Verdict with Ted Cruz - February 11, 2020


Ep. 13 - The Stakes of 2020


Episode Stats


Length

24 minutes

Words per minute

170.78198

Word count

4,143

Sentence count

399

Harmful content

Misogyny

7

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

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

The Impeachment is over. Now the real political risk begins. Ted Cruz explains why impeachment is a bad idea, and why you should vote against it. Ted Cruz is running for re-election to the Senate in 2020.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.500 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.460 The impeachment is over.
00:00:06.440 Now the real political risk begins.
00:00:09.580 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:17.420 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:20.000 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:00:21.900 Impeachment is over, finally.
00:00:25.320 Now you can get a good night's sleep.
00:00:26.920 Now we can get a good night's sleep.
00:00:28.140 But actually, we were talking about this a little bit last episode.
00:00:31.980 Impeachment was always going to end the way it was going to end.
00:00:35.020 It was never going to end in the removal of the president.
00:00:37.120 In some ways, I wonder if impeachment was kind of the safe period for conservatives in politics.
00:00:43.100 And actually, now the real threat begins.
00:00:45.720 We are told every single election cycle, this is the most important election of our lifetimes.
00:00:51.020 Now everything is about 2020.
00:00:53.240 I want to know from your vantage on the inside, in the Senate, what is really at stake in 2020?
00:01:00.780 Look, I think it is an unbelievably consequential election on a lot of fronts.
00:01:06.460 But let's step back.
00:01:08.340 Take just the meta level first.
00:01:10.400 Reward and punishment.
00:01:15.000 Look back over the last year, over the last three years.
00:01:19.220 Do you like the behavior of the Democrats?
00:01:22.120 No.
00:01:22.920 Do you like the nuttiness?
00:01:26.320 Do you like the gallop to the left?
00:01:28.440 Do you like the abuse of the Department of Justice and the FBI and targeting the president and attacking the president and impeaching him for partisan purposes?
00:01:35.880 Do you like the squad and AOC attacking Israel, embracing socialism, and going nuts?
00:01:41.740 If you do, well, depending on what happens in November, we'll either get a lot more of it or a lot less of it.
00:01:48.900 What?
00:01:49.360 I mean, obviously, they've run far to the left.
00:01:53.420 What could happen, though?
00:01:55.080 I mean, just beyond more crazy AOC tweets and speeches.
00:01:59.280 If the Democrats are rewarded in November, if they have a good election day.
00:02:04.120 Yeah.
00:02:05.620 Everything we've seen now gets amplified, and it gets amplified tenfold.
00:02:10.700 Politicians are not complicated creatures.
00:02:12.720 They react to incentives.
00:02:14.440 If something works, they do it again.
00:02:16.020 They do more.
00:02:16.500 If it works again, they do more of it.
00:02:17.640 They do more of it.
00:02:18.300 And by the way, if it doesn't work, they stop doing it.
00:02:21.360 If they get punished, look, it's a little bit like when your dog takes a crap on the sofa.
00:02:27.660 If you whack him with the newspaper, he'll stop doing that.
00:02:32.640 Politicians need to be whacked with newspapers more. 0.98
00:02:36.520 I think that's an issue that everybody could get behind in the whole country.
00:02:40.500 I am all for it.
00:02:42.920 Except the problem is the newspapers work for the Democrats, so they're not going to whack them.
00:02:46.280 And we could take a total digression and go Joe Pesci, good fellows and whacking politicians,
00:02:55.200 but that's a really bad idea.
00:02:56.580 Now we're going to get banned from Twitter, which is actually something I want to ask you
00:03:00.060 about too, but I interrupt.
00:03:03.700 Let me give an example.
00:03:06.400 Why do you think it was that Barack Obama was never impeached?
00:03:10.320 Because John Boehner refused to do it?
00:03:12.280 Yeah, but why?
00:03:12.920 Well, I don't know why, because the Bill Clinton impeachment didn't go well.
