Verdict with Ted Cruz - Biden Goes to War w⧸ Texas, China Donates to Penn Biden Center, & The Hard Road of a Presidential Campaign Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.320 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, The Week in Review.

00:00:09.440 Ben Ferguson with you, and these are the stories that you may have missed

00:00:12.980 that we talked about this week.

00:00:15.040 First up, Joe Biden goes to war with the state of Texas,

00:00:18.140 and now it's gone all the way to the Supreme Court

00:00:20.940 over the issue of securing the southern border.

00:00:23.680 So why did the Supreme Court actually go with the Biden administration?

00:00:26.940 Senator Cruz will break that down for you.

00:00:28.760 Also, China donating massive amounts of money to the Biden Pen Center.

00:00:34.700 How much? I'll give you the details on that.

00:00:37.160 And finally, Senator Cruz shares his thoughts on the race for the GOP nomination.

00:00:42.300 It's all over, so why is Nikki Haley still staying in?

00:00:46.200 It is The Week in Review, and it starts right now.

00:00:49.600 Can you explain exactly what just happened at the Supreme Court

00:00:54.800 when it came to the Supreme Court ruling that the Biden administration,

00:00:59.260 in a 5-4 decision, can resume removal of the razor wire that was installed by the state of Texas

00:01:06.180 along the border, specifically near Eagle Pass.

00:01:09.720 And they say at least while the litigation is ongoing.

00:01:12.980 What was even more shocking, I think, is the fact that Roberts and Amy Comey Barrett

00:01:20.100 sided with left-leaning justices to rule in Biden administration's favor

00:01:24.860 and allow the Border Patrol to go in and remove the razor wire,

00:01:29.320 which the Texas National Guard then put back up,

00:01:33.040 at least from the latest videos we've seen from the border.

00:01:35.780 This is a shocking moment.

00:01:38.460 Many people in Texas are angry about this, saying,

00:01:41.360 what about states' rights here,

00:01:43.440 and how could these two conservative justices side with the Biden administration?

00:01:49.740 Look, this is a horrible decision.

00:01:52.580 I'm angry about it.

00:01:54.200 It is deeply disturbing.

00:01:56.900 Fact number one.

00:01:58.760 We are seeing an invasion at our southern border.

00:02:01.880 Remember, 9.6 million illegal immigrants have crossed in under Joe Biden.

00:02:07.920 It is deliberate.

00:02:09.220 He wants this to happen.

00:02:10.840 It is the worst illegal immigration in our nation's history. 1.00

00:02:14.860 Number two.

00:02:16.580 It's deliberate.

00:02:17.820 Biden wants this to happen.

00:02:19.840 The Democrats want this to happen.

00:02:21.620 They are facilitating it.

00:02:23.220 They are accelerating it.

00:02:25.040 They are actively wanting more and more and more of it.

00:02:28.720 So Texas, understandably, is responding to defend ourselves.

00:02:33.160 I commend our governor.

00:02:34.580 I commend our state legislature for acting to protect the sovereignty of Texas

00:02:38.820 and for investing billions of dollars in border security and law enforcement

00:02:44.560 and putting personnel and putting up barriers to try to stop this invasion of our state.

00:02:50.820 Now, what happened on this case, it arose to the Supreme Court on an emergency appeal on an injunction.

00:02:59.900 There was an injunction against the federal government to stop the federal government

00:03:04.960 from cutting down the razor wire, the Constantino wire that Texas had erected.

00:03:09.620 And the Fifth Circuit, the Federal Court of Appeals, had upheld the injunction.

00:03:13.440 What happened today, Tuesday, is the Supreme Court, by a vote of 5-4, vacated that injunction.

00:03:24.340 What that means is right now the federal government has the legal ability to cut down that razor wire,

00:03:31.020 to allow illegal immigrants to continue invading the state. 1.00

00:03:34.860 Now, the good news, the merits of the appeal is still pending.

00:03:38.680 And so the Fifth Circuit can still rule on the merits of the appeal as to whether Texas has the authority.

00:03:44.560 And by the way, the Supreme Court could still rule on the appeal.

00:03:47.020 So it is possible that Texas prevails, that the results of an emergency appeal on an injunction

00:03:55.120 are not always the same as the merits results on the substantive issue.

00:04:00.540 So that's true.

