Verdict with Ted Cruz - July 10, 2026


Historic Week Launching Trump Accounts for every Kid in America—the Inside Story behind this Landmark Victory


Episode Stats


Length

39 minutes

Words per minute

169.14

Word count

6,733

Sentence count

439

Harmful content

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

8

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergusons break down why this week was one of the most consequential weeks in American history, and why it's no accident that it happened on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the Supreme Court's landmark decision that legalized abortion.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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00:01:34.720 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
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00:01:51.860 Well, this week was a consequential week.
00:01:55.120 Indeed, I think this week was an historic week, a week that generations will look back
00:02:00.140 that what happened this week changed the future of America.
00:02:04.240 We're going to break that down for you. 0.93
00:02:05.340 But first, I have to point out one of the reasons it was consequential is one young
00:02:09.420 Benjamin Ferguson lost his wager to me.
00:02:12.280 In the last podcast, Ben boldly declared that Graham Plattner was not going to step down
00:02:20.000 before the deadline to replace him.
00:02:22.200 Yes.
00:02:22.540 And he was confident about it.
00:02:24.720 He wanted to put a wager.
00:02:26.420 He wanted Mexican food.
00:02:28.040 He wanted margaritas.
00:02:29.160 He agreed to top shelf.
00:02:32.000 And I got to say, I actually felt guilty.
00:02:35.560 It felt like taking candy from a baby.
00:02:36.920 Did you have insider information on this bet?
00:02:38.960 Is that what you're now coming clean about?
00:02:40.880 It felt like taking candy from a baby. 0.51
00:02:43.540 It felt like beating a Nazi communist in an election. 0.65
00:02:48.920 Here's the simple reality, Ben. 0.85
00:02:52.220 Commies going to commie.
00:02:53.440 so we're going to come back to that in a minute but just just understand that our co-host 0.95
00:02:58.480 sadly is uh i think the technical term is a loser a loser yes i knew that word you by the way you 0.87
00:03:05.420 didn't even make it 27 seconds before you started gloating i i would have had you at least at a
00:03:10.080 minute yeah you don't miss an opportunity we got a pre-gloat at the front but but that is one reason
00:03:16.500 this week is historic but it's not the biggest reason the biggest reason that this week is
00:03:20.980 historic is on July 4th, on our nation's 250th birthday, the Trump accounts went live. The Trump
00:03:28.580 accounts, the accounts, I wrote the legislation, I created this program. They are now live. They
00:03:34.620 are investment accounts for every single child in America. And I believe they're going to have
00:03:40.840 a profound impact for the future of our kids as our kids are going to experience the miracle of
00:03:47.220 compound growth, and as our kids are going to become capitalists. We had an event this week
00:03:52.940 in the Oval Office with President Trump. I was there. We're going to bring you inside that event
00:03:57.800 with the president. We're going to tell you everything that was happening behind the scenes,
00:04:02.720 celebrating what I think is an announcement that will make a very real difference 10, 20,
00:04:08.140 30 years from now, not to mention 50, 75, 100 years from now. This week is when the Trump
00:04:15.160 accounts launched. Yeah, we've got a lot to talk about, especially taking you behind the scenes on
00:04:19.860 what happened at the White House in just a moment. I also want to talk to you about something really
00:04:24.920 important and something that you're going to want to know about. Most people think the battle over
00:04:29.280 funding abortion providers actually ended when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Well, it didn't. In
00:04:35.420 fact, abortion providers are doing more business than ever. Just the last fiscal year, the largest
00:04:41.160 abortion enterprise in the nation performed over 430,000 abortions. Now this is what's even more
00:04:50.440 shocking than that. They received more than $830 million in government reimbursements and grants.
00:04:59.660 Yes, that's your tax dollars. That's our money being used to end the lives of innocent pre-born 1.00
00:05:05.320 babies. At the same time, one of the longest running newspapers in the United States of America
00:05:10.360 Also revealed that many abortion facilities showed decrepit, quote, factory-like conditions in locations all across America.
00:05:20.580 And that is why I'm asking for you to help right now.
00:05:24.460 Americans United for Life.
00:05:26.500 For more than 50 years, AUL has been the legal backbone of the pro-life movement.
00:05:31.500 They literally shaped nearly every major pro-life law across America.
00:05:35.660 And today they're building on that legacy by leading the charge to ensure the abortion industry is defunded forever.
00:05:44.260 AUL is working to make sure your tax dollars no longer pay for abortions.
