Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 26, 2023


72% of Voters say ＂U.S. Out of Control＂, plus The Truth Behind Silicon Valley Bailout, & Religious Liberty Debacle at Walter Reed


Episode Stats

Misogynist Sentences

6

Hate Speech Sentences

11


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.460 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.300 Welcome.
00:00:06.200 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.
00:00:08.260 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.580 The big announcement dropped, Senator.
00:00:12.260 Joe Biden announced with a massive live event,
00:00:17.260 huge audience at a sold-out auditorium
00:00:20.660 that he was running for president
00:00:22.840 of the United States of America today for re-election.
00:00:26.180 It was a big crowd.
00:00:27.680 Just kidding.
00:00:28.440 No, none of that happened.
00:00:30.240 It was a video that probably took about 100 hours to edit.
00:00:34.120 You watched the video, Senator.
00:00:35.600 Your initial reaction to this lackluster announcement.
00:00:39.320 Well, they had three minutes for him to read from a teleprompter.
00:00:43.980 I'm sure it took 100 takes to get him to read those three minutes.
00:00:49.700 And his three minutes were, let's keep getting the job done.
00:00:53.920 And I got to say, that is a weird message.
00:00:56.460 I mean, you look at the last two years.
00:00:58.680 The disaster of what has unfolded under Joe Biden.
00:01:03.240 Let's take the economy.
00:01:05.060 We have the worst inflation of our lifetime.
00:01:09.100 So you have to go back to when you were a sparkle in your daddy's eyes,
00:01:13.600 and I was a little kid, to find a time when the inflation was this bad.
00:01:18.440 You have crime rates exploding across the country, murder rates, carjacking rates all over the country.
00:01:25.120 You have the worst illegal immigration in the history of our nation.
00:01:29.860 You have a relentless assault on our constitutional rights, on religious liberties, on the Second Amendment, on the right to life.
00:01:40.400 And then, as bad as the domestic policy is, as bad as the foreign policy is, you have a national security policy that is an utter disaster.
00:01:54.460 Every single region of the world is worse.
00:01:57.180 We are facing the first major land war in Europe since World War II.
00:02:03.520 We are facing China stronger, North Korea stronger, Iran stronger, Cuba stronger, Nicaragua stronger, every enemy of America stronger.
00:02:13.480 And what does Joe Biden say?
00:02:15.320 Give me four more years.
00:02:16.280 Let's do more of this.
00:02:17.300 It's like, holy cow, how could you possibly want more of this?
00:02:24.260 This is if Madison Avenue put together an ad campaign that had zero to do with substance.
00:02:32.340 It could not have been more apropos for this announcement video than what we saw today.
00:02:37.000 I rarely laugh at late night anymore, and you and I have talked about that before on this show.
00:02:41.920 But last night, someone sent me the clip of Jimmy Fallon, and he said this idea that, you know, let's get the job done, like this slogan.
00:02:50.520 He's like, you've had over 50 years, man.
00:02:53.180 And the audience died laughing, a liberal audience sitting in, you know, with Jimmy Fallon.
00:02:57.520 He's like, how much more time do you need to get the job done?
00:03:01.240 You've been in office for 50-plus years.
00:03:04.740 And real polling is backing up that joke and the sentiment of that.
00:03:09.140 CBS News poll has a new poll out, and the question was, things in the U.S. are out of control.
00:03:16.220 72% of respondents said that things in the U.S. are out of control.
00:03:21.820 Reasons that you think things are out of control.
00:03:25.880 71% said Joe Biden.
00:03:29.520 75% U.S. culture and values.
00:03:32.340 85% the economy.
00:03:33.920 And 88% state of U.S. politics.
00:03:35.720 The fact that 71% say the top answer among those who are thinking the reason is out of control, 71% say it's Joe Biden.
00:03:44.120 The other thing that I think is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out is,
00:03:48.540 saying Biden is among the reasons things are out of control,
00:03:51.840 33% of Democrats are responding and said they believe the reason why things are out of control
00:03:58.380 is because the guy they voted for, Joe Biden, is the president of the United States of America.
00:04:04.360 You've run for election.
00:04:06.140 You look at internal poll numbers.
00:04:08.220 If you're Joe Biden right now or his team, and you see 33% of your own party saying this,
00:04:14.120 how concerned do you have to be?
00:04:16.360 They should be very concerned.
00:04:18.540 Listen, Joe Biden was first elected to the Senate in November of 1972.
00:04:25.060 In November of 1972, I was one year and 11 months old.
00:04:30.140 I was not even two.
00:04:32.080 I was, I assume, still wearing diapers.
00:04:36.020 Ben, you weren't alive then.
00:04:37.960 I was not.
00:04:38.580 81 baby.
00:04:39.840 I don't remember November of 1972, but Joe Biden charged in to Washington.
00:04:49.300 You know, it's interesting.
00:04:50.440 Trivia question.
00:04:51.360 You know how old Joe Biden was when he was elected to the Senate?
00:04:54.260 How old was he?
00:04:55.360 So the constitutional minimum to be a senator is 30 years old.
00:05:01.020 Take a guess how old Joe Biden was.
00:05:03.440 I'm going to guess right at 30 then.
00:05:05.340 29.
00:05:06.340 There you go.
00:05:07.220 He was elected at 29, and he turned 30 before he was sworn in.
00:05:12.200 So he was a young guy, but he was a young guy when I was in diapers and you weren't alive.
00:05:17.400 And he has been there since forever.
00:05:21.860 Like, 1972, he was there before disco.
00:05:26.620 Like, and he's been doing this forever.
00:05:32.020 And he's like, let's finish the job.
00:05:35.760 Seriously.