00:03:18.760 Huh?
00:03:19.820 So Bill Clinton's president, Republicans impeach him.
00:03:22.800 They got all energized.
00:03:24.780 They bring the impeachment.
00:03:26.180 And what happens?
00:03:27.360 Bill Clinton's approval rating goes up.
00:03:30.100 And Republicans' approval rating goes down.
00:03:34.420 Bill Clinton loves it because the American people say, look, this guy's actually focusing
00:03:39.000 on what we care about.
00:03:40.140 And who are these crazy Republicans that are focused on just a partisan fight?
00:03:45.540 Well, so fast forward to the Obama administration.
00:03:51.840 Listen, there were grassroots activists asking all the time, impeach Obama.
00:03:58.060 Now, I'll be clear.
00:03:58.700 I never thought we should impeach Obama, but I would get asked.
00:04:01.160 And this is, I ran in 2012.
00:04:03.120 I'd never been elected to anything.
00:04:04.920 I mean, the first thing I've ever been elected to in my life is Senate.
00:04:07.560 So I'm running, I'd be with activists and they'd say, why don't we impeach Obama?
00:04:11.220 And, you know, I'd usually say, I wouldn't necessarily argue with them just because it's
00:04:14.060 not a bad idea.
00:04:14.760 It's not a good idea to get in a fight with like grassroots activists.
00:04:17.680 The people you're asking their votes for you.
00:04:19.980 But I just, the answer I would usually give is, you know what?
00:04:23.720 It's better.
00:04:25.240 The better solution is beat him at the ballot box.
00:04:27.680 That rather than use impeachment, trust democracy or trust the democratic republic we have.
00:04:35.560 We're not a pure democracy, but trust the democratic checks.
00:04:38.720 So what that means, and by the way, every Republican had accepted in Congress, it was
00:04:44.300 received wisdom.
00:04:46.000 Impeaching Clinton was a disaster.
00:04:47.400 We don't want to do it again.
00:04:48.520 That's why they didn't go down that road.
00:04:52.180 If the Democrats win doing this, every bad behavior gets amplified.
00:04:58.760 So that's the broader meta level, but it's a very real level.
00:05:02.400 That's an important point because what you're saying garbage will get, and not just a little
00:05:06.260 worse, a lot worse, like the vindictive, personal, nasty, abuse my power, use everything
00:05:15.720 for partisan gain, rip the State of the Union speech.
00:05:20.680 Look, fast forward to where they go if this gets rewarded.
00:05:27.480 I think it's really scary.
00:05:30.400 The point that is so interesting here is that I thought we had the final impeachment vote
00:05:35.100 last week, the important impeachment vote.
00:05:36.920 But actually what you're saying is the really important impeachment vote, the vote that is
00:05:41.100 going to tell us what future impeachments will look like or what future behavior from the
00:05:45.680 party that impeached will look like.
00:05:46.980 That actually didn't happen last week.
00:05:48.340 That's going to happen this November.
00:05:50.140 In November, listen, the Senate acquitted President Trump about 4.30 in the afternoon.
00:05:59.780 Five and a half hours earlier at 11 a.m., Jerry Nadler announces they're subpoenaing John
00:06:07.580 Bolton.
00:06:08.160 That's right.
00:06:08.540 They're not done.
00:06:09.500 This is release the hounds.
00:06:11.540 This is attack.
00:06:12.320 This is use everything we've got.
00:06:14.260 And if they win in November, all of that gets amplified.
00:06:18.720 Now, let's talk specifics.
00:06:20.620 You're right.
00:06:21.300 Every politician says it's the most important election.
00:06:24.520 And listen, if it's your rear end on the election, they need it.
00:06:28.260 I mean, it's the most important to you.
00:06:28.880 They're actually not necessarily lying when they say that.
00:06:32.740 It's just very specific.
00:06:34.020 Look, you remember what Reagan said against Jimmy Carter, where he said, you know, recession
00:06:42.740 is when your neighbor loses his job.
00:06:44.580 Depression is when you lose your job.
00:06:46.540 And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job.
00:06:48.840 That's right.
00:06:49.180 I mean, all of that is very real if it impacts you.
