Verdict with Ted Cruz - Red Terror In China As Biden Is Silent, GOP Caves On Marriage Bill In Senate, & Biden Lied Over Rail Strike

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.500 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.160 China, a major vote on marriage and a rail strike.

00:00:10.520 That's the stories today on Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:13.460 Senator, nice to have you with us.

00:00:15.000 You're back in Washington, D.C. after Thanksgiving.

00:00:18.900 And I want to get people up to speed on what's going on right now,

00:00:22.700 specifically with China.

00:00:24.780 It was shocking because the prime minister actually came out in the U.K.

00:00:29.380 and is now leading on this issue of China after watching what's happening with the people.

00:00:34.860 He came out earlier saying something that the president of the United States of America

00:00:38.740 should have said, except they're still silent.

00:00:40.740 Take a listen.

00:00:41.680 Now, let's be clear.

00:00:42.580 The so-called golden era is over,

00:00:46.160 along with the naive idea that trade would automatically lead to social and political reform.

00:00:52.720 But nor should we rely on simplistic Cold War rhetoric.

00:00:56.980 We recognize China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests. 0.99

00:01:04.840 A challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism.

00:01:12.940 Instead of listening to their people's protests,

00:01:16.520 the Chinese government has chosen to crack down further,

00:01:20.160 including by assaulting a BBC journalist.

00:01:22.980 Senator, he came out, and when you desperately need leaders,

00:01:28.160 leaders stand up and lead.

00:01:29.600 When they see that America's not leading on China,

00:01:32.640 I felt like he probably had no choice but to stand up and to say this.

00:01:35.940 I'm glad he did, but where's America right now?

00:01:39.520 Well, unfortunately, Joe Biden and the White House are completely AWOL.

00:01:43.820 Now, you know, I will say for the British prime minister,

00:01:46.120 that was a degree of clarity missing in the United States of America.

00:01:50.140 But that being said, you know, one of the things he said is we should not rely on simplistic Cold War rhetoric.

00:01:59.680 I actually think it's a conceit of the so-called intelligentsia

00:02:04.020 that simple terms like good and evil can't be used.

00:02:08.920 You know, I was 10 when Reagan became president,

00:02:13.600 and I remember well that at the time all of the Democrats,

00:02:19.300 many of the Republicans, all of the media, all of the academy,

00:02:22.760 they all recognized that the smart and nuanced thing to say on the Soviet Union

00:02:27.680 was that they couldn't be beaten, that the best we could hope for was detente,

00:02:33.780 which I've joked is French for surrender,

00:02:37.960 and that there was nothing we could do about it.

00:02:41.020 And Reagan came in as this California cowboy, 1.00

00:02:44.100 and he said a series of things that shocked Washington.

00:02:47.080 He said, for example, he described the Soviet Union as an evil empire.

00:02:51.980 He said, Marxism-Leninism will end up on the ash heap of history.

00:02:57.340 When they asked, what's your objective in the Cold War,

00:02:59.860 he said, very simple, we win, they lose.

00:03:01.460 All of the self-proclaimed intellectuals were shocked.

00:03:05.520 They tittered at him. 1.00

00:03:06.500 What an ignorant Philistine. 1.00

00:03:08.920 Didn't he understand subtlety and nuance? 1.00

00:03:12.380 And if you come to my office in D.C., you've been there, Ben.

00:03:16.440 The most dominant feature in my office is a gigantic painting.

00:03:20.120 It's about 20 feet wide of Ronald Reagan standing before the Brandenburg Gate

00:03:25.140 and saying what I think are the most consequential words of any leader in modern times.

00:03:29.980 Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

00:03:35.440 With that leadership, with that clarity, Ronald Reagan won the Cold War.

00:03:41.040 We defeated the Soviet Union.

00:03:42.360 We need that same clarity with regards to Communist China.

00:03:46.360 Communist China is the new evil empire. 0.98

00:03:48.280 And the Marxism-Leninism, the Maoism that dominates China,

00:03:52.200 I believe it will also end up on the ash heap of history.

00:03:55.260 But we need absolute clarity.

00:03:58.120 And it's not simplistic to say that Communist China,

00:04:03.760 murdering its citizens, torturing its citizens, locking down its citizens, 0.97

00:04:08.940 engaging in draconian violations of human rights,

00:04:11.880 maintaining concentration camps with over a million people in those concentration camps,

00:04:17.300 employing slave labor, covering up COVID.

00:04:22.280 All of that is evil.

00:04:25.000 It's not gray.

00:04:26.100 It's not subtle.

00:04:27.220 It is evil.

00:04:27.960 And contrast that with the complete gobbledygook from the Joe Biden White House.

00:04:36.400 I want to read the entirety of the Biden White House statement

00:04:40.540 on the massive protests that are unfolding in China

00:04:44.460 based on the draconian, horrific COVID lockdown policies in China.

00:04:50.420 Senator, before you read that, I want to remind people about our sponsor,

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00:06:21.680 All right, Senator, I want to get back to you reading that statement

00:06:24.000 you just mentioned a moment ago.

00:06:25.440 Here's what the Biden White House said, quote,

00:06:28.140 We've said that zero COVID is not a policy we are pursuing here in the United States.

00:06:34.340 And as we've said, we think it's going to be very difficult for the People's Republic of China

00:06:39.160 to be able to contain this virus through their zero COVID strategy.

00:06:43.320 For us, we are focused on what works.

00:06:46.080 And that means using the public health tools like continuing to enhance vaccination rates,

00:06:51.300 including boosters and making testing and treatment easily accessible.

00:06:55.200 We've long said that everyone has the right to peacefully protest here in the United States

00:07:00.000 and around the world.

00:07:02.240 This includes in the PRC.

00:07:04.900 That's the total statement.

00:07:06.080 What weak, sniveling, Neville Chamberlain problem.

00:07:12.740 And one of the biggest reasons the enemies of America are on the rise today

00:07:17.500 is the Biden Democrats are so weak, they're unwilling to call evil evil.

00:07:22.100 They're unwilling to call murderers murderers.

00:07:24.000 And they're unwilling to stand up to communist China and the enemies of America. 0.80

00:07:28.620 I want to get your thoughts about something else that's also happened.

00:07:32.600 And this is about the technology side of things.

00:07:35.120 There has been a lot of people that were shocked by Apple actually taking away

00:07:41.360 some of the devices, mechanisms where people were sharing information in China

00:07:46.840 that were helping these protests break out.

00:07:49.540 One of them was a basic thing that you've probably used a thousand times, an airdrop.