00:04:01.520 But at the end of the day, you had the three liberals, plus John Roberts, plus Amy Coney Barrett,

00:04:09.600 ruling for the Biden administration, saying you can cut down this razor wire.

00:04:13.760 Now, on one level, I understand it, that there is a heavy presumption in Washington in federal courts,

00:04:22.020 which is that the federal government gets to trump the states.

00:04:24.940 And that is part of the Constitution is the supremacy clause that says the Constitution,

00:04:30.920 the federal law is the supreme law of the land.

00:04:34.800 I think it is a real problem that John Roberts is a creature of Washington.

00:04:41.200 I don't think he understands what is happening at the southern border.

00:04:44.680 I think Amy Coney Barrett is a law professor from Indiana. 1.00

00:04:48.940 I don't think she has any understanding of what's happening at the southern border.

00:04:52.540 In ordinary times, if this were just a regular time and a state were trying to block what the federal government was doing,

00:05:02.200 the Supreme Court would fairly routinely rule with the feds.

00:05:05.940 What I don't think these justices have a real appreciation for is how horrifically bad it is,

00:05:13.820 how lawless it is, what the Biden administration is doing.

00:05:17.840 There's never been a president who refuses to follow the law like Joe Biden did.

00:05:22.020 So here's the statement that the Border Patrol Union put out today.

00:05:27.440 Quote, the Supreme Court's decision today is going to undoubtedly encourage more illegal immigration.

00:05:36.020 Unfortunately, this means Border Patrol agents are going to be tied up dealing with give-ups

00:05:40.480 rather than going after the criminal elements that constantly cross our border illegally.

00:05:46.380 The administration no doubt will say this is a win for border security.

00:05:52.400 But if they sought rank-and-file input, they would be told this will do the exact opposite.

00:06:00.680 Agents support what Texas was trying to accomplish in the absence of true border security policies from this administration.

00:06:09.500 I agree with the Border Patrol Union.

00:06:12.000 And so I am angry.

00:06:13.920 I'm frustrated.

00:06:14.700 I think the court is out of touch.

00:06:16.580 I think they're just reflexively agreeing with the federal government against the states.

00:06:21.320 And I think it is a profound mistake that continues the invasion that's happening on the southern border.

00:06:27.740 To be clear, one other thing on this is when you hear the Biden administration say that they are working to secure the border,

00:06:36.380 I think everybody needs to remember at this moment that they, not only are they not,

00:06:41.260 they went all the way to the Supreme Court to make sure they could unsecure portions of the border

00:06:45.880 where razor wire was put up to secure the border.

00:06:49.340 That's how much they wanted to open the border.

00:06:50.820 Hold on, I want to underscore what you're just saying.

00:06:53.500 So today in the Capitol, as I was walking to the Capitol, lots of reporters wanted to ask me about this decision.

00:06:59.360 And they said, well, gosh, Biden just says if Congress will pass the supplemental bill,

00:07:04.000 then he'll have the ability to secure the border.

00:07:06.240 And I said, listen, understand, Biden doesn't want to secure the border.

00:07:09.640 He wants this crisis.

00:07:10.960 He wants more illegal immigrants. 1.00

00:07:12.480 And I said, for Pete's sakes, Biden is actively litigating against the state of Texas to stop Texas from securing the border.

00:07:23.100 That's what they want.

00:07:24.700 They want this invasion.

00:07:26.700 And that's exactly what the Biden administration is doing with the emphatic support of essentially every Democrat member of the Senate

00:07:35.320 and every Democrat member of the House.

00:07:37.440 It will be a huge election year issue.

00:07:40.040 We will keep covering it here.

00:07:41.760 That I can promise you.

00:07:43.460 But I want to make sure that we got this out there for many people that are asking that same question.

00:07:48.460 Why do these two justices, a lot of people, you know, believe they were conservative and they screwed the state of Texas.

00:07:54.400 They screwed conservatives.

00:07:55.380 They sided with the Biden administration.

00:07:57.300 Your explanation hopefully will make a little bit of sense to people and understanding of why this happened.

00:08:02.120 And it's still being litigated.

00:08:03.420 I think that's something else we need to be clear about.

00:08:06.540 It's still being litigated.

00:08:08.400 And that will play out.

00:08:09.420 How long would it take for this to get a final ruling through this litigation?

