Verdict with Ted Cruz - Alito & Thomas Dissent, Tesla Terror gets a Pass & Democratic Disarray Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.660 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.560 Welcome.

00:00:06.180 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:07.600 The Weekend Review.

00:00:08.620 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.560 And here are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.

00:00:12.980 First up, SCOTUS getting involved in the deportation of Venezuelan illegals.

00:00:19.080 It's interesting to see what Alito and Thomas had to say about it.

00:00:22.140 We're going to break that down.

00:00:23.780 Also, you know the Tesla terrorists.

00:00:26.060 Well, some radical judges are saying, yeah, let's just let them go.

00:00:30.400 Where's it happening and how are they getting away with it?

00:00:32.820 That as well.

00:00:33.820 And finally, yes, it's real.

00:00:36.360 CNN sounding the alarm that the Democratic Party is in total disarray.

00:00:41.720 So is the Democratic Party over with?

00:00:43.920 And are they just going to admit they're socialists and communists and Marxists?

00:00:47.200 We'll break that down as well.

00:00:48.800 It's The Weekend Review and it starts right now.

00:00:51.940 I want to move also to the second big story.

00:00:54.940 And there's some people that are confused.

00:00:56.700 I also think very frustrated by the Supreme Court halting the deportations of illegal immigrants in some cases.

00:01:05.460 Can you break down what this ruling is?

00:01:07.600 Alito was in the dissent here.

00:01:09.520 And the headlines over Easter weekend, people are like, wait, what?

00:01:14.100 How?

00:01:14.660 Why is this happening?

00:01:15.800 I don't understand how we're protecting people that are illegal immigrants yet again at the level of the Supreme Court. 0.74

00:01:21.140 Break this down so it makes sense.

00:01:24.000 Well, the Supreme Court early Saturday morning issued an order blocking the deportation of Venezuelan illegal immigrants under an 18th century law.

00:01:37.420 And what it said is that they had to halt the deportations until, quote, further order of this court.

00:01:43.960 And I got to say, Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, wrote a very fiery dissent, really disagreeing with it.

00:01:52.920 I'm going to read you part of the dissent.

00:01:55.580 Here's what Justice Alito and Justice Thomas wrote.

00:01:58.120 Quote, shortly after midnight yesterday, the court hastily and prematurely granted unprecedented emergency relief.

00:02:05.900 Proceeding under the All Writs Act, the court ordered the, quote, government not to remove a, quote, putative class of detainees until this court issues a superseding order.

00:02:18.760 Although the order does not define the, quote, putative class, it appears that the court means all members of the class that the habeas petitioners sought to have certified,

00:02:27.640 namely, quote, all noncitizens in custody in the Northern District of Texas who were, are, and will be subject to the March 2025 presidential proclamation entitled

00:02:39.780 Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of the United States by Trender-Aragua and or its implementation.

00:02:48.700 It also appears that applicants have recently moved to amend their class petition for habeas corpus and their motion for class certification.

00:02:55.280 So it is not clear if the applicants will continue to defend this specific definition or will argue for a new one.

00:03:01.900 And although the court does not specify what it means by, quote, the government,

00:03:06.580 it appears that term is intended to embrace all the named defendants, including the president.

00:03:13.460 The court did all of this, even though it is not clear that the court had jurisdiction.

00:03:19.920 The All Writs Act does not provide an independent grant of jurisdiction.

00:03:22.740 Therefore, the court had jurisdiction only if the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction of the applicant's appeal.

00:03:30.420 And the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction only if the supposed order that the applicants appealed amounted to a denial of a preliminary injunction.

00:03:38.580 But here, the order that applicants appealed was what they viewed as the district court's constructive denial of their request for a temporary restraining order.

00:03:47.960 That is, the district court did not actually deny their most recent request for a TRO.

00:03:54.060 But they inferred that it was constructively denied because the district court failed to rule on that request before the expiration of a truncated, counsel-imposed deadline.

00:04:06.100 The denial of a true TRO is not appealable, and here it is not clear that the applicant's TRO request was actually denied.

