Verdict with Ted Cruz - Dems Cheer Domestic Terrorism against Tesla, plus Trump Orders Abolish the Department of Education

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.200 We've got two major issues we're going to deal with today on the show.

00:00:08.460 Number one, it's incredible.

00:00:10.400 Donald Trump's executive order on the Department of Education to shut it down.

00:00:15.900 What this is going to do for parents with school choice and giving the power back to the states,

00:00:21.360 plus the amount of money we're spending per pupil is more than any else in the world.

00:00:25.960 And where do we rank when it comes to education?

00:00:27.880 In many of the areas at the very bottom, we're going to break that down for you also.

00:00:32.740 And then the other big issue, and it deals with Tesla.

00:00:36.160 And Senator, let's start with what Elon Musk just tweeted out.

00:00:39.240 He put a tweet out, said, quote,

00:00:41.620 Has there ever been such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company?

00:00:47.100 I understand not wanting to buy a product,

00:00:49.280 but this extreme arson in destruction is what we're witnessing right now

00:00:55.080 as the left has gone to war with Tesla.

00:00:58.820 It really is astonishing.

00:01:00.320 And let me say, first of all, for those of you,

00:01:03.640 if any of you did not listen to the interview that we did with Elon Musk,

00:01:07.500 we went to the White House.

00:01:09.000 We spent over an hour one-on-one with Elon Musk.

00:01:11.820 We put it out as a two-part podcast.

00:01:13.680 Part of it was on Monday.

00:01:14.900 Part of it was on Wednesday.

00:01:16.000 If you didn't listen to it,

00:01:17.920 you can listen to it by downloading the podcast,

00:01:20.000 or you can watch it on YouTube.

00:01:21.420 If you didn't listen to it or watch it,

00:01:23.000 I would encourage you to.

00:01:24.080 It was fascinating.

00:01:26.200 It was one of the most important podcasts we've ever done.

00:01:29.080 And so you don't want to miss it.

00:01:30.440 You don't want to miss both parts.

00:01:31.700 It broke news.

00:01:32.820 It drove news nationally.

00:01:35.200 And it really was Elon revealing who he is.

00:01:38.320 And one of the things we talked about

00:01:39.540 was the violence and domestic terrorism directed towards Tesla.

00:01:43.480 Well, in the days since that interview,

00:01:46.180 it's only gotten worse.

00:01:47.320 I got to say, today's Democrat Party is characterized by rage and hatred.

00:01:54.020 As best I can tell, they don't stand for much of anything

00:01:56.480 other than their radical agenda of open borders

00:01:59.100 and releasing violent criminals, murderers, and rapists, and child molesters,

00:02:05.280 and boys and girls sports, and radical gender ideology, 0.97

00:02:09.140 and anti-Semitism, and undermining Israel.

00:02:11.480 That seems to be the unifying policy behind the Democrats.

00:02:14.720 But the unifying motivation right now is this inchoate anger and rage and hate. 0.52

00:02:23.040 And they hate, hate, hate Donald J. Trump.

00:02:26.500 And to be honest, they hate, hate, hate the voters who voted for Donald J. Trump.

00:02:31.120 But they've now projected much of that anger and hate on Elon Musk.

00:02:36.680 And so Trump derangement syndrome is a very real thing.

00:02:39.920 And Elon derangement syndrome is a very real thing.

00:02:42.760 And understand, when the left hates something, they engage in violence.

00:02:47.820 We've seen this with the anti-Semitic pro-Hamas protest on campuses where violence has erupted.

00:02:53.940 We've seen this with the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots across the country,

00:02:58.520 where we saw police cars firebombed and stores looted and police officers murdered.

00:03:04.400 And we saw rampant violence.

00:03:06.760 And we are now seeing this with Tesla.

00:03:09.480 And the left is an ideology that if you are on the opposing side,

00:03:17.500 they don't view it as you have a right to speak.

00:03:20.340 They're opposed to free speech.

00:03:21.560 They want to censor you.

00:03:22.520 They want to silence you.

00:03:23.820 If you're on the other side and you vote for your opponent,

00:03:27.320 they don't view you as a participant in democracy who's expressing your views.

00:03:31.720 They view you as the enemy.

00:03:34.440 And they want to destroy you.

00:03:36.780 They want to bankrupt you.

00:03:38.200 And they want to engage in violence against you.

00:03:40.380 Now, some of you may be saying, OK, that's too extreme.

00:03:42.900 That's going too far.

00:03:43.880 That's not where the left is.

00:03:45.320 Well, I want you to give a listen to Tim Waltz.

00:03:48.780 Tim Waltz, who just about six minutes ago,

00:03:52.160 was the Democrats nominee to be the vice president of the United States.

00:03:55.600 He was Kamala Harris's running mate.

00:03:57.560 And he's the sitting governor of Minnesota.

