Larry Elder vs. The CA Democrat Machine

Dennis Prager interviews Larry Elder about his 2021 California governor campaign, including his struggle to get on the ballot over tax return disputes and allegations of targeting by state Democrats. Elder discusses media blackouts, school choice, and crime in Black communities.
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Larry, I have so many questions and we, we have, you know, as you know, radio as well as I, limited time. So let me begin and then have you say anything you want and of course how we can help you further. And number one, are they giving you a hard time getting on the ballot?
They are, Dennis. Uh, and I know we have limited time, but Dennis, you know how quickly I can speak, so I'll squeeze a lot in. Um, because of their hatred of, of Arnold, of Donald Trump, the— I'm talking about the left-wing legislature here in, in California that's 2/3 dominated in both chambers by the Democrats. They passed a law to require Trump to be eligible for the 2020 ballot by first submitting 5 years of his tax returns. It was challenged in court, went all the way up to the California Supreme Court. They ruled unanimously that it was unconstitutional, but they did let it hold for gubernatorial races, so it applies here for the very first time. And, um, and it requires, as I mentioned, you to submit 5 years of tax returns, uh, and we both did that. Unredacted and redacted tax returns. And so on Sunday, we finally get a letter from the Secretary of State, who's a Democrat. And here's what she says: according to our records, you did not qualify due to one or more of the following reasons. One box is no declaration of candidacy was filed. That's not checked because we did. Nomination signature requirement was not met. That was not checked because we did that. No income tax return disclosure consent and acknowledgment form was filed. That was left blank because we did that. No income tax returns were filed. That was left blank because we did that. The only one checked is the following: Incomplete redacted and/or unredacted income tax returns were filed. Near as we can figure out, I did not redact my Social Security number, or there was something else equally minor that was either redacted that shouldn't have been redacted, or something was unredacted that should not have been unredacted. We don't know, but we suspect it's Social Security number. If that's the case, the reason for the required redaction is to protect the candidate. They don't want the candidate's Social Security number becoming public for obvious reasons. So if I either, because of a mistake or willfully, provided it, it's on me. It doesn't hurt anybody. So no lawyer I've talked to— and yesterday I talked to 4— thinks that this is going to disqualify me. And we're having a conversation with the Secretary of State as we speak. And if this is not reversed, we're going to court, and I'm going to win this. This is something that a first-year law student could win.
It's so, it's so obvious.
And by the way, Dennis, guess who's not required to turn in 5 years of his tax returns? Gavin Newsom. And according to the Sacramento Bee, in a tweet this morning put out by a reporter, she found that 2 of the Republican candidates, 2 of the more prominent ones, did not turn in their 2020 tax returns. Now, that's not necessarily a violation of anything because of COVID Everybody had an extension. But somehow, some way, Larry Elder was able to get his 2020 tax returns filed among the 5 that were required. Can you imagine what they would have done to me if I had not turned in 2020 tax returns? It clearly looks like a target for me. Because I'm the only one that I believe they're afraid of. My name recognition is higher than anybody else's other than Caitlyn Jenner's. I've been on every market, major market in Sacramento, as you have, Dennis, for the last several years. I've been talking about these issues for a long time. This guy is scared to death, and that's what I think happened. So we're going to be in court later on today if this thing is not reversed.
Unbelievable. All right, next, is there a a sort of blackening— that's the bad word.
Can you imagine if I were Al Sharpton? The race cars would be flying if I were Al Sharpton. But of course, I don't play that way. I'm not a conspiracy guy.
That's why we're both laughing.
I don't know.
I'm thinking of blackout. That's the—
that's—
so I was trying to make it into a verb. Is there a blackout in terms of the media with regard to Larry Elder?
Well, Dennis, you and I of course can talk about this for hours. The biggest news organ of course in California is the LA Times. We talked about this before. I published half a dozen books. Not a single one was ever reviewed by the LA Times, even though two of them made the LA Times bestseller list. My documentary Uncle Tom, that grossed more money than all the five documentaries that were nominated for Best Documentary last year combined, had a higher IMDb rating than any of them that were— that was nominated, not reviewed by the LA Times. You know, so Dennis, my column is carried in the Valley newspaper, the Daily News. My column is carried in the Orange County newspaper, the Orange County Register. I've published over 1,000 articles since April 1998. I think I've missed one week. The LA Times has never published a single one of them. To my knowledge, there is no conservative local writer in the LA Times. There is no conservative member of the editorial board, let alone a conservative member of color on the LA Times editorial board. So am I being shafted by local media, talking specifically about the LA Times? Hell yeah, I am. But what else is new?
I want you to know, you may not know this because you're so busy campaigning, there was an article about you by a Times columnist.
