Verdict with Ted Cruz - Mamdani Disgraces himself on Anniversary of October 7, Trump Accounts Opened for 70 Million Kids & Campaigning with Trump in Texas

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00:02:40.960 podcast. Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. It's so nice to have

00:02:47.820 you with us wherever you are around the country, listening on radio stations. Also reminder,

00:02:52.600 if you're listening on radio, we do the show as a podcast three days a week. So make sure you

00:02:56.120 download Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcast. Senator, we've got a lot to talk

00:03:00.900 about in this show that we're doing right now. And also, you joined a very fun club this week

00:03:08.120 as well. I'll tease that up more in a moment, but we've got a lot to chat about and what's

00:03:12.700 happening ahead of these midterms. Well, that's right. This week, the world remembered and mourned

00:03:19.160 the third anniversary of the October 7th massacre, one of the most horrific terror attacks the world

00:03:26.160 has ever seen. And while people across the globe were grieving, the rising Islamists who are taking 1.00

00:03:34.220 over the Democrat Party were not. Instead, Zoran Mandabi, Abdul Al-Sayed were, if anything, 0.79

00:03:45.260 cheering on the terrorists and the murderers. Mandami's statement that he put out was shameful.

00:03:52.540 We're going to break it down for you. And Al-Sayed simply refused to acknowledge that anything had

00:03:58.680 happened at all. It underscores the radicalism that is taking over today's Democrat Party,

00:04:08.360 and it underscores the threat our nation faces in this upcoming election.

00:04:13.480 Yeah, we're going to talk about that and dive into a lot of the details in just a moment. But

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00:05:34.840 All right, Senator, I want to start with something that really raised a lot of eyebrows, and that was Mandami's statement that he made on the third anniversary of the horrific October 7th attacks.

00:05:44.600 And there are a lot of people that were taken aback by what he said because it wasn't just a day where he stood in solidarity for those that were brutally murdered and kidnapped and raped.

00:05:55.040 He also threw out that there was, in essence, genocide that happened on the other side going after the terrorists in the West Banks, as he described it, in Gaza.

00:06:05.580 That was the part that I think shocked so many.

00:06:07.880 well Mondami's statement was truly shameful and and it was released as an official public statement

00:06:13.780 from the office of the mayor and so I'm going to read you what exactly he put out today Mayor Zoran

00:06:20.320 Kwame Mondami by the way I didn't know his middle name was Kwame but they put it out every time they

00:06:25.040 refer to him they refer to him as Mayor Zoran Kwame Mondami released the following statement

00:06:30.540 on the third anniversary of the October 7th attacks quote this day is profoundly painful

00:06:37.300 for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7th.

00:06:43.200 On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others.

00:06:51.120 We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.

00:06:57.320 Now, Ben, frankly, if the statement had ended there, it would have been fine. Not terrific,

00:07:02.460 but fine. He at least acknowledged that more than 1,100 Israelis were killed, that more than 200 0.59

00:07:08.560 were abducted. He did not acknowledge that women and girls were raped. He did not acknowledge that

00:07:14.400 dozens of Americans were murdered and dozens more were kidnapped. He somehow left the Americans

00:07:19.020 victims of that atrocity out of his statement. But if it had ended there, it would have been

00:07:25.640 acceptable but it didn't end there then what mandami really thought continues so i'm going

00:07:32.900 to return to the statement quote the suffering did not begin nor end that day it instead continued

00:07:39.340 through the israeli government's devastating ongoing genocide in gaza in which it has killed

00:07:46.320 more than 74 000 palestinians including more than 21 000 children even since the so-called ceasefire

00:07:54.360 more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering is intensified with every Israeli

00:08:01.100 bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a

00:08:06.860 residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at the border

00:08:11.460 crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief and we mourn alongside them

00:08:18.000 all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes three years later we must refuse to

00:08:26.400 accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue where war crimes are met with impunity

00:08:32.360 and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment to honor the dead we must

00:08:39.800 fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom safety and dignity and let me say 0.99

00:08:46.220 this man is a vicious America-hating propagandist liar. Understand that virtually every word that 0.95

00:08:55.120 he said in the remainder of the statement and three-fourths of his statement on October 7th

00:09:01.220 is blasting Israel and the Jews. Almost every word of it is a lie. Number one, the death tolls

00:09:06.540 that he puts out are simply recycled from Hamas's propaganda, which he accepts with no hesitation 0.88

00:09:12.860 at all. His claim that there is a genocide in Gaza is an utter and complete lie. It is false.