00:05:36.860 Can you screw America anymore?
00:05:39.480 Please do not finish the job of screwing America.
00:05:43.520 And I'm going to ask a question.
00:05:44.760 And I say this slightly tongue in cheek, but not much.
00:05:48.520 If your objective, if you sat down and said, I've got a plan, I want to spend two years.
00:05:54.160 I want to destroy this nation.
00:05:58.920 Ben, what would you have done differently than Biden and the Democrats have done?
00:06:04.260 If you're going to destroy the country, you do exactly what his administration has done, and they've done it to perfection.
00:06:12.180 Look, it's actually a bizarre question.
00:06:16.640 Because what we've seen, the assault on jobs, the regulatory assault, the assault on U.S. oil and gas production,
00:06:27.660 the assault on our national security, opening up our borders and creating the worst illegal immigration in history,
00:06:35.420 the assault on law enforcement, where do you think this crazy crime came from?
00:06:39.680 Democrats saying defund the police, Democrats supporting George Soros DAs releasing violent criminals from jail,
00:06:47.280 the assault on our fundamental constitutional rights, the assault on America as an institution,
00:06:54.220 the assault on the Constitution, the assault on the Bill of Rights, the assault on, look, every enemy of America.
00:07:01.040 Israel is a strong ally of America.
00:07:03.300 Biden spent two years undermining Israel relentlessly.
00:07:06.880 The United Kingdom is a strong ally of America.
00:07:09.440 Biden spent two years undermining the U.K.
00:07:13.400 China is an enemy of America.
00:07:15.660 Biden spent two years giving weakness and appeasement to China.
00:07:19.580 Russia is an enemy of America.
00:07:21.400 Biden spent two years giving weakness and appeasement to Russia, including waiving sanctions on Nord Stream 2.
00:07:28.560 I say this in all seriousness.
00:07:31.620 If your objective was to destroy the nation, I don't know what else you would do.
00:07:38.000 Yeah, it's a great point.
00:07:39.420 And the White House, by the way, they seemed lost as well about how they even got to the point
00:07:45.380 where Joe Biden officially decided to run for reelection.
00:07:49.060 I want to play that for you before we get that, though, I want to talk to you about your cell phone.
00:07:52.980 If you're sick and tired of giving your money to woke companies that are fighting against your values
00:07:59.280 and you're ready to start embracing companies that actually stand by your ideals,
00:08:04.400 then you can switch your cell phone to Patriot Mobile.
00:08:08.000 And you're going to know that you are actually making a difference because they take a portion of your bill every month at Patriot Mobile
00:08:15.260 as America's only Christian conservative wireless provider.
00:08:18.840 And they stand up for and they support things that you agree with.
00:08:23.140 We're talking about standing up for organizations that support free speech and religious freedom,
00:08:27.160 the sanctity of life, the Second Amendment and our military veterans and first responders.
00:08:31.580 That is why I want you to switch to Patriot Mobile.
00:08:34.940 They have 100% U.S.-based customer service team that makes switching easy as well.
00:08:39.460 And Patriot Mobile, as the only American Christian conservative wireless provider,
00:08:44.860 they offer you dependable nationwide coverage on all three major networks
00:08:48.900 so you get the best possible service in your area without the woke propaganda pushed by leftists working hard to destroy this country.
00:08:56.700 Make the switch today and make a difference with every phone call you make.
00:08:59.700 Get free activation as well with the offer code VERDICT.
00:09:04.020 Their number, 878-PATRIOT.
00:09:06.500 That's 878-PATRIOT.
00:09:08.760 Or PatriotMobile.com slash VERDICT.
00:09:10.780 Use the promo code VERDICT for the best deals of the day.
00:09:13.760 878-PATRIOT.
00:09:14.900 Senator, there was something also that happened that was very weird and that was at the White House.
00:09:18.640 White House press secretary, on the day that Biden announces he is going to run for re-election,
00:09:24.740 this is her response to like, how did he get to this decision?
00:09:28.420 She didn't have an answer.
00:09:30.180 Again, going to be very careful here, 2024 election.
00:09:33.220 I actually don't have anything to share, like behind the scenes on his decision making.
00:09:39.340 I think the president spoke to this himself when he was asked before today about his intention to run and his plans to run.
00:09:48.380 And so I will refer you back to what he has said more explicitly when he had those interviews.
00:09:54.640 So I don't, again, don't want to say much more than that.
00:09:58.220 Say much more than that.
00:09:59.420 Senator, it's almost like he didn't even know that he was running for re-election.
00:10:03.920 They just threw a video together and said, say these lines.
00:10:06.580 And the White House staff didn't even know about it either.
00:10:08.740 Look, the reason that I think Biden is running for re-elect, I've actually thought for a year Biden would not run for re-elect because he is so obviously diminished.
00:10:24.680 He's too old to run.
00:10:26.400 The overwhelming majority of Americans know that he's too old to run.
00:10:29.640 His, we talked about it in the last pod, just even in the last two years, his mental faculties have declined massively.
00:10:39.640 The reason that I think Biden announced that he's running this week is I think something has happened in the last 60 days,
00:10:47.120 which is that I think Democrats believe Donald Trump is going to be the nominee.
00:10:53.300 And that's changed.
00:10:54.600 I think 60 days ago, Democrats did not believe Trump was going to be the nominee.
00:10:59.640 But the last two months have been very good for Trump politically.
00:11:03.480 They have been not that great for Ron DeSantis politically.
00:11:07.720 DeSantis' numbers have gone down.
00:11:09.600 Trump's numbers have gone up.
00:11:11.540 And I think where Democrats are, if they thought they were facing a new nominee, anyone, frankly, who is not Donald Trump,
00:11:19.240 I think Democrats would jettison Joe Biden.
