Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 25, 2026


Iran Deal! Separating Fact from Fiction, What's Next plus Maine's Nazi Communist Oyster Farmer


Episode Stats


Length

36 minutes

Words per minute

170.33

Word count

6,195

Sentence count

387

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Toxicity

19

sentences flagged

Hate speech

46

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joins me to talk about Memorial Day and the possibility of a deal with Iran. We also talk about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and the amazing work they are doing in Israel.

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 .
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00:00:35.920 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you on this Memorial Day. And we
00:00:40.520 want to start off, obviously, Senator, by saying thank you to so many who gave the ultimate
00:00:44.720 sacrifice for this country, so many that protect and defend, and so many families that today is a
00:00:49.580 really hard day for them remembering their loved one who fought, protect, and defended this country.
00:00:53.820 I hope you spend some time with your family, spend some time with your kids, but I also hope you stop and think and say thank you to the heroes who keep us safe, who keep us free, who are responsible for every liberty we have.
00:01:09.500 On Memorial Day in particular, we remember those heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice, the last full measure, those who lost their lives protecting our nation.
00:01:20.100 Every year we honor them. We remember their sacrifice. We are grateful. We honor their loved ones and their families. And we also honor those who are still serving, who are risking every day and risking potentially giving their own lives so that we can continue to be free for everyone in the armed services, for everyone who has served, and especially for those whose loved ones have given the last ultimate measure.
00:01:50.100 We just want to say thank you.
00:01:51.780 We appreciate you.
00:01:52.940 We are grateful.
00:01:53.920 Thank you.
00:01:55.080 Yeah, amen to that.
00:01:56.560 We've got a lot that we're going to cover, including some big news on the possibility
00:02:01.480 of getting a deal done with Iran.
00:02:03.800 That is something that's going to be very interesting as well.
00:02:06.400 And Senator, I want to get your overview on this real quick because it's important.
00:02:11.720 There is a lot of people that are online that are throwing up a lot of things.
00:02:16.120 Some of it's based on, in fact, a lot of it is not, and it's just speculation.
00:02:20.100 people try to score political points left and right here.
00:02:23.400 So I want to get your overview and your take on this
00:02:26.000 and exactly what you think about where we are,
00:02:28.520 are we close to a deal,
00:02:29.740 and what does a good deal look like for the United States of America?
00:02:32.800 Before we get to that,
00:02:34.020 I do want to pause and talk to you about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
00:02:38.260 and the amazing work they're doing right now for those in need in Israel.
00:02:42.220 When you hear about Israel in the news,
00:02:43.880 it's easy to think of headlines, politics, or another conflict far away.
00:02:48.220 But for families in Israel and Jews around the world, this is incredibly personal.
00:02:53.640 Anti-Semitic attacks in the Holy Land and across the globe are happening right now.
00:02:58.240 Elderly Holocaust survivors who endured so much already, again, fear for their lives.
00:03:04.780 Jewish families are praying for the freedom to worship in safety.
00:03:08.840 And in moments like these, your voice matters.
00:03:12.000 Because your voice can remind them that they're not alone.
00:03:14.960 The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is inviting you to leave a personal
00:03:20.000 prayer or message of encouragement that will be delivered directly to someone in Israel
00:03:24.720 who needs hope right now.
00:03:26.880 Not filtered through the media, not lost online, but personally delivered.
00:03:31.640 A simple prayer, a few heartfelt words.
00:03:34.360 They can lift the spirit of someone facing fear, uncertainty, and isolation.
00:03:39.060 This is more than support.
00:03:40.640 This is standing with Israel when it matters the most.
00:03:43.260 Go to PrayIFCJ.org. That's Pray, P-R-A-Y, I-F-C-J.org. And you can submit your prayer 0.91
00:03:52.840 today. That's Pray, I-F-C-J.org. So Senator, let's break this down for everybody. This is 0.98
00:04:01.080 complicated. A deal was always going to be complicated. But when you have people trying
00:04:05.620 to score political points in dealing with this, it's frustrating because there's a lot of people
