Verdict with Ted Cruz - July 19, 2025


'Null & Void' Experts Question the Autopen, Harrowing story of Survival in the Texas Flood plus When Woke Satire Stops Being Funny Week In Review


Episode Stats


Length

30 minutes

Words per minute

154.06747

Word count

4,623

Sentence count

382

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Toxicity

31

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson discuss the latest on Joe Biden's use of an automatic pardon pen, the New York Times' revelation that he may have used the pen without the President s knowledge, and the fallout from the Texas floods.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.560 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.280 Welcome.
00:00:05.980 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:07.500 Week in Review.
00:00:08.580 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.660 And these are the stories you may have missed that we talked about this week.
00:00:13.180 First up, Biden's auto pen dilemma and the New York Times now exposing exactly what may
00:00:19.720 have been done without the president's knowledge.
00:00:22.540 And there's an official investigation.
00:00:24.780 We'll dive into that.
00:00:25.800 Also, first-hand account of the tragedy and an update of what's happening with the Texas
00:00:30.940 floods.
00:00:32.180 And finally, Stephen Colbert, not only did he alienate half the country, but he destroyed
00:00:37.860 a show that had been around for decades.
00:00:41.500 Stephen Colbert has been canceled.
00:00:44.100 It's the Week in Review and it starts right now.
00:00:47.280 Finally, Senator, I want to move to another issue and it has really exploded over the last
00:00:52.180 24 hours and that is new information that we now have on Biden's use of the auto pen.
00:01:00.920 It is a scandal that I don't think people understand just how big it is and what is now been admitted
00:01:08.960 to when it comes to the auto pen usage and Joe Biden maybe not knowing it was being used
00:01:13.660 at all.
00:01:14.140 Well, so the New York Times on July 13th wrote a major story that says Biden says he made the
00:01:20.880 clemency decisions that were recorded with auto pen.
00:01:24.480 And you and I talked about it in an earlier podcast that the Department of Justice has an opinion that
00:01:29.820 it issued a number of years ago, the Office of Legal Counsel, about whether you can use an auto pen
00:01:35.380 for presidential signatures, whether that's a presidential signature on an executive order,
00:01:41.220 a presidential signature on a law that is being signed into law or a presidential signature
00:01:47.320 on a pardon.
00:01:48.540 And what the Department of Justice has concluded is that you can use an auto pen for any of
00:01:53.780 those.
00:01:54.780 But the test is the authority is the president's and the president's alone.
00:01:58.800 So the president cannot delegate that authority to anyone else.
00:02:05.560 The president has to make the decision.
00:02:07.860 And what the Department of Justice explained, and this was years ago, is that the operative
00:02:14.940 legal test is, did the president make the individual determination to sign the executive
00:02:21.100 order, to sign the specific piece of legislation, to grant the pardon?
00:02:25.020 And if the president made that individualized determination, then you can use an auto pen to reflect
00:02:33.500 that, but the president has to be the decider.
00:02:37.340 And so that's the legal standard.
00:02:40.280 But what the New York Times reported was, quote, Mr. Biden did not individually approve each
00:02:50.420 name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people.
00:02:54.700 Even after Mr. Biden made that decision, one former aide said, the Bureau of Prisons kept
00:03:17.780 providing additional information about specific inmates, resulting in small changes to the
00:03:24.260 list.
00:03:25.380 Rather than ask Mr. Biden to keep signing revised versions, his staff waited and then ran the
00:03:31.560 final version through the auto pen, which they saw as a routine procedure, the aide said.
00:03:37.540 That is stunning, because under the Department of Justice guidance, those pardons aren't valid.
00:03:43.700 If the president didn't decide, I am going to pardon Ben Ferguson, you know, if he didn't know,
00:03:51.580 that that would not be sufficient.
