMV.
Hilton frames his campaign as "the people versus the machine," arguing that Sacramento's corrupt system is controlled by donors, unions, and trial lawyers who pass excessive legislation (1,118 bills last year) that primarily benefits narrow interest groups. He acknowledges the challenge of overcoming a 30-point polling deficit but highlights recent movement from that gap to 8 points, attributing this to voters' desperation for change. His path to victory relies on winning over the 26% of undecided voters—predominantly non-college educated working people focused on cost-of-living issues—while maintaining Republican and independent support.
Spencer Pratt, who ran for LA mayor as an independent, shares his experience fighting against what he characterizes as a corrupt political system. He claims to have been leading in his race until mail-in ballots were counted, during which his opponent Nithya Raman overtook him despite being in third place on election night. Pratt attributes this to ballot harvesting by DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) operatives who he says persistently convinced voters to support their candidate. He clarifies he is not alleging "voter fraud" in the criminal sense but rather legal mechanisms—specifically ballot harvesting and the separation of ballots from envelopes that prevents verification—that he views as systematically exploited.
Both Hilton and Pratt highlight specific examples of government dysfunction: Hilton describes nonprofits distributing crack pipes and fentanyl needles in MacArthur Park funded by taxpayer money, illegal street vendors undercutting legitimate businesses due to 2018 legalization of street vending, and how regulations punish compliant businesses while rewarding non-compliance. Pratt describes the Pacific Palisades fire resulting from state negligence in maintaining cleared firebreaks (which would have cost $500,000 to prevent billions in damages), empty reservoirs, and insurance companies withdrawing from California due to foreseeable fire risks. Both frame their candidacies as efforts to enforce existing laws and implement common-sense governance rather than partisan ideology.
About this episode
<p dir="ltr">(0:00) Steve Hilton joins the Besties!</p> <p dir="ltr">(3:53) How one-party rule broke the state, regulatory bloat & who really writes the laws</p> <p dir="ltr">(12:09) The path to victory: the persuadable voter, the cost-of-living pitch & the case against Becerra</p> <p dir="ltr">(21:46) Spencer Pratt joins: the message that cut through & the LA race that flipped</p> <p dir="ltr">(26:58) The city up close: the parks, small business & who the rules actually reward</p> <p dir="ltr">(36:54) Ballot harvesting, voter ID & whether the system is rigged or just legal</p> <p dir="ltr">(47:13) The Palisades: the empty reservoirs, suing the state & what Spencer does next</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Thanks to our partners for making this possible!</p> <p dir="ltr">IREN is a vertically integrated AI Cloud platform, delivering data centers, compute and software for AI training and inference. <a href="https://iren.com/">https://iren.com/</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Oracle connects the data, applications, and infrastructure that turn AI into business outcomes—with the flexibility, choice, and control to optimize as AI evolves. http://oracle.com/ai</p> <p dir="ltr">EY helps tech innovators scale from startup to exit to megacap. You build the future. We'll handle the rest. <a href="http://www.ey.com">http://www.ey.com</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Meta believes the future is for everyone. We're focused on giving every person the tools to reach their full potential and making sure the benefits of technology are distributed to all. <a href="http://www.meta.com">http://www.meta.com</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Keel Infrastructure owns the power, land, and connectivity that HPC and AI run on - backed by secured energy assets and established grid interconnections across North America. <a href="https://keelinfra.com/">https://keelinfra.com/</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Airwallex - Agentic Global Business Accounts. Open local accounts in 70+ countries to accept payments, earn yield, pay globally, and manage spend. <a href="http://airwallex.com">http://airwallex.com</a></p> <p dir="ltr">PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy. For more information, visit <a href="https://www.paypal.com">https://www.paypal.com</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Google for Startups connects founders with the right people, products, and best practices to help startups build faster and go further. <a href="https://startup.google.com/">https://startup.google.com/</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Explore ideas, industries, and technologies worth understanding with Chamath every week on Learn with Me: <a href="https://research.socialcapital.com/allin">https://research.socialcapital.com/allin</a></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Follow the besties: </p> <p dir="ltr">https://x.com/chamath</p> <p dir="ltr">https://x.com/Jason</p> <p dir="ltr">https://x.com/DavidSacks</p> <p dir="ltr">https://x.com/friedberg</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Follow on X:</p> <p dir="ltr">https://x.com/theallinpod</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Follow on Instagram:</p> <p dir="ltr">https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Follow on TikTok:</p> <p dir="ltr">https://www.tiktok.com/@allin</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Follow on LinkedIn: </p> <p dir="ltr">https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Intro Music Credit:</p> <p dir="ltr">https://rb.gy/tppkzl</p> <p dir="ltr">https://x.com/yung_spielburg</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">#allin #tech #news</p> <p> </p>
Key Insights
- Hilton argues that California's one-party Democratic control for 16 years has created an insular elite focused on ideology and donor interests rather than constituent outcomes, evidenced by the state having simultaneously the highest poverty, unemployment, and cost-of-living rates in the nation.
- Hilton claims that state legislators passed 1,118 bills in one year, creating regulatory bloat of over 420,000 regulations, making California's regulatory burden by far the highest in the country and creating a 90% chance of litigation for businesses.
- Pratt asserts that ballot harvesting—where DSA operatives visit voters multiple times with persistent persuasion—is legal in California but creates asymmetrical campaign dynamics, as Republican door-knockers follow one-visit norms while activist groups employ multi-visit strategies.
- Pratt contends that the separation of mail-in ballots from their verification envelopes in California's counting process prevents forensic tracing of potentially fraudulent ballots to their sources, making it legally impossible to prove wrongdoing even when suspicious patterns emerge.
- Hilton documents that taxpayer-funded nonprofits in Los Angeles are distributing crack pipes and fentanyl needles in MacArthur Park, with at least one NGO worker also caught selling drugs, representing a system that rewards homelessness rather than addressing it.
- Pratt reveals that the 2018 California street vending legalization law prevents cities and counties from enforcing licensing or tax compliance, allowing 50,000 unregulated food vendors to operate without permits, undercutting tax-paying businesses like a 14-year-old shoe store.
- Hilton identifies specific policy mechanisms harming working people: the low carbon fuel standard and cap-and-invest program add approximately $1.50 per gallon to gas prices, with cap-and-invest revenue funding high-speed rail rather than addressing immediate cost-of-living crises.
- Pratt argues that the Pacific Palisades fire was preventable through $500,000 in firebreak maintenance, but state parks employees failed to monitor smoldering fires and residents cannot legally clear brush due to protected plant species regulations, creating a system where environmental rules prevent self-protection.
Topics
Transcript
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 Pelton. It's a joke. I mean, what are these Democrats doing? We already have the highest taxes in the country. Your first hundred grand tax free. Even Katie Porter agrees with that. 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! Hi! Wake up…
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