00:09:20.280 There is not a genocide. That is not happening. And in fact, the Palestinian population continues

00:09:25.120 to grow and grow and grow in Gaza and in the West Bank. Genocides do not result in populations

00:09:33.040 growing dramatically. Who is it that wants to do a genocide? It is Hamas. When they chant

00:09:38.160 from the river to the sea what they mean is from the Jordan River to the sea they want to eradicate 0.94

00:09:44.680 Israel and kill every Jew in Israel it is Hamas who is advocating a genocide it is not Israel 0.51

00:09:51.440 Mondami's statement talks about every drone strike targeting a residential building by the way they 0.96

00:09:59.800 are focused on among others taking out Nasrallah the head of Hezbollah which which that is how they

00:10:05.680 took him out and mandami was mourning that an america hating bigoted terrorist was taken out

00:10:13.720 by the israeli military in a defensive attack this statement you know look it's one thing if 0.95

00:10:20.820 he wants to put out his vicious attack of israel comrade mandami we get it you hate israel you hate

00:10:27.460 jews you also hate americans and christians but but we get that that's no surprise but to do it 0.93

00:10:33.800 on October 7th is grotesque. October 7th was the single worst one-day massacre of Jews since the 0.86

00:10:44.900 Holocaust. Did Mondami acknowledge the rapes? No. By the way, rapes on October 7th, which to be

00:10:52.400 clear, Hamas was so proud of that they videotaped and put out. They didn't hide them. I've watched 0.89

00:10:57.900 video of Hamas terrorists carving the breasts off of women playing soccer with the heads of 0.95

00:11:06.220 Jews they murdered and by the way murdered Americans as well and Mondami takes that 0.91

00:11:12.800 anniversary to instead say I mourn for the Hamas terrorists who lost their life it was disgraceful 0.66

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00:11:52.220 I'm Brett Coleman.

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00:16:03.500 senator i want to go back and to what we were talking about with mandani

00:16:10.680 and we were talking about not only his statement but then his actions in New York and the crowds

00:16:16.720 as well. They had a reaction to Mondani and the anti-Israel protesters as well. Mondani's hands

00:16:24.140 are red. That's what they chanted. Well, Mondani's statement was shameful. On the anniversary of 0.90

00:16:30.380 October 7th, he attacked Israel. He accused them falsely of genocide. Three-fourths of his statement

00:16:37.160 was simply blasting Israel and blasting America, to be clear, for supporting Israel.

00:16:42.340 And yet, nonetheless, his radical base, that wasn't enough.

00:16:47.240 Give a listen to this coverage of Mondami's behavior on Fox News. Give a listen.

00:16:53.580 The mayor of New York, Mondami, has just finished answering questions about his response to the October 7th events.

00:16:59.660 and he took the opportunity to double down on his suggestion that Israel is a genocidal state.

00:17:08.540 He used that word again, genocide. He insisted on doing that. Well, last night, Mandami was

00:17:14.940 booed at a vigil, an October 7th vigil. Alexis McCallum joins me now. Tell me all about it,

00:17:20.480 please, Alexis. Hey, Stu. Well, it's interesting to see New York City's mayor under fire now from

00:17:24.480 both sides, including people who went to bat for him to get him elected just last year. He's now

00:17:28.700 accused of not being anti-Israel enough, while fellow Democrats say, Mamdani, you've gone way

00:17:34.180 too far. So on the third anniversary of the October 7th Hamas massacre, Mamdani is accusing

00:17:39.440 Israel of genocide, saying in part, many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief

00:17:44.320 and we mourn alongside them, all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes. He

00:17:49.740 had to get a little dig there at the end. Even though Mamdani has called for the arrest of

00:17:53.640 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it's really just not good enough for some of these

00:17:57.920 pro-Palestinian protesters who showed up at a peace vigil and confronted the mayor. You can see

00:18:03.480 people yelling and fighting here. We see this in New York often, but usually Mamdani is not 0.95

00:18:08.420 being yelled at, too. He was holding a candle stew surrounded by Jewish New Yorkers when he

00:18:13.160 got called out. Watch. Hamas chants and Hamas flags in New York City again. And some of those 1.00

00:18:30.820 activists helped the Democratic Socialists win the mayor's election last year, now accusing him

00:18:35.840 of turning his back on the Palestinian people, calling him a traitor.

00:18:43.160 And I want to end with a message for Zoran Mamdani.