00:03:54.460 And the New York Times, the consequence of this, listen, I think the Trump White House needs to go
00:04:01.700 through the records.
00:04:02.620 And look, they have the records because they're now in charge of the White House and examine
00:04:06.260 what specifically has a paper trail that shows Biden signed off on the specific action.
00:04:13.660 And those that that that there is no paper trail, that there is no evidence in the New York Times
00:04:18.280 is reporting, they're admitting, oh, yeah, they're broad categories he didn't know about at all.
00:04:21.780 He didn't know the specific people.
00:04:23.380 Those are null and void.
00:04:24.580 Those have no legal force.
00:04:26.560 And my recommendation to Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice is they should look specifically
00:04:33.060 at the most vulnerable and devise and implement a legal challenge to to challenge these and
00:04:41.020 to make clear that that an unelected aide running an auto pen does not have the power to grant
00:04:47.900 a pardon under the United States Constitution.
00:04:50.340 So now that we have this information, the big question is, when do these pardons, what happens
00:04:57.880 next, how do you go about undoing this and how big of a legal fight is that going to be?
00:05:03.840 Well, look, it's going to be a termination, number one, of the White House and the White
00:05:07.300 House Council assessing what are the records show?
00:05:10.220 What records did they keep of Biden signing off?
00:05:13.040 We know that he personally signed the pardon for Hunter Biden.
00:05:16.520 So that one he knew about and he did.
00:05:19.560 So so that one is is that also very telling?
00:05:22.400 And yes, he and is that going to be used in many ways as an example of like, dude, he
00:05:27.520 had no idea what was going on over here.
00:05:29.100 The ones he did know about, he knew he did. 0.79
00:05:31.180 He damned it well, better sign them himself. 0.64
00:05:33.400 His son is a great example of that. 0.93
00:05:35.080 Does that actually hurt the argument for Biden that all the others are valid?
00:05:39.860 Potentially, although they are arguing that they discussed it with him and he approved.
00:05:44.100 And so some of the high profile ones like you look at Anthony Fauci, who was pardoned,
00:05:49.940 they're maintaining, they discussed it with Biden and Biden said he wanted to he wanted
00:05:55.740 to pardon him.
00:05:57.780 If that's true, if he made the decision and directed them to sign a pardon, then under
00:06:02.800 the Department of Justice's OLC memorandum, that is valid.
00:06:07.640 The question is, are there ones?
00:06:10.960 And according to The New York Times, there are a lot that Biden did not know.
00:06:15.860 And did not approve the specific individual receiving the pardon.
00:06:21.160 And if he didn't know and didn't approve, then it's not a valid pardon.
00:06:24.860 So when you look at the timeline of this moving forward, and some of these could be very significant.
00:06:28.740 One that comes to mind is Dr. Anthony Fauci, for example.
00:06:32.760 This could this could, I mean, open up a whole lot of can of worms on a lot of different issues.
00:06:39.620 It could.
00:06:40.440 But it depends what so what I believe, I believe the White House should go through systematically
00:06:45.220 through the records and see what the records demonstrate.
00:06:48.120 And the Department of Justice should pick starting with a test case to go challenge this.
00:06:53.640 The look for a fact pattern in which there is the clearest absence of any approval from
00:07:01.600 from the actual president and go challenge those in particular.
00:07:06.820 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast
00:07:12.200 from earlier this week.
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00:07:44.700 Now on to story number two.
00:07:46.780 I'll tell you, there was an article just came out in Texas Monthly about what happened.
00:07:51.840 And I want to take a few minutes and actually read a significant portion of the article.
00:07:55.800 The article is by a fellow named Aaron Parsley.
00:07:58.460 And it's entitled, The River House Broke, We Rushed in the River.
00:08:02.260 And he's telling a first-hand story about his family that had a house right along the Guadalupe River.
