Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 08, 2021


$28,841,673,978,652


Episode Stats

Length

47 minutes

Words per Minute

165.13277

Word Count

7,823

Sentence Count

503

Misogynist Sentences

13

Hate Speech Sentences

11


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.320 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.720 $28,841,673,978,652.
00:00:14.980 That is the national debt of the United States.
00:00:19.460 Democrats want to add a lot more money
00:00:22.700 even to that colossal number.
00:00:25.100 And the fight over raising the U.S. debt ceiling
00:00:28.500 is the epicenter of what's going on in Washington right now.
00:00:33.480 President Joe Biden demanding that Republican senators
00:00:36.580 get out of the way,
00:00:38.240 that they use this opportunity
00:00:40.060 to push through the most radical aspects of their agenda
00:00:44.100 and using the debt ceiling crisis to do it.
00:00:48.440 What happens if the United States defaults on its debt?
00:00:51.980 It's never happened before.
00:00:53.420 We have no idea what will happen now.
00:00:56.000 Washington playing with fire.
00:00:57.460 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:01:05.060 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:01:06.840 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:01:08.960 And I have a whole lot of questions here.
00:01:10.840 Senator, we'll get right into it.
00:01:13.720 Very simply, I hate to ask a stupid question,
00:01:17.800 but even I, and I've paid a lot of attention to these things,
00:01:20.340 even I don't quite understand what this is.
00:01:22.460 What is the debt ceiling?
00:01:23.480 Why does the debt ceiling matter?
00:01:26.620 Why do the debt ceiling fights come up every few years?
00:01:30.260 And what happens if we do not raise the debt ceiling
00:01:33.340 and default on our debt?
00:01:35.140 Well, probably the easiest way to think about it
00:01:37.260 is like it's the limit on your credit card.
00:01:40.040 The debt ceiling is the cap
00:01:42.140 on how much money the federal government can pass.
00:01:44.600 And it's a statutory limit that's passed into law
00:01:47.860 that limits how much the United States government can borrow.
00:01:52.820 Just like if you have a credit card
00:01:54.680 that has a $10,000 limit, you can't borrow $11,000.
00:01:58.100 And if you want to borrow more than $10,000,
00:02:00.100 you have to get on the phone and try to ask them
00:02:02.100 to raise it to $15,000 or raise it to $20,000.
00:02:04.520 That's the same principle as the debt ceiling.
00:02:07.100 It is a tool designed to try to force Congress
00:02:11.320 to confront spending and to rein in out-of-control spending
00:02:15.940 and out-of-control debt.
00:02:17.480 And the debt ceiling expired on July 31st, the end of July.
00:02:24.240 Now, the Department of Treasury has the ability
00:02:27.420 to kind of push the date when the U.S. needs to borrow
00:02:32.260 back a couple of months.
00:02:34.140 It's called using extraordinary measures.
00:02:36.000 And so Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary,
00:02:38.800 is able to delay the date to sometime to mid to late October.
00:02:45.060 But if the debt ceiling is not raised,
00:02:48.320 then the United States government cannot continue
00:02:50.700 to borrow money.
00:02:52.300 And so that puts pressure on Washington.
00:02:57.100 We're right now in the middle of a battle
00:02:59.100 because of two things.
00:03:01.180 Number one, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats
00:03:04.200 have the total and complete ability
00:03:07.020 to raise the debt ceiling on their own.
00:03:09.720 So Democrats control the Senate.
00:03:12.340 Democrats control the House.
00:03:14.220 Democrats control the White House.
00:03:16.240 There's a process called budget reconciliation.
00:03:19.240 We've talked about that quite a bit on this podcast.
00:03:21.980 Budget reconciliation is the process
00:03:24.580 that comes from the Budget Act of 1974.
00:03:26.860 The part that is really relevant
00:03:29.680 and that comes up with some regularity
00:03:31.540 is it is the major exception to the filibuster.
00:03:35.260 So ordinarily, to move to proceed the legislation
00:03:37.840 in the Senate takes 60 votes.
00:03:40.420 Under budget reconciliation, it only takes 50.
00:03:44.360 And so Schumer and Pelosi and Biden,
00:03:47.520 because they have control of all the elected branches
00:03:50.520 of government, have the ability
00:03:52.760 with just Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling.
00:03:56.160 And they could have done it a week ago.
00:03:57.580 They could have done it a month ago.
00:03:58.740 They could have done it three months ago.
00:04:00.720 So what's happening?
00:04:02.800 Schumer and the Democrats are nervous.
00:04:04.980 And they're nervous because the Democrats
00:04:08.780 are in the middle of a massive spending spree.
00:04:11.880 I mean, it is reckless.
00:04:14.280 It is the biggest spending spree since World War II.
00:04:18.780 It is massive.
00:04:20.920 And in the face of that,
00:04:23.320 Democrats don't want to vote for the debt
00:04:27.580 to pay for their trillions in new spending.
00:04:30.480 So what Schumer is doing instead
00:04:32.440 is he keeps bringing up the debt ceiling
00:04:35.520 in a legislative vehicle that requires 60 votes.
00:04:39.680 So he doesn't want to use reconciliation,
00:04:41.720 which he can, and there's nothing Republicans
00:04:44.340 can do to stop him from using reconciliation.
00:04:46.280 But he wants to bring it up
00:04:48.320 through a vehicle that requires 60 votes.
00:04:51.360 Why?
00:04:52.200 Because he wants 10 Republicans to vote
00:04:54.360 for raising the debt ceiling.
00:04:55.620 He doesn't want it to be just Democrats
00:04:57.640 who own their trillions in debt.
00:05:00.780 What's amazing about that explanation,
00:05:03.260 which I think spells it out pretty well,
00:05:05.060 is it's the opposite of what we're being told
00:05:07.680 in the media.
00:05:08.140 What we're being told in the media
00:05:09.780 is that Republicans who are fanatical about spending
00:05:13.760 and they're neurotic about not raising the debt ceiling
00:05:16.780 or they're opportunistic or they're cynical,
00:05:20.840 they are holding America's good credit hostage
00:05:23.860 because they don't want to vote for this thing.
00:05:26.300 But what you're saying is,
00:05:27.800 actually, Chuck Schumer could pass this tomorrow.
00:05:29.920 So it's really Chuck Schumer and the Democrats
00:05:32.280 who are holding this hostage
00:05:34.260 and who are drawing this out
00:05:35.720 and making a big spectacle of it.
00:05:37.060 What happens just at a practical level?
00:05:40.160 I guess we're kind of dealing with a crystal ball here
00:05:42.580 because it's never happened before.
00:05:43.980 But what would happen if we just defaulted on our debt?
00:05:47.520 It would be a catastrophic impact in the market.
00:05:50.460 It would cause the stock market to tumble.
00:05:52.780 It would cause bonds to tumble.
00:05:54.900 It would cause the credit rating of the United States
00:05:56.960 to be downgraded.
00:05:58.160 The cascading effects could be enormous.
00:06:01.080 It would be wildly irresponsible.
00:06:03.960 No rational person wants to see the United States
00:06:06.920 default on its debt.
00:06:08.580 America pays our debt.
00:06:10.400 And I gotta, you know, I gotta say,
00:06:12.380 it's worth stopping and reflecting
00:06:15.420 at what a wildly different position we are in today
00:06:19.040 versus 2014.
00:06:21.120 And if I can take us back to the way back machine to 2014.
00:06:26.640 So 2014 was my second year in the Senate.
00:06:29.820 So I was still a freshman and a newbie.
00:06:32.980 And the single biggest fight I have had
00:06:36.500 in nine years in the Senate
00:06:38.140 occurred on the debt ceiling,
00:06:40.560 occurred on this issue.
00:06:41.800 And it's, as you know, I've written two books.
00:06:45.520 Last year, I wrote One Vote Away
00:06:46.900 about the Supreme Court.
00:06:48.000 Great book, go buy it.
00:06:49.080 But the first book I wrote
00:06:51.440 was called A Time for Truth.
00:06:53.620 And A Time for Truth was my life story.
00:06:56.620 I wrote it in 2015.
00:06:57.680 The opening chapter of my first book,
00:06:59.920 A Time for Truth, is entitled Mendacity.
00:07:03.500 And it is the inside story of the debt ceiling fight.
00:07:07.980 So let's go back to 2014.
00:07:10.360 2014, Democrats controlled the Senate.
00:07:12.700 It was Harry Reid instead of Chuck Schumer,
00:07:14.340 who was the majority leader.
00:07:16.360 Republicans controlled the House.
00:07:17.820 Barack Obama was president.
00:07:20.340 And there was another debt ceiling coming up.
00:07:22.840 We were going to our Senate Republican lunch.
00:07:26.180 And every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
00:07:28.420 all the Senate Republicans, we have lunch together.
00:07:30.940 And at one of the lunches,
00:07:32.820 Mitch McConnell, who was the minority leader at the time,
00:07:35.760 he stood up and he said,
00:07:36.620 I've got a great plan.