00:05:49.400 And they're leading the coalition of pro-life friends, including 300 leaders of pregnancy centers.
00:05:55.640 And that is why I want you to step in and help.
00:05:58.820 AUL's goal is real simple.
00:06:00.940 They need your help to make sure big abortion is permanently defunded.
00:06:04.980 And right now, every gift you make to AUL will be tripled through a $250,000 matching challenge.
00:06:13.140 That means your support goes not one, not two, but three times as far to defend unborn children by defunding abortion facilities in America.
00:06:23.300 So please don't wait.
00:06:25.460 Help where you can and make a huge difference.
00:06:28.180 Go to AUL.org.
00:06:31.200 that's aul.org forward slash verdict that's aul.org forward slash verdict give your gift today to
00:06:41.660 have your gift tripled and protect your tax dollars from paying for abortion in america
00:06:47.120 so senator the trump accounts was really fun you and i don't we share schedules but i don't look
00:06:52.460 at them every day and i laugh at the trend that's happening how many times i have to sit on tv
00:06:57.400 waiting for you to talk or waiting for you to finish so that I can then do my hit.
00:07:01.980 And when it happens, it does make me laugh.
00:07:03.960 But the other morning I was on TV and I didn't know they were going to go to Trump accounts.
00:07:07.780 And they talked to you in your earpiece.
00:07:09.440 They're like, Ben, can you talk Trump accounts?
00:07:11.480 And I started laughing.
00:07:12.200 I'm like, yes, I know an awful lot about this.
00:07:14.700 So I then had to wait for Trump to announce this.
00:07:17.040 They were carrying it live on TV and then talk about you and then commentate on something.
00:07:22.360 They're like, do you know about this?
00:07:23.480 And I'm like, yes.
00:07:24.120 it was a really fun moment because i got to advocate for these accounts afterwards i said
00:07:28.480 look don't just set them up for your kids do it with your children so they have ownership so they
00:07:34.060 understand what they're doing i said if you're a grandparent watching right now on fox news yes i
00:07:38.240 said grandparents get your grandkids set up these account with the parents make this a family event
00:07:43.840 the kids will understand it there's an app they can use don't do it for them do it with them and
00:07:49.340 i hope it was a really cool moment where people afterwards so that's a great idea because millions
00:07:53.080 of Americans have signed up for these accounts. And as you mentioned, I think it's going to
00:07:56.800 completely transform everything. My kids now want to see the app. They want to see what their money's
00:08:01.200 doing. And that's pretty cool. It is the number one app on the app store since the moment it
00:08:07.140 launched. Millions of Americans are downloading the app for these Trump accounts, opening them
00:08:12.340 for their kids. And it's going to make just a massive difference. We were in the Oval on Monday
00:08:19.440 And we were there because right at 9.30, President Trump got to ring in the bell to the New York Stock Exchange, but also NASDAQ.
00:08:28.120 And look, New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are rival exchanges.
00:08:31.400 They rarely cooperate.
00:08:33.360 The heads of both were there in the Oval, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
00:08:37.740 There was a giant bell that they brought in that right at 9.30, Trump grabbed the rope and rang the bell,
00:08:45.540 which is what you do when you list a new company on the stock exchange, you can go and ring the
00:08:50.460 bell. And it was a very cool moment in the Oval. Actually, I said right at 9.30, it was fairly
00:08:57.100 amusing, actually, it was not right at 9.30, that the timing was slightly off, because Scott
00:09:02.660 Besant, the Treasury Secretary, was talking, and he kept talking, and there was a clock there,
00:09:07.300 and as it was 9.30, Besant kept talking, and at about 9.30 in like seven seconds, Trump basically
00:09:13.140 pushed him aside and said, here, I got to ring the bell. So Monday, the bell was rung about seven
00:09:18.260 seconds late. But on TV, it was as it was a moment late. Was there any significance to the bell that
00:09:24.060 was chosen? We didn't get to hear that on TV. And you were in the in the oval for that. Was
00:09:27.980 there a significance? Because it was a cool looking bell. Yeah, it's a very cool looking
00:09:31.360 bell. And it has on it carved NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange and Trump accounts. And they made
00:09:37.220 it for that moment. And Trump said, as the event went on, he said, you're not getting this bell
00:09:41.760 back, I'm keeping this bell, which I think everyone anticipated. So the bell will be somewhere in the
00:09:47.080 White House. He said he's going to put the bell at the ballroom. So somewhere in the ballroom,
00:09:52.680 the bell will be there. But it was a very, very cool moment. Listen to President Trump talking
00:09:58.500 about the Trump accounts on Monday. Nobody cares about that, right? This is about the Trump accounts,
00:10:05.760 which are absolutely incredible for children.