00:04:14.160 Indeed, in an order issued last night, the Fifth Circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction for this reason.

00:04:20.260 It is questionable whether the applicant complied with the general obligation to seek emergency injunctive relief in the district court before asking for such relief from an appellate court.

00:04:30.500 When applicants requested such relief in the district court, they insisted on a ruling within 45 minutes on Good Friday afternoon.

00:04:43.080 And when the district court did not act within 133 minutes, they filed a notice of appeal, which the district court held, deprived it of its jurisdiction.

00:04:52.080 Now, a lot of that jurisdictional language seems confusing, but understand what happened.

00:04:57.400 They went to the district court and they said, we want an answer within 45 minutes.

00:05:03.200 And the court did not respond one way or another in 45 minutes.

00:05:06.840 And they immediately appealed and said, oh, they haven't answered. That means you've denied it.

00:05:10.880 And the court of appeals ruled that, well, we're not going to act on this.

00:05:17.780 And unfortunately, 7-2, the Supreme Court jumped in.

00:05:23.660 And in fact, here's how Justice Alito and Justice Thomas end their dissent.

00:05:28.300 Quote,

00:05:28.560 In sum, literally in the middle of the night, the court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule.

00:05:39.900 Without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application,

00:05:45.700 with dubious factual support for its order and without providing any explanation for its order.

00:05:50.660 I refused to join the court's order because we had no good reason to think that, under the circumstances,

00:05:56.640 issuing the order at midnight was necessary or appropriate.

00:06:00.520 Both the executive and the judiciary have an obligation to follow the law.

00:06:05.400 The executive must proceed under the terms of our order, and this court should follow established procedures.

00:06:11.860 So you look at this, and what is this going to mean moving forward?

00:06:16.280 And how big of a roadblock is this going to be for the Trump administration to do what they've said and promised the American people?

00:06:22.480 And by the way, the American people voted for, which was, we want to secure the border,

00:06:26.000 and we want to get rid of all the illegal immigrants that came into this country, especially those that are violent. 1.00

00:06:32.700 Well, look, it's not clear how big a challenge it's going to be.

00:06:35.600 The most distressing thing about this order was that it was 7-2.

00:06:39.660 7-2 is not good.

00:06:43.540 It means everybody, but Alito and Thomas, voted to stay, to halt the deportations of Venezuelans.

00:06:52.280 It's not clear.

00:06:52.980 Presumably they're going to write a more extended opinion at some point, and so we'll find out more of their reasoning.

00:06:59.560 But I've got to say, look, these two stories, this story and the first one, are connected

00:07:03.780 because I will say the Democrats' strategy in doing the full Ginsburg, in some ways I think their audience is not the American people.

00:07:12.740 They've got to know. 0.91

00:07:13.860 Somebody on the Democrat side of the aisle has got to know, hey, this is not earning us votes when we say we're the party of illegal aliens and criminals and gang members and wife beaters. 0.95

00:07:26.600 That's us.

00:07:28.340 You don't have to be a rocket scientist when it comes to reading public opinion to know that's not the most popular of issues to stake your entire party platform on.

00:07:41.640 But in many ways, they're aiming at a much smaller audience.

00:07:46.180 They're aiming at five.

00:07:47.540 They're hoping to get five justices pissed off.

00:07:51.820 And to get them pissed off enough that we see a series of Supreme Court orders against the Trump administration trying to halt these deportations.

00:08:03.540 Now, I don't think that's going to happen, but this ruling is troubling, that it was 7-2.

00:08:10.540 Alito's dissent, look, Alito was very concerned about this, and the procedural minutiae that he recounts is very unusual.

00:08:22.960 And so that dynamic, it is a dangerous process.

00:08:28.560 It is right now, there's a little bit of a game of chicken, and I think what the Democrats are trying to do is piss off a couple of Supreme Court justices and get them to rule decisively against the president.

00:08:43.080 That would be very unfortunate if that starts to happen.

00:08:46.060 Simply, another question real quick before we move on.

00:08:49.060 Is part of this, could it just be the quickness that they were asking for the ruling from the court?

