Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 11, 2025


In the Oval Office, BIGGEST Stock Market Surge in History, plus Mexico Stealing our Water & Trump Fights Back


Episode Stats


Length

42 minutes

Words per minute

184.83469

Word count

7,806

Sentence count

795

Harmful content

Misogyny

14

sentences flagged

Toxicity

30

sentences flagged

Hate speech

13

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergusons discuss the impact of President Trump's decision to pause the latest round of tariffs on China, and the impact on the stock market. They also talk about the Democratic objections to the nomination of Gen. John Dunford as the next Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.480 Welcome, it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:08.360 And Senator, it was a very exciting day.
00:00:12.160 You spent some time with the president today in the Oval Office.
00:00:14.760 Even got a nice little challenge coin as well.
00:00:18.320 So I did. I spent about two hours in the Oval with President Trump today.
00:00:22.800 And today was a very significant day.
00:00:25.460 So let's start.
00:00:28.100 Yesterday was a phenomenal day.
00:00:31.000 Yesterday, President Trump paused the tariffs that he announced last week on April 2nd.
00:00:37.840 And at the same time, he jacked up the tariffs on China.
00:00:42.740 The combination of those activities produced the greatest single-day increase in the stock market
00:00:50.500 in the history of the United States of America.
00:00:54.120 Now, this week I've spent a lot of time talking to President Trump.
00:00:58.040 We're going to break that down.
00:00:58.980 We're going to talk about the impacts of that.
00:01:00.780 We're going to talk about the backstory of why the president did that and what to expect next.
00:01:07.080 We're also going to talk about something the president did this evening.
00:01:10.740 You and I are talking, it is right now, 1225 a.m., Thursday night.
00:01:18.200 And we're in the same place.
00:01:19.640 This usually doesn't happen.
00:01:20.760 We're in the same time zone right now.
00:01:22.420 We're both in D.C.
00:01:23.380 Why are we in D.C.?
00:01:24.540 Because in a half hour, I'm going to be on the Senate floor.
00:01:29.160 We have votes starting at 1 a.m.
00:01:31.760 So the Democrats are so angry.
00:01:34.540 They hate Trump so much that they are blocking the nomination for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
00:01:40.560 And so, look, I'm going to commend Republicans in the Senate. 0.99
00:01:44.440 We're saying, all right, screw you. 0.96
00:01:47.320 Because they're objecting, they could delay the vote until tomorrow. 0.98
00:01:51.820 Tomorrow is now today because it's past midnight.
00:01:53.820 Yep.
00:01:54.020 So we're like, fine, we'll do it tomorrow.
00:01:55.780 We'll just hang out until 9 a.m., let's go.
00:01:58.640 By the way, if the Democrats had agreed, we could have left at like 6 p.m. on Thursday.
00:02:03.040 But no, they're going to drag all 100 senators to the floor at 1 in the morning.
00:02:08.900 By the way, we've got senators in their 80s.
00:02:10.860 We've got senators in their 90s. 0.96
00:02:12.840 I do not envy the guy who has that job to wake up the senator because you know they're asleep.
00:02:18.300 Yeah, look, this is where it helps being a night owl.
00:02:20.460 Well, to be honest, I'm much happier doing a 1 a.m. vote than if they did a 6 a.m. vote.
00:02:25.680 I'd be really pissed because I, as you know.
00:02:28.660 I 100% believe you.
00:02:30.620 I've seen you in the morning.
00:02:31.940 By the way, I will say this.
00:02:33.540 So you and I record the pod.
00:02:35.640 We record it often at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m.
00:02:41.740 Let's keep going up.
00:02:42.960 Or midnight.
00:02:43.200 There we go.
00:02:43.700 Now we're getting into reality.
00:02:44.980 That's much more.
00:02:45.620 So the pod, two days ago, we finished at 2.30 in the morning.
00:02:49.340 Yes.
00:02:50.480 And I will say I'm glad.
00:02:53.760 You used to do a morning radio show.
00:02:56.140 What time did your morning radio show start?
00:02:57.520 7 a.m. is when it started.
00:02:58.820 So I had to be up and, like, up and at them.
00:03:01.100 Thank the Lord I don't do it anymore.
00:03:02.420 You had to be awake.
00:03:03.440 You had to be conscious.
00:03:03.660 I had to be awake.
00:03:04.420 I had to have coffee.
00:03:05.300 I had to know what was going on.
00:03:06.640 Like, I mean, it was, yeah.
00:03:07.600 You had to be educated.
00:03:08.140 You had to presumably say something, like, charming and funny.
00:03:10.660 An intelligence.
00:03:11.220 Like, if someone's going to listen to you.
00:03:12.460 You can't wing it for two hours.
00:03:13.440 And I got to say, when I was keeping you up until 2 and 3 in the morning and you were
00:03:16.820 getting up at 6, 6.30.
00:03:19.160 Yep.
00:03:19.440 I actually felt an enormous degree of guilt. 0.98
00:03:23.040 I'm like, I'm killing Ben. 0.97
00:03:24.500 You were on your way. 0.99
00:03:25.860 It was the easiest way to get rid of me. 0.99
00:03:27.500 I don't want to kill you, Ben.
00:03:28.800 I appreciate that. 1.00
00:03:29.680 I want to give you grief and abuse you. 0.99
00:03:31.760 But I don't want you dead. 1.00
00:03:33.260 I just want you being loudly made fun of.
00:03:38.020 There's a reason why they took me off that show one day.
00:03:41.200 There's a reason.
00:03:42.360 And your boss in the I Heart World, Julie, she said, all right, Ben, I'm sparing you from
00:03:48.580 the morning show.
00:03:49.540 100%.
00:03:50.180 Because we've decided that a dead Ben would be a bad thing.
00:03:54.540 That is how I know my life is valued on this earth right now.
00:03:57.680 There you go.
00:03:58.120 So, tonight also, Donald Trump leaned in and engaged on an issue that may sound esoteric,
00:04:06.300 but it's actually a big deal, which is Mexican water.
00:04:10.700 Mexico has been stealing massive amounts of water from Texas.
00:04:16.240 This is an issue I've been leading the fight on a very long time, and it's had an enormously
00:04:21.260 harmful impact on Texas farmers.
00:04:24.880 I've been leading the fight against it.
00:04:26.720 And tonight, the president, at my behest, leaned in vigorously and said, Mexico, you will provide
00:04:35.680 the water that you have committed by treaty to provide, or else there are going to be
00:04:40.480 very serious penalties, tariffs and sanctions.
00:04:43.880 It's a big deal.
00:04:45.080 And I would say...