00:11:21.840 And they'd say, OK, this guy, we need someone who actually can count to 10 and not get lost at about number six.
00:11:30.400 But I think what Democrats have said, they believe Trump's going to be the nominee and they hate Trump.
00:11:38.440 They live in a world where everyone they knows hates Trump.
00:11:42.300 And so their their view, I think, is, OK, if Trump is the nominee, we're not going to run on Joe Biden's record.
00:11:50.040 We're not going to talk about Joe Biden's record.
00:11:51.660 We're not going to talk about anything for the last four years.
00:11:54.320 All we're going to talk about is our guy is not Trump.
00:11:58.240 That's their whole campaign.
00:11:59.360 And by the way, they did that in 2020.
00:12:01.920 They'll do it even more.
00:12:02.900 I think their plan right now is Joe Biden will not leave the White House for the entirety of the campaign.
00:12:08.680 They'll hide him in the basement.
00:12:10.100 But they don't have COVID this time, Senator, to hide him with.
00:12:13.220 I mean, that was the excuse last time.
00:12:15.000 They don't care.
00:12:15.720 This last cycle, 2022, they didn't have COVID.
00:12:19.360 And yet Katie Hobbs, the governor of Arizona, never did a debate.
00:12:22.880 Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, never did a debate.
00:12:25.800 They hid from the process.
00:12:27.460 Because I believe if the electoral race is Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, Biden will leave the White House three times in the next two years.
00:12:37.860 They'll hide him in the basement.
00:12:39.280 They'll put out a periodic video like this little video where they have lots of time.
00:12:43.380 He can read a teleprompter.
00:12:44.600 And when he gets lost, right?
00:12:46.320 Yeah, proof of life.
00:12:47.100 Yes, that's exactly that.
00:12:48.800 And then he'll do one or two debates where they'll pump him full of enough drugs that he will seem marginally competent.
00:12:58.020 He'll give a speech at the Democrat convention, and that'll be it.
00:13:01.420 Canadian women are looking for more.
00:13:03.580 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:13:07.740 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:13:11.400 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:13:12.600 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:13:13.600 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:13:17.640 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:13:23.380 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:13:26.380 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:13:32.440 But behind the scenes, by the way, so people know, I'm going to pull back the curtain.
00:13:37.160 Usually, the senator and I, we will go over the show beforehand.
00:13:41.680 And I'll play him the audio clips that I'm thinking about playing, so we're all set to go for you guys.
00:13:47.620 Every once in a while, I hold one back because I don't want you to be able to pre-plan for this too much.
00:13:53.720 This is a real clip, Senator, from the White House press briefing today on a question.
00:14:00.800 Does the president plan to serve all eight years?
00:14:04.940 Listen to the White House press secretary's response to that question.
00:14:09.280 Does the president plan to serve all eight years?
00:14:12.360 I'm not, I'm just not going to get ahead of the president.
00:14:16.680 That's something for him to decide.
00:14:18.000 I'm just not going to get ahead of it.
00:14:19.660 And there's a 2024 campaign.
00:14:22.520 Anything related to that, I would refer you to that.
00:14:25.020 All right.
00:14:25.380 I'm going to get your raw reaction to that one.
00:14:28.940 Like, holy cow.
00:14:30.180 Has there ever been a president?
00:14:32.300 Imagine Donald Trump's press secretary being asked that.
00:14:36.460 Imagine George Bush's press secretary being asked that.
00:14:38.960 Imagine Barack Obama's press secretary being asked that.
00:14:42.040 Imagine George W. Bush's press secretary being imagined, asked that.
00:14:46.620 It says something that even Corrine Jean-Pierre, who has now reached the Hall of Fame for lying from the White House press briefing room.
00:14:58.220 She's like, oh, I can't answer that because she can't say with a straight face.
00:15:03.220 This is a guy who can't find his shoes.
00:15:08.380 She can't say that five, six years from now, he'll still be president.
00:15:15.500 This is all about they hate Trump.
00:15:18.540 The entire Democrat strategy.
00:15:21.060 There is no policy strategy.
00:15:22.820 Look, they can't run on ideas.
00:15:25.000 The economy, they've screwed it all up.
00:15:26.840 Safety and security, they've screwed it all up.
00:15:30.000 The courts, they've screwed it all up.
00:15:32.180 Foreign policy, national security, they've screwed it all up.
00:15:35.420 Their entire campaign is our guy is not Donald Trump.
00:15:40.800 By the way, their new epithet, MAGA Republicans, which is a bizarre, I'm sure they focus group that like crazy.
00:15:48.060 It all comes down to we are Democrats, we hate Trump.
00:15:53.760 That is their entire message.
00:15:56.320 I think the key to winning, the key to winning the presidential, the key to winning the Senate this time around, the key to winning a bigger majority in the House is to focus on ideas and issues people care about.
00:16:07.400 Focus on how you make people's lives better.
00:16:10.220 And it's not about screaming MAGA Republicans want to destroy the Republic.
00:16:16.560 Yeah, the White House was also asked, and I want to know your reaction.
00:16:20.360 Do you think the media is going to be tougher on a candidate Biden?
00:16:24.240 This was a question at the White House press briefing today about the president's horrendous economic record, the rising prices, foods, basic services.
00:16:33.160 The list goes on and on and listen to the White House's completely out of touch response to that basic question as well.
00:16:39.380 So Americans are seeing when we talk about the economy in general, the Americans are seeing energy prices up 24 percent, including electricity.
00:16:46.800 Since President Biden took office, food prices are up 18 percent in the last two years.
00:16:51.640 Manufacturing lost jobs for the last two months in a row.