00:08:14.340 Potentially years.

00:08:15.400 It could take a long time.

00:08:17.200 And if Trump wins, it will become mooted because Trump will stop litigating.

00:08:20.980 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.

00:08:27.440 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:08:30.000 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:08:34.480 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:08:38.120 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:08:39.360 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:08:40.600 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:08:44.360 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.

00:08:47.640 All at different stages of their journey.

00:08:50.120 So, if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:08:53.320 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:08:57.400 Now, on to story number two.

00:09:01.400 This is an issue at the University of Penn.

00:09:04.880 And the University of Penn, to remind people, is what hosts the Biden think tank.

00:09:08.940 And we are seeing now, through the Biden-Penn Center, Chinese donations have skyrocketed,

00:09:16.260 including money directly from the CCP-linked sources.

00:09:20.620 This coming from Fox News.

00:09:22.600 It says, the University of Pennsylvania, home of President Biden's think tank,

00:09:26.420 recently tripled its donations originating from China.

00:09:31.380 Records reviewed by Fox News' digital show.

00:09:34.240 The Washington, D.C. office of Biden's think tank, the Penn-Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement,

00:09:41.160 previously found itself under a microscope after confidential documents, top-secret documents,

00:09:47.000 were found at the center.

00:09:48.400 The discovery led to questions regarding Chinese donations to the University of Pennsylvania,

00:09:53.140 which harbors that think tank.

00:09:55.400 And that's just the beginning of this story.

00:09:59.020 Well, it is.

00:10:00.420 And the numbers are stunning.

00:10:02.220 So, from 2021 to 2022, Penn received $8.6 million from Communist China.

00:10:11.360 $8.6 million in one year.

00:10:13.220 Now, that number is staggering.

00:10:14.340 But actually, the next year, they tripled their haul.

00:10:19.300 So, between mid-2022 and mid-2023, Penn pulled in $25 million from entities and individuals in China.

00:10:28.740 So, they tripled the amount.

00:10:30.600 And overall, Penn has amassed nearly $130 million in donations from China between mid-2018 and mid-2023,

00:10:44.020 which is a massive, massive increase.

00:10:46.700 Why is China investing so heavily in Penn?

00:10:49.680 And Penn, just quinky-dinky, happens to be the place that was paying Joe Biden, before he was president,

00:10:58.380 nearly a million dollars a year for a no-show job, where he occasionally showed up to teach a class,

00:11:04.160 and other than that, jetted around the world, living like the idle rich.

00:11:07.960 Coincidentally, is a university where we now know that Joe Biden illegally had classified documents stored.

00:11:17.820 And all of this is intertwined.

00:11:21.860 We know that Hunter Biden and the Biden family made millions of dollars from Communist China,

00:11:27.880 that Hunter Biden shook down the Chinese communists for personal enrichment.

00:11:32.140 And the obvious inference is it wasn't just enrichment of their family.

00:11:36.120 It was also enrichment of Penn, which, in turn, was enriching the Biden family.

00:11:41.720 And the part that also is so frustrating is there's really no one that's covering this story.

00:11:47.740 Stuart Varney on Fox Business, he did cover it, and this is what it sounded like,

00:11:52.240 but the rest of the media is silent on this.

00:11:54.580 Now, there's the University of Pennsylvania seeing a big surge in Chinese donations.

00:11:59.780 Lauren, how much are we talking about, and do we know why we got this big surge?

00:12:04.240 How much? $25 million in one year between mid-2022 and the middle of last year.

00:12:09.220 That was triple the year before.

00:12:12.360 Why? Good question.

00:12:14.100 One donor is actually a political consultant for the CCP.

00:12:18.180 Another, a private equity founder in China with ties to President Xi.

00:12:23.560 President Biden was a professor at Penn after he was vice president.

00:12:27.300 The school paid him $776,000.

00:12:30.760 That is way more than a professor makes.

00:12:33.400 It hosts his think tank.

00:12:35.220 Okay.

00:12:35.780 You know where we're going here, don't you?

00:12:37.380 Yeah.

00:12:37.720 I mean, the Biden family has taken a great deal of money from China.

00:12:42.240 Yeah.

00:12:42.860 Right?

00:12:43.360 Yeah.

00:12:43.640 And now the Chinese are giving money to the school where his think tank is

00:12:47.860 and where his personal classified documents were found.