00:08:54.420 Is that something that you could change moving forward?

00:08:56.740 Could that be part of that issue?

00:09:00.000 Yeah, look, it was done as an emergency appeal.

00:09:03.400 And there are times, you know, there's another context where this happens a lot, which is dealing with death penalty appeals.

00:09:09.580 And when you have death penalty appeals, you have someone who's been convicted of a capital offense, and they're set to be executed.

00:09:16.180 And very frequently, you have last-minute appeals that are filed.

00:09:20.100 And I'll tell you, when I was a law clerk, I was a law clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist in 1996 and 1997.

00:09:26.940 And at the time, so this gives you a sense, you can now make a crack about how old I am.

00:09:32.080 At the time, the way we would get these emergency appeals is they would be faxed in.

00:09:36.320 So they weren't emailed at the time, they'd be faxed in.

00:09:40.180 And you'd get it off the fax, and you would get, say, if the execution was scheduled to happen at midnight.

00:09:48.720 And by the way, if it was midnight on the West Coast, that meant it was 3 a.m. in D.C.

00:09:56.980 But if the execution was scheduled at midnight, you would get sometimes a 100-page appeal faxed in at 10.30 p.m.

00:10:06.900 And what would happen, so what plays out when that gets faxed in is the justice who is the lead justice for that circuit.

00:10:14.440 So each circuit, each region of the country has a lead justice who is the justice to whom emergency appeals go initially.

00:10:21.180 Chief Justice Rehnquist was the lead justice for the Fourth Circuit as concerned death penalty appeals.

00:10:28.960 And so that was Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia.

00:10:35.020 And Virginia in particular, there were a fair number of capital cases.

00:10:38.940 So you would get it faxed to you.

00:10:41.960 You, as the law clerk, would read through it.

00:10:44.040 You'd have to read through it very quickly.

00:10:46.040 You'd have to prepare a memo, write a memo.

00:10:48.700 You'd then send it to your justice.

00:10:51.460 And a lot of times, if this was at midnight or 1 or 2 or 3 in the morning, you'd have to call home and wake your justice up.

00:10:57.920 Your justice would be asleep.

00:10:58.960 You'd call home.

00:10:59.620 You'd say, Chief, we had an emergency appeal.

00:11:02.080 Now, the justice would know there was an execution set that night and so would know that there is likely to be a call.

00:11:09.340 But you'd call, wake your justice up and ask, OK, here's the arguments.

00:11:13.860 Here's what I think about it.

00:11:15.200 And you would write a memo from your justice saying, summarizing the arguments in the appeal and making the recommendation.

00:11:25.540 So for Chief Justice Rehnquist, in virtually every circumstance, if someone was seeking to halt an execution at the last minute, he would recommend that that be denied.

00:11:35.640 You would then forward it to the other eight chambers, to the other eight chambers.

00:11:39.960 And there was a law clerk.

00:11:40.900 So the night of execution, at least nine of us were there till midnight or 1 or 2 or 3 in the morning.

00:11:47.240 And so when you would forward your memo, and a memo in a case like this would be anywhere from two to maybe eight pages, depending on how complicated the issues were.

00:11:58.020 They would then get your memo, and they've gotten the appeal as well, so they're reading the appeal at the same time.

00:12:03.800 They would then call their justice, wake him or her up at home, and they would cast votes at midnight or 1 or 2 or 3 in the morning.

00:12:11.180 And a strategy that is still quite frequent when it comes to death penalty appeals is just throw so much crap at the wall that they're hoping the justices say, I don't know, I can't figure this out this quickly.

00:12:25.360 All right, just stay the execution, halt the execution so we can figure this all out.

00:12:30.200 And unfortunately, that strategy can work.

00:12:35.880 There may have been some of that, that this was being done over Easter weekend very quickly, and it may be that the justices wanted to say, hold on a second, we want to understand what's going on here.

00:12:47.100 That's possible.

00:12:49.080 But I do think the Democrats' entire strategy is try to see if they can get a majority of the Supreme Court ticked off.

