Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 12, 2024


Pro-Hamas Protestors Sweep America & Dems Yawn plus Bombshell Whistleblower Exposes Radical Bias at NPR


Episode Stats


Length

37 minutes

Words per minute

163.71243

Word count

6,065

Sentence count

449

Harmful content

Misogyny

6

sentences flagged

Toxicity

26

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ben Fergusons (D-Michigan) discuss the growing trend of pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinian protests across the U.S. and the failure of the Democratic Party to speak out against them.

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.
00:00:02.500 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.440 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.300 And Senator, it seems to be a whole nother explosion of anti-American rhetoric
00:00:14.960 and many Americans now that are saying around the country
00:00:18.760 that they're supporting Hamas and Palestinians over Israel altogether.
00:00:23.060 Well, that's right. It's really a growing trend of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests
00:00:27.280 and many instances anti-American protests.
00:00:30.040 We're seeing them in Dearborn, Michigan.
00:00:31.960 We're seeing them in the United States Senate.
00:00:34.460 And sadly, in today's Democrat Party, they're unable to distance themselves or condemn them
00:00:39.720 because more and more it's the heart of the Democrat Party.
00:00:43.260 We're going to talk about that in depth on today's pod.
00:00:46.000 We're also going to get into a really stunning expose of NPR
00:00:50.140 that came out from a senior journalist at NPR
00:00:52.760 who described the pervasive media bias, the dishonesty, the propagandizing
00:00:58.900 that NPR does on the taxpayer's dime.
00:01:01.720 And it really is revealing of what has happened to our corporate media.
00:01:06.240 We're going to get into that in depth.
00:01:07.520 Yeah, it's going to be very interesting for people to hear that,
00:01:10.320 exactly what's going on and what he had to say, kind of whistleblowing on NPR in essence.
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00:03:04.140 All right, Senator, I want to talk about what this trend is,
00:03:07.980 and it is one that is not going away, of these pro-Hamas protesters
00:03:12.580 and protests that are happening all over the country.
00:03:16.080 It seems to be organized, and it seems that this is really a part of the Democratic Party now
00:03:20.480 and part of their apparatus.
00:03:23.260 Well, it's getting much, much worse.
00:03:25.200 We saw in this past week a huge protest in Dearborn, Michigan.
00:03:29.120 Dearborn, Michigan has the largest Muslim population in the country,
00:03:33.720 and unfortunately it has a very high population of radicals there.
00:03:38.420 And this was a rally they were having.
00:03:40.420 It was an anti-Israel rally where they were chanting death to Israel,
00:03:46.060 and they were chanting death to America.
00:03:48.200 And this is really stunning.
00:03:49.300 This is in America.
00:03:51.340 These are presumably Americans, or at least they're living here.
00:03:54.220 We don't know if they're here legally or not.
00:03:55.680 But here, give a listen to some of what they were saying at this anti-American rally.
00:04:09.820 Malcolm X said, and I quote,
00:04:13.740 we live in one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this earth.
00:04:18.500 It's not Genocide Joe that has to go.
00:04:20.720 It's the entire system that has to go.
00:04:22.800 Any system that would allow such atrocities and such devilry to happen and would support it,
00:04:30.940 such a system does not deserve to exist on God's earth.
00:04:34.800 Senator, not only were these anti-Israel activists heard chanting death to America,
00:04:39.320 they were also chanting death to Israel and saying that we don't have a right to exist, 0.69
00:04:44.440 and we're the worst country in the world. 0.99
00:04:45.560 We should be wiped off the face of the earth. 0.96
00:04:47.660 This is happening in Michigan. 0.72
00:04:49.020 Sadly, that's exactly right.
00:04:51.220 The person speaking there is Dearborn activist Tarek Bazi,
00:04:56.740 who has told the crowd, quote,
00:04:59.160 that the chant death to Israel has become the most logical chant across the world today. 0.96
00:05:05.580 And he went on to explain.
00:05:07.500 He said, Imam Khomeini, the Ayatollah,
00:05:10.420 who declared International Al-Quds Day,