00:16:54.340 And inflation is outpacing wages for 26 months in a row.
00:16:58.220 So how does the president then sell to the American people to keep going with these economic policies?
00:17:04.320 So look, again, going to be careful about 2024, anything that's related.
00:17:08.640 No, no, I'm going to answer your question.
00:17:10.220 Okay, I'm going to answer your question.
00:17:12.240 Just want to be, as you said, moving forward.
00:17:14.060 So I just want to be very careful here.
00:17:15.860 Look, the president always is very clear.
00:17:18.140 When he talks about the economy, he always says, one of the things that he says very frequently is that when it comes to inflation,
00:17:24.160 when it comes to a lowering cost, that is a priority for him.
00:17:27.420 And he has shown to do that.
00:17:29.340 And if you talked about inflation, annual inflation has fallen over the last nine months.
00:17:33.500 It is moderating.
00:17:34.460 That is something that we have seen from the data that has come out.
00:17:38.480 Wages are higher than they were nine months ago.
00:17:41.460 Incomes are up and consumer spending is strong.
00:17:43.740 But he under.
00:17:44.700 I mean, you can hear her just rambling on there, Senator.
00:17:48.000 He has a horrendous record on the economy.
00:17:50.200 She's like, no, no, he understands he's doing a really good job.
00:17:52.380 And understand clearly.
00:17:56.620 If God forbid Biden is reelected, everything will get worse.
00:18:04.260 Mark my words.
00:18:05.880 If Biden's reelected, let me be clear.
00:18:07.780 I don't think he will be.
00:18:08.720 I think he will be defeated.
00:18:10.360 I think the American people are fed up with the path we're on.
00:18:12.960 But if he is reelected, we will see $10 a gallon gasoline.
00:18:20.000 Remember this point.
00:18:21.260 I hope that in a couple of years, you and I are not on verdict saying, let's replay the clip from this day.
00:18:29.440 Because if we hit $10 a gallon gasoline, understand that's what the Green New Deal zealots in this administration want.
00:18:41.460 We are facing the most fundamental assault.
00:18:45.900 Listen, I get up every morning and I literally jump out of my bed.
00:18:50.160 And when I come home, when I land in Texas, when I'm in the airport, when I'm in a shopping mall, when I'm in a restaurant, people come up to me and they're like, holy cow, what's going on?
00:19:00.660 And my sort of standard line, I laugh.
00:19:02.840 I say, look, we're in a crazy time.
00:19:05.500 As they say in the military world, it is a target rich environment.
00:19:11.260 But as I joke about that, the reality is I've never seen it this crazy in my entire lifetime.
00:19:22.140 The reason I jump out of bed in the morning is I feel like I am going to the Roman Coliseum and I'm fighting the barbarians.
00:19:31.300 Like these lunatics, these Marxists, the radicals in the Democrat Party, they hate America.
00:19:39.340 They believe the Constitution is immoral.
00:19:41.360 They believe the Bill of Rights is immoral.
00:19:43.340 They want to tear it down.
00:19:46.720 That's a fight worth fighting.
00:19:48.420 We're not fighting, Ben, over little stuff.
00:19:50.480 We're not fighting over little details.
00:19:52.240 We're not fighting over whether the top marginal tax rate is 1% higher or 1% lower.
00:19:58.060 We're fighting over whether America remains a free enterprise country or a socialist country.
00:20:02.800 We're fighting over whether we have a border or our nation is invaded.
00:20:08.860 We're fighting over whether the Bill of Rights remains the fundamental liberties of Americans or those rights are given up.
00:20:17.000 That is a fight worth fighting.
00:20:19.340 You mentioned illegal immigration, and I think that's going to be a very center point of this election, especially with Trump being the frontrunner.
00:20:26.220 He's obviously going to go back to border security and building the wall.
00:20:29.800 The White House press secretary also got herself in trouble today when she was asked about the White House's failure at the border.
00:20:35.840 Take a listen.
00:20:36.340 So the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security will have more to share soon.
00:20:40.360 As you know, the Department of Homeland Security shared their plan back in January, and we have seen from the data,
00:20:46.120 we have seen that the unlawful immigration is down.
00:20:51.040 And so what they have put forth in their protocol and their processes is working,
00:20:56.480 but they will have more to share in the upcoming days or weeks.
00:20:59.240 Senator, that's a lie.
00:21:00.900 You've said this a hundred times on this show.
00:21:02.860 You've said it on Fox News Channel.
00:21:04.320 Complete and uttered lie.
00:21:04.820 Yeah, 6.3 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Biden took office,
00:21:08.580 and the White House press secretary, and I'm going to give you the quote exactly, quote,
00:21:12.320 unlawful immigration is down.
00:21:15.340 She said that at the White House podium today, lying to the American people.
00:21:18.380 Every month, we are setting records for the highest rate of illegal immigration in history.
00:21:26.120 Month after month after month, over 6 million people have crossed illegally.
00:21:31.380 Corrine Jean-Pierre from the White House, and look, the White House is hallowed ground.
00:21:35.340 There's an obligation to the American people to tell the truth.
00:21:38.320 She stands there and lies on Joe Biden's behalf.
00:21:41.600 She claims, as she said before, people aren't just walking across the border.
00:21:46.080 Yes, they are every day, right now.
00:21:49.520 Whatever time of day you're listening to this podcast, they're walking across the border
00:21:53.520 because they're doing it every minute of every hour of all 24 hours a day, every single day,
00:21:59.140 and she knows that, and she is lying.
00:22:02.880 It is horrific.
00:22:04.460 Our country is being assaulted, and listen, I don't get angry about this stuff often,
00:22:10.840 but I am pissed off.
