Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 04, 2026


Bloodbath： What Happened, Why & Where on Earth Do We Go from Here？

BONUS POD： Illegal & Ghost Voters, Dead Registrants, Century-Old Voter Records is how Cheating Democrats Keep Their Power BONUS POD： 2026 Election Autopsy： Where Republicans Lost Voters

Episode Stats


Length

19 minutes

Words per minute

114.41

Word count

2,279

Sentence count

182

Harmful content

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.560 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.440 Fall is here, and so are the comforting flavors at Eggsmart.
00:00:07.880 Try the new caramel apple pie pancakes.
00:00:10.420 Fluffy buttermilk pancakes topped with warm cinnamon apples,
00:00:13.900 rich caramel drizzle, and whipped topping.
00:00:16.180 See eggsmart.ca for details.
00:00:20.020 Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty.
00:00:22.100 We've been trying to figure out how to describe
00:00:23.820 what is Armstrong and Getty on demand for many years.
00:00:26.580 I'm going to give it a shot.
00:00:27.340 So most media is either agenda-driven or they're so shallow and boring.
00:00:32.340 You don't learn anything anyway.
00:00:33.860 We try to get to the bottom of the stories that are shaping our worlds
00:00:36.900 and help you understand what's actually happening.
00:00:39.860 So give it a try sometime.
00:00:41.140 Entertaining and you learn something?
00:00:42.380 Where do I tune in?
00:00:43.200 Listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand on the iHeartRadio app,
00:00:46.220 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:00:51.140 Hey, it's Drew Franklin from NFL Cover Zero.
00:00:53.540 The 2026 season is underway and we are loving football on TV.
00:00:58.100 Here's what you can expect from the podcast in our second season.
00:01:01.120 I would suggest for these preseason games, I think they should do what they do on the NFL draft.
00:01:07.220 You know, when coverage of the NFL draft is basically for moms and they're just like, hey, he has a dog named Spartan.
00:01:16.160 Listen to NFL Cover Zero on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:21.180 welcome it is verdict with senator ted cruz ben ferguson with you uh this is a important show
00:01:29.300 today and the senator uh wanted to talk directly to so many of you about the future of this country
00:01:34.580 and what just happened it is going to be a little different than we normally do a show
00:01:38.600 and so with that being said senator i i know you've been thinking a lot about this election
00:01:43.240 and you have a lot on your mind i do history was made last night for months we were saying that
00:01:50.000 2026 was the most consequential midterm election of our lifetimes. Unfortunately, we were right.
00:01:59.240 Sometimes history is to be celebrated. Other times it is to be mourned. Always it must be reckoned
00:02:07.220 with. 2026 was not simply a blue wave. It was a blue tsunami. It was an ass kicking. It was not
00:02:18.320 simply a bad 2006 midterm election. It was a Watergate-level repudiation. What happened and
00:02:29.540 why? What are the consequences? And where on earth do we go from here? When all the votes
00:02:37.340 were counted, the problem wasn't turnout. Instead, our voters, Republicans, Libertarians,
00:02:44.420 and dependents, showed up in vote, and rejected our candidates, voting Democrat instead.
00:02:53.920 We've lost the House. We've lost the Senate. When all is said and done, we will have lost
00:03:00.460 eight to ten Senate seats. We lost in historically red states like South Carolina and North Carolina,
00:03:08.160 Kansas, and Iowa. We lost in purple states like Michigan and New Hampshire and Georgia.
00:03:16.720 And we just barely won by just a single point in bright red states like Florida and Louisiana.
00:03:27.840 And then there's Texas. Nowhere are the consequences of this election greater than Texas.
00:03:36.060 In the Lone Star State, we lost every single statewide election.
00:03:44.200 For weeks, I had been publicly warning on this podcast that we were in very real danger of losing everything in Texas.
00:03:54.900 Far too few believed that was possible.
00:03:59.100 I am very, very sorry that it came to pass.
00:04:03.480 Texas has not had a Democrat governor since 1994 we haven't had a Democrat senator since 1993
00:04:14.080 now we'll have both why were the results so overwhelming pundits and analysts will break
00:04:24.040 down the results for weeks or months or even years to come but several things are already evident
00:04:29.760 today. Years ago, the very best political advice I ever got was from Heidi. She said,
00:04:38.380 it's not about you. It's about them. It's about their kids, their families,
00:04:44.060 their hopes, their dreams, their futures. Too many politicians forget that.
00:04:52.580 Take the state of Kansas, for example, a state that has not elected a Democrat senator
00:04:57.660 since 1932. It just did. Here's what exit polling showed were the top issues in Kansas.
00:05:09.040 Number one, cost of living, energy and groceries. That was listed as number one by 30.6%
00:05:15.300 of voters. Corruption, number two, 18.5 percent. The cost of the Iran war, 10.1 percent.