00:18:51.580 You have a chance to stand with the people of Palestine.

00:18:55.800 Do not leave behind the cause that you campaigned on.

00:19:00.020 And Mamdani was asked about this just a short time ago.

00:19:03.540 He doubled down on calling it a genocide, as you said, and says he's not bothered by the protests.

00:19:08.640 Watch.

00:19:09.740 And when we're speaking of that genocide, we're speaking of one that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians in the last three years.

00:19:17.000 As for those protesting me, I am the mayor of New York City, and this is what I signed up for.

00:19:22.100 The mayor of New York City and also the mayor of a city that has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.

00:19:28.300 Ahead of the midterms, this exposes a big divide in the Democratic Party about Israel.

00:19:33.320 Even one of the harshest critics, Mamdani, is just not accused, or accused now of not going far enough.

00:19:37.680 So how do you win? I don't think you can.

00:19:40.000 Senator, you listen to that, and he really likes using this word, accusing Israel over and over and over again.

00:19:47.780 The people, by the way, that were attacked on October 7th and were massacred on October 7th

00:19:52.640 and are surrounded by terrorists all around them and people that chant from the river to the sea.

00:19:57.940 And he says, no, no, no, you should hate the Jewish people. 0.97

00:20:01.460 They're the ones committing genocide. 0.99

00:20:03.280 That is a key word he keeps saying. 0.89

00:20:05.660 Well, and you could hear the chanters yelling, long live Hamas and waving Hamas flags. 0.75

00:20:12.860 That is Mondami's base. Those are the activists who elected Mondami. Those are the people who 0.58

00:20:19.700 put him in power. And that is right now the base of today's Democrat party. Understand,

00:20:25.420 Comrade Mondami is, I believe, the most powerful Democrat in the country. We are seeing a green 0.96

00:20:31.620 Red Alliance. We are seeing the Islamists and the communists coming together and taking over the 0.91

00:20:37.600 Democrat Party. And look, the Islamists and communists, they don't agree on everything,

00:20:41.260 but they agree on who they hate. They hate Jews and they hate Christians. They hate Israel 1.00

00:20:48.540 and they hate America. They hate the Constitution. They hate the rule of law. And at the end of the 0.91

00:20:55.400 day, the Islamists and communists will turn on each other once they have eradicated the Jews 0.95

00:21:00.780 and the christians once they have eradicated their enemies ultimately the islamists plan to 0.95

00:21:05.940 kill the communists too at the at the end of the day they intend to prevail but in the short term 0.73

00:21:10.460 they'll make common cause with the communist and and and that is their chant long live hamas is 0.99

00:21:17.620 revealing there's some people who say oh no no no they're not supporting terrorism they're just

00:21:22.200 they're advocating for a two-state solution no no they are not they are saying long live hamas

00:21:28.960 Hamas are terrorists who targeted civilians. They didn't attack military targets. They went

00:21:34.620 house to house in Israel on October 7th, murdering civilians for one reason, because they are Jewish, 1.00

00:21:42.740 kicking in doors, murdering elderly people, murdering children, murdering infants, raping 0.99

00:21:48.500 women and girls. It was the systematic target of civilians on racist grounds. And by the way, 0.98

00:21:55.780 you know what else mandami did on october 7th what was that he went out and ostentatiously had

00:22:04.980 dinner at a new york city palestinian restaurant that has an openly genocidal menu and and and

00:22:12.980 this is this is a he ate at a place called ayat heinz hall on the upper west side and and it is a

00:22:19.500 A restaurant whose sister restaurant in Brooklyn has a menu section entitled, quote,

00:22:27.660 From the River to the Sea.

00:22:31.560 And this restaurant, this restaurant, the menu for Heinz Hall, features a map of what

00:22:38.020 it calls Palestine.

00:22:39.500 And that map is the entirety of Israel.