00:12:51.120 Remember in the office there?

00:12:52.560 Yeah.

00:12:53.040 One of the things in that reporting there that I think we should talk about is

00:12:56.900 you're getting a donation from someone that advises the Chinese Communist Party.

00:13:01.940 Senator, you deal with a lot of donations when you're running for office.

00:13:05.420 If somebody gives you a massive donation and they're advising the Chinese Communist Party,

00:13:09.700 I'm assuming you're not going to accept that or you're going to give it back.

00:13:13.480 Of course.

00:13:13.800 This is not hard.

00:13:15.100 And there's nobody asking the White House,

00:13:17.580 hey, are you guys going to give this money back to communists that are trying to clearly buy influence?

00:13:23.000 Well, they're clearly trying to buy influence at Penn.

00:13:26.440 And nobody gives that kind of money for nothing.

00:13:29.160 They don't give that kind of money without expecting to get a benefit in return.

00:13:33.440 And the interconnection of the Bidens.

00:13:36.100 Look, the Bidens, all of the evidence indicates that the Bidens made a decision decades ago

00:13:42.680 that they were going to get rich by shaking down the enemies of America

00:13:47.860 and shaking them down, demanding millions of dollars in exchange either for favors from Joe Biden

00:13:56.020 or millions of dollars in order not to be targeted for retribution by Joe Biden.

00:14:04.020 Now, if that is correct, that is called bribery.

00:14:08.160 And it is a felony.

00:14:09.520 It is also explicitly enumerated in the Constitution as grounds for impeachment.

00:14:14.160 And the entire corporate media could not care one iota.

00:14:19.000 The New York Times cannot be bothered to worry

00:14:22.280 if the President of the United States has been bribed by Communist China.

00:14:27.660 That is not news in their politicized world.

00:14:30.600 CNN can't be bothered to worry about it.

00:14:32.560 MSNBC, not news there.

00:14:34.960 ABC, NBC, CBS.

00:14:36.700 Why is it that you had to play Fox Business?

00:14:38.640 Because none of the corporate media is willing even to cover it.

00:14:44.440 Facts be damned.

00:14:46.020 They have a political mission to uphold.

00:14:47.760 Will there be any of this that you think will be used to actually expose the Biden family in this campaign cycle?

00:14:56.500 I mean, when you're talking about this much money, it's not a little bit of money.

00:15:00.180 It's a hell of a lot of money.

00:15:02.040 And the other part here is they mentioned the numbers tripled right when we got closer to this election,

00:15:09.200 when he announced he was running for reelections like, oh, wait, he's still in the game.

00:15:12.080 OK, we better send money.

00:15:14.360 Look, I think there needs to be a serious investigation.

00:15:16.980 There needs to be enhanced federal scrutiny of universities that are on the take from Communist China.

00:15:23.460 One of the very first pieces of legislation that I ever authored and passed when I was a brand new baby senator

00:15:29.640 was legislation focusing on exactly this issue and in particular what are called Confucius Institutes.

00:15:35.900 So Confucius Institutes have been started at U.S. universities all across the country,

00:15:41.460 and they're funded by Communist China.

00:15:43.500 They're controlled by Communist China.

00:15:45.800 And China goes to the schools and say, hey, we'll start this institute and your students can learn Chinese

00:15:51.380 and they'll get educated on China.

00:15:53.600 And China uses them, number one, for espionage and number two, for propaganda, 0.76

00:15:57.920 to push the messages that they want U.S. college students to hear from Communist China.

00:16:03.120 And so when I was newly elected to the Senate, I introduced legislation that prohibited federal Department of Defense dollars

00:16:10.820 from going to a university that has a Confucius Institute, that if you're going to take the Chinese money,

00:16:17.540 you don't get DOD money.

00:16:19.640 And I was on the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time.

00:16:22.260 I introduced it.

00:16:22.980 I ended up getting bipartisan support for it, and it was adopted with both Democrats and Republicans supporting it.

00:16:28.500 It passed through the Harry Reid Senate, so we had a Democrat-majority Senate,

00:16:33.700 and ultimately Barack Obama signed it into law.

00:16:36.440 And my legislation resulted in dozens of Confucius Institutes shutting down

00:16:41.580 because universities made the very reasonable decision that they wanted DOD dollars more than the Chinese money for Confucius Institutes.