00:22:12.740 And clearly, Senator, you're not the only one.
00:22:14.540 70% of Americans don't want Joe Biden to run, yet here we are.
00:22:19.820 He is the nominee for the Democratic Party.
00:22:22.340 I want to move on to another important issue, and that is an issue that there's a letter
00:22:28.280 that is going out from you, Senator, and Representative Jim Jordans about the failure
00:22:34.360 of the San Francisco Fed to watch what was happening with Silicon Valley Bank.
00:22:42.220 Before we get into that, I want to tell you about my friends at Augusta Precious Metals.
00:22:47.080 If you are sick and tired of being stressed out over what's happening in the economy with
00:22:51.700 your retirement account, with your 401k, and you feel like you need to protect your hard-earned
00:22:56.200 assets, especially if you're either close to retirement or in retirement, you need to call
00:23:01.920 Augusta Precious Metals.
00:23:03.200 If you saved $100,000 or more, they're also going to give you free gold.
00:23:08.260 Yes, a free gold coin.
00:23:10.300 You're going to like working with Augusta Precious Metals.
00:23:12.580 I work with them, and I use them.
00:23:15.020 There is no time to make up losses if you're close to retirement, and their goal is to preserve
00:23:20.660 and protect your hard-earned dollars.
00:23:23.200 Now, the other thing is the education side of things.
00:23:26.100 Augusta Precious Metals does things very differently.
00:23:28.240 Not only do you actually get a free guide to gold and silver in IRAs, but they do a one-on-one
00:23:35.300 conference with you so that you can ask questions and understand how gold and silver can help
00:23:40.840 you protect your dollars.
00:23:42.780 Call Augusta Precious Metals and get that peace of mind.
00:23:45.540 877, the number 4, gold IRA, 877, the number 4, gold IRA, or visit AugustaPreciousMetals.com.
00:23:57.080 Say, I sent you, and they'll pay your fees for up to 10 years as well.
00:24:00.140 That's AugustaPreciousMetals.com.
00:24:03.960 Senator, let's talk about Silicon Valley Bank, and let's do a quick recap of what happened with
00:24:09.140 Silicon Valley Bank for everybody, so they understand why you are sending this letter
00:24:14.460 to the San Francisco Fed regarding this big tech liberal bank failure.
00:24:19.620 Well, Silicon Valley Bank had enormous assets, primarily from venture capital firms in Silicon
00:24:27.260 Valley, big tech firms that support Democrats that are exceedingly liberal.
00:24:31.940 Silicon Valley Bank did not pay attention to fiscal stability, did not pay attention to
00:24:39.580 actually having sound balance sheets.
00:24:41.920 Indeed, here's an amazing thing.
00:24:44.380 Silicon Valley Bank, for eight months, did not have a chief risk officer.
00:24:50.900 They literally didn't fill that position.
00:24:53.220 So their balance sheet was filled with government bonds that had an enormous maturity risk because
00:25:01.220 the Fed had jacked up interest rates so much that the bonds were worth much less than Silicon
00:25:08.020 Valley Bank had paid for them.
00:25:10.520 But nobody at Silicon Valley Bank was actually looking at the books and trying to protect
00:25:15.100 their financial stability because instead, you know what they did have?
00:25:19.620 They did have a diversity, equity, and inclusion officer.
00:25:23.580 They did focus on ESG, on environmental and social goals.
00:25:29.060 They were focused on left-wing virtue signaling, but not on actually watching the deposits of
00:25:36.160 their depositors.
00:25:37.320 Now, it's one thing to have some Silicon Valley bankers who lose sight.
00:25:44.300 But who are the regulators?
00:25:45.680 Who's in charge of watching the fox and the hen house?
00:25:49.860 Well, in the case of Silicon Valley Bank, it was the San Francisco office of the Federal
00:25:55.680 Reserve.
00:25:55.980 They were the bank regulators that had supervisory authority.
00:26:00.420 And the San Francisco office of the Federal Reserve didn't do a damn thing, sat there while
00:26:07.240 Silicon Valley Bank had this enormous exposure, this enormous risk.
00:26:12.760 By the way, the San Francisco office of the Federal Reserve was engaged in the same nonsense,
00:26:17.260 the same ESG, the same DEI, the same politically correct virtue signaling, instead of doing
00:26:23.380 their damn job.
00:26:24.820 So I'm the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee.
00:26:28.020 I sent an oversight letter announcing an investigation into the San Francisco Fed's oversight of Silicon
00:26:35.460 Valley Bank.
00:26:37.220 The San Francisco Fed essentially said, go jump in a lake.
00:26:41.140 We're not going to answer your questions.
00:26:42.720 So I just recently teamed up with Jim Jordan.
00:26:46.880 Jim is in the House of Representatives.
00:26:48.940 He is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
00:26:51.100 And so the two of us together are demanding of Silicon Valley Bank answer our questions.
00:26:57.240 Did you know about this exposure?
00:27:00.040 If so, why didn't you act?
00:27:01.960 If you didn't know, why the hell weren't you doing your job?
00:27:04.760 Why were you asleep at the switch?
00:27:06.440 I can tell you, Ben, on top of that, I've also joined—this is going to surprise you—I've
00:27:12.400 joined in bipartisan legislation with Elizabeth Warren to make the regional offices of the
00:27:22.400 Federal Reserve subject to FOIA, subject to the federal laws that makes them under the
00:27:30.540 oversight of Congress and the American people.
00:27:32.900 Right now, they're exempt from FOIA.
00:27:34.540 And I've got to say, it's an amazing thing that Elizabeth Warren and I are on the same
00:27:39.820 page saying, these Fed banks that are laughing at Congress, that are laughing at the American
00:27:46.460 people, that are saying, we are unaccountable, even though a multibillion-dollar cluster just
00:27:53.460 unfolded on our watch, we need to hold them to account.