00:06:53.400 But if you look at substantively, I mean, think back to the State of the Union.
00:06:58.220 Think back to the president reciting all the incredible gains in the economy that, frankly,
00:07:04.380 if you had predicted three years ago, no one would have believed you.
00:07:07.360 Right.
00:07:07.540 The media would have mocked you.
00:07:08.860 That'll never happen.
00:07:09.620 It's impossible.
00:07:10.240 No, we can't bring manufacturing jobs back. 0.99
00:07:12.960 We can't see wages rise.
00:07:14.180 We can't see.
00:07:16.240 Nobody hates taxes more than me.
00:07:18.480 I despise when taxes go up.
00:07:21.160 I think it'll kill jobs. 0.98
00:07:22.300 I am worried about all of that.
00:07:24.660 That's not keep me up at night kind of fear.
00:07:27.900 What actually has me worried about 2020 are the big changes, the changes that are more radical
00:07:35.780 than we've seen before, the changes that won't be so easy to undo.
00:07:40.240 Is there a real risk of that kind of stuff?
00:07:43.360 So listen, I think the very first priority Democrats will have is stay in power forever.
00:07:49.980 Yeah.
00:07:50.180 So I think they will look at structural changes.
00:07:54.440 How do they structurally make it so they can never lose?
00:07:59.420 Can they do that?
00:08:00.500 I mean, they haven't done that before.
00:08:02.520 They haven't, but they've rarely had the majorities.
00:08:06.280 And you mean majorities in House, Senate, presidency?
00:08:13.340 And the ability to force it through.
00:08:15.800 There have always been checks on it.
00:08:17.440 So for example, all right, we wake up January 2021.
00:08:22.440 Bernie Sanders is president.
00:08:23.800 Yeah.
00:08:24.580 Chuck Schumer is majority leader.
00:08:27.020 Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House.
00:08:28.580 I think one of the first things that happens is they end the filibuster.
00:08:34.740 So the filibuster is one of these terms that everybody kind of knows what it means.
00:08:39.640 But what is the meaning of the filibuster?
00:08:43.140 What has it meant for American political history?
00:08:45.200 So look, historically, the filibuster meant unlimited debate.
00:08:49.000 It meant you could stand up and talk as long as you want, what I did in 2013 on Obamacare.
00:08:53.000 And when people think of filibuster, they think of Jimmy Stewart standing up and doing this long filibuster.
00:09:02.380 What it means is a practical matter, though, in the Senate is that to take up any legislation, you need 60 votes.
00:09:10.220 What it means is the minority has a veto.
00:09:12.920 Even you're not controlling the Senate, but you've got enough votes that you can slow things down.
00:09:19.480 Right.
00:09:19.660 So that's how the Senate has operated on legislation.
00:09:24.120 It has been a tool over and over again to just slow things down.
00:09:27.400 Yeah.
00:09:29.780 What's changed?
00:09:30.980 So when Obama was president, there was a period.
00:09:34.600 So there was a brief period where they had a Democratic supermajority.
00:09:37.520 They had 60 votes.
00:09:39.320 And that's when they took up Obamacare.
00:09:41.000 That's when they were ramming things through when they had 60 votes.
00:09:44.280 And then you remember Ted Kennedy died.
00:09:46.360 Yeah.
00:09:46.760 And that 60th vote, you remember who got elected?
00:09:50.700 A Republican in Massachusetts.
00:09:53.180 Scott Brown.
00:09:53.440 Scott Brown.
00:09:54.080 And it was a national election.
00:09:56.320 Right.
00:09:56.760 Because it was, holy cow, we've got to stop this 60th vote.
00:10:01.020 And it was basically a referendum on Obamacare.
00:10:03.420 And the people of Massachusetts said, give us a Republican.
00:10:06.360 Now, when has that last happened?
00:10:08.040 Right.
00:10:08.360 Right.
00:10:08.580 Because it just opens the door.
00:10:11.140 That doesn't happen a lot.
00:10:12.320 That one party controls absolutely everything.
00:10:15.320 And when it does happen, they can get through major transformational legislation like Obamacare.
00:10:20.720 So when they fell to 59, there were some old bull Democrats who wouldn't end the filibuster. 0.62