00:04:09.580 saying, what's actually going on? Well, that's right. There's a lot of news breaking and it's
00:04:15.360 difficult to tell what is true and what is not true. There's some active disinformation online.
00:04:20.860 You have a bunch of different sides all trying to push their own narratives. What we're going
00:04:24.680 to try to do in this podcast is what we always do, which is walk you through the facts, walk
00:04:28.600 you through what we know and walk you through what exactly is happening. Let's start out with
00:04:34.800 the objectives in Iran. President Trump has been very clear about the objectives in Iran. Number
00:04:40.600 one was nuclear, preventing Iran, making sure Iran never, ever, ever gets a nuclear weapon. 0.81
00:04:47.500 Number two was missiles and preventing Iran from using its missiles to terrorize its neighbors, 0.63
00:04:53.720 to terrorize American servicemen and women serving in harm's way. Number three was their 0.82
00:05:00.080 Navy and their Navy that Iran had been using to project force and to threaten in particular 0.95
00:05:08.100 shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. And the number four was terrorism. Iran for 47 years 0.85
00:05:14.320 has been the number one funder of terrorism in the world, funding over 90 percent of Hamas,
00:05:20.100 of Hezbollah, and of the Houthis. And so President Trump made the decision to go in to launch this
00:05:26.280 military attack. As regular listeners of Verdict know, I spent the entire day before President
00:05:32.640 Trump launched this attack with him on Air Force One, flying with him from D.C. to Texas to a big
00:05:39.560 rally in Corpus Christi, and then one-on-one, the two of us together in the beast, the presidential
00:05:44.760 limo. And almost all of that time we were talking about Iran, I urged him to go down the path that 0.94
00:05:51.920 he's on. I believe the decision to launch this attack was the single most consequential decision 1.00
00:05:58.040 of President Trump's presidency. And I think it was exactly the right thing to do. And I think it
00:06:02.220 has made America safer. Now, where are we now? In terms of military objectives, the president's
00:06:09.180 success is extraordinary. The success of our military is extraordinary. I mentioned the
00:06:14.460 missiles. The missiles are almost entirely gone. The missile manufacturing capability is almost
00:06:19.480 entirely gone. Not only that, the drones are almost entirely gone and drone manufacturing
00:06:24.280 is almost entirely gone. Not only that, the Air Force is in rubble, bombed and sitting on the
00:06:30.900 runway. And the Navy that I mentioned, the Navy is sunk on the bottom of the ocean. So in terms
00:06:36.800 of military objectives, it's been extraordinary. Not only that, the Ayatollah is dead. Many of the
00:06:44.000 mullahs are dead. Many of the senior leadership of the IRGC are dead. In terms of military
00:06:51.140 operation, Iran spent 47 years building a military, and in 39 days, the United States military utterly 0.90
00:07:01.480 and completely eliminated it. Now, where do we stand now? We stand, number one, with Iran 0.62
00:07:06.580 acting really as terrorists, threatening the Strait of Hormuz. And number two, we have the 0.96
00:07:13.140 ongoing threat of nuclear weapons, both through Iran's continued desire to enrich uranium and
00:07:20.240 through Iran's possession of substantial amounts of enriched uranium. In that context, President
00:07:26.380 Trump in the last few days has put out several statements saying that we are close to a nuclear
00:07:32.240 deal. We are close to a deal with Iran. And I got to say, if that comes to fruition and it's a good
00:07:39.460 deal, that would be a phenomenal outcome. I think the president has achieved incredible success
00:07:45.580 right now to date in this military action. And look, Ben, part of what makes this confusing
00:07:51.600 to understand is I think there are multiple sides that are putting out online different
00:07:57.600 narratives. So Iran and Iran's echo chambers, Iran and Iran's echo chambers are putting out in
00:08:04.360 massive quantities online, that this deal is a complete capitulation, that the president is
00:08:10.400 going to send them tens of billions of dollars, that they'll keep their enriched uranium,
00:08:16.100 that they'll continue to be in charge. Look, that would be a terrible outcome. And there's
00:08:20.360 a reason the Iranians are pushing that. In fact, they've been pushing memes of the president 0.99
00:08:26.100 bowing down and kissing the feet of the Ayatollah. They're not subtle, but those are also not
00:08:32.520 disguised. Those are foreign propaganda that are coming from our enemy and our defeated enemy in