00:03:59.320 Here's Tim Waltz talking about what he wants to see happen to Tesla.

00:04:03.600 Give a listen.

00:04:04.080 I'm saying on my phone, I don't know, some of you know this on the iPhone,

00:04:06.380 they've got that little stock app.

00:04:07.940 I added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day.

00:04:13.400 225 and dropping.

00:04:16.040 So, and if you own one, if you own one, we're not blaming you.

00:04:24.400 You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla thing off, you know,

00:04:28.360 and take out of just telling you.

00:04:30.080 Senator, this is what I call the dog whistle for violence,

00:04:33.180 because he says this, and then others go out

00:04:36.400 and are actually shooting and burning up Teslas.

00:04:40.560 Well, listen, I retweeted this and described Tim Waltz 1.00

00:04:45.740 as a small, bitter, evil, angry bastard. 1.00

00:04:51.580 Like, he is sitting there. 1.00

00:04:52.940 This is an elected government official that is rooting for, number one,

00:04:57.720 bankrupting Tesla.

00:04:59.500 Now, there are thousands and thousands of employees in Tesla.

00:05:02.880 These are Americans who are making cars. 0.99

00:05:05.060 By the way, the left, if you want to see how they're utter hypocrites, 0.98

00:05:10.340 they claim the climate crisis is going to destroy the world. 0.93

00:05:15.020 Well, Tesla is the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in America.

00:05:19.620 Five minutes ago, they loved Tesla.

00:05:23.300 They loved Elon Musk.

00:05:24.600 As long as he was making electric vehicles, they loved him.

00:05:26.960 Now they've decided we hate electric vehicles

00:05:29.820 and we want to bankrupt the largest manufacturer of them in America.

00:05:34.160 Why?

00:05:34.900 Because we hate Elon.

00:05:36.180 And at the end of the day, this is about tribalism.

00:05:39.160 This is about my team versus your team.

00:05:42.460 And listen, on the right, I don't advocate violence.

00:05:45.960 Violence is wrong.

00:05:46.800 And if you engage in violence, whether you agree with me or not,

00:05:49.900 you should go to jail. 0.81

00:05:51.480 We don't support violence against our political opponents.

00:05:54.880 The left does.

00:05:56.240 The left views the world through a Marxist mindset.

00:06:01.560 My last book was Unwoke, How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America.

00:06:05.700 A Marxist mindset where they advocate the violent revolution

00:06:10.000 of the so-called victims against the so-called oppressors.

00:06:12.540 And so Tim Waltz is cheering on.

00:06:16.220 He wants to see Tesla go bankrupt.

00:06:18.820 He wants to see every Tesla employee lose their job.

00:06:22.460 By the way, your 401k is probably invested in Tesla.

00:06:26.220 He wants to see your 401k go down.

00:06:29.100 And if every retirement fund in America,

00:06:32.440 if the teacher's retirement fund, if the police retirement fund,

00:06:35.720 if the firefighter retirement fund goes down

00:06:38.260 because the left succeeds in bankrupting Tesla,

00:06:42.260 these angry, vindictive little Marxists will celebrate.

00:06:46.940 And understand, it's not just about economic devastation.

00:06:50.380 It is about actual violence.

00:06:52.760 I want you to listen to this segment from The Daily Show.

00:06:56.260 In The Daily Show, they're talking about

00:06:58.160 the domestic terrorism that is playing out against Tesla.

00:07:02.200 And listen to the crowd's reaction.

00:07:04.500 Give a listen.

00:07:04.960 Jim, they're taking to the streets or the parking lots.

00:07:10.120 Tonight, the FBI and ATF now investigating multiple cases of possible arson

00:07:14.480 targeting Teslas and Cybertrucks.

00:07:17.240 This dramatic video shows multiple cars in flames.

00:07:20.220 Police say the attacker used Molotov cocktails.

00:07:23.560 It's the latest in more than a dozen instances of arson and vandalism targeting Tesla.

00:07:28.460 The same suspect shot more Teslas with a gun.

00:07:30.960 Tesla Cybertrucks were set on fire in Kansas City.

00:07:33.440 And earlier this month, shots fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon.

00:07:37.400 Cybertrucks on fire in Seattle.

00:07:39.400 Wow, you guys like petty acts of domestic terrorism, huh?

00:07:43.740 Petty acts of terrorism, Senator?

00:07:45.560 Cool, right?

00:07:46.280 Like, let's cheer for that.

00:07:47.520 Why not?

00:07:49.580 It's striking.

00:07:50.520 So at the end there, that's The Daily Show host.

00:07:53.540 That's the comedian. 0.97

00:07:54.300 And he's a little bit like, holy crap, like what he says. 0.99

00:07:57.580 Wow, you guys like petty acts of domestic terrorism. 0.99

00:08:01.520 They're cheering for it.

00:08:03.160 They're happy.