00:10:08.740 Children can, at the age of 18 and after,
00:10:11.620 become very wealthy people,
00:10:14.000 come into the world with essentially no money,
00:10:17.840 and end up at a pretty young age being very rich.
00:10:22.740 And that's something that we wanted to do,
00:10:24.960 the country's wanted to do for 25 years.
00:10:27.260 Michael and Susan, you've been so great.
00:10:30.080 My Gerstner man has been so fantastic.
00:10:32.760 You pushed everybody.
00:10:33.640 and i just want to thank everybody it's a great it's a great honor we'll have a little fun and
00:10:39.900 we want to be exactly on time are we allowed to be 15 20 30 seconds lately
00:10:44.800 typically no good job right and i'm gonna ring that bell and does that bill does it stay in the
00:10:52.500 white house because i'm not giving it back you got it you got to love the president there
00:10:58.820 mentioning that bell senator and also i love the fact that you had the kids in the background
00:11:03.100 talking. What a great moment when you're talking about kids' accounts having those kids in the
00:11:06.900 room as well. Well, and those were kids there hearing about their future, about investing for
00:11:12.660 their future, and also about becoming capitalists, becoming investors in the biggest employers in
00:11:18.280 America. All right, Senator, I want to play your comments as well that you made in the Oval
00:11:23.000 after the president talked about the importance of these accounts. You shepherded this through
00:11:28.680 the Senate. The president was very appreciative, and that's why you were there. And I want people
00:11:32.660 to hear what you had to say as well mr president this program you know a second ago brad made
00:11:39.660 reference to 1935 and social security trump accounts are in many way donald trump's new deal
00:11:47.900 but instead of having government taking care of everyone trump accounts are about making every
00:11:55.460 child and every American a capitalist. Every one of our kids is now going to be an owner
00:12:03.420 of the biggest producers in our country. Kids, you guys there, each of you are getting an
00:12:08.500 account. These folks here gave you $250. That's a lot of money that you have right now. And
00:12:19.220 you know what? With that $250, you've purchased a little bit of a bunch of big companies. You know
00:12:26.480 McDonald's? You now own a little bit of McDonald's. When you go to McDonald's, you can look around and
00:12:34.580 say, I own this place. If you get on an airplane and fly, you look at a Boeing airplane, you now
00:12:42.460 own a little bit of boeing can you believe it you're an owner of boeing that is transformational
00:12:51.020 that changes the way every child looks at the world and the ability to accumulate
00:12:56.300 life transforming savings hundreds of thousands millions of dollars for the kids of single moms
00:13:03.100 that is powerful mr president in particular i want to thank you for your unequivocal commitment
00:13:09.180 that this administration, your administration, is going to auto-enroll every child in America.
00:13:16.160 All 70 million children will have accounts open for them,
00:13:19.720 accounts that can then receive gifts from people like Michael and Susan and Brad.
00:13:25.720 Accounts that, let me say to every parent at home, please right now go to trumpaccounts.gov.
00:13:31.660 Go to trumpaccounts.gov, sign your kids up.
00:13:34.800 To every employer, if you're not contributing to the accounts of the employees of your kids,
00:13:39.020 do so now match their contribution double their contribution and to philanthropists go adopt a
00:13:45.980 state go adopt your city go adopt a school go say the kids in my community the kindergarten class
00:13:52.940 here we're going to help them get started this is a moment i believe transformational
00:13:59.740 to make sure the next 250 is even better than the first thank you mr president
00:14:03.980 all right senator i gotta say i think one of the best things that you said in that moment there
00:14:12.440 was the fact that you painted a picture for other philanthropists what michael dell and his wife have
00:14:17.220 done and others on a grand nationwide scale is truly incredible but there are a lot of people
00:14:22.480 that could do this in their hometown i was thinking my hometown where i was born raised in memphis
00:14:27.460 and there's a company like fedex that's there auto zone that's there international paper
00:14:32.080 Those are three companies that could say we're going to adopt the city, as you just mentioned, or the county and have a massive impact and donate into these accounts.
00:14:40.980 I hope that there's a lot of philanthropists, a lot of businesses that will look at their hometown, whether it's a place like, you know, Milwaukee and Harley-Davidson or Ford and a place like Detroit.
00:14:52.040 You never know how that could change different cities in a major way as well.