00:08:38.980 this military conflict. The president has also been clear that he said we're close to a deal,
00:08:45.080 but we're not there yet. It's not 100% negotiated. And I will tell you the history within this
00:08:51.480 administration and every step on foreign policy, there have often been two or more camps within
00:08:57.480 the administration that are pushing for different outcomes, that are pushing with respect to Iran
00:09:03.120 either to be more vigorous in insisting on the red lines the president has drawn or less vigorous
00:09:08.940 and simply trying to get out of it in a hurry. And I think the president has been right saying
00:09:14.100 he was not going to back down from enforcing those red lines, from protecting the American
00:09:20.260 people. And I, for one, am confident, I hope and I'm confident that he will continue to hold that
00:09:25.860 line. Well, when you talk about what a deal could look like, let's also go through those
00:09:31.460 parameters. What is a good deal look like? What is it as conservatives we should make sure that
00:09:36.700 we're advocating for? I'm one of those where I go back to what the president said very early on.
00:09:42.720 There's no circumstance where Iran is going to be able to get a nuclear weapon. That to me is
00:09:48.320 number one. It's a national security issue. And I think that's where a lot of people are just
00:09:54.140 straight up lying online about this issue as well. Yeah, look, that's right. And you're right. That's
00:09:59.540 the number one objective is that an Ayatollah who chants death to America having a nuclear weapon 0.74
00:10:05.700 is completely unacceptable. You know, I'll tell you, I put out a tweet this weekend on all of
00:10:12.940 the swirling rumors of the deal and what could be in it. Here's what I said. I said, President
00:10:17.460 Trump's decision to strike Iran was the most consequential decision of his second term. 1.00
00:10:22.060 He was right to do so, and we achieved extraordinary military results, including destroying all of their missiles and drones and sinking their entire navy. 0.94
00:10:32.840 If the result of all of this is to be an Iranian regime still run by Islamists who chant death to America, now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, that outcome would be a disastrous mistake. 0.59
00:10:57.280 The details are still coming out, and I pray that the early reports are wrong.
00:11:02.340 But the fact that Biden's Rob Malley is praising the deal is not encouraging.
00:11:08.180 President Trump believes in peace through strength,
00:11:12.160 and his strong leadership has already made America much safer.
00:11:16.240 He should continue to hold the line, defend America,
00:11:20.880 and enforce the red lines that he has repeatedly drawn.
00:11:23.960 Now, when I sent that, Twitter and the Internet was all lit up.
00:11:31.380 And in fact, Drudge Report breathlessly put a story above the fold as their top headline story,
00:11:40.860 Cruz Defying the Dawn Disses Iran Dealing.
00:11:45.480 And, you know, Drudge is known for subtlety.
00:11:47.960 And let's be very clear.
00:11:50.640 What I was saying was precisely the opposite.
00:11:53.240 What I was saying is President Trump has been exactly right in how he has conducted this military conflict in Iran, and he's done so despite significant naysayers around him urging him not to hold the line consistently.
00:12:10.100 And so what I'm saying very publicly is, Mr. President, you've done an extraordinary and an historic job in Iran.
00:12:16.460 Don't listen to voices that would urge giving away the victory.
00:12:20.540 Now, here's some good news. What has happened on Sunday, the administration set up multiple calls with reporters, with different briefers, and one administration official told people on the call that Iran has to, quote, address the main issues, which are nuclear and the Strait of Hormuz up front.
00:12:44.560 And the phrase they used on that call was, quote, no dust, no deal. Now, that approach is exactly the right approach. There should not, at a minimum, there should not be concessions until Iran hands over their nuclear material and opens up the strait.
00:13:03.880 And that is consistent with what President Trump has been saying. But again, there have been other voices saying, no, no, we don't need to insist upon that. And so what I am urging the president, both privately and publicly, to do is hold the line, remove the enriched uranium, prevent Iran from enriching uranium. 0.82
00:13:26.040 We've had incredible success. We've already had, based on the degradation of the military, Iran's ability to support terrorism is dramatically reduced, but we need to open up the Strait of Hormuz and we need to ensure that never, ever, ever does Iran have a nuclear weapon. 0.87
