Verdict with Ted Cruz - Government Opens Today-Sparks Democrat Civil War

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.560 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.420 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.540 And Senator, we are in a government shutdown that is ending.

00:00:13.500 And the official vote on that is going to take place today.

00:00:17.640 For most Americans, that means things will get back to normal pretty soon.

00:00:22.040 But it's still chaos in the skies as well.

00:00:24.900 Well, that's right. The shutdown very likely ends today.

00:00:28.000 The House of Representatives is going to vote later this afternoon on the appropriations package

00:00:33.180 and the continuing resolution that the Senate passed on Monday.

00:00:37.220 Our podcast that we put out, we predicted that the government would open on Wednesday.

00:00:42.280 And I think it's very likely to when the House passes it.

00:00:45.280 I expect the president to sign it pretty much immediately.

00:00:47.880 And once it's signed, the funding has returned.

00:00:51.160 And now it will take a little bit of time.

00:00:53.120 I don't know how quickly paychecks will process.

00:00:56.200 So for the federal employees who haven't gotten paychecks now for 44 days,

00:01:01.540 they would really like their paychecks.

00:01:04.380 And I'll tell you, there are a lot of places.

00:01:05.560 Like, I'll give you an example, Capitol Hill.

00:01:07.820 There are a lot of people on Capitol Hill, staffers who have not gotten paid,

00:01:11.140 Capitol Police that have not gotten paid.

00:01:13.300 All of the employees, the employees who drive the subways have not gotten paid.

00:01:18.160 Everyone who's an employee of the federal government, the custodians, the electricians,

00:01:24.200 they have not gotten paid.

00:01:25.460 And look, not to mention the TSA agents and the air traffic control agents and the border

00:01:30.920 patrol agents.

00:01:31.880 And throughout the federal government, thousands and thousands of people have not gotten paid,

00:01:37.260 particularly for some of the younger ones.

00:01:39.500 Like on Capitol Hill, you've got, you know, young men and women that are 22, 23 years old.

00:01:44.520 This is their first job out of college.

00:01:46.440 They're, you know, some of them may have some savings, but many of them don't have any savings

00:01:50.160 at all.

00:01:50.840 And I'll tell you, they're stressed.

00:01:51.940 I mean, they're very stressed.

00:01:53.260 So my hope is the paychecks will come very quickly.

00:01:55.960 I don't know if they will come as quickly as Thursday or how long it will take.

00:01:59.200 Actually, the pipes to do the direct deposit.

00:02:03.360 But my hope is it will be quite quick after the government opens sometime Wednesday evening

00:02:09.640 when I anticipate the president will sign the legislation.

00:02:12.940 Some of the other delays will take a little bit more time.

00:02:17.020 Presumably, when the government opens Wednesday, each of the cabinet agencies will send out emails

00:02:22.540 and notify the non-essential personnel, the personnel who'd been furloughed, come back to work.

00:02:28.600 And so I'm anticipating they'll come back to work Thursday morning because everyone's

00:02:32.140 knowing this is coming.

00:02:33.260 So I think you'll see full staff.

00:02:35.160 Now, it may take a little bit of time to start government services flowing at the same speed

00:02:41.020 that they normally flow at.

00:02:42.920 And something like air travel in particular, my suspicion is there'll be more of a lag in

00:02:48.740 air travel.

00:02:49.300 I anticipate that we'll continue to see delays and cancellations for several days beyond today

00:02:56.200 because what's driving the delays and cancellations is that a lot of the air traffic controllers

00:03:01.380 and TSA agents have been calling in sick.

00:03:04.720 Maybe that immediately turns around on Thursday, but that depends upon the decision of 50,000

00:03:10.920 TSA agents and 14,000 air traffic controllers.

00:03:14.540 And the FAA is not going to return to full capacity flights until we have sufficient numbers

00:03:21.400 of controllers in the air traffic control room to ensure that people are flying safely.

00:03:25.620 That's going to be a really important part of the equation, as you described it there.

00:03:29.320 And it's a smart way that I think what we've really seen is true leadership from the transportation

00:03:33.940 secretary on that issue and the Trump administration to make sure, hey, yeah, there's some delays,

00:03:39.580 but we're going to make sure you're safe in the skies.

00:03:41.840 And that is one of the caveats to all of this is at least you know that someone's kind of looking

00:03:46.480 out for your well-being.

00:03:48.040 And look, there's one party just playing pure politics, trying to hurt people.

00:03:51.080 There's another that's playing defense and trying to protect you.

00:03:54.100 That is, I think, the takeaway from this shutdown.

00:03:57.340 I think that's right.

00:03:58.780 We also saw that the president called for $10,000 bonuses for the air traffic controllers

00:04:05.560 who worked during the shutdown.

00:04:08.220 I think that's a great policy.

00:04:10.560 I think that makes an awful lot of sense.

00:04:13.260 I would like to see the law change so that air traffic controllers get paid whether there's

00:04:18.700 a shutdown or not.

00:04:19.860 And as you know, I voted multiple times for Ron Johnson's legislation that would pay all

00:04:25.800 essential employees so that you don't have federal workers forced to come in and work

00:04:30.580 but not to get a paycheck, because that's what drives things like the sick outs and people

00:04:35.060 not showing up.

00:04:35.920 And so I think it would make perfect sense to have written as a matter of law that regardless

00:04:44.680 of whether there's a shutdown, soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines and FBI agents

00:04:50.320 and Border Patrol agents and ICE agents and air traffic controllers and TSA agents and everyone

00:04:54.880 who is essential, who is required to work, they get paid.