00:05:13.580 this is what he would say,
00:05:15.020 to pour all of your chants and all of your shots upon the head of America.
00:05:20.340 And by the way, he's saying that about the former Iranian Ayatollah, 0.96
00:05:24.960 as chants of death to America started from the crowd.
00:05:28.820 And at that point, this is when he says,
00:05:31.960 it's not Genocide Joe that has to go.
00:05:35.480 It's the entire system that has to go.
00:05:38.840 And he goes on to say.
00:05:40.600 It's not only that.
00:05:41.740 It's the fact that he also is sitting there in the greatest country in the world saying this,
00:05:46.020 and the cameras are catching it while he is saying that America should cease to exist.
00:05:50.620 And this is happening in Democratic Representative Rashid Tlaib's area where she represents,
00:05:56.080 and she will not come out and condemn this either.
00:05:58.720 Yeah, no, that's exactly right.
00:05:59.840 And if you listen to what else this activist said at the rally,
00:06:03.560 he said any system that would allow such atrocities and such devilry to happen
00:06:07.580 and would support it, such a system does not deserve to exist on God's earth.
00:06:11.960 So he's saying the American government does not deserve to exist on God's earth.
00:06:15.820 He goes on to say, quote, 0.98
00:06:17.820 So when these fools ask us if Israel has a right to exist, 0.99
00:06:22.520 the chant death to Israel has become the most logical chant across the world today. 1.00
00:06:27.400 And at that point, his supporters began chanting death to Israel, death to Israel.
00:06:32.960 So this is who these radicals are.
00:06:37.360 And as you noted, Rashida Tlaib is an elected member of Congress.
00:06:41.920 She is a member of the United States House of Representatives.
00:06:45.220 She was asked what she thought about radicals, radicals who support her,
00:06:51.240 chanting death to America, and listened to her response.
00:06:53.940 I don't talk to Fox News.
00:06:56.280 I don't talk to Fox News.
00:06:57.960 At a rally in your district, people were chanting death to America.
00:07:01.660 Do you condemn...
00:07:02.660 I do not talk to Fox News.
00:07:04.260 But do you condemn chants of death to America?
00:07:06.740 I don't talk to people that use racist tropes.
00:07:09.540 Why can't you just say whether or not you condemn people chanting death to America?
00:07:14.940 Why are you afraid to talk to Fox News is not...
00:07:19.500 Listen, using racist tropes towards my community is what Fox News is about.
00:07:24.560 I don't talk to Fox News.
00:07:25.680 Is death to America racist?
00:07:27.940 I don't talk to Fox News.
00:07:29.100 Is chanting death to America racist?
00:07:31.280 I'm talking about your guys' racist tropes. 0.93
00:07:33.360 You know, you guys are...
00:07:34.140 You guys know exactly what you do.
00:07:36.000 I know you're Islamophobic, but you guys got to go deal with it on your own self.
00:07:39.720 You're not going to use me. 0.94
00:07:41.300 There it is.
00:07:42.020 Representative Rashida Tlaib saying she will not condemn death to America chants
00:07:45.940 because Fox News was asking her is the excuse,
00:07:49.180 which I think really comes back to what she believes.
00:07:53.080 Sadly, this is more and more the entire Democrat Party.
00:07:58.180 The terrifying thing is the people screaming death to America,
00:08:02.940 the people screaming death to Israel.
00:08:05.360 Yes, that's the base of Rashida Tlaib.
00:08:07.400 That's who elected her.
00:08:08.920 Yes, that's the base of AOC.
00:08:10.720 Yes, that's the base of Ilhan Omar.
00:08:13.040 That's the base of the squad.
00:08:14.600 But understand, it's not just them.
00:08:17.720 That's who Chuck Schumer is listening to.
00:08:20.280 That's who Joe Biden is listening to.
00:08:22.280 That's who Nancy Pelosi is listening to.
00:08:24.500 That's the thing that's really frightening.
00:08:26.040 You look at these extreme fringes.
00:08:30.140 They are driving the so-called mainstream of the Democrat Party.
00:08:34.760 It was Chuck Schumer who demanded Benjamin Netanyahu be thrown out of office.
00:08:38.900 It was Joe Biden who led a resolution in the UN effectively condemning Israel.
00:08:44.600 It was Nancy Pelosi who signed a letter demanding that we cut off military funding to Israel.
00:08:49.660 And you know why they're doing it?
00:08:50.940 They're doing it because of the angry mobs chanting death to America and death to Israel.
00:08:56.820 So there's also another part of this that's a really weird dynamic.