00:08:03.660 And by the way, it ain't petty.

00:08:05.280 The last I checked, arson is not petty.

00:08:09.100 Throwing Molotov cocktails is not petty.

00:08:12.260 Firing guns at Tesla dealership is not petty.

00:08:16.080 People are going to be killed.

00:08:16.980 Firing a gun at a dealership, you know, there are people who work there. 0.90

00:08:21.480 And the left, this is something they celebrate, they revel in. 0.97

00:08:28.700 It's reminiscent of this Luigi clown who murdered the senior executive, healthcare executive. 0.96

00:08:36.940 We did a podcast at the time, how the left was celebrating murder. 0.97

00:08:41.240 They were happy to see him murdered.

00:08:42.860 The anti-capitalist left, they hate their opponents.

00:08:47.580 And they are willing to cheer the murder of their opponents.

00:08:52.800 And we're seeing here, this is domestic violence.

00:08:56.120 Now, here's some good news.

00:08:57.980 The Attorney General, Pam Bondi, announced that three Tesla arson defendants are going to face the full force of law.

00:09:06.080 And for using Molotov cocktails to set fire to electric vehicles and charging statements.

00:09:12.860 Pam Bondi said, quote,

00:09:15.320 The days of committing crimes without consequences have ended.

00:09:19.560 Let this be a warning.

00:09:21.620 If you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.

00:09:30.320 And she's charging three people for their alleged involvement in attacks against Tesla properties in Salem, Oregon, Loveland, Colorado, and Charleston, South Carolina.

00:09:42.500 Bravo, Pam Bondi.

00:09:44.280 Bravo to the Department of Justice.

00:09:45.800 But you know what?

00:09:46.700 There are a whole lot more people that are committing these acts of violence.

00:09:49.640 And I'm here to tell you, I don't believe these are spontaneous.

00:09:52.700 I think we need to follow the money.

00:09:54.160 I think the Department of Justice and the FBI are going to follow the money.

00:09:57.760 And whoever is funding it, I don't know if it's this.

00:10:00.480 No, that's exactly what I want to ask you.

00:10:02.400 John Cusack appeared on a Tesla takedown call, for example, says that Elon Musk is literally, quote, killing people.

00:10:09.820 The actor complained that the United States is a fascist country and becoming more fascist every day.

00:10:15.640 He joined this.

00:10:17.020 And again, it's called a hashtag.

00:10:18.540 Like, this is not some secret group.

00:10:21.280 Hashtag Tesla takedown, a, quote, mass mobilizing call on Wednesday to express his opinion about Elon Musk, whom the actor claimed is, quote, literally killing people.

00:10:33.860 The 58-year-old also hit Musk with a string of other insults during the call.

00:10:39.380 So this goes back to what you and I have talked about before, whether it's Act Blue, whether it's Black Lives Matter, whether it's, you know, the summer of takedown that the Occupy Wall Street.

00:10:48.720 This is all coming from organized groups that are being funded.

00:10:53.840 This is clearly organized.

00:10:55.680 If you're getting Cusack on a phone call for this.

00:10:58.820 It is clearly funded.

00:11:00.360 And I'll tell you right now, if you are putting money behind and in support of domestic terrorism, existing federal law makes it a crime.

00:11:07.420 Using incendiary devices is defined as domestic terrorism.

00:11:11.460 You are going to be prosecuted.

00:11:13.000 We talked with Elon in the interview about indications that Act Blue was being used to fund this.

00:11:19.080 I have to admit, I actually hope that is the case because Act Blue is the principal fundraising mechanism for the left and for the Democrats.

00:11:26.200 And if Act Blue is being used, Act Blue will be shut down.

00:11:29.840 And I don't know if the Soros network is involved, but if the Soros network is involved, I believe this Department of Justice is going to follow the money.

00:11:37.420 And anyone who is funding domestic terrorism, they're going to face the consequences of their action.

00:11:43.060 That is important for the rule of law.

00:11:46.860 And it's striking.

00:11:47.840 Look, there are Democrat members of Congress participating.

00:11:52.140 Jasmine Crockett from Texas participated in one of these Tesla takedown calls targeting a major U.S. company, 1.00

00:12:00.360 wanting to bankrupt a major U.S. company, wanting to have all of its American workers lose their jobs.

00:12:06.500 By the way, they don't care if they were to remove America's leading manufacturer of electric vehicles. 0.95

00:12:13.020 The next time they prattle on about the climate crisis, know that they're complete and utter hypocrites because they don't care about that. 0.62

00:12:20.180 They only care about it if you happen to be on their team, if you happen to be supporting their side. 0.87

00:12:24.640 And every one of these people knows they're not just talking about declining to purchase this product.

00:12:31.300 They are talking about and celebrating as the crowd at The Daily Show demonstrating.

00:12:37.120 They are cheering on Molotov cocktails, violent firebombing and firing guns.