00:07:54.200 And Apple literally is aiding China, while at the same time,

00:07:59.800 Apple, the same company, is threatening to remove Twitter from their app store

00:08:04.600 because they say it's, you know, too dangerous to society.

00:08:08.220 When you see companies like Apple helping the red China the way they are, 1.00

00:08:14.240 saying, you know, okay, what do you want us to do to make sure we help you squash 0.57

00:08:18.840 these protests that are happening?

00:08:21.800 Is there a point where there needs to be some sort of oversight?

00:08:26.440 Corporate America has lost its way.

00:08:28.080 I don't think it is accidental that apples are red.

00:08:33.720 Apple is in bed with communist China.

00:08:36.820 Most of big tech is in bed with communist China.

00:08:40.200 An awful lot of big business is in bed with communist China.

00:08:44.660 Big universities are in bed with communist China.

00:08:47.700 Big Hollywood is in bed with communist China. 0.90

00:08:50.580 By the way, that's one of the reasons the Democrats are structurally pro-China 0.76

00:08:55.660 because all of their major donors, big business, big tech,

00:09:00.240 big universities, and big Hollywood, are in bed with China. 0.55

00:09:04.780 Apple is more than happy to facilitate squashing the protesters.

00:09:10.620 Human rights be damned is Apple's view, apparently,

00:09:14.680 as long as they can keep making money in communist China. 0.94

00:09:18.440 It is utterly craven.

00:09:19.440 Look, it's the same policy the NBA has as they grovel because they want to make money in China.

00:09:24.760 And never mind the slave labor. 1.00

00:09:27.440 It's the same policies the Biden White House has.

00:09:30.320 You know, last year, I forced a vote on the Senate floor

00:09:34.260 that the United States should not expend any money purchasing electric vehicles

00:09:39.120 or parts, batteries, or other things made in electric vehicles

00:09:42.420 made using slave labor in concentration camps.

00:09:47.200 Now, if you think about it, should we be buying things made with slave labor? 0.79

00:09:51.200 That ought to be a hundred to nothing vote.

00:09:52.700 That ought to be easy.

00:09:53.540 We voted on the Senate floor, and every single Democrat except one, except Joe Manchin, voted no.

00:10:02.260 Why is that?

00:10:03.100 Because the Biden White House, Joe Biden, is communist China's customer of the year. 0.73

00:10:09.100 They are buying the output of concentration camps. 0.87

00:10:12.640 And I want you to think back of, like, the history of concentration camps.

00:10:16.280 The people who facilitate, who fund human slavery, history is not kind to them.

00:10:21.820 Well, you know what?

00:10:22.540 That is Joe Biden.

00:10:23.760 That is Chuck Schumer.

00:10:25.480 That is John Kerry.

00:10:26.900 That is today's Democrat Party that cannot be bothered to care about slavery and misery and oppression.

00:10:33.340 And by the way...

00:10:33.820 Well, and let's be clear.

00:10:35.460 When you talk about the donations, I want everybody listening to Verdict.

00:10:40.240 This is the information you need to share with your friends.

00:10:42.960 97.5% of Apple's donations are to the Democratic Party.

00:10:49.820 If you look at their employee donations in the midterm elections to candidates by party, this is how much money was Apple's donations.

00:11:01.720 97.5% of Apple's donations went to Democrats.

00:11:07.940 Big tech has become the financial muscle.

00:11:11.860 Who was the biggest Democrat donor in the country in 2020?

00:11:14.860 Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.

00:11:16.700 He went in, spent what are called Zuck Bucks.

00:11:21.180 He spent $400 million, essentially, taking over the election machinery, the operation of elections, in big blue cities and key swing states.

00:11:32.680 It is not an exaggeration to say Mark Zuckerberg is directly responsible for Joe Biden being president of the United States.

00:11:39.920 By the way, Sam Bankman-Fried from FTX, who made billions and it appears now was engaged in a massive Enron-style, Madoff-style Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors of billions.

00:11:54.860 We don't know that for sure, but it sure looks like it from what has come out so far.

00:11:59.960 He was the second largest donor in the country to Democrats behind George Soros.

00:12:05.920 I got to say, and we talked about this on a pod last week, how many Democrats have given the money back, or even better, how many Democrats have given the money back to the investors who were defrauded by Sam Bankman-Fried?

00:12:17.400 I believe the answer is none.

00:12:19.020 Joe Biden certainly hasn't given the millions of dollars he got from Sam Bankman-Fried back.

00:12:24.540 And so, listen, watching big tech's reaction, watching journalism reaction to Twitter, Elon Musk took over Twitter and he said one simple thing.

00:12:32.920 He said, okay, we're going to allow free speech.

00:12:34.860 We're going to allow people to speak.

00:12:36.960 You can't threaten people.

00:12:39.080 You can't make threats of violence.

00:12:40.440 You can't carry out criminal conduct.

00:12:41.740 But if you have a political view, if you're right-wing, left-wing, if you're arguing a political view, you can say it.

00:12:48.000 And if people think what you're saying is wrong, they can say what you're saying is wrong.

00:12:53.380 The corporate media world has lost their minds over it.

00:12:57.260 They're freaking out.

00:12:58.000 We talked in a previous pod about how CBS News had a 24-hour fake boycott where they're like, oh, my goodness, if you're actually listening to people who disagree, we won't be part of it.

00:13:08.480 And then they realize, no, we can't do that.

00:13:09.840 But a huge component of what is happening, corporate America, the Fortune 100, has become the financial enforcement arm of the Democrats.

00:13:23.340 And there have been public reports that Twitter's advertising has dropped in half.

00:13:29.800 Why?

00:13:30.300 Because major corporate companies are just saying, nope, we won't advertise anymore.

00:13:34.440 And by the way, who is the biggest advertiser on Twitter?

00:13:38.940 Apple.

00:13:39.800 Yeah.

00:13:40.440 Apple's cut off its advertising.

00:13:42.120 Why? 0.99

00:13:42.360 Because Tim Cook and Apple are saying, you bastards, you're allowing free speech. 0.98

00:13:47.880 And we are the big tech oligarchs, no one is allowed to disagree with us. 0.98

00:13:52.480 By the way, do you wonder why big tech is so friendly with China?

00:13:56.980 She says, we are the oligarchs, no one's allowed to disagree with us.

00:14:00.740 Big tech says, we are the oligarchs, no one's allowed to disagree with us.

00:14:05.200 Dictators of a feather tend to flock together.

00:14:08.160 Yeah, they do.

00:14:08.760 And if you look at the money and you can see it, as you were mentioning a moment ago about Apple being one of the top advertisers,

00:14:14.300 but you look at where the money goes from big tech, and many of those have connections to China.