00:22:43.220 It's not a two-state solution. 0.96

00:22:44.320 It is showing what they want, which is to utterly obliterate Israel, to wipe it from 0.98

00:22:49.460 the map, and to be clear, to murder every Jew living in Israel so that it is only Hamas 0.99

00:22:56.800 Palestinians who remain. 0.94

00:22:59.120 This is what he chose to do, not on any given day, but on October 7th to make clear that

00:23:05.900 if given a choice between civilians, children, or Hamas terrorists who murder civilians and

00:23:14.260 rape children, he stands with Hamas and his base, no matter how much he does that, no matter how

00:23:20.160 much he lies, no matter how much he slanders and attacks Israel and Jews, it's not enough 0.98

00:23:27.140 for the radical base that is taking over the Democrat Party. All right, let me pause just

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00:24:47.500 Senator, Wednesday was a really important day

00:24:50.360 Not only for policy

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00:24:53.460 It was something you worked really hard on

00:24:56.380 That's now become a reality

00:24:58.120 That would be the Trump accounts

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00:25:02.640 Which is going to be just massive

00:25:04.660 For helping so many children

00:25:07.760 Have a better life

00:25:09.400 A better future

00:25:10.300 With these Trump accounts

00:25:11.420 And it's a moment where everyone, by the way, should be celebrating.

00:25:15.040 This should not be partisan at all.

00:25:17.420 Well, that's exactly right.

00:25:19.200 Wednesday was a remarkable day.

00:25:21.320 I spent all day on Wednesday with President Trump.

00:25:24.340 I started in the Oval Office with the president for a major policy announcement, and it was

00:25:30.540 a policy announcement on the Trump accounts.

00:25:32.380 The Trump accounts is legislation that I wrote that we passed into law last year that will

00:25:38.420 be one of, if not the single most consequential element of President Trump's legacy. And this

00:25:44.480 week on Wednesday, the president announced that the federal government is auto-enrolling every

00:25:50.260 child in America for the Trump accounts. More than 70 million kids are having personal investment

00:25:55.620 accounts open for them. This is a battle that I battled very hard internally within the

00:26:01.100 administration to make happen, and we celebrated it happening this week. I want you to listen to,

00:26:08.120 This is from the Oval Office. I'm standing next to the president next to the Resolute Desk.

00:26:13.740 I'm there with with senior members of his administration, including Secretary Scott Bessett, the secretary of the Treasury.

00:26:19.620 I'm also there with Michael and Susan Dell, who've been extraordinarily generous, giving six and a quarter billion dollars,

00:26:26.300 two hundred and fifty dollars to twenty five million kids across this country for their Trump accounts, a massive charitable gift.

00:26:32.680 Also with Brad Gerstner, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist, whose idea this was his brainchild.

00:26:38.600 Give a listen to the press conference we had in the Oval Office.

00:26:43.820 Ted, please.

00:26:45.460 Mr. President, congratulations.

00:26:47.420 This is unquestionably going to be one of the biggest parts of your legacy as president.

00:26:52.820 And on July 4th, the Trump accounts were launched.

00:26:56.720 Our nation's 250th birthday.

00:26:59.420 It's a big, big deal.

00:27:00.740 And today is a massive day that your administration is opening a personal investment account for every single kid in America.

00:27:09.660 Over 70 million kids, every mom and dad out there.

00:27:12.840 Your child now has a personal investment account.

00:27:15.680 The Treasury Department has set up for you.

00:27:18.520 And that personal investment account, if you have a newborn baby, $1,000 has already been invested in that account that goes straight to the stock market.

00:27:28.000 And we also have incredibly generous philanthropists,

00:27:32.220 Michael and Susan, six and a quarter billion dollars.

00:27:35.740 They've given $250 to 25 million kids across America.

00:27:41.180 We have these kids here, sixth and seventh graders.

00:27:45.140 You guys now, each of you has an investment account.

00:27:48.680 And you're going to be owners.

00:27:49.840 You guys now own part of Apple.

00:27:52.100 You own part of Dell Computers.

00:27:54.280 You own part of McDonald's.

00:27:55.560 Next time you go order a Big Mac, you should walk in and say, look, I own the place.

00:28:00.520 That is powerful, and what's amazing is that you start investing,

00:28:04.920 and if you keep investing, and it grows, and you leave it in there and keep investing,

00:28:10.100 and your family keeps investing, as you get older, you will get hundreds of thousands,

00:28:14.020 and if you keep investing literally millions of dollars in these accounts,

00:28:18.400 you are owners, which is a big, big deal.

00:28:21.880 And I'll tell you what's cool.

00:28:23.900 Your administration designed the app.

00:28:26.360 It's a beautiful app you can download from the Trump account store.

00:28:30.420 But it makes it really easy for anyone to contribute to your account.

00:28:34.480 You have a little QR code that you can send your next birthday party.

00:28:38.940 You know, your Aunt Susie might get you an ugly sweater.

00:28:42.620 And you might say to Aunt Susie, instead of the ugly sweater, how about put 50 bucks in my Trump account?

