Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 03, 2026


BONUS POD： Trump, Netanyahu & Vance — Epic Fury Delivered Overnight


Episode Stats


Length

14 minutes

Words per minute

162.23811

Word count

2,367

Sentence count

192

Harmful content

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Trump says Iran strike is ahead of schedule, as dozens of senior Iranian leaders have been taken out, so what is happening now? We have it all for you in The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson ( )!

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.
00:00:02.540 Guaranteed human. 0.59
00:00:05.920 This Ayatollah regime has been raping and pillaging the country for 47 years. 1.00
00:00:11.880 We are trying to protect our interests, we as the United States.
00:00:15.040 And the president is the first president in 47 years to actually have a backbone to do something about it.
00:00:20.780 They've been attacking us.
00:00:22.140 They've been attacking our interests.
00:00:23.580 They've been attacking our assets.
00:00:25.820 And they've been doing it without even being apologetic.
00:00:29.480 They've bragged about it.
00:00:30.820 And we have just tried to appease them over the years.
00:00:33.800 And President Trump said enough's enough.
00:00:35.540 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:00:39.280 Good Tuesday morning.
00:00:40.320 Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.
00:00:43.160 Donald Trump says Operation Epic Fury is ahead of schedule.
00:00:47.660 As dozens of senior Iranian leaders have been taken out.
00:00:51.680 So what is happening now?
00:00:53.160 We have it all for you.
00:00:54.420 But before we get to that, I want to take a moment and ask you to help the people in Israel with my friends at the IFCJ working right now on the ground for all those in need.
00:01:05.560 As Operation Epic Fury intensifies, the world braces for what comes next and people of faith pray for freedom and for God's people to be protected.
00:01:16.620 In the Holy Land, red alert sirens fill the air.
00:01:20.700 Sirens that give you 15 seconds to reach the nearest bomb shelter.
00:01:25.200 The situation is serious and the threat is real.
00:01:28.700 In times like this, freedom and faith aren't just abstract ideas.
00:01:34.180 They are what we depend on.
00:01:36.660 And the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground, preparing large-scale distributions of life-saving food, first aid, and emergency essentials for security personnel.
00:01:48.420 While helping ensure hospitals, emergency rooms, and shelters are stocked with critical medical supplies.
00:01:54.480 This aid is focused on Israel's most vulnerable, the sick, the elderly, children, and families in great need.
00:02:02.040 But the Fellowship needs your most generous gift today to make this work all possible.
00:02:07.700 Now is your time to stand with Israel's most vulnerable.
00:02:11.240 To rush your gift, call 888-488-IFCJ.
00:02:16.120 That's 888-488-IFCJ.
00:02:19.660 Or give online at ifcj.org.
00:02:23.440 That's ifcj.org.
00:02:26.240 It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now.
00:02:29.460 Story number one.
00:02:30.700 Operation Epic Fury, day three.
00:02:33.720 And it's the latest that you want to know about what is actually happening from Iran as well as the Middle East.
00:02:39.720 And also what America is doing.
00:02:42.300 The military operation against Iran has entered its third day.
00:02:45.880 With strikes against targets inside Iran and interceptions of Iranian aircraft, Iranian missiles, and drones attempting to land blows across the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean is very much ongoing at this moment.
00:03:00.600 We know that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected the notion that Israel dragged the United States into war with Iran, telling Sean Hannity on Fox News, that's ridiculous.
00:03:14.980 He also went on to say that Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world.
00:03:19.200 He does what he thinks is right for America.
00:03:21.460 And he also does what he thinks is right for future generations.
00:03:26.420 Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the threat posed by Iran to the United States was, in fact, imminent.
00:03:34.900 Contradicting what many on the left had been saying for the last 24 hours.
00:03:40.100 The White House, he also says, had intelligence that the Islamic regime had planned to attack American assets in the region in the event of an impeding strike on its missile program by Israel.
00:03:52.100 Marco Rubio also added that the timing of the strike was also influenced by desire to prevent the currently weakened Iran from building up its missile and drone programs
00:04:03.960 to defend against strikes on its nuclear program that clearly they have been trying to use to say, as they put it, to kill America and to kill Israel.
00:04:15.080 We also know that the official spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense said that its forces have intercepted and destroyed eight drones that have come in from Iran.
00:04:26.600 It comes after Saudi Arabia revealed that two drones were successful in striking the U.S. embassy there.
00:04:33.960 The attack resulted in a fire and minor material damage to the building, but reportedly did not cause any injuries to U.S. personnel.