00:14:19.200 Netflix, of their donations, 99.6% went to Democrats.

00:14:23.520 Twitter, 98.7% before Zuckerberg took over.

00:14:27.380 Airbnb, 97.8%.

00:14:29.180 Apple, 97.5%.

00:14:31.020 Lyft, 96.1%.

00:14:32.820 These are the, and Facebook and so on, all in the 90 plus percentile.

00:14:38.380 That is part of the reason why you're seeing them all look the other way on this issue of China.

00:14:42.920 When it comes to the issue of things like TikTok.

00:14:45.700 By the way, you know who the single biggest donors to Hillary Clinton were?

00:14:50.060 If you say China, I'm going to laugh. 1.00

00:14:52.160 Well, Google, which is another way of saying China.

00:14:54.480 Yeah, there you go.

00:14:55.980 Google, it's all big tech.

00:14:57.340 They love them all.

00:14:58.220 Each and every time they go all in because they know they will not rein them in,

00:15:01.700 and they will not ask any questions about them.

00:15:04.080 Look at the NBA, totally silent.

00:15:06.060 You're a basketball guy.

00:15:07.080 It is beyond, to me, I think, absurd to watch the NBA spend years giving their floor to Black Lives Matter, 0.95

00:15:15.440 literally painting it on the floor, putting it in the corners,

00:15:18.580 and doing all that they did about the national anthem,

00:15:22.240 and then they're immediately silent on what's happening in China right now. 0.89

00:15:25.700 It's another example of the hypocrisy of the people on the left.

00:15:29.280 Well, listen, you look at the Fortune 100 that is complicit with what's happening in China,

00:15:39.660 and that also wants desperately for Elon Musk's effort to make Twitter a place where free speech is allowed.

00:15:47.400 They want that to fail.

00:15:48.600 Let me read a list of some of the companies that,

00:15:50.940 that based on Media Matters analysis of Pathmatics data,

00:15:56.680 have stopped for a significant period of time advertising on Twitter.

00:16:02.020 Abbott Laboratories, Allstate Corporation, AMC Networks, American Express Company,

00:16:06.840 AT&T, Big Heart Pet Care, BlackRock Incorporated, Blue Triton Brands Incorporated,

00:16:13.220 Boston Beer Company, California State Lottery, CenturyLink, Chanel, Chevrolet,

00:16:18.320 Chipotle, Mexican Grill, Citigroup, CNN, Dell, Diago, DirecTV,

00:16:25.780 Discover Financial Services, Fidelity, First National Retail,

00:16:29.200 Realty Partners, Ford, Heineken, Hewlett-Packard, Hilton Worldwide,

00:16:34.160 Inspire Brands, Jeep, Kellogg Company, Kohl's Department Scores,

00:16:38.240 Kindrill, LinkedIn Corporation, MailChimp, Marriott International,

00:16:42.780 Mars Pet Care, Mars Incorporated, Merkin Company, Meta Platform,

00:16:46.580 in other words, Facebook, Money Wise, Nestle, Novartis AG, Pernod Ricard, PlayPass,

00:16:53.900 the Coca-Cola Company, the Kraft Heinz Company, Tire Rack, Verizon, Wells Fargo,

00:16:59.220 Whole Foods Market, and Yum Brands.

00:17:01.680 Yeah. I mean, if that's not proof that they're all trying to bankrupt the people that don't do and say and silence the people they want them to silence,

00:17:12.440 aka conservatives, they're just going to say, we'll try to bury you and ruin your company. 0.54

00:17:17.540 That's what they're all about.

00:17:18.580 And let's be clear. If Elon Musk says tomorrow, I will behave like communist China, I will silence anyone who disagrees with the left-wing orthodoxy,

00:17:28.960 those brands will all come running back.

00:17:30.800 What they want is for him to be the chief censor of the public square.

00:17:38.880 Facebook's perfectly willing to do that. Google is quite willing to do that.

00:17:42.060 YouTube is quite willing to do that. And suddenly, Twitter is this outlier.

00:17:47.860 By the way, if the reports from Elon are believed, more people are using Twitter.

00:17:54.180 But this is a question of power.

00:17:57.700 This is a question of using power to try to force censorship and muzzle free speech.

00:18:05.060 And it is incredibly dangerous. And my view is if corporate America, if they want to come out and say,

00:18:12.120 we hate free speech and we will use our financial power to silence and censor you, they ought to tell us that.

00:18:18.500 They ought to admit that. They ought to let you know when you're buying their products, hey, your money is going to silence you.

00:18:25.180 But they're trying to do it surreptitiously. They're trying to hide.

00:18:28.740 And by the way, the big enchilada that they're trying to set the stage for is the two biggest gatekeepers in all of tech are Apple and Google.

00:18:40.120 And if Apple and Google pull Twitter down from their app stores, that is like setting off the atom bomb.

00:18:49.080 Now, by the way, they did that to Parler. They did that in concert to Parler.

00:18:52.920 Parler grew up as a conservative alternative to Twitter.

00:18:57.500 It was gaining real success. And then simultaneously, Google and Apple together said, you're deplatformed,

00:19:05.740 which is such an obvious antitrust violation as a very simple matter.

00:19:11.840 When horizontal competitors cooperate together to block a new entrant to the market, that is on its face an antitrust violation.

00:19:19.380 They didn't care. They're so rich. They have so much power.

00:19:22.420 They said, screw it. We'll bury you in lawsuits. There's nothing you can do about it. 0.99

00:19:25.200 But if they try to do it to Twitter, which a bunch of leftists and Democrats are pressuring them to do, it will be a massive escalation.

00:19:36.260 Now, what's interesting, they could do it to Parler because Parler was a little company with not that much financial resources behind it.

00:19:43.480 Elon Musk is the richest man in the world.

00:19:45.220 He's already tweeted, all right, if you do that, I'm going to go create a new phone.

00:19:48.840 I don't know if he'll do that or not, but the guy does make Teslas. He knows how to make cars.

00:19:52.460 It's not like he doesn't know how to make stuff.

00:19:56.220 And so they got to be a little more cautious.

00:19:59.700 And I think they are a little more cautious about straight out bullying him because he's at a minimum not a 98-pound weakling. 0.75

00:20:07.440 They can just kick Santa to his face and ignore.

00:20:10.720 And I, for one, if they do kick him off, though, if they do kick Twitter off, and I've had so many people ask me this over the last 24 hours, is Twitter really going to go away from the app store?

00:20:20.640 If they do that to try to destroy Twitter instantly by pulling that off, is there anything that Congress will do in response really with antitrust?