00:12:44.460 And I'll tell you, somebody is going to be killed. 0.90

00:12:48.060 And these leftists, they do not care.

00:12:50.280 And we know that because these same leftists cheered on the murder of the senior health care executive by Luigi the Communist.

00:12:59.940 And they continue to cheer him on.

00:13:01.860 And you see leftists tattooing Luigi's face on their body and making T-shirts.

00:13:07.920 And he's become a cause celeb because they advocate violence against anyone who dares disagree with them.

00:13:16.400 While you and I are talking, I literally was sent by a congressman, the John Cusack video and audio.

00:13:23.940 I want to play this because not only if you haven't seen this, this is how organized the left is.

00:13:29.200 They've got a full like live TV box around this broadcast on X where they were doing this.

00:13:38.000 They have a website, TeslaTakedown.com, hashtag TeslaTakedownMassCall.

00:13:43.040 They've got graphics.

00:13:44.620 They have actor and activist John Cusack.

00:13:47.260 Here is John in his own words.

00:13:49.000 He said, you know, Musk is kind of this arch villain of late stage capitalism. 0.99

00:13:53.860 And he seems like this clown and this buffoon. 0.96

00:13:56.700 But like Alex said, you know, this is a man who made a Sigh Heil Nazi salute, not only in public, but at a presidential victory party. 0.99

00:14:08.860 It's good to remember that these are unprecedented times of mass criminality going on in the United States right now. 0.99

00:14:16.600 And that like Trump, Musk is a pathological liar. 1.00

00:14:22.220 He's a criminal. 1.00

00:14:24.220 He's a sociopath and a ghoul. 0.99

00:14:27.180 And I mean those terms very precisely because who else would use his own child as a sympathy prop while literally taking starving aid away from people all over the world? 0.98

00:14:40.260 Now, he goes on for another four minutes just on this.

00:14:44.720 But this is a man that is advocating and supporting people to take up, in essence, arms against Tesla.

00:14:51.880 Look, it is. 1.00

00:14:54.100 I tweeted today leftism is a mental disease. 0.99

00:14:57.840 And I don't think that is an overstatement. 0.99

00:15:00.880 And let me underscore again.

00:15:03.820 Nobody that I know of on the right is calling for violence against the other side.

00:15:07.560 I would strongly oppose, and I do strongly oppose, violence against the other side.

00:15:12.240 I'll denounce them.

00:15:13.640 But violence is wrong.

00:15:15.240 And what they are doing, it, and let me ask you something.

00:15:19.420 Have you heard a single Democrat, have you heard one, denounce the domestic terrorism against Tesla dealerships, against the cars, the fire bombings?

00:15:27.820 Have you heard even one?

00:15:29.280 Not one.

00:15:29.700 And why not?

00:15:30.360 Because they don't mind this.

00:15:31.920 I mean, I think this is part of their now-

00:15:33.560 Has Kamala Harris said anything about it?

00:15:35.080 Has Joe Biden said anything about it?

00:15:36.660 Has Tim Waltz said anything about it?

00:15:38.220 Yes, he celebrated it.

00:15:39.500 How about Nancy Pelosi?

00:15:40.880 How about Hakeem Jeffries?

00:15:42.300 How about Chuck Schumer?

00:15:43.340 They're either silent or cheering.

00:15:45.580 Well, as you said earlier, Senator, thank goodness that the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, announcing these charges for that Tesla attack and warning against domestic terrorism,

00:15:53.760 saying, if you join in this, we're coming after you and we're going to put you behind bars.

00:15:57.940 Thank goodness we have law and order restored at the Department of Justice with her in charge and others at the FBI.

00:16:04.320 I want to move to the story number two, and it's also a really big story.

00:16:08.580 And I want to look at this from a issue of hope and excitement.

00:16:13.220 There are a lot of parents that are listening and grandparents right now who know just how screwed up the public education system is in this country.

00:16:21.540 They understand the data that the K-12 schools are spending $857 billion annually.

00:16:29.400 That's $17,277 on average per student.

00:16:33.520 It is incredible.

00:16:34.740 And what we're getting for that is not very much.

00:16:37.640 We're at the bottom of the list in many categories.

00:16:39.800 And the president came out with a very big announcement, and that is that his goal is to dismantle the Department of Education, sending this back to the states.

00:16:50.860 Now, where parents get excited, this brings up the issue of school choice now.

00:16:55.400 It's something that you are actually in Austin talking about today as we're recording this.

00:17:01.820 And you've been a champion of school choice for quite some time.

00:17:04.640 Well, that's right.

00:17:06.340 So on Thursday, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the Department of Education to be abolished and calling for the money and the authority to be sent back to the states and sent back to the local districts.

00:17:20.700 Now, the corrupt corporate media being what it is, whenever you hear the words abolish the Department of Education, what they transmute that into is abolish education.