00:04:45.620 He used those two words.
00:04:46.560 He did.
00:04:47.780 As you and I are sitting here at 1225 a.m., the Mexican government is freaking out.
00:04:52.520 And you know what's going to happen?
00:04:53.600 They're going to provide the farmers of South Texas the water.
00:04:57.240 I'm going to walk you through the backstory of that.
00:04:59.540 It is fascinating in terms of how international diplomacy has played out and the advantage
00:05:05.540 of a strong president who actually fights for America versus the incredibly weak and ineffective
00:05:11.680 president we had for the last four years.
00:05:13.700 Yeah, it's a really cool story.
00:05:15.480 We'll talk about that.
00:05:16.080 Plus, just like what happens in the Oval, the trinkets, the trinkets are impressive.
00:05:21.140 We'll tell you about that in a moment.
00:05:22.440 I want to tell you, though, real quick about the International Fellowship of Christians and
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00:06:51.560 All right.
00:06:52.100 So let's just start with a little bit of color here.
00:06:55.080 I got to say one of the most fun things about going to the Oval Office is Donald Trump loves
00:07:01.880 having guests.
00:07:03.300 Yes.
00:07:03.800 And the swag that you leave with is just the most incredible level of swag.
00:07:10.600 And he pays for it out of his own pocket.
00:07:12.820 He does.
00:07:13.220 It's not the taxpayers.
00:07:14.420 So when I went in the first time, it was in the last in 45 in those years.
00:07:19.580 And they asked if I would come up for State of the Union and prep and that.
00:07:23.580 And I was there the day of the State of the Union.
00:07:25.380 And at the end, he's like, Ferguson.
00:07:26.940 He's like, I know you got three boys at home.
00:07:28.800 What do you need?
00:07:29.840 And I'm like, Mr. President, whatever.
00:07:31.460 You know, if you'd sign.
00:07:32.160 He's like, no, no.
00:07:32.620 Come over here.
00:07:33.060 And he walks you around the corner into the room.
00:07:34.880 He has this, like, full swag room.
00:07:37.560 And he's like, three different hats for the boys.
00:07:39.380 Signs them.
00:07:39.840 He's like, now, one of your sons plays golf.
00:07:41.200 He signs a Pro V1 ball for him.
00:07:43.100 Then he gives me another sleeve.
00:07:44.420 Then he gives me a golf towel.
00:07:46.160 And then he's like, and you're laughing because you're in the Oval Office.
00:07:48.700 And you're like, I'm going to walk out of here.
00:07:50.700 Like, with all this stuff.
00:07:51.980 To be fair, you're not in the Oval.
00:07:53.080 Well, no, you're outside of it.
00:07:54.220 But when you walk back in, you're like holding all this stuff in the Oval.
00:07:56.620 You're in the little office next to the Oval.
00:07:58.900 Yes, where the swag room is.
00:08:00.640 And what happened in that little room.
00:08:04.700 Which is one of his favorite stories.
00:08:06.240 He's like, you know where you are right now.
00:08:07.940 25 years.
00:08:08.640 Yeah, he's like, you know where you are right now.
00:08:10.020 And I'm like, where am I right now?
00:08:11.520 This is where Monica Lewinsky. 0.98
00:08:16.600 Did not have sex with that man.
00:08:19.320 But shall we say. 0.51
00:08:25.840 I don't know.
00:08:26.680 Okay.
00:08:27.440 I think I did it perfectly there.
00:08:29.640 I'm trying to find a way to say this.
00:08:32.380 Yeah.
00:08:32.760 And this is a family show.
00:08:34.240 It's where Bill Clinton did not have sexual relations with that woman. 0.75
00:08:37.260 Quote, unquote.
00:08:38.100 But may have.
00:08:39.160 But it's also where the blue dress got sullied.
00:08:41.920 There you go.
00:08:42.680 That's a great way of putting it.
00:08:44.060 And it would be in that room.
00:08:46.000 And you kind of look around and it's sort of little.
00:08:47.860 And it's now filled with, if you can imagine, the...
00:08:51.640 Make America Great Again hats.
00:08:54.340 The 45-47. 0.84
00:08:56.780 I mean, it's legit.
00:08:59.340 And he has all these shelves full of swag.
00:09:01.500 And he says, hey, what do you want?
00:09:03.120 Take whatever you want.
00:09:04.040 And by the way, there's nothing in there that you can buy.
00:09:06.260 So it's either from there or you don't...
00:09:08.400 It's not...
00:09:09.180 And he just does that.
00:09:10.300 And he pays for it all.
00:09:11.580 He's paying for it himself.
00:09:13.780 But he's like, what do you want?
00:09:14.840 You want...
00:09:15.440 Like, they had gigantic MAGA hats that are, like, twice the size of a normal head.
00:09:20.520 The one that Elon Musk wore that kind of made it famous.
00:09:23.080 A lot of people remember he put it on.
00:09:24.480 He was like...
00:09:24.900 So he actually pointed that out.
00:09:26.440 So that's the one Elon wears.
00:09:27.680 Yeah.
00:09:28.320 So...
00:09:28.660 And it's got all this stuff.
00:09:30.020 He's got...
00:09:31.120 It's cool stuff.
00:09:32.540 So...
00:09:32.820 And by the way, the VIP gift is what I was told, which I think we can confirm is true,
00:09:38.180 is the cufflinks.
00:09:40.020 So he looked at me.
00:09:40.920 He's like, Ferguson, you need this.
00:09:42.760 Can't buy these anywhere.
00:09:43.900 And he hands them to me.
00:09:45.140 It was like...
00:09:45.540 It's presidential cufflinks.
00:09:46.700 They're amazing.
00:09:47.520 I still have them this day.
00:09:48.740 You've got a pair now as well.
00:09:50.280 So I do.
00:09:51.400 And I've had a couple of presidential cufflinks in the past.
00:09:54.100 Yeah.
00:09:54.580 But these are really...
00:09:55.540 These are the coolest.
00:09:56.420 These are really damn cool.
00:09:58.020 And I will say his challenge coins.
00:09:59.800 So in the military and in law enforcement, people carry challenge coins.
00:10:04.380 Yep.
00:10:04.480 And they're typically about the size of a silver dollar.
00:10:06.920 And so if you come to my office, you've been to my office.
00:10:08.840 I have one entire display of military challenge coins.
00:10:12.840 And I probably got, I don't know, 200 of them.
00:10:14.640 That is, I've traveled the world.
00:10:16.700 They give them to you.
00:10:17.360 They give them to you.
00:10:17.900 It's awesome.
00:10:18.100 Yeah.
00:10:18.820 And then I have another display of law enforcement challenge coins.
00:10:23.160 So police officers, law enforcement.
00:10:26.560 And so the two are...
00:10:27.820 One's behind my desk.
00:10:28.740 The military is behind my desk.
00:10:30.040 And the other is on the other end of my office, like kind of across my desk.
