Verdict with Ted Cruz - September 01, 2026


BONUS POD： Trump’s Massive Supreme Court Win Keeps The Cranes Keep Moving


Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

161.48

Word count

3,268

Sentence count

229

Harmful content

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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00:00:34.500 Why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty On Demand?
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00:00:45.060 Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.
00:00:46.120 He's Joe Getty.
00:00:46.760 We're Armstrong and Getty.
00:00:47.880 We try to bring you the truth.
00:00:49.020 And help you figure out this crazy modern world.
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00:00:57.820 Listen to Armstrong and Getty On Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:05.100 Today's 5-4 decision is a big win for the president.
00:01:08.600 As the administration says, crews are working 20 hours a day on the complex that includes both the ballroom and those underground military installations.
00:01:17.740 Well, the court had this to say.
00:01:19.120 It said it's not passing judgment on the legality of the project, but it did hold that the plaintiff challenging the ballroom project likely doesn't actually have the right to sue the Trump administration over it.
00:01:30.300 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:01:34.080 Good Tuesday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.
00:01:37.260 And we've got two big stories for you.
00:01:39.740 First up, a major win for the president of the United States of America at the Supreme Court.
00:01:44.740 This time dealing with the ballroom, I'm not joking, that he's redoing and building at the White House.
00:01:51.860 So how unhinged has the left become over this?
00:01:54.760 It's amazing, and we have it all for you.
00:01:57.260 Up next, a big announcement from the White House that can affect exactly what you're paying at the pump.
00:02:03.520 It also can affect our national security for decades to come.
00:02:07.340 The biggest oil deal in history between the U.S. and Venezuela.
00:02:11.260 What's in it and what does it mean?
00:02:12.860 We break it down for you.
00:02:14.060 Now, before we get to that, the midterm elections, they're heating up.
00:02:17.520 Congressional control and President Trump's agenda hang in the balance.
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00:03:50.840 It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.
00:03:54.540 Story number one.
00:03:55.740 The Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a major win.
00:03:59.780 And it was not just a big win for him in general.
00:04:02.920 It was also a personal win after the harassment by so many on the left.
00:04:07.540 The White House ballroom can now move forward yet again, proving that when the people actually decide who they want their president to be, that individual, whether it's Republican or Democrat, should be able to do what they need to do as president.
00:04:22.980 Donald Trump not only scoring this major victory at the Supreme Court, but now it allows the president to move forward with that White House ballroom that suffered a massive setback.
00:04:34.160 It was a 5-4 decision, and the Supreme Court ruled Monday that construction can continue on the new White House ballroom and associated complex while, quote, the legal battle plays out.
00:04:46.240 Now, the decision blocks the lower court rulings, and they were activist judges that would have stopped the above-ground construction.
00:04:54.560 And understand what that means practically.
00:04:57.140 The cranes keep moving, the workers keep building, the project, it now keeps going forward.
00:05:03.240 Now, the ballroom project is enormous.
00:05:05.860 It's about 90,000 square feet with an estimated price tag that was originally around $400 million.
00:05:11.760 The broader redevelopment also includes significant underground military and security facilities, which are needed.
00:05:18.680 Trump has argued that the White House desperately not only needed a permanent world-class space for major state events,
00:05:24.420 rather than repeatedly relying on temporary structures for large gatherings.
00:05:29.780 Almost immediately, the left and the opponents and the media, well, they tried to stop him.
00:05:34.460 The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued, arguing that Trump did not have the authority as the president to undertake a dramatic transformation of the White House complex without what they demanded, congressional approval.
00:05:48.100 Well, guess what? The Supreme Court said they were wrong.
00:05:51.160 Now, they did find success in the lower courts.
00:05:54.100 They found activist judges, and a federal district judge moved to block the above-ground construction,
00:05:59.680 and the D.C. Circuit upheld that injunction as well.
00:06:03.260 Now, had the Supreme Court not intervened, construction would have faced a major shutdown.
00:06:08.940 Here is how Fox News described the news as it broke.
00:06:12.520 As mentioned at the top, breaking tonight, a divided Supreme Court allows the White House to continue construction