00:13:44.380 And I'm encouraged, not only that, but something the president put out yesterday was really striking, which is he said that in the discussions that multiple Arab countries had also agreed to join the Abraham Accords. 0.70
00:13:59.980 Now, if that was a big deal. And can you remind people quickly exactly what is in the Abraham
00:14:06.260 Accords, why it's so significant, and then the significance of other countries wanting to come
00:14:12.320 into the Abraham Accords and how that strengthens it in a very, very big way? Well, the Abraham
00:14:17.100 Accords were historic peace agreements negotiated at the end of President Trump's first administration.
00:14:23.600 And they were peace agreements between Israel and the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and
00:14:29.400 Bahrain. I was there on the South Lawn of the White House when the Abraham Accords were signed.
00:14:38.880 At the time, multiple Arab countries still had not entered and to this day have not entered the
00:14:44.740 Abraham Accords, the biggest of which is Saudi Arabia. And in terms of the Arab countries,
00:14:50.600 Saudi Arabia is the most important counterbalance to Iran. And I think the Saudis were on a path 0.88
00:14:58.180 to joining the Abraham Accords at the end of Trump One, and had President Trump continued
00:15:03.820 serving in the White House for an immediate consecutive term, I think the Saudis would
00:15:08.660 have already entered the Abraham Accords, but they didn't. Joe Biden came in, and it broke up
00:15:15.020 the progress we'd made towards deal and towards peace. The Saudis and other Arab countries coming 1.00
00:15:22.280 into the Abraham Accords, normalizing their relationships with Israel, it would essentially
00:15:27.120 bring peace to the Middle East between the Arabs and the Israelis. Look, the Arabs and the 0.72
00:15:32.060 Israelis have been in conflict from the very dawn of the nation of Israel. And if the president is
00:15:37.120 able to bring the Arabs and Israelis into the Abraham Accords, into peace agreements, into
00:15:42.540 normalizations, into trade and commerce, where they're not at tension, they're not engaged in
00:15:49.600 military conflict, but instead they're working together and trading with each other, that would
00:15:54.680 truly be an historic milestone that would change the entire geopolitical landscape.
00:16:03.260 You look at now, you bring that up, and then you say, OK, there is a midterm coming up. So let's
00:16:09.180 just talk about the timeline here. We're almost to June. I think it's pretty clear the White House
00:16:13.760 understands this needs to get done sooner than later. We need gas prices to go down because
00:16:18.600 the midterm elections. I also think national security is more important than the gas price
00:16:23.460 at the pump right now. But you want to make sure you win the midterm election. So you have to think
00:16:28.820 about those things. How much of a runway do you think we still have before that becomes a real
00:16:33.760 issue? Is it two weeks? Is it a month? Is it six weeks? I mean, how much time? Because obviously
00:16:39.020 Iran's looking at this the same way we are. Yeah, look, the good news is I think President
00:16:44.560 Trump is clear-eyed that he's not just reading polls and running scared, but rather he takes
00:16:51.720 very seriously his obligation to protect America, that he's commander-in-chief, and that when the
00:16:58.600 Ayatollah chants death to America, when he leads mobs chanting death to America, when they fund, 0.79
00:17:05.700 the Iranian regime has murdered nearly a thousand Americans. They've been carrying out war against 0.94
00:17:10.520 us for 47 years, and I think the president is committed to finishing the job. I don't think
00:17:17.320 that's going to be driven by short-term political impulses or by the polls. And I will say, you know,
00:17:25.520 the president has a phrase that he's fond of, panikins, which is Republicans who are panicking. 0.77
00:17:30.900 And I got to say on the Iran war, there are some panikins who are like, well, it's just got to end
00:17:34.920 right now because of gas prices because of November. Now, look, let's put gas prices in 0.59
00:17:39.780 context. Under Joe Biden, gas prices soared to over $6 a gallon. That really hurt. People were
00:17:48.300 feeling the pain from that. By the way, the Democrats at the time were celebrating that.
00:17:53.220 You had Democrats who were saying they wanted gas to be $10 a gallon. Remember, these are the same
00:17:58.540 people who were trying to ban the internal combustion engine and force everyone to buy
00:18:03.700 electric vehicles. So they wanted high gas prices and they got what they wanted. President Trump