00:10:34.220 So they're normally about the size of a silver dollar.
00:10:36.720 However, Trump this evening gave me two challenge coins he's had made.
00:10:40.940 And his challenge coins are literally 300% the size of a silver challenge coin.
00:10:45.000 Oh, it is like the size of the tariff he put on Chinese goods.
00:10:48.680 It's the size of a pancake.
00:10:50.100 Yeah.
00:10:50.440 It's a coaster.
00:10:51.360 It's a coaster.
00:10:52.160 It's a coaster.
00:10:52.860 It's a coaster.
00:10:53.300 It's a coaster.
00:10:53.620 That's exactly like...
00:10:54.000 It is a straight up coaster.
00:10:54.900 And he has one that's sort of gold and fancy.
00:10:57.300 And then he has another that is gun metal.
00:10:59.640 And he said, actually, these are more popular because it's like military gun metal.
00:11:03.000 Yeah.
00:11:03.220 And it's the president of the United States and a really cool coin.
00:11:06.280 I love it.
00:11:06.740 That's the fun part about it.
00:11:08.000 And you were there, by the way, for something that was not making big headlines, but it deals
00:11:11.440 with crypto.
00:11:11.900 And we're going to talk about this in another pod.
00:11:14.060 Yeah, no, that's exactly right.
00:11:15.160 I was there for a bill signing.
00:11:16.700 So legislation that I introduced to repeal an incredibly abusive regulation from the Biden
00:11:22.780 administration that harmed the crypto industry.
00:11:25.880 And I got it passed through Congress.
00:11:28.180 The president signed it into law.
00:11:29.420 And so I've been there for a number of bill signings of legislation I passed.
00:11:32.580 But it's always cool because you're passing legislation.
00:11:35.260 The president signed it.
00:11:36.160 It suddenly becomes law.
00:11:37.200 Did you get to keep the pen?
00:11:38.120 He loves giving away the Sharpie.
00:11:39.900 Yes.
00:11:40.320 And it's not a Sharpie.
00:11:41.960 It is much like the challenge coin.
00:11:44.220 It's huge.
00:11:44.880 It is huge.
00:11:46.020 It is probably 300 percent the size of a Sharpie.
00:11:49.060 Yeah.
00:11:49.260 It's like oversized.
00:11:50.800 So when he signed my boy's hat, he goes, here's the pen.
00:11:53.920 Take the pen home.
00:11:54.700 And I still have the pen at my desk.
00:11:56.180 It's like it's got the and it's got the Trump gold signature on the side.
00:12:00.200 Yeah.
00:12:00.540 So so I'll end up in my office framing that signing pen because it's legislation that I
00:12:05.320 passed that's really significant.
00:12:06.700 And in my office, I have a bunch of different pieces of legislation signed and a number of
00:12:10.640 them are signed are framed with the signing pen.
00:12:13.480 So I was there for that.
00:12:15.380 But look, a couple of things.
00:12:18.000 One, we talked a lot about tariffs.
00:12:19.480 And let's rewind two days ago.
00:12:21.560 Yep.
00:12:21.740 So we have talked in this last week, we've had two podcasts entirely devoted to the Trump
00:12:27.220 tariffs.
00:12:28.180 We had one our Friday podcast right after the tariffs came out.
00:12:32.060 A hundred percent of the podcast was on the tariffs.
00:12:34.040 And then our Monday podcast, we talked about two competing camps in the Trump administration.
00:12:40.260 We talked about angels and devils that were on President Trump's soldiers.
00:12:45.200 Shoulders.
00:12:45.800 The angels were urging the president, use the leverage of the tariffs you've announced
00:12:52.520 to fight for lower tariffs across the world to expand market access for America.
00:12:58.080 I emphatically agree with that side.
00:13:00.680 The devils and there are voices in the administration.
00:13:03.080 They want to see massive tariffs in perpetuity from America and every other country.
00:13:09.100 I think that's a terrible outcome.
00:13:10.500 So we did Monday's podcast.
00:13:11.960 We did a deep dive on that.
00:13:12.960 So I will tell you, you and I are sitting here Thursday night.
00:13:17.800 Tuesday night, I spent an hour on the phone with President Trump.
00:13:22.980 And I had several other senators there and we were urging him.
00:13:26.260 What I was saying is, listen, the market is in free fall.
00:13:31.960 That's dangerous.
00:13:32.880 People are freaking out.
00:13:33.980 Sure.
00:13:34.100 And my advice to him, and I said I did Hannity Tuesday night.
00:13:38.420 So I said this on Hannity.
00:13:39.680 So this is not secret advice.
00:13:41.100 I said it on Fox News to the whole country.
00:13:43.340 I said, my advice is cut a deal now.
00:13:46.740 Pick one or two countries.
00:13:48.600 Cut a deal now.
00:13:49.680 I don't care what countries they are. 0.80
00:13:51.160 Pick one.
00:13:51.760 Pick two.
00:13:52.220 And cut a deal where they slash their tariffs massively and we slash our tariffs massively.
00:13:58.380 I said, I think that will calm the market down enormously.
00:14:01.100 That will assuage people that we are headed to a world with much lower tariffs, which by
00:14:07.060 the way, as I told him, if 30 days, 60 days, 90 days from now, we have a world where every
00:14:14.440 country on earth has massively lower tariffs and American farmers and ranchers and small
00:14:19.360 businesses and manufacturers are able to export all over the world.
00:14:22.700 That will be an historic win, like an unprecedented win for American workers and American jobs.
00:14:29.980 So that's what I'm urging him.
00:14:32.500 We spent an hour on the phone and I got to say, look, President Trump, sometimes when you're
00:14:37.560 urging him to do something, he can push back.
00:14:39.620 And in that call, he was kind of pushing back and popping back.
00:14:42.800 And he's saying, look, these tariffs are great.
00:14:45.580 We're raising a ton of money.
00:14:47.080 What's the problem?
00:14:49.360 Spent an hour.
00:14:50.620 But then on Wednesday, the president put out an announcement at lunchtime and it isn't
00:14:56.620 an announcement was twofold.
00:14:58.760 Number one, he said he was pausing all of the reciprocal tariffs he had announced on April
00:15:04.260 2nd for 90 days for 90 days, which is enough time to get deals done.
00:15:09.340 And number two, he said he was jacking up the tariffs on China even more.
00:15:13.580 He said to 125,000, although it's actually 125 percent, but it's actually 145 percent because
00:15:21.240 there's an additional 20 percent that he had announced as a penalty for their role in fentanyl
00:15:26.740 smuggling into this country. 0.98
00:15:28.080 Yep.
00:15:28.380 So the total tariffs against China are 145 percent.