00:12:58.460 And I don't think that's happened, but I do think that would be very dangerous and harmful if it did happen.

00:13:07.140 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

00:13:13.760 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:13:15.820 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:13:19.980 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:13:23.700 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:13:24.860 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:13:25.860 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:13:35.640 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:13:38.880 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:13:44.360 Now on to story number two, which, by the way, also brings us to another issue real quick.

00:13:49.720 And that is, I still can't believe this.

00:13:53.100 There's a guy that went viral, a Minnesota state employee who apparently caused about 20,000 or over 20,000 damages to Tesla's.

00:14:04.360 I'm going to say that, make it clear, plural, not one, but multiple.

00:14:08.300 It has now led to a woke liberal district attorney saying, nah, we don't really want to hold this guy accountable.

00:14:16.740 Let's keep the lawlessness up as long as it's against conservatives and Elon Musk and Tesla owners.

00:14:21.920 We're fine with that.

00:14:23.340 No big deal.

00:14:24.140 You're good, man.

00:14:24.960 We're going to let you basically go on home.

00:14:26.620 Well, there is a suspected vandal.

00:14:29.980 He's 33 years old.

00:14:31.400 He is a government employee.

00:14:32.780 His name is Dylan Brian Adams.

00:14:36.100 And he was allegedly spotted keying multiple Tesla vehicles, stripping their paint off while walking his dog around the city.

00:14:45.200 And he caused over $20,000 in damage, vandalizing half a dozen Tesla.

00:14:51.600 So he was doing this over and over and over again. 0.90

00:14:53.500 And by the way, if this guy did this, he's dumb as a stump because Teslas all have cameras on them that video the person, any person who walks up to them. 1.00

00:15:04.600 So he's doing it on camera because leftists, number one, they're utter hypocrites. 0.99

00:15:10.220 So their claim to care about the Green New Deal are complete lies because they've decided now to attack electric cars. 0.98

00:15:17.100 Why?

00:15:17.560 Because they hate Elon Musk.

00:15:19.040 And understand, they hate Elon Musk not just because he's now supporting Trump, not just because he's now cutting the government. 0.55

00:15:27.640 They hate Elon Musk because he's a heretic.

00:15:31.300 This is religion.

00:15:32.640 And the woke leftist cultural Marxist religion five years ago lionized Elon Musk.

00:15:41.200 And they view him as someone who has betrayed the faith.

00:15:44.760 And so this angry government employee, who, as far as I know, has not lost his job despite being a brazen criminal,

00:15:55.120 was caught keying and vandalizing six different Teslas.

00:16:01.480 And unfortunately, the Henneman County District Attorney is a woman named Mary Moriarty, who is a left-wing George Soros DA. 0.93

00:16:12.980 And she decided that they're not going to go after her, that they're not going to charge him.

00:16:24.980 And it is unfortunate.

00:16:30.740 So the chief of police, Minneapolis police chief, Brian O'Hara, said that the damage in each case is the equivalent of a felony.

00:16:38.760 And the chief said in a scathing statement on Monday, this is from the New York Post,

00:16:43.700 that Moriarty's decision not to bring charges is frustrating for his officers and the public.

00:16:48.660 And here's what the police chief said, quote, the Minneapolis Police Department did its job.

00:16:55.860 It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified and arrested a suspect,

00:17:01.720 and presented the case filed to the Henneman County District, the Henneman County Attorney's Office for consideration of charges.

00:17:08.940 The case impacted at least six different victims and totaled over $20,000 in damage.

00:17:16.500 Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Henneman County Attorney should be directed solely at her office.

00:17:25.160 Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined.

00:17:32.580 In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same.

00:17:37.900 That's the chief of police.

00:17:39.600 And the sad reality is that for leftists today, for elected Democrats, they are now openly embracing domestic terrorism.

00:17:53.700 They are now openly, we played on this podcast before, Chuck Schumer refused to condemn people firebombing Tesla dealerships,

00:18:02.600 people throwing Molotov cocktails at Tesla dealerships, people firing guns into Tesla dealerships.