00:16:49.280 We need to do more on this.

00:16:50.740 We need to cut off this Chinese money that is going to universities across the board. 1.00

00:16:54.980 But with Penn, there appears to be more than simple influence peddling.

00:17:01.200 China's doing this in a lot of universities, and it's a broad problem.

00:17:04.460 But with Penn, the volume is so great that on the face of it, it seems to be deeply intertwined with Joe Biden

00:17:13.840 and the fact that Penn gave a home for him, and so giving money to Penn was a way to give money directly to Joe Biden.

00:17:22.460 Do you believe that Joe Biden will dodge the debates against Donald Trump

00:17:29.040 because now he's going to have to answer these questions on stage?

00:17:33.180 I mean, he's much more vulnerable now than he was when they ran against each other last time

00:17:38.520 because last time he could just say, hey, it's all a lie.

00:17:41.640 The laptop's a lie.

00:17:42.860 I got 50-plus people.

00:17:44.260 They're saying it's a lie.

00:17:45.940 None of this is real.

00:17:46.980 Now you can't do that this time.

00:17:49.580 Yeah, I actually don't.

00:17:50.740 I think Biden, if he is the nominee, will debate.

00:17:54.920 I think we'll have a couple of debates.

00:17:56.860 I think their strategy will be to hide Joe Biden in the basement for the entirety of the campaign,

00:18:01.600 and so the debates may be about the only time you see Biden during the entire campaign.

00:18:07.000 And I think for the debates, they'll pump him full of a bunch of drugs

00:18:10.360 and try to make him alert for an hour or for 90 minutes, and that'll be it.

00:18:14.340 And look, will they debate internally?

00:18:17.300 Will they discuss internally?

00:18:18.600 Does Joe Biden skip the debate?

00:18:19.880 Sure, they would love to.

00:18:21.220 And by the way, we saw precedent last cycle.

00:18:23.940 The governor of Pennsylvania refused to debate a Democrat.

00:18:26.700 The governor of Arizona refused to debate a Democrat.

00:18:30.500 It's a very dangerous precedent.

00:18:33.280 I think the Democrats will conclude that if Biden ducks the debate,

00:18:38.040 the American people will assume he's too feeble and mentally diminished to be able to debate.

00:18:42.820 And so I think that will scare them enough that they will end up producing Biden for a couple of debates,

00:18:49.640 pumped full of drugs for a little while.

00:18:52.760 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic,

00:18:57.340 you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

00:19:01.640 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:19:04.520 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:19:08.980 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:19:12.620 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:19:13.880 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:19:15.120 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:19:18.780 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:19:24.300 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:19:27.840 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:19:33.480 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.

00:19:38.040 I think anyone that runs for president that's a serious candidate and drops out.

00:19:43.860 People have asked me, what's it like on a president's campaign when it's over?

00:19:46.640 I'm like, it's like a funeral.

00:19:48.160 Yeah.

00:19:48.340 If you're a true believer in the campaign, in the candidate, you're giving it your all.

00:19:52.840 You're a staffer, you want your guy to win, and it's over.

00:19:56.220 It's like a funeral.

00:19:58.120 And I spent a lot of time after, like, our team.

00:20:02.820 I still think the team we assembled, and I'm not impartial, but I think the team we assembled

00:20:08.660 is the best campaign team, certainly, that I've ever seen.

00:20:13.260 And they were like family.

00:20:14.900 And so I went and assembled the entire team.

00:20:17.160 Our headquarters was here in Houston.

00:20:19.280 And I thanked all the staff.

00:20:20.780 This is like a day or two later, I thanked everyone and brought them in and just talked

00:20:25.000 about, reflected on what the campaign meant and what they'd accomplished.

00:20:29.220 And when we started, nobody thought I had a prayer.

00:20:31.760 Nobody thought we could win a single state, and we came within inches of winning the whole

00:20:35.000 thing.

00:20:36.480 And I will tell you, we had...

00:20:38.560 So our campaign office was like an entire floor of cubicles here in Houston.

00:20:44.020 Not far from where we are right now.

00:20:45.480 Very close, very close to where we are right now.

00:20:48.000 And as everyone, you know, went home, I remember walking through that campaign office and just

00:20:54.460 all the empty cubicles.