00:20:30.880 No. There's nothing Congress will do in response because Congress, the Senate, is controlled by the Democrats, and the Democrats want Apple to kick Twitter off.

00:20:39.880 There's nothing the Biden Department of Justice will do in response.

00:20:42.900 Why? Because the Biden Department of Justice is profoundly partisan, and they want Apple to kick Twitter off.

00:20:49.500 You know, just today, Corrine Jean-Pierre was asked, or I guess yesterday was asked, about Elon Musk.

00:20:56.540 And the question from a reporter, I mean, it was, if Saturday Night Live were funny anymore, this would make a great Saturday Night Live skit,

00:21:03.240 because you had a lefty reporter who says, are you concerned that so many new people are signing up for Twitter and enjoying free speech?

00:21:11.700 And the White House says, yes, we are very concerned.

00:21:15.020 We are keeping an eye on what Elon Musk is doing. 0.97

00:21:18.360 Like, holy crap, they're mad, number one, that free speech is allowed, but number two, they're mad that people like it. 0.80

00:21:25.200 But, I mean, this is, so. 0.98

00:21:27.860 That it's successful and that they can't control it.

00:21:30.920 But that's what they're so concerned about.

00:21:32.920 I don't believe Apple and Google will do it.

00:21:35.540 I think it is too big a risk.

00:21:38.600 They're big on beating up people they can beat up. 0.96

00:21:42.700 They're big on picking on the puny, wimpy kid. 0.62

00:21:46.580 I think they're scared of someone who can punch back.

00:21:49.780 Yeah, there was an interesting, there was an interesting moment.

00:21:53.140 You mentioned that press briefing, and I want to play it for you real quick.

00:21:56.640 There was a reporter at the White House that asked one of the weirdest questions I've ever heard.

00:22:01.120 And the question was, what tools do you have to stop Elon Musk from restoring free speech at Twitter?

00:22:07.480 Listen.

00:22:07.980 I have a question about Twitter.

00:22:10.020 You know, there's a researcher at Stanford who says this is a critical moment, really,

00:22:15.860 in terms of ensuring that Twitter does not become a vector for misinformation.

00:22:20.720 I mean, are you concerned about the, you know, Elon Musk says there's more and more subscribers coming online.

00:22:31.220 Are you concerned about that?

00:22:32.720 And what tools do you have?

00:22:34.580 Who is it at the White House that is really keeping track of this?

00:22:38.180 I mean, there it is.

00:22:38.940 That's what you just mentioned.

00:22:40.180 Basically.

00:22:40.940 But play her answer.

00:22:41.880 Play Karine Jean-Pierre's answer.

00:22:43.500 So, look, this is something that we're certainly keeping an eye on.

00:22:48.500 And, look, we, you know, we have always been very clear that when it comes to social media platforms,

00:22:58.840 it is their responsibility to make sure that when it comes to misinformation,

00:23:04.680 when it comes to the hate that we're seeing, that they take action, that they continue to take action.

00:23:10.940 Again, we're all keeping a close eye on this.

00:23:13.740 We're all monitoring what's currently occurring.

00:23:18.640 And we see, you know, we see it with our own eyes of what you all are reporting and just for ourselves,

00:23:24.520 what's happening on Twitter.

00:23:26.220 But, again, social media companies have a responsibility to prevent their platforms from being used by any user

00:23:33.340 to incite violence, especially violence directed at individual communities,

00:23:37.960 as we have been seeing.

00:23:39.700 And the president has been very clear on calling that out.

00:23:43.040 He'll continue to do that.

00:23:44.740 And we're going to continue to monitor the situation.

00:23:47.040 I love we're going to monitor it.

00:23:48.280 I mean, Senator, if you want to talk about a dog whistle to basically,

00:23:51.780 yes, everybody pull your money from Twitter.

00:23:54.580 Yes, advertisers that love us, the big tech oligarchs and others,

00:23:59.360 make sure you destroy them.

00:24:00.560 Yes, Apple, you have the backing of the White House.

00:24:04.500 If you want to take down Twitter, we've got your back.

00:24:08.000 It's all in that response from her.

00:24:11.480 It is.

00:24:12.580 Big brother is watching you.

00:24:14.380 We are watching you. 0.99

00:24:15.580 We are going to use all the power we can to crush you. 0.85

00:24:19.120 And the amazing thing is, all right, so there are buzzwords, misinformation,

00:24:22.720 which she means anything that contradicts the left-wing narrative.

00:24:25.520 So, for example, one thing they defined as misinformation was saying that the COVID-19 virus

00:24:31.580 had originated in Wuhan, China.

00:24:33.760 It originated in a Chinese government lab, the Wuhan Institute for Virology.

00:24:37.380 I now believe the overwhelming majority of evidence indicates that's exactly where the

00:24:42.500 virus escaped from.

00:24:43.720 And I think a significant preponderance of the evidence indicates that the virus was created at that lab

00:24:49.620 through gain-of-function research.

00:24:52.300 For over a year, big tech would censor anyone saying that at the explicit request of Dr. Fauci.

00:25:01.780 Dr. Fauci, in emails, asked Mark Zuckerberg,

00:25:05.100 censor anyone saying the Wuhan virus came from the Wuhan Institute for Virology.

00:25:13.420 By the way, without admitting, and I, Dr. Fauci, funded that research that created the pandemic.

00:25:19.980 I will note one amazing exception, one of the very few outlets that actually got into that,

00:25:25.560 was this podcast.

00:25:26.920 This podcast, early on in the pandemic, we did two extensive podcasts laying out the evidence

00:25:34.360 that this virus had escaped from the Wuhan Institute for Virology.

00:25:37.860 At the time, you were treated like a tinfoil hat-wearing lunatic for saying that.

00:25:42.840 I don't know why big tech didn't censor us.

00:25:45.360 Frankly, they censored other people for saying the same thing.

00:25:48.040 But miraculously, they let us out.

00:25:51.180 Now, it's clear what we were saying is right.

00:25:53.860 By the way, this is the same big tech that censored the Hunter Biden laptop.

00:25:57.760 Again, it was true, it was accurate, but it was politically inconvenient.

00:26:02.180 What they mean by misinformation is anything that hurts Democrats or their preferred narrative.

00:26:08.240 If it's misinformation, I got a crazy idea.

00:26:11.380 If what someone is saying is false, counter it with the truth.

00:26:15.720 Explain why it's false.

00:26:17.920 And you notice that Fauci's coming out on his last days.