00:07:37.520 I want all of us to consent to unanimously consent
00:07:43.040 to lower the threshold for Harry Reid
00:07:46.400 to raise the debt ceiling from 60 votes to 50 votes.
00:07:50.420 Now in the Senate, you can do pretty much anything
00:07:51.860 by unanimous consent.
00:07:52.920 But unanimous consent, as the name suggests,
00:07:55.500 takes all 100 senators agreeing.
00:07:58.680 So Mitch said, I want all of us to unanimously consent
00:08:02.040 to lower the threshold for Harry Reid
00:08:04.440 from 60 vote to 50 votes.
00:08:06.720 And the beauty of it is,
00:08:08.120 once we do that,
00:08:09.240 we can all vote no.
00:08:11.400 The Democrats can all vote yes.
00:08:13.220 And we can all tell our constituents at home,
00:08:15.620 we voted no
00:08:16.500 on the thing we just consented to allow happen.
00:08:21.220 And I was sitting there,
00:08:22.640 I was frankly expecting leadership
00:08:24.580 to come up with some sort of
00:08:26.280 kind of lame and tepid strategy.
00:08:29.680 It had not occurred to me
00:08:31.540 that their strategy was absolute
00:08:33.660 and total capitulation from the outset.
00:08:36.340 And so I sat there in the room
00:08:37.980 and I just raised my hand and I said,
00:08:39.920 Mitch, you need to understand,
00:08:43.100 there is no universe
00:08:44.640 in which I will consent
00:08:46.980 to lowering the threshold
00:08:49.180 for Harry Reid and Barack Obama
00:08:51.080 to raise our debt
00:08:52.300 from 60 votes to 50 votes.
00:08:54.360 I was elected by the people of Texas
00:08:56.240 promising to do everything humanly possible
00:08:59.360 to stop the out-of-control spending
00:09:01.040 and debt that is bankrupting
00:09:02.760 our kids and grandkids.
00:09:04.300 And I'm not willing to do it.
00:09:07.000 Michael, there is nothing I've done
00:09:08.760 in my entire time in the Senate
00:09:10.060 that has generated more rage,
00:09:13.020 more fury,
00:09:14.180 more red-faced senators
00:09:16.200 yelling and cursing at me
00:09:18.880 than that simple act of objecting.
00:09:22.320 It was much worse, by the way,
00:09:24.000 than the Obamacare,
00:09:24.860 it was much worse
00:09:25.720 than the Obamacare filibuster.
00:09:27.240 So leadership was mad
00:09:28.860 that I had spent 21 hours
00:09:30.720 filibustering Obamacare
00:09:32.020 the previous years.
00:09:32.840 They were mad about that.
00:09:34.320 But when I objected to their scheme
00:09:36.700 to raise the debt ceiling,
00:09:39.000 the fury it caused
00:09:41.840 was massive.
00:09:44.340 It's fascinating how much things
00:09:46.100 have changed from 2014 to now.
00:09:47.980 In 2014,
00:09:53.220 Republican leadership
00:09:54.440 carpent-bombed me,
00:09:55.680 attacked me,
00:09:56.640 planted editorials criticizing me.
00:10:00.620 So, for example,
00:10:01.260 the Wall Street Journal,
00:10:02.580 which, by the way,
00:10:03.380 when Republican leadership
00:10:04.200 is mad at you,
00:10:05.840 the editorial page
00:10:06.960 of the Wall Street Journal
00:10:07.980 is their preferred
00:10:09.400 whipping post.
00:10:12.320 And it's where they take you out
00:10:14.000 and it comes straight
00:10:14.780 from Republican leadership.
00:10:15.800 They go to the journal.
00:10:17.420 The journal wrote an editorial
00:10:19.340 entitled
00:10:20.180 Minority Maker
00:10:22.260 and it said,
00:10:23.900 Cruz is going to ensure
00:10:25.760 that Republicans
00:10:26.600 remain in the minority
00:10:28.040 in the Senate forever
00:10:29.140 and that Harry Reid
00:10:31.020 remains majority leader
00:10:32.720 because he is fighting
00:10:34.060 and objecting
00:10:34.720 on the debt ceiling.
00:10:35.860 Now,
00:10:36.280 I point out,
00:10:37.220 they wrote that
00:10:37.920 in 2014
00:10:39.440 and just a few months
00:10:41.480 later,
00:10:41.760 we had the elections
00:10:42.600 in 2014.
00:10:44.380 And, you know,
00:10:44.920 Michael,
00:10:45.400 in the Old Testament,
00:10:46.900 if someone came forward
00:10:48.560 and said they were a prophet,
00:10:49.980 the Old Testament
00:10:50.660 actually discussed
00:10:51.700 what you should do.
00:10:52.760 You should ask them
00:10:53.440 to make short-term prophecies,
00:10:55.780 short-term predictions,
00:10:56.800 and see if they come true.
00:10:59.220 Well,
00:10:59.540 the journal's prediction
00:11:00.540 that I was going
00:11:01.320 to make Republicans
00:11:02.600 a permanent majority,
00:11:03.580 it turned out
00:11:04.220 not just a little bit wrong,
00:11:06.280 but categorically wrong.
00:11:07.940 And in November of 2014,
00:11:09.800 we won nine Senate seats,
00:11:12.300 we retired Harry Reid
00:11:13.880 as majority leader,
00:11:15.060 and we won
00:11:16.320 the biggest majority
00:11:17.340 in the House of Representatives
00:11:18.400 since 1928.
00:11:20.260 And so,
00:11:21.180 miraculously,
00:11:22.120 standing and fighting
00:11:23.540 also wins elections.
00:11:25.580 The voters like it
00:11:26.760 when Republicans
00:11:27.940 don't roll over
00:11:28.960 and surrender
00:11:29.880 to the Democrats.
00:11:31.460 Well,
00:11:31.720 this, I think,
00:11:32.980 is what really relates
00:11:34.660 to what's going on
00:11:35.540 right now today
00:11:36.460 because I,
00:11:37.780 politically,
00:11:38.280 I came of age
00:11:39.080 during that era
00:11:40.180 from 2010 to 2014,
00:11:42.200 the Tea Party movement.
00:11:43.660 Your election actually was-
00:11:44.620 Michael,
00:11:44.720 you've politically
00:11:45.240 come of age?
00:11:47.020 I'm still coming of age,
00:11:48.620 actually.
00:11:49.120 You know,
00:11:49.320 I can't wait to get
00:11:50.120 a little hair on my face.
00:11:51.220 I thought this was
00:11:52.040 like a teen drama.
00:11:53.540 I remember,
00:11:56.240 even when I was
00:11:57.100 fresher and facer
00:11:58.060 at the time,
00:11:58.820 I remember
00:11:59.520 every Republican,
00:12:01.520 every conservative
00:12:02.500 who was worth his salt
00:12:03.860 was focused on the debt,
00:12:06.580 on deficit spending,
00:12:07.860 on this idea
00:12:08.520 that the inheritance
00:12:09.720 we're leaving to our kids
00:12:10.960 is debt.
00:12:11.780 I mean,
00:12:11.940 what kind of a country
00:12:12.660 does that?
00:12:13.420 What kind of a generation
00:12:14.200 does that?
00:12:14.820 That we're actually
00:12:15.180 going to be responsible.
00:12:16.200 We're going to get
00:12:16.540 our own house in order.
00:12:17.720 We're going to enact
00:12:19.940 these principles
00:12:20.580 that we all like to talk about.
00:12:21.840 And then,
00:12:22.480 your story here,
00:12:23.880 I think,
00:12:24.140 is very important.
00:12:25.140 What happened is
00:12:25.840 the Republican leadership
00:12:27.260 in those back rooms
00:12:28.360 just said,
00:12:28.880 yeah,
00:12:28.960 that was all bunk.
00:12:29.760 We're not going to
00:12:30.200 follow any of that.
00:12:31.240 We're just going to
00:12:31.700 make it easier.
00:12:32.420 That was just a way
00:12:32.960 to win elections.
00:12:34.120 And now,
00:12:34.880 when we're focusing
00:12:35.700 on this debt fight,
00:12:37.460 it seems to me
00:12:38.540 that many Republicans
00:12:40.100 and conservatives
00:12:40.860 don't really care anymore.
00:12:43.460 I mean,
00:12:43.640 that focus from,
00:12:44.940 you know,
00:12:45.180 10 years ago,
00:12:46.120 it seems to have moved
00:12:47.280 on to other issues.
00:12:48.280 And I wonder
00:12:49.040 if it's because
00:12:49.680 we just got burned
00:12:51.240 during the Tea Party
00:12:52.120 and nothing really changed.
00:12:54.160 Well, look,
00:12:54.520 I'd say a couple of things.
00:12:56.320 You know,
00:12:56.920 number one,
00:12:58.480 if you go back
00:12:58.900 to the 2014 fight,
00:13:00.680 it's important to note
00:13:01.900 what I was fighting
00:13:02.700 for at the time.
00:13:03.960 And I was not fighting
00:13:05.660 for never raising
00:13:07.800 the debt ceiling.
00:13:08.600 I've never been
00:13:09.260 someone who promises
00:13:10.240 I will never raise
00:13:11.120 the debt ceiling.
00:13:11.900 We've got,
00:13:12.900 you know,
00:13:13.180 typically the figure
00:13:13.920 is about 40%
00:13:14.920 of what the government
00:13:15.560 spends is borrowed money.
00:13:16.840 So unless you're prepared
00:13:17.920 to instantaneously
00:13:18.960 cut government spending
00:13:20.020 by 40%,
00:13:20.940 that's not a reasonable
00:13:23.080 position to say
00:13:24.160 we will never raise
00:13:25.020 the debt ceiling.
00:13:26.060 My position in 2014,
00:13:28.000 my position today,
00:13:29.360 is that I'm not willing
00:13:30.820 to support raising
00:13:31.840 the debt ceiling
00:13:32.800 unless it is accompanied
00:13:34.840 by meaningful structural reforms
00:13:37.660 that address spending
00:13:38.880 and rein in
00:13:40.000 the out-of-control spending.
00:13:41.620 In 2014,
00:13:42.560 the case I made
00:13:43.160 at the conference
00:13:43.740 is I said,
00:13:44.300 look,
00:13:44.440 if you look historically
00:13:45.920 the debt ceiling
00:13:47.720 has been the lever point
00:13:49.960 where we actually
00:13:51.120 get spending constraints.
00:13:52.540 So at the time,
00:13:53.480 these figures
00:13:54.120 are a little bit