00:10:28.320 It was just, it was a different Democratic Party in 2009 than it is in 2020.
00:10:34.640 Oh, yeah.
00:10:35.200 Absolutely.
00:10:35.840 You can see that.
00:10:36.660 The Democratic caucus in the Senate, every one of them would vote to end the filibuster.
00:10:42.060 By the way, we saw them do that with Harry Reid when they ended the filibuster on judges.
00:10:47.080 This is what makes me very nervous about it because for so long, the filibuster was sacred because whatever party had the majority knew that eventually one day they'd be in the minority.
00:10:57.880 So, all right, let's assume you're Chuck Schumer's political strategist.
00:11:01.900 Yeah.
00:11:02.340 And your objective is stay in power forever.
00:11:04.520 What do you want to do?
00:11:06.240 You want to, number one, change the electorate.
00:11:08.900 You want to change who's voting.
00:11:10.620 What's the easiest way to do that?
00:11:13.100 Illegal immigration. 1.00
00:11:13.920 But not just illegal immigration, make everyone here illegally citizens. 0.87
00:11:18.460 Yes.
00:11:19.660 The estimates vary 11 million, 12 million.
00:11:23.020 I've seen estimates as high as 18, 20 million people here illegally.
00:11:26.240 No one really knows.
00:11:28.360 But I think right at the top of the priority list is make as many illegal aliens as possible, citizens and voters instantaneously. 1.00
00:11:37.780 Because those new voters are much more likely to vote for Democrats.
00:11:41.880 I think they're convinced they will vote Democratic.
00:11:44.340 And by the way, that's not true with Hispanic voters generally.
00:11:46.820 I mean, in Texas, I get over 40% of the Hispanic vote in Texas.
00:11:50.980 Yeah.
00:11:51.480 I did in 2012.
00:11:52.640 I did in 2018.
00:11:54.140 But those are legal Hispanic citizens.
00:11:57.360 Very different voting preferences.
00:11:58.800 Those are people who follow the rules.
00:11:59.620 The Democrats have gone all in on gambling that illegal aliens are going to vote Democrat.
00:12:05.660 So that's a big structural change, ending the filibuster.
00:12:08.460 And then through that, if they control everything, you get amnesty for maybe tens of millions of people.
00:12:14.000 And think about the voting consequences.
00:12:16.100 Where are illegal aliens concentrated?
00:12:18.200 Florida.
00:12:18.840 Yeah.
00:12:19.080 Florida turns bright blue and never votes Republican again.
00:12:22.200 Texas.
00:12:22.880 Texas becomes a Democratic state.
00:12:24.380 North Carolina, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico.
00:12:29.900 If Republicans lose Texas, we're never becoming president again.
00:12:32.700 It's game over.
00:12:33.340 If they do just that, let's assume they do nothing else.
00:12:36.380 They enact the filibuster and they make 12 million illegal alien citizens.
00:12:41.680 That's it.
00:12:42.100 Game over for us at the national level.
00:12:44.000 And you don't think Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders want to do that?
00:12:46.820 Right, of course.
00:12:47.340 So let's talk about the Senate.
00:12:49.460 If they take the Senate, let's assume they have 51, 52 Democratic senators.
00:12:55.540 I think high on their list, get more Democratic senators. 0.69
00:12:59.120 How do you get, are you going to annex Greenland?
00:13:01.440 They won't do that.
00:13:03.300 Trump wants that.
00:13:03.900 Mostly because they made fun of Trump for it.
00:13:05.980 I have to admit it was a very interesting idea.
00:13:08.520 But you know what they can do?
00:13:11.080 They can make the District of Columbia a state.
00:13:14.060 Washington, D.C.
00:13:15.220 Washington, D.C.
00:13:16.000 And by the way, Washington, D.C.
00:13:17.800 is like an 85% Democratic city.
00:13:21.580 You want a state guaranteed to elect Democrats for all eternity.
00:13:26.160 D.C. as a state would be the most liberal state in the country.
00:13:29.220 And they've proposed it before.
00:13:30.100 Joe Lieberman proposed it right before he left the Senate.
00:13:32.600 And so if you're Chuck Schumer, you make D.C. a state and suddenly you get two brand new Democratic senators.
00:13:40.800 That will never lose.
00:13:42.300 Right.
00:13:43.720 Puerto Rico becoming a state.
00:13:44.940 Now, it's interesting.