00:20:57.580 And you know the song from Les Mis, Empty Chairs and Empty Tables?

00:21:02.960 Yeah.

00:21:03.140 That was the song I kept hearing in my mind.

00:21:10.120 In fact, I'm sure Ron and Casey are feeling the same thing.

00:21:14.380 And it is a hard thing because everyone pours themselves into it.

00:21:20.100 You know, years ago, someone told me there's a reason that both politics and war use the

00:21:25.620 word campaign.

00:21:27.240 Because it's all-consuming.

00:21:28.700 There is nothing else in life.

00:21:29.840 Like, when you are on a campaign, it is 100% of your will and your heart and your mind

00:21:35.160 and your soul and everything.

00:21:38.380 And, you know, you do feel like you've let people down.

00:21:43.540 You know, you're getting people that are pouring, they're uprooting their lives, they're moving

00:21:48.140 their families, they're giving sacrificially, they believe in you.

00:21:53.020 And look, at this point, I've won elections, I've lost elections.

00:21:56.400 Winning is much better.

00:21:57.560 Yeah.

00:21:57.880 Those nights are a lot better.

00:21:59.840 But the reality here, I think this outcome was ordained the night of the Iowa caucuses.

00:22:08.360 When Trump won a dominating victory, it was clear DeSantis had no oxygen.

00:22:15.440 And Haley, as I mentioned, she will likely be competitive in New Hampshire. 0.99

00:22:20.400 But I see no path for her beyond that.

00:22:23.680 And so, now, we are going to test, look, there are some big donors in the Republican Party.

00:22:28.620 That are never Trumpers.

00:22:30.100 That who do not like Trump and are writing millions of dollars to try to change the outcome.

00:22:36.340 I don't think the money can do it.

00:22:37.780 At this point, you know, they've got enough money in New Hampshire.

00:22:43.520 They could practically send a masseuse to give everyone a back rub and a foot rub on the way to the polls. 0.99

00:22:48.720 But as you get on to South Carolina, I think Trump's lead is way too large for Haley to have a chance.

00:22:56.440 And from there, I don't think there's any path beyond.

00:22:59.480 Final question.

00:23:00.920 Your advice to Nikki Haley, if you don't have that pathway that you just described, what's the point of staying in?

00:23:07.760 Oh, look, you know, I actually try to refrain from giving advice to other candidates that everyone's got to follow their own heart and do what they think is right.

00:23:15.300 And their own timeline.

00:23:16.180 Yeah.

00:23:16.640 I mean, it's, you know, calling on people to get out.

00:23:21.140 I don't think.

00:23:22.940 Let it play out.

00:23:23.720 Yeah, it will play out.

00:23:25.400 It's going to play out naturally.

00:23:26.420 It's going to play out naturally and pretty quickly, I think.

00:23:31.220 And so, you know, I recognize the decision to suspend a campaign is not easy.

00:23:35.880 And look, depending on when it occurs, it can often mean, so in 2016, you know, a bunch of the candidates suspended early, long before Iowa.

00:23:50.340 And so I ended up, of my opponents, five of my opponents ended up endorsing me in that race.

00:23:55.680 And so I got endorsed by Rick Perry and Carly Fiorina and Scott Walker and Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham all backed me.

00:24:09.060 And, you know, you go out and campaign.

00:24:10.840 So, you know, Rick Perry, you know, went and campaigned with me in Iowa.

00:24:15.520 You know, I remember being in Barnes there.

00:24:18.140 And look, Rick Perry was my governor, someone who I knew and respected.

00:24:22.700 He's older than I am.

00:24:23.980 So it was a little surreal having someone like Rick Perry come and campaign and say, go vote for Ted.

00:24:31.440 You know, Lindsey Graham, my colleague, you know, he had famously said that if you killed me on the floor of the Senate and the jury were other senators,

00:24:42.960 you couldn't find a jury to convict me, to convict the murderer.

00:24:46.680 And so when Lindsey endorsed me, you know, I jumped on and he helped raise some money for me.

00:24:53.960 And I remember saying at the time, I said, wow, this is the first time in my life I've ever been endorsed by someone who's publicly called for my murder.

00:25:03.040 You know, politics can be a strange bit.

00:25:05.120 And Lindsey and I have become friends since then.