00:09:00.800 And that is how the Democrats are allowing so much of this rhetoric to make it into the halls in Congress.
00:09:10.660 You had Gaza protesters repeatedly interrupted the Senate hearing with Pentagon leaders.
00:09:16.600 And it doesn't seem to be condemned by the leadership who are in charge on the Senate side.
00:09:22.240 You also had protesters shouting at senators saying that the Senate can't eat until Gaza eats,
00:09:28.860 blocking the cafeteria so that, in theory, senators wouldn't be able to eat.
00:09:34.940 They were doing this while they were blocking the hallways and going into the cafeteria.
00:09:38.920 Take a listen to these chants, again, in the hallways of Congress.
00:09:44.560 People are dying in Gaza!
00:09:46.540 People are dying in Gaza!
00:09:49.800 People are dying in Gaza!
00:09:51.120 I mean, they have completely infiltrated the Senate this week with some of these protests.
00:09:56.260 And yet you don't see any of the leaders saying,
00:09:57.860 hey, you guys can't stop the business of the American people.
00:10:00.360 They're letting them basically run the show.
00:10:02.860 Yeah, no, that's exactly right.
00:10:04.480 They're shouting down hearings.
00:10:05.780 And I want you to play the audio of what they did in the Senate cafeteria.
00:10:10.440 Now, I will note the Senate cafeteria is actually not senators.
00:10:13.160 It's not where members eat, but it's where Senate staff eats. 0.92
00:10:16.580 And so there are lots of Senate staffers that are down there.
00:10:18.740 It's where they go get lunch most days.
00:10:21.540 And a bunch of pro-Hamas protesters came in chanting.
00:10:24.720 And take a listen to this, because this is happening.
00:10:27.560 And it's being allowed to just shut things down.
00:10:30.360 And by the way, this is not outside on the public streets.
00:10:32.480 You can have protests on the public streets.
00:10:34.180 This is inside of the Capitol office buildings, inside of the cafeteria.
00:10:39.660 And it's being allowed by Senate leadership because these are their base.
00:10:46.300 And so give a listen.
00:10:47.460 We are here to pray for the food of Gaza, to pray for the food of Gaza, to not bomb.
00:11:07.420 Our scriptures say, woe to you, who eat while others go hungry, and woe to you, for there is famine in Gaza.
00:11:27.420 Now, Senator, I just got to ask.
00:11:56.780 Did you eat?
00:11:57.560 Because they said you weren't going to eat.
00:12:00.060 Yeah, I actually ate.
00:12:01.580 And where they were is not actually where senators eat.
00:12:04.060 I'm not aware of whether staff was stopped from eating or not.
00:12:07.400 But they said that you were not going to eat.
00:12:08.720 And by the way, look at the end.
00:12:10.180 They said restore aid to UNRWA.
00:12:13.380 UNRWA is, of course, the U.N. agency that it's now been reported had multiple Hamas terrorists working for it that actually participated in the October 7th mass murder.
00:12:23.300 These people call themselves Christians for Palestine.
00:12:26.020 You know what?
00:12:27.300 I don't know of any Christians who excuse mass murder. 0.99
00:12:30.340 I don't know of any Christians who excuse mass rape. 0.94
00:12:32.620 The idea that they pretend to wrap themselves in faith while demonstrating the absolute evil barbarism.
00:12:40.280 Listen, I have watched the videos. 0.99
00:12:42.600 And I got to say, when I talk to these young lefties who are so ignorant, they're so sure of what they think, and they don't know a damn thing. 0.99
00:12:49.680 I've watched the videos. 0.99
00:12:51.000 I saw 138 people being murdered. 0.99
00:12:53.040 I've seen the photographs where these monsters, they raped little girls. 1.00
00:12:58.660 They raped women. 1.00
00:12:59.600 They cut off their breasts. 1.00
00:13:01.140 They cut off their genitals. 1.00
00:13:02.440 They burned them. 1.00
00:13:03.240 They penetrated them with knives and foreign objects.
00:13:05.960 It is grotesque and evil.
00:13:08.700 And the fact that they're in there feeling all self-righteous on behalf of those terrorists, I really don't have words to speak.
00:13:17.440 And listen, part of having judgment is recognizing the difference between good and evil.
00:13:25.800 And the Hamas terrorists who carried out October 7th are the embodiment of evil. 0.66
00:13:31.700 And what are those guys chanting?
00:13:33.200 Give money to Unruh, which included those Hamas terrorists. 1.00
00:13:36.820 That is the phrase useful idiots doesn't even begin to cover that. 0.99