00:08:09.760 I want you just to listen to this.
00:08:12.220 Rosemary, the four-year-old, woke up first.
00:08:16.780 She told my brother-in-law, Lance, that there was something on the roof.
00:08:21.200 Seven of us were at my family's river house on the Guadalupe, between Ingram and Hunt, for the fourth.
00:08:26.180 Our little stretch of river is wide, green, cool, deep, and slow.
00:08:31.520 It's some of the best swimming anywhere and one of the most beautiful spots in Texas, as far as I'm concerned.
00:08:37.540 I've spent many peaceful afternoons there, floating and staring up at the cypress trees that tower over the water.
00:08:44.380 The house, a one-story cabin on stilts, about 50 yards from the river, up the steeply slope yard, was built right after the 1987 flood that devastated this region, killing 10 teenagers.
00:08:59.340 Concrete pillars put our family's place a few feet above what officials consider the 100-year floodplain.
00:09:07.140 More than once, I'd tried to imagine the waters rising that high.
00:09:11.300 But it seemed impossible.
00:09:12.740 I woke around 3 a.m. to the sound of thunder and rain.
00:09:17.640 My only thought was, I hope it stops so I can go on an early morning run.
00:09:22.040 Shortly before 4.30, I would later learn,
00:09:25.840 Rosemary climbed down from the top bunk of the kid's bedroom and went to get her father.
00:09:31.920 Lance stepped out of bed to see what was causing all the pounding and creaking.
00:09:35.760 I stirred about that time, too, and heard what I figured was the kids running around the house, excited by the storm.
00:09:42.740 What's going on, I asked.
00:09:44.960 We're in trouble, Dad said.
00:09:47.320 Big trouble.
00:09:48.040 I looked past them.
00:09:50.140 The river was as high as the deck, 20 feet above the ground.
00:09:56.800 We talked through our options.
00:10:00.380 Getting under the roof was impossible.
00:10:02.860 We had no ladder, and the eaves were about eight feet above the deck.
00:10:07.520 Patrick weighed whether we could all climb through a window onto the live oak whose branches were near the back of the house,
00:10:12.960 then realized it wasn't reachable.
00:10:16.360 Lance called 911, but the dispatcher said he didn't know when anyone could get to us.
00:10:23.360 As we reassembled in the kitchen, the vinyl flooring under our feet started to bubble.
00:10:30.860 Then water began to pool.
00:10:34.140 My dad walked into the bedroom and saw the carpet floating off the floor.
00:10:38.440 The river's musty scent permeated the house, mixed with what smelled like freshly chopped wood.
00:10:45.360 My sister sat rosemary and clay on the kitchen island countertop.
00:10:53.700 Rosemary was four and clay was 20 months old.
00:10:56.300 We discussed whether we could get them higher, maybe even on top of the cabinets in the small space below the ceiling.
00:11:03.360 Then the roof over the porch crashed down, and we heard glass shatter in my father's room, just off the kitchen.
00:11:14.040 Rosemary asked,
00:11:15.580 Why did the window break?
00:11:18.480 Clay started to cry.
00:11:20.200 When the sliding glass doors opened and water poured in, Lance ran to it, shoved it closed, and held it shut.
00:11:26.080 The pendant lamps began to swing wildly over the kitchen counter.
00:11:31.500 The house was shifting.
00:11:33.160 It lurched sharply, and we all struggled to stay on our feet.
00:11:37.940 It felt like walking down the aisle of a plane during strong turbulence.
00:11:43.720 We're moving.
00:11:45.600 We're moving, Patrick said.
00:11:48.420 The realization was terrifying.
00:11:50.420 The rushing, still-rising water had lifted the house off its pillars.
00:11:58.100 It was afloat, and then it wasn't.
00:12:02.160 I saw part of the deck rip away.
00:12:04.620 I heard windows break from every corner.
00:12:07.120 Cracks split the walls.
00:12:09.240 We crashed into something, probably a tree.
00:12:12.240 I don't know how long it took.
00:12:13.420 Ten seconds?
00:12:14.820 Maybe fifteen?
00:12:16.400 For the house to come apart.
00:12:17.600 Alyssa managed to keep both kids on the countertop, one hand on each, still trying to reassure them.
00:12:24.800 As the house came undone, she grabbed one in each arm.
00:12:28.980 This is the part that will forever haunt me.
00:12:32.080 If I or anyone else had been closer to them, we would have helped her.