00:27:57.600 Yeah, it's important legislation.
00:27:59.720 Now the question is, who's going to block it and why?
00:28:02.500 There are a lot of Democrats that wanted to protect Silicon Valley Bank because they were
00:28:07.320 also—a lot of the people that had their money there were big donors of the Democratic
00:28:10.500 Party.
00:28:11.440 Absolutely.
00:28:11.720 Is that going to be part of the politics that plays out in this?
00:28:15.600 Unquestionably.
00:28:16.120 And look, the dynamic we're in right now is Silicon Valley Bank, the Biden administration,
00:28:22.060 ran to step in and do a multibillion-dollar bailout.
00:28:25.460 Why?
00:28:25.760 Because the depositors were overwhelmingly politically well-connected left-wing Democrats.
00:28:32.360 They were supporters of Joe Biden.
00:28:34.600 They were supporters of the Democrats in the Senate and the Democrats in the House.
00:28:38.560 And so immediately the White House said, all right, we got your back.
00:28:41.780 You're fully covered.
00:28:42.760 And by the way, when they covered that, they covered it from funds that are paid by everyone
00:28:48.420 else's banks.
00:28:49.200 So if you're not a politically well-connected venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, if you're
00:28:56.540 a Main Street—if you run a dry cleaner, if you have a restaurant, if you have a car dealership,
00:29:03.220 if you have a small business in Main Street America, you're paying for the Democrat bailout
00:29:12.500 of Democrat donors.
00:29:14.880 And the press, of course, doesn't want to cover that, but it is completely indefensible how
00:29:21.060 they've decided, all right, if you're a well-connected Democrat, we got your back.
00:29:25.960 And by the way, one of the really negative consequences of this is we're seeing a flight of capital
00:29:33.380 of individuals, of small businesses that have invested in—have their deposits in community
00:29:40.700 banks, smaller and mid-sized banks, and a very significant number of those depositors
00:29:46.820 are taking their money out and moving it to one of the gigantic banks, because the lesson
00:29:52.360 they've taken from Joe Biden's response to this is if you're a giant bank that's too
00:29:57.880 big to fail, all the deposits will be guaranteed.
00:30:01.640 But if you're a mid-sized or smaller bank, you're out of luck.
00:30:05.580 And one of the great strengths of our economy is the thousands upon thousands of community
00:30:12.680 banks we have.
00:30:13.740 You look at other countries where they have three, four, five giant banks that bank everyone.
00:30:19.160 America is blessed.
00:30:20.580 We've got thousands, tens of thousands of banks at the community level.
00:30:25.220 And Joe Biden is happy to bankrupt all of them and to benefit his buddies on Wall Street,
00:30:31.100 the handful of giant banks.
00:30:32.720 And quickly, for a context point here, Senator, people that don't realize how the FDIC is supposed
00:30:39.740 to work in insuring your depositors, your deposits, it's only up to a certain amount
00:30:44.440 of money.
00:30:45.300 And what happened with Silicon Valley Bank is it turned from a certain amount of money
00:30:49.500 to unlimited money.
00:30:51.560 And that's the reason why you mentioned a lot of people are saying, all right, well, if
00:30:55.120 I'm in a community bank or a smaller bank or a regional bank that doesn't have the political
00:31:00.540 connections to these types of bailouts, I'm at much higher risk with my deposits than if
00:31:07.080 I go to a woke bank or a massive bank like many are switching over, because you're not
00:31:12.960 supposed to have unlimited funds secured in these banks.
00:31:16.940 That's the whole point of having an up to amount, correct?
00:31:19.980 Right.
00:31:20.280 No, that's exactly right.
00:31:21.320 When the FDIC was established, initially, the threshold was $100,000, that your deposits
00:31:27.220 up to $100,000 are guaranteed by the FDIC, guaranteed by the government.
00:31:32.440 That was, in recent years, up from $100,000 to $250,000.
00:31:37.040 Now, $250,000 is a lot of money.
00:31:39.160 Most of us don't have that much money in cash in a bank.
00:31:42.860 But the FDIC guarantees to everyone, whatever bank you're at, if you have $250,000 or less,
00:31:49.980 your deposits are guaranteed.
00:31:52.220 What happened at Silicon Valley Bank is you had depositors, both individuals and companies,
00:31:57.280 that had millions of dollars, that had tens of millions of dollars, that had hundreds
00:32:01.280 of millions of dollars.
00:32:02.700 And the federal government stepped in and said, never mind the $250,000 limit, we're going
00:32:07.260 to guarantee all of it.
00:32:08.420 Even though the depositors didn't pay attention when their bank went eight months without a
00:32:14.620 risk officer, when their bank was not watching the stability of their balance sheets.
00:32:20.220 And listen, if instead of Silicon Valley Bank, this were Texas Oil and Gas Bank, this were
00:32:27.360 a bank that provided capital and liquidity to oil and gas drillers, the odds that the Biden
00:32:36.080 administration would have guaranteed those deposits are 0.0%.
00:32:40.280 This was political favoritism.
00:32:43.080 This was, if you're political allies and donors to Democrats, we got your back.
00:32:48.960 And if not, you're screwed.
00:32:51.220 And by the way, if you're neither, if you're just an ordinary individual or small business,
00:32:56.340 you know what?
00:32:57.580 The fees that your bank pays into the FDIC are going to go up to pay for the bailout of
00:33:04.820 these Democrat donors.