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00:14:13.100 There's also, I think, a second phase that is happening.
00:14:16.920 And it seems to be, as I mentioned earlier, organized around the country.
00:14:20.940 But ABC News had to report that there were bags with anti-Semitic messages as well as unidentified substances found on cars and buildings in Lincoln Park.
00:14:31.500 The Chicago police say they're investigating this after these dozens of anti-Semitic messages were found on cars and on buildings.
00:14:39.980 And it's not the first time.
00:14:41.640 Lincoln Park residents that woke up this week that saw this disturbing image, these Ziploc bags containing these anti-Semitic messages,
00:14:49.000 and what appears to be a clear escalation.
00:14:51.380 This is from ABC 7.
00:14:52.740 And an unidentified substance that some believe may have been rat poison.
00:14:57.980 On every doorstep coming up the street, there were these bags.
00:15:01.240 I picked up a few of them, one of the people in the neighborhood said, and was horrified to see what they were.
00:15:07.180 And, of course, my four-year-old was, Mommy, what is that?
00:15:10.120 It just broke my heart.
00:15:11.160 I didn't know what to tell him, said one of the local residents.
00:15:14.400 And this was in an area where there are a lot of Jewish people that live.
00:15:18.760 Sadly, we're seeing this across the country.
00:15:20.660 We're seeing this in Jewish neighborhoods.
00:15:22.860 We're seeing this in New York City.
00:15:24.420 We're seeing this in Chicago.
00:15:25.700 We're seeing this all across the country.
00:15:27.720 And we're seeing this especially on university campuses.
00:15:30.040 And I have to say, many of the campus administrators are not willing to act to protect their Jewish students.
00:15:35.840 I will tell you, Ben, one of the saddest things.
00:15:38.940 I've talked with many of my friends who are Jewish who have kids who are in college.
00:15:44.040 And over and over and over again, they've reported that their kids are afraid for their physical safety.
00:15:51.640 That's not right.
00:15:52.660 Look, it is any university's obligation to protect the safety of every one of their students.
00:15:57.680 And the fact that there are so many Jewish students facing threats of violence, facing harassment, facing vicious anti-Semitism with the college campuses, the administrators and the protesters,
00:16:09.580 at a minimum turning a blind eye to it in many ways, tacitly or even explicitly agreeing with it, it is a sign of an enormous corruption that has just infiltrated the left in a way.
00:16:26.660 Look, I would actually like a strong and vibrant Democrat Party.
00:16:31.720 I think it's good for our country.
00:16:34.340 It's good for our democratic process to have two healthy parties where you have real and substantive debate.
00:16:39.760 We don't have that right now.
00:16:40.900 The Democrat Party is becoming radicalized at a level that is dangerous.
00:16:45.740 And I will tell you, as I travel Texas, I do, with some regularity, encounter people who tell me, they say, listen, I was a Democrat.
00:16:54.840 I used to be a Democrat.
00:16:55.840 And I'm seeing this anti-Israel hate.
00:16:59.280 I'm seeing this anti-Semitism, and I can't support a party that welcomes and supports that. 1.00
00:17:07.920 That is really bad for the country and really bad for the Democrat Party.
00:17:12.300 And I wonder, are there any Democrats with the courage to speak out against it?
00:17:18.520 We've seen John Fetterman, and in many ways, the fact that John Fetterman is doing so, it stands out because nobody else is.
00:17:25.860 Is there not one other elected Democrat?
00:17:29.300 Yes.
00:17:29.700 I'm glad you mentioned him.
00:17:30.220 No, no, look, God bless John Fetterman.
00:17:32.080 Yeah, John Fetterman has really not backed down from him standing with Israel and has taken a lot of heat from a lot of protesters and a lot on the left that are like, wait, dude, you're supposed to be a radical leftist.
00:17:43.120 What's wrong with you?
00:17:43.920 Why aren't you doing this?
00:17:45.200 And he has refused to back down on it.
00:17:47.160 I'm glad you mentioned his name because it's important that we say job well done to people on the left that are saying, I'm not going to be bullied in supporting Hamas.
00:17:55.860 Listen, a couple of weeks ago, I went over to the Democrat cloakroom where John was there, and I just said, hey, I wanted to tell you thank you.