00:06:17.940 on its $400 million ballroom project as lawsuits play out.
00:06:22.300 The president posted news about that a short time ago, calling the project part of the golden age of America.
00:06:28.760 Fox News chief legal correspondent, anchor of Fox News Sunday, Shannon Bream, has details tonight.
00:06:33.100 Good evening, Shannon.
00:06:33.860 Good evening, Brett.
00:06:34.480 Well, today's 5-4 decision is a big win for the president.
00:06:37.920 As the administration says, crews are working 20 hours a day on the complex that includes both the ballroom and those underground military installations.
00:06:47.040 Well, the court had this to say.
00:06:48.460 It said it's not passing judgment on the legality of the project, but it did hold that the plaintiff
00:06:53.280 challenging the ballroom project likely doesn't actually have the right to sue the Trump
00:06:57.900 administration over it. Quote, we conclude only that based on the submissions before us,
00:07:03.020 the government is likely to prevail in showing that the National Trust for Historic Preservation
00:07:07.700 in the United States lacks Article 3 standing to challenge the project in federal court.
00:07:13.540 But the dissenters, and this is an interesting lineup, they were led by Chief Justice Roberts,
00:07:17.540 included Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson. They argue that the National Trust Executive
00:07:23.620 Committee member, Alison Hoagland, does have standing, quote, given the distinctive nature
00:07:28.820 of the White House and Hoagland's focused and substantiated interest in viewing it in its
00:07:33.860 traditional form, her aesthetic injury from the construction of the ballroom is concrete
00:07:39.300 and particularized. Now, that doesn't mean the legal battle over the ballroom is over, though,
00:07:44.240 only that while the fights play out, construction can continue.
00:07:49.180 Now, this is exactly why Democrats and the media, of course, are livid this morning.
00:07:55.420 The majority, by the way, made a very important point.
00:07:58.940 They said disagreement with what a president is doing does not automatically give someone
00:08:03.660 the legal right to sue.
00:08:06.460 The Supreme Court's majority concluded that the National Trust likely doesn't have Article
00:08:11.420 3 standing.
00:08:12.800 Now, what does that mean in plain English?
00:08:14.760 The court questioned whether this organization has suffered the kind of concrete personal injury necessary to bring this lawsuit in federal court in the first place.
00:08:26.160 And as the court put it, quote, mere offense, disagreement or distaste for a project does not amount to the concrete injury required for standing in the court.
00:08:36.460 Now, that is significant far beyond this ballroom, because the argument from the administration is essentially this.
00:08:44.080 You cannot simply turn the federal judiciary into a political veto whenever an advocacy organization disagrees with a president's decision.
00:08:53.780 That is good news, by the way, for this president and future presidents, by the way.
00:08:58.240 And the Supreme Court's majority concluded that the government is likely to prevail on its argument
00:09:03.960 and that the National Trust doesn't have the standing to challenge the project like they've been claiming.
00:09:09.500 Now, there's also an important legal distinction here.
00:09:12.880 The Supreme Court did not rule that every aspect of Trump's ballroom project is definitely or definitively legal.
00:09:20.960 The majority specifically said it was not deciding the ultimate legality of the East Wing project.
00:09:26.200 it ruled on the standing question that the government's request to keep construction going
00:09:31.280 while litigation continues is something they said yes to and that is the reason why this matters
00:09:38.220 so much because time is really what this is about there is now time for the president to do what he
00:09:45.180 needs to do construction is already underway the administration has argued that stopping a massive
00:09:50.600 construction project in the middle of the process would impose not only serious costs and interfere
00:09:56.300 with security related work connected to the broader complex. And the Supreme Court agreed
00:10:01.400 that the government's interests favored allowing the work to continue. Now, this is exactly why,
00:10:07.760 by the way, the president immediately decided to celebrate. The president said the project can now
00:10:12.460 move ahead without the uncertainty that has surrounded it because the radical left. And
00:10:18.020 when completed, he said, in the summer of 2028, the ballroom and the military complex will be
00:10:23.260 something the entire country can be proud of. So congratulations to President Trump for being able
00:10:29.140 to actually be the president and do something incredible for the American people at our White
00:10:34.300 House. Now, story number two. President Trump is getting win after win right now, and the
00:10:40.240 Venezuelan oil deal is another example of it. The White House calling it the biggest oil deal in
00:10:46.040 history. And not only could it be one of the most consequential energy deals an American