00:17:31.060 And they try to say that means that Republicans are opposed to education.

00:17:35.560 It's exactly the opposite.

00:17:38.240 And I just pose a simple question.

00:17:40.940 Where do you want the money going?

00:17:43.520 Do you want the money going to parents and kids and teachers to have excellent education?

00:17:48.640 Or do you want the money going to woke radical bureaucrats in Washington who are putting red tape and strangling our schools and our education?

00:17:58.780 That's the choice, because the Department of Education, there ain't nobody at the Federal Department of Education that is teaching your kids.

00:18:05.780 There ain't nobody that is in Mrs. Smith's sixth grade class that is teaching reading or writing arithmetic.

00:18:14.340 But what there are is a bunch of bureaucrats that are putting paperwork in place, that are putting burdens in place. 1.00

00:18:20.380 And it is, particularly under Joe Biden, the Department of Education was weaponized.

00:18:27.120 It was weaponized to push an extreme woke agenda.

00:18:30.920 It was weaponized to push DEI.

00:18:32.760 It was weaponized to push boys and girls sports.

00:18:35.740 It was weaponized to push their extreme transgender ideology. 0.71

00:18:40.100 And the president is following through.

00:18:43.840 So the executive order directs the secretary of education to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and to return education authority to the states while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs and benefits on which Americans rely.

00:19:05.280 So, again, the corrupt corporate media will say, well, this will halt funding for low-income kids.

00:19:11.920 This will halt funding for kids with disabilities.

00:19:14.020 When you hear that on CNN, know that they're lying to you.

00:19:18.860 Know that they're deliberately lying to you.

00:19:20.620 They know they're lying to you.

00:19:22.220 You should know they're lying to you.

00:19:24.220 This is designed to keep the funding there, but have the decision-making at the state and local level.

00:19:30.000 And a huge part of that is to facilitate school choice.

00:19:34.720 And we're going to do a deeper dive into school choice in a moment.

00:19:37.200 But I've got to say this executive order is a big, big deal from the president.

00:19:42.500 He announced it surrounded by governors because it's going to be the governors now who are going to be in charge and the states in charge of the education policies in their states.

00:19:51.380 Yeah, and I want to play just a little bit of what Donald Trump had to say at this announcement, as you mentioned, with those governors signing this executive order, shutting down the education department.

00:20:00.780 Take a listen.

00:20:01.620 President Carter created the Federal Education Department in 1979.

00:20:06.600 It was opposed by members of his own cabinet as well as the American Federation of Teachers, the New York Times editorial board, and the famed Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

00:20:18.940 And history has proven them right, absolutely right.

00:20:23.380 After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country and spends, likewise, by far more money per pupil than any country.

00:20:35.720 And it's not even close.

00:20:36.960 But yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.

00:20:41.060 It's an amazing stat.

00:20:43.580 Those are two stats you don't want.

00:20:45.780 The most money spent per pupil, and you're at the bottom of the list.

00:20:49.180 And that's where we are, like it or not.

00:20:51.240 And we've been there for a long time.

00:20:53.120 You listen to him talk about the more money per pupil than any other place.

00:20:59.200 And this kind of goes back to Doge mentality.

00:21:02.560 If we're wasting money, then let's stop wasting money.

00:21:05.620 And we can do a better job with your tax dollars if it's at the state level, and if you have the ability to choose the best place for your child to get an education, it's your tax dollars.

00:21:15.760 You know what to do with them better than we do.

00:21:18.300 Look, that's absolutely right.

00:21:20.040 And to understand the level of waste, since the Department of Education was created in 1979, it has spent over $3 trillion.

00:21:30.920 $3 trillion.

00:21:32.240 Now, what has the result been?

00:21:33.880 The result is, despite per pupil spending increasing by over 245% since the 1970s, math scores have continued to decline.

00:21:46.800 Reading scores have continued to decline, particularly among low-performing students.

00:21:53.840 Eighth grade reading proficiency has fallen to its lowest level in 32 years.

00:22:01.500 With over a third of students failing to demonstrate basic reading skills appropriate for their grade.

00:22:09.920 Only 67% of eighth graders meet basic reading skills.

00:22:14.580 Only 60% of fourth graders meet basic reading skills.

00:22:19.580 Reading scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress fell two points on average for both eighth and fourth graders.

00:22:28.520 And there's been a steady decline in reading that predates COVID-era disruptions.

00:22:36.660 I'm going to give you a stat that is stunning.

00:22:39.620 In 2023, 13 high schools in Baltimore, Maryland.

00:22:44.800 How many students in 13 high schools in Baltimore, Maryland, do you think tested proficient in mathematics?

00:22:51.480 No clue.

00:22:53.260 Zero.

00:22:54.400 Wow.

00:22:55.700 13 high schools had not even a single student, not a single senior, not a single junior, not a single sophomore, not a single freshman.