00:04:43.740 We also know that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said there is no way that President Trump will enter the United States in a multi-year conflict in Iran.
00:04:54.980 Speaking to Jesse Waters of Fox News, the vice president said, we're not going to get into the problems that we've had with Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:05:05.360 After Iraq and Afghanistan, some people say, oh, here we go again.
00:05:10.400 Is that something here you're thinking about?
00:05:12.580 Well, Jesse, if you think back to Afghanistan, 20 years of mission creep, 20 years of not having a clear objective and 20 years of the United States trying to bring liberal democracy to Afghanistan.
00:05:24.260 Iraq was a little bit shorter, but we were still in that country for nearly a decade with no clear mission, no clear definition.
00:05:30.620 What's so different about this, Jesse, is that the president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish.
00:05:35.520 And there's just no way I said this before the conflict started.
00:05:39.300 I'll repeat it again.
00:05:40.500 There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective.
00:05:48.200 What is different about President Trump, and it's frankly different about both Republicans and Democrats of the past, is that he's not going to let his country go to war unless there's a clearly defined objective.
00:05:58.820 He's defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability.
00:06:06.720 It's pretty clear.
00:06:07.780 It's pretty simple.
00:06:08.900 And I think that means that we're not going to get into the problems that we've had with Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:06:13.280 Now, J.D. Vance was not the only one that was doing interviews.
00:06:17.540 Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, went on TV to debunk the claims that Israel dragged the U.S. into striking Iran, sitting down with Sean Hannity.
00:06:27.840 And here's what he said.
00:06:29.540 And I want to ask you this.
00:06:31.040 You know, there are people that say, well, the prime minister of Israel dragged Donald Trump into it.
00:06:36.000 And as somebody that's been friends with him over 30 years, nobody drags Donald Trump into anything, number one.
00:06:41.960 But I want to get your reaction to that. 0.98
00:06:44.380 I mean, that's that's ridiculous. 0.95
00:06:46.460 Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. 0.94
00:06:48.960 He does what he thinks is right for America.
00:06:52.240 He does also what he thinks is right for future generations.
00:06:54.860 And frankly, we're partners in that effort because I've devoted my life to securing the life of the one and only Jewish state.
00:07:04.280 And believe me, it's been a struggle.
00:07:06.360 I've known the pangs of war.
00:07:08.320 I lost a brother in war and in battle.
00:07:12.220 I myself fought terrorists and was wounded in liberating hostages from a hijacked plane.
00:07:17.580 I held a fellow soldier in my arms when I was 18 and he died in my arms.
00:07:26.000 I know the cost of war.
00:07:27.640 But I know sometimes that war is necessary to protect us from the people who would destroy us.
00:07:33.540 And that's what free societies have to understand.
00:07:36.620 Freedom is precious, but it has to be protected.
00:07:40.440 And we have to understand that we're fighting here.
00:07:43.520 We're fighting here.
00:07:44.960 The bad guys were the good guys.
00:07:47.940 These people massacred their own people.
00:07:49.800 Imagine what they would do, these people who chant death to America, if they had ballistic missiles and the nuclear warheads to deliver to every American city.
00:08:01.220 Do you want to wait?
00:08:02.800 Do you want to bet your future on whether they would do it or they would not do it?
00:08:07.560 I mean, look, nobody stopped North Korea. 1.00
00:08:10.020 So they now have ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.
00:08:14.360 But they don't say death to America.
00:08:16.680 Iran is 50 North Koreas. 0.99
00:08:18.780 Iran is committed to your destruction. 1.00
00:08:22.180 And whether people understand it or not, the leader has to understand it.
00:08:26.740 Donald Trump understands it.
00:08:28.700 You don't have to drag him into anything.
00:08:31.080 And nobody would do it anyway.
00:08:32.940 He does what he thinks is right.
00:08:35.200 And this is right.
00:08:36.480 Netanyahu wasn't done there.
00:08:38.160 He also said one of the great things about working with President Donald Trump is that Trump has always understood
00:08:44.480 the real threat that Iran has not only to the U.S., but to the rest of the world. 0.97
00:08:48.900 Well, you know, when America, the indispensable ally for Israel and the greatest power in the world and Israel,
00:08:59.180 America's model ally, as the National Security Council just called it, when we work together, amazing things happen.
00:09:06.300 We work together and amazing things happened.
00:09:09.500 But I have to tell you that it wouldn't happen without the leadership of President Trump, because he just, you know, I met him in Mar-a-Lago.
00:09:19.720 You may remember this because I think you live close by and I saw you at that time.
00:09:23.380 Right before his re-election, OK, and or before he was inaugurated the second time.
00:09:30.580 And we met we met in Mar-a-Lago.
00:09:33.280 And the first thing that Donald Trump said to me, he said, you know, we have to prevent Iran from getting nukes.