00:15:32.140 Now, he announced that.
00:15:33.020 I'll tell you, on Wednesday, I was in the Senate Republican lunch.
00:15:36.020 All the Senate, Senate Republican senators, we have lunch together every Tuesday, Wednesday
00:15:39.940 and Thursday.
00:15:41.200 The middle of the lunch, Rick Scott, who hosts the Wednesday lunch, Rick Scott looked at his
00:15:45.820 phone and announced, hey, the president's just paused all the tariffs and increased the
00:15:50.420 tariffs on China.
00:15:51.180 There wasn't exactly a round of applause, but close, pretty damn close.
00:15:58.600 There was literally there was a relief.
00:16:00.660 And yes, a palpable sense of relief.
00:16:03.780 And what is striking is the market within minutes exploded and stocks soared up.
00:16:12.640 So tonight, when I was in the Oval, I said, Mr. President, as a result of your decision yesterday,
00:16:18.780 yesterday, you produced the single largest increase in the stock market in one day in
00:16:26.000 the history of the United States of America.
00:16:28.640 That's a good day.
00:16:29.400 That is a massive day.
00:16:31.260 And so I will say the pause is important.
00:16:34.280 I hope over these next 90 days, I hope what we see is, as we talked about on Monday's pod,
00:16:39.720 there are two paths, massively reducing tariffs for everyone or keeping tariffs in perpetuity.
00:16:45.840 Over the next 90 days, I hope we see announcement after announcement after announcement of our
00:16:52.200 trading partners, all of whom have come running to President Trump saying, we want to cut a
00:16:56.960 deal.
00:16:57.220 And to be clear, none of this would have happened without the April 2nd announcement.
00:17:02.680 None of it.
00:17:03.660 Well, and Scott Bissett, by the way, said this at the White House when they announced this.
00:17:08.060 He walked out and he said, this is all about leverage, which is what the president said.
00:17:12.260 Take a listen.
00:17:12.800 It was the president's decision to wait until today.
00:17:17.640 And again, as I've said in the past, no one creates leverage for himself like President
00:17:23.180 Trump.
00:17:24.260 And he said that, by the way, at the point when the Dow was up 2,000 points, right?
00:17:29.240 So he just announced it, walks out there.
00:17:31.600 And then Caroline Leavitt also was a reminder like, hey, we're letting the rest of the world
00:17:36.480 off the hook.
00:17:37.160 But when it comes to China, we're not.
00:17:39.980 She said this at the same press conference.
00:17:41.740 And as you all know, the president just put out a statement announcing an additional tariff
00:17:46.260 on China.
00:17:46.880 The tariff on China will now go up to 125 percent because China imprudently decided to retaliate
00:17:52.920 against the United States.
00:17:53.980 And as I said at the podium yesterday, when you punch at the United States of America,
00:17:57.960 President Trump is going to punch back harder.
00:18:00.120 In that same vein, we have had more than 75 countries from around the world reach out to
00:18:05.180 President Trump and his team here at the White House to negotiate better trade deals for
00:18:10.120 the American worker.
00:18:11.780 We have been overwhelmed with the amount of requests from countries around the world.
00:18:15.160 I'll let the secretary speak to that.
00:18:16.980 We will continue with the tailor-made negotiations that I spoke about yesterday.
00:18:20.580 In the meantime, there will be a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs as these negotiations
00:18:24.640 are ongoing.
00:18:25.700 And the tariff level will be brought down to a universal 10 percent tariff.
00:18:29.480 I mean, you listen to them, and I think it's pretty clear.
00:18:34.660 By the way, I will say this.
00:18:36.240 Caroline Leavitt, I know really well.
00:18:37.640 Yeah.
00:18:38.160 She's a good friend.
00:18:39.260 So Caroline ran for Congress in New Hampshire, and she was running for Congress. 0.99
00:18:44.380 If I remember correctly, she was 25 years old.
00:18:46.860 Yeah.
00:18:47.460 And by the way, the Constitution, the minimum age for a member of Congress is 25 years old.
00:18:52.380 Yep.
00:18:52.940 So she was-
00:18:53.500 On the House side, yep.
00:18:54.420 Yep.
00:18:54.580 A member of Congress is 25, a senator is 30, and the president must be 35.
00:18:59.880 That's what the Constitution lays out.
00:19:01.740 So Caroline was running in New Hampshire. 0.95
00:19:04.900 As you know, I raised a ton of money for Caroline. 0.87
00:19:08.100 Yep.
00:19:08.820 I believe, if I remember correctly, north of $100,000 to support her campaign.
00:19:13.340 And I flew to New Hampshire and campaigned with her.
00:19:15.720 She was a great presidential candidate. 1.00
00:19:17.080 She was a great candidate. 0.99
00:19:18.060 And by the way, I told the president that tonight. 0.99
00:19:19.860 I said, look, she's kicking ass as your press secretary. 1.00
00:19:22.640 But she was a fabulous, and the coolest part, we did a huge rally, and she rocked it. 0.82
00:19:27.540 It was a lot of energy and excitement.
00:19:30.000 And then we went afterwards to a bar.
00:19:32.680 I think it was a VFW bar, if I remember correctly.
00:19:35.320 And there were like several hundred, mostly veterans, and we were having a beer with them,
00:19:40.440 and they loved her.
00:19:41.520 It was really cool.
00:19:42.540 It was like a fun, it was after the event, hanging out, having a beer with a bunch of
00:19:47.860 New Hampshire veterans, and it was like a great moment.
00:19:50.100 Now, she ended up, she won the primary, she did not win the general, although I pointed
00:19:55.720 out to her tonight, I said, look, that didn't work out, even though you were a great candidate.
00:20:00.000 But I said, you know what?
00:20:01.600 You'd rather do the job you have now than being a freshman in the House.
00:20:05.540 Biggest blessing in disguise.
00:20:07.500 Because if she was in the House, she would have done that job.
00:20:10.120 She would be the press secretary right now.
00:20:11.680 It's amazing how those things happen in your life, when you're like, you want something so
00:20:14.940 bad, and then you don't get it.
00:20:15.980 And then you're like, man, if I would have gotten that, where would I, look at what I
00:20:19.760 would have missed.
00:20:20.400 You know the country western song, some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers?
00:20:24.340 Yeah.
00:20:24.960 Oh, yeah.
00:20:25.240 And there have been multiple steps in my life where I desperately wanted something.