00:13:54.620 out of date
00:13:55.000 because they're 2014 figures,
00:13:56.380 but at the time
00:13:57.160 of the last 52 times
00:14:00.100 Congress had raised
00:14:01.040 the debt ceiling,
00:14:01.720 so this comes up a lot,
00:14:03.600 27 of those times
00:14:05.700 Congress had attached
00:14:07.620 meaningful spending reforms
00:14:09.660 to the debt ceiling.
00:14:11.020 So for example,
00:14:12.340 the Budget Control Act
00:14:13.640 in 2010,
00:14:14.840 which made major progress
00:14:17.000 reining in
00:14:17.880 out-of-control spending,
00:14:18.980 that came through
00:14:20.480 a debt ceiling fight.
00:14:22.140 Graham Rudman,
00:14:23.100 probably the most
00:14:23.820 significant spending
00:14:26.100 restraint legislation
00:14:27.480 enacted in the law
00:14:28.400 in modern times,
00:14:29.440 came through
00:14:30.400 a debt ceiling fight.
00:14:31.500 So it is possible
00:14:32.480 to make progress
00:14:34.080 on spending
00:14:34.920 by using
00:14:35.660 the debt ceiling
00:14:36.580 as leverage.
00:14:37.060 And so what I argued
00:14:37.800 in 2014
00:14:39.600 is let's not let
00:14:41.560 this lever point go.
00:14:42.740 Let's use it
00:14:43.700 to actually honor
00:14:45.060 our promises
00:14:45.620 to the voters.
00:14:46.920 Some of the differences,
00:14:48.140 number one,
00:14:48.900 I think Republican leadership
00:14:50.340 has learned,
00:14:51.420 unlike in 2014,
00:14:54.020 2014 they thought
00:14:55.260 I was bluffing.
00:14:56.480 At this point,
00:14:57.020 they don't think
00:14:57.460 I'm bluffing anymore,
00:14:58.320 so nobody asked
00:14:59.420 this time,
00:15:00.980 Ted, will you consent
00:15:02.020 to lower the thresholds?
00:15:03.220 Reporters asked.
00:15:04.020 They ran up and said,
00:15:05.280 hey Cruz,
00:15:05.800 are you going to object
00:15:06.500 to lowering the threshold?
00:15:07.520 I was like, yeah, of course.
00:15:08.220 But what was interesting
00:15:10.440 is when people learn
00:15:12.600 you don't bluff,
00:15:14.580 nobody in the conference
00:15:16.180 thought I would
00:15:16.840 possibly not object.
00:15:18.020 They're just like,
00:15:18.580 yeah, okay,
00:15:19.040 Ted will object to that,
00:15:20.080 so that option
00:15:21.680 ain't going to work.
00:15:23.240 So leadership
00:15:23.800 didn't even try it.
00:15:25.980 A second difference,
00:15:27.300 and this is
00:15:27.720 an important difference,
00:15:29.560 is unlike in 2014
00:15:31.080 when we had
00:15:31.900 a Republican House,
00:15:33.940 now they've got
00:15:35.340 a Democratic House,
00:15:36.260 so now they can raise
00:15:37.600 the debt ceiling
00:15:38.200 on their own
00:15:38.880 without us.
00:15:39.800 We can't stop them.
00:15:40.740 I wish we could,
00:15:42.560 but we can't stop them.
00:15:44.360 There does seem
00:15:44.900 to be a lot of turmoil
00:15:45.820 within the Democratic conference.
00:15:48.040 I mean,
00:15:48.360 I guess this is
00:15:49.540 a slightly related matter,
00:15:50.880 but in a very different context.
00:15:53.160 Kyrsten Sinema,
00:15:54.060 one of two
00:15:54.820 semi-moderate Democrats
00:15:56.380 in the Senate,
00:15:58.160 is being accosted
00:15:59.400 everywhere she goes.
00:16:00.280 She's being accosted
00:16:01.340 on airplanes.
00:16:02.220 She was accosted
00:16:02.920 in the bathroom
00:16:03.560 by an illegal alien
00:16:04.840 screaming at her
00:16:06.020 to push for
00:16:07.420 a mass amnesty.
00:16:09.300 This is a,
00:16:11.140 we always lament
00:16:12.280 civility breaking down,
00:16:14.060 and sometimes
00:16:14.840 it's exaggerated,
00:16:15.960 and sometimes it's real,
00:16:17.040 but this seems
00:16:17.740 to be crossing a line
00:16:18.880 when you follow
00:16:19.560 female senators
00:16:20.440 into the bathroom
00:16:21.700 and start screaming
00:16:22.580 at them.
00:16:23.420 By the way,
00:16:23.880 as a foreign national
00:16:25.080 demanding that you
00:16:26.720 give legal status
00:16:28.180 to millions of people.
00:16:29.880 No, look,
00:16:30.300 that is exactly right,
00:16:31.580 and the degree
00:16:32.400 to which Kyrsten Sinema
00:16:34.000 and Joe Manchin
00:16:34.760 are being harassed.
00:16:37.220 You look at Sinema
00:16:38.740 and these left-wing activists,
00:16:42.820 she teaches a university
00:16:44.420 class in Arizona
00:16:45.420 and they followed her
00:16:46.400 into her class.
00:16:47.360 They harassed her class
00:16:48.540 and then they followed her
00:16:50.020 from her class
00:16:51.060 into the restroom.
00:16:52.940 She went into the stall
00:16:54.140 to use the restroom
00:16:55.160 and they sat there
00:16:56.000 filming it
00:16:56.900 and berating her.
00:16:59.500 And by the way,
00:17:00.300 they were so proud
00:17:00.980 of what they were doing,
00:17:01.700 they were filming doing it.
00:17:03.220 As you noted,
00:17:04.000 they also harassed her
00:17:05.080 on the airplane,
00:17:05.800 they harassed her
00:17:06.400 in the airport.
00:17:08.080 And I got to say,
00:17:09.320 yesterday there was
00:17:10.200 really something shameful
00:17:11.460 because Joe Biden
00:17:13.540 was asked about it
00:17:14.560 and he just said,
00:17:16.140 you know,
00:17:16.860 it's part of the process.
00:17:19.340 What utter crap.
00:17:21.820 I mean,
00:17:22.080 that was an opportunity
00:17:23.000 for Biden
00:17:23.620 to show some leadership
00:17:24.660 and say,
00:17:25.260 you know,
00:17:25.880 no,
00:17:26.240 you don't harass someone
00:17:27.600 and chase them
00:17:28.460 into the ladies' room.
00:17:30.340 That is not the way
00:17:31.780 people behave
00:17:32.680 in a civilized democracy.
00:17:35.480 But the left
00:17:36.760 is so angry
00:17:37.560 that they believe
00:17:38.460 intimidation
00:17:39.520 and threats
00:17:41.840 are an appropriate way
00:17:43.560 of behaving.
00:17:44.720 And right now,
00:17:45.900 they are trying
00:17:46.700 to rain
00:17:47.240 the nastiest pressure
00:17:48.940 imaginable down
00:17:50.040 on Sinema and Manchin
00:17:51.220 to pressure them
00:17:52.280 to flip their votes.
00:17:53.240 At least so far,
00:17:54.260 they haven't.
00:17:54.920 This is on the big
00:17:56.460 Bernie Sanders
00:17:57.420 $3.5 trillion
00:17:59.480 socialist budget.
00:18:01.920 Right now,
00:18:03.420 Manchin and Sinema
00:18:04.240 are saying
00:18:04.920 they're not going
00:18:05.480 to support it,
00:18:06.100 that it's too big
00:18:06.800 and it's too irresponsible.
00:18:08.180 And the left is furious.
00:18:10.900 Well, Senator,
00:18:11.420 I do have to ask you,
00:18:12.640 though,
00:18:12.740 I can't believe
00:18:13.340 that I'm giving Joe Biden
00:18:15.020 the benefit of the doubt.
00:18:15.980 It feels very unnatural to me.
00:18:17.480 But I do want to ask
00:18:19.060 if he's got a point.
00:18:20.160 Biden says,
00:18:20.900 if you're in public life,
00:18:21.960 you're going to get accosted.
00:18:23.180 People are going to yell at you.
00:18:24.160 And it does happen
00:18:25.720 to a lot of people.
00:18:26.740 So to what degree
00:18:28.440 is this historic incivility
00:18:31.580 that we're seeing,
00:18:32.420 not just with Sinema,
00:18:33.240 but in recent years,
00:18:34.940 even on, say,
00:18:36.120 both sides of the aisle?
00:18:37.280 And to what degree
00:18:38.480 is this just business as usual?
00:18:40.860 Look, it actually
00:18:41.920 is markedly different.
00:18:43.440 In the last couple of years,
00:18:46.180 when Donald Trump got elected,
00:18:48.920 the left lost their mind.
00:18:51.060 He broke them.
00:18:52.480 Their brains are broken.
00:18:54.160 And I can tell you
00:18:56.340 it is very,
00:18:57.500 very different
00:18:58.040 serving in public office.
00:18:59.280 Look, I've been
00:18:59.720 in some contentious battles,
00:19:01.160 but it's only been
00:19:02.600 the last couple of years.
00:19:03.660 Remember, a couple of years ago,
00:19:04.800 Heidi and I were
00:19:05.400 at a restaurant in D.C.
00:19:06.580 and a group of screaming,
00:19:08.400 angry anarchists
00:19:10.420 came in, harassed us.
00:19:12.560 We had to leave the restaurant
00:19:13.820 because we didn't want
00:19:14.380 to disturb the other people
00:19:15.480 who were having dinner.
00:19:16.520 And they chased us
00:19:18.300 down the street
00:19:19.160 and into a dark alley.
00:19:20.340 I mean, it had the potential
00:19:21.800 of being a very dangerous gathering.
00:19:24.440 It was a dozen angry leftists
00:19:26.480 with Heidi and me,
00:19:27.460 and it was threatening and serious.
00:19:30.000 Rand Paul and his wife,
00:19:31.180 Kelly Paul,
00:19:31.860 the Black Lives Matter protesters,
00:19:33.900 when Trump gave his speech
00:19:35.600 at the White House
00:19:36.320 during the RNC convention,
00:19:38.240 they were scared for their lives.
00:19:39.860 They had police officers
00:19:41.080 that were fighting back
00:19:42.520 what was close to a riot.
00:19:44.800 And Rand and Kelly both
00:19:47.180 were frightened
00:19:48.180 that they were going to be
00:19:49.640 seriously injured,
00:19:50.920 if not worse.
00:19:52.040 This has all gotten nastier
00:19:54.300 than it used to be.
00:19:55.620 I can tell you in nine years,
00:19:58.400 I've been in the Senate.