00:18:03.620 I really appreciate the courage you've shown on Israel on speaking out.
00:18:07.940 Thank you.
00:18:08.500 It matters.
00:18:09.860 And I recognize it's not easy.
00:18:11.860 It's not without cost.
00:18:12.860 And I will say, look, to his credit, he viewed it as very matter-of-fact.
00:18:16.280 He's just like it's the right thing to do.
00:18:17.500 And I respect that.
00:18:20.320 It is not what I anticipated.
00:18:23.480 And you know what's sad, Ben?
00:18:24.700 It shouldn't be alone.
00:18:26.060 I mean, in any normal world, you and I should be listing a dozen Democrats that have the courage to denounce the radical screaming death to America,
00:18:34.240 that have the courage to stand up and say, no, we stand with Israel, that have the courage to say, you know, there is a difference. 0.89
00:18:41.040 There is a moral difference, there is a fundamental difference between psychotic, genocidal terrorists who are murdering civilians, who are raping little girls, who are murdering women, who are desecrating corpses.
00:18:56.040 There is a fundamental difference between that and the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, that are defending civilians and killing terrorists.
00:19:04.400 They are not the same.
00:19:05.440 They're not morally equivalent.
00:19:06.560 And I can tell you one Democrat saying that, John Fetterman, but to be honest, I don't have a second name I can tell you right now.
00:19:14.380 Yeah.
00:19:14.860 And that tells you about the Democratic Party.
00:19:16.760 And also, I think the messaging from the White House, they've gotten really silent on supporting Israel, really silent on standing up on these issues.
00:19:24.180 And, yeah, the White House was asked about this.
00:19:26.060 Like, yeah, of course, people shouldn't be saying death to America.
00:19:28.480 That's a no-brainer.
00:19:29.480 But the fact that more Democrats are not willing to come out and say the same thing is truly shocking.
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00:21:33.080 Senator, there was another story that broke, and this is one that is, for a guy that has spent my entire career in media,
00:21:42.620 NPR annoys me beyond a level of frustration that most people can imagine,
00:21:48.040 because I don't understand why my tax dollars are subsidizing a hardcore leftist organization
00:21:54.920 and why I'm paying their salaries at NPR.
00:21:58.060 That's the reality.
00:21:59.200 But now we've got a guy that was there for 25 years who has blown the whistle on NPR,
00:22:04.800 saying that basically when Donald Trump was elected, it completely broke NPR,
00:22:09.480 and they are there every day to take down conservatives, take down Trump, take down anybody like him,
00:22:15.480 and our tax dollars are going to pay for NPR.
00:22:18.940 No, that's exactly right.
00:22:20.500 And this story is a big deal because this is, as you noted, a whistleblower
00:22:26.360 who came clean and really wanted to describe what was happening in a major media institution,
00:22:31.760 one of the most important media institutions in the country.
00:22:34.720 And so the individual in question is a guy named Uri Berliner, who was a 25-year veteran of NPR.
00:22:42.420 He was a senior business editor at NPR.
00:22:44.920 And he wrote a column on the Free Press that came out April 9th.
00:22:50.700 And I actually want to read from a good chunk of it because I think it's important what he said.
00:22:56.300 And it is very much whistleblowing.
00:22:58.920 So here's how he starts.
00:23:00.240 Quote,
00:23:00.500 You know the stereotype of the NPR listener, an EV-driving, wordle-playing, tote-bag-carrying coastal elite.
00:23:10.200 It doesn't precisely describe me, but it's not far off.
00:23:14.800 I'm Sarah Lawrence-educated, was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother.
00:23:20.500 I drive a Subaru.
00:23:22.140 And Spotify says my listening habits are most similar to people in Berkeley.
00:23:26.680 I fit the NPR mold.
00:23:28.540 I'll cop to that.
00:23:29.260 So when I got a job there 25 years ago, I never looked back.
00:23:33.680 As a senior editor on the business desk where news is always breaking,
00:23:37.160 we've covered upheavals in the workplace, supermarket prices, social media, and AI.
00:23:41.940 It's true that NPR always had a liberal bent.
00:23:45.200 But during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed.
00:23:51.100 We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding.
00:23:56.060 In recent years, however, that has changed.