00:12:36.640 We would have grabbed one of the kids. 0.67
00:12:39.040 But we simply didn't know that we were about to be plunged into the water.
00:12:43.720 We simply didn't know.
00:12:45.900 As we were thrust into churning water, into darkness, our disintegrating house sucked us down into the river.
00:12:55.740 The last thing I remember from inside the house was seeing the refrigerator coming at me.
00:13:01.980 Patrick saw the countertop tear away from the kitchen island with Alyssa and the kids on it.
00:13:08.140 As the river carried me downstream, I struggled to stay above water.
00:13:13.960 I was surrounded by branches, by twisted metal, by uprooted trees, by countless smaller objects.
00:13:20.760 Bottles of sunscreen, books, couch cushions, coolers that came from inside our home or somebody else's.
00:13:28.180 I realized I had lost my shoes and my phone.
00:13:32.980 I grabbed at every branch and every tree that was still standing.
00:13:36.060 A few snapped off in my hands, leaving me with a fistful of leaves.
00:13:39.940 I managed to briefly hold on to one, perhaps for a few seconds, until the force of the water and the constant assault from debris ripped me away.
00:13:50.200 I latched onto a tree with branches large enough to support me and pulled myself out of the water.
00:13:57.280 My breathing was frantic, but my mind was focused.
00:14:01.080 I considered the possibility of death.
00:14:04.380 I thought if I survive, I'll be the only one.
00:14:07.740 The tree began to crack, creak, and moan.
00:14:13.340 Then it slowly fell into the river.
00:14:16.400 And so did I.
00:14:18.240 I reached for another tree and climbed as high as I could, a couple of feet above the rushing water.
00:14:23.360 I stepped up to a higher branch and then another.
00:14:26.760 If this tree collapsed, I wasn't sure if I would fight to stay above the water again.
00:14:32.940 I pleaded with the tree to hold me, to withstand the power of the river.
00:14:40.000 Please, I whispered.
00:14:42.220 Please.
00:14:44.020 Over the roar of the water and the crackling of the trees, I heard screaming.
00:14:48.800 It was guttural, primal.
00:14:51.800 Who's there, I called.
00:14:54.180 I'm in a tree, too.
00:14:55.460 We have to hang on.
00:14:56.480 Someone will help.
00:14:58.360 It's Alyssa, my sister screamed.
00:15:02.140 I'm with Rosemary.
00:15:04.260 Clay is gone.
00:15:06.080 The memory of those words will never leave me.
00:15:09.260 A combination of profound relief and unbearable sadness overwhelms me now, even as I type this.
00:15:16.440 Alyssa and I kept yelling to each other, though neither of us could clearly make out what the other was saying.
00:15:22.680 Be strong for Rosemary, I implored.
00:15:25.460 You have to survive this.
00:15:28.100 Intermittently, I could hear just one word.
00:15:31.580 Clay.
00:15:33.180 As Alyssa cried out for her son.
00:15:36.220 Then I noticed Patrick running along the riverbank.
00:15:39.080 I couldn't believe he was there, fully dressed, wearing his tank top and shorts, his shoes somehow still on.
00:15:44.920 He had lost only his wedding ring, he told me later.
00:15:48.240 Patrick, I'm here, I yelled.
00:15:49.580 For the first time, I thought we had a shot at surviving.
00:15:54.040 Patrick was the first normal thing since the house broke apart.
00:15:57.380 It was like being alone on an alien planet and another human being randomly arrives.
00:16:01.740 And then Lance came jogging up after him.
00:16:05.440 They'd ended up in the same pecan tree, about 200 feet away from the riverbank and about 2,000 feet from where our house once stood.
00:16:13.000 Lance has a watch with a flashlight that he turned on after Rosemary woke him up.
00:16:17.360 Now, Patrick said he spotted the beam after he climbed into the tree.
00:16:21.740 They were only a few yards apart, close enough that they could talk without yelling.
00:16:25.820 Lance kept repeating, my son, my daughter, there's no way.
00:16:33.980 In the river's roiling churn, with Rosemary clinging to her neck while she paddled with one arm,
00:16:41.300 Alyssa had somehow managed to push her daughter onto a branch, which Rosemary hugged with her arms and legs, lying flat.
00:16:50.560 Alyssa stayed in the water just below her, gripping the tree's trunk.
00:16:53.820 And as the waters receded, she stood uncomfortably on a branch below her.