00:04:59.160 The problem has been that Democrats have voted against that over and over and over again.

00:05:04.200 I don't really see that changing because, look, one of the consequences of this, we have

00:05:11.480 funded three appropriations bills.

00:05:13.660 We've funded the agricultural appropriations bill that includes the programs for farmers

00:05:18.360 and ranchers that includes SNAP.

00:05:20.760 So food stamps is funded.

00:05:22.180 All of that's funded for a year.

00:05:23.560 So there won't be a shutdown on that going forward.

00:05:26.380 We have also funded military construction in the VA.

00:05:29.280 So that's really important, both for construction projects at military bases across the country.

00:05:34.900 And that's a job driver.

00:05:36.560 And it's important for our military defense.

00:05:38.700 That's funded for a year.

00:05:40.500 And the VA, obviously, caring for our veterans is critically important.

00:05:43.820 That's funded for a year.

00:05:44.760 So that's good news.

00:05:46.160 It means the next shutdown will have a smaller impact because those three appropriations will

00:05:50.940 continue.

00:05:51.380 But the continuing resolution we passed expires January 30th.

00:05:57.380 And I got to say, I will be very surprised if the Democrats don't force another shutdown

00:06:02.940 on January 30th.

00:06:04.380 And so these battles have not gone away, but they're at least delayed till January 30th.

00:06:11.120 And we may be right back with the same problem with flight delays if the Democrats do it again.

00:06:16.180 Yeah, it really is incredible.

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00:07:52.340 Senator, I want to ask you a question that you just mentioned earlier, and that is, how

00:07:56.440 do we take some of this insanity off the table?

00:07:59.100 You talked about there being real, you know, conversations about making some of these workers

00:08:04.700 where they would be essential, they would get paid in future shutdowns, so they wouldn't

00:08:10.180 be, we wouldn't have the problems at the airport we have now, but also safety, and people that

00:08:15.220 are forced to show up to work, they're going to get paid on time.

00:08:19.100 If this is brought up after the shutdown, what is the main reason why Democrats are against

00:08:24.660 it?

00:08:24.860 Is it just pure leverage at this point?

00:08:26.740 Yes, no, they want to inflict maximum pain.

00:08:31.120 They want the shutdown to be painful for the American people, and it's so they don't

00:08:37.740 want, they were furious when Trump paid the military, and he had enough funds from the

00:08:42.780 one big beautiful bill that he could shift money around and pay the military.

00:08:45.820 They wanted the military not to be paid.

00:08:49.120 They're looking for maximum pain because, and they've said this, they've been very candid,

00:08:54.220 they say that's where they get leverage.

00:08:55.660 You know, tonight, it's Tuesday night, it's Veterans Day, so I want to say to everyone

00:09:02.300 who defended this nation, every veteran we have, thank you.

00:09:05.420 We are grateful for your service, your sacrifice.

00:09:09.220 Our liberties are here because of you.

00:09:12.240 I am right now, today, I'm in Miami, so this evening I spoke at the Miami-Dade County

00:09:17.960 Lincoln Day Dinner.

00:09:18.760 It was a huge event, over 1,000 people.

00:09:22.440 You know, Miami-Dade County has been a Democrat stronghold for decades.

00:09:27.080 This last cycle, we flipped Dade County red.

00:09:30.740 It is a Republican county, Republicans won, multiple elections up and down the slate.

00:09:37.620 There was a lot of energy there tonight.

00:09:39.840 But I got to say, Ben, I started by telling everyone, I said last night I was on the floor

00:09:46.500 of the Senate, Bernie Sanders was screaming, Elizabeth Warren let out an angry war hoop, 0.98

00:09:54.480 Cory Booker curled up in a ball, Adam Schiff was pouting, and Chuck Schumer was crying.

00:10:02.100 And that's not exactly right, but I said, you know what, all of that says it was a great

00:10:07.960 day for America.

00:10:09.200 The Democrats were consuming each other because there were eight Democrats that finally, after

00:10:16.680 42 days, showed the courage to say enough is enough, let's reopen the government.

00:10:21.160 And the Democrats turned on each other with a viciousness that is truly extraordinary.

00:10:29.100 So here was a major story in the Washington Post, headline, Democrats pushed for a ruthlessly

00:10:36.220 pragmatic approach to counter Trump.

00:10:38.200 And here's what the Post reported, the fury at eight Democratic-aligned senators who voted

00:10:42.960 with Republicans to end the longest ever government shutdown highlights the dramatic shift in the

00:10:47.760 Democratic Party less than a year into President Trump's second term, as voters and lawmakers argue

00:10:53.600 that the party needs to adopt a more, more ruthless tactics to counter the president and claw its way

00:10:59.920 back to power.

00:11:00.660 So listen, the Democrats are saying the longest shutdown in history wasn't ruthless enough.

00:11:04.760 It needs to be worse.

00:11:06.640 Post continues.

00:11:08.160 The reaction to the two votes on Sunday and Monday, which provide a pathway for the government

00:11:12.780 to reopen after more than 40 days, was fierce.

00:11:16.060 Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, called for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

00:11:21.720 to be replaced, suggesting he was an ineffective leader, even though Schumer opposed the government

00:11:28.380 funding measure.

00:11:29.180 So Schumer voted no, but it doesn't matter.

00:11:30.920 They want to throw him out anyway.