00:23:03.580 Had zero students in the entire high school test proficient in math.

00:23:08.440 13 schools.

00:23:09.720 Now, look, if you were a leader in Baltimore, Maryland, you ought to be really unhappy about this.

00:23:17.360 You ought to be demanding change.

00:23:19.380 You are graduating students who can't read.

00:23:22.920 You're graduating students who are not proficient in math.

00:23:26.620 And what is happening, the Democrats, they have a basic choice.

00:23:31.460 Do you care about the kids or do you care about money from the teachers unions?

00:23:35.840 Now, as you mentioned, I'm in Austin today.

00:23:37.380 I went to the state capitol and I went on to the floor of the house.

00:23:42.380 And I'll tell you, the floor of the house, they actually read a commendation thanking me for my leadership in school choice.

00:23:48.360 School choice for me has been a passion for 30 years.

00:23:52.420 I've spent 30 years fighting for school choice.

00:23:54.720 I believe school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.

00:23:58.920 I think there is no other domestic policy that matters more.

00:24:02.000 And I believe every child in Texas and every child in America deserves access to an excellent education, regardless of their race, regardless of their ethnicity, regardless of their wealth or their zip code.

00:24:15.500 And Texas is on the verge of passing the largest school choice program in America.

00:24:24.040 And it is historic.

00:24:26.000 One out of every 10 school kids in America is in the state of Texas.

00:24:29.660 So for Texas to lead is a big, big deal.

00:24:33.400 And I'll tell you, I have been engaging.

00:24:36.180 So for the past six years, I engage in primaries in the state of Texas against state legislators who oppose school choice.

00:24:45.840 And I'll tell you, there are 100 U.S. senators.

00:24:48.560 To the best of my knowledge, 99 of them stay out of primaries in their own state.

00:24:54.300 And there's a reason for that.

00:24:55.660 When you get involved in a primary in your own state, it's bad politics. 1.00

00:24:59.000 It's stupid. 1.00

00:24:59.800 It hurts you. 1.00

00:25:00.560 Why?

00:25:01.240 Because when you do it, the old rule of thumb is you get half their friends and all their enemies.

00:25:05.920 So when you jump in the middle, you're making enemies and you're costing yourself votes.

00:25:10.740 I do it anyway.

00:25:12.960 Every cycle, I have my team make an Excel spreadsheet of every vote a state legislator has cast on school choice.

00:25:19.500 And if you're a Republican state rep or state senator and you voted in favor of school choice and you're otherwise relatively conservative, you are very likely to get my support.

00:25:32.060 But if you haven't, if you voted against choice, the chance of my supporting you is zero.

00:25:38.540 And if you have at all a credible primary challenger, it is very likely I'm going to endorse your primary challenger.

00:25:44.820 And when I do it, I don't do so gently.

00:25:47.160 I come in and I do radio ads.

00:25:50.560 I do TV ads.

00:25:51.600 I do rallies.

00:25:52.440 I campaign.

00:25:53.240 And over the last six years, there have been a bunch of Republican state reps who voted the wrong way on choice.

00:25:58.140 And we've come in and beaten them.

00:25:59.900 We brought in someone new who's going to stand for the kids of Texas.

00:26:03.580 And so I was on the floor of the House, and then I went back to the speaker's office, and I was meeting one-on-one with a whole bunch of state reps and making the case what you're doing right now is a big deal.

00:26:13.720 And I'll tell you, Ben, I announced today I'm spending a quarter million dollars, $250,000, running TV ads all across Texas, running them over the top, directly connecting with voters, also sending text, supporting 14 state reps, freshman state reps,

00:26:33.340 Republicans, and thanking them for supporting school choice.

00:26:38.000 Now, look, the teachers' unions are spending massive amounts of money attacking these Republicans, trying to scare them into voting the wrong way.

00:26:46.100 And so I'm spending from my own political resources to say thank you to them, to support them, to buck them up, to give air support.

00:26:53.620 Texas is going to get this done, and I'll tell you, I have been leading the fight for a long time.

00:26:58.680 I've never been more excited about school choice in Texas than I am right now.

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00:27:13.120 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

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00:27:32.400 Well, let's talk about what the left says and just how they've been so successful at stopping this.

00:27:40.960 A lot of this is because the teachers' unions are very powerful.

00:27:45.580 The Department of Education and their alumni have become incredibly powerful in making sure that they fear-monger and terrify parents,

00:27:54.140 that your kids won't be able to get an education if you give parents the freedom to choose.

00:27:59.900 This has become that type of kind of third rail, as we call it, an issue in politics.

00:28:04.520 You don't touch Social Security.

00:28:05.680 You don't touch education, even if it is failing.

00:28:07.740 So let's talk about some of their claims and what the audience needs to understand about why some of them are just flat-out bogus.