00:16:59.620 Alyssa would tell me five days later that Rosemary wanted to play I Spy while they waited in the tree. 0.97
00:17:09.580 Patrick waded into the water to intercept a blue kayak that was floating by.
00:17:14.240 An older couple watching from a house on a nearby hill brought Lance and Patrick an inflatable inner tube,
00:17:20.420 and they decided the tube was the better option to catch Rosemary.
00:17:24.120 More control, softer landing.
00:17:28.180 After that, Rosemary's rescue happened quickly.
00:17:32.180 Patrick and Lance rigged the inner tube with a green garden hose they found and tied it around a downed tree.
00:17:38.340 Lance waded into the water, positioning the tube beneath his daughter.
00:17:42.680 I stood downriver, ready to catch Rosemary, if she missed the target and got caught in the stream. 0.93
00:17:49.160 Alyssa urged us to hurry, saying she didn't think she could hold on to the tree much longer.
00:17:56.680 She had to pry Rosemary's hands from the branch. 1.00
00:18:02.180 Rosemary, terrified, started to cry.
00:18:06.380 Then my sister cradled her daughter and dropped her 20 feet into the river where her father was waiting.
00:18:14.700 She landed directly in the middle of the inner tube, and we all cheered.
00:18:20.220 Lance carried his daughter to shore.
00:18:21.860 My sister jumped into the water right after, and I grabbed her, put my arm around her, and together we walked to safety.
00:18:28.900 Alyssa collapsed on the riverbank, crying out for Clay.
00:18:32.400 Rosemary became calm when she reached dry land, but her face had a blue cast.
00:18:41.120 We were all shivering.
00:18:43.520 We told Rosemary how brave she'd been, and that she was now safe, and it was going to be okay.
00:18:51.840 That's the reality of what it was like for so many down there.
00:18:56.240 And it happened, that article describes it, I think, perfectly, so quickly.
00:19:00.540 I want you to take a look at this picture.
00:19:06.140 This is Rosemary and Clay.
00:19:08.720 Rosemary survived, Clay did not.
00:19:11.100 This family, like so many Texas families, is rejoicing at the lives that were saved
00:19:17.060 and is forever grieving at the lives that were lost.
00:19:22.040 And this family, like so many Texas families, needs their friends, their loved ones to hold them tight.
00:19:29.980 They need God's blessing and mercy and grace.
00:19:34.120 And I will tell you, everyone in Texas is standing with this family, is standing with all of the parents at Mystic,
00:19:44.140 is standing with all the little girls who lost friends.
00:19:46.980 Just today, I was visiting with parents who had two daughters at Mystic.
00:19:52.460 One survived, one did not.
00:19:54.560 They talked about the surviving daughter and the guilt and grief that every one of the survivors feels.
00:20:02.200 Survivor's guilt.
00:20:03.000 Why did my friend, why did my sister die?
00:20:05.400 And I didn't.
00:20:06.240 And those girls, it's going to take a whole lot of love and a whole lot of time for them to walk through that grief. 0.99
00:20:12.700 We'll do that.
00:20:14.700 That's who Texans are. 0.96
00:20:16.460 But these are hard times.
00:20:18.800 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic,
00:20:23.380 you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.
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00:20:58.620 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:21:03.340 Senator, there is just some news that shocked the left.
00:21:08.340 I don't know how this could be true, but the late show has been destroyed by Stephen Colbert.
00:21:14.560 They're at the point where they're like, we're not even just firing you.
00:21:16.900 We're just canceling the entire brand that has been a staple in American culture, an iconic show for decades.
00:21:25.860 And now they're just like, yeah, we're done.
00:21:28.200 I mean, it's amazing, right?
00:21:29.900 You alienate half the country.
00:21:31.560 You hate half the country.
00:21:32.700 You mock half the country.
00:21:34.120 No one could have seen this coming.
00:21:35.640 Well, look, I got to say what you and I talked about just a few minutes ago.
00:21:41.160 I'm not tired of winning yet. 0.98
00:21:43.420 Stephen Colbert is a vicious, dishonest, partisan leftist. 0.98
00:21:49.940 He is utterly consumed with Trump derangement syndrome. 1.00
00:21:54.140 And he hates, he despises more than half of America. 1.00
00:21:59.980 He thinks we're idiots. 1.00
00:22:01.500 He thinks we're racist. 1.00
00:22:02.620 He thinks we're morons. 1.00
00:22:04.020 He is a condescending, arrogant jackass. 1.00
00:22:08.340 Now, look, I say this with direct experience. 1.00
00:22:12.180 I've been on Colbert's show.
00:22:14.220 There used to be a time, listen, I'm someone, I love comedy.
00:22:17.640 I love late night comedy.
00:22:18.880 I grew up watching an SNL.
00:22:20.160 I grew up watching Johnny Carson and Jay Leno and, like, really fun late night comedy.
00:22:26.800 And by the way, if you've got a sense of humor, you can laugh at both sides.
00:22:30.660 I'm okay with late night comics making fun of Republicans, making fun of Democrats.
00:22:34.900 Look, both sides are funny.
00:22:36.140 There's lots of jokes to tell.
00:22:38.220 There used to be a time.
00:22:39.500 I've been in the Senate 13 years.
00:22:41.560 When I got there, it was part of the job.
00:22:43.480 I've done just about every late night show.
00:22:45.960 I've done Jay Leno.
00:22:47.740 I've done Colbert.
00:22:48.700 I've done Jimmy Kimmel.
00:22:49.800 I've done Jimmy Fallon.
00:22:53.860 It was a fun part of the job.
00:22:57.180 It's disappeared.
00:22:58.320 None of the late night shows have Republicans on anymore.
00:23:01.200 They don't invite anyone.
00:23:02.760 In fact, it was really fitting.
00:23:04.380 Stephen Colbert's show where he announced, I've been canceled.
00:23:08.240 I'm pulled off the air.
00:23:09.400 You know who his guest was?
00:23:10.620 Adam Schiff.
00:23:11.280 Because, of course, it was Adam Schiff.
00:23:13.940 Because, and Colbert's the worst of them. 0.99
00:23:17.180 He's a vicious, nasty.
00:23:18.740 So I remember when I first did his show, you know, the hosts come by and they talk to you in the green room and they chat with you.
00:23:25.600 And, you know, I said, look, like all of these late night comics, they think they're going to be, you know, that they're going to be this like meet the press, like we're going to ask you really tough questions.
00:23:38.820 By the way, Democrats, they have love fest, they laugh, they joke, they kid around.
00:23:45.020 But with the Republicans, they're going to nail you to the ground.
00:23:47.520 And I'm like, look, you want to ask tough questions, that's fine.
00:23:51.300 But you go on a late night comedy show to humanize, to say a little bit of who you are, to laugh.
00:23:57.460 And Colbert just got angry. 0.99
00:23:59.380 He's just like, I want to prove you are evil, you are the devil. 0.97
00:24:04.280 And by the way, they don't even do that anymore. 0.98
00:24:06.040 They just don't have Republicans on.
00:24:08.480 And Colbert, of all of them, was the worst.
00:24:10.820 By the way, Jimmy Fallon of the late night guys is the best.
00:24:14.320 Yeah.
00:24:14.500 Fallon, you know, it's interesting.
00:24:16.220 Fallon inherited Jay Leno's audience.
00:24:19.400 Jay Leno inherited Johnny Carson's audience.
00:24:22.120 Their audience is a lot of Midwestern conservatives.
00:24:25.840 And so Jimmy Fallon, like I had a great time.
00:24:29.460 I did Jimmy Fallon back when I was running for president.
00:24:32.500 He had a very funny skit where he dressed up as Donald Trump and called me and went back and forth. 0.96
00:24:38.640 But he was the one late night host who was not a jerk. 0.94
00:24:43.000 Actually, Leno wasn't either, but that was early on. 0.84
00:24:47.280 Colbert is directly responsible, along with his compatriots, 0.99
00:24:51.380 with destroying late night comedy.
00:24:53.380 And I want to play.
00:24:54.940 By the way, it's because it wasn't humor.
00:24:57.760 It's not funny. 0.98
00:24:58.740 It's just, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you is not funny. 0.97
00:25:02.280 Yeah. 0.85
00:25:02.500 It's also, by the way, the reason why I think Shane Gillis was at the ESPYs,
00:25:06.020 because humor is actually back.
00:25:10.060 And Colbert turned his show into this, like, sanctimonious, woke lecture every night attacking half of America.
00:25:17.640 Well, and let me prove it.
00:25:18.820 I want to play just a selection of, you know, he became this, like, scold for you must get the COVID vaccine.
00:25:28.540 And here are a couple of examples of this bizarre song he did.
00:25:32.540 You're going to listen to it.
00:25:33.480 I wish you could see the videos, because the videos have him dancing like a fruitcake nut,
00:25:40.900 dressed as a human syringe.
00:25:43.080 But just listen to it, because you can get a sense of just how sanctimonious he was.
00:25:46.560 Give a listen.
00:25:47.760 Find out the way the vaccine is changing the scene.
00:25:51.200 In our new recurring segment, The Vaccine.
00:25:54.740 Longer.
00:26:14.800 Longer.
00:26:15.740 Stahl.
00:26:17.280 Why the can-can, you ask?
00:26:20.000 I ask that myself.
00:26:21.120 The answer, public domain.
00:26:25.460 It's the answer to most things, really.
00:26:27.840 The Vaccine.
00:26:28.880 I'm a Yankee-U-Vaccine. 0.99
00:26:32.220 Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. 0.99
00:26:42.600 The Vaccine.
00:26:48.220 We are the Vaccine.
00:26:50.320 Get your shot right now. 0.85
00:26:52.260 In your arm. 0.99
00:26:53.260 It won't hurt.
00:26:54.180 Then go hug your mom. 0.97
00:26:55.680 Get your shot.
00:26:57.520 Hug her mom. 0.98
00:26:59.620 Get your shot.
00:27:03.960 Hug your mom.
00:27:07.140 By the way, I just wonder, like, how many of those segments had vaccine commercials from
00:27:12.300 pharmaceutical companies in there, and it's like, hey, I got you.
00:27:15.000 I'll do a big thing.
00:27:16.400 I am Stephen Colbert, sponsored by Pfizer.
00:27:19.640 Right, exactly.
00:27:20.420 They put this thing out.
00:27:21.600 It's 10 minutes and 49 seconds long.
00:27:24.120 By the way, I say they.
00:27:25.420 Literally, the video we just played for you was the, quote, vaccine, the box set, the late
00:27:30.100 show with Stephen Colbert.
00:27:31.300 They put this out themselves and were that proud of it.
00:27:36.140 No, they were proud of it.
00:27:37.500 And it's vicious, it's nasty, and it's not funny.
00:27:42.960 Like, I'm fine with a comedy host that makes fun of everyone.
00:27:48.280 That's, you know, one of my favorite movies, and we didn't include this one we did on July
00:27:51.940 4th, our movie section, but one of my favorite movies was Team America, World Police.
00:27:57.540 Did you ever see that, Ben?
00:27:59.180 Oh, yeah.
00:27:59.700 Great movie.
00:28:01.020 Hysterical movie.
00:28:01.820 And it's done, it is, it's puppets, and it makes fun of both sides.
00:28:07.300 It makes fun of Republicans, but it makes fun of Democrats.
00:28:10.180 And it's, now, I will warn you, it is profane.
00:28:12.280 I had the incredibly poor judgment to play this video for my in-laws on a family vacation.
00:28:18.740 And I will tell you, about nine minutes into it, when they had dropped the 30-second F-bomb,
00:28:25.120 I was like, okay, wow, this was a really bad idea.
00:28:27.920 And my mother-in-law is frowning at me, and I'm like, wow, okay, never mind.
00:28:31.920 But unbelievably funny, because it's actually comedy.
00:28:36.280 It's making fun just watching Stephen Colbert saying, I hate Donald Trump.
00:28:42.400 Yes, Stephen, we got you, but you know what?
00:28:45.660 Stephen Colbert is now unemployed.
00:28:48.040 He's been canceled, and he's been canceled, because oddly enough, Americans don't like 0.92
00:28:52.800 to listen to someone screaming at them, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I'm smarter 0.98
00:28:57.260 than you, I'm a left-wing elitist, I make millions of dollars, and I despise you. 0.99
00:29:01.260 And so I've got to say, in response to his musical medley, urging everyone, you must
00:29:08.120 get the vaccine, I have a different musical medley that I want to say, not just to Stephen
00:29:13.000 Colbert, but also to NPR and to PBS, here's my musical response.
00:29:17.420 Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, who's fine?
00:29:25.980 Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na.
00:29:29.460 Truly amazing.
00:29:30.560 You've got to love that song right there.
00:29:32.160 Don't forget, we do this podcast, this show, I should say, as a podcast, three days a week.
00:29:38.140 So make sure you subscribe to Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcasts.
00:29:43.120 Cassandra and I will see you back here wherever you are next weekend, and hopefully you'll
00:29:48.360 hear us three days a week on the podcast.
00:29:50.760 Have a great one.
00:29:51.500 Na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, who's fine? 0.94
00:29:56.980 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:29:59.660 Guaranteed human.