00:20:00.780 For eight of them,
00:20:03.980 I never had a protest at my house.
00:20:06.540 In the last year or so,
00:20:09.400 I've had probably 25 or 30.
00:20:13.400 Wow.
00:20:13.960 We now have 24-hour security
00:20:16.040 at the House,
00:20:16.780 which we have to do
00:20:18.080 because the protesters
00:20:19.200 have gotten so nasty.
00:20:21.300 They have showed up
00:20:22.360 at five in the morning,
00:20:24.280 banging pots,
00:20:25.820 shining flashlights
00:20:26.960 in the windows of our neighbors,
00:20:28.980 including neighbors
00:20:29.680 who have little children,
00:20:31.240 screaming profanities,
00:20:32.800 dropping the F-bomb
00:20:34.080 at five in the morning,
00:20:35.320 designed to wake people up
00:20:36.640 and harass them.
00:20:37.880 And so what is happening to Sinema,
00:20:39.940 by the way,
00:20:40.440 Manchin,
00:20:40.900 Manchin, when he's in D.C.,
00:20:42.040 he lives on a houseboat,
00:20:43.020 and he had protesters
00:20:44.660 row their kayaks up to his houseboat
00:20:46.900 and engage with him
00:20:48.180 at his houseboat.
00:20:50.520 This is a far nastier form of engagement
00:20:54.900 than used to be typical.
00:20:57.760 And I think it is,
00:20:58.980 as a result of Trump's presidency,
00:21:02.240 the left just,
00:21:04.080 they convince themselves
00:21:05.720 he's Adolf Hitler.
00:21:06.640 And so all rage and fury
00:21:08.960 is justified
00:21:09.920 in opposition to someone
00:21:12.120 who they hate so much.
00:21:13.700 You know,
00:21:14.140 it's an interesting case study.
00:21:15.960 I mean,
00:21:16.080 I'm sorry that you're going through it,
00:21:17.260 but you are kind of
00:21:18.120 an interesting case study here
00:21:19.200 because you were outspoken.
00:21:21.480 You were something of a firebrand
00:21:22.780 the minute you got to the Senate.
00:21:24.300 So it's not as though
00:21:25.160 they ignored you
00:21:26.180 just because you were a wallflower,
00:21:27.580 and then later on
00:21:28.360 they started going after you.
00:21:29.720 I mean,
00:21:29.900 going back to 2013,
00:21:31.460 2014.
00:21:32.460 Yet this never happened.
00:21:33.480 In 2013,
00:21:34.180 2014,
00:21:34.600 this never happened.
00:21:36.200 Yeah.
00:21:36.680 So this,
00:21:37.520 something clearly has changed.
00:21:38.960 And, you know,
00:21:39.780 I mentioned to try to sound
00:21:41.380 nice and open-minded,
00:21:42.380 I said that
00:21:42.900 there is incivility
00:21:43.940 on both sides of the aisle,
00:21:45.220 but we really should not
00:21:46.360 make a comparison here.
00:21:47.680 When you have Maxine Waters
00:21:48.860 saying,
00:21:49.780 go get up in their face,
00:21:50.700 go shout at them in public,
00:21:52.200 meaning Republicans.
00:21:52.940 When you have Hillary Clinton
00:21:53.860 saying you can't be civil
00:21:54.760 with your opponents.
00:21:55.540 When you've got
00:21:56.020 the sitting vice president now,
00:21:57.760 Kamala Harris,
00:21:58.800 bailing out rioters and looters,
00:22:00.440 that is a very different thing
00:22:01.860 than what the Republicans are doing.
00:22:03.340 But the Republicans are being
00:22:04.560 uncivil as well,
00:22:06.080 though much less violent.
00:22:07.920 And this is,
00:22:08.860 the way they're being uncivil
00:22:09.780 is they're chanting,
00:22:10.860 according to the news report,
00:22:12.980 let's go Brandon.
00:22:16.060 Senator,
00:22:16.720 can you explain that to me?
00:22:18.500 Well,
00:22:18.800 it's an amazing phenomenon
00:22:20.200 that seems to be occurring
00:22:21.440 at college football games
00:22:22.980 across the country.
00:22:24.040 And it appears to be spontaneous,
00:22:26.680 but very large groups of people
00:22:28.360 are chanting
00:22:29.600 expletives
00:22:31.780 at Joe Biden.
00:22:33.560 And in particular,
00:22:34.220 they're chanting
00:22:35.060 F Joe Biden,
00:22:36.780 but they're not abbreviating it.
00:22:38.900 And,
00:22:39.120 and it's a fairly remarkable thing
00:22:41.860 that seems to be springing up.
00:22:43.500 And,
00:22:43.640 and the,
00:22:44.740 the story you're telling
00:22:46.120 is there was a,
00:22:46.960 a NASCAR race
00:22:48.020 a couple of days ago.
00:22:49.520 And,
00:22:50.140 and the winner of the race
00:22:51.340 was,
00:22:51.820 whose name was Brandon,
00:22:52.700 was being interviewed.
00:22:54.080 And,
00:22:54.620 and the crowd behind him
00:22:56.300 is,
00:22:56.720 is yelling
00:22:57.520 and yelling loudly
00:22:59.060 F Joe Biden
00:23:00.900 in,
00:23:02.800 in clear
00:23:03.600 and very distinct words.
00:23:06.160 And,
00:23:06.860 and the NBC interviewer
00:23:08.400 who is interviewing him
00:23:09.640 says,
00:23:10.100 oh,
00:23:10.320 the crowd's so excited.
00:23:11.600 You can hear them chanting.
00:23:13.200 Let's go,
00:23:14.160 Brandon.
00:23:15.000 And,
00:23:15.680 if you just watch the clip,
00:23:17.940 it,
00:23:18.280 that,
00:23:18.540 that is not what they're chanting.
00:23:20.620 Um,
00:23:21.500 in her defense,
00:23:23.140 NASCAR races are loud.
00:23:24.600 Maybe she had headphones on.
00:23:25.940 Maybe she couldn't hear.
00:23:27.680 Uh,
00:23:28.200 or maybe it was one of the,
00:23:30.220 the,
00:23:30.400 the more remarkable examples
00:23:32.000 of,
00:23:32.360 of fake news.
00:23:33.200 I,
00:23:33.500 you know,
00:23:33.660 I did,
00:23:34.320 did tweet and asked,
00:23:35.440 is NBC news going to issue
00:23:36.660 a correction?
00:23:37.980 Uh,
00:23:38.400 because I'm,
00:23:39.240 I'm quite confident
00:23:40.200 they were not chanting
00:23:41.160 let's go,
00:23:41.680 Brandon.
00:23:42.040 And it's now become a thing.
00:23:43.880 In fact,
00:23:44.540 uh,
00:23:44.780 the daily wire I saw
00:23:46.140 is selling let's go,
00:23:47.180 Brandon shirts.
00:23:48.140 I got to admit,
00:23:49.280 I,
00:23:49.460 I was awfully tempted
00:23:50.860 to have verdict,
00:23:51.700 just steal the idea
00:23:53.080 and do the same thing.
00:23:54.380 We may put a let's go,
00:23:55.820 Brandon shirt on,
00:23:57.020 on our cactus friend.
00:23:58.440 Uh,
00:23:58.600 you know,
00:23:59.020 I,
00:23:59.180 I,
00:23:59.420 I find it,
00:24:01.880 it,
00:24:02.700 uh,
00:24:03.620 in the world of fake news,
00:24:05.240 it was a pretty remarkable moment.
00:24:07.240 It was,
00:24:07.620 this was,
00:24:08.020 what was,
00:24:08.560 what was so shocking
00:24:09.660 about the whole thing
00:24:10.500 is there are a great many people
00:24:12.240 in this country
00:24:13.080 who believe that
00:24:13.880 Brandon should go,
00:24:15.180 go himself.
00:24:15.800 Let's put it that way.
00:24:16.940 And so it,
00:24:18.180 obviously there is something
00:24:19.420 of a popular uprising here,
00:24:21.340 especially when people
00:24:21.940 are rowdy at games
00:24:22.780 and things like that.
00:24:23.660 And it's the gaslighting,
00:24:25.180 I think that got people
00:24:26.060 that,
00:24:26.400 that the media
00:24:27.140 would,
00:24:27.440 would tell you,
00:24:28.200 no,
00:24:28.380 don't believe your lying eyes.
00:24:29.660 Don't believe your lying ears.
00:24:31.500 And,
00:24:31.980 and even,
00:24:33.100 you know,
00:24:33.560 this ties into something
00:24:34.700 probably a little more urgent
00:24:36.280 and serious to,
00:24:37.440 to people.
00:24:37.980 By the way,
00:24:38.200 a quick story,
00:24:38.700 I'll tell you on that.
00:24:39.820 So when I first ran for Senate
00:24:41.900 in 2012,
00:24:42.480 uh,
00:24:43.740 my opponent was David Dewhurst
00:24:45.220 and,
00:24:45.500 and he was the Lieutenant Governor
00:24:46.920 of Texas.
00:24:47.440 He was worth about $200 million.
00:24:49.200 He was viewed as unstoppable
00:24:51.000 and unbeatable.
00:24:52.300 He had universal name ID.
00:24:53.860 I was at 2%.
00:24:55.380 Nobody had ever heard of me.
00:24:56.900 I didn't have any money.
00:24:57.660 I didn't have a prayer.
00:24:58.900 And there was a moment really
00:25:00.440 when,
00:25:01.000 when everything flipped.
00:25:03.280 So the primary,
00:25:05.920 uh,
00:25:06.620 neither of us got 50%.
00:25:08.140 And on primary night,
00:25:09.660 he got 44%.
00:25:10.680 I got 34%,
00:25:11.800 which shocked people.
00:25:13.480 Uh,
00:25:13.920 because no one got 50,
00:25:15.140 we went to a runoff.
00:25:16.440 And in between the primary
00:25:17.460 and the runoff
00:25:18.140 was the Texas State Convention.
00:25:20.380 About 15,000 activists
00:25:23.300 from all across Texas.
00:25:24.840 It's the largest Republican convention
00:25:26.520 in the country
00:25:27.780 other than the National
00:25:28.780 Republican Convention.
00:25:30.660 And Rick Perry,
00:25:32.360 who was a friend,
00:25:33.100 but in that race,
00:25:33.900 Rick Perry had endorsed
00:25:34.980 David Dewhurst.
00:25:35.740 And he was there speaking.
00:25:37.940 And,
00:25:38.480 and he said in his speech,
00:25:40.600 and he was speaking the day
00:25:41.380 before I was going to speak,
00:25:42.820 he,
00:25:43.100 he said,
00:25:43.700 everyone should vote
00:25:44.600 for David Dewhurst for Senate.
00:25:45.960 And the entire convention
00:25:48.680 erupted in boos,
00:25:51.740 loud,
00:25:52.640 angry boos.
00:25:53.280 And it was sort of a,