00:18:10.240 Somebody's going to be killed.

00:18:11.580 I don't want that to happen.

00:18:12.940 I pray it does not happen.

00:18:15.160 But this escalating violence is going to lead to a loss of life.

00:18:19.080 And the Democrats are celebrating it.

00:18:21.580 And now the left-wing DAs are saying, hey, you vandalized cars and we decide we don't like the person who owns the company that built the car.

00:18:30.000 Well, tough luck.

00:18:31.000 Sorry, Ben.

00:18:31.560 We're going to scratch up your car.

00:18:32.860 We're going to key it.

00:18:33.480 We're going to do $1,000 of damage.

00:18:35.280 And nothing you can do about it because we, the Democrats, support domestic terrorism.

00:18:41.540 Yeah, you're absolutely right.

00:18:42.640 And there's also that just scary psychological aspect of it.

00:18:45.560 If you know your DA won't go after people that are going after your car, is it going to make you more or less likely to buy a Tesla?

00:18:51.900 That's part of the financial warfare against Elon Musk.

00:18:55.380 And by the way, what's the DA going to do if they commit violence against you?

00:18:58.640 What's the DA going to do if they commit violence against you?

00:19:02.220 Yeah.

00:19:02.400 Like if this radical leftist is able to vandalize a Tesla, how about if he walks up and punches the owner of the Tesla in the face?

00:19:11.080 Yeah.

00:19:11.380 Do you have any confidence that this left-wing nutcase DA is going to charge the radical with punching someone in the face?

00:19:19.400 Their view is, hey, if you're punching a Tesla owner in the face, that's an admirable act of resistance.

00:19:26.260 It is lawless.

00:19:27.260 And let me be clear.

00:19:29.020 I disagree with the political views of Marxists and communists and leftists, but I passionately oppose violence against them.

00:19:38.940 And if anyone engaged in violence against a leftist, I would support prosecuting them and sending them to jail.

00:19:46.380 Violence is never acceptable.

00:19:48.520 And you know what?

00:19:49.900 The Democrats can't say that because they support, they refuse to condemn the violence against their political opponents because it is part of their ideology.

00:19:59.420 And we saw that tragically during the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots across the country where Kamala Harris most strikingly raised money to bail out of jail radical Antifa terrorists who committed crimes of violence in Minneapolis.

00:20:16.540 Same city, because the Democrat Party is a party that supports violence in pursuit of their remaining in power.

00:20:24.900 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

00:20:33.140 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:20:40.200 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:20:43.920 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:20:45.100 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:20:46.340 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:20:50.100 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:20:55.820 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:20:58.820 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:21:03.140 I want to get back to the big story, number three of the week you may have missed.

00:21:08.900 All right, let's turn to the Democratic Party in disarray.

00:21:13.520 And it's a real thing right now.

00:21:16.020 And CNN is saying it.

00:21:17.820 So don't trust us.

00:21:19.420 CNN having a freak out moment on TV with new polling data.

00:21:24.300 And here is what they said.

00:21:26.320 Yeah, this, I think, is a revolt.

00:21:28.920 A revolt that is going on within the Democratic Party right now.

00:21:32.260 Democrats and their leaders.

00:21:33.580 I mean, take a look nationally.

00:21:35.180 Hello, Democrats on Dem leaders in Congress.

00:21:38.220 The belief that they will do the right thing when it comes to the economy.

00:21:41.200 Last year at this time, 80% believed that the Democratic leaders in Congress would do the right thing when it comes to the economy.

00:21:46.920 Keep in mind, this is Democrats.

00:21:48.360 Look at where we are now.

00:21:49.280 That number has been slashed in half to just 39%.

00:21:53.620 Holy Toledo, that is the lowest number by far in Gallup polling.

00:21:58.420 The lowest previous was just 60%, which is 21 points higher than this.

00:22:03.060 Democrats hate, hate, hate, hate what their congressional leaders in Washington are doing right now on the key issue of the day.

00:22:10.620 The economy and their confidence has fallen through the floor, Mr. Berman.