00:09:42.120 As simple as that.
00:09:43.240 He said that because he saw that as a clear and present danger to the security and well-being of the United States.
00:09:50.600 To have a regime like that, so fanatic, that it just defines itself by destroying America, exporting revolution, exporting terrorism,
00:10:01.220 exporting the worst Islamist fanaticism that attacks Arabs, attacks Israelis, attacks Americans, attacks everyone, everyone in sight. 0.78
00:10:09.720 They just fired now their bullets in sight around the Middle East, including Cyprus and Europe. 0.88
00:10:15.180 To have a regime like that, that plans to eradicate the United States, have the weapons of mass death would have been the greatest threat that America would face in the coming decades.
00:10:27.000 And so he said to me right off the bat, I didn't say to him, he said to me, we have to make sure they never get the nukes.
00:10:33.800 And that's what he did.
00:10:35.180 We tried first to take them out in midnight hammer and rising line operation.
00:10:40.320 And we took out their missile sites, but then they started again, their missile and nuclear sites.
00:10:45.240 They didn't learn the lesson.
00:10:47.000 He tried to get negotiations.
00:10:48.500 He negotiated with them.
00:10:49.480 They didn't get it.
00:10:50.820 They tried to string them along.
00:10:52.320 So action had to be taken.
00:10:54.360 And we took it.
00:10:55.900 It is very clear after hearing Netanyahu speak on Fox News Channel that the president and him are side by side as allies,
00:11:02.540 making sure that Iran is no longer a threat, not only to Israel, but to Americans in the Middle East and also in this country. 0.88
00:11:10.320 Which brings us to Pete Hedgeseth.
00:11:13.020 Pete Hedgeseth having a press conference at the Pentagon.
00:11:16.140 And after answering questions for quite some time, he wanted to make sure he gave his last two minutes of his statement to talk directly to the men and women that are protecting and serving.
00:11:29.120 He also wanted to reassure the men and women in uniform that he is not going to get you into a never ending war like Afghanistan or Iraq.
00:11:38.480 And the Pentagon giving this update, but then speaking directly to our warriors.
00:11:43.460 And it's important, I think, for every American to hear exactly what he said at the Pentagon.
00:11:48.840 Let me speak straight to you, the joint force, our warriors on the front lines.
00:11:54.900 This is your moment.
00:11:56.060 This is the generational turning point America has waited for since 1979.
00:11:59.560 And since the rudderless wars of hubris, my generation, our generation endured.
00:12:04.540 Don't listen to the noise.
00:12:06.000 Just stay focused.
00:12:07.280 Our commander in chief is steady at the wheel.
00:12:10.140 We face a determined enemy, but you are better.
00:12:13.100 But we must prove it every single day.
00:12:14.800 History doesn't care if we're tired, if we're scared, or if the fight feels big.
00:12:19.380 It demands warriors who rise anyway.
00:12:22.440 Peace through strength.
00:12:23.300 The warrior ethos, lethality, unity of purpose, those are not slogans.
00:12:29.420 They're the beating heart of what it means to wear the uniform, that uniform.
00:12:33.660 You think clearly under fire.
00:12:35.300 You act decisively in chaos.
00:12:37.440 You uphold the Constitution and you uphold our country without hesitation.
00:12:41.880 We are not defenders anymore.
00:12:43.980 We are warriors trained to kill the enemy and break their will.
00:12:47.740 History is watching.
00:12:48.860 Be the force you swore an oath to be focused, disciplined, lethal, and unbreakable.
00:12:56.500 We will finish this on America first conditions of President Trump's choosing.
00:13:02.960 Nobody else's as it should be.
00:13:05.640 And know this above all, President Trump and I have your back always.
00:13:11.100 Through fire, through criticism, through fake news, through everything.
00:13:16.460 We unleash you because you are the best, most powerful, most lethal fighting force the world
00:13:23.420 has ever seen.
00:13:24.880 May Almighty God watch over you and his providential arms of protection extend over you.
00:13:32.260 Godspeed, warriors, and keep going.
00:13:34.260 Godspeed, warriors, and keep going.
00:13:36.300 A prayer there from the Secretary of War, talking directly to our warriors, telling them exactly
00:13:43.600 what they should expect.
00:13:45.220 I got to say, it's something I wish we'd seen from other people that were in charge of
00:13:50.420 the Pentagon.
00:13:51.320 One thing is for sure from this administration, they are being overly transparent about their
00:13:57.280 goals, their wishes, and their desires when it comes to what's happening in Iran.
00:14:02.420 And taking that two minutes and four seconds to pray and speak directly to our men and women
00:14:06.940 in uniform is something new.
00:14:09.240 And I hope it's a trend that everybody in this position in the future will do as well.
00:14:14.020 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:14:18.320 Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.
00:14:23.600 And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast, and we will see you
00:14:28.940 back here tomorrow.
00:14:29.800 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:14:34.000 Guaranteed human.