00:28:48.320 And you can pull it up on your phone and look at it and see it growing.

00:28:53.320 And we are creating a whole new generation of capitalists.

00:28:57.620 And I want to say your team, Scott and Frank and Kevin, have done an extraordinary job bird-dogging this.

00:29:04.320 And today is an historic moment of legacy for every kid in America.

00:29:09.540 Senator, I got to tell you, not only is it cool for kids to get to go in the Oval Office,

00:29:13.720 But to be in the Oval Office with the President of the United States of America, with these philanthropists, with you there, you getting to talk to them about these Trump accounts and the QR code is another example of just the brilliance of using technology to the advantage for kids in their future.

00:29:30.940 This is really, I think, a historic day, and it's going to be, I think, a massive part of not only Donald Trump's legacy, but to be honest with you, I think it's going to be a huge part of your legacy as one of those defining moments in your career in the Senate where you got something done that can have a massive impact on so many Americans' lives.

00:29:49.660 Well, and let me take you behind the scenes, because one of the things we try to do in Verdict is not just cover what's in the headlines, but take you behind the scenes to what's really happening.

00:29:59.580 And this announcement from the Oval Office was the result of a more than year-long battle.

00:30:07.860 So if you go back to last year, we passed the working families tax cut, the big reconciliation bill, on July 4th of last year.

00:30:16.500 And the Trump accounts provision, I wrote, I fought tooth and nail to get it in.

00:30:21.340 It was a huge battle.

00:30:22.400 I had to fight with the Senate parliamentarian to get it in.

00:30:25.120 I had to work to build the support to keep it in.

00:30:28.140 and and one of the things that was a big battle is is over this question of auto enroll and and

00:30:34.700 there's a massive difference whether someone opts in or opts out if you look at things like 401ks

00:30:39.960 and at your workplace if an employee is required to affirmatively opt in to participate in the 401k

00:30:47.320 the retirement savings you get much much slower take lower take up rates than if you have to opt

00:30:53.300 out. Then if the default is you get the 401k unless you affirmatively go in and say, I don't

00:30:59.260 want it, you end up with much smaller opt-in rates than you do if the default is you're in unless you

00:31:08.100 opt out. That same thing is true for these Trump accounts. And so when I was writing it, my vision

00:31:13.460 was always that these would be automatically created for every kid in America. Well, the career

00:31:19.060 lawyers at treasury the deep state they did not want auto enroll and we were battling back and

00:31:25.060 forth and back and forth and fortunately i had the support of the trump white house and so

00:31:29.200 i wrote the language specifically to contemplate auto enroll well when it was signed into law

00:31:35.760 and and when it was implemented a year later on july 4th of this year treasury the career lawyers

00:31:42.180 succeeded in in stopping auto enroll on july 4th so when it launched on july 4th of this year

00:31:47.580 we didn't have auto enroll and and so we had as of this week uh about seven million trump accounts

00:31:54.280 that that parents had affirmatively gone and opened trump accounts for their kids now seven

00:31:59.180 million trump accounts is great we already have billions of dollars invested on behalf of those

00:32:04.860 kids in the stock market but seven million is a a very different number from 70 million there are

00:32:10.800 nationwide uh just over 70 million kids under 18 in america so so it's only about 10 percent of

00:32:17.220 kids had opted in and created the accounts. And so I spent a year just going round and round with

00:32:24.560 Treasury, battling with Treasury. And the career lawyers did not want to do it, did not want to do

00:32:28.720 it. I went to Treasury and had breakfast with Scott Bessett, the Treasury Secretary. And front

00:32:33.840 and center, this was the main topic, is we need to do auto-enroll. And auto-enroll matters for

00:32:38.020 several things. One, because everyone participates. Two, because the thousand dollars, which is for

00:32:45.300 every newborn. There are about 3.7 million newborns each year. You got to have an account for that

00:32:50.620 thousand dollars to go in and to start compounding. And if you wait for people to opt in, many

00:32:55.320 newborns will never get their thousand dollars. But not only that, because these accounts can

00:33:00.520 receive charity, you must have the account to be able to receive the charity. Michael and Susan Dell

00:33:06.120 giving 25 million kids, $250. Well, you know what? There were only 7 million accounts. So a lot of

00:33:12.380 those 25 million couldn't get their their 250 dollars because they didn't have an account to

00:33:16.560 put it in so it was a huge policy question and and ultimately the reason we won the policy question

00:33:23.000 is because president trump leaned in and said i want auto enroll and so it happened and and what's