00:28:17.100 Well, virtually all of them are bogus.

00:28:20.560 And understand, you know, choice has been an issue that has been debated for a long time.

00:28:29.620 When I first got involved in the school choice movement, it was three decades ago.

00:28:33.360 And at the time, it was a fairly nascent movement.

00:28:35.380 At the time, it was mostly a theoretical idea.

00:28:38.940 It had come from free market economists like Milton Friedman.

00:28:42.020 But it hadn't been implemented in many places, and there were lots of arguments that were used 30 years ago,

00:28:47.520 the most significant one of which was school choice will destroy the public schools.

00:28:52.740 And you hear the teachers' union saying that.

00:28:55.540 You hear the corporate media amplifying that message.

00:28:59.660 And I got to say that that message is powerful.

00:29:03.000 If that were true, I would oppose school choice.

00:29:06.620 Let me repeat that.

00:29:07.380 I don't want to destroy the public schools.

00:29:08.800 If school choice would destroy the public schools, I would oppose choice.

00:29:12.780 Why?

00:29:13.300 Because the vast majority of our kids are educated in the public schools,

00:29:16.540 and they will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

00:29:19.080 And I think education is so foundational, destroying the public schools would be terrible.

00:29:23.500 We now know that argument is absolutely false.

00:29:27.960 It is not right.

00:29:29.000 How do we know that?

00:29:30.300 We know that because there are dozens of jurisdictions all across the country that have implemented school choice.

00:29:35.820 And in every instance, what happens?

00:29:39.280 When you implement school choice, when you give kids scholarships and options, several things happen.

00:29:44.400 Number one, the kids that take the scholarships, that go to new schools, that go to private schools,

00:29:48.060 or parochial schools, religious schools, we know the educational outcomes go up.

00:29:53.560 Their reading scores go up.

00:29:54.780 Their math scores go up.

00:29:56.240 Their high school graduation scores go up.

00:29:58.680 Their percentage of going to college goes up.

00:30:01.320 We know for those kids, their educational outcomes are significantly better.

00:30:04.880 But here's the critical piece.

00:30:07.280 We now know school choice benefits the public schools.

00:30:12.220 It is better for the public schools.

00:30:13.960 What happens is when you have competition, the educational outcomes for the kids that stay in the public schools,

00:30:22.040 that never exercise the vouchers, that never get the scholarships, that never leave,

00:30:26.520 their educational outcomes get better.

00:30:29.900 And look, anyone who understands free market should understand that competition is good.

00:30:34.340 And when you have competition, all right, Ben, here's something that a number of folks will remember.

00:30:39.820 Actually, you're young enough you will not remember this, but cars in the 1970s, American cars in the 1970s,

00:30:47.740 I'm going to tell you because I was born in 1970 as a kid, the quality of American cars in the 1970s sucked.

00:30:55.320 You had giant gas guzzlers that broke down a lot, and it was not very good.

00:30:58.880 And in the late 70s and the early 80s, you started having Japanese cars come in.

00:31:04.540 And there was a whole freakout about Japanese cars competing with American cars because they were coming in with Honda and Toyota,

00:31:12.240 and their quality was really good.

00:31:14.440 And American consumers were buying them instead of American cars.

00:31:18.360 And there was a whole, I remember as a kid, when I was like 8, 9, 10 years old, there was a whole freakout,

00:31:22.940 like the Japanese are going to destroy the American car industry, and we're doomed, and we can't compete with the Japanese. 0.99

00:31:28.160 People were freaked out.

00:31:29.300 And at Chrysler, there was a CEO named Lee Iacocco who came in and said,

00:31:33.940 all right, the answer is let's stop making crappy cars.

00:31:37.140 Let's make good cars.

00:31:38.120 Like how do we beat Toyota and Honda and the Japanese companies coming in? 1.00

00:31:41.540 Well, let's make better cars so the consumers want, and we saw quality improve dramatically.

00:31:49.220 American cars are much better, and you now look at things like Suburbans and Escalades and all sorts of American cars that people like to buy.

00:31:58.560 But why do they like to buy them?

00:32:00.420 Because the competition made the American car makers make better cars.

00:32:05.700 Tesla.

00:32:06.100 Teslas are really cool cars.

00:32:08.040 They're incredibly fast.

00:32:09.120 They're incredibly well made, but that's because they're in a competitive market.

00:32:13.180 What happens with school choice, we now know this, is when the students and parents have a choice,

00:32:21.960 the quality of education improves, and it benefits the public schools.

00:32:27.620 Yeah, in a major way.

00:32:29.220 What do the listeners need to do?

00:32:31.680 This is one of those action moments, I think, where it's really important.

00:32:35.820 Is this a, you've got to lobby your state legislature at the same time you're calling Congress?

00:32:41.860 Because let's be very realistic here.

00:32:44.700 This is going to be a big fight.