00:26:20.880 Just yesterday, he did his CNN, quote, exit interview. 0.97

00:26:24.640 And what he, I'm about to play for you, he basically is saying that you're a liar, Senator, 0.68

00:26:31.020 for doing those two shows and for what you just said. 0.90

00:26:33.860 Listen.

00:26:34.780 I can't tell you what's going on in all of China and in other things.

00:26:38.360 Right.

00:26:38.500 I can tell you for sure that if you look at the viruses that the NIH grant funded to study

00:26:46.880 in a surveillance way, anybody who even has a peripheral understanding of evolutionary

00:26:52.960 virology will tell you these viruses could not possibly turn into SARS-CoV-2.

00:26:58.860 So when you talk about a leak, maybe there's a lab leak, but it's not with the viruses that

00:27:04.140 the NIH was funding.

00:27:05.220 That's almost certain that that's the case.

00:27:08.820 Okay.

00:27:09.240 So that's his exit interview.

00:27:10.780 Literally now he's saying it still.

00:27:13.200 So it's amazing.

00:27:13.880 A couple of things.

00:27:14.520 Number one, he's saying you talk about a leak from, from the lab.

00:27:19.020 So he's now implicitly admitting, yeah, it leaked from the Chinese lab, which by the way,

00:27:23.900 writing ask Mark Zuckerberg, don't allow anyone to say it leaked from the Chinese lab.

00:27:27.480 So what he just said there a couple of years ago, he claimed was misinformation and big

00:27:31.980 tech was more, more than happy to censor.

00:27:33.600 But then secondly, he also admitted we were funding the creation of viruses, which he's

00:27:39.880 denied before.

00:27:40.820 So he just admitted that.

00:27:43.220 But he argued the viruses we created were not this virus.

00:27:49.960 You know what?

00:27:50.480 Maybe that's, that's possible.

00:27:52.040 I don't know.

00:27:52.840 I'm not a virologist.

00:27:54.240 You know how we're going to figure out by having congressional oversight hearings and examining

00:27:59.160 evidence.

00:27:59.640 And let me say, what an indictment of Democrats.

00:28:03.160 They've had control of both houses for two years.

00:28:05.320 They don't give a damn about knowing where COVID-19 came from.

00:28:07.960 They don't give a damn about knowing China's culpability.

00:28:10.100 They don't give a damn about knowing the degree to which Dr.

00:28:12.560 Fauci and the federal government funded it.

00:28:14.660 They don't care about any of that.

00:28:15.700 They want to cover it up.

00:28:16.840 They want to blame it all.

00:28:17.820 In the Democrat slash corrupt corporate media narrative, Donald Trump created COVID in the

00:28:25.700 Oval Office and released it on America to cause people to suffer.

00:28:29.300 That's what they want to say. 0.98

00:28:31.100 Facts be damned. 0.93

00:28:32.720 Well, we need to figure it out. 0.76

00:28:34.080 Now Fauci's admitted he was funding the creation of viruses.

00:28:39.000 And there's a very good chance the virus leaked from the Chinese lab.

00:28:42.800 That's a big admission.

00:28:44.080 All right, let's hear some witness testimony and some expert examination about whether

00:28:48.660 the viruses Fauci funded were in fact COVID-19.

00:28:53.140 I agree that that has not yet been proven, but I think there's considerable evidence to

00:28:58.140 suggest it could be the case.

00:29:00.200 We need more examination.

00:29:01.480 I hope with the Republican majority in the House, we'll finally get that.

00:29:04.500 And hopefully they'll get to actually ask some real questions of Fauci that he's going

00:29:07.820 to have to defend himself on.

00:29:09.940 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:29:11.800 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around

00:29:15.860 them.

00:29:16.260 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:29:19.980 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:29:21.160 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:29:22.420 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:29:26.140 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of

00:29:31.020 their journey.

00:29:31.880 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:29:35.120 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:29:39.180 I want to move, Senator, to this big vote on marriage in the Senate.

00:29:45.980 We've been talking about this extensively with your good friend and Senator Mike Lee's

00:29:51.480 amendment.

00:29:52.500 With this bill you were talking about, there need to be pressure put on senators to have

00:29:58.440 that bill be voted on with the amendment, not separated out.

00:30:02.600 Otherwise, we were going to have a major problem with religious liberty in this country, quite

00:30:07.920 possibly with the government.

00:30:09.820 This was a vote they organized and planned.

00:30:12.580 I'm referring to the Democrats.

00:30:14.340 Right after Thanksgiving, they wanted to ram this through.

00:30:18.540 And you flew back to Washington just like everybody else.

00:30:22.180 What happened?

00:30:24.820 The 12 Republicans who caved continued caving.

00:30:27.900 And the Democrats passed their bill embracing gay marriage, number one.

00:30:33.620 Number two, this bill, mark my words, is going to set the stage for the Biden IRS to target

00:30:39.520 people of faith.

00:30:41.180 And in particular, to deny tax-exempt status to religious churches, charities, universities,

00:30:51.020 and K through 12 schools.

00:30:53.680 I stood up today at the Senate lunch and I addressed the 12 Republicans who were voting

00:30:59.000 with the Democrats.

00:30:59.600 And I said, listen, and in fact, I made an offer to my colleagues.

00:31:02.580 I said, I'll tell you what, I will bet any one of you $100 that in the next two years,

00:31:10.060 the Biden IRS is going to come after a religious institution because of their beliefs on marriage,

00:31:18.620 that they're going to come after and deny tax-exempt status to Catholic charities or to Brigham

00:31:27.340 Young University or to Notre Dame or to Liberty University.

00:31:32.340 By the way, I think Liberty University is going to be who they target first because they hate

00:31:36.560 the evangelicals.

00:31:38.840 And I will say, one of my colleagues took that bet, so we'll see two years from now whether

00:31:43.620 I'm paying $100 or collecting $100.

00:31:46.840 I will tell you subsequently, I also pointed out, part of this bill, they create a federal

00:31:51.980 cause of action to sue institutions that believe in marriage as the union of one man and one

00:31:59.160 woman.

00:31:59.420 There are going to be hundreds of lawsuits filed all across this country.

00:32:04.900 And I got to tell you, most of those lawsuits, the defendants aren't going to have the money

00:32:09.240 to defend them.

00:32:10.000 So they're going to settle, they're going to cave, and they're going to abandon their

00:32:13.960 religious beliefs to embrace same-sex marriage.

00:32:17.440 That's what the Democrats want.

00:32:20.220 And the Republicans, there are 12 Republicans who went along with it.

00:32:24.480 I literally at lunch begged my colleagues, if you don't want this to happen, so the Democrats

00:32:32.580 disingenuously claimed.