00:14:55.880 Well, the way we designed the program, the way I wrote the legislation, every newborn child has $1,000 automatically seeded into the account. So if you have a baby this year, $1,000 immediately appears in that account. And then parents and family and employers can invest up to $5,000 a year in a tax-advantaged account.
00:15:15.900 and all of that money gets put in the stock market, in the S&P 500. And we deliberately
00:15:23.800 wrote it so that there were two accelerators to make the capital appreciation happen more quickly.
00:15:31.000 Number one, employers contributing and matching. And this is a big deal. Think about 401ks.
00:15:38.060 Yeah.
00:15:38.200 You know, over 70 years ago, Congress passed Section 401k of ERISA.
00:15:45.820 And at the time, I doubt anyone in Congress understood how fundamentally they were changing
00:15:52.560 how Americans save for retirements.
00:15:56.020 Trump accounts are 401ks for kids.
00:16:00.040 Today, there's more than $12 trillion invested in 401ks.
00:16:05.540 in very short order, you're going to see trillions of dollars invested in Trump accounts for kids.
00:16:12.900 And one of the reasons there's so much invested in 401ks is most employers, certainly most large
00:16:18.560 employers, either contribute to their employees 401ks or they match contributions to 401ks. And
00:16:25.720 so that accelerates the growth a lot. There are hundreds of companies that have already announced
00:16:32.840 that they are either going to contribute or match contributions to Trump accounts.
00:16:37.880 And I think this is going to become a ubiquitous employee benefit, just like matching 401ks.
00:16:43.700 I think it's going to be standard. You go to work at any big company and the company is going to say,
00:16:47.580 Ben, you contribute to your kids' Trump accounts. We'll match. We'll put money in.
00:16:53.060 And the reason that's so important is if you look at compound growth, the numbers get really, really big.
00:17:00.000 but what matters is how much you get in early, because the longer you invest and the more you
00:17:06.080 get in early, the more those numbers grow and the bigger they get. And so that accelerator is really
00:17:12.440 big. The second accelerator is we wrote the legislation so that these counts can accept
00:17:20.240 philanthropic gifts, that people can give money to kids, particularly needy kids. And so
00:17:26.240 the pioneer on this, the lead investor was Michael and Susan Dell. Michael and Susan Dell
00:17:34.820 from Texas, Austin, they're both very good friends of mine, worth over $200 billion. Well,
00:17:40.840 they announced $6.25 billion they're giving away. And they're giving away $250
00:17:47.800 to every child under age 10 who lives in a zip code where the median income is $150,000 or less.
00:17:57.680 And that means kids whose parents might not have the money to invest are going to start with that
00:18:02.000 $250,000. And we're seeing lots of other entrepreneurs doing the same. Brad Gerson,
00:18:07.700 who we've had on this show, he's a very good friend of mine. The Trump accounts were his idea.
00:18:13.680 he's adopted the kids in the state of Indiana. Ray Dalio has adopted the kids in Connecticut.
00:18:19.040 That is going to be a massive accelerator to speeding up kids accumulating assets.
00:18:25.100 In today's volatile market, having an investment strategy you can trust is essential. When it
00:18:30.360 comes to your money, knowledge is power. Get the advice you need from Alan Cameron on the Sunday
00:18:35.760 Money Show. Alan Cameron has the experience and expertise to help you navigate the growing
00:18:41.040 spectrum of investment options. What's best for you? Stocks or RSPs, gold, real estate,
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00:19:11.040 this crazy modern world how about something about a comedic tone
00:19:14.160 we have a winner yes listen to armstrong and getty on demand on the iheart radio app apple
00:19:22.840 podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts the joel osteen daily podcast god's plans for you
00:19:29.340 are for good be inspired get ready god is about to exceed your expectations joel osteen daily
00:19:36.440 podcast. You are coming out of that dry place into more than enough. Daily encouragement right
00:19:41.940 when you need it. There are opportunities in your future bigger than you can imagine. Listen to the
00:19:47.780 Joel Osteen Daily Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
00:19:53.900 favorite podcasts. I want to go back a week before this moment in the Oval Office because you've got
00:20:01.600 some pretty interesting details and stories to tell from a week in advance. So let's go back to
00:20:06.200 that and talk about what was happening behind the scenes? Well, there were a number of policy
00:20:10.620 questions that were being sorted out the week before that got a little bumpy. And one of the
00:20:16.340 things we try to do in verdict is take you behind the scenes to what actually happens, how the
00:20:21.520 sausage got made. There were three big questions that a week out were unresolved. Number one,
00:20:30.080 the Treasury Department, the career lawyers there, frankly, have been resisting this program from
00:20:35.420 the beginning. When I wrote the legislation over a year ago, the career lawyers at Treasury didn't
00:20:40.680 want to do it. They fought me every step of the way. Why was that, by the way? What was the logic
00:20:45.620 behind that? You know, it's hard. We don't know how to do this. This is going to be really difficult
00:20:50.940 to have accounts for every kid. It was just bureaucratic inertia. And they just raised
00:20:57.580 obstacle after obstacle. And I had to link arms with the White House and just ram it through.