00:18:10.260 came in and in the first year of his second term, we saw gas prices drop nearly in half to about
00:18:15.820 three bucks a gallon. That made a huge difference. That lifted a big load off the shoulders of a lot
00:18:21.760 of Americans. And it was the result of common sense, sound economic policies ending the
00:18:28.820 regulatory assault on oil and gas. Where we are now is gas prices have gone back up some. They're
00:18:35.860 about four bucks and 50 cents a gallon. So basically, we've given back about half of what
00:18:41.420 we gained. And it's not complicated why. And anytime you have a military conflict in the
00:18:46.940 Middle East, gas prices go up. That uncertainty in the Middle East predictably has an impact on
00:18:53.120 gas prices. What I will say is I think, number one, that impact is short term. Number two,
00:18:59.760 if and when we reach a good resolution in the Middle East with Iran, I think we will see the 0.97
00:19:05.260 long-term trend of gas prices go down and go down significantly. And the reason why is there's so 0.93
00:19:11.120 much oil that's been backed up waiting to get out of countries in the Middle East because of the
00:19:14.780 Strait of Hormuz and the issues there. So traders I've talked to, they said they expect a total
00:19:20.460 crater once there's a deal and safety and security and they can get back and forth through the
00:19:25.400 strait with no issues at all because there's so much backup of oil that is desperate to need to
00:19:30.300 be sold because of capacity issues as well. Yeah, and by the way, a total crater is not a good
00:19:36.200 outcome. If you look at gas prices, look, gas north of $100 or oil north of $100 a barrel is
00:19:43.640 is too high and that results in high gas prices. But if you see the oil prices collapse down to
00:19:50.140 40 bucks in oil, 40 bucks a barrel, that's not good either because that ends up putting a lot
00:19:55.520 of American producers out of business, which ultimately makes us more vulnerable to foreign
00:20:02.000 producers. So you want to be somewhere in the middle. You want prices high enough that American
00:20:07.200 producers keep exploring, keep developing, because that economic independence gives us
00:20:12.720 enormous freedom, but you don't want them so high that people are feeling the pain at the gas pump.
00:20:18.660 But here's the point I want to make on this, Ben. Everyone who is freaking out, it's not that many,
00:20:24.680 it's a handful of mostly political knuckleheads in the beltway who are freaking out and saying,
00:20:30.180 we've got to end this immediately or else the midterms. I have seen zero data that back up the
00:20:37.000 case that the midterms have gotten materially worse because of the military conflict with Iran.
00:20:44.380 Look, six months ago, we were in a rough political situation where we were in about a D plus six
00:20:51.700 environment, meaning nationally, the numbers were showing that the polling was about six points more
00:20:58.400 Democrat than it had been in November of 2024. Well, today, we're still at about a D plus six
00:21:05.840 environment. So it is still bumpy. We got work to do. We got work to do in terms of making the
00:21:11.520 case to the American people about the historic victories that have been won in the past year
00:21:16.280 and a half. But I see no evidence in the data that the military conflict with Iran is doing
00:21:23.520 meaningful political damage for the midterms. And I think short term obsessing over polls
00:21:29.980 and not finishing the job would be an historic mistake. And that's why I'm confident President
00:21:35.820 Trump won't do that. Final question on this, and then I want to move to some other news. But the
00:21:40.320 Strait of Hormuz, in this deal, what does that look like? And what is it that we should be
00:21:45.720 advocating for? Should it go back to the way it was before? Or should America be more involved?
00:21:51.060 Should other countries be more involved? What does a good deal look like to make sure we have
00:21:54.660 security there as well? Listen, and I want to be clear, I'm not part of the negotiation. So I have
00:22:00.680 I've not had a briefing, classified or otherwise, on the precise details.
00:22:05.540 So I see the reports that are coming out. 0.70
00:22:07.500 I see the propaganda that Iran and their allies are putting out.
00:22:11.260 I see what left-wingers who hate the president are putting out. 0.51
00:22:15.020 And then I also see the reports of the calls that the administration is putting on for reporters.
00:22:20.420 But the details of the deal I don't have right now.
00:22:24.580 So what precisely is agreed upon or should be agreed upon?
00:22:29.020 Until I see what the details are, it's hard to have a fully formed opinion.
00:22:35.420 But the Strait of Hormuz needs to be free and open.