00:23:58.200 Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different.
00:24:03.500 The distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.
00:24:08.520 If you are conservative, you will read this and say,
00:24:12.460 duh, it's always been this way.
00:24:15.220 But it hasn't.
00:24:16.140 For decades, since its founding in 1970, a wide swath of America tuned into NPR for reliable journalism and gorgeous audio pieces with birds singing in the Amazon.
00:24:28.080 Millions came to us for conversations that exposed us to voices around the country in a world radically different from our own,
00:24:35.820 engaging precisely because they were unguarded and unpredictable.
00:24:39.780 No image generated more pride within NPR than the farmer listening to Morning Edition from his or her tractor at sunrise.
00:24:47.720 Back in 2011, although NPR's audience tilted a bit to the left, it still bore a resemblance to America at large.
00:24:56.700 26% of listeners described themselves as conservative.
00:25:01.160 23% as middle-of-the-road and 37% as liberal.
00:25:05.440 By 2023, the picture was completely different.
00:25:09.840 Only 11% described themselves as very or even somewhat conservative.
00:25:15.400 21% as middle-of-the-road and 67% of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal.
00:25:22.180 We weren't just losing conservatives.
00:25:24.120 We were also losing moderates and traditional liberals.
00:25:27.820 An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR.
00:25:31.160 And now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America.
00:25:36.760 That wouldn't be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience.
00:25:42.300 But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for its journalism and its business model.
00:25:50.760 You listen to that, and it's a guy that's almost like he's coming clean, realizing just how damaging what NPR is doing to the country.
00:26:02.020 And he's in pain.
00:26:03.580 Yeah, he's in pain.
00:26:04.860 He also did an interview.
00:26:06.340 He sat down talking about this.
00:26:08.600 And I want you to hear what he had to say on Honestly with Bari Rice.
00:26:12.840 Take a listen to this.
00:26:14.300 Everyone knew that NPR had a liberal bent.
00:26:17.060 It was like saying these days, like, Fox has a conservative bent.
00:26:20.000 That was obvious to anyone.
00:26:21.420 But you argue that it's really gone from having a liberal bent or a liberal shading to really a bias.
00:26:27.920 Here's one thing you write in your essay.
00:26:30.340 You write, for the majority of your time at NPR, despite the liberal bend, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed.
00:26:37.360 We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk activists or scolding.
00:26:42.200 Ori, when did that start to change?
00:26:43.860 When did the thing that everyone sort of recognized as sort of a liberal bias start to shift into something harder than that, into what you call a knee-jerk activist and even scolding quality?
00:26:56.720 Well, I think it was a cumulative.
00:27:00.060 I don't think it was one event.
00:27:01.340 I mean, I think part of it was Trump's election.
00:27:04.680 You know, I think, like, every newsroom, every legacy media newsroom, we were shocked, disturbed, distraught, really troubled.
00:27:12.020 We assumed Hillary Clinton was going to win, and she didn't. 1.00
00:27:17.260 And it was really an unsettling experience.
00:27:21.440 But I also think, to me, it revealed that we didn't really understand a lot of what was going on in America.
00:27:26.920 That we were out of touch.
00:27:29.660 But I think also we kind of locked down after a while.
00:27:34.420 I think after a while we started covering Trump in a way that, like a lot of legacy news organizations, that we were trying to damage his presidency, to even find anything we could to harm him.
00:27:49.060 And I think what we latched on to was Russia collusion, like a lot of news organizations, which was, as I write, sort of catnip.
00:27:56.420 Although it was just rumors, and a lot of it based on pretty shoddy documents or evidence.
00:28:05.460 It wasn't really solid.
00:28:07.640 But I think it was compelling.
00:28:10.220 And for us, you know, I think a lot of newspapers, you know, use documents or anonymous sources.
00:28:17.200 We really latched on to Adam Schiff.
00:28:18.860 He was like our muse to the Trump collusion story.
00:28:22.060 We had him on constantly, a lot.
00:28:24.120 I think I counted 25 times.