00:25:07.480 But it was you get interesting.

00:25:09.800 Carly Fiorina, who I thought was a terrific candidate that cycle.

00:25:17.040 You'll recall I announced that if I'd won, she would have been my VP.

00:25:20.760 Yeah.

00:25:20.960 That was an unusual step to do it early.

00:25:26.800 But frankly, I was trying to break through the narrative, the wall of the three billion dollars of free media.

00:25:33.960 And I was trying to find something that actually would be heard by the voters.

00:25:39.560 But but the corporate media had no interest in anything being heard.

00:25:42.840 Frankly, I think most of the media wanted Trump to be the nominee because they wanted Hillary to win. 0.72

00:25:50.380 And they thought that was that that was what all of them are saying was, give us Trump.

00:25:54.220 He's the easiest to beat.

00:25:55.660 And Hillary Clinton will become the president of the United States of America and will break that glass ceiling of that beautiful building. 0.66

00:26:00.600 I think that was a very deliberate strategy. 0.99

00:26:03.960 And I will say for all those bastards that kind of backfired, they got four years of Donald Trump as president. 0.99

00:26:09.580 They may be about to get four more years of Donald Trump as president. 0.99

00:26:13.800 And it's, you know, the self-declared media overlords.

00:26:18.720 There is an old saying, be careful what you wish for.

00:26:21.320 No doubt about it.

00:26:22.040 I love these conversations.

00:26:23.420 I love that we could do this.

00:26:24.480 Thanks for pulling back the curtain on 16 and explaining it from a candidate's perspective.

00:26:28.420 Because, as you mentioned, what people go through when they have to drop out, especially DeSantis right now, it's tough.

00:26:35.260 It takes it can take months to come out from that fog of war afterwards, because all of a sudden you go from night to nothing to it's all over, as you mentioned.

00:26:43.640 And how long does it take to get out of that fog?

00:26:45.920 I think it depends on the candidate.

00:26:47.440 It depends a lot.

00:26:48.640 Look, everyone has a period where you just kind of.

00:26:52.800 It's like morning.

00:26:53.440 I assume Ron will do this, but just about everyone goes and goes somewhere on vacation.

00:26:59.400 And my advice when I talk to a candidate after they've lost, and this is true, I talk to lots of candidates who are running for Senate in the House, and some win, some lose.

00:27:07.560 But for the ones that lose, I say go somewhere, unplug, get off email, get off your phone, get off Twitter.

00:27:14.440 Just go sit by the beach with a pina colada, and just recharge.

00:27:21.140 Be with your family, hug your kids, just get away for a while.

00:27:26.420 And look, the world gets a lot quieter.

00:27:29.780 You know, in a presidential campaign, it's deafening.

00:27:33.120 And then when you suspend it, it's like, okay, I'm out of this crazy game, at least for now.

00:27:41.440 And then to come out of the funk, listen, every presidential candidate that loses, I think without exception, goes into a funk.

00:27:50.320 I mean, you have a bit of depression and grieving.

00:27:53.700 Yeah.

00:27:54.740 And the key to kind of, I was no exception to that.

00:27:57.160 I had a period where I was just kind of.

00:27:58.860 In a funk.

00:27:59.500 Yeah.

00:27:59.720 And I think the key to coming out of it is finding something to lean in that you love, that you engage in.

00:28:07.000 And, you know, listen, I have a day job of representing 30 million Texans, which I love doing, and pour all of my heart, mind, and soul into it.

00:28:15.720 And that became go.

00:28:17.640 And then when Trump became president.

00:28:19.760 You had somebody to work with.

00:28:21.020 And I rolled up my sleeves and said, I am going to lead the fight in the Senate for us to deliver on our promises.

00:28:26.820 We have work to do.

00:28:28.400 And so pouring yourself into the fight and into the work is, I think, a really important part of coming out of it.

00:28:36.680 And some candidates do that more quickly than others.

00:28:39.500 It varies person by person.

00:28:40.820 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:28:46.360 Don't forget to download my podcast.

00:28:48.300 And you can listen to my podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.

00:28:53.380 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.

00:28:57.120 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

00:28:59.520 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:29:03.640 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 27, 2024

Biden Goes to War w⧸ Texas, China Donates to Penn Biden Center, & The Hard Road of a Presidential Campaign Week In Review

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript