Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joins host Ben Ferguson (R) to discuss three big stories this week: NPR and three Colorado radio stations suing the Trump administration, California is continuing to defy Trump on boys and girls sports and some politicians are starting to flip on the issue. And finally, James Comey and his controversial "sail shell" on the beach is a story that's just not adding up.
00:00:57.260I want to move also to the NPR lawsuit and get your take on that, Senator, as well.
00:01:03.080So this week, NPR, National Public Radio, and three Colorado public radio stations filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Trump White House.
00:01:12.580Against the president's executive order barring the use of funds for NPR and for PBS.
00:01:18.480And the lawsuit says, quote, it is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment.
00:01:30.540The order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the president's views, their news and other content is not fair, accurate, or unbiased.
00:01:42.400Now, let me stop and say, listen, you could file a reasonable lawsuit arguing that on any of these particular executive orders that where you're dealing with congressional appropriations,
00:01:54.500that challenging the authority of an executive order to limit congressional appropriations, that that's an area that's being litigated, that's going to be litigated and reasonable minds can can differ on what is permissible.
00:02:05.680And we've talked in previous podcasts that there is that there is a significant dispute over the president's authority to engage in what is called impoundment,
00:02:15.940which is essentially to decline to spend money that Congress has appropriated that you want to file a lawsuit over that.
00:02:27.220But but here what this lawsuit is claiming is that the First Amendment prohibits defunding NPR.
00:02:33.280And the reason they say it really is absurd is you can't defund the NPR simply because, quote, their news and other content is not fair, accurate or unbiased.
00:02:45.260Now, let me say, I think no objective person on planet Earth can contend that NPR or PBS are fair, accurate or unbiased.
00:02:54.240And so we really are in Alice in Wonderland through the looking glass where you now have litigants arguing because NPR and PBS are dishonest and political.
00:03:05.900You can't cut off funding because cutting off funding would be silencing our right to be dishonest and political and not just look, you absolutely have a right to be dishonest and political.
00:03:16.380So MSNBC can publish any nonsense they want.
00:03:20.600CNN can publish any nonsense they want.
00:03:24.020It's kind of a tree falling in the woods, but they have a right to say it.
00:03:27.080They have a right to say utter nonsense.
00:03:30.320But NPR's argument is not only do they have a right to say it, which I agree they do, but they have a right to have the taxpayers fund them forever, that it is illegal for us to stop paying for their partisan lies.
00:03:42.920I got to say that is an absurd claim, and it is the simple, simple reality of the absurdity of the left.
00:04:40.040That's their ideal situation is you guys complain about it and we keep giving billions to our propaganda machines.
00:04:46.460Yeah. Zero Democrats will vote to defund NPR or PBS, which means if it goes through regular order, it will not happen.
00:04:55.160The other way, isn't that proof of just how biased they are?
00:04:57.760The fact that zero of them would would go to defund it because they know how valuable it is to their propaganda and they don't care.
00:05:03.820In fact, I want you to listen to Catherine Marr, the CEO of NPR, who describes the First Amendment as the, quote, the greatest challenge that that she faces to controlling narratives here.
00:05:17.480The number one challenge here that we we see is, of course, the First Amendment in the United States is a fairly robust protection of rights.
00:05:27.520And and that is a protection of rights, both for platforms, which I actually think is very important.
00:05:31.780The platforms have those rights to be able to regulate what kind of content they want on their sites.
00:05:36.240But it also means that it is a little bit tricky to really address some of the real challenges of where does bad information come from and sort of the influence peddlers who have made a real market economy around it.
00:05:48.920I mean, that's where your tax dollars are going.
00:05:55.760We want to silence voices we disagree with.
00:05:58.760And that First Amendment stands in the way.
00:06:00.760And here, I want you to listen to this, this montage of Catherine Marr being being grilled at congressional hearing.
00:06:08.400Give a listen to just how extreme the NPR CEO is.
00:06:12.960And I welcome the opportunity to discuss the essential role of public media in delivering unbiased, nonpartisan, fact based reporting to Americans.
00:06:21.980Madam Chair, thank you so much for the opportunity to address this.
00:07:34.580Well, I do want to say that NPR acknowledges that we were mistaken and failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively and sooner.
00:07:44.820We recognize that we were reporting at the time, but we acknowledge that the new CIA evidence is worthy of coverage and have covered it.
00:07:51.080You've even talked about the First Amendment kind of getting in the way of what you wanted to get done.