00:20:29.620 I didn't get it.
00:20:30.620 I was crestfallen.
00:20:31.680 I was frustrated.
00:20:33.080 I used to keep, all right, this is going to be sort of a weird admission.
00:20:36.300 When I was in high school and college, I literally kept a file folder.
00:20:41.720 And by the way, for all of you under 30, you don't know what a file folder is.
00:20:45.260 But I had like a file cabinet with a folder.
00:20:47.940 You know what it was called?
00:20:49.380 What?
00:20:50.240 Failures.
00:20:51.660 How many were in there?
00:20:52.980 A lot.
00:20:53.680 Okay.
00:20:54.400 So look, I was someone, I tried for things, I applied for things.
00:20:58.580 I wanted to be a Rhodes Scholar.
00:20:59.840 I applied for the Rhodes Scholarship.
00:21:01.280 I didn't get it. 0.90
00:21:01.940 I was really, I was like, damn, I'd really like to be a Rhodes Scholar. 0.95
00:21:04.540 I'm pissed I didn't get it. 0.94
00:21:05.400 Yeah.
00:21:06.100 But, all right, I think it's 10th grade.
00:21:10.160 Okay, this is, okay, I'm sort of embarrassed.
00:21:14.140 Like, you guys know, Ben's a jock.
00:21:16.780 He was like a cool kid and like, you know.
00:21:19.660 I tried hard.
00:21:20.820 I tried hard.
00:21:21.480 Although, to be fair, is a tennis player really a jock?
00:21:24.220 Well, you know, good, good.
00:21:25.680 It's a sort of wussy jock.
00:21:26.420 In the SEC, it is.
00:21:27.720 I mean, it's not a linebacker.
00:21:28.840 In the SEC, it is.
00:21:29.500 But like a tennis player, you're wearing like a white eyes on.
00:21:33.180 Like, it's not the same.
00:21:34.320 We had some good swag.
00:21:35.400 We had some nice Nike swag.
00:21:37.960 Like, we did it right.
00:21:39.460 I'm just saying.
00:21:40.620 You were a Division I athlete.
00:21:41.540 It's not football.
00:21:42.180 It's not basketball.
00:21:43.540 It's not baseball.
00:21:44.460 I'll give you that.
00:21:45.700 Can you dunk?
00:21:46.620 No, I cannot dunk.
00:21:47.860 I played hoops with you.
00:21:48.920 I knew the answer.
00:21:49.420 Yeah, yeah.
00:21:49.860 Cannot.
00:21:50.880 But.
00:21:52.080 I wasn't going for Rhodes Scholar.
00:21:53.440 I can promise you that.
00:21:54.140 And I didn't have a briefcase.
00:21:55.340 You had a briefcase.
00:21:56.060 That's what we're really getting at.
00:21:56.940 No, I didn't have a briefcase.
00:21:58.700 No, I'm sorry.
00:22:00.040 I'm not Alex P. Keaton, which no one knows who that was, but he was Michael J. Fox and
00:22:04.240 Family Ties.
00:22:05.080 Amazing show.
00:22:06.180 But, but, all right.
00:22:07.960 So in 10th grade, I was sitting there in class with my classmates and they were talking about
00:22:14.780 like applying to a scholarship.
00:22:16.300 Yeah.
00:22:17.120 And several of my classmates said, well, no, no, I'm not going to apply.
00:22:20.060 And I said, well, why not?
00:22:21.680 And they said, well, if I apply, I might get rejected and I don't want to fail, so I'm not
00:22:26.920 going to do it.
00:22:27.700 Yeah.
00:22:28.940 And.
00:22:29.380 And you're like, screw that.
00:22:30.240 I'm going for all of it.
00:22:32.760 And, and I wrote a poem in 10th grade, which I don't have, but, but I'm going to try to remember
00:22:37.900 it.
00:22:38.040 I don't know that I can remember it exactly.
00:22:39.260 But imagine a dreamer walking off a cliff with hopes and aspirations.
00:22:50.660 Many would say his steps were foolish and yet all the great inventors, discoverers and
00:23:01.440 achievers would say nothing ventured, nothing gained. 0.59
00:23:07.320 And here's another element to complicate the matter.
00:23:14.680 What if the walker learned to fly?
00:23:19.240 And this is me as a geeky 15 year old writing a poem, writing a poem inspired me.
00:23:24.740 Like if you don't, that was before chat GBT.
00:23:27.440 So you didn't even steal it from anybody.
00:23:29.360 If you don't walk off a cliff, you ain't growing wings.
00:23:31.840 Okay.
00:23:32.280 Fair point.
00:23:32.840 And so my, I literally had a whole folder of failures, things I tried to do that, that
00:23:38.020 I did not accomplish.
00:23:39.000 But if you are, are to use another great hero of mine, Teddy Roosevelt.
00:23:43.260 Yeah.
00:23:43.860 You know, TR gave a great commencement speech about being in the arena, the man who is marred
00:23:49.820 by blood and sweat and mud in the arena.
00:23:54.760 And not one of those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
00:24:03.200 Nor defeat.
00:24:05.000 And so, I forget where I'm going on this.
00:24:08.240 No, you're talking about failures.
00:24:09.760 You're talking about failures.
00:24:11.500 You're talking about Caroline Levitt failing at the, going for Congress.
00:24:14.940 Yes, which was a blessing for her.
00:24:15.620 And now it's the biggest thing in her life.
00:24:17.040 So you're saying count your failures because they can be your blessings later in life.
00:24:20.420 If you have no failures, you've done nothing in life.
00:24:23.480 I just want to prove that right now to my wife, how good of a listener I am, because
00:24:27.620 I just saved that whole story right there.
00:24:29.820 I just want credit for that moment.
00:24:31.520 Anyway, continue.
00:24:32.920 Is she going to buy that?
00:24:34.240 I don't know.
00:24:35.220 We'll see if she listens to the show because I just, if she, if she doesn't listen, we're
00:24:39.080 both good enough.
00:24:39.800 Well, look, I will say what happened on tariffs, Wednesday was a massive day, number one for
00:24:51.780 the market and, and, and for a huge surge, but number two, the 90 days, we have an opportunity.
00:24:58.540 This is not hyperbole.
00:25:00.200 President Trump could achieve the greatest victory for jobs and economic growth, certainly
00:25:09.400 in our lifetimes and maybe in the history of America now.
00:25:12.780 Well, and you read between the tea leaves here.
00:25:14.900 Like there does seem to be a strategy here.
00:25:16.780 And this is some of the genius I do have to think of that I give credit for that a lot
00:25:21.040 of people miss on president Trump.
00:25:22.780 It seems like he's saying, Hey, rest of the world, I want to get along with you.
00:25:28.460 So I'm going to bust China. 1.00
00:25:30.360 They're taking advantage of us.
00:25:31.740 They're still in our intellectual property.
00:25:33.300 It's a national security issue.
00:25:34.820 We witnessed what we witnessed during COVID with them as a nation.
00:25:38.220 I want everybody else to succeed.
00:25:39.860 And we're going to make sure they don't have all of this leverage over, not just us, but