00:11:32.720 House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat, New York, blasted the eight senators and said

00:11:38.060 the House Democrats would not support a government funding bill that did not include the health

00:11:42.040 care measures the party has demanded.

00:11:43.840 So today, the Democrats presumably, all or virtually all, are going to vote to keep the shutdown going.

00:11:50.000 Now, I fully expect House Republicans will provide the votes needed to send this to the

00:11:53.960 president.

00:11:55.160 But here's what the post continues.

00:11:59.200 Democratic advocacy groups, politically vulnerable lawmakers, potential 2028 presidential candidates

00:12:05.220 and voters all followed suit, lambasting those in the party they saw as caving.

00:12:10.580 The desire for Democrats to hold firm despite the pain inflicted by the shutdown, even though

00:12:18.020 the party's prior posture was that shutdowns are self-destructive, was the latest sign that

00:12:24.620 the party has decided it must adopt an altogether different playbook given Trump's willingness

00:12:30.160 to resort to unprecedented measures to consolidate and maintain powers.

00:12:34.620 Rather than try to uphold norms as the president shatters them, they have decided to fight Trump

00:12:40.620 with tactics they previously disdained, and they have excoriated those who have stood in

00:12:46.120 the way, whether on redistricting or candidates with problematic pasts.

00:12:51.460 And here's one of my colleagues, Chris Van Hollen, one of the more liberal Democrats,

00:12:55.600 quote, early on, there were not enough members of Congress who recognized the magnitude of the

00:13:01.060 threat Donald Trump poses to our democracy and Constitution.

00:13:04.480 That has changed.

00:13:06.880 Van Hollen said that there were a few senators in what he has dubbed the, quote, no business

00:13:10.680 as usual caucus at the beginning of Trump's term, but it has since grown dramatically in response

00:13:16.660 to energy from the party's base.

00:13:19.000 Quote, the lesson is there is power in unity and in members of Congress working in partnership

00:13:24.220 with the grassroots community.

00:13:26.160 This is why so many people are feeling let down at this moment, because that unity was

00:13:30.260 important.

00:13:31.500 This is the reaction on the Democrat side.

00:13:33.720 They are, Schumer is besieged from all sides, and he started this shutdown.

00:13:39.460 We had a shutdown to begin with.

00:13:40.660 This is a civil war, let's be clear, and that's part of what I got to ask you about is, there

00:13:45.900 are Democrats now that are basically like off with his head in leadership.

00:13:49.540 They want him gone.

00:13:50.540 They're publicly saying that.

00:13:51.900 They're saying this is the end of him.

00:13:53.140 He is done.

00:13:53.980 MSNBC said it multiple times.

00:13:56.180 CNN commentators said the same thing, like, he's done.

00:13:58.380 They got to get rid of him.

00:13:59.220 His career's over.

00:14:01.240 This goes back to being held hostage by the Marxists, the socialists, and the communists

00:14:05.120 of the Democratic Party now.

00:14:06.840 They didn't police him.

00:14:07.860 Now they're running the party, and they're anarchists.

00:14:10.440 And Chuck Schumer shut down the government for the longest period in history of this country,

00:14:15.900 and that wasn't good enough for them.

00:14:18.340 And he still voted no on reopening it.

00:14:20.880 So he shut it down for the longest in history.

00:14:22.720 He voted no consistently, and yet they're still off with his head.

00:14:26.820 It really is.

00:14:28.300 The crazies are driving the Democrat Party.

00:14:31.060 And look, if you don't believe me, maybe you will believe John Fetterman.

00:14:35.820 I want you to listen to this exchange.

00:14:37.360 Senator John Fetterman, Democrat from Pennsylvania, was on the view.

00:14:43.360 And Sonny, you know, one of the left-wing hosts there, comes after him and comes after him hard.

00:14:49.640 Listen to her unhinged question, and then listen to Fetterman's response.

00:14:54.780 Well, Senator, Bernie Sanders said the vote was a horrific mistake. 0.97

00:14:59.000 Governor Gavin Newsom called it pathetic and a surrender. 0.84

00:15:01.920 There, poll after poll found more Americans on both sides of the aisle blaming Republicans. 0.92

00:15:07.680 Even Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed the GOP.

00:15:10.600 As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week, so you had momentum.

00:15:15.100 Why give in now?

00:15:16.740 Why bring a butter knife to a gunfight?

00:15:19.140 Are you willing to gamble that the GOP will negotiate on health care in good faith once the government reopens?

00:15:26.760 Because if that gamble is wrong, half a million Pennsylvanians that you represent, their health care costs will skyrocket if you are wrong.

00:15:35.700 And I believe you are wrong.

00:15:37.580 Well, first of all, you know, MTG is quite literally the last person in America that I'm going to take advice or to get their kinds of my leadership and values from.

00:15:49.180 And now, if Democrats are celebrating crazy pants like that, then that's on them.

00:15:53.860 And I don't need a lecture from whether it's Bernie or the governor in California,

00:16:00.980 because they are representing very deep, blue, blue kinds of populations.

00:16:06.580 And a lot of those things, a lot of those things were part of the extreme.

00:16:10.960 And now remember, what really needs to win, to win, the big win, is involving my state and other states and those things.

00:16:19.680 And why have we arrived here after the election a year ago?

00:16:23.880 We want to forget.

00:16:25.280 We got to forget some of the things that cost us that election.