00:25:54.440 it was a wild moment
00:25:56.120 because at that point,
00:25:57.440 all of our supporters
00:25:58.420 felt they were alone.
00:25:59.500 Like this Cruz character
00:26:00.880 has no prayer.
00:26:02.160 Nobody else is voting for him.
00:26:03.500 You can't win.
00:26:04.360 And like each of the activists
00:26:05.800 looked and holy cow,
00:26:06.900 everyone else was booing.
00:26:08.200 Well,
00:26:08.480 afterwards,
00:26:09.760 uh,
00:26:10.120 Rick Perry did a,
00:26:11.160 a press conference
00:26:12.020 where reporters asked,
00:26:13.220 wow,
00:26:13.620 the whole convention
00:26:14.700 booed you.
00:26:15.520 When you said David Dewhurst name
00:26:17.400 and,
00:26:17.580 and Perry to his credit,
00:26:18.980 he said,
00:26:19.240 no,
00:26:19.400 no,
00:26:19.480 no,
00:26:19.640 no,
00:26:19.720 no.
00:26:20.140 They were not saying boo.
00:26:22.780 They were saying do,
00:26:25.660 do,
00:26:27.100 as in Dewhurst.
00:26:28.940 And that was pretty damn funny.
00:26:30.780 I mean,
00:26:30.960 I was like,
00:26:31.660 okay,
00:26:31.940 it's not true,
00:26:33.500 but,
00:26:33.800 but that's,
00:26:35.640 that's a pretty clever.
00:26:36.500 That's thinking on your feet though.
00:26:38.580 That is thinking,
00:26:39.480 yes,
00:26:39.760 do Hurst,
00:26:41.640 do Hurst.
00:26:42.240 Yes.
00:26:42.580 Well,
00:26:42.980 you,
00:26:43.380 you actually,
00:26:44.240 you do,
00:26:44.680 you do see this phenomenon
00:26:45.840 and sometimes it's to express
00:26:47.960 their anger at Brandon
00:26:49.460 or Joe Biden,
00:26:50.520 depending on your interpretation.
00:26:51.800 Sometimes it's at a political convention
00:26:53.800 and sometimes it's bubbling up
00:26:56.500 from the way that the government
00:26:58.180 is actually working.
00:26:59.100 And this is something you've been seeing
00:27:00.180 for months and months now,
00:27:01.660 specifically with regard to
00:27:03.100 critical race theory
00:27:04.180 and gender theory in schools.
00:27:06.180 Parents are showing up
00:27:06.940 to their school boards
00:27:07.680 and they're pushing back
00:27:08.940 on these policies
00:27:09.880 and they're saying,
00:27:10.420 no,
00:27:10.980 get this nonsense
00:27:12.360 out of the classroom.
00:27:13.660 This is harming my child's education.
00:27:15.600 We don't want any part of it.
00:27:17.340 So there have been
00:27:19.180 many protest movements
00:27:20.260 in the history of the United States
00:27:21.340 going back a very,
00:27:22.120 very long time.
00:27:23.240 Very recently,
00:27:23.940 we had a protest movement last year,
00:27:25.920 the BLM and Antifa riots,
00:27:27.760 which often turned violent
00:27:29.780 and resulted in
00:27:30.720 lots of people dying
00:27:32.200 and lots of businesses
00:27:33.500 being torn down
00:27:34.460 and places being set on fire.
00:27:36.860 And we were told
00:27:37.300 those were mostly peaceful protests.
00:27:39.120 Well, now we are hearing
00:27:40.140 from the Attorney General
00:27:40.980 of the United States,
00:27:42.220 Merrick Garland,
00:27:43.040 that the parents
00:27:44.400 who were showing up
00:27:45.200 to protest radical gender theory
00:27:47.440 in kindergarten classrooms
00:27:48.760 are very possibly
00:27:50.640 domestic terrorists.
00:27:52.260 A memorandum just went out,
00:27:54.020 the Attorney General
00:27:55.320 instructing the DOJ
00:27:56.940 to watch the disturbing spike
00:27:59.480 in harassment,
00:28:00.360 intimidation,
00:28:00.940 and threats
00:28:01.740 against school administrators,
00:28:03.280 board members,
00:28:03.960 teachers and staff
00:28:04.780 who participate
00:28:05.900 in the vital work
00:28:06.720 of running our nation's
00:28:07.480 public schools.
00:28:08.360 The department
00:28:08.700 takes these incidents seriously
00:28:09.880 and is committed
00:28:10.720 to using its authority
00:28:11.920 and resources
00:28:13.180 to counter them.
00:28:16.380 Are we now
00:28:17.600 at the point
00:28:18.220 where we believe
00:28:18.860 that people throwing
00:28:19.580 Molotov cocktails
00:28:20.540 at federal buildings
00:28:21.680 last year in 2020,
00:28:23.340 they're mostly peaceful protesters,
00:28:24.860 but parents protesting
00:28:26.280 radicalism in their kids' schools,
00:28:28.240 they're the domestic terrorists?
00:28:29.540 I wish you were exaggerating,
00:28:31.880 but the statement
00:28:32.980 you just made
00:28:33.760 on its face
00:28:34.440 is so utterly ludicrous,
00:28:36.140 and it's also true.
00:28:40.000 You know,
00:28:40.240 Merrick Garland,
00:28:41.160 who's the Attorney General,
00:28:44.120 he was a court of appeals judge
00:28:46.900 for 20-some-odd years.
00:28:49.320 As you'll recall,
00:28:50.240 he was who Barack Obama
00:28:51.560 had nominated
00:28:53.120 to the Supreme Court
00:28:54.200 to replace Scalia,
00:28:55.780 but he didn't get that vacancy
00:28:57.040 because we didn't take it up
00:28:58.020 because it was the presidential election year
00:29:00.000 and Republicans controlled the Senate
00:29:01.980 and we said the voters
00:29:02.680 are going to decide
00:29:03.480 who fills this seat.
00:29:05.300 Merrick Garland
00:29:05.940 is now Attorney General
00:29:06.940 at his confirmation hearing.
00:29:09.600 I asked Garland,
00:29:11.520 he actually had a reputation
00:29:12.780 as a court of appeals judge
00:29:14.340 for being relatively fair
00:29:17.640 and impartial.
00:29:18.680 He was not viewed
00:29:19.620 as a hard partisan
00:29:21.120 when he was a judge.
00:29:22.080 And I cross-examined Garland
00:29:23.920 at his confirmation hearing
00:29:24.980 and I said,
00:29:25.480 look,
00:29:26.240 under Barack Obama,
00:29:27.400 the Department of Justice
00:29:28.380 was politicized
00:29:29.740 and it was weaponized.
00:29:31.740 It was turned into a weapon
00:29:33.320 to target people
00:29:35.020 that were perceived
00:29:36.140 to be the political enemies
00:29:38.040 of the White House.
00:29:39.980 And that includes the IRS
00:29:41.680 that went after Tea Party groups,
00:29:43.540 went after pro-life groups,
00:29:44.740 went after pro-Israel groups.
00:29:46.660 That includes
00:29:47.700 the intelligence community
00:29:49.120 and the FBI
00:29:49.820 that went so far
00:29:50.920 as wiretapping
00:29:52.020 the Donald Trump campaign
00:29:53.660 and sending in people
00:29:54.680 wearing wires
00:29:55.460 to record them.
00:29:57.540 And I asked Merrick Garland,
00:30:01.240 will you commit,
00:30:02.000 if you're confirmed,
00:30:03.440 not to use
00:30:05.240 the Department of Justice
00:30:06.340 as a partisan weapon
00:30:08.100 to attack the other side?
00:30:09.500 And he made that commitment.
00:30:10.900 He said he would not.
00:30:11.920 That memo you're holding
00:30:13.360 is really disturbing
00:30:15.140 because I think
00:30:16.780 he has been breaking
00:30:17.560 that promise
00:30:18.280 almost from the moment
00:30:19.240 he got there.
00:30:20.560 But that memo
00:30:21.800 is the clearest example of it.
00:30:23.540 So, look,
00:30:24.800 we're seeing a phenomenal
00:30:26.220 example of democracy in action
00:30:28.560 in that parents
00:30:29.960 are rising up
00:30:30.980 at school board meetings
00:30:31.960 and expressing dismay
00:30:34.160 over critical race theory
00:30:35.640 that's being taught in schools
00:30:36.900 that our kids
00:30:38.020 are being taught lies.
00:30:40.500 They're being taught
00:30:41.180 that America
00:30:41.700 is fundamentally racist.
00:30:43.000 They're being taught
00:30:43.780 that all whites are racist.
00:30:45.520 They're being taught
00:30:46.260 that the entire history
00:30:47.660 of America
00:30:48.800 is a history
00:30:49.480 of oppression
00:30:50.820 and these lies
00:30:53.060 are dividing kids
00:30:54.380 based on racial lines.
00:30:56.120 And parents are upset
00:30:57.200 about that.
00:30:57.680 They don't like it.
00:30:58.380 And so they're going
00:30:59.020 to their school boards
00:30:59.820 and saying,
00:31:00.600 don't teach this garbage
00:31:01.640 to our kids.
00:31:03.560 That's actually
00:31:04.360 how our democratic process
00:31:05.480 is supposed to work.
00:31:06.780 That elected officials
00:31:08.860 are supposed to be
00:31:09.680 accountable to the voters.
00:31:11.380 The left doesn't
00:31:12.380 like accountability.
00:31:13.340 They like to be insulated.
00:31:14.700 They're perfectly happy
00:31:16.000 to harass people
00:31:18.080 they don't like,
00:31:18.900 but they themselves
00:31:20.460 don't like to be
00:31:21.300 held accountable.
00:31:22.180 But now the Department
00:31:23.180 of Justice,
00:31:24.200 Merrick Garland,
00:31:24.840 is saying they're going
00:31:26.300 to treat a parent
00:31:27.080 going to a school board
00:31:28.060 meeting as a terrorist
00:31:29.180 and a threat
00:31:29.960 and they're going
00:31:30.400 to go after them
00:31:31.220 and they're going
00:31:31.780 to persecute them.
00:31:33.660 And this is absurd.
00:31:35.640 It is a ridiculous
00:31:37.180 abuse of power.
00:31:39.080 And listen,
00:31:39.680 you pointed out last year
00:31:41.000 the BLM
00:31:41.980 and Antifa riots.
00:31:43.120 they burned
00:31:44.800 storefront
00:31:46.060 after storefront.