00:22:13.640 All right, Chuck Schumer is the Senate Democratic leader right now.

00:22:17.340 How are feelings about him, particularly in New York?

00:22:19.900 Yeah, let's go to the state of New York.

00:22:21.660 It's what's always on my mind, right?

00:22:23.900 We're in the state of New York right now.

00:22:25.760 New York Democrats on Chuck Schumer view him favorably.

00:22:29.320 In December of 2024, that was just a few months ago, it was 73%.

00:22:33.480 Look at where that number has fallen to.

00:22:35.640 In just a few months, it is now down to just 52%.

00:22:39.320 That is the lowest I could ever find in Siena College on how Democrats in Chuck Schumer's home state view him.

00:22:45.520 And keep in mind, if you're thinking about a primary challenge, it would be a few years away.

00:22:49.020 But Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's favorable rating among Democrats is considerably higher in the 60s.

00:22:54.580 So he is doing quite poorly in his own home state of New York.

00:22:58.520 I never thought I'd see the day in which just 52% of New York Democrats would view Chuck Schumer favorably.

00:23:03.060 It's almost unfathomable.

00:23:04.780 It's almost unfathomable.

00:23:07.080 Now, here's the takeaway for me, Senator.

00:23:09.320 The fact that AOC has a higher approval rating than Chuck Schumer means the Democratic Party is dead.

00:23:17.400 The Socialists, Marxists, and Communists have taken it over.

00:23:21.360 And now they're out with these old guys.

00:23:23.800 We also saw one of your colleagues, Dick Durbin, hanging it up saying,

00:23:27.660 I'm out of here.

00:23:28.400 I'm not running for re-election.

00:23:30.620 Well, what is stunning about that is a couple of things.

00:23:33.000 Number one, as they're relaying poll numbers that show Democrats unhappy with the Democrat leadership in Congress,

00:23:40.920 the reason they're unhappy is they think Chuck Schumer is not crazy enough.

00:23:45.700 They think Hakeem Jeffries is not crazy enough.

00:23:50.100 The problem, and listen, we're in a very polarized society.

00:23:53.980 Both sides are pulling further and further apart.

00:23:57.160 But people that identify as partisan Democrats, they hate Donald Trump.

00:24:02.220 And I'm not quite sure what they want Chuck Schumer to be doing, 0.63

00:24:05.900 maybe lighting himself on fire on the Senate floor, running around naked, screaming at the top of his lungs.

00:24:11.700 I don't know.

00:24:12.960 You know, maybe they just want him to join AOC and Bernie Sanders on their Fight the Oligarchy tour.

00:24:18.420 All to be clear, they're flying around in private jets to fight the oligarchy, 0.67

00:24:23.260 which actually may symbolize today's Democrat Party more than anything else they could do,

00:24:29.180 to get off their private jet and stand up and say, fight the oligarchy. 0.54

00:24:33.080 And by the way, George Soros, thanks for the money. 0.96

00:24:35.740 But the Democrats want their elected leaders to be even more crazy.

00:24:41.980 And this is after four years of absolute shambles of the Obama administration.

00:24:46.800 And what's striking also about that clip you played is CNN,

00:24:51.140 which is a propaganda outlet for the Democrat Party, is panicking.

00:24:55.540 They can't believe it.

00:24:56.940 They are terrified.

00:24:58.740 The media is in desarray.

00:25:00.580 You mentioned Dick Durbin, Democrat senator from Illinois,

00:25:04.580 announced he was not running for re-election.

00:25:06.540 Look, Dick Durbin is the number two Democrat in the entire Senate.

00:25:12.100 He is number two only to Schumer, and he's calling it quits.

00:25:15.380 He is also the top, the ranking member, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

00:25:20.480 He used to be the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

00:25:23.560 And so they've got senior Democrats that are saying, get me out of this place.

00:25:28.000 Well, and by the way, he said something that was really interesting, how low the bar has fallen.

00:25:32.540 So Dick Durbin's excuse for why he's not running for re-election was, in essence,

00:25:37.120 well, I don't want to become Joe Biden.