00:25:43.540 other partners in the world.
00:25:45.040 Yes.
00:25:45.340 But look, the two things I've been urging president Trump for a long time on trade to
00:25:49.500 focus on our number one, focus on China.
00:25:52.680 I am all for pounding the living daylights out of China. 1.00
00:25:55.960 You know, when I arrived in the Senate 13 years ago, what I said then is China poses 1.00
00:26:03.980 the single largest geopolitical threat to the United States over the next hundred years.
00:26:10.120 Amen.
00:26:10.600 Now, Ben, when I arrived, that was a lonely voice.
00:26:14.860 Almost nobody agreed with me.
00:26:16.820 Every Democrat disagreed with me.
00:26:18.720 And most of the Republicans disagreed with me.
00:26:21.160 They looked at China and they saw nothing but dollar signs as far as the eye could see.
00:26:26.580 Now, the world has changed.
00:26:27.640 I think a lot more people have opened their eyes to the danger, to the peril.
00:26:31.740 China is fighting a thousand year war against the United States.
00:26:36.180 And that's not hyperbole.
00:26:37.540 I mean, that's that's really how they look at it.
00:26:39.900 And everything we can do to delink our economy from China is a good step. 1.00
00:26:45.540 So so I've urged President Trump, you can't focus on China too much.
00:26:50.520 The more you can bring jobs out of China, the more you can bring our critical infrastructure 1.00
00:26:54.380 out of China, the more you can bring pharmaceuticals out of China, the more you can bring
00:26:58.300 semiconductors out of China.
00:27:00.920 Everything we depend upon, China is coming after us. 0.99
00:27:04.320 And this is national security things we depend on.
00:27:06.200 It is national security is economic security.
00:27:08.880 This is a fundamental battle.
00:27:10.380 So I am all for focusing on China.
00:27:12.560 But the other principle, reciprocity, look, I don't want to be overly optimistic, as we
00:27:19.020 mentioned on Monday's podcast.
00:27:20.740 You know, go back and listen to it about angels and devils.
00:27:24.480 There are really vocal and outspoken voices in the administration who don't want the president
00:27:33.400 to lower tariffs in other countries.
00:27:35.080 They want tariffs to be high and there forever.
00:27:39.300 And they want the revenue.
00:27:41.640 Look, tariffs are producing about two and a half billion dollars a day in revenues.
00:27:46.980 Now, the point I made to the president, where are those revenues coming from?
00:27:51.440 Tariffs are taxes.
00:27:52.660 They're coming from American consumers.
00:27:54.380 So, yes, it's producing a lot of money.
00:27:56.780 But I would much rather lower the barriers to other countries and let our farmers and ranchers
00:28:01.700 and small businesses and manufacturers export the hell out of it, because I think American 1.00
00:28:06.340 businesses can beat every company on Earth if there's a fair playing field.
00:28:12.640 Most of the countries we trade with, there's not a fair playing field.
00:28:17.180 And so this opportunity—and listen, President Trump's negotiation strategy is in some ways
00:28:25.340 simple.
00:28:26.380 He walks up to people. 0.99
00:28:27.800 He smacks them in the head with a two-by-four. 0.92
00:28:30.380 And then he backs up and negotiates from that. 0.97
00:28:32.340 Yeah.
00:28:32.500 And it has proven to be an incredibly effective negotiation strategy.
00:28:37.200 So I will say I'm really, really glad about Wednesday's pause announcement.
00:28:43.560 It produced, as I noted, the biggest single-day increase in the stock market in history.
00:28:47.880 And I hope the next 90 days we will see deal after deal after deal, slashing tariffs and
00:28:55.760 opening markets to American producers.
00:28:57.960 Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying something like that in the cabinet meeting when he said
00:29:02.360 this about the president.
00:29:03.800 And also he said, which I think was interesting, he said, and I'm going to quote him, he said,
00:29:08.500 one of the most important things you'll achieve in your presidency is reordering the world
00:29:12.140 in a proper way.
00:29:13.240 For more than 31 years, multiple administrations have allowed the Chinese to de-industrialize 0.98
00:29:19.300 this country, to take away jobs and factories and pillars of our national strength.
00:29:24.120 Like, this is from a Secretary of State who's saying, this is the ballgame.
00:29:28.980 And then national security saying, this is the ballgame.
00:29:32.160 And then producers are saying, this is the ballgame.
00:29:34.620 And American workers are saying, this is the ballgame.
00:29:37.720 I've never seen a moment politically where so many different factions are all seem to
00:29:44.380 be aligned and understanding this threat, which is, in fact, is China.
00:29:49.400 And so you look at this next 90 days, it's very important and there's got to be deals
00:29:54.420 done.
00:29:55.120 When do you think we'll start to see deals and momentum?
00:29:57.900 Because it's all about momentum, right?
00:29:59.440 You get one with Vietnam or you get one with Taiwan or you get one with Malaysia or India
00:30:03.500 wherever it is, right?
00:30:04.620 And you start going country by country.
00:30:06.800 When will we start to see that?
00:30:08.120 Because that's what the market's now looking for.
00:30:09.840 Yeah, look.
00:30:10.260 So what I urged the president Tuesday night is negotiate a deal fast.
00:30:15.720 I said, I don't care what country.
00:30:18.100 Just get one on the books.
00:30:19.460 Get one and have it be a massive reduction on both sides because that will assuage people. 0.85
00:30:25.000 OK, this is the path we're going down.
00:30:27.100 When you have 70 plus countries that are seeking to negotiate deals, that takes a little bit
00:30:31.080 of time.
00:30:31.400 That's complicated.
00:30:32.080 Yes.
00:30:33.040 And so I really like the 90 day pause because it gives you 90 days to negotiate deals.
00:30:40.000 And so I hope in the next 90 days we see deal after deal after deal.
00:30:45.220 And I think it'll build momentum.
00:30:46.580 So you think in weeks we'll start seeing the first ones?
00:30:49.320 I don't know.
00:30:53.620 I don't know if it'll be weeks or 30 to 60 days.
00:30:58.480 I don't know how long it takes.
00:31:00.100 The 90 days gives us time to do it right.
00:31:01.720 90 days gives us time to do it right.
00:31:05.480 And I have a high level of confidence that in the next 90 days we will see a bunch of