00:21:02.920 like like which part of all legislative power is vested in congress are you confused about
00:21:08.280 um they they also had ridiculous arguments like well no no we can't do this because the existing
00:21:14.240 privacy laws don't let us do that it's like yeah okay congress wrote those privacy laws
00:21:19.680 we're writing this law now we can change the law that's called legislating yeah and and they they
00:21:26.940 just were dug in. I mean, it was a year long battle. So the three issues that a week out
00:21:35.300 were real problems. Number one, the career treasury lawyers came back and said, okay,
00:21:42.360 when a philanthropist is giving a gift, you can only put one criterion on it. You can't put two
00:21:49.620 or three criteria on it. And so let's take Michael Dell's gift. Yeah. They came and said, look, I'm
00:21:55.900 sorry, Dell cannot give $250 to every child under 10 in every zip code where the median income is
00:22:06.400 under $150,000. They said, you can't do it. He's got to pick one or the other. He can give it to
00:22:10.800 all the kids under 10. He could give it to all the kids in Texas if he wants. He could give it to all
00:22:16.240 the kids in zip codes under $150,000 median income. And that's just nonsense. I very
00:22:25.600 deliberately wrote the statute so that you could turn those dials. You could direct your gift where
00:22:31.040 you believed it would have the greatest impact. But the treasury lawyers were dug in and they
00:22:38.740 were literally saying, nope, sorry, Dell's gift. We're not going to let it happen.
00:22:44.000 Amazing.
00:22:45.320 So I had Scott Besson, the treasury secretary, he and I are friends. He's a good guy.
00:22:50.260 I had been talking to him for a year about the implementation of these Trump accounts,
00:22:56.320 how to ensure they're successful. I went and had breakfast with him several months ago,
00:23:00.800 had a long detailed letter laying out the issues, met with him, talked with him.
00:23:05.400 Scott is a really good guy, but at the end of the day, the career lawyers at Treasury,
00:23:10.100 the deep state, were pressing back against Scott and pressing back against the president.
00:23:15.100 So finally, on July 1, this was headed to not being the success it needed to be.
00:23:21.440 And so I called the president.
00:23:23.600 And I got the president on the phone about 1130 at night.
00:23:26.640 At the time, Heidi and I and the girls, we were on vacation.
00:23:29.200 We went to Florida to the panhandle.
00:23:30.960 So we're sitting there on vacation, playing at the beach.
00:23:33.340 Really good, you know, good family vacation.
00:23:36.280 And 1130 at night, I'm on the phone with the president.
00:23:39.120 And I said, Mr. President, this is messed up.
00:23:41.900 and i need you to fix it and there were three issues number one the career lawyers trying to
00:23:49.860 prevent targeting gifts to where the donor wants to target them yep number two treasury had been
00:23:57.220 resisting allowing individual gifts of stock so for example something that happened this week
00:24:02.840 gwen shotwell the president of spacex announced that she is giving and her husband she and her
00:24:10.620 husband together are giving $325 million in shares of SpaceX. And those are shares of SpaceX that
00:24:20.460 are going to be directed, I believe, to kids 11 to 18. She picked a different age window than Dell
00:24:25.140 did. And so kids 11 to 18, and she has a few other criteria, they will actually receive a share of
00:24:33.960 SpaceX in their Trump account. Which is unbelievable based on what that could become.
00:24:39.700 You go back and look at SpaceX's price and you look at things like Tesla, you look at things like Walmart, you look at things like, I mean, the list goes on.
00:24:48.580 Tesla, you look at these companies, what one share is worth can change these kids' lives literally.
00:24:55.560 Well, and I am having multiple conversations with major, major company owners and tech entrepreneurs about doing the same thing.
00:25:05.440 And so the accounts being able to receive an actual share of stock, you can think of all of the other stocks, whether it's SpaceX or Tesla or Google or OpenAI or Anthropic, you know, you look at these big, big companies where I will say there is real interest in giving stock as a charitable gift to the kids of America.
