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In a startling address to constituents, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently talked about controversial COVID-19 conspiracist Joe Rogan becoming the “president” of Texas if the state secedes from the union.

“I’m not there yet,” Cruz told an audience last month at Texas A&M University about Texas seceding from the United States — popularly known as “Texit.”

But “if there comes a point where it’s hopeless, then I think we take NASA, we take the military, we take the oil,”  he said to loud applause.

Asked if he would also take Rogan, a Texan, Cruz responded: “Joe Rogan, he might be president of Texas!”

When Cruz was asked by a member of the audience about the possibility of seceding, he said he “understood the sentiment.” But he added that he wasn’t ready for it — yet. 

“I’m not ready to give up on America. I love this country,” he said, again to applause.

For one thing, Cruz insisted, Texas has a “responsibility” to the nation because “right now it’s an amazing force keeping America from going off the cliff, keeping America grounded in the values that built this country.”

But he’s prepared to change his mind. 

“Look, if the Democrats end the filibuster … if they pack the Supreme Court, if they make D.C. a state, if they federalize elections and massively expand voter fraud,” which doesn’t exist, “it may become hopeless,” Cruz said. “We’re not there yet.”

But if it does become “hopeless,” that’s when the state should grab NASA, the military and the oil, he added. 

As for a possible future Texas “president,” at least right-wing vaccine and mask skeptic Rogan appears healthy after contracting COVID-19 earlier this year. The podcaster early last month insisted without a shred of evidence on his popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” that President Joe Biden’s booster shot, which was filmed and shown on TV, had been magically faked.

Rogan admitted in May he was a “fucking moron” and “not a respected source of information” after falsely claiming young and healthy people don’t need to be vaccinated. Hopefully, he knows more about running a nation state.

Cruz’s talk was recorded for his Verdict podcast series. It’s part of a series of controversial Verdict talks and others funded by the conservative Young America’s Foundation, whose president is right-winger Scott Walker, former governor of Wisconsin. Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump’s one-time attorney general, and Trump’s extremist immigrant adviser Stephen Miller are alumni of the foundation. 

Cruz planned to speak last month at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, but the event was moved off campus because organizers refused to comply with the university’s policy requiring masks, WKOW-TV reported.

Check out Cruz’s comments in the video up top. Talk about Texas secession begins at 1:18:17.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.