00:22:38.300 It needs to be open to commerce.
00:22:40.600 And Iran should not be profiting off of it.
00:22:43.200 I mean, Iran has talked about wanting to charge a toll for every ship that travels through the Strait of Hormuz.
00:22:48.600 That would be a bad outcome.
00:22:50.800 Look, I think anything that results in the regime in Iran being stronger is a bad outcome. 0.81
00:22:57.380 The outcome I would like to see is regime collapse, not to have Iran governed by Islamist radicals who chant death to America.
00:23:07.300 Look, who they choose to govern themselves, that's for the Iranian people. 0.87
00:23:10.760 I don't want America to be in the business of nation building.
00:23:13.840 I don't want us to be running other countries.
00:23:16.400 But not having a government in place that is trying to kill us, I think, is very much in our interest.
00:23:22.580 So the Strait of Hormuz, I think the president is focused very clearly on opening it up, but he is also right now exercising asymmetric power.
00:23:33.420 Right now, there is very little direct military conflict happening in and around Iran. 0.83
00:23:40.220 We're not actively bombing and shooting right now, but we are blockading Iran, bringing oil in and out of the nation.
00:23:48.360 That is putting massive economic costs on Iran, and I think it's one of the real lever points to get this conflict to end. 0.52
00:23:56.360 I think we will see it end, and I hope it ends soon, but I also hope that the president holds the line
00:24:03.380 and ends with a victory that builds upon the incredible victories the United States has won the past several months.
00:24:11.220 Well, and you mentioned even the Abraham Accords and other countries going to come into that.
00:24:14.720 That could be a massive byproduct of all of this.
00:24:18.360 I want to move back to the elections here, the midterms here.
00:24:22.160 One of the most interesting things about the midterms is—
00:24:24.380 By the way, Ben, I mentioned that I was at the signing of the Abraham Accords.
00:24:30.060 Do you know how many Democrats came to that signing?
00:24:32.600 How many?
00:24:33.800 Zero.
00:24:35.000 Wow.
00:24:35.400 Not a single House Democrat, not a single Senate Democrat.
00:24:38.640 Historic Middle East peace, something not seen in decades.
00:24:41.380 Not a Democrat came there.
00:24:43.680 Do you know one of the first things the Biden administration did when they came into power?
00:24:48.360 Well, I'm assuming change, alter, or get rid of it?
00:24:51.780 They instructed the State Department in writing,
00:24:55.740 you are not allowed to refer to the Abraham Accords as the, quote, Abraham Accords.
00:25:01.320 Instead, you have to call them the, quote, normalization agreement.
00:25:05.360 And Biden did everything they could to de-emphasize the Abraham Accords
00:25:09.800 and to stop passage towards peace.
00:25:12.820 Zero countries joined the Abraham Accords during Biden
00:25:16.540 because their ideology, they hated Trump so much that they could not acknowledge the foreign policy
00:25:22.920 victory he had won. I think we will see additional countries come into the Abraham Accords. And if
00:25:28.280 the president is able to do that as part of a peace negotiation that permanently stops Iran
00:25:34.460 from getting a nuclear weapon, then that would truly be historic. That would be the kind of step.
00:25:42.200 Look, the president has not hidden that he would very much like to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.
00:25:46.380 And bringing peace to the Middle East is almost the classic basis.
00:25:50.380 Is worthy. That's a worthy one, right?
00:25:52.280 Almost the classic basis.
00:25:54.240 Yeah, if you're ever going to get one, that would be like the reason to get one, in my opinion, there. 1.00
00:25:58.780 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
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00:27:01.000 I want to move the midterms and talk about something that I actually think is very, one, interesting.
00:27:07.160 But two, why every time when I'm having to debate this on TV, it's, oh, the Republicans are in trouble.
00:27:14.200 Donald Trump's in trouble.
00:27:15.380 The midterms are going to be a bloodbath.
00:27:16.900 They're going to be a disaster.
00:27:18.380 And I keep saying the same thing over and over again.
00:27:20.780 Look at who the Democrats are running.
00:27:23.380 There are radicals in the Democratic Party that they are running instead of what I would argue would be the easiest way to win if you think you have an advantage.
00:27:32.740 And that would be to run moderate Democrats that are that are like not crazy and hate law enforcement and want to abolish ICE and want to get rid of, you know, law and order and basic things in America, like waste, fraud and abuse, for example.