00:28:26.140 You know, and in most of those conversations, he sort of alluded to evidence he may have had or sort of teased out, yeah, Russia, you know, he was colluding or the campaign was colluding with Russia.
00:28:35.100 And then the Mueller report came out, and no collusion.
00:28:40.140 And, you know, I think we sort of went to sort of the story kind of disappeared.
00:28:44.720 But to me, that was like a time for like, what went wrong?
00:28:47.440 Why did we miss this?
00:28:48.720 Like, you know, despite our feelings about Trump, this is a story we should have sort of treated differently.
00:28:55.140 You hear him say that.
00:28:56.620 He said they were trying to harm Trump.
00:28:59.420 Now, that is shocking for him to say this, because in translation, Senator, that means America.
00:29:04.740 And stop and repeat that for a second.
00:29:07.100 Stop and repeat that for a second.
00:29:09.420 This is a senior editor at NPR.
00:29:11.980 Mind you, they're funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars.
00:29:16.320 And he is admitting the entire institution, in his words, was trying to harm Trump.
00:29:22.660 I mean, that is a damning admission.
00:29:26.620 And at some level, as he noted in what I read a minute ago, it was obvious to any conservative.
00:29:32.060 But it says something for a senior editor to go and blow the whistle like this.
00:29:39.000 NPR reminds me of Twitter before Elon Musk bought it in many ways, where it's bloated.
00:29:44.900 It's out of control.
00:29:47.100 It's activism.
00:29:48.120 It's not run like a business because it's subsidized by government taxpayers.
00:29:53.080 I'm fine with NPR existing, Senator.
00:29:55.460 They should figure out how to do it the same way that everybody else does in media, which is to, you know, make money.
00:30:01.000 Instead of us giving them our tax dollars to then, as he described it, try to hurt Trump every time they could.
00:30:09.100 And it won't just be Trump in the future.
00:30:11.060 It will be any other conservative based on what he's saying.
00:30:14.660 It's not like they just went in against Trump and that was it.
00:30:17.260 They're going in against every conservative on every story out there.
00:30:21.960 Yeah.
00:30:22.160 Let me focus on two other segments of what Uri Berliner wrote.
00:30:27.220 Quote, concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity.
00:30:31.860 I looked at voter registration for our newsroom in D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live.
00:30:39.840 I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans, none.
00:30:52.360 Now, that's not vague or ambiguous.
00:30:55.960 That's not equivocal.
00:30:57.620 That is explicit.
00:30:58.800 Let me read this other segment.
00:31:00.820 Quote, in October 2020, the New York Post published the explosive report about the laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware computer shop containing emails about assorted business deals.
00:31:14.140 With the election only weeks away, NPR turned a blind eye.
00:31:19.280 Here's how NPR's managing editor for news at the time explained the thinking.
00:31:24.660 Quote, we don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories.
00:31:29.240 And we don't want to waste our listeners and readers time on stories that are just pure distractions.
00:31:34.820 But it wasn't a pure distraction or a product of Russian disinformation, as dozens of former and current intelligence officials suggested.
00:31:45.780 The laptop did belong to Hunter Biden.
00:31:50.240 Its contents revealed his connection to the corrupt world of multimillion dollar influence peddling and its possible implications for his father.
00:32:00.840 The laptop was newsworthy.
00:32:03.600 But the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched.
00:32:12.020 During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR's best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren't following the laptop story because it could help Trump.
00:32:25.940 When the essential facts of the post post-reportings were confirmed and the emails verified independently about a year and a half later, we could have fessed up to our misjudgment.
00:32:40.780 But like Russia collusion, we didn't make the hard choice of transparency.
00:32:46.520 Why fix it if it's your ideology, right?
00:32:49.940 If this is what the ideology is and it's being funded by taxpayers, why stop?
00:32:55.880 Which brings me to my final question on this.