00:13:46.440 There's some debate.
00:13:47.340 You get debate whether if Puerto Rico is a state, would they elect Republicans?
00:13:51.240 Would they elect Democrats?
00:13:52.680 I don't know the answer to that, but I can tell you that the Democratic Party thinks they'd elect Democrats.
00:13:56.840 Thinks it would be a win for them.
00:13:57.880 So you could have a situation with some real probability that you add four Democratic senators in the U.S.
00:14:07.440 And then suddenly you're trying to say, how do you get the Senate back?
00:14:10.360 And instead of being down 51-49, you're down 56-49.
00:14:14.600 Yeah.
00:14:15.260 Or 55-49.
00:14:16.660 No one told me there'd be math on this.
00:14:18.760 Okay, so not only that.
00:14:23.620 Let's take a big priority of Democrats right now, and I think one of the first bills they would pass if they take control, which is national instantaneous voter registration.
00:14:35.700 Now, look, that sounds kind of boring.
00:14:38.060 Okay.
00:14:38.160 So right now, voter registration is done by the states, and you've got to sign up for it.
00:14:42.820 State and local level, and there are a lot of state and local levels that combat voter fraud.
00:14:47.140 Yeah.
00:14:47.800 The Democrats want a federal takeover.
00:14:49.480 They want to put the states and local governments out of the election business.
00:14:52.960 Why?
00:14:53.280 And make everyone immediately an eligible voter because they don't – it's the same reason they fight photo ID.
00:15:02.700 They don't want to see photo ID on voting.
00:15:05.600 Because it's harder to steal elections.
00:15:11.460 You want to talk about structurally ensuring they stay in power.
00:15:16.640 You know, we're seeing them do this at the local level where I am in California, where I am when I'm not in Washington.
00:15:22.660 They pass these laws, motor voter laws, so you get instantaneous registration at the DMV.
00:15:28.240 You even see ballot harvesting.
00:15:29.740 So this idea –
00:15:30.860 Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't put it past them to have electronic voting, to have, number one, a holiday, a mandated federal holiday on Election Day, and electronic voting.
00:15:41.440 Because, you know, we've seen how well that worked in Iowa.
00:15:44.000 That would be so great.
00:15:44.960 They'll have the same guy, Robbie Mook, who – what a name.
00:15:49.460 Robbie Mook worked for Mrs. Clinton.
00:15:51.960 He was Hillary Clinton, I guess, her campaign manager.
00:15:55.220 And he was behind that app that completely botched the Iowa caucuses.
00:15:58.980 So instead, we'll just have the entire elections run through an app.
00:16:02.660 But don't worry.
00:16:03.440 If it's not Democratic operatives running the app, it'll be big tech.
00:16:08.000 Because we can trust big tech to be in charge of our elections.
00:16:11.060 They would never censor conservatives, have a political bias.
00:16:14.560 And as bad as they are now, in a Democratic – in a Bernie Sanders administration, they would – I am not exaggerating when I say this podcast could very well be off the air.
00:16:30.700 Well, because social media, these big tech companies, they go after conservatives even when the Republicans have the Senate, when you can grill them, drag them to the Capitol.
00:16:41.920 Which I've done a bunch of times.
00:16:43.040 Which you have – in particular, you've done a lot.
00:16:44.920 And when Republicans have the White House. 0.78
00:16:47.460 So you're saying there's –
00:16:48.120 And the Department of Justice and the executive branch.
00:16:50.460 Right.
00:16:50.560 So they're nervous.
00:16:51.880 Look, big tech right now doesn't want DOJ to break them up under the antitrust laws.
00:16:55.340 Yeah.
00:16:56.120 You get Bernie Sanders in power, they're going to come in.
00:16:58.500 Look, a lot of the Democrats – do you remember when Mark Zuckerberg testified in the Senate and there were like 45 senators?
00:17:03.680 It was the Commerce Committee and Judiciary Committee.
00:17:05.800 I was one of them that grilled Mark Zuckerberg.
00:17:08.300 Just about every senator grilled him, both Democrats and Republicans.
00:17:10.960 It was actually a fascinating moment.