00:27:46.940 And the funds that we've seen have been stolen through Medicare, Medicaid and hospice.
00:27:50.600 And the list goes on and on as keeps growing.
00:27:52.860 But right now, I'm not that sour on the midterms, Senator, because I see who they're running and I think that's their biggest liability.
00:28:01.400 And some of these are in very big races where I'm sitting there going, if you're saying you wouldn't have taken this risk with this candidate, but I also think it tells you about the Democratic Party.
00:28:10.860 They're not saying they want to run these radical extremists, candidates have said insane things in their past.
00:28:17.140 Yeah, look, I got to say you're right that this is potentially a bumpy political environment in November, although I'm still optimistic.
00:28:24.320 I'm optimistic we hold and grow our majorities in both the House and Senate.
00:28:27.820 I don't think that is off the table at all.
00:28:29.880 I think it's very much in flux right now. But I will say that the Democrats are helping us
00:28:36.720 by nominating some of the craziest loons I've ever seen. Listen, and parties can do a lot to
00:28:43.720 affect their outcome in the general. If you nominate strong candidates who are widely appealing,
00:28:48.220 who are attractive, who have real records of success, that can be formidable. And if you
00:28:52.700 nominate lunatics who scare the voters, that can hand the election to your opponents. And I got to 0.98
00:28:59.040 say, I think there's no candidate in the country that better embodies just how bat crap crazy the 0.99
00:29:05.440 Democrats have gotten than Graham Plattner. Graham Plattner, their nominee for Senate in Maine. Now 0.87
00:29:12.500 let's start off. Look, Maine is one of the obvious pickup opportunities for the Democrats. Maine is 0.99
00:29:18.100 a blue state. Susan Collins, the Republican senator, is the only Republican elected in all
00:29:23.160 of New England. And so in a state that votes by a large margin against Donald Trump, if you're the
00:29:30.200 Democrats, that's an obvious place to say, all right, let's target and pick up there. And in
00:29:34.360 fact, Janet Mills, Democrat governor, relatively popular in the state, was running. And yet the
00:29:41.080 party has gone so crazy that their own governor was deemed not crazy enough. And instead they went
00:29:47.860 with Graham Plattner. Look, the governor might have been-
00:29:51.460 By the way, I wish you were joking, but you're really not.
00:29:53.620 I mean, if you're an extreme Democrat three, four years ago, you're now moderate in the Democratic Party.
00:30:01.640 So who is Graham Plattner?
00:30:03.900 He has described himself as a communist.
00:30:08.000 It used to be the socialists were the extremes.
00:30:10.820 I cannot think of another major Democrat nominee who is self-described as a communist.
00:30:17.040 But Graham Plattner, that's how he described his own political and economic philosophy.
00:30:22.280 Graham Plattner had, and you've heard this because at this point most people had,
00:30:26.400 had a Nazi tattoo on his chest.
00:30:28.860 Not just a Nazi tattoo, a Totenkamp. 0.82
00:30:31.740 What is a Totenkamp?
00:30:32.880 It is a Nazi skull and crossbones that was the symbol of the SS that ran the concentration camps
00:30:42.660 in Germany and throughout Europe in the World War II. 0.51
00:30:49.720 That's what he put on his chest. 0.67
00:30:50.940 So you've got an actual communist Nazi is their nominee. 0.70
00:30:57.780 And by the way, we've seen Democrats rushing up to Maine to support him.
00:31:02.080 Bernie Sanders.
00:31:02.880 Bernie Sanders this week is up there campaigning because, you know, the communists and the Nazis standing together.
00:31:09.700 But I got to say it is amazing. 0.59
00:31:12.100 You might think, OK, a Nazi communist, that's pretty out there.
00:31:14.960 That's going to be tough to defend.
00:31:16.420 this guy's oppo file i i don't know who's doing the oppo research on him but he's having more fun
00:31:22.380 than anybody has ever had the history of politics because every day something comes out and i'm
00:31:28.300 going to repeat some of it but i'm going to give a caution that most of what's in his oppo file i
00:31:32.860 can't repeat because this is a family-friendly podcast and this guy is so profane he's so obscene
00:31:39.480 so one of the most recent comments that he put on on reddit that just came out was quote 0.95
00:31:47.040 you don't have much experience with latin american hookers do you that would be the 0.97
00:31:52.020 democrat nominee for senate in maine uh what else did he say uh he he also he attacked 0.99
00:31:59.560 a veteran an army combat veteran who received the purple heart he did this online and he called him 0.65