00:32:34.140 And to be clear, I want people to understand, when you say you beg your colleagues, is it

00:32:38.480 generic to the room, or is it you get to sit down with the 12 people that you were talking

00:32:44.400 about that caved and try to appeal to them personally?

00:32:46.780 How does this work?

00:32:48.320 So every Tuesday and Wednesday when the Senate's in session, the Republicans have lunch together.

00:32:53.760 We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the LBJ room.

00:33:00.860 We meet on Wednesdays in the Mansfield room.

00:33:03.500 So the LBJ room is where we met today.

00:33:06.220 And virtually every Republican was there.

00:33:08.560 I think of the 50 of us, there are probably 47 of us in the room.

00:33:14.180 Of the 12 Republicans who voted with the Democrats, all but one or two were there.

00:33:19.020 And so I'm standing up in the room, making a fervent pitch to my colleagues.

00:33:27.920 And a number of the Republicans who voted with the Democrats, they're like, well, look,

00:33:32.440 we got to vote on Mike Lee's amendment.

00:33:34.840 Mike Lee's amendment would have prohibited the IRS from targeting institutions based on

00:33:39.180 their support for traditional marriage.

00:33:41.740 Mike Lee's amendment was voted on, it was voted down.

00:33:44.720 I stood up and said, no kidding.

00:33:46.860 Why do you think the Democrats allowed a vote?

00:33:48.620 They have the votes to beat it.

00:33:49.980 They know they're going to win.

00:33:51.340 So just having a vote and losing, it is not actually defending religious liberty.

00:33:57.560 It's a show vote.

00:33:58.860 And by the way, a lot of the senators think, oh, if we have a show vote and we vote for

00:34:03.500 it, we can say we supported religious liberty, except we were perfectly happy and content to 0.98

00:34:10.000 lose on it.

00:34:11.160 And this is where the voters are getting smarter and more savvy.

00:34:14.540 I said, it's very, very simple.

00:34:15.720 If you don't want to see the IRS going after institutions, faith-based institutions in your

00:34:22.780 states, of the 12 Republicans, three of you need to stand up and say, we're going to vote

00:34:28.420 no today on cloture.

00:34:30.000 Cloture is the 60 vote threshold that we voted on today.

00:34:34.200 Unless the Democrats accept Mike Lee's amendment that prohibits the IRS from targeting those

00:34:40.060 faith-based institutions.

00:34:41.040 I believe the Democrats would have caved.

00:34:43.360 Now, they may not have caved today, but they want this bill to pass.

00:34:47.840 And they would have caved tomorrow or the next day.

00:34:50.820 And this is not a bill that is in the nomenclature of Washington, a must-pass bill.

00:34:56.600 This is not like the debt ceiling or government funding where people are like, it has to,

00:35:00.340 has to pass.

00:35:01.240 You know what?

00:35:01.860 But if 41 Republicans stood together and we said, no, it would have been killed unless

00:35:08.400 and until the Democrats gave those three Republicans who broke off what they wanted.

00:35:14.220 And the revealing thing, and I made this point to my colleagues, I said, look, all of the Democrats

00:35:19.140 are telling you, no, no, no, no, no.

00:35:21.220 This is not about the IRS targeting religious groups.

00:35:24.860 We don't need Mike Lee's amendment because it's superfluous.

00:35:27.820 It's already in there.

00:35:28.960 This is already what the bill does.

00:35:30.500 I said, well, if that's the case, what an easy give.

00:35:33.840 What they're saying is wrong.

00:35:35.180 As a legal matter, it's wrong.

00:35:37.380 But I said, if they're right that it's superfluous, if it does nothing, then holy cow.

00:35:43.660 I mean, you guys are the worst negotiators on earth if you can't stand up and say, well,

00:35:47.720 give us this protection.

00:35:49.060 If you say it's already in there, it ought to be easy to give it to us.

00:35:53.100 But the problem was 12 Republicans started with, I surrender.

00:35:57.280 And I'll tell you, if you watch C-SPAN, you can see me.

00:36:01.420 I was standing on the Senate floor arguing with a number of my colleagues.

00:36:04.080 Look, we were arguing respectfully.

00:36:05.760 We weren't yelling and cursing at each other.

00:36:07.360 But I was arguing with a number of my Republican colleagues.

00:36:10.260 And they were like, well, well, the Democrats would never take that.

00:36:13.360 I said, of course they wouldn't take that.

00:36:15.540 Because you started by giving them all the votes they needed to pass it without it. 0.98

00:36:19.880 What moron concedes something additional when they've already gotten to yes? 0.96

00:36:26.120 And so I'm sorry to say the Senate is done. 1.00

00:36:31.760 It is passed this bill.

00:36:33.540 And as I said, I offered a wager to my colleagues of $100 that in the next two years,

00:36:39.300 we're going to see the Biden IRS target people of faith based on their views on marriage

00:36:45.440 because Republicans were unwilling to stand and fight for religious liberty.

00:36:50.420 And I've got to tell you, Ben, I'm pissed off.

00:36:52.780 I'm trying not to be pissed off, but I'm failing.

00:36:55.480 Why are we so weak?

00:36:56.740 I mean, this was not something, if you looked at what Mike Lee was doing and this amendment,

00:37:02.960 it was not controversial.

00:37:05.940 It just protected religious liberty.

00:37:09.280 How is it so hard?

00:37:11.200 And maybe you can give a different word that will connect with people

00:37:16.760 to understand why you wouldn't, this wouldn't be a no-brainer for these 12 Republicans

00:37:21.900 or at least three of them out of the 12 to stand up.

00:37:25.300 Look, there are a lot of politicians that like to virtue signal.

00:37:29.780 And there is no doubt public opinion has changed on gay marriage.

00:37:34.720 Yes.

00:37:34.860 So I understand there are Republicans who want to say, I'm for gay marriage.

00:37:37.880 I told my colleagues, if you want to say you're for gay marriage, put out a press release 0.99

00:37:41.840 saying, I'm for gay marriage.

00:37:43.400 I love gay marriage. 1.00

00:37:44.160 If you want, dress up in a pink bow and dance at a damn gay pride parade. 1.00

00:37:48.560 I don't care. 1.00

00:37:50.320 But don't pass into law legislation that is going to empower the politicized bureaucrats 0.80

00:37:57.440 in the Biden administration to target people of faith.

00:38:01.660 That's what these Republicans did.

00:38:03.880 The Democrats know what they're doing.

00:38:05.260 And I was telling a couple of my Republican colleagues, they're like, no, no, no, this is

00:38:08.180 not true.