00:31:11.060 them.
00:31:11.740 How quickly?
00:31:12.860 Given the 90 day pause, there's not the urgency.
00:31:15.500 What I was urging, what I said on Hannity is do it now.
00:31:18.120 Don't wait a week.
00:31:19.060 Like do it tomorrow because frankly the market's freaking out. 0.96
00:31:22.380 And you don't want people's 401ks to go to crap.
00:31:25.540 And so I think there was real value to moving quickly.
00:31:30.800 The pause essentially buys you time to then negotiate the deals.
00:31:36.320 And I hope that's what they're going to do.
00:31:39.080 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
00:31:41.320 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:31:45.520 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:31:48.600 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:31:50.440 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:31:51.720 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:31:55.440 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.
00:31:58.960 All at different stages of their journey.
00:32:01.160 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:32:04.360 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:32:08.420 All right, before you go to this vote at 1 o'clock in the morning, not a joke,
00:32:14.820 I want to ask you about this other, I would just say insane news
00:32:20.080 because I can't believe that they've been allowed to do it for so long.
00:32:23.460 And that is Mexico stealing water, which is suffocating farmers.
00:32:30.200 Yep.
00:32:30.600 Specifically, it's happening in Texas.
00:32:32.680 And it's making farming industry collapse and farmers disappearing from areas because there is no water.
00:32:40.980 So let me give you the background because this is a really important issue.
00:32:44.380 It's important in Texas, but it's important to the country,
00:32:46.780 which is there's a water treaty that we signed with Mexico in 1944, the Mexican Water Treaty of 1944.
00:32:54.320 It obligates Mexico to provide 350,000 acre feet of water a year to South Texas.
00:33:00.980 That's over a five-year period.
00:33:05.160 Okay.
00:33:05.560 For the last five years, Mexico has been openly and brazenly violating the treaty.
00:33:14.560 They've not been providing the water.
00:33:17.300 They are right now in this five-year period, 1.3 million acre feet in arrears.
00:33:25.160 Water they have not provided that they've committed by treaty to provide.
00:33:28.880 Now, what are they doing?
00:33:29.660 They're diverting that water that should go to South Texas farmers under the treaty to Mexican farmers.
00:33:36.640 And a couple of things are happening.
00:33:38.460 So in South Texas, there is a massive drought going on.
00:33:42.020 It is doing enormous damage to farmers.
00:33:45.180 And I spent a lot of time in South Texas.
00:33:48.000 And the damage to farmers, we're seeing a lot of South Texas farmers that are taking half of their acreage out of production.
00:33:58.060 They're shutting down half of their farms.
00:34:00.540 Just because they don't have the water to do it.
00:34:01.760 Right.
00:34:01.980 They're laying off thousands of workers.
00:34:05.200 So there was one sugar mill in all of Texas.
00:34:11.160 Last year, it shut down.
00:34:13.760 Because of water?
00:34:14.620 And it shut down because the sugar farmers did not have the water to raise the sugar.
00:34:19.580 Wow.
00:34:20.200 And it's gone.
00:34:21.860 And Mexico, on the other side, is green as can be.
00:34:24.260 It is green as can be.
00:34:25.820 The Mexican farmers are prospering.
00:34:27.500 They're literally stealing our water.
00:34:30.040 And by the way, like President Trump talks a lot about foreign countries taking advantage of America.
00:34:35.360 It's a great example.
00:34:36.060 This is literally the Mexican government stealing our water.
00:34:39.700 And did Joe Biden do anything to stop this?
00:34:41.280 Zero.
00:34:41.880 And he knew about it.
00:34:42.900 So he knew about it.
00:34:43.980 So I've engaged.
00:34:46.100 This issue I engaged.
00:34:47.480 I started engaging about two years ago.
00:34:48.980 And I started engaging when I was down in South Texas.
00:34:50.940 And I did a roundtable with farmers.
00:34:52.840 And they raised this issue to me.
00:34:54.260 And two years ago, I didn't know what the water tree of 1944 was.
00:34:59.380 And they explained it to me.
00:35:01.340 And at the time, they were really worried we're going to lose our sugar mill if this doesn't change.
00:35:06.480 And I said, look, I think I can help.
00:35:08.420 I'm going to lean in.
00:35:09.220 And I began leaning in aggressively.
00:35:11.160 I forced a vote on the Senate floor on an amendment to direct the State Department to use every lever point we have to force Mexico to comply with the water treaty.
00:35:22.400 I got a majority of the Senate, a bipartisan majority.
00:35:25.840 And then there's a water commissioner for the United States.
00:35:28.960 I, like, leaned in with the water commissioner and said, look, the Senate has spoken, a bipartisan majority.
00:35:33.840 And here's the fundamental problem.
00:35:36.000 Joe Biden didn't give a damn about this.
00:35:39.280 So I desperately tried to get the Biden administration to exert leverage.
00:35:43.940 Yeah.
00:35:44.240 And they just didn't care.
00:35:46.180 Now, by the way, leverage for Donald Trump at this point was him saying, hey, I'm coming after you with with tariffs or sanctions.
00:35:51.640 So do the right thing now before I have to do that.
00:35:54.040 And they know he means it.
00:35:55.720 Unlike even if you had that same statement from Joe Biden, he wasn't going to do anything.
00:35:58.920 So in South Texas, cities are also facing massive drought.
00:36:02.660 You're literally facing the cities not having enough water for their citizens because Mexico is stealing the water. 0.97
00:36:08.440 And so I leaned in. 0.98
00:36:09.580 I could not get the Biden administration to do a damn thing. 0.93
00:36:13.080 In December, as part of the continuing resolution, I authored legislation that got adopted that provided $280 million in emergency relief for Texas farmers because they're they're going broke. 0.95
00:36:25.720 And we're talking about generational farms, farms that have been three, four generations who are being bankrupted because their government is not enforcing the treaty and they're being starved of water.
00:36:37.000 And so several weeks ago, I went down to South Texas with Brooke Rollins.
00:36:42.040 Brooke Rollins is is the secretary of agriculture.