00:32:06.560 a dumb MF-er, although he did not abbreviate MF-er, and he said this Army combat veteran
00:32:13.940 didn't deserve to live. This guy wants to be a United States senator. And by the way, just today, 0.98
00:32:23.860 he was questioned by it, about it, and asked if he wanted to apologize. Give a listen to what he said
00:32:30.840 about when he was given the opportunity to apologize for calling an Army combat veteran 0.99
00:32:36.740 and a Purple Heart recipient, a dumb MF-er who didn't deserve to live. 0.99
00:32:41.360 Here was Plattner's response. 1.00
00:32:42.880 I was wondering if you regret the post about the Purple Heart veteran,
00:32:48.540 if you think you need to apologize to him,
00:32:53.520 what you would say to voters who might be upset by it.
00:32:58.740 Are the poor tours the afternoon?
00:33:00.840 Uh, any attempt to say that I disrespect countries is slanderous and offensive.
00:33:07.540 You think you owe him an apology?
00:33:09.100 I, uh, do you know how many of my friends have put the hoods?
00:33:12.920 Do you know how many of my friends got wounded?
00:33:14.560 I'm sure a lot.
00:33:15.300 Yeah, a lot of them.
00:33:16.340 Thank you.
00:33:16.940 Thank you.
00:33:17.600 I mean, that's what you call a double down there, sir.
00:33:20.160 So no apology.
00:33:22.100 Um, doubling down, by the way, he also, he has some bizarre things. 0.85
00:33:26.760 He talks about how women who are raped, it's their fault. 0.97
00:33:30.120 uh he attacks african americans he he he says they're cheap and they don't tip 0.98
00:33:35.440 uh oddly enough he also wrote about okay this is bizarre fantasies about how every time he sees a 0.99
00:33:43.880 port-a-potty he wants to go inside the port-a-potty and and masturbate in the port-a-potty look this
00:33:49.900 is weird this is not mainstream this guy is extreme and you know what elizabeth warren 0.99
00:33:57.480 says about someone who says all that? She likes him. Vote for him. Send money. Even more. She
00:34:03.280 says, quote, he's my kind of man. Oh, that's right. Yeah. That was that. That was her quote
00:34:08.640 from this. But yeah, he's my kind of man. A guy with a Nazi tattoo is a communist who says he
00:34:13.960 likes to do that in a port-a-potty. There you go. And understand, look, the Democrats are so 0.82
00:34:19.120 extreme. He can attack and mock and insult women. He can attack African-Americans. He can attack 0.98
00:34:26.980 Jews. He can attack veterans. And they don't care. They all circle the wagons. He's our guy 1.00
00:34:32.600 because he's a Democrat. And they're unwilling. There is nothing too much. By the way, they love
00:34:38.740 to call every Republican a Nazi. And yet when they have a guy that puts a Nazi tattoo on his
00:34:44.100 own chest, they're good with that. And they're not backing off. And not only that, but you look at 0.62
00:34:50.080 the corrupt corporate media. Just this week, what did Time Magazine do? They put him on the cover.
00:34:56.260 they put him on the cover and it's entitled party crasher now i gotta say time magazine it's
00:35:04.120 interesting because they they have a long history of putting nazis on their cover they were fond of
00:35:11.380 putting adolf hitler on their cover um i did have some fun online when i said hey hey grok
00:35:16.680 what is a totenkampf and and does time have any history of putting nazis on their cover and you
00:35:22.600 And you could read the whole response that came up to that.
00:35:25.520 But the short answer is yes.
00:35:28.180 And I got to say, having seen this guy's like daily drip of oppo between now and November is going to be interesting because because I guarantee you there's a lot more coming.
00:35:39.080 Yeah, there is.
00:35:39.600 And we'll cover it all here.
00:35:40.600 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:35:42.580 Hit that subscribe or auto download button wherever you get your podcasts.
00:35:46.720 And we also do this show on YouTube as well.
00:35:48.740 So you can watch us on YouTube or on Facebook.
00:35:50.980 and the center eye will see you back here on Wednesday morning.
00:35:54.640 Turn someday into right now with Body by Jake Radio.
00:35:58.240 Non-stop workout music and expert tips 24-7.
00:36:01.300 Hey, head over to iHeart.com.
00:36:03.260 Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now.
00:36:06.800 Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
00:36:10.380 Remember, stick to the fight.
00:36:11.500 When your heart is hit, it's when things seem worse that you must not quit.
00:36:14.900 Don't quit.
00:36:15.620 Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum.
00:36:18.540 Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free.
00:36:21.620 Have a great day.