00:32:57.800 I've heard about this and we've talked about this for, I hate to say it, 20 years.
00:33:03.580 How on earth are they getting this type of government funding, especially now if we know this from someone that worked there for 25 years?
00:33:10.820 Is there any way to say to NPR, that's fine, if this is what your mission is, go and do it, but you're not going to do it subsidized by taxpayers?
00:33:17.820 Listen, I would eliminate the funding for NPR tomorrow.
00:33:22.600 That's the right thing to do.
00:33:24.000 We shouldn't be in the business of funding NPR.
00:33:26.860 The problem is every Democrat wants to spend your taxpayer dollars funding NPR because why wouldn't you?
00:33:32.820 If you're a leftist, why wouldn't you be willing to use taxpayer dollars to fund a propaganda outlet for your view?
00:33:40.140 And I've got to tell you, in the budget battles, too many Republicans are scared of taking on NPR, and so between the two, it keeps going.
00:33:49.320 Look, I actually think it speaks volume that where Uri Berliner wrote this was the Free Press.
00:33:57.020 The Free Press was started by Barry Weiss.
00:33:59.180 Barry Weiss resigned from the editorial board of the New York Times and wrote a letter.
00:34:05.320 If you haven't read the letter, we may do a podcast where we just read the letter because it's something I actually think should be taught in every journalism class in America.
00:34:14.000 It is a letter where – and listen, Barry, by her own description, is left of center.
00:34:18.200 She's a liberal Democrat who voted for Obama twice, but she was horrified.
00:34:23.160 And actually, Barry's resignation letter reads very much like Uri Berliner's article.
00:34:28.320 They're both people left of center who actually believe in some modicum of free speech, some modicum of fairness, and they look at the corruption of institutions they respected.
00:34:39.960 I look at Uri Berliner, and I'm reminded of John F. Kennedy's famous speech at the Berlin Wall,
00:34:46.360 Ich bin ein Berliner, which he thought meant that he was a Berliner, a resident of Berlin,
00:34:54.020 but actually it was poorly translated German, and what the better translation was is I am a jelly donut,
00:35:01.040 which was not JFK's finest moment, but nonetheless, I feel the same sentiments.
00:35:07.220 Uri Berliner and I may disagree on a lot of things, but I'm proud to stand with Uri Berliner for daring to speak the truth
00:35:13.960 because free speech matters, and I actually think it matters.
00:35:17.760 I met recently with the CEO of a major journalistic enterprise, I won't say who it is,
00:35:25.200 and I told him, I said, listen, I actually believe in a free press.
00:35:30.400 I defend you even when you kick the crap out of me, even when you attack me,
00:35:33.980 because I think it's important to democracy and free speech to have a real and vibrant press. 0.97
00:35:38.940 But when you guys are just corrupt ideologues, when you're just propagandists, it hurts the entire country,
00:35:47.420 and so I give a big shout-out to Uri Berliner, like Barry Weiss, on whose platform he wrote this.
00:35:54.640 There are a handful of liberals, and I actually want to call out, listen,
00:35:58.500 I don't know that many fair-minded liberals in the media listen to Verdict,
00:36:03.320 although we're close to a million listeners, so maybe there are.
00:36:05.660 If you're a fair-minded liberal working in the media and you don't like the bias and propaganda,
00:36:12.400 and I'm not saying you're suddenly conservative and a right-winger, that's okay.
00:36:15.520 That's okay. We can have reasonable discussions.
00:36:20.100 But when people speak out, like Uri Berliner and Barry Weiss, it makes a difference,
00:36:25.680 and we need more people to do that.
00:36:27.400 Yeah, definitely.
00:36:28.420 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
00:36:30.800 We have our Week in Review.
00:36:32.200 If you miss anything during the week, we put those stories together for you on Saturdays as well.
00:36:37.240 Make sure you hit that subscribe, follow, or auto-download button,
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00:36:41.900 You can also say, hey, Siri or Alexa, play Verdict with Ted Cruz, and it will play it.
00:36:47.140 And on those in-between dates, make sure you grab my podcast,
00:36:49.720 the Ben Ferguson Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
00:36:53.480 And the senator and I will see you back here for our Week in Review tomorrow.
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