00:25:39.460 And he put it this way in the interview.

00:25:43.060 Listen.

00:25:44.060 Senator, yesterday after you made your announcement that you would not be seeking re-election,

00:25:47.900 there were a number of Democrats who privately really applauded your choice,

00:25:50.920 saying that it was something, the right thing to do, to step aside

00:25:54.080 and perhaps let a younger generation of politicians step to the forefront.

00:25:57.920 We know the idea of Democratic elected officials and age has been a hot topic in recent years.

00:26:04.720 Do you hope, do you agree with that thinking?

00:26:07.000 Do you think it is time now for younger politicians, the next generation, to come forward?

00:26:13.020 Well, I think it's more complex.

00:26:16.040 It is not just a question of a number, what your age is.

00:26:18.720 Look at Bernie Sanders, for God's sake, still drawing thousands and thousands of people out for rallies.

00:26:24.000 And he's a few years older than I am.

00:26:27.140 The bottom line is, are you competent?

00:26:28.920 Can you still do the job?

00:26:30.600 That's the question the voters should ask.

00:26:32.600 But should a new generation be interested in public service?

00:26:35.540 You bet.

00:26:36.540 I've spent my time in office trying to encourage younger people to get involved.

00:26:41.820 Senator Durbin, it's Ali Vitale.

00:26:44.160 I wonder if I can pick up on something you just said, this idea of are you competent?

00:26:48.220 Are you able to do this job in the Senate?

00:26:49.980 As you see this push from the grassroots that Lemire is talking about here, do you think

00:26:54.620 enough of your colleagues are asking themselves those fundamental questions about if they

00:26:58.720 can continue to serve?

00:27:00.560 I think so.

00:27:01.780 I think if you're honest about yourself and your reputation, you want to leave when you

00:27:07.420 can still walk out the front door and not be carried out the back door.

00:27:10.520 I mean, you hear that and it's basically saying, well, I'm not going to pull a Joe Biden and

00:27:15.340 other people need to look at this as well.

00:27:17.060 He was, I think, clearly knocking Joe Biden in that and what he just said as well.

00:27:22.280 Well, and nobody in that discussion acknowledged that Dick Durbin spent four years lying to

00:27:27.800 the American people, saying that that Joe Biden was not senile, that he was mentally capable

00:27:33.460 to do the job.

00:27:34.320 By the way, CNN spent four years lying to the American people, screaming that it was a conspiracy

00:27:39.040 theory to point out what is obviously true and was obviously true then, that Biden's mental

00:27:44.960 capacity was severely diminished.

00:27:46.440 I will say this, and actually it might surprise you, I'm going to say something nice about

00:27:50.800 Durbin.

00:27:52.100 So I've served with Durbin for 13 years on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I'll tell

00:27:56.320 you what I tell any nominees that are coming before judiciary, I tell them Durbin is the

00:28:02.920 single most dangerous Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, because I think he's the smartest

00:28:07.040 Democrat.

00:28:07.560 And he is radical and extreme, but he's very good at sounding reasonable.

00:28:14.560 There are other Democrats that are radical and extreme as Sheldon Whitehouse and Adam Schiff, 0.96

00:28:18.660 but they sound like lunatics. 0.99

00:28:20.300 When they're ranting, everyone knows they're lunatics. 0.98

00:28:23.420 Part of what makes Durbin such a dangerous questioner for Republican nominees or Republican

00:28:29.160 witnesses is he's very good at masking his extreme policies in ways that sound much more

00:28:36.440 reasonable than his colleagues.

00:28:37.520 And so I will say for Democrats, seeing Durbin hang it up is a real loss to them.

00:28:43.460 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:28:48.860 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day.

00:28:52.520 You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards, I'd love

00:28:56.320 to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast, and we will see you back

00:29:00.640 here on Monday morning.

00:29:03.320 This is an iHeart podcast.

00:29:05.920 Guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 26, 2025

Alito & Thomas Dissent, Tesla Terror gets a Pass & Democratic Disarray Week In Review

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