00:33:06.160 Yeah, it's almost like the response that you mentioned, the banks, if it was a bank
00:33:10.740 in Texas that was dealing with oil and gas, they'd be treated like the people were in
00:33:14.540 Pennsylvania when you had that train derailment.
00:33:17.680 It was, oh, it was Trump country.
00:33:19.060 It's conservative.
00:33:19.800 We don't have to worry about them.
00:33:21.500 And that's why so many people, like you said, are switching banks right now.
00:33:24.880 That's also not good for the system.
00:33:27.040 I want to go to something else as well that I think people need to know about and get on
00:33:30.700 the radar screen.
00:33:31.920 And that is the Biden administration's war on religious liberty is continuing.
00:33:38.920 And I want you to give people the update about that.
00:33:41.220 Before I get to that, though, I want to tell you about our good friends over at Chalk.
00:33:43.740 Now is the time to fight back against the war on losing your masculinity.
00:33:49.360 And now you can do it with the Patriots at Chalk.
00:33:52.420 They are here to help real men just like you maximize your masculinity by boosting testosterone
00:33:59.040 levels up to 20% over 90 days.
00:34:02.340 The male vitality stack I've been taking now for several months.
00:34:05.400 It works.
00:34:06.080 It will help you get back what you're missing.
00:34:08.960 If you feel like you're just don't have that same energy level, you're feeling fatigued and
00:34:14.300 tired at the end of the day.
00:34:15.880 That is when you should take a look at Chalk.
00:34:19.060 C-H-O-Q dot com.
00:34:20.980 You can mask maximize your masculinity today and up your testosterone levels 20% over 90 days.
00:34:28.420 Go online to Chalk.com.
00:34:30.420 Use the promo code Ben for 35% off any Chalk subscription for life.
00:34:37.460 C-H-O-Q dot com.
00:34:39.500 Use the promo code Ben for 35% off.
00:34:43.000 Senator, let's talk about the Biden's war on religious liberty.
00:34:47.360 It is unfortunately been a theme of their administration virtually the entire time.
00:34:53.800 And now you are demanding answers after Walter Reed Medical Center.
00:34:58.720 I had the privilege of going there back when I was working with the Bush administration to
00:35:03.700 watch President Bush go and see our men and women in uniform that have been fighting our
00:35:07.560 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:35:09.640 It is an incredible facility.
00:35:12.000 And you're now demanding answers because Walter Reed Medical Center has ended a contract with
00:35:17.460 a Catholic group.
00:35:19.720 Fill us in on that.
00:35:21.420 Well, Walter Reed Medical Center is one of the premier military hospitals in America and
00:35:27.720 in the world.
00:35:28.440 And we have a great many of our veterans who are injured, who are ill, who are treated at
00:35:33.200 Walter Reed.
00:35:34.260 Now, one of the aspects of our military hospitals is that they have pastoral care.
00:35:38.660 They have pastoral care because, look, people who are facing horrific injuries, people who are
00:35:42.980 facing life-threatening illnesses, they are naturally thinking about end of life.
00:35:48.160 They're thinking about the fate of their soul.
00:35:52.720 And that has been an important part of caring for our veterans, caring for our active duty military
00:35:59.000 from the beginning of the United States.
00:36:01.280 Well, Walter Reed, right now today, does not have any Catholic pastoral care.
00:36:09.740 So, look, Ben, you and I are not Catholics, but there are millions of Catholics in America.
00:36:16.880 There are a great many Catholics in our military.
00:36:19.740 Walter Reed had a contract with the Holy Name College Friary with a Catholic pastoral care
00:36:27.860 organization that provided if you were a Catholic, you were a service member, you were active,
00:36:32.560 you were a veteran, you were at Walter Reed, and you needed to pray with a priest.
00:36:37.180 You were facing death.
00:36:39.240 You wanted your last rites.
00:36:41.140 They would have a priest who would show up and provide Catholic pastoral care.
00:36:45.460 And what did the Biden administration do?
00:36:47.480 It declined to renew its contract.
00:36:50.340 So right now, there is no Catholic pastoral care at Walter Reed.
00:36:55.900 That is outrageous.
00:36:57.200 And by the way, Joe Biden says he's a Catholic.
00:37:00.440 Like, explain to me why the hell a president who says he's a Catholic would preside over
00:37:09.240 an administration that allows Walter Reed, a premier military hospital, to have zero Catholic
00:37:15.640 pastoral care.
00:37:16.680 It is wrong.
00:37:18.080 And listen, do I think Biden knows about this?
00:37:20.880 No, I don't think Biden knows what day it is.
00:37:23.480 I don't think he knows what's going on.
00:37:25.000 So I don't think this is his personal decision, but I think the zealots he's put in his administration
00:37:31.460 hate people of faith.
00:37:34.840 Part of it is the Democrat Party, when faced with a conflict, they have elevated the radical
00:37:43.300 transgender ideology above all other groups.
00:37:47.080 And so, because people of faith often have concerns about embracing either the radical
00:37:53.540 transgender ideology or the radical abortion-on-demand ideology, the Democrat Party has decided
00:38:00.800 faith is no longer acceptable.
00:38:04.280 You know, you think back to John F. Kennedy.
00:38:06.300 John F. Kennedy, a Democrat president, would have been chased out of the Democrat Party today
00:38:12.140 because he was an observant Catholic.
00:38:13.800 He believed in his faith.
00:38:15.480 He defended principles of his faith.
00:38:17.440 That is no longer allowable.
00:38:19.280 And so I've sent a letter in my oversight capacity in the Senate to Walter Reed saying,
00:38:25.280 why do you no longer have Catholic pastoral care?
00:38:28.820 Our servicemen and women deserve that.
00:38:31.020 If they are Catholic, they deserve to have a priest.