00:16:28.000 Or now, for me, it's like, that's why I'm trying to remind people that kinds of the extremism,

00:16:35.320 we can't return to those kind of things and realize we need to find a way forward.

00:16:39.480 And I would like to, rather than cite MTG, I'm going to cite one of the new governor-elects,

00:16:44.380 saying that my election is not a green light to continue this shutdown.

00:16:50.040 Because I promise you, this isn't a political game.

00:16:53.280 It is viewed by that by many of us.

00:16:55.420 But the reality is, 42 million Americans now are not sure where their next meal is going to come from.

00:17:01.100 And because we vote like that, or people that haven't been paid for five weeks now,

00:17:06.800 and that kind of chaos, those workers have to borrow more than half a billion dollars,

00:17:11.440 you know, from their credit union just to pay their bills.

00:17:13.760 You listen to them talking about paying their bills, and I love that from Fetterman there.

00:17:19.560 They also were very quiet, because I don't think they realized he was going to come back with facts that way and describe it.

00:17:27.620 I jokingly said to you before the show started, when's John Fetterman going to join the Republican Party?

00:17:32.580 Because he's been speaking an awful lot of truth about the reality of this shutdown.

00:17:36.440 Well, look, I like John Fetterman, and I will tell you, Republicans actually treat him much more nicely than the Democrats do.

00:17:44.440 The Democrats are mean to him.

00:17:45.960 They're vicious to him. 0.69

00:17:47.280 They really have a deep antipathy to him.

00:17:51.840 And the amazing thing is, he votes the overwhelming majority of the time with the Democrats.

00:17:58.540 You know, he's on the Commerce Committee with me.

00:18:00.620 On virtually every vote, he votes party-line with the Democrats.

00:18:04.180 On most votes on the floor, he votes party-line with the Democrats.

00:18:07.720 He has a few defections, so he did vote to open the government.

00:18:12.340 And that's viewed as this great heresy, because he didn't want to force a government shutdown and hurt millions of Americans

00:18:19.120 and continue the longest government shutdown in history.

00:18:22.380 And the main area that he's been willing to dissent from virtually every other congressional Democrat is in support of Israel.

00:18:31.540 And we've talked about before that there is a real and cognizable pro-Hamas caucus in the Democrat Party.

00:18:39.780 It rose up about 10 years ago.

00:18:42.220 The Democrats did nothing.

00:18:43.400 They looked the other way.

00:18:44.400 And it's now taken over their party.

00:18:45.880 And Fetterman is a massive outlier because he is genuinely pro-Israel.

00:18:51.360 He is vocally pro-Israel.

00:18:53.960 And the radicals in the Democrat Party hate him for that.

00:18:57.180 And again, if you don't believe me, listen to what John Fetterman said on exactly this topic.

00:19:03.880 You are not Jewish, at least as far as I know. 0.99

00:19:06.840 Feel free to come out here to me right now.

00:19:10.280 But you have been one of the most outspoken.

00:19:14.300 It's beyond Washington.

00:19:15.800 It's beyond politicians.

00:19:16.780 You have been one of the most outspoken people in American life on the issue of anti-Semitism.

00:19:23.100 Why is this issue so important to you?

00:19:27.480 Ironically, I did that 23andMe.

00:19:30.020 I'm 97% German and 3% Neanderthal.

00:19:33.760 And it's like, maybe it's ironic that a big German guy from Pennsylvania who's been very absolutely devoted to Israel and to experience the kind of anti-Semitism in my life.

00:19:48.120 I mean, you know what, you know, the tree of life.

00:19:50.000 I mean, that's where you're from, too.

00:19:52.340 Absolutely appalling.

00:19:53.520 And my heart breaks for what the Jewish communities suffered, especially after 10-7.

00:20:00.340 I've had the honor of meeting, you know, members of the hostages, former people that were kept underground for 500 days.

00:20:08.540 I mean, those are heroes.

00:20:10.100 I've met with widows. 0.99

00:20:12.260 Their husbands were lost in the Gaza War.

00:20:14.640 And they have eight children, raising eight children by their own.

00:20:18.700 That's a hero for all of it.

00:20:20.760 So, for me, it's heartbreaking.

00:20:24.700 And that's been what's so difficult for me is like being devotion to Israel becoming increasingly incompatible with being a proud Democrat now, too.

00:20:33.600 And that's put me at odds.

00:20:35.540 And the things that put me at odds have all converged at the same time.

00:20:39.640 You know, the Gaza War, the peace deal, and then we move right into a shutdown.

00:20:43.240 You know, like now Democrats might not be allowed to hold these views.

00:20:49.080 And I'm not changing my party.

00:20:50.760 And, you know, run the numbers.

00:20:52.320 Run the numbers.

00:20:53.180 You know, you would find that I'm a Democrat.

00:20:57.340 You know, he is a Democrat.

00:20:58.640 But you've walked past his Senate office countless times.

00:21:03.160 I've walked past it probably dozens of times when I'm up in D.C.

00:21:07.460 And he had all the hostage pictures up in his front office, which I thought was incredible.

00:21:13.340 Look, he has been genuinely courageous and sincerely courageous on Israel.

00:21:19.340 And it's earned the absolute ire, hatred, animosity, venom of the radical left in the Democrat Party.

00:21:29.620 I mean, you heard what he just said there, that being pro-Israel is becoming incompatible with being a proud Democrat.

00:21:38.160 I mean, that's a tragic statement.

00:21:40.940 I wish that statement were not true.

00:21:43.900 But it is the biggest reason why their radicals hate him.