00:17:13.820 But if you listened, it was like two ships passing in the night.
00:17:16.520 Because what the Democrats were saying was, why the hell did you let Donald Trump win?
00:17:22.160 So they weren't – what the Republicans were saying is, why are you censoring people?
00:17:25.520 What the Democrats were saying is, why didn't you censor –
00:17:27.320 The Republicans were kind of meandering around like, so what's this internet thingy again?
00:17:32.860 It's a system of tubes.
00:17:34.380 It was not the most effective cross-examination in the history of the Senate.
00:17:39.500 But the Democrats were calling for more censorship.
00:17:42.560 They were saying, you let these crazy conservatives speak, and look what happened.
00:17:47.760 Yeah.
00:17:48.040 And they'll put it in the frame of, let's stop lying.
00:17:51.860 And so they'll tell Big Tech – Big Tech's already going down this road, but imagine it accelerated with the federal government.
00:17:59.100 They define as a lie anything they disagree with.
00:18:02.880 Right, of course.
00:18:03.540 Medicare for all is bad. 0.97
00:18:05.380 That's a lie.
00:18:06.040 We're just going to say you can't lie.
00:18:07.860 And that means you can't disagree – did you ever read 1984?
00:18:12.380 I did, yeah.
00:18:13.360 George Orwell.
00:18:14.200 So I actually read 1984 in 1984.
00:18:18.800 I was in eighth grade.
00:18:20.620 I actually thought it was totally cool.
00:18:22.080 Mr. Waugh was our teacher, and he assigned 1984 in 1984.
00:18:25.640 We're all like, all right, that's kind of cool.
00:18:27.900 But you remember the propaganda.
00:18:30.080 We're at war with Eurasia. 1.00
00:18:31.380 We've always been at war with Eurasia. 1.00
00:18:32.720 This is the totalitarian government.
00:18:34.460 They're always just saying we're at war with Eurasia.
00:18:36.880 We've always been at war.
00:18:37.500 But then they switch it.
00:18:38.520 They switch it to – and suddenly what was said in the past is no longer operative.
00:18:43.980 Right.
00:18:44.980 Big Tech has that kind of power.
00:18:47.540 They control information.
00:18:49.500 They control the flow of information.
00:18:50.400 They can disappear you.
00:18:51.020 And then throw in, all right, economic policies, not just repealing the tax cuts, massive new taxes.
00:18:59.840 Yeah.
00:18:59.980 I mean, crushing new taxes.
00:19:04.540 Regulatory.
00:19:05.060 Who do you think – who do you think will be EPA administrator?
00:19:12.340 I dread your answer.
00:19:18.000 How about AOC?
00:19:19.020 Oh, no.
00:19:19.980 Oh, no.
00:19:20.560 And I'm not exaggerating.
00:19:23.500 If you have a President Sanders or a President Warren, why wouldn't they put someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in? 1.00
00:19:31.480 So I – when I asked you what was at stake here, I was kind of hoping you would just tell me they're going to raise your taxes.
00:19:38.200 And I'm going to hate that, but I'll get over it.
00:19:39.960 This is sufficiently terrifying that before all of this happens and they shut down everybody who writes into the mailbag –
00:19:46.820 Attorney General Kamala Harris.
00:19:48.660 No, I don't – I can't hear any more of this.
00:19:50.500 Supreme Court Justice Barack Obama.
00:19:52.740 No, you don't mean that.
00:19:53.600 And by the way, not just one.
00:19:55.900 Look, the Democrats are talking about packing the Supreme Court.
00:19:58.880 In other words, expanding it from nine – the number they're talking about is to 15 justices.
00:20:02.880 So six brand new justices.
00:20:04.940 I am terrified.
00:20:06.780 At the end of all of – I am – the thought of Supreme Court Justice Barack Obama alone would be enough.
00:20:12.700 So before all of this happens and before we have to go, I want to get to a mailbag question before all of our listeners are censored.
00:20:20.140 From Bill, what is the most important thing for you to accomplish in the Senate after all of this impeachment stuff blows over?
00:20:30.440 Let's take two phases. 0.94
00:20:31.620 Yes, between now and Election Day, we're going to confirm judges, keep confirming good, effective judges.
00:20:36.840 It's pretty good.
00:20:38.600 And the most important thing I'll do is defend the principles of liberty.