00:31:47.100 They robbed,
00:31:47.740 they looted,
00:31:48.320 they murdered
00:31:48.900 police officers.
00:31:50.780 And yet the Department
00:31:51.660 of Justice
00:31:52.300 treated it
00:31:53.200 as isolated issues.
00:31:55.340 Look,
00:31:55.700 they were firebombing
00:31:56.880 a federal courthouse
00:31:57.720 night after night
00:31:58.720 after night.
00:32:00.200 And yet the Department
00:32:00.980 of Justice,
00:32:01.880 you know,
00:32:02.400 this DOJ
00:32:03.300 under Merrick Garland
00:32:04.260 treats it as just,
00:32:05.760 oh, isn't that nice
00:32:06.860 that they're literally
00:32:08.080 throwing Molotov cocktails.
00:32:09.620 This is sad
00:32:13.160 that the Democrats,
00:32:15.000 look,
00:32:15.400 COVID has really
00:32:16.160 revealed this as well.
00:32:19.480 Democrats are,
00:32:20.960 they are authoritarians.
00:32:23.160 You want to know
00:32:23.900 the basic difference
00:32:25.020 between liberals
00:32:25.600 and conservatives.
00:32:26.620 Liberals
00:32:27.120 are comfortable
00:32:28.480 using the coercive
00:32:30.000 power of government
00:32:31.160 to force you
00:32:32.800 to comply,
00:32:33.560 to force you
00:32:34.320 to obey.
00:32:35.800 Whereas conservatives
00:32:37.000 believe in liberty,
00:32:38.000 believe in individual choice.
00:32:39.120 you can say
00:32:39.980 what you want.
00:32:40.640 Even if it is
00:32:41.280 dumbass stuff,
00:32:42.920 you can say it.
00:32:44.120 On religion,
00:32:45.040 you can believe
00:32:45.640 what you want.
00:32:46.240 Even if it's
00:32:46.640 dumbass stuff,
00:32:47.640 you can go worship
00:32:48.580 a golden calf
00:32:49.980 in your backyard
00:32:50.740 if you want to.
00:32:52.600 We believe
00:32:53.480 in individual choice.
00:32:54.580 On vaccines,
00:32:55.540 look,
00:32:55.780 you and I have
00:32:56.160 talked about vaccines.
00:32:57.540 I believe in vaccines.
00:32:58.680 I've taken the vaccine.
00:33:00.300 My family's
00:33:00.960 taken the vaccine.
00:33:02.280 But individual choice
00:33:03.600 means it's up to you
00:33:04.540 whether you get
00:33:05.280 a medical procedure,
00:33:06.200 whether you take a vaccine.
00:33:08.120 Gavin Newsom
00:33:08.900 is ordering
00:33:09.380 every school child
00:33:10.700 in California
00:33:11.640 to get the vaccine.
00:33:13.600 That is horrific.
00:33:14.780 It is a violation
00:33:16.020 of medical privacy
00:33:17.940 and autonomy
00:33:18.640 to do that.
00:33:19.580 And the left
00:33:20.180 doesn't care.
00:33:21.000 And so,
00:33:21.760 when it comes
00:33:22.420 to parents
00:33:23.180 protesting
00:33:24.600 the radical
00:33:25.760 Marxist theories
00:33:26.740 being taught
00:33:27.300 to their kids,
00:33:28.840 the Department of Justice
00:33:29.940 will come in
00:33:30.640 and threaten,
00:33:31.780 mom,
00:33:32.160 at the PTA meeting,
00:33:33.480 we're going to put you
00:33:34.140 in handcuffs.
00:33:35.320 Holy crap,
00:33:37.020 that is offensive.
00:33:38.260 This is the irony
00:33:39.540 is that the left
00:33:41.460 is all for liberation
00:33:42.720 and expression
00:33:43.840 and dissent
00:33:44.660 is patriotic
00:33:45.480 and protesting
00:33:46.280 when it suits
00:33:47.660 their interests.
00:33:48.360 But then,
00:33:48.620 of course,
00:33:48.980 the moment
00:33:49.680 that a concerned
00:33:51.260 parent says,
00:33:52.080 actually,
00:33:52.680 I don't think
00:33:53.400 little Johnny
00:33:54.220 should be told
00:33:54.800 that white people
00:33:55.440 are evil
00:33:56.000 and that America
00:33:56.920 is a rotten place
00:33:58.000 and that boys
00:33:58.800 can become little girls
00:33:59.820 and, you know,
00:34:00.740 maybe we should
00:34:01.260 just stick to the,
00:34:02.520 you know,
00:34:03.540 reading,
00:34:04.280 writing,
00:34:04.460 and arithmetic.
00:34:05.080 Maybe we should
00:34:05.520 stick to the basic
00:34:06.720 building blocks
00:34:07.220 of education.
00:34:08.160 They are labeled
00:34:08.680 as domestic terrorists
00:34:09.600 and what is so dismaying
00:34:11.520 to me is,
00:34:12.800 as you said
00:34:13.580 and as you made clear
00:34:14.340 during his confirmation
00:34:15.920 hearings,
00:34:17.740 Merrick Garland
00:34:18.340 was the moderate one.
00:34:19.600 He's supposed to be
00:34:20.380 one of the most moderate
00:34:21.200 people in the entire
00:34:22.220 administration.
00:34:23.460 So that is a great fear
00:34:24.840 and actually,
00:34:25.340 something else
00:34:25.900 that you touched on here
00:34:27.780 is democracy in action.
00:34:29.420 Who sets these kinds
00:34:30.240 of standards?
00:34:30.980 Who decides these things?
00:34:32.060 What is our public square?
00:34:33.580 What does it look like?
00:34:34.680 We only have a very...
00:34:35.740 And let me make a brief
00:34:36.840 point on that,
00:34:37.820 Michael.
00:34:38.360 Let me make actually
00:34:39.540 two points on that.
00:34:41.240 Number one,
00:34:42.460 some of the sort of
00:34:43.620 Twitter lefties
00:34:45.020 have said,
00:34:45.500 oh,
00:34:46.020 well,
00:34:46.520 this is threats.
00:34:48.160 This is...
00:34:48.680 Let me be clear.
00:34:50.220 Nobody has a right
00:34:51.320 to threaten anyone.
00:34:53.540 Nobody has a right
00:34:54.440 to carry out violence.
00:34:55.840 And if you have someone
00:34:57.360 who makes a threat
00:34:58.760 of violence
00:34:59.340 or carries out violence
00:35:00.520 against a school member,
00:35:01.920 school board member,
00:35:02.700 even if they're
00:35:03.400 some nutty lefty,
00:35:05.360 if you have violence
00:35:06.520 against someone,
00:35:07.360 they should be prosecuted
00:35:08.440 and sent to jail.
00:35:09.320 That violence
00:35:09.820 is not acceptable.
00:35:11.940 Secondly,
00:35:13.180 look,
00:35:13.660 I...
00:35:14.620 Going back to the point
00:35:15.860 about, you know,
00:35:16.600 harassing Kirsten Sinema
00:35:18.700 in the ladies' room,
00:35:20.360 the parents are doing this
00:35:21.640 at school board meetings
00:35:22.840 that are designed
00:35:23.520 to be a forum
00:35:24.260 for parents to be able
00:35:25.160 to express their views.
00:35:26.540 They're not going
00:35:27.580 to the homes
00:35:28.180 of the school board meetings.
00:35:29.240 They're not going
00:35:29.960 into the bathroom with them.
00:35:31.420 They're going
00:35:31.860 to a public forum.
00:35:33.140 And I am all for...
00:35:35.080 Listen, I mean,
00:35:35.560 I've done hundreds
00:35:36.900 of town halls.
00:35:38.620 I've had people come
00:35:39.700 and disagree with me
00:35:40.580 and I'm perfectly fine
00:35:41.560 to get in
00:35:42.220 in a robust discussion
00:35:44.480 in a forum
00:35:45.520 that is appropriate
00:35:47.300 for that.
00:35:48.520 I'll tell you one time
00:35:49.580 it's kind of fun.
00:35:51.000 I don't know,
00:35:51.520 2014, 2015,
00:35:53.820 I was actually part
00:35:55.240 of a protest
00:35:55.740 at the White House
00:35:56.820 against the Obama-Iran
00:35:59.780 nuclear deal
00:36:00.540 and there were protesters
00:36:03.560 from Code Pink
00:36:04.520 that showed up.
00:36:06.180 Code Pink,
00:36:06.840 the sort of lefty group,
00:36:08.460 they were there screaming
00:36:09.580 and yelling
00:36:10.200 and they were angry
00:36:11.240 and I actually stopped
00:36:13.780 and I said,
00:36:14.240 all right, look,
00:36:15.020 the First Amendment
00:36:15.700 gives you a right to speak.
00:36:16.880 It gives me a right to speak,
00:36:18.020 but it doesn't give
00:36:18.760 either one of us
00:36:19.480 a right to shout
00:36:20.300 the other down
00:36:21.180 and prevent people
00:36:22.800 from hearing
00:36:23.480 what we have to say.
00:36:24.440 So I said,
00:36:24.880 I'll tell you what,
00:36:26.460 pick someone
00:36:27.540 from your group.
00:36:28.480 You tell me who,
00:36:29.580 pick whoever it is,
00:36:31.280 come on up here
00:36:32.020 and I'm going to hand you
00:36:32.900 this microphone
00:36:33.580 and I'm going to let you
00:36:35.140 tell this crowd
00:36:36.260 why you think
00:36:37.900 the Iran deal
00:36:39.280 is a good deal.
00:36:40.260 Now, I'm going to give you
00:36:41.020 a response
00:36:41.540 and you may not like
00:36:42.320 my response
00:36:42.980 and so they selected
00:36:44.660 Medea Benjamin
00:36:45.440 who's one of the founders
00:36:46.340 of Code Pink.
00:36:47.120 She came up there
00:36:47.760 and I said,
00:36:48.200 now look,
00:36:49.000 if I give her this microphone,
00:36:51.120 you guys don't get
00:36:51.880 to be disruptive
00:36:52.600 and scream and yell
00:36:53.420 and shout everyone down
00:36:54.620 and we proceeded
00:36:56.080 to have,
00:36:56.600 I think it was
00:36:56.900 a 15 or 20 minute debate
00:36:58.300 on the merits
00:36:59.160 of the Iran deal.
00:37:00.440 It was all televised.
00:37:01.980 If you go online,
00:37:02.860 you can Google it
00:37:03.500 and watch me debating
00:37:04.680 the head of Code Pink
00:37:05.840 on the Iran deal.
00:37:07.960 That is,
00:37:09.380 that's democracy
00:37:10.320 in action too.
00:37:11.220 So I'm not saying
00:37:12.220 that,
00:37:12.960 you know,
00:37:13.340 but there's a difference
00:37:14.220 between that
00:37:15.100 and following someone