00:21:49.380 And much of, you know, when he was first elected and he came into office, he had had a stroke during the campaign.

00:21:57.220 And the stroke was very debilitating.

00:21:58.940 When John showed up, the stroke really limited, like when I first met him, what the stroke did is it limited his ability to process auditory input.

00:22:11.380 So you would talk to him, and his brain was not able to process the words he was hearing.

00:22:18.180 And so he would carry with him an iPad that had a translator, because it just, this is one of the consequences that can be from a stroke, is your ability to process words that you hear.

00:22:29.900 Your brain just can't put them together.

00:22:32.040 So you would talk, and he would read it.

00:22:33.760 But when he first got there, you would talk to him, and he would literally, he was not able to understand what you were saying.

00:22:39.600 And, I mean, it hurt your heart.

00:22:41.160 I mean, this is a very bright man.

00:22:43.240 The man's a Harvard graduate, but he had a medical issue, that he had real consequences.

00:22:48.840 Early on, the Democrats all circled around him and said his, you know, he's perfectly capable.

00:22:55.980 There are no issues whatsoever, because they assumed he would be a left-wing Democrat.

00:23:00.300 That's what they expected of him.

00:23:01.620 That was not a crazy expectation going in.

00:23:03.740 And then, when he started standing up, particularly on Israel, standing up and defying the pro-Hamas caucus, you started seeing the Democrats leaking and planning stories and really attacking his mental capability.

00:23:19.840 And the irony is, look, you heard in those exchanges, he's now able to have a conversation.

00:23:25.020 He still is a little halting in his communication, and I think that's some of the aftermath of the stroke.

00:23:31.160 But the difference is night and day.

00:23:32.860 You can now have a conversation, and he can hear you in a way that when he showed up in the Senate, he was not able to.

00:23:38.880 And yet, Democrats are running to reporters to plant negative stories attacking him.

00:23:46.720 Many of his colleagues want to drive him out of the party.

00:23:49.920 And, at least on the Republican side, I like John, and I think consistently all the Republicans are just trying to be nice to him.

00:23:57.820 By the way, they did the same thing to Joe Manchin.

00:24:00.380 And they did the same thing to Kyrsten Sinema, and they succeeded in driving both of them out of the party because they want no dissent.

00:24:06.940 You must obey and follow orders, or they'll do everything they can to drive you out.

00:24:13.180 And, to be honest, both Sinema and Manchin, I think Republicans were much nicer to than Democrats were.

00:24:19.100 And the consequence was they were both driven out of the party.

00:24:22.260 For the last several weeks, you've heard me talk with Josh Sherrard at Burna and tell stories about people just like you and I and how they've used their Burna launcher to protect themselves and their families.

00:24:33.760 Now, if you don't know what a Burna is, it is a handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants to separate you from an attacker, and it's truly amazing.

00:24:43.160 Now, Josh is back today to share a story about a store owner and how a Burna launcher could have really come in handy.

00:24:49.720 Yeah, so in Seattle, the owner of a local small business decided to have a sidewalk sale to engage more directly with her community.

00:24:56.600 Well, the day was going great when a male walking down the middle of the street could be seen yelling, screaming, and hitting passing cars.

00:25:03.960 This man was clearly suffering from an acute mental episode.

00:25:07.340 When he then approached the store owner, began threatening her.

00:25:10.080 After several failed attempts at de-escalating the situation, the woman ultimately tried to go back into the store to try to get to safety. 0.93

00:25:17.500 And it was then that the deranged man yelled that he was going to gouge out her eyes and then grabbed her, slammed her to the ground, and began choking her.

00:25:25.200 It was only due to several good Samaritans that jumped in to pull him off of her that probably saved her life.

00:25:32.040 You know, this is a growing trend, unfortunately.

00:25:35.160 Mental health is a serious issue.

00:25:37.580 And in areas with larger homeless populations, these individuals affected by this can really get violent.

00:25:43.980 Could Burna still be effective in this case?

00:25:46.460 Absolutely.

00:25:47.160 You know, mental health is striking populations all over America.

00:25:51.120 And those with mental health issues that also have substance abuse issues are over 1,100 times more likely to commit violent crime.

00:25:59.500 And the problem is you never know when that may happen.

00:26:01.640 Burna, especially used with our chemical agent projectiles, will incapacitate even those suffering from those acute mental episodes.

00:26:09.380 So Burna is a great tool to use when you absolutely have no idea that you may need it.

00:26:13.580 If you want to find out more about how Burna can help you or your family members, it's a great gift for the holidays coming for someone you want to help protect.

00:26:21.520 Go to Burna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com. 1.00

00:26:24.620 That's Burna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com. 1.00

00:26:27.880 Burna dot com.

00:26:28.640 Final question on this.

00:26:31.340 As we move forward, what does your gut say about another government shutdown early next year?

00:26:37.500 I think it is very likely when the CR expires on January 30th.

00:26:43.640 I don't see a fundamental dynamic that changes.

00:26:46.500 Now, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe the eight Democrats who cut the deal now, maybe on January 30th, they cut the deal at the front end.

00:26:55.120 That's possible.

00:26:55.800 I can tell you, as we were sitting there on Monday and they had cast the initial vote on Sunday and they were getting savaged.

00:27:05.680 On the Republican side, we felt a real urgency of vote now, now, now, because I look, we were very afraid one of them would flip.

00:27:16.760 I mean, I mean, it there is typically a limit to how much abuse an elected official can take.