I know who he is, Jean Guerrero. And basically she called me a hate monger, a self-loathing black man who believes that black people are criminally inclined or something, some such nonsense. Her name is Jean Guerrero. She interviewed me extensively for the book she did on Stephen Miller, who's one of my closest friends. He's been on my radio I've been on his radio show ever since he was a teenager at Santa Monica High. I've said nothing at all but positive things about him. She wrote a book in which she called him a hate monger. And during the interview, Dennis, she's a very attractive lady, she smiles sweetly and would nod her head when you're saying stuff to give you the impression she thought that what you were saying was fair, and then totally shafted you. During the interview, she said, as I was saying things about Dennis, she said, can you tell me something Dennis has ever done that shows his compassion? And I said, have you ever asked that question about a left-wing person you ever interviewed? And she admitted she never had. The assumption is, of course, left-wing people are compassionate and people who are conservative are not, so therefore she has to ask that question. Yeah, and I asked, I asked, how many times have you asked that of a left-wing person? She admitted she never had. Uh-oh. I said, what about the fact that he treats his dogs well? Yeah, I said, what about the fact that he cares about the country? What about the fact that he wants everybody to realize his God-given potential, same as people on the left? Doesn't that count? And she had nothing to say.
I'll tell you though where I got her, and I am going to be tweeting this. She lied, pure lie, about you. She said you twisted— those are her words— twisted facts about blacks and crime.
Black crime, that's exactly what she said. It didn't say which fact I twisted, of course.
No, because if you click on the URL under twisted, you only get your list. You get no refutation of what you wrote, right? So she lied. She just lied about you. Where should people send money?
Well, if people really care about my candidacy, they should go to electelder.com. Electelder.com. And Dennis, Gavin Newsom can spend an unlimited amount of money. The campaign laws do not apply to him, but all of his rivals do have campaign limitations. And this is a national race. You know, a lot of people leave.
All right, stay on, stay on, Larry. Back in a moment. The attempt to smear him and ignore him on the part of the mainstream media is worthy of documentation. In one case, he was simply lied about, and I said on the— I said, by the way, Larry, I said either you lied about the statistics or she lied about your twisting the statistics.
Right, right, correct.
So therefore, if you lied, you shouldn't be governor, and if she lied, she shouldn't be a columnist for the LA Times.
Well, that makes her qualified to be a columnist for the LA Times, doesn't it? By the way, Dennis, good for you. I wouldn't be in this race. You know, you not only are responsible for my having my radio career, you're also responsible for getting me into this race. You first approached me, and you know what I told you? I told you hell no, and I gave you my reasons why. But other people said the same thing— Jack Hibbs, Lionel Chetwin. And I began to think more and more about it. But, but for you, I wouldn't be in this race. So may God have mercy on your soul. By the way, Dennis, I submitted 5 years' worth of tax returns. This is over 250 pages we're talking about. And one more quick thing about my being treated unfairly. I was interviewed by a Black newspaper when I was in Sacramento a couple days ago. I'd never heard of the newspaper. It's been around for about 60 years. And they were kind of hostile at first. And I said to them, aren't you tired? Of the fact that 75% of Black kids educated in public schools in California cannot read at state levels of proficiency? Are you tired that my former high school, Crenshaw High School, only 2% of the kids are math proficient? Aren't you tired of being forced to send your kid to a school where only 2% of kids are math proficient, and by the way, is a state school that is dominated by the gang called the Crips? Aren't you tired of voting for a party that says hell no to parents, a majority of whom in the inner city, Black and brown, want choice in school, and the very people that you vote for are not giving it to you? Aren't you sick of this? Aren't you sick of this attack the police, they're pulling back, it's called the Ferguson effect, and the people primarily hurt by this are black and brown people living in the urban areas. Aren't you sick of this? Aren't you tired of this? And Dennis, it was like somebody hit him in the head with a 2x4. And I haven't seen the article they wrote yet, but I'm sure it's going to be a lot different than what they thought it was going to be.
That is an incredibly important story. I believe, as I believe that I am married and I have two sons, I mean, it is a fact in my life that if every black in California heard you, you would get half the black vote at least. That they know that, and that is why it is so important not to enable you to be heard.
That's what I think, Dennis. I get Spectrum cable, and when I first got it, it irritated me because it defaults when you turn it on to the LA Times channel. And little by little, I began watching it. And the other day, there's a story about a black woman who has a private school in, uh, you know, she set up her own school. Two-thirds of Black people say they do not want to send their kids back to Los Angeles Unified School District, and they believe one of the reasons is because of racism. And the racism is not because the teachers and the administrators are Black, the majority of whom are Black. They believe the worst teachers end up going to the schools where the kids need them the most.
Folks, his, uh, his website to help him elect elder.com is at dennisprager.com.
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