00:33:29.180 amazing is you're now seeing bipartisan support for trump accounts give a listen to this exchange

00:33:34.800 again in the oval office with president trump says that for babies born in 2026 if you make

00:33:40.660 maximum contribution the baby could have about 1.1 million dollars by the time

00:33:45.900 they're 20 right would you were the ones that got this done for young parents

00:33:50.680 what message should that send to young parents if they head to the ballot box

00:33:54.460 well very simple we love your children we take care of your children like no

00:33:58.960 president has ever done like no people have ever done Ted you want to address

00:34:02.560 that please look this is this is the future for kids and it is transformational

00:34:08.080 And to give a sense of the broadness of the impact, a little over a month ago, Gavin Newsom had a press conference celebrating the Trump accounts.

00:34:17.600 And Gavin Newsom praised you.

00:34:20.240 Miracles could happen.

00:34:21.340 Brad Gerstner was standing right next to him when Gavin Newsom said nice things about you and nice things about me, and lightning did not strike anything.

00:34:29.100 That's an indication of just how powerful this is.

00:34:32.480 And 10, 20, 30 years ago, the impact for kids having a stake, an ownership stake in the future.

00:34:41.380 And, Mr. President, you referenced personal investment accounts.

00:34:44.940 This is going to move all of us towards personal investment accounts and having a stake in the future.

00:34:50.000 And that is transformation.

00:34:52.680 We even had Adam Shifty Shift.

00:34:55.500 Have you heard of him?

00:34:56.720 He said phenomenal things.

00:34:58.420 I said, I said, replay that.

00:35:01.820 I don't believe it.

00:35:02.880 But he said incredible things about this.

00:35:04.900 So that's nice.

00:35:06.960 All right.

00:35:07.540 I want to just take a moment real quick and talk about the midterms between work, errands and family.

00:35:12.040 We're all busy.

00:35:12.900 And with elections around the corner, it can be hard to find time to vote.

00:35:17.160 Now, waiting until Election Day is a big risk.

00:35:20.400 A flat tire or a sick child could mean you miss out on making your voice heard.

00:35:25.980 That's why I need you to vote early.

00:35:27.860 And you can go to GOPvotes.org.

00:35:32.240 That's GOPvotes.org.

00:35:34.840 And you can find your polling place and bank your vote today.

00:35:39.660 Now, if you live in the critical Senate battleground states of Maine or Ohio,

00:35:44.360 early voting has already started this week.

00:35:47.760 The radical left has won Democratic primaries across the country,

00:35:51.800 and their turnout machine is ready to swarm the polls this fall.

00:35:55.460 That's why you need to plan to vote, too.

00:35:58.520 President Donald Trump is counting on you.

00:36:00.280 Our movement is counting on you.

00:36:01.880 I'm counting on you.

00:36:03.100 So don't wait.

00:36:03.940 Head to GOPVotes.org and make your plan to vote early today.

00:36:09.040 Paid for by the SLF PAC, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

00:36:14.720 Senator, after this incredible day that you had, I should say morning, at the Oval Office,

00:36:20.380 you got to join a very exclusive club.

00:36:23.940 Rarely do I get to say you get to join a club that I was in before you were in it.

00:36:28.160 So I'm going to take this moment and just, you know, I'm pretty sure you're in your 50s now.

00:36:33.380 And it only took you 50-something years to join this very exclusive club.

00:36:37.400 I may have done it in my early 20s.

00:36:39.660 You got to go with the president on Marine One to head to Air Force One to then come to Texas for a rally that he was doing for Kim Paxson.

00:36:47.460 But before we get to that, how amazing is Marine One?

00:36:51.020 Well, it's spectacular.

00:36:52.380 And after we did this this major policy announcement from the Oval Office, the president had invited me to join him going down to Texas.

00:37:00.560 And we had a big rally in San Antonio Wednesday night.

00:37:03.840 And the rally was for Ken Paxton for the Senate race.

00:37:06.780 And so we left the Oval. We walked out to the South Lawn of the White House and went and boarded Marine One.

00:37:15.140 And I will say I'd never done that before. You're right.

00:37:17.460 You got to fly on Marine One during the George W. Bush presidency, and I will have to admit, a little background for our listeners, Ben has been giving me grief about that for years, has been lording it over to me, and I have to admit, I had helicopter envy.

00:37:35.020 I'm not going to dispute it.

00:37:36.500 I've never been on Marine One.