00:27:22.460 And, and, and the left wing base was savaging those eight. 0.94

00:27:26.420 Now, we actually had a delay because John Kennedy, who's a good friend of mine, was, was put, in fact, he's been on the podcast just a week ago.

00:27:36.000 Yeah, just a week ago.

00:27:36.580 Yeah.

00:27:36.740 John was pressing for a resolution that says, if there's a shutdown, senators will not be paid so long as federal workers are not being paid.

00:27:48.420 And, and as you know, I voluntarily did that.

00:27:51.780 So I have not taken a paycheck for the entire length of this, this shutdown.

00:27:55.920 I, I sent a written letter to the secretary of the Senate saying, hold my paycheck.

00:27:59.780 I'm not going to be paid as long as they're federal workers who are not being paid.

00:28:03.860 Uh, so whenever the, at some point I'll get my paychecks from the last 40 days in the next, presumably few days, whenever the other federal workers do.

00:28:11.400 I don't know when that will come, but many, and I think most of the Democrats did not do that.

00:28:18.000 They continued taking their, their, their paychecks throughout, which was an incredible hypocrisy.

00:28:23.380 Uh, and so Kennedy was pushing really hard for saying, look, no senators should get paid while there's a shutdown.

00:28:31.920 He wanted a vote when we were taking this up and voting on it.

00:28:36.060 Um, he wanted a separate amendment vote on that.

00:28:39.420 And, and it was a challenge because the Democrats were refusing to give that amendment vote and saying, if you get that amendment vote, then we want a bunch of amendment votes.

00:28:48.720 And so everything was paralyzed and, and, and it could have delayed instead of the Senate voting Monday night, it could have delayed till Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday.

00:28:58.680 And, and I, and many others were really concerned if it delayed till Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday for the Senate to vote, one or more of the eight Democrats would get cold feet and flip.

00:29:08.340 And so actually the way it got resolved is, is, is, is I went to John Kennedy's office and he and I are good friends.

00:29:14.320 And I said, look, can, can we work something out?

00:29:16.640 Cause he, he was really mad.

00:29:17.940 He was frustrated that he couldn't get his vote.

00:29:20.460 I said, can we work something out that lets us vote to reopen the government and, and, and, and get you what you want.

00:29:28.000 And, and, and so we cut an agreement that next week, the rules committee on which I serve is going to vote on John Kennedy's resolution.

00:29:36.820 And, and I think we're going to vote it out of the rules committee and put it on the Senate floor and we'll vote on the Senate floor right after Thanksgiving on Kennedy's provision.

00:29:44.560 And I asked him, look, would you be willing to accept a vote on this, that it's separate, that doesn't delay the overall funding bill?

00:29:52.340 Because if we delay it, if one of these Democrats get cold feet, we could have another week, two, three, four weeks of shutdown.

00:29:59.220 And none of us want that.

00:30:00.560 And Kennedy, he was, he was angry, but, but he said, yes, he, he would agree to that.

00:30:05.200 I'm really glad John did, did that.

00:30:06.820 That was the right thing, but he's fighting for something he really believes in.

00:30:09.980 And so I, I was able to go to leadership and say, look, you guys need to commit to have the vote in the rules committee and the vote on the floor.

00:30:17.600 And, and leadership did make that commitment.

00:30:19.720 And, and, and that was the, the pivotal piece that got us to a vote Monday night to reopen the government.

00:30:25.840 30 days from now, what do you think the fallout's going to actually be?

00:30:29.480 I think people are so fast to get back to normal.

00:30:32.680 The holidays are coming.

00:30:34.320 I think that's going to be something where people are just like, all right, everything's fine.

00:30:37.200 My normal chaos, as long as we don't have chaos in the skies outside of the normal chaos with it, when it comes to Thanksgiving or Christmas travel, I'm good.

00:30:46.080 We're, we're pretty selfish as a people now.

00:30:48.340 Let's just be honest about it.

00:30:49.680 So it's a lot of it is, Hey, if it doesn't affect me, is it really happening?

00:30:53.100 This happens now.

00:30:54.320 And, and is there going to be fallout or accountability on either side?

00:30:57.960 Yeah.

00:30:58.400 Look, people will remember what impacted themselves and their families.

00:31:02.180 So if your food stamps got delayed, you'll remember that, that, that, that, that will abate a real issue.

00:31:07.200 If your paycheck got delayed, that will impact, you know, I was having a conversation with a Capitol police officer yesterday, and this was a Capitol police officer who was a veteran had been around a while.

00:31:17.060 And he was talking about how they were giving grief to like some of the rookies who were brand new.

00:31:22.240 He said there was a class straight out of the academy who started like two days before the shutdown.

00:31:26.580 And, you know, these are all really, you know, young men and women, 22, 23 years old.

00:31:32.660 And this is like their first job.

00:31:34.860 And, and suddenly they're not getting paid.

00:31:37.440 And, and he did say that the, the, the, the veteran Capitol police officers were, were basically giving grief to, to the young rookies and being like, Oh, you're new to this game.

00:31:47.860 And, and, and, and, you know, shutdowns are part of working for the federal government.

00:31:51.180 And, but you know, a lot of these young guys don't have much savings.

00:31:54.160 So they were a little bit shell shocked from it.

00:31:57.340 Those folks will remember.

00:31:59.880 But most Americans, if it didn't impact you, the biggest way that a lot of Americans were impacted was flight delays and, and, and, and flight delays and cancellations.