00:36:45.260 Brooke has been a good friend of mine for 25 years.
00:36:47.740 She's she's a Texan. 1.00
00:36:49.200 She's the first Texan in the history of the country to be the secretary of agriculture.
00:36:53.360 She's also the first secretary of agriculture ever to go to the Rio Grande Valley.
00:36:58.740 Wow.
00:36:59.140 And she came to the valley at my request.
00:37:01.160 I asked her, come down with me.
00:37:02.600 Yeah.
00:37:03.100 And we did.
00:37:05.100 We did a press conference, number one, where she announced I've got two hundred eighty million dollars.
00:37:09.260 I'm giving the South Texas farmers because your federal government has been screwing you by not getting the water back.
00:37:14.500 And Mexico is starving.
00:37:16.680 But we also did a roundtable.
00:37:18.600 We did a roundtable with farmers where Brooke and I talked, talked with the farmers and met and the Rio Grande Valley has been bright blue for a hundred years.
00:37:30.300 In 2024, the Rio Grande Valley flipped red.
00:37:35.440 I won the valley and Donald Trump won the valley.
00:37:38.860 Incredible.
00:37:39.480 That has never happened.
00:37:40.420 I won.
00:37:40.900 I won Hispanic statewide in Texas by six points.
00:37:43.280 That's never happened.
00:37:44.000 I have spent an enormous amount of time and millions of dollars in the valley trying to flip the valley red because I saw the potential there.
00:37:52.620 And so I think I've invested more than any elected official in Texas in terms of turning the valley red. 0.90
00:37:58.860 Well, I got to say, sitting there at that roundtable, you got farmers and ranchers and you're just asking them, look, over the last four years, did Joe Biden do a damn thing for you? 0.58
00:38:09.820 No. 0.54
00:38:10.260 And that's how you that's how you turn this.
00:38:12.040 And what I told them, as I said, listen, if there's one thing you know about Donald Trump, he will stand up to foreign countries and fight for you.
00:38:20.720 And I made that commitment.
00:38:22.280 And and frankly, look, these are voters.
00:38:26.140 Who their entire lives have voted Democrats, their parents voted Democrat, their grandparents voted Democrat, their great grandparents voted Democrat.
00:38:33.780 And this last election, for the first time, they pulled the lever for Republican going down there and saying, look, we're fighting for you. 0.94
00:38:44.300 We're going to get you the damn water is one of the ways you lock those votes. 1.00
00:38:48.220 And it's a generational shift for Texas. 0.99
00:38:51.200 This is by the way, this is the first time for verdict.
00:38:53.960 They've just opened the vote.
00:38:55.100 They're only keeping it open for 15 minutes.
00:38:57.600 So I'm going to go momentarily.
00:38:58.800 You're going to go momentarily, which means actually it's about 12 minutes because I'm a couple minutes behind.
00:39:02.440 Just this is this is why I love doing verdict, because this is how it really works in the Senate.
00:39:07.220 So I will say this.
00:39:09.220 I called President Trump a week ago and I said, Mr. President, it would make a huge difference if you leaned in personally with the president of Mexico and said, provide us the water.
00:39:22.800 Yeah.
00:39:23.080 Knock it off.
00:39:23.820 And he said, I'll tell you what, I'll send a truth social post.
00:39:27.660 And so I worked with him on the wording of it.
00:39:30.640 And and tonight when I was in the Oval, I said, Mr. President, can you send that truth post?
00:39:37.160 Yeah.
00:39:37.640 He sent it tonight.
00:39:38.480 And I'm going to read it to you.
00:39:40.160 Here's what President Trump sent this evening.
00:39:43.840 Mexico owes Texas 1.3 million acre feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty.
00:39:51.080 But Mexico is unfortunately violating their treaty obligation.
00:39:55.620 This is very unfair and it is hurting South Texas farmers very badly.
00:40:00.100 Last year, the only sugar mill in Texas closed because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas farmers. 0.99
00:40:10.680 Ted Cruz has been leading the fight to get South Texas the water it is owed.
00:40:16.500 But Sleepy Joe refused to lift a finger to help the farmers.
00:40:22.540 This ends now.
00:40:26.180 I will make sure that Mexico doesn't violate our treaties and doesn't hurt our Texas farmers.
00:40:33.320 Just last month, I halted water shipments to Tijuana until Mexico complies with the 1944 Water Treaty.
00:40:42.700 My agriculture secretary, my agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is standing up for Texas farmers.
00:40:48.160 And we will keep escalating consequences, including tariffs and maybe even sanctions until Mexico honors the treaty and gives Texas the water they are owed.
00:41:04.360 And gives Texas the water they are owed is in all caps.
00:41:07.460 There you go.
00:41:08.140 That tweet got sent out tonight.
00:41:09.920 I'll tell you, in just within an hour of that tweet going out, the president of Mexico sent out a tweet saying,
00:41:16.360 We're going to fix this.
00:41:17.220 We're going to fix this.
00:41:18.040 And the Mexican government is freaking out.
00:41:21.300 That's what it looks like when you have a president who is fighting for America.
00:41:26.140 Joe Biden could have done that for four years, but he didn't give a flip about farmers in South Texas going out of business.
00:41:32.200 Because the president's tweet, and I can tell you, Mexico is in the process now of negotiating with the State Department to provide for the water.
00:41:41.480 We're going to get the water.
00:41:42.800 And that's a great, great victory for Texas and America.
00:41:46.220 Go vote.
00:41:46.680 You're on the clock now.
00:41:47.520 I love it.
00:41:47.980 Don't forget, we do a show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:41:49.920 Sometimes it's like one in the morning.
00:41:51.800 You're going to run and vote right now.
00:41:53.260 We'll see you back here on, what is today?
00:41:55.620 Thursday, Wednesday?
00:41:56.400 What is today?
00:41:56.980 It's just they're all running together now.
00:41:58.620 Today's Thursday.
00:41:59.160 Thursday.
00:41:59.580 So this is Friday.
00:42:00.180 So the weekend review will be on Saturday.
00:42:02.720 So there you go, which isn't like a day if you're looking at when we're recording this.
00:42:06.200 We'll see you then.
00:42:06.740 Share this wherever you are on social media, and we'll see you back here on Saturday.
00:42:10.620 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:42:13.300 Guaranteed human.