00:07:54.620NPR is now taking this non-biased approach.
00:07:57.000I so appreciate the opportunity to perhaps clarify some things.
00:08:00.800My talk about truth was really referencing the way that people use truth to refer to belief as opposed to facts.
00:08:07.160Your comments said that truth was getting the way of getting things done and that you were prioritizing what you wanted to get done over truth.
00:08:14.260Did they come up in your job interview?
00:08:24.960Like, do you not think it's a problem that your political leanings make it seem to the American people that you're not biased and you're not doing your job?
00:08:34.860Because you agree that your job is to have journalistic integrity, right?
00:08:43.300You have 87 registered Democrats, not a single Republican in your editor board.
00:08:48.960So, I mean, how does that work to give us the perception that you're doing your job of actually delivering unbiased information?
00:08:55.840I would agree with you that that number is a concern if it is accurate.
00:08:58.820I do believe that we need to have journalists who represent the full breadth of the American society so that we can report well for all Americans.
00:09:15.260And then she's like, yeah, if that number is true, then it is a concern.
00:09:19.760Third, the argument of NPR is that the First Amendment requires for you and me to keep paying for them to propagandize and lie.
00:09:31.460And I got to say, one of my favorite facts, as I said, it's not just NPR.
00:09:34.940It's three Colorado radio stations, the statewide Colorado public radio station based in Denver, KSUT, which was originally founded by the Southern Ute Indian tribe.
00:09:49.660And this is the one that cracks me up.
00:09:51.840The Aspen Public Radio, which broadcasts in Aspen, one of the richest communities on planet Earth.
00:09:59.920If you're in Aspen and you look at the airport, you just see a line of private jets as far as the eye can see.
00:10:08.480And their argument is the First Amendment mandates that we tax American workers to pay for propaganda in Aspen because the poor, wretched masses of Aspen can't afford to pay for their own propaganda.
00:10:23.140They need to tax American workers instead.
00:10:25.180Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.
00:10:31.700Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them.
00:10:38.600And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:11:07.620And there has been a fight since the president came in with his executive order on trying to protect women from men being in their locker rooms, being in their sports, beating them up.
00:11:19.720We saw it during the Olympics in boxing.
00:11:22.240We've seen countless women who their achievements have been taken away from them on the podium because of men claiming their women, which is impossible in reality.
00:11:32.540And California decided they were going to stand up to Donald Trump.
00:12:02.280And it also deprives both girls and women of athletic victories they should have and they've earned.
00:12:10.840There are differences between boys and girls.
00:12:13.100There are differences between men and women.
00:12:14.720That did not used to be a controversial proposition.
00:12:18.140It is only in today's Looney Tune left that they can't tell the difference between men and women.
00:12:23.180But I got to tell you, even though in the Senate, Senate Democrats, all of them continue to defend men and women's sports and boys and girls sports, we're seeing the state of California.
00:12:35.380We're seeing the Democrats beginning to retreat.
00:12:38.340We're seeing Gavin Newsom, the governor, who's been a far left radical governor.
00:12:42.840He's got ambitions of being president.
00:12:44.740He's looking at looking at running in 2028.
00:12:47.640And he's decided, OK, we're on the wrong side of an 80-20 issue.
00:12:51.080I want to get the hell away from this.
00:12:53.580And so California announced this is a big deal.
00:12:56.540They're changing their policy for track and field so that if you're a biological girl and you got you missed out on making it to the state championship because you were beaten by a biological male who claims to be a transgender woman, then the girl, you will still get your slot.
00:13:16.500You still get invited to the state championship.
00:13:20.040Look, that's a significant step in the right direction.
00:13:25.340And I got to say, this really illustrates that at least some Democrats realize, wow, we are on the wrong side of an issue that America, America wants to protect girls sports and women's sports.
00:13:38.100We want to protect our daughters and we don't want to see them hurt or competing unfairly.
00:13:45.340And so the crazy thing is, that means in track and field in California now, they may give three gold medals, one to the boy, one to the girl and one to the transgender athlete.
00:13:56.840You may have gold medals all around, but for bright blue California to make this concession, it shows that that at least some Democrats realize they are way on the wrong side of this issue.
00:14:09.660This also, I think, is an issue that it's worth fighting for.
00:14:13.820And I think many that are listening are saying we don't want to give in and we don't want to give up.
00:14:18.340And the pendulum went so far to the radical left for so many years that this is the fight that is worth fighting on and fighting over and showing California having to change girls track and field championship rules after the Trump threatens funding over the trans athletes is just an example of, hey, we are in many times the silent majority.