00:37:16.320 into the bathroom
00:37:17.280 while they're trying
00:37:18.020 to use the facilities.
00:37:20.460 Right.
00:37:20.560 And this actually ties
00:37:22.120 in pretty directly
00:37:23.140 as we think of the way
00:37:24.040 our public square
00:37:24.880 has changed.
00:37:26.080 Now,
00:37:26.420 so many of these debates
00:37:27.300 happen on social media
00:37:28.980 and as big tech companies
00:37:30.340 get more and more
00:37:31.080 and more power,
00:37:31.840 they seem to be controlling
00:37:33.260 speech in the republic
00:37:34.480 and if you control
00:37:35.100 speech in a republic,
00:37:36.560 you basically control
00:37:37.440 the whole thing.
00:37:38.080 The way we govern
00:37:38.580 each other is,
00:37:39.420 is that we persuade
00:37:40.420 one another
00:37:40.840 and deliberate
00:37:41.320 and debate.
00:37:42.560 There,
00:37:43.120 there is a story here
00:37:44.120 and I know as always
00:37:45.080 I'm running late
00:37:45.680 and we've only got
00:37:46.220 a little bit of time left
00:37:47.080 but,
00:37:47.520 but I really want
00:37:48.260 to touch on it
00:37:48.900 because you were there,
00:37:49.580 or you actually saw
00:37:50.160 it firsthand.
00:37:51.540 There was a Facebook
00:37:52.800 quote unquote whistleblower.
00:37:54.680 This is a woman
00:37:55.280 who is calling out
00:37:56.800 what she seems to think
00:37:58.180 are the most nefarious
00:37:59.360 activities and operations
00:38:01.260 at Facebook.
00:38:02.300 But what's strange here
00:38:03.860 and what has me feeling
00:38:05.300 a little weird
00:38:05.880 about the story is
00:38:06.940 typically whistleblowers
00:38:09.140 against entrenched powers
00:38:10.680 are,
00:38:12.060 are sort of quieted
00:38:14.060 by those powers.
00:38:15.020 They're not promoted,
00:38:15.920 they're suppressed,
00:38:16.780 they're pushed to the side
00:38:17.700 and yet this whistleblower
00:38:19.220 is being lauded
00:38:20.820 on in the media
00:38:22.020 by established Democrats,
00:38:23.820 by other people
00:38:25.260 in what you might call
00:38:26.340 the ruling class.
00:38:27.280 So what is going on here?
00:38:29.320 A lot of conservatives
00:38:30.040 don't like what Facebook
00:38:31.120 is doing
00:38:31.620 when they suppress
00:38:32.580 our speech.
00:38:33.500 But what is the angle
00:38:35.940 coming out here
00:38:36.580 from this whistleblower?
00:38:37.760 So there are two things
00:38:38.760 that are going on,
00:38:39.500 two major concerns
00:38:40.700 about Facebook
00:38:41.480 and this so-called
00:38:43.320 whistleblower
00:38:44.440 is at the intersection
00:38:45.300 of them both.
00:38:45.940 The first thing
00:38:47.900 that is going on
00:38:48.860 is that Facebook
00:38:49.740 has a practice
00:38:51.740 of targeting
00:38:53.260 children
00:38:55.600 and in particular
00:38:56.680 teenage girls.
00:38:58.580 And Instagram,
00:39:00.040 which Facebook owns,
00:39:01.780 the algorithm
00:39:02.760 is designed
00:39:03.800 to appeal
00:39:05.800 to teenage girls
00:39:06.840 but also
00:39:07.480 to reinforce
00:39:08.260 very negative
00:39:09.960 trends
00:39:11.060 with teenage girls.
00:39:12.060 So,
00:39:13.260 for example,
00:39:15.000 body image problems
00:39:16.000 and eating disorders
00:39:17.100 and suicidal tendencies,
00:39:20.000 the algorithm
00:39:21.020 feeds all of that.
00:39:22.940 And I don't,
00:39:24.340 you don't have to
00:39:24.840 take my word for it,
00:39:25.780 you can actually take
00:39:26.560 Facebook's word for it.
00:39:28.120 So the Wall Street Journal
00:39:29.100 a couple of weeks ago
00:39:30.020 broke a bombshell story
00:39:31.860 that Facebook
00:39:33.460 conducted
00:39:34.100 its own research
00:39:35.420 on what is the effect
00:39:37.160 of our product
00:39:38.080 on kids
00:39:39.300 and their marketing
00:39:40.040 to kids.
00:39:40.520 And they concluded
00:39:41.960 that
00:39:43.280 teenage girls
00:39:45.920 in particular,
00:39:46.860 Instagram was
00:39:47.640 really toxic.
00:39:49.760 And British girls,
00:39:52.660 13%
00:39:55.020 said they had
00:39:56.940 gotten their
00:39:57.760 suicidal ideas
00:39:59.060 from Instagram.
00:40:00.940 American girls,
00:40:02.380 6% of them
00:40:03.600 said they had
00:40:04.240 gotten their
00:40:04.860 suicidal ideas
00:40:06.060 from Instagram.
00:40:07.420 And so Facebook
00:40:08.140 had this research.
00:40:09.420 which was handed
00:40:11.520 over to the
00:40:11.980 Wall Street Journal
00:40:12.640 and the Wall Street
00:40:13.260 Journal reported
00:40:13.940 on it.
00:40:14.580 We've had now
00:40:15.520 three hearings
00:40:16.300 in the last couple
00:40:17.000 of weeks in the Senate.
00:40:17.820 I participated in
00:40:18.600 all of them
00:40:19.060 with Facebook
00:40:19.580 witnesses.
00:40:20.940 The Facebook
00:40:21.820 witnesses
00:40:22.440 have been terrible.
00:40:25.600 They're essentially
00:40:26.400 giving the
00:40:27.040 Sergeant Schultz
00:40:27.840 defense.
00:40:28.880 I hear nothing,
00:40:29.760 I see nothing
00:40:30.360 from Hogan Heroes,
00:40:31.220 a show before
00:40:32.020 you were born,
00:40:32.660 Michael,
00:40:33.080 but a great show.
00:40:34.700 Before I was a
00:40:35.300 glint in my father's eye.
00:40:36.520 But I used to
00:40:37.580 watch it as a
00:40:38.140 little kid with
00:40:38.660 my dad.
00:40:39.080 Hogan Sears
00:40:39.440 was awesome.
00:40:41.460 So their defense,
00:40:42.580 so I've asked,
00:40:43.380 I've asked,
00:40:43.880 there were two
00:40:44.200 witnesses from
00:40:44.780 Facebook the last
00:40:45.520 two weeks.
00:40:45.920 I've asked them,
00:40:47.260 number one,
00:40:48.020 is this research
00:40:48.860 true?
00:40:50.020 They say,
00:40:50.760 well,
00:40:51.240 no,
00:40:51.740 it's out of
00:40:52.220 context.
00:40:52.640 I said,
00:40:53.060 great,
00:40:53.280 what's the
00:40:53.620 context?
00:40:54.080 Oh,
00:40:54.200 no,
00:40:54.280 no,
00:40:54.380 we won't
00:40:54.720 release the
00:40:55.180 research.
00:40:55.600 We're not
00:40:55.880 going to tell
00:40:56.340 you what the
00:40:56.900 research says,
00:40:57.960 but we don't
00:40:58.940 like what the
00:40:59.440 journal reported.
00:41:00.180 And I said,
00:41:00.500 okay,
00:41:00.720 the journal reported
00:41:01.600 Mark Zuckerberg
00:41:02.500 personally reviewed
00:41:04.380 this research.
00:41:05.140 Is that true?
00:41:06.620 Two senior
00:41:07.220 Facebook witnesses,
00:41:08.240 I don't know.
00:41:08.680 I don't know.
00:41:09.120 I don't know what
00:41:09.560 Zuckerberg knows.
00:41:10.320 Who knows?
00:41:10.860 Who knows?
00:41:11.280 No,
00:41:11.440 no,
00:41:11.520 no,
00:41:11.620 we're not
00:41:11.980 going to say
00:41:12.280 anything about
00:41:12.660 what Zuckerberg
00:41:13.200 knew.
00:41:13.980 I asked another
00:41:15.080 follow-up,
00:41:15.860 which is,
00:41:17.160 has Facebook
00:41:17.800 quantified how
00:41:19.880 many teenage
00:41:20.560 girls have taken
00:41:21.400 their lives
00:41:22.120 because of your
00:41:22.860 product?
00:41:25.140 Facebook witnesses
00:41:26.120 refused to answer
00:41:27.020 that question.
00:41:28.820 And I asked the
00:41:29.860 natural follow-up,
00:41:30.980 okay,
00:41:31.380 you got research
00:41:32.460 telling you
00:41:34.380 that your
00:41:34.900 product is
00:41:36.780 hurting children.
00:41:39.120 What'd you do
00:41:39.800 to fix it?
00:41:40.860 What changes
00:41:42.020 did you implement
00:41:43.100 to fix this
00:41:45.460 problem?
00:41:46.120 And the short
00:41:46.920 answer is the
00:41:47.680 Facebook witnesses
00:41:48.400 said,
00:41:48.900 nothing,
00:41:50.040 nothing,
00:41:50.660 nothing.
00:41:51.040 We didn't do
00:41:51.720 a damn thing.
00:41:53.100 So this week,
00:41:54.460 the so-called
00:41:54.980 whistleblower who
00:41:55.820 had been an
00:41:56.380 employee at
00:41:56.880 Facebook was
00:41:57.460 testifying.
00:41:58.400 I asked her
00:41:59.220 the same
00:41:59.560 questions.
00:42:00.340 She was actually
00:42:01.020 much more
00:42:01.500 cooperative in the
00:42:02.160 questions.
00:42:02.520 She said,
00:42:02.880 yes,
00:42:03.100 that's what the
00:42:03.540 research said.
00:42:04.860 She said,
00:42:05.600 yes,
00:42:05.900 Zuckerberg was
00:42:06.500 aware of it.
00:42:08.920 She didn't
00:42:09.600 know if they'd
00:42:10.140 quantify how
00:42:11.360 many teenage
00:42:11.900 girls had taken
00:42:12.620 their lives
00:42:13.120 because of
00:42:13.520 Facebook's
00:42:14.020 product.
00:42:14.680 But in
00:42:15.220 terms of what
00:42:15.860 they did to
00:42:16.380 change it,
00:42:16.900 she said,
00:42:17.280 not a damn
00:42:17.680 thing.
00:42:18.480 In fact,
00:42:18.900 she watched
00:42:19.460 the testimony
00:42:20.040 of the previous
00:42:21.260 two Facebook
00:42:21.980 witnesses.
00:42:22.620 She said,
00:42:22.920 it was amazing
00:42:23.500 when you asked
00:42:24.100 them that
00:42:24.380 question,
00:42:25.340 she assumed
00:42:26.140 they'd come
00:42:26.640 out with a
00:42:27.200 five-point plan.
00:42:28.240 We did the
00:42:28.700 following five
00:42:29.460 things in
00:42:29.940 response to it,
00:42:30.540 which sort of
00:42:31.400 anyone you
00:42:32.340 would think,