00:38:08.540 This is not true.

00:38:09.020 I said, listen, I don't believe you actually want this outcome.

00:38:13.560 I don't believe you want people of faith persecuted.

00:38:17.340 I just think you're naive and that you don't understand how Democrats think.

00:38:21.520 You don't understand the reason they are pushing this is because they want to target people of

00:38:28.640 faith.

00:38:29.220 And by the way, this is not hypothetical.

00:38:31.640 The city of Philadelphia went after Catholic charities.

00:38:35.960 Yeah.

00:38:36.100 And Catholic charities performed adoption services.

00:38:39.580 And the city of Philadelphia said, well, you will not perform adoption services for gay

00:38:43.840 couples.

00:38:44.280 So you're out of the adoption businesses.

00:38:46.160 We refuse to do business with you unless you will perform adoptions for gay couples, 1.00

00:38:52.440 even though there were lots of other adoption agencies out there that did perform adoptions

00:38:57.460 for gay couples.

00:38:58.060 So it's not like gay couples in Philadelphia couldn't adopt.

00:39:01.160 They just couldn't go to Catholic charities and say, hey, violate your faith and help us

00:39:05.840 adopt.

00:39:06.980 City of Philadelphia tried to ban them.

00:39:09.140 Now, thankfully, that went to the Supreme Court and was overturned.

00:39:14.360 This legislation today, I think there's a very real possibility, will reverse that outcome.

00:39:19.860 And a number of the Republicans who voted with it, I got in an argument at the lunch with

00:39:25.360 one of the Republican authors.

00:39:26.620 I won't identify who it was.

00:39:28.980 But I said, one of the outcomes of this is you're going to unleash the trial laws.

00:39:33.000 You're going to be funded by left-wing groups suing all of these small charities, small Christian 1.00

00:39:38.580 schools, small Jewish schools, universities, churches.

00:39:43.720 And a bunch of them are not going to be able to defend themselves, not going to have the

00:39:49.360 funds.

00:39:49.660 They're just going to settle.

00:39:50.440 They're just going to give in.

00:39:52.100 It's litigation to accomplish a public policy goal from the left.

00:39:56.080 They do it all the time.

00:39:57.340 And one of my colleagues, who's one of the most vocal sponsors of this bill, said, well,

00:40:01.860 they can sue now.

00:40:02.720 This doesn't change this at all.

00:40:03.960 I said, well, yes, it does.

00:40:06.820 This bill explicitly creates a federal cause of action.

00:40:10.620 What is the federal cause of action?

00:40:12.020 A federal cause of action is it creates a right to file a lawsuit that did not exist.

00:40:19.160 And my colleague said, well, Obergefell, the Supreme Court case did that.

00:40:22.380 I said, no, no, Obergefell did not create a federal cause of action.

00:40:26.420 Nothing in Obergefell created a federal cause of action.

00:40:29.120 Now, Obergefell is the law of the land.

00:40:30.700 Obergefell ruled that that gay marriage is required by the Constitution.

00:40:35.140 I disagree with that ruling, but that is the law.

00:40:37.280 And the Supreme Court was absolutely unequivocal that it's not going to revisit that decision.

00:40:42.820 But there is no federal cause of action.

00:40:45.240 Thanks to 12 of my Republican colleagues and all of the Democrats, there is now going to be a federal cause of action.

00:40:54.300 And every lawsuit that is filed, you can look to the folks who voted today as why those lawsuits are filed.

00:41:01.160 It's really sad and shocking that this has actually happened and it's been the Republicans' fault.

00:41:09.440 I want to move lastly, Senator, to the rail strike possibility.

00:41:13.960 This is a very complex issue.

00:41:16.740 You've seen Nancy Pelosi.

00:41:19.000 She came out saying that the White House today, the same meeting that Kevin McCarthy apparently was asked to come over for as well.

00:41:27.600 It was a meeting they said was important.

00:41:29.740 Here is what Pelosi had to say in front of the White House after this meeting, trying to avert this rail strike.

00:41:36.020 Take a listen.

00:41:36.640 We must avoid a strike.

00:41:41.060 Jobs will be lost.

00:41:42.420 Even union jobs will be lost.

00:41:44.480 Water will not be safe.

00:41:46.160 Product will not be going to market.

00:41:48.440 It is, we could lose 750,000 jobs, some of them union jobs.

00:41:54.060 That must be avoided.

00:41:55.880 So tomorrow morning in the House, we will bring up the legislation.

00:42:00.540 We'll bring it up tomorrow morning, she says, in the House.

00:42:03.860 This is a very interesting thing because she mentions multiple times there, union jobs, union jobs, union jobs.

00:42:09.980 That's the obsession of many in the Democratic Party on this.

00:42:13.160 What is your take on this rail strike and how do we get to this point right before the holidays?

00:42:18.960 Well, Joe Biden and the administration screwed this up and screwed this up badly.

00:42:23.640 And, you know, before the election, Joe Biden announced, oh, we've averted a rail strike.

00:42:27.740 We've solved the problem.

00:42:28.620 It turned out that was a lie.

00:42:30.480 It was exactly like what he said to Saudi Arabia.

00:42:33.100 Hey, will you delay restricting oil production until after the election?

00:42:38.580 It was all about getting past the election.

00:42:40.700 Now that we're past the election, we discover that Biden has screwed this up.

00:42:44.420 So there have been ongoing negotiations that go back to 2019 between the six class one freight rail carriers and 12 different rail labor unions.

00:42:56.340 And they've been ongoing and ultimately it went to something that's called the Presidential Emergency Board, which is something that is created pursuant to a law called the Railway Labor Act.

00:43:07.440 Now, the Presidential Emergency Board made a number of recommendations, including increasing wages for railway workers by 24 percent over five years.

00:43:19.220 Now, 24 percent sounds like a lot until you reflect on the fact that under Biden, inflation is over eight percent a year.

00:43:27.000 So just adding up eight percent over five years, that's 40 percent.

00:43:31.160 And if you compound it, you get closer to 50 percent.

00:43:34.420 So essentially this agreement raises rail workers' salaries about half of what inflation has increased under Joe Biden.

00:43:43.600 The unions, of the 12 unions, eight of the unions voted to approve the deal.

00:43:50.620 So they wanted the additional money.

00:43:53.340 But four of the rail labor unions voted to reject the deal.

00:43:56.820 And those are the members who voted to reject the deal.

00:43:59.560 And in particular, what they're pressing for is sick leave.

00:44:02.620 They want a few more days of sick leave.

00:44:05.240 And they want clear schedules.