00:37:37.700 I've been on Air Force One a bunch of times, but I've never been on Marine One.

00:37:40.480 And usually you drive to Andrews Air Force Base if you're riding on Air Force One and you board the plane and you wait for the president to come.

00:37:47.820 And the president takes Marine One from the White House and meets you there.

00:37:51.940 Well, this time, since I was in the Oval and we were going straight, he invited me to join him.

00:37:57.180 So I walked out. And by the way, there are two things that are new.

00:38:00.100 Number one, this is a new Marine One. It's not the old one. It's a bigger, more powerful helicopter.

00:38:04.420 So it was very cool. The inside. I tweeted out some pictures of the inside, but it's quite spacious.

00:38:10.480 uh and and it's very fast it it flies over 300 miles an hour and so it's uh it's a very cool

00:38:16.840 helicopter and it actually is one of the first flights also from the new helipad so so president

00:38:22.260 trump had described how when the new marine one is a bigger helicopter with a lot more power

00:38:26.860 and it used to land just on the grass in the south lawn we're all familiar with the images

00:38:31.920 of the president walking out to marine one just walking across the grass and and the problem was

00:38:36.960 the new helicopter was so powerful that it would rip up the grass. It was like churning it up and

00:38:41.920 turning it into mud. And so the president said, well, let's build a helipad. And he built a really

00:38:46.120 big helipad with a giant symbol, the presidential seal on it. And it's really cool. And he also

00:38:53.880 built a walkway. So it always used to be that the president, and if he was flying with the first

00:38:58.220 lady, the president and first lady would walk out over the grass. If it had rained, if it was bad

00:39:03.080 weather um you'd get mud all over your shoes if the first lady was wearing high heels she would

00:39:07.760 like get her heels sinking into the grass you now have a walkway so we got to board marine one and

00:39:13.700 it was actually very cool the president had marine one circle around the white house to show me the

00:39:19.380 ballroom the ballroom is building you know for a long time they'd been building underground because

00:39:23.620 the ballroom goes really deep with a lot of security apparatus down there and so it had been

00:39:27.720 below ground it's now a lot has been done building the new ball ballroom so we did a did a loop

00:39:33.780 around uh and then also the president had the had the helicopter take a detour he's building a a new

00:39:40.300 golf course uh that is going to be an incredible golf course that is surrounded by by water on

00:39:45.720 three sides so he had marine one do a a loop around the golf course and then we went to air

00:39:50.120 force one now i will say air force one is also this is the first time that i've flown on the

00:39:55.780 new air force one that the president got from from the qataris um i've said before i'm not not a

00:40:02.920 particular particularly keen on the fact that we got air force one from the qataris that being said

00:40:07.740 it is a ridiculously nice plane uh it is a plane that that that cost billion billions of dollars

00:40:16.100 to build it's a 747 and and it is the most luxurious plane uh you know trump was saying

00:40:23.200 he gave me a tour of the whole plane when we got on board and it's it's got three bedrooms on it

00:40:27.840 um and and he was saying it's the most luxurious plane on the planet and and i believe that

00:40:32.920 um just having seen it it looks like a super high-end yacht inside like it's just you know

00:40:38.800 gorgeous woodwork and leather and and his office is a big office where he's got a very cool desk

00:40:45.420 and and you know the old air force one look the old air force one is is amazing although i will

00:40:50.520 tell you first time i joined donald trump on air force one was uh early in his first term it was

00:40:56.400 march of 2017 and and i walked onto the plane and and and he greeted me and i said uh nice plane

00:41:02.880 mr president uh and he laughed and said yeah my old one was nicer and and and my immediate response

00:41:08.580 was yeah but but it didn't have missiles um which he he enjoyed you've been on air force one as well

00:41:16.220 it's an amazing experience this new one is orders of magnitude nicer so we flew to texas and went to

00:41:22.820 a rally in san antonio and it was in the coliseum there was about 7 000 people it was a packed house

00:41:29.080 and and it was a rally for the election for the midterms and it was supporting all the all of

00:41:34.340 the candidates running in texas but especially ken paxton we've got a very close competitive

00:41:39.520 senate race it's basically tied i think we're going to win in november i think ken paxton is

00:41:45.000 going to be the next senator from texas and i have spent a ton of time i i've raised millions of

00:41:50.900 dollars for ken paxton my my political apparatus has spent millions of dollars directly supporting

00:41:56.560 ken paxton but ben this race comes down entirely to one thing and that is turnout the left is going