00:32:10.140 The people who had their, their trip to, to, to, to visit their mom canceled, the trip to go to a funeral in the family, the trip to go on family vacation, the trip to go on a work trip.

00:32:20.820 People will be annoyed at that.

00:32:22.660 Now, look, it's November.

00:32:23.920 We'll move into Thanksgiving.

00:32:25.740 I think by Thanksgiving, the air traffic will be back to normal.

00:32:29.880 So, so, so it won't be an additional burden.

00:32:31.980 And then we'll get into Christmas and the holidays.

00:32:33.860 And do I think by December one, the shutdown is going to be front and center in anyone's mind?

00:32:41.440 Not really, but then we're going to get to January 30th.

00:32:44.880 And, and, and I mentioned in the last podcast, it was really important that we had the continuing resolution.

00:32:51.400 There was a big push to get it to expire on like December 21st.

00:32:55.500 Yeah.

00:32:55.940 That was a terrible idea because often if, if government funding expires right before Christmas, look, obviously every member of Congress wants to get home.

00:33:03.860 They want to be with their family for Christmas.

00:33:05.060 That's, that's natural.

00:33:06.200 You know, most of us have kids.

00:33:07.440 You want to be with your kids for Christmas.

00:33:09.480 That leads frequently to really bad deals.

00:33:13.140 There's an old phrase that jet fumes get in the air, that people are really anxious to get out of town.

00:33:18.200 So they'll agree to horrible deals.

00:33:20.460 So the conservatives, I was pressing hard, do not end it right before Christmas.

00:33:24.420 We need to go into January.

00:33:25.660 So we don't have that pressure pushing people to make a bad deal.

00:33:29.680 And thankfully, and I'll give John Thune credit.

00:33:32.760 John Thune leaned in and said, we're going until January 30th.

00:33:35.420 That's what's in there.

00:33:37.480 We will have this same fight at the end of January, but that at least gives us some more time and, and some more time to deal with it.

00:33:47.480 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:33:53.720 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:33:57.040 Next, I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:33:58.660 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:33:59.900 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:34:09.380 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:34:12.620 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:34:16.680 One of the things that's coming out of the shutdown that I do think is interesting, and I did not see this coming.

00:34:23.060 Maybe you did, but this was not on my, on my bingo card for government shutdown conversations after the fact.

00:34:31.020 And that is the outrageous subsidies of Obamacare.

00:34:37.680 It was called the Affordable Care Act.

00:34:40.600 We now know that it's anything but affordable.

00:34:44.640 Even yesterday on TV, Ina Navarro said, well, you know, we know that premiums have gone up 100, 200, 300 percent.

00:34:52.520 And that's why we need the government open, as she described it, and why we need to fix this.

00:34:56.760 She just said the problem.

00:34:58.080 And I'm like, you guys told us this was going to be affordable.

00:35:01.720 It is not affordable.

00:35:03.740 Not only that, I think at some point it's pretty clear it's not sustainable.

00:35:07.380 And so this is like, for me, Social Security 2.0 issue, right?

00:35:12.100 Sustainability and insolvency.

00:35:14.300 This is now, I think, given a gift to fiscal responsibility that people are talking about just how crazy these subsidies are.

00:35:22.740 We're talking about trillions we've spent.

00:35:24.360 Yeah, look, you go back to when I filibustered on the Senate floor against Obamacare.

00:35:30.080 And I spoke for 21 hours straight.

00:35:32.180 And, you know, you may recall red, green eggs and ham, which a lot of people forget why I read green eggs and ham.

00:35:39.880 The reason is, at the time, my daughters were three and five years old.

00:35:44.540 And whenever I was at home, I would read them bedtime stories.

00:35:47.200 And so it was their bedtime.

00:35:48.200 I was talking for 21 hours.

00:35:49.420 It was their bedtime.

00:35:50.500 So we called home and told them, turn on the TV.

00:35:52.780 And I read them green eggs and ham on TV.

00:35:54.780 And my favorite picture, you've seen it, Ben.

00:35:57.400 Oh, yeah, I love it.

00:35:58.180 That hangs in my Senate office in D.C. is the two girls.

00:36:02.660 They're both in matching pajamas, which at three and five they could do.

00:36:05.980 At 15 and 17, we're well past the stage of matching pajamas.

00:36:09.480 But they're in matching pajamas.

00:36:11.960 And Catherine, the three-year-old, she has her hand on the TV.

00:36:15.260 And she's looking at it in wonderment as her daddy's reading her Dr. Seuss on television.

00:36:20.720 And Caroline, and you know my girls really well, Caroline is the eldest, and I love her.

00:36:25.560 But she's a cynical kid.

00:36:27.480 Not much her dad does impresses her.

00:36:30.160 And in that picture, she is laughing.

00:36:32.360 That was very accurate, by the way.

00:36:34.220 Very accurate.

00:36:36.240 Oh, no, no.

00:36:37.360 It's there are a few things better for humility than being a parent,

00:36:40.980 because your kids really, if you're starting to get a big head,

00:36:45.660 your kids are really good for bringing you down to earth.

00:36:48.420 Yep.

00:36:48.580 But this picture, Caroline at age five, she's cracking up laughing.

00:36:54.440 And it's why I love this picture, because there's just joy in her face.

00:36:58.160 And when I came home after the filibuster, at age five, she had her arms crossed,

00:37:02.360 and she said, okay, dad, that was cool.

00:37:05.100 And I was like, yes!