00:10:51.220 president has ever negotiated, but it could mean falling prices for you. President Trump is calling
00:10:57.600 the new agreement with Venezuela the biggest oil deal in the world. And the White House released
00:11:03.520 more of the details. So here is what we know. Number one, 65 billion barrels of proven oil
00:11:11.000 reserves. That's the big number that everyone needs to understand. The White House says the
00:11:15.900 agreement gives the United States majority effective control over production tied to more
00:11:21.720 than the 65 321 tied to that 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves. Now, to put that in
00:11:29.900 perspective, the White House says the United States currently has roughly 46 billion barrels
00:11:35.120 of proven territorial oil reserves in the U.S. This is significantly larger than the U.S.
00:11:41.000 That is mind blowing.
00:11:42.700 Now, we're also talking about access to an amount of oil that actually is larger than
00:11:47.420 not just our proven oil reserves, but most of the world, according to the White House
00:11:52.500 and the cost of the American taxpayer for acquiring this position.
00:11:56.320 You ready for this?
00:11:58.080 As President Trump described it, zero dollars.
00:12:01.680 Now, to be clear why it's zero, this is not America riding Venezuela, a hundred billion
00:12:06.220 dollar check.
00:12:06.980 The private operator, North American Blue Energy Partners, is expected to invest up to $100 billion rebuilding and expanding Venezuela's badly deteriorated oil infrastructure.
00:12:19.600 The agreement covers 17 Venezuelan oil fields and gives the company development rights lasting 100 years.
00:12:27.400 And here's where this gets really interesting for America.
00:12:30.520 The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital gets a 35% equity stake in the company's parent.
00:12:38.160 The United States gets the guaranteed right to purchase 20% of the production at cost.
00:12:44.280 And the State Department gets the right of first refusal to purchase the remaining 80% of production.
00:12:51.240 Now, what does this mean?
00:12:52.900 Well, instead of the United States simply hoping that enough oil reaches the world market
00:12:57.380 during the next international crisis,
00:12:59.840 America has positioned itself to have preferential access
00:13:03.740 to an enormous supply of oil right here in the Western Hemisphere.
00:13:08.580 And that's a national security game changer.
00:13:11.000 And that matters even more than it has in recent years
00:13:14.460 because of what's happening right now
00:13:16.200 with the war that we're dealing with in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
00:13:20.320 We've seen disruption.
00:13:22.020 We've seen supply chain uncertainty.
00:13:23.840 We've seen what it's done to the American taxpayer,
00:13:26.740 to your pocketbook when you go to the pump.
00:13:29.980 American gasoline prices are above $4 a gallon right now nationally.
00:13:34.580 And Trump, well, he's looking south, not towards the Middle East,
00:13:38.920 not towards Iran, not towards Russia, but towards Venezuela
00:13:42.600 and saying there's an enormous supply of energy in our own hemisphere,
00:13:47.100 so let's develop it.
00:13:48.840 This is, by the way, just common sense foreign policy.
00:13:52.320 Now, there's another geopolitical component that shouldn't be overlooked as well.
00:13:57.640 The White House says some of these Venezuelan fields previously had Russian or Chinese involvement.
00:14:03.920 Now, Washington is attempting to pull a huge piece of Venezuela's energy future into America's economic and strategic orbit.
00:14:13.760 That's simply not an oil deal.
00:14:15.920 That is geopolitics on the biggest scale you can get.
00:14:20.360 While its own oil industry had just drastically deteriorated, Venezuela has the largest proven
00:14:27.860 oil reserves in the entire world, yet today it produces only around 1.2 to 1.25 million
00:14:34.480 barrels per day, dramatically below its potential after years of underinvestment, economic
00:14:40.940 mismanagement, and sanctions, and then just straight up corruption.
00:14:45.460 Now, Trump is making it pretty clear what his bet is.
00:14:48.840 If you bring in massive private investment, you bring in real 2026 drilling rigs, you
00:14:56.180 bring in American technology and the expertise, you increase the production, then you create
00:15:01.900 a reliable Western Hemisphere supply and ultimately put downward pressure on energy
00:15:08.400 prices, which helps all of America.
00:15:11.120 Now, the company involved is reportedly planning a massive drilling campaign.
00:15:14.860 They say eventually drilling more than 50 drilling rigs as it attempts to dramatically increase production from these fields.
00:15:23.960 Now, I want to be very clear about something else here.
00:15:26.420 This does not mean you're waking up tomorrow and you're going to have $2 gasoline.
00:15:31.300 Even President Trump has acknowledged today that the lower prices from this deal could take some time.
00:15:37.600 Here's the president in his own words.
00:15:39.660 The Venezuela deal, analysts predict it could take several years before the Venezuela oil...