00:25:31.080 And that really is transformational. In terms of growth, I think the growth trajectory of
00:25:37.080 especially those tech stocks, it historically has been incredibly high, and I think it's likely to
00:25:42.600 continue to be very, very high. But Treasury had not yet put out any guidance that Trump accounts
00:25:50.660 could accept single stock gifts. So that was the second issue. And then the third issue was auto
00:25:56.620 enroll. I wrote this bill so that every child in America, all 70 million kids, would automatically
00:26:05.320 have an account open for them, that you wouldn't have to do anything to go and affirmatively open
00:26:10.380 the account. Rather, if you're a kid, you're under 18, the government opens the account,
00:26:15.280 it is there for you. The reason auto enroll matters so much, if you look at, there have
00:26:21.900 been states that have done similar things to what this program is. If you look at Rhode Island and
00:26:26.280 Oklahoma, for example, they've done similar things. In one of them, they had opt-in. In another,
00:26:34.200 they had auto-enroll. The one that had opt-in, only 50% of the kids participated. The one that
00:26:39.720 had auto-enroll, 99% of the kids participated. So the difference is massive. If you don't have
00:26:45.760 auto-enroll, a large chunk of kids will never get the account. And I want every kid, and in fact,
00:26:53.080 it's worse than that. The ones who are less likely to go open the account are low-income kids or kids
00:27:00.500 whose families are not financially sophisticated. And the entire point of this program, frankly,
00:27:06.600 it's not for the kids of rich people. The kids of rich people can use it, but those parents are
00:27:12.060 often already working with their kids to invest. That's already part of what they're doing with
00:27:16.480 their kids. The reason I'm so excited about this program is the kid of a single mom who herself
00:27:24.460 doesn't know anything about the market, that kid will have an account and will learn about
00:27:30.380 compound growth, will learn about ownership. You know, when I was talking to the kids that
00:27:35.300 were in the Oval and I was explaining, you guys just got $250. And I was pointing to Michael and
00:27:40.260 susan dell behind me they gave you 250 and you couldn't see that on the video but the kids who
00:27:46.940 were really cute they were all i would say kind of seven to ten years old the sort of look of wonder
00:27:52.680 what somebody gave me 250 wow and and and explaining to them you now own mcdonald's not
00:28:00.540 all of it but you own a little bit of it you own boeing you own apple um that is really what gets
00:28:07.720 me excited about this. But on auto-enroll, the career lawyers in Treasury were fighting tooth
00:28:15.240 and nail. So I got President Trump on the phone 1130 at night, I think it was July 1,
00:28:21.240 explained to him those three issues and said, look, this is a problem. You care deeply about
00:28:26.360 this program and the career lawyers at Treasury are blocking it. He said, Ted, let me call Scott.
00:28:31.480 i'll call you right back so he hung up the phone he called besant um i will say the conversation
00:28:38.580 i feel confident was frank and candid uh and and there may have been some words used that are at
00:28:45.360 least pg if not r-rated um if you've ever been at the other end of one of those phone calls oh yeah
00:28:52.500 i i have you have as well i'm pretty sure uh yeah they're usually up there in the in the pg 13 plus
00:28:58.360 scenario. And if he's not happy, he lets you know right away, you know, where you stand.
00:29:03.440 And so then 20, 30 minutes later, about midnight, I get a call from Besson,
00:29:08.580 who's Scott's really mad at me now. And so Scott's yelling and dropping some F-bombs in my direction.
00:29:14.380 And he's like, you know, why do you get the president all spun up? And I'm like, Scott,
00:29:18.060 I've been talking to you about these issues for a year. It is July 1. The program is going live
00:29:24.660 on July 4th. I said, listen, you want this to be a total success. I want this to be a total
00:29:29.240 success. We're on the same page. We just need to get it done. And so what ended up happening
00:29:36.200 because of those, and then I talked to Trump later that night. I talked to him about 7 a.m.
00:29:40.620 the next morning, but he was driving saying, fix it, fix it, fix it. Several things happened
00:29:45.700 because of those phone calls. Number one, Treasury put out a guidance saying Trump accounts can
00:29:51.220 receive single stocks so that you can now get the SpaceX, you can get, the kids can get single
00:29:56.720 stocks that are given. That's going to unleash billions and billions in new charity to kids.
00:30:02.000 Number two, they made clear the Dell criteria and other donors can tailor their gifts. That's now
00:30:08.280 clarified. Senator, I want to go back to something that you mentioned a moment ago,
00:30:12.920 and this fight over auto-enroll. People are listening, they're in different states.