00:42:32.840 if you got
00:42:33.440 a report
00:42:34.100 that you
00:42:35.100 were marketing
00:42:35.700 a product
00:42:36.200 that was
00:42:36.620 killing
00:42:37.020 children,
00:42:38.320 you would
00:42:39.100 think you
00:42:39.480 would say,
00:42:39.860 all right,
00:42:40.160 how can we
00:42:40.620 change this
00:42:41.160 so that
00:42:41.480 doesn't happen?
00:42:43.060 She confirmed
00:42:43.900 Facebook didn't
00:42:44.540 do anything.
00:42:45.120 So on that,
00:42:46.320 the hearing we
00:42:47.600 had today,
00:42:48.280 there was
00:42:48.560 actually bipartisan
00:42:49.380 concern about
00:42:50.160 that.
00:42:50.460 Both Republicans
00:42:51.260 and Democrats,
00:42:52.580 nobody's defending
00:42:53.580 Facebook in what
00:42:56.040 it's doing to
00:42:56.680 teenage girls.
00:42:57.400 And the
00:42:57.940 analogy that
00:42:58.680 most frequently
00:42:59.260 gets invoked
00:43:00.020 is the
00:43:00.400 tobacco
00:43:00.740 companies.
00:43:01.300 When the
00:43:01.500 tobacco
00:43:01.840 companies,
00:43:02.880 you know,
00:43:03.160 Joe Camel,
00:43:03.920 when they
00:43:04.200 marketed to
00:43:04.940 kids to
00:43:05.480 try to
00:43:05.820 get them
00:43:06.180 addicted to
00:43:07.120 cigarettes
00:43:07.580 as young
00:43:08.300 teenagers so
00:43:09.140 they would
00:43:09.380 be lifelong
00:43:09.860 customers,
00:43:11.260 Facebook is
00:43:11.880 kind of
00:43:12.200 falling into
00:43:12.760 the same
00:43:13.440 category of
00:43:14.820 deliberately
00:43:15.540 engaging in
00:43:17.040 business
00:43:17.340 practices that
00:43:18.100 hurt kids.
00:43:19.660 That's
00:43:20.220 category one.
00:43:22.340 Category two
00:43:23.320 is political
00:43:23.860 censorship,
00:43:24.320 and we've
00:43:24.880 talked a ton
00:43:25.740 on this
00:43:26.160 podcast about
00:43:26.960 political
00:43:27.300 censorship.
00:43:30.640 In
00:43:31.400 category two,
00:43:33.320 there is a
00:43:34.180 yawning
00:43:34.740 divide between
00:43:36.780 Democrats and
00:43:37.700 Republicans in
00:43:38.560 Congress.
00:43:39.920 Most, if not
00:43:41.060 all,
00:43:41.340 Republicans in
00:43:42.020 Congress are
00:43:42.540 very worried
00:43:43.300 about political
00:43:43.920 censorship,
00:43:44.760 about Silicon
00:43:45.860 Valley billionaires
00:43:46.920 silencing
00:43:47.620 conservative views
00:43:48.640 they disagree
00:43:49.160 with.
00:43:50.340 Most
00:43:51.060 congressional
00:43:51.660 Democrats,
00:43:52.600 not only are
00:43:53.260 they not
00:43:53.740 worried about
00:43:54.500 it, not
00:43:56.240 only do
00:43:56.780 many of
00:43:57.280 them deny
00:43:58.000 that it
00:43:58.380 exists or
00:43:59.260 that it
00:43:59.640 happens,
00:44:00.920 their position
00:44:02.500 is we
00:44:03.900 want more
00:44:04.940 of it.
00:44:05.560 We want
00:44:06.060 more censorship.
00:44:07.500 Silence,
00:44:08.900 every quote
00:44:09.900 extremist voice,
00:44:11.620 and that's
00:44:11.940 their code
00:44:12.440 word.
00:44:13.480 When you
00:44:14.000 hear liberals
00:44:15.220 using the
00:44:15.860 word extremist,
00:44:17.460 what they
00:44:18.080 mean is you.
00:44:18.800 That's us.
00:44:19.400 What they
00:44:19.780 mean is any
00:44:20.480 conservative,
00:44:21.120 what they
00:44:21.340 mean is any
00:44:21.800 libertarian,
00:44:22.500 what they
00:44:22.720 mean is Donald
00:44:23.240 Trump,
00:44:23.920 what they
00:44:24.260 mean is anyone
00:44:24.740 who voted
00:44:25.100 for Donald
00:44:25.600 Trump,
00:44:26.020 what they
00:44:26.240 mean is anyone
00:44:26.740 who's pro-life,
00:44:27.940 what they
00:44:28.260 mean is anyone
00:44:28.900 who believes
00:44:29.640 that there
00:44:30.280 are two
00:44:30.660 genders.
00:44:31.960 All of
00:44:32.620 that they
00:44:33.080 believe is
00:44:33.640 extremist,
00:44:34.520 and they
00:44:35.060 want social
00:44:35.680 media to
00:44:36.180 silence it
00:44:36.720 all.
00:44:37.040 And so
00:44:37.320 the hearing
00:44:38.300 today,
00:44:39.980 and listen,
00:44:40.640 my sense
00:44:41.320 of this
00:44:41.860 whistleblower
00:44:42.900 is that she's
00:44:43.620 very much
00:44:44.200 politically on
00:44:44.900 the left,
00:44:45.340 so she
00:44:45.880 wants Facebook
00:44:47.500 to censor
00:44:48.460 even more.
00:44:50.200 So on
00:44:50.760 that component,
00:44:51.620 yes,
00:44:52.600 the media,
00:44:53.540 and yes,
00:44:54.240 Democrats,
00:44:55.140 are jumping
00:44:56.260 on this
00:44:56.760 whistleblower
00:44:57.500 because they're
00:44:59.260 trying to use
00:45:00.060 her testimony
00:45:00.820 to further
00:45:01.480 their preferred
00:45:02.140 political outcome,
00:45:03.440 which is for
00:45:04.180 Facebook to
00:45:04.920 censor every
00:45:06.060 conservative view
00:45:07.140 so that the
00:45:08.000 only view
00:45:08.780 anyone is
00:45:09.300 allowed to
00:45:09.820 express is
00:45:11.140 the left-wing
00:45:11.680 view.
00:45:12.400 Another bait
00:45:13.440 and switch,
00:45:14.260 another if you
00:45:14.800 focus on the
00:45:15.560 legitimate problems
00:45:16.380 at Facebook,
00:45:16.960 which we would
00:45:17.420 all acknowledge,
00:45:18.640 and use that
00:45:20.580 as a way to
00:45:21.320 push through
00:45:21.980 even more
00:45:22.820 censorship of
00:45:23.580 conservatives.
00:45:24.140 You're seeing
00:45:24.420 this happen
00:45:24.900 a lot around
00:45:26.200 the country
00:45:27.360 right now,
00:45:27.840 and a lot
00:45:28.220 around Washington.
00:45:29.140 There is one
00:45:29.680 place where you
00:45:30.520 will not be
00:45:30.920 censored.
00:45:31.380 That is on
00:45:32.260 the Verdict
00:45:33.260 live fall
00:45:35.020 tour.
00:45:35.900 We are coming
00:45:36.480 to schools,
00:45:37.180 hopefully near you.
00:45:38.200 We're going to
00:45:39.200 University of
00:45:39.780 Wisconsin-Madison
00:45:40.640 on the 13th
00:45:42.040 of this month,
00:45:42.620 so just next
00:45:43.540 week.
00:45:44.080 We are going
00:45:44.660 to Texas.
00:45:46.400 We're going
00:45:47.000 to Texas A&M
00:45:48.200 on the 14th.
00:45:49.540 It's going
00:45:50.320 to be a
00:45:50.860 great deal
00:45:51.200 of fun.
00:45:51.980 I can't
00:45:52.640 wait to see
00:45:53.000 everybody there.
00:45:53.640 We've got
00:45:53.860 more schools
00:45:54.400 that are going
00:45:54.740 to be announced,
00:45:56.100 but get ready.
00:45:57.260 So, Michael,
00:45:57.800 where can they
00:45:58.420 get their
00:45:58.740 tickets?
00:45:59.180 How can they
00:45:59.760 go if they
00:46:00.320 want to come
00:46:01.220 see either
00:46:02.540 University of
00:46:03.120 Wisconsin-Madison
00:46:04.100 or Texas A&M?
00:46:06.000 How can they
00:46:06.540 come see
00:46:07.060 Verdict live?
00:46:08.560 You've got
00:46:09.080 to go to
00:46:09.940 yaf.org.
00:46:11.580 That is the
00:46:11.880 Young America's
00:46:12.340 Foundation partnering
00:46:13.200 up with us
00:46:13.820 for this fall
00:46:14.800 tour.
00:46:15.420 Head on over
00:46:15.940 there, click
00:46:16.760 on the tour,
00:46:17.320 click on your
00:46:17.960 school.
00:46:18.480 You can go
00:46:19.220 get all of
00:46:19.920 the information
00:46:20.580 there.
00:46:21.180 It's going
00:46:21.620 to be me.
00:46:22.360 It's going
00:46:22.800 to be Senator
00:46:23.640 Cruz.
00:46:24.040 It is going
00:46:24.440 to be our
00:46:25.580 trusty cactus
00:46:26.300 friend.
00:46:27.000 We didn't
00:46:27.340 get time
00:46:27.940 for the
00:46:28.460 mailbag.
00:46:28.980 Don't worry,
00:46:29.460 we're going
00:46:29.640 to have a
00:46:29.840 whole lot
00:46:30.140 of time
00:46:30.400 for the
00:46:30.640 mailbag
00:46:30.960 in person
00:46:31.780 with all
00:46:32.140 of you.
00:46:32.700 You can
00:46:32.840 also stream
00:46:33.760 the events
00:46:34.940 live.
00:46:35.560 You can
00:46:35.720 do that
00:46:36.020 on the
00:46:36.500 Young
00:46:36.800 America's
00:46:37.140 Foundation
00:46:37.540 YAF
00:46:38.360 or Verdict
00:46:39.560 YouTube
00:46:40.100 channels.
00:46:40.920 We can't
00:46:41.320 wait to see
00:46:41.700 everybody in
00:46:42.260 person.
00:46:42.640 But for
00:46:42.860 now,
00:46:43.400 Senator,
00:46:44.160 we have
00:46:44.480 to say
00:46:44.720 goodbye.
00:46:44.940 I'm
00:46:45.360 Michael
00:46:45.600 Knowles.
00:46:46.320 This is
00:46:46.600 Verdict
00:46:46.860 with Ted
00:46:47.200 Cruz.
00:46:56.440 This
00:46:57.080 episode of
00:46:57.820 Verdict
00:46:58.220 with Ted
00:46:58.740 Cruz is
00:46:59.400 being brought
00:46:59.880 to you by
00:47:00.320 Jobs Freedom
00:47:01.140 and Security
00:47:01.900 PAC, a
00:47:02.640 political action
00:47:03.500 committee dedicated
00:47:04.280 to supporting
00:47:05.060 conservative
00:47:05.640 causes,
00:47:06.500 organizations,
00:47:07.360 and candidates
00:47:08.020 across the
00:47:08.740 country.
00:47:09.380 In 2022,
00:47:10.600 Jobs Freedom
00:47:11.240 and Security
00:47:11.840 PAC plans to
00:47:12.840 donate to
00:47:13.360 conservative
00:47:13.840 candidates running
00:47:14.740 for Congress
00:47:15.460 and help
00:47:16.040 the Republican
00:47:16.620 Party across
00:47:17.700 the nation.
00:47:19.180 This is an
00:47:19.540 iHeart Podcast.
00:47:21.440 Guaranteed
00:47:22.160 Human.