00:05:27.880 The candidates are terrible, 7.9 percent. The Canada trade war, 7.6 percent.
00:05:38.080 The GOP didn't do enough to support Trump. 6.6%. Republicans didn't pass the Save America Act.
00:05:49.460 5.6%. Trump's focus on monuments. 5.5%. And data centers and AI. 3.8%.
00:06:04.200 The top issue, cost of living, is very real.
00:06:09.940 Too many in politics dismissed it.
00:06:12.380 They didn't understand.
00:06:14.040 They pointed to the macro numbers showing the stock market soaring, median income at record highs, and poverty at record lows.
00:06:22.980 Those data are true, but they don't tell all of the story.
00:06:28.260 Here are some stats that are a lot more real and personal.
00:06:33.200 Spam, Hormel's process meat substitute, broke record sales, selling 113 million cans last year.
00:06:47.740 That is nearly as much spam as was sold during the entirety of World War II.
00:06:54.560 29 percent of americans have used buy now pay later for groceries this year that's double the
00:07:06.980 share just two years ago in august banks repossessed 42 percent more homes than they did
00:07:15.960 last year. In 2024, car repossessions topped 2.3 million above the 2009 peak in the middle of the
00:07:29.140 great financial crisis. In 2025, 6% of 401k holders took hardship withdrawals, paying penalties.
00:07:39.660 that is a record and triple the norm and here's one that's really stunning americans made more
00:07:48.960 than 75 million paid plasma donations in 2026 that's another record that means 200 000 americans
00:08:00.620 every single day with a needle in their arm just to pay for groceries. That is very real pain
00:08:09.780 from real Americans. And too many Republican politicians seem like they didn't understand
00:08:15.580 or they didn't care. Food is too high. Gas is too high. Diesel is too high. Insurance is too high.
00:08:23.500 life is too high. Tariffs have made everything too expensive and the Iran war has dragged on
00:08:33.620 too long. It should have been brief, decisive and over. It needs to end and we should never 0.97
00:08:43.920 under any circumstances give the Ayatollah billions of dollars. There's a very real
00:08:51.960 economic disconnect. Our K-shaped economy is a yawning divide. Last year, we saw the world's 0.94
00:09:03.000 very first trillionaire, a modern-day Thomas Edison, at the very same time that millions
00:09:10.540 were struggling to feed their families. Data centers being constructed were turning billionaires
00:09:17.940 into centibillionaires, while simultaneously the average American's electricity bill
00:09:24.340 went up 30% in the last five years. Understandably, people were pissed off,
00:09:32.820 and elected Republicans didn't do enough to address their very real pain.
00:09:38.080 so what do we do now we need to listen and respond we need to champion economic policies
00:09:50.640 that make a real difference in working people's lives and we need to deal with the consequences
00:09:58.740 Texas is blue. That is a hard sentence to utter. But Texas, today at least, is blue.
00:10:13.640 As we sit here today, I am the only statewide elected Republican who remains in Texas.
00:10:20.960 that's not something i ever thought i would say we can be certain that the democrats
00:10:29.280 in austin and in washington will overshoot in texas they will try to raise taxes dramatically
00:10:40.380 they may even try to adopt a state income tax or even a california wealth tax they will try to
00:10:49.980 shut down the energy industry, destroying jobs across our state. They will embrace
00:10:56.540 the radical transgender agenda. They will persecute those they perceive to be enemies, 1.00
00:11:05.520 especially Elon Musk. And in Washington, they will attack Trump every single day,
00:11:15.680 constantly impeachment hearings subpoenas his family cabinet members business leaders open
00:11:23.560 persecution and non-stop retaliation make no mistake nationally the radicals are in charge 0.90
00:11:34.460 the communists and the islamists who have taken over the democrat party 0.90
00:11:38.740 have now taken over the United States Congress. 1.00
00:11:43.560 They will be unleashed.
00:11:47.440 Sadly, that means many Americans will be hurt.
00:11:54.380 Texans will be hurt. 0.50
00:11:57.460 Their assault on business will make Texas a much less attractive place
00:12:02.640 to start or grow a small business.
00:12:05.060 Texas will become more like California.
00:12:11.300 If they succeed in halting all new investment into AI,
00:12:18.000 the economic results will be dramatic.
00:12:22.140 Over $700 billion in new projects are scheduled to start in the next year.
00:12:28.440 If the Democrats shut them all down,
00:12:30.960 our country will very likely go into a recession.
00:12:36.800 That will suit the Democrats just fine.
00:12:39.260 They'll just blame it all on Donald Trump.
00:12:43.900 In the next two years, we need to do two things.
00:12:49.120 One, fight the madness.
00:12:54.120 I will work with Democrats when they're willing to be reasonable.
00:12:58.980 Last night, I called James Tallarico.
00:13:02.080 I congratulated him on his very impressive victory.
00:13:05.280 It was a pleasant conversation.
00:13:07.380 And I told him that I looked forward to working with him to try to benefit Texas.