00:38:33.600 If they're facing the end of life, they deserve to have last rites from a Catholic priest.
00:38:40.080 And if the Biden administration valued religious liberty and religious faith, they would fix
00:38:47.520 this and they'd fix this yesterday.
00:38:49.720 As much money as we spend, you look at the national debt right now, and I go back to this.
00:38:55.760 If they claim this is about money, right?
00:38:58.720 Look at the national debt clock right now.
00:39:00.840 We were at $31,706,702,000, that's $94,000 per debt per citizen or $247,000 per taxpayer.
00:39:13.360 Don't tell me we can't afford this.
00:39:15.720 My point is, apparently, this administration can't afford anything and everything and run
00:39:19.900 the debt up to the point that I just mentioned.
00:39:22.340 What is their excuse?
00:39:23.720 Have you gotten one yet?
00:39:24.860 So I have not yet gotten an answer from Walter Reed, but I'll bet dollars to donuts, it's
00:39:31.840 not about money.
00:39:32.920 They don't care about money.
00:39:34.280 This is an administration that spent $7 trillion last year.
00:39:39.080 They blown the budget out.
00:39:41.280 No amount of money matters to them.
00:39:43.780 This is about faith doesn't matter to them.
00:39:47.500 And the problem is, they filled this administration, not just at the cabinet level, but at the sub
00:39:53.340 cabinet level, with zealots who despise faith.
00:39:57.680 And so if you ask a radical left-wing zealot who hates faith, who hates Catholics, should
00:40:04.060 we renew our contract with the Catholic pastoral care group?
00:40:09.220 Their answer is, of course, no.
00:40:10.900 And it's not money.
00:40:11.740 They don't care about money at all.
00:40:13.220 If you ask them, do you support creating a giant pile of money, pouring gasoline on it
00:40:18.080 and lighting it on fire, they'd probably say yes.
00:40:21.020 This is about not valuing faith, not valuing people of faith, and having a deep-seated animosity
00:40:30.840 of faith.
00:40:31.560 And that is really inconsistent with who we are as an American people.
00:40:37.200 Last thing, doesn't deal with politics, Senator.
00:40:40.240 I'm learning this about you.
00:40:42.020 This is my first season doing this podcast with you during the NBA playoffs, which means
00:40:48.400 you're a night owl staying up late.
00:40:50.980 Who do you like so far?
00:40:52.940 And you better at least mention my hometown Memphis Grizzlies.
00:40:57.460 Yeah.
00:40:58.180 I'm going to confess, honestly.
00:41:00.340 So I love hoops.
00:41:03.260 You play several times a week.
00:41:05.560 People may not know that.
00:41:06.780 Yeah.
00:41:07.000 I play twice a week.
00:41:08.140 I play typically Sunday evenings in Houston with some good friends of mine.
00:41:15.060 And then I play usually Tuesday afternoons.
00:41:18.020 You and I are recording this late Tuesday evening.
00:41:21.500 I will be playing at 7.30 in the morning on Wednesday.
00:41:24.720 From 7.30 to 9.30, I'll play.
00:41:26.440 I typically play twice a week, once a week in Houston, once a week in D.C.
00:41:29.780 Um, and listen, I work out.
00:41:33.320 That's your exercise.
00:41:34.520 This is, that's your passion.
00:41:35.880 Yeah.
00:41:36.140 I mean, I go to the gym and I lift also, but, but I much prefer, I like sports.
00:41:41.460 I get bored.
00:41:42.340 I hate running.
00:41:43.220 Running bores me.
00:41:44.420 I feel like a gerbil on a treadmill.
00:41:48.300 I like competition.
00:41:49.920 You and I play tennis.
00:41:50.980 We play tennis a number of times.
00:41:52.960 Unfortunately, Ben is a thousand times better than I am because he was actually like a college
00:41:57.500 tennis player at Ole Miss.
00:41:58.620 Um, but I enjoy it.
00:42:00.900 I'm, I'm a very mediocre tennis player.
00:42:03.980 I am a slightly less mediocre basketball player.
00:42:07.500 I was an okay.
00:42:08.640 I was a, I was a mediocre high school varsity basketball player.
00:42:14.440 And I would say at 52, I've maintained those skills about the same.
00:42:18.560 Um, but I got to tell you the truth of the matter is I am a diehard Houston Rockets fan.
00:42:23.460 The Rockets are out of it.
00:42:24.720 Yeah.
00:42:25.260 And, and so I'm vaguely watching the playoffs.
00:42:28.460 But I don't really give a damn.
00:42:29.560 If the Rockets aren't in it, it's like, I'll watch the finals when they happen.
00:42:35.220 But I'm not watching the, you know, you sent me a text the other day saying, holy crap,
00:42:40.400 did you see Jimmy Butler's numbers?
00:42:41.820 And I saw SportsCenter for a minute and I watched a little bit of it.
00:42:44.520 But if the Rockets aren't in it, I find it, I'm hard pressed to watch the playoffs.
00:42:49.020 Look, we'll adopt you.
00:42:50.280 No problem.
00:42:51.080 Grizzlies will adopt you for the playoffs.
00:42:52.980 We're down right now to the Lakers.
00:42:55.260 And I know you can't be a big Lakers fan.
00:42:57.420 So tomorrow night, if you're bored, you should be rooting for my hometown Grizzlies.
00:43:01.760 There you go.
00:43:02.720 I like it.
00:43:03.520 Senator, always a pleasure.
00:43:04.800 Don't forget, we do the show Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.
00:43:07.520 Make sure you hit that subscribe or auto download button so that you get every single episode.
00:43:13.160 And we will see you back here in a couple of days.
00:43:16.600 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:43:19.480 Guaranteed Human.