00:44:07.060 As I understand it, the way rail workers work is the company has enormous ability to say, you will work this day and we're not going to tell you and we can change it.

00:44:16.240 And so the workers don't have clarity on when they're working.

00:44:21.060 So this is all headed to a strike.

00:44:23.540 Now, let me start by saying a strike would be a disaster.

00:44:26.040 It would be catastrophic.

00:44:27.060 It would be really bad.

00:44:28.640 It would impose the projections are about two billion dollars a day of cost on the economy.

00:44:35.000 So I don't want to see a rail strike.

00:44:37.140 No one in their right mind wants to see a rail strike.

00:44:39.900 It shouldn't have happened if Biden and the administration were actually doing their job and engaging.

00:44:44.500 And not lying to us before the election.

00:44:46.140 Let's be clear about that.

00:44:47.720 But at this point, what Joe Biden and the Democrats are trying to do is they want Congress to step in and force a deal on the railroads and the unions.

00:45:00.060 And they want to force the deal that the railroad companies want.

00:45:03.300 And I got to tell you, I've served in the Senate 10 years.

00:45:07.220 We've never done this in the past.

00:45:08.980 There's never been any labor dispute where Congress has stepped in and said, we're picking the winners.

00:45:14.240 We're picking the losers.

00:45:15.080 And by the way, we've decided the management's the winners and the workers are the losers.

00:45:20.340 That's what Biden is doing.

00:45:21.900 Biden is screwing the union workers right now.

00:45:25.120 Biden is saying.

00:45:26.060 While claiming that they're helping them like you just heard the Nancy Pelosi quote.

00:45:30.680 Yes.

00:45:31.720 And so my view is this ought to be negotiated between the labor unions and the railroads and they ought to work it out.

00:45:40.440 And, you know, I was talking with with with one of the CEOs of one of the big railroads recently.

00:45:45.340 And I asked him, you know, I talked to him at home Sunday night while I was at home over Thanksgiving.

00:45:52.040 And I said, OK, if Congress does this, what happens next month when there is a strike of airline pilots?

00:46:01.660 Do we step in also and resolve the dispute between management and the unions in airline pilots?

00:46:07.400 And how about the month after that when there's a strike of autoworkers?

00:46:10.700 Do we step in there and is Congress's job now to step in and crush the unions and resolve these issues?

00:46:17.160 Or should they be worked out in negotiations between management and the workers?

00:46:22.320 And I think Biden is scared of what is going to come.

00:46:25.360 And so what is likely to happen, Biden and Schumer and Pelosi are going to force through a deal that rams a result down on the union workers, despite the fact that they don't want it.

00:46:37.620 And I stood up at lunch today.

00:46:39.500 We actually had a pretty vigorous discussion.

00:46:41.480 This was the other big topic at lunch.

00:46:43.020 And I got up and a couple of other my colleagues got up and I said, look, I get historically Republicans have been viewed as reflexively pro-management and Democrats as reflexively pro-union.

00:46:58.560 I think one of the most consequential political shifts of the last decade is that Republicans have become a blue collar party.

00:47:09.360 We are the party of working men and women.

00:47:12.340 And we are the party of truck drivers and steel workers.

00:47:14.680 And we are the party of the railroad union workers.

00:47:20.380 And not just that there are a lot of Republicans that are old National Chamber of Commerce Republicans that just automatically, if the unions want it, we're against it.

00:47:29.300 And here's what Biden's counting on is that some Republicans will come save his bacon.

00:47:33.680 Like my view is I'm not going to step in and force a deal that the railroad workers don't want.

00:47:40.260 They ought to negotiate that with management and resolve it.

00:47:44.020 And if the Biden White House hadn't screwed this up, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

00:47:48.040 How quickly are we going to see movement, you think, from Congress?

00:47:51.960 I mean, Pelosi says, hey, we're going to take this up in the morning.

00:47:55.320 Right.

00:47:55.680 We're going to get on this right away.

00:47:58.660 Is there anything left that the union can do to stop Congress from screwing them?

00:48:03.800 Or is it pretty much the fix is already in?

00:48:06.160 So I don't know.

00:48:07.700 It sounds like Pelosi and Schumer are willing to ram through Biden's deal screwing the working man.

00:48:14.180 Now, I will say Bernie Sanders also doesn't like this deal.

00:48:19.640 But Bernie Sanders wants to introduce legislation forcibly granting the union members, I think, an additional five days of sick leave.

00:48:27.700 I don't support what Bernie's doing either.

00:48:29.160 I don't think Congress ought to get in the middle of this fight and say you win, you lose.

00:48:34.180 Look, in a labor arrangement, you have the ability, the workers have the ability to negotiate with management.

00:48:39.760 They can fight back and forth and they can resolve it themselves.

00:48:42.200 And I don't think it should come down to who has more political strokes.

00:48:46.480 So I don't support Bernie Sanders saying, OK, we agree with we're just going to mandate the results.

00:48:51.840 But I also don't think management ought to be able to run to the White House and say we want your help to squash what what four of these 12 unions unions, their members voted, voted that they wanted.

00:49:05.020 It'll be interesting to see how this ends up.

00:49:07.780 And again, it's weird when you hear conservatives, as you just mentioned, it was not exactly what I thought you were going to say, Senator.

00:49:15.020 But it makes sense.

00:49:16.180 What you're saying is let them negotiate this and don't give them a bad deal.

00:49:21.200 By the way, can I give you an interesting bit of historical trivia?

00:49:25.860 Sure.

00:49:26.240 So the last time there was a rail strike, Congress stepped in and resolved it.

00:49:33.240 Now, what what Congress did is it adopted the recommendation of the presidential board.

00:49:38.800 Here, it's not actually the recommendation of the presidential board that Biden wants to do.

00:49:42.740 It's what's called a tentative agreement, which is modified from what the board recommended.

00:49:47.020 But in 92, Congress did that.

00:49:51.620 There were six senators who voted against the settlement that ended the 1992 rail strike.

00:49:57.440 You know who one of the six senators was?

00:49:59.620 Who was that?

00:50:00.720 Joe Biden.

00:50:01.800 Wow.

00:50:04.160 Wow.

00:50:05.020 History there.

00:50:06.140 Yeah, you weren't joking.

00:50:08.140 Ah, this is going to be a mess right before the holiday.

00:50:10.960 Senator, I appreciate it.

00:50:12.240 It's always nice to talk to you again when you're back in D.C.

00:50:14.720 to hear what's going on behind the scenes.

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 30, 2022

Red Terror In China As Biden Is Silent, GOP Caves On Marriage Bill In Senate, & Biden Lied Over Rail Strike

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