00:30:16.480 Is this a D.C. issue or is this a state advocacy issue where you can get your state to do something?
00:30:23.760 I think it's an important question to ask and answer because you mentioned two states earlier that they did enrollment for their kids accounts a little differently.
00:30:31.000 One was you auto enroll. One was, you know, opt in. And it was a big difference.
00:30:34.940 So what should Americans be advocating for right now and where does that go next?
00:30:39.420 Yeah, this is a D.C. issue. This is a Department of Treasury issue.
00:30:42.760 the two states i mentioned rhode island and oklahoma those were state programs those were
00:30:47.120 smaller programs that were sort of similar that they'd set up at the state level uh here as a
00:30:52.280 result of my conversations with the president and with the treasury secretary what they did do is
00:30:57.000 announce prior to july 4th that the social security administration when a new child is born
00:31:02.600 is going to work with that child's parents to open a trump account at the time of birth
00:31:08.540 It's unclear if that is full auto-enroll, but it is at least a significant step in the direction of auto-enroll.
00:31:16.900 That's helpful, because if we get auto-enroll on birth, that's a good thing.
00:31:20.740 You get about 3.7 million newborns a year, so that automatically opening those accounts matters.
00:31:28.040 They have yet to do auto-enroll for all kids up to age 18.
00:31:34.220 There are about 70 million kids in America that are under 18.
00:31:38.400 My objective is every one of them will have an account.
00:31:41.700 Why is that important?
00:31:42.740 It's important, number one, because that account, once open, can be a vehicle for the philanthropy.
00:31:49.500 You look at the Michael Dell gift.
00:31:51.840 If a kid doesn't have an account, he can't get the money Michael Dell is getting.
00:31:55.340 He can't get the share of SpaceX that Gwen Shotwell is getting.
00:31:58.820 You have to have an account to have a bucket to be able to receive that philanthropy.
00:32:04.860 And the purpose of this is to get everyone, to get kids understanding what it means to be an owner, to be an investor, to have a stake in the economy.
00:32:15.380 That's what got me so excited about this idea.
00:32:18.700 And where it stands, you know, if you listen back to what I said at the Oval Office, I said at the Oval, and very importantly, President Trump is committed to auto-enrolling all 70 million kids.
00:32:31.280 I said that in the Oval.
00:32:32.400 Now, the president has said that before. Scott Besson has said that before. But again, the Treasury career staff, the lawyers are still fighting back. We're going to get it done. I believe we will get all 70 million auto-enrolled. It hasn't happened yet. Millions of kids have enrolled, have gone and gotten the apt and enrolled.
00:32:51.540 So there's already a lot that has happened, but my objective is, and I'd like to see it in the next 60 days, all 70 million kids have the account opened.
00:33:03.600 And by the way, one of the arguments the Treasury staff pushes back is they say, well, what about fraud?
00:33:08.980 What if an account is fraudulent?
00:33:10.480 And my response is, look, open the account and you can have, and you're required to have a social security number. 0.86
00:33:18.560 So this was designed so illegal aliens are not eligible. 0.85
00:33:21.740 You have to have a social security number. 0.73
00:33:23.540 Yep.
00:33:24.240 But I said, look, fraud, you can check fraud on the back end and you can vigorously check fraud on the back end to make sure that a kid is a real kid, that they're the person, that it's not somebody else.
00:33:36.700 that doesn't stop you from opening the account because when you open the account at least
00:33:41.060 initially the account is in government custody so there's not a fraud risk until the money is
00:33:47.420 going physically to another person you can check fraud on the back end the long and short of it is
00:33:53.340 i have a high level of confidence and i will say after the event i stayed in the oval with president
00:33:59.100 trump and michael and susan dell and brad gerstner and and we stayed for another 30 40 minutes just
00:34:04.740 just the five of us talking about the need for auto enroll. And the president was unequivocal.