00:14:39.480And we need to start acting like it, especially on these types of issues.
00:14:44.440Well, I'll tell you, Ben, this this issue is a powerful issue.
00:14:48.020And as you know, I ran for reelection in Texas last year in 2024.
00:14:55.560I was Chuck Schumer's number one target.
00:14:58.040And my campaign was was was the first campaign in the country last year to put put real time and energy behind this this this issue of we're going to protect girls.
00:15:09.480Sports from boys competing and and and we put tens of millions of dollars behind this issue.
00:15:14.580Well, what's fascinating is the media completely misunderstood the issue.
00:15:19.260So one of the things that that my campaign did is we did focus groups in Houston and Dallas of undecided moderate women to understand what issues move them.
00:15:28.320And we tested 30, 35 different messages.
00:15:31.600The number one issue that moved undecided moderate women in Texas was boys and girls sports.
00:15:38.760And when I started campaigning on it, it was very funny.
00:15:42.260The reporters are like, oh, Cruz is trying to appeal to the crazy right wing.
00:15:59.280And then you saw Senate races all across the country pick up the same message because they were seeing the same data we were.
00:16:05.280We saw President Trump lean in hard on this message.
00:16:08.360Some of those women that you were talking to, let's be very clear, had moved from California because, yeah, like how many people from California moved to Texas?
00:16:18.020We have over a thousand people a day moving to the state of Texas.
00:16:24.400And California is overwhelmingly the heaviest, the largest state that is sending people to Texas.
00:16:31.560But this issue, what's what's fascinating, Ben, is, you know, four years ago, this issue did not work politically.
00:16:38.660You saw campaigns try to raise it four years ago.
00:16:40.740And I think people thought then that it was jumping the shark, that it didn't feel real four years ago.
00:16:47.240I think people said, oh, come on, that's that that's not a real threat.
00:17:51.880You know, if you're playing volleyball, we've seen women who have a biological man spike the ball into their head and they get injured.
00:17:58.440I mean, California is still Looney Tunes, but the fact that even the lefty government of California is saying we've gone too far, that's a very positive sign.
00:18:10.860As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
00:18:19.100Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them.
00:18:26.300And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:18:32.440And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:18:36.200Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:18:41.920So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:18:44.920Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:18:50.900I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:18:55.500Unless the head of the FBI is calling for the murder of the president of the United States.
00:19:00.360And that is another story that broke in the last few days.
00:19:03.120So so the former FBI director, James Comey, he tweeted out this this image.
00:19:09.680And it is an image of seashells on the beach that spell out 86, 47.
00:19:17.260Now, 47 is obviously Donald Trump and and 86 on the face of it to 86.
00:19:25.000Someone is standard slang for killing someone.
00:19:27.480And as I posted on social media, is there any other reasonable interpretation of this other than the former head of the FBI publicly calling for the murder of the president of the United States?
00:20:37.000And then everybody will want to interview me.
00:20:39.320I get to dog whistle this against the president, while also guaranteeing that every single show will want to book me to talk about my book, a.k.a.
00:20:59.080Well, and I will say he doubled down this week by calling on the FBI essentially to fight the president of the United States and accusing the Trump administration of being, in his words, quite white supremacist adjacent.
00:21:18.920So follow up on the seashell situation, when you're explaining why you took it down, but what were you trying to communicate to the public?
00:24:28.200And let's just remind people, when you said that he's smart, this is the same guy that mocked the Trump administration the first time, right when they got into office,
00:24:38.280when he just sent a couple FBI agents over to try to entrap General Flynn.
00:24:42.120Like, never forget, that's how calculated this guy is.
00:24:44.780So for him to say, oh, I just saw a picture here, and I thought it was really cute, and there's seashells, I don't buy that crap for a moment.
00:24:51.060He proposed sending someone wearing a wire to entrap the president of the United States.
00:24:55.560And I want you to listen to him with Nicole Wallace on MSNBC, because I want you to listen to just this smarmy, sanctimonious, dishonest.
00:25:06.380You can tell what I think about him here.
00:25:07.740Just play his words and see if you agree with me.
00:25:10.560You are back in the middle of a political firestorm.
00:25:14.780Yeah, for walking on the beach with my wife.
00:25:17.300So, I don't know how we ended up here.
00:25:19.240It never occurred to me that it was any kind of controversial thing, but that's the time we live in.