00:42:03.480 to show up they're mad they're angry they hate donald trump we got to make sure conservatives

00:42:08.660 show up we got to make sure the maga base shows up we got to make sure just common sense texans

00:42:13.780 show up and this is true all over the country that just common sense americans show up

00:42:17.640 and so i'm really grateful i joined president trump last week uh at a big event he did in north

00:42:23.280 texas and i joined him this week at a big event and did in san antonio and i'm very thankful that

00:42:28.620 he's coming to texas because it's really helpful for rallying the mega base to come out and and he

00:42:34.480 gave a two hour speech i don't know how this guy he's 80 years old and the energy he's got look i

00:42:41.900 got to tell you a bunch of us two hours on our feet our feet were hurting I was in you know I

00:42:46.580 was wearing black cowboy boots two hours on your feet in black cowboy boots and your your calves

00:42:51.060 are throbbing and and Trump at age 80 just just didn't pause at all he kept going he was praising

00:42:58.000 Ken Paxton as the most conservative attorney general in the country which I think is accurate

00:43:02.540 and he lit into James Tallarico in a way that was just I mean the guy is radical and extreme and

00:43:10.060 And President Trump did a really good job of detailing his his extreme record, whether it's saying God is non-binary or saying there's six different genders or saying that he wants to dismantle capitalism.

00:43:21.320 But he also unloaded. So James Tallarico has been missing for 12 days from the campaign trail. He is disappearing.

00:43:27.960 That is weird. We're less than 30 days away from Election Day and Tallarico is just nowhere.

00:43:32.420 He's doing no public events. He has not been seen in public.

00:43:35.480 Last time he was seen in public was with Robert De Niro at a fundraiser in New York two weeks ago.

00:43:41.280 Listen to what Donald Trump said about Tallarico being absent.

00:43:44.540 Honey, I got that right, vegan.

00:43:46.420 He's a vegan.

00:43:47.380 He wants to eat a piece of lettuce, a little piece of lettuce, please.

00:43:51.060 But he's been seen.

00:43:52.120 You know, you haven't seen him in a couple of weeks.

00:43:53.760 I hear the guy's disappeared.

00:43:54.980 Nobody knows.

00:43:55.500 You know where he is?

00:43:56.520 He's sick because he's been forced to eat meat for political reasons, and he's throwing up all over the place.

00:44:03.140 He's sick.

00:44:06.180 So, Ben, I got to say, you've been involved in politics your whole life.

00:44:10.040 Have you ever seen a candidate in the closing 30 days of a very closely contested race disappear for two weeks?

00:44:17.740 That's what James Tallarico has done. And frankly, it's weird.

00:44:20.860 Yeah, it's beyond weird. And it's a big question.

00:44:23.520 I'm sure donors asking the same thing. If I'm putting all this money in your account, buddy, where the heck are you in the closing days of your campaign?

00:44:29.800 We'll keep covering this. I can promise that.

00:44:32.020 Don't forget, we do this show as a podcast, so download Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcasts.

00:44:37.100 And then Senator and I will see you back here on this radio station as well next week.

00:44:40.360 Have a good one.

00:44:42.180 Hey, it's Drew Franklin from NFL Cover Zero.

00:44:44.840 The 2026 season is underway, and we are loving football on TV.

00:44:49.120 Here's what you can expect from the podcast in our second season.

00:44:52.000 I would suggest for these preseason games, I think they should do what they do on the NFL draft.

00:44:58.080 You know, when coverage of the NFL draft is basically for moms and they're just like, hey, he has a dog named Spartan.

00:45:07.160 Listen to NFL Cover Zero on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:45:14.200 I believe that whoever was in that room and did that was a murderer.

00:45:18.740 A new podcast series, Faultline Haditha, tells the story of a shocking crime and a cover up at the highest levels of the United States Marine Corps.

00:45:27.180 If you've got five players and you offer immunity to four, you better be right about the fifth.

00:45:32.020 Because if you're not, then you've just given immunity to your killer.

00:45:35.040 Listen to Faultline Haditha on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:45:57.180 winning drive. Maybe it's Herbert. Maybe it's Gino. Maybe it's Mahomes. We'll have the highlights.

00:46:02.480 If Fernando Mendoza or any of the rookies are balling out, we'll break down the tape. Join me,

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00:46:12.500 Daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Brett Coleman.

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 09, 2026

Mamdani Disgraces himself on Anniversary of October 7, Trump Accounts Opened for 70 Million Kids & Campaigning with Trump in Texas

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