00:34:11.840 We are going to get it done. And so so I'm confident we're going to. But that is a really
00:34:18.120 big deal. Yeah, it is. All right. I got to ask the cynical question as well. And there's people
00:34:22.820 they're going to say, Democrats may try to undo this down the road. Do they have the power? Is
00:34:28.540 this one of those things like once it's there, it's there. They can't shut it off and unwind
00:34:33.520 it and undo it easily because this is something I hope stays indefinitely. You know, there is very
00:34:40.800 little opportunity for Democrat mischief on this because this is not a government program that is
00:34:46.760 the government, say, you know, providing ongoing welfare, doing ongoing things. What this is simply
00:34:53.340 is creating these accounts. The thousand dollar seating is automatic, but at the end of it,
00:34:59.120 the money is the kids. So look, if the money was the government's, the government could use them
00:35:04.920 for something bad. But think about your 401k. Think about your IRA. Yes, it's the government
00:35:11.040 that created the vehicle, a 401k account or IRA account that you could invest it. But you're not
00:35:17.140 terribly worried about the government coming in and spending your 401k on something that you don't
00:35:22.420 approve of. It's yours. You control it. That's the way we structure this also. These are 401ks
00:35:29.040 for kids. A couple other points on this. The Trump administration has been very vocal
00:35:35.140 about wanting to take equity stakes of companies. So for example, they took an equity stake of
00:35:41.440 Intel. They're talking about wanting an equity stake of OpenAI. I've expressed very real
00:35:48.000 concerns. I don't like the government owning parts of companies. I think that is a very bad precedent.
00:35:53.980 Your question, what happens when the Democrats take over? Look, if the government is a major
00:35:58.320 shareholder in companies, they will use that power for bad ends. So I don't like that outcome.
00:36:05.020 I'll tell you what I'm suggesting to President Trump. All right, if you want to take equity
00:36:09.040 stakes in companies, rather than have the government keep those stakes, take the five
00:36:16.360 or 10% of Intel or OpenAI or what have you, and put them in kids Trump accounts, give them to the
00:36:22.040 people, get them out of Washington. That is perfectly okay and could end up having an
00:36:29.460 enormous value because again, the more you accumulate quickly, the faster these accounts
00:36:37.060 grow. And the beauty of that is once the money goes to the kids' accounts, the danger of government
00:36:43.820 mischief is substantially lower. I will point out there are multiple Democrats now celebrating the
00:36:51.020 Trump accounts. I want you to listen to Wes Moore, Democrat governor of Maryland, talking about the
00:36:55.700 Trump accounts. I will give this administration credit for this, is that we've had Democratic
00:37:01.260 presidents, Republican presidents, who have not been able to get this done, and it actually got
00:37:06.160 done. So I actually, this is actually a smart policy. I hate the fact that he called the Trump
00:37:13.240 accounts. And here's Democrat Cory Booker also praising the accounts.
00:37:18.360 American Opportunity Accounts or baby bonds are now live. These are private tax-advantaged
00:37:25.680 interest-bearing savings accounts that will be assigned to every child's social security number
00:37:31.140 at birth. Senator Cory Booker says each account will start with $1,000 from the federal government.
00:37:38.520 We're doing this today, but 20, 25 years from now, the ground that we're seeing is going to reap a
00:37:44.980 harvest beyond our dreams that will truly astonish each and every one of us and our nation.
00:37:50.600 Senator Booker has been looking forward to making this possible for years.
00:37:54.980 He believed this will help close the racial and economic wealth gap
00:37:58.660 by allowing every child to benefit from the financial power of compound interest.
00:38:04.120 Senator, this goes back to exactly what you said.
00:38:06.640 When you hear Republicans and some leading Democrats saying the same thing,
00:38:10.120 it's a great day for this country.
00:38:12.440 Yeah, it is. And look, to be clear, Cory Booker voted against the Trump accounts.
00:38:16.740 And he did have an idea, which he calls baby bonds, which is opening savings accounts for people that just pay interest.
00:38:24.480 I would say the baby bonds are kind of the kissing cousin of this idea.
00:38:28.180 But what makes this idea so powerful is it's not interest. It is equity. It is ownership in the stock market.
00:38:34.180 That is powerful. But that being said, I welcome the support of Cory Booker.
00:38:38.700 I welcome the support of Wes Moore and other Democrats.
00:38:41.820 This is transformational victories for our kids.
00:38:45.780 And I'm glad to see Democrats supporting it and celebrating it as well.
00:39:08.700 We have a winner.
00:39:12.160 Yes.
00:39:13.160 Listen to Armstrong and Getty On Demand on the iHeartRadio app,
00:39:16.260 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:39:19.360 The Joel Osteen Daily Podcast.
00:39:21.760 God's plans for you are for good.
00:39:23.980 Be inspired.
00:39:25.200 Get ready.
00:39:25.740 God is about to exceed your expectations.
00:39:28.540 Joel Osteen Daily Podcast.
00:39:30.920 You are coming out of that dry place into more than enough.
00:39:34.120 Daily encouragement right when you need it.
00:39:36.320 There are opportunities in your future bigger than you can imagine.
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