00:20:42.820 It's why we're doing this podcast.
00:20:44.000 It's why I'm trying to engage – is take on socialism, fight back on the forces that are trying to strip our liberty, defend free enterprise, and defend the Constitution.
00:20:53.200 More broadly, in terms of policy, the legislation I'm most proud of having passed is legislation that I introduced as part of the tax cut bill that expanded school choice.
00:21:06.200 I think school choice, it is the most important civil rights issue facing America.
00:21:11.900 For a lot of people, it's their only ticket out of poverty.
00:21:14.420 And, you know, President Trump, during his State of the Union, called on Congress to pass my school choice legislation that it's $100 billion in federal tax credits for businesses and for individuals that contribute to scholarship-granting organizations, that are giving scholarships to kids K-12, and also to adults in vocational training.
00:21:37.040 $100 billion, you want to talk about transformational.
00:21:39.940 Yeah.
00:21:42.200 Education is a gateway.
00:21:43.460 And if we empower kids to choose the school that's best for them, that has the ability to change the world.
00:21:51.140 But, unfortunately, now the Democrats have the House, the Republicans have the Senate, so there's not going to be a lot of legislating.
00:21:57.180 Last question.
00:21:58.200 That won't happen between now and Election Day, but if we have a good election in 2020, I think it can happen going forward.
00:22:03.540 Then there's a chance that we could – I mean, and I guess that gets to the whole point.
00:22:06.580 The show is there is so much at stake here.
00:22:09.640 Last question is just a personal question from Alex.
00:22:13.960 Does it bother you that the impeachment vote could have been taken three minutes after the start of all of this, and it would have produced the same results?
00:22:23.200 You know, it actually doesn't.
00:22:25.860 There was a lot of debate early on and online about should we do a motion to dismiss at the outset.
00:22:31.360 Yeah.
00:22:33.540 And I thought that was an ill-advised strategy.
00:22:36.300 Why?
00:22:36.980 A couple of reasons.
00:22:38.420 Number one, if we'd done a motion to dismiss at the outset, I think we probably would have lost it.
00:22:42.580 I think some of the wobbly Republicans that we had to work to get, they weren't there at the outset of this.
00:22:50.140 Right.
00:22:50.240 We had to get them there.
00:22:51.280 They wanted the process to play out.
00:22:52.700 But number two, we all saw that the House was a kangaroo court.
00:22:57.900 Yeah.
00:22:58.080 I don't think it actually would have served the Constitution or the country for the Senate to be seen as a kangaroo court or, in fact, be one.
00:23:07.060 And so just throwing it out on day one, I think we had a responsibility to say we're going to do a fair trial.
00:23:16.340 The House has voted.
00:23:17.500 That constitutionally is a big deal.
00:23:19.360 Even if you did it abusively, it's a big deal.
00:23:21.640 Yeah.
00:23:21.780 When the House votes out articles of impeachment, we're going to have a fair trial.
00:23:25.600 We're going to hear from both sides.
00:23:26.700 You can present your case.
00:23:27.760 We will listen to your case.
00:23:29.740 And we're going to follow the law.
00:23:30.940 I think that was the right way to do it.
00:23:32.220 And the other reason why I like it, just personally, is because by dragging it out, it actually was very instructive.
00:23:38.700 I guess that's the whole point of this podcast was to be instructive on what is really happening, what impeachment means, how it works.
00:23:44.900 Unfortunately, this episode of the podcast has instructed me of all the many horrors that could befall us after November.
00:23:53.120 So I'm probably not going to sleep between now and our next podcast.
00:23:56.980 But it's a lot to think on, and it's important to know what the stakes really are.
00:24:00.420 That's all the time we have.
00:24:01.300 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:24:02.580 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:24:11.940 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:24:14.820 Guaranteed human.