00:37:06.460 Finally.

00:37:06.820 Like those victories.

00:37:07.720 It took me talking for 21 hours to get it cool.

00:37:12.600 Yeah.

00:37:12.740 So, in that filibuster, I laid out exactly what has happened, that premiums are going to skyrocket.

00:37:20.000 Remember, Barack Obama promised that Obamacare would cut the average family's premiums by $2,500.

00:37:25.760 Yeah.

00:37:26.160 It has massively increased the average family's premiums instead.

00:37:30.680 And there's a reason for that.

00:37:32.640 What Obamacare did is drastically reduced the choices people had and forced people into more expensive plans.

00:37:39.520 It basically outlawed less expensive plans.

00:37:44.380 And Economics 101, supply and demand, when you shrink supply and you also mandate demand,

00:37:53.460 which Obamacare initially had the individual mandate that forced people to buy,

00:37:56.820 the combination of that drives prices through the roof.

00:38:00.500 Now, we repealed the individual mandate, and I was the one who led the fight to do that.

00:38:05.220 So, we successfully repealed the individual mandate.

00:38:08.040 Under the original Obamacare, if you lacked the income to be able to afford health care,

00:38:14.160 the consequence of that is the IRS would fine you.

00:38:17.220 So, you'd have an insult to injury.

00:38:19.180 You didn't have the money to pay for health insurance, and the IRS came and fined you. 1.00

00:38:22.220 It was idiotic policy. 0.99

00:38:24.660 Thankfully, we repealed that, and that was, in 2017, a fight I led and won. 0.99

00:38:31.000 So, that aspect of Obamacare has gone away, but the limiting the choices has not.

00:38:37.260 And what Obamacare does, it's basically built on an invisible cross-subsidy where, listen,

00:38:43.940 if you're young and healthy, it's not very expensive to insure you because insurance is all about actuarial risk.

00:38:50.420 And young, healthy people, you know, some young, healthy people get cancer or get in a nasty car accident,

00:38:56.380 but it's statistically speaking quite unlikely.

00:39:00.120 And so, it's pretty cheap to insure a young, healthy person.

00:39:03.680 If you're older and sicker, it's more expensive to insure you.

00:39:07.260 And what Obamacare did is it mandated that, essentially, the young, healthy people pay higher premiums to subsidize the older, sicker people.

00:39:17.560 Now, one of the weird things that's backwards about this, if you look during the course of a person's life,

00:39:23.660 typically they earn more and accumulate more in savings as they get older.

00:39:28.160 So, it's literally reverse Robin Hood.

00:39:30.160 They were robbing from the poor to give to the rich is what Obamacare did. 0.99

00:39:33.800 And it was based, and you look at the architects of Obamacare, 0.99

00:39:37.500 they thought young people were too stupid to know that their premiums were being doubled and tripled 1.00

00:39:43.580 and being used to subsidize older and sicker people. 1.00

00:39:47.460 I think the whole thing is cynical as hell.

00:39:49.600 And so, what I've argued for, for 13 years, is let people buy the insurance they want.

00:39:55.840 Let young, healthy people buy low-cost, inexpensive insurance.

00:40:00.200 And then, for people that are really, really old or really sick, we can subsidize them directly,

00:40:05.960 but don't do it through an individual, invisible cross-subsidy where you're basically screwing people who aren't aware they're getting screwed.

00:40:13.640 All of which is to say, why are insurance premiums skyrocketing?

00:40:17.520 Because Obamacare, that was the predictable outcome of Obamacare.

00:40:21.880 It wasn't just predictable, it was predicted, and I stood on the Senate floor and predicted it 13 years ago.

00:40:27.820 You know, it's interesting, if you look at the takeaway here, it took 40 days, longest shutdown in government history,

00:40:34.620 and it seems that Democrats are just saying, we'll kick the can down the road a couple months.

00:40:40.300 We may have another government shutdown.

00:40:42.140 We're going to keep holding the American people hostage. 0.86

00:40:44.320 We're not learning from any of this.

00:40:46.120 And this is a scary way that the government's being run right now,

00:40:50.040 but this is what happens when you have the extreme left,

00:40:53.920 who is hell-bent on hurting Americans to get their way when they don't win an election.

00:40:59.820 And that's what this is really all about for them.

00:41:02.400 We'll keep you updated on all of it.

00:41:03.800 Don't forget.

00:41:04.480 Rage is not an agenda.

00:41:06.480 Anger is not an agenda.

00:41:08.340 Hate is not an agenda.

00:41:09.540 And unfortunately, on the far left in the Democrat Party, that is what they are for, is rage, hate, and anger.

00:41:17.180 And we're going to see more chaos.

00:41:18.720 We're going to see more holding the American people hostage because it's a direct outgrowth of that rage and hate and anger.

00:41:26.820 Yeah, amen to that.

00:41:28.560 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

00:41:30.940 So hit that subscribe or auto-download button so that you can get this show and not miss any of the episodes.

00:41:36.680 We've been talking a lot about the government shutdown.

00:41:38.680 We're going to get into some other big issues as well moving forward.

00:41:41.600 That I can promise you.

00:41:42.860 So make sure you download Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:41:44.980 And grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson podcast, on those in-between days.

00:41:48.480 I'll keep you updated on what's going on as well there.

00:41:50.520 And we'll see you back here Friday morning.

00:41:53.680 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:41:56.560 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 12, 2025

Government Opens Today-Sparks Democrat Civil War

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