00:32:46.520 Now, I think it's a fight worth having.

00:32:47.880 I also think one of the things that people may not understand about the strategy of the president is,

00:32:52.320 the conversation, Senator, you and I are having right now is the conversation the president clearly is wanting the American people to have about their kids and grandkids and public education.

00:33:02.260 This is part of this is you've got to start winning the hearts and minds of voters and people in this country, taxpayers.

00:33:09.640 And one way to do it is to say, I'm getting rid of the Department of Education.

00:33:13.000 Now, this may not happen tomorrow.

00:33:14.560 It may not happen a month from now or even three months from now.

00:33:16.920 But this is a step in the right direction.

00:33:19.320 Well, it's a big step.

00:33:21.520 And let me say, shutting down the Federal Department of Education is incredibly important.

00:33:25.280 Now, Congress is going to need to act.

00:33:27.100 We're going to need to pass legislation making it permanent.

00:33:31.040 And I'm eager to do so.

00:33:33.200 Why?

00:33:33.580 Because I think the states are much more effective, much more responsive to students.

00:33:37.540 And they don't put the same bureaucracy and red tape on the schools.

00:33:41.900 Look, you want to understand.

00:33:43.340 Here's a point I made at the Texas legislature today.

00:33:45.800 We had a press conference and I pointed out, I said, listen, I think the legislature is going to pass the biggest and boldest and most significant school choice program in America.

00:33:54.300 When it comes time to a vote, most, if not every Democrat is going to vote no.

00:34:00.140 Now, I hope that's not the case.

00:34:01.500 And by the way, you want to talk about I had a reporter ask, why do you say school school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century?

00:34:08.540 Well, if you look at the failing schools, at the schools where you have rampant violence, where you where you have high dropout rates, where you have incredibly low test scores, they're predominantly in low income areas and they're predominantly minority schools. 1.00

00:34:23.220 They're predominantly African-American schools and Hispanic schools.

00:34:26.160 You look at the kids who are disproportionately harmed by failing schools and they're disproportionately minority kids.

00:34:32.940 There is a reason that every time a poll is done of African-American parents or Hispanic parents, you see overwhelming support for school choice, 60 percent, 70 percent, sometimes as high as 80 percent.

00:34:46.560 Now, most elected Democrats claim they are fighting for minorities.

00:34:51.140 Many of them are representing districts that are heavily minority.

00:34:54.360 And yet almost every Democrat and maybe every Democrat intends to vote against school choice against those kids.

00:35:03.060 And here's why I'm going to quote I'm going to quote Al Shanker, who was the longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers.

00:35:12.820 And here's what what he said, quote, when school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interest of school children.

00:35:22.500 Wow. You want to know what's going on with Democrats?

00:35:25.900 They're interested in money and manpower and the teachers union are consistently among, if not their biggest funders and among, if not their biggest source of manpower.

00:35:34.940 And every Democrat who makes the decision I'm voting against choice, what they're saying is I want the dollars from the union bosses more than I care about the kids in my district,

00:35:44.840 more than I care about the African-American and Hispanic kids and the low income kids who are trapped in failing schools, who are not learning to read, who are not learning arithmetic, who are going to drop out. 0.89

00:35:55.280 And by the way, if they drop out, we know just like night follows day.

00:36:00.340 We know the odds of poverty are much, much higher.

00:36:02.780 We know the odds of crime are much, much higher.

00:36:04.940 We know the odds of substance abuse are much, much higher.

00:36:07.740 We know the odds of serious health care issues are much, much higher.

00:36:10.560 And so every Democrat who says, I want the money from the union bosses more than these kids is willing to essentially throw these children overboard and say, your future doesn't matter.

00:36:21.540 That's why it's the civil rights issue of the 21st century.

00:36:24.360 And it's why I've spent 30 years fighting for it.

00:36:27.920 Yeah, it really is.

00:36:28.840 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

00:36:31.480 Hit that subscribe or auto download button.

00:36:33.720 If you miss one of the shows, we do a weekend review on Saturdays, giving you some of the big highlights of the week.

00:36:39.620 And part of that is going to be Elon Musk interview.

00:36:42.700 And if you did miss it, you go back and listen.

00:36:44.860 It was incredible.

00:36:45.980 Two-part series, Monday and Wednesday.

00:36:48.240 You can also watch it and subscribe on YouTube.

00:36:51.220 It is a really fun interview to watch because you get some great facial expressions from Elon Musk.

00:36:56.020 You can tell when he's really thinking hard about an answer before he gives it.

00:37:00.380 And it just gives it even more life.

00:37:02.640 So grab that on YouTube as well.

00:37:04.300 And the Senator and I will see you back here in a couple of days.

00:37:07.040 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:37:10.520 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 21, 2025

Dems Cheer Domestic Terrorism against Tesla, plus Trump Orders Abolish the Department of Education

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