00:13:13.120 So if there are things like flood relief for the Hill Country or trying to get the Space Academy to Texas, he and I will work together.
00:13:21.680 But if the newly elected radicals push policies that hurt Texas, raising taxes, destroying jobs, opening the border, releasing violent criminals, threatening our children, undermining our constitutional rights, I will fight with all of my strength to defend Texas and to defend the Constitution.
00:13:48.880 And number two, we need to rebuild, getting behind policies that directly benefit the constituents we lost.
00:14:02.820 There's a complicated story, no doubt, of what happened on Election Day.
00:14:07.200 But as I see it, the key constituencies we lost were blue-collar voters, what had rightly become the core base of our party.
00:14:17.260 evangelical Christians who didn't show up with the same numbers and fervor as prior elections
00:14:26.260 farmers and ranchers tragically we alienated rural America young people who excitedly had
00:14:38.480 voted Republican in 2024 and who shifted hard blew this cycle. And of course, Hispanics.
00:14:49.620 For Hispanics, there's a strong overlap with young people and blue-collar workers.
00:14:56.640 In 2024, just two years ago, I was proud to carry Hispanics statewide in Texas by six points,
00:15:04.720 And we swung the Rio Grande Valley red for the first time in a century. 0.97
00:15:11.760 It can be done.
00:15:15.080 But in this election, those Hispanic voters overwhelmingly went back Democrat. 0.78
00:15:24.420 We have got to turn that around.
00:15:27.400 And for young people, we need to be the party of the future.
00:15:31.960 We need to champion policies that expand their future.
00:15:37.220 Our two single biggest legislative accomplishments of the past two years,
00:15:42.540 Trump accounts and the school choice tax credit,
00:15:46.320 which will unleash tens of billions of dollars in new scholarships for kids,
00:15:52.300 are generationally powerful.
00:15:55.740 I was proud to author both of those transformational policies.
00:16:00.440 and yet too few candidates all across the country ran on that record. Too few voters were even aware
00:16:08.740 of what we'd accomplished for their kids and their future. But we need to build. We need to
00:16:15.160 expand to continue creating a new investor class for hundreds of millions of Americans.
00:16:22.540 help everyone every American become an owner to have real skin in the game to create new
00:16:33.020 generations of capitalists ready to reject socialism people voted as they did because
00:16:42.460 they were angry ironically the Democrats that they elected are going to advance policies that
00:16:49.180 will make affordability worse.
00:16:53.060 The Democrats want gas prices higher.
00:16:57.360 They want to ban gasoline engines altogether.
00:17:02.120 Their extreme environmental mandates
00:17:04.760 will drive up food prices
00:17:06.860 and the prices of everything else.
00:17:09.860 But hear me now,
00:17:11.960 we will bring Texas back.
00:17:16.740 I am filled with hope and optimism.
00:17:22.680 Texas will be red again.
00:17:27.860 We have not suddenly become a bunch of tofu-eating, gun-banning, tutu-wearing, pinko-kami liberals.
00:17:37.920 That ain't us.
00:17:39.960 Texas is still Texas.
00:17:42.340 We will rebuild as a true blue-collar party, not by embracing socialism, but by being real free-market conservatives.
00:17:55.440 The way we built the Texas economic miracle in the first place.
00:18:02.480 And we will build and rebuild America as well.
00:18:06.980 When the zealots overreach, and they will, we will stand ready to lead in the direction of freedom, of prosperity, of safety and security and common sense.
00:18:26.560 We will return to a new dawn of freedom in America.
00:18:32.780 It is dark right now.
00:18:36.980 But it is always darkest before the dawn.
00:18:42.100 And morning is coming.
00:18:44.820 That is my fervent prayer.
00:18:48.540 And that is my commitment to you.
00:18:54.020 Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty.
00:18:56.120 We've been trying to figure out how to describe what is Armstrong and Getty on demand for many years.
00:19:00.600 I'm going to give it a shot.
00:19:01.360 So most media is either agenda driven or they're so shallow and boring.
00:19:06.140 You don't learn anything anyway.
00:19:07.860 We try to get to the bottom of the stories that are shaping our worlds
00:19:10.920 and help you understand what's actually happening.
00:19:13.880 So give it a try sometime.
00:19:15.140 Entertaining and you learn something?
00:19:16.400 Where do I tune in?
00:19:17.220 Listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand on the iHeartRadio app,
00:19:20.240 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:19:25.180 Hey, it's Drew Franklin from NFL Cover Zero.
00:19:27.860 The 2026 season is underway, and we are loving football on TV.
00:19:32.120 Here's what you can expect from the podcast in our second season.
00:19:34.740 I would suggest for these preseason games, I think they should do what they do on the NFL draft.
00:19:41.240 You know, when coverage of the NFL draft is basically for moms and they're just like, hey, he has a dog named Spark.
00:19:50.140 Listen to NFL Cover Zero on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.