00:15:45.740 It could be a little bit, but it's going to go fast.
00:15:48.020 It's going to go fast.
00:15:48.540 When did you say fast? When?
00:15:49.820 Well, because analysts predicted that a thing like this could never happen, too.
00:15:53.900 Nobody ever thought it was possible. 0.51
00:15:55.680 Remember, Russia was there.
00:15:57.780 China was there.
00:15:59.360 They're not there anymore, are they? 1.00
00:16:01.500 You know who's there?
00:16:02.820 USA is there. 0.51
00:16:04.480 It'll go fast, much faster than what the...
00:16:06.740 They say two years, three years.
00:16:08.140 But if it was two years, that's a short period of time.
00:16:12.240 It's hundreds of billions of dollars.
00:16:14.880 It's actually trillions of dollars we're talking about, trillions.
00:16:18.100 And it'll come out as fast as possible.
00:16:22.000 Now, even Vice President J.D. Vance, as he was getting on his plane at Joint Base Andrews,
00:16:27.740 had this to say about the oil deal with Venezuela.
00:16:31.220 We're on Venezuela really quickly.
00:16:33.180 With the deal for the $65 billion in reserve from Venezuelan oil,
00:16:37.320 When will the U.S. see the first barrels of oil from that deal?
00:16:41.420 I think importantly, we're actually already seeing significant increase in oil production out of Venezuela,
00:16:46.100 which is one of the reasons why, despite a lot of people predicting that oil prices would go to $200 a barrel,
00:16:51.560 they're obviously higher than they were a few months ago.
00:16:53.960 But they're sort of much more stable in part because of what we see coming out of Venezuela.
00:16:59.440 So, look, I think that we are going to see significant increase in production.
00:17:03.480 The 65 billion barrel reserve is a big part of that.
00:17:07.280 But I think it's a mistake to say, when will we see increased production?
00:17:10.800 Because we're already seeing increased production already.
00:17:13.060 So what does this mean for America?
00:17:15.840 What you're looking at from this White House is they're looking beyond this week's gasoline prices.
00:17:21.700 What you're hearing the president and the vice president say is this.
00:17:24.780 We're looking at the next generation of American energy security.
00:17:29.200 They believe this is a national security issue.
00:17:32.500 So imagine America that has an enormous domestic energy resource.
00:17:37.000 Canada to the north.
00:17:38.280 We've got oil coming in from them as well.
00:17:40.820 Then you've got preferential access to tens of billions of barrels in Venezuela to the south.
00:17:46.400 And imagine what that does to the leverage of hostile oil-producing countries in the Middle East.
00:17:53.000 That's a strategic argument that the Trump administration is making.
00:17:56.500 In essence, that's become the Trump doctrine when it comes to oil production.
00:18:00.720 Even the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has called this a win-win, saying lower-cost
00:18:06.700 oil for America is a big deal.
00:18:09.320 It also is bringing potentially $100 billion in private investment to Venezuela.
00:18:13.620 That helps with that country's stability so it doesn't fall into the hands of Russia
00:18:17.660 or China, owning basically what's happening there.
00:18:21.360 And it helps rebuild the devastating energy economy that is desperately needed in Venezuela
00:18:28.560 for the people to be free.
00:18:30.720 Now, President Trump has said this is a big moment.
00:18:33.620 He's absolutely right.
00:18:34.800 So when the White House calls this historic, just look at the scale.
00:18:38.760 65 billion barrels, 17 oil fields, up to 100 billion in private investment,
00:18:44.880 100-year development agreement, a 35% Pentagon equity stake,
00:18:50.320 and guaranteed American access to oil at cost.
00:18:55.280 Now, this isn't about next Tuesday.
00:18:56.960 So this is not about, you know, what the price is next week
00:19:01.180 It's about where America gets its energy for the next several decades
00:19:05.500 And Trump's argument is straightforward
00:19:08.180 Why should the United States remain vulnerable
00:19:11.100 To hostile regimes that are thousands of miles away
00:19:14.860 When some of the largest oil reserves on planet Earth
00:19:17.800 Are sitting right here in our own hemisphere
00:19:20.500 That is why this deal is incredible
00:19:23.500 It will be very interesting to see just how fast it becomes a reality.
00:19:27.640 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:19:31.820 Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.
00:19:37.100 And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast, and we will see you back here tomorrow.
00:19:53.500 Live your life like that.
00:19:55.080 Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.
00:19:56.140 He's Joe Getty.
00:19:56.780 We're Armstrong and Getty.
00:19:57.900 We try to bring you the truth.
00:19:59.060 And help you figure out this crazy modern world.
00:20:01.440 How about something about a comedic tone?
00:20:05.920 We have a winner.
00:20:07.440 Yes.
00:20:08.460 Listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand on the iHeartRadio app,
00:20:11.540 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.