Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 01, 2025


Schumer Shutdown-The Chaos the Dems have Unleashed, and Why


Episode Stats


Length

34 minutes

Words per minute

173.87625

Word count

6,028

Sentence count

497

Harmful content

Misogyny

9

sentences flagged

Toxicity

14

sentences flagged

Hate speech

12

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz joins me to talk about the government shutdown and why it happened and why he thinks it will last longer than a few days. He also talks about why the government shut down and what it could mean for the future of the country.

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.
00:00:02.600 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.420 Welcome. It is Vertical Senator Ted Cruz.
00:00:07.740 It is nice to have you with us.
00:00:09.380 It is official 12.01 a.m.
00:00:12.620 The United States government is shut down.
00:00:15.900 The Democrats, they did it on purpose.
00:00:18.180 Apparently it was their plan.
00:00:19.600 And the question is, for how long have they been planning on doing this?
00:00:24.420 Senator, this is going to be a very interesting show.
00:00:26.440 This all revolves around the Senate.
00:00:28.980 But that is something that maybe some people don't realize.
00:00:33.300 Everything's come out of the House.
00:00:34.760 We're now to the Senate side of things.
00:00:36.680 And I want you to explain what it was like in the hours leading up to the shutdown.
00:00:41.180 Was there ever a chance in hell that the government wasn't going to shut down?
00:00:45.300 No, there was never a chance.
00:00:48.240 It is just after midnight.
00:00:50.000 So the government is shut down just for a few minutes.
00:00:53.820 But I think the government shutdown is going to last at a minimum of days.
00:00:58.320 It may be weeks, and it may even be longer.
00:01:02.400 Really?
00:01:03.020 Yes.
00:01:03.940 This could extend for a significant period of time.
00:01:07.660 And understand, this is the Democrats' roar that they hate Donald Trump.
00:01:15.660 So I got to say, we had the vote tonight.
00:01:18.320 There was no surprise.
00:01:19.860 Everyone knew the outcome.
00:01:21.260 Out of 100 senators, all of us knew the outcome.
00:01:24.180 The vote was 55 to 45.
00:01:27.620 So three Democrat senators voted to keep the government open.
00:01:33.200 That was a pretty big deal, right?
00:01:35.240 I mean, did you think those three were going to go, or did you think it was going to be a unanimous vote?
00:01:39.320 I mean, Fetterman and two others, like, that is significant.
00:01:42.840 Yeah, look, Fetterman, I was not surprised.
00:01:45.200 So Fetterman voted to keep the government open.
00:01:47.760 Cortez Masto voted to keep the government open.
00:01:49.960 And Angus King voted to keep the government open.
00:01:53.240 That's not shocking to me.
00:01:54.900 It's 55-45.
00:01:56.120 Now, why did the government shut down?
00:01:58.500 Look, the basic operation of government is the federal government cannot continue to operate unless Congress appropriates funds.
00:02:07.360 Under the Constitution, Congress has the power of the purse.
00:02:10.140 So Congress appropriates the spending of money.
00:02:14.560 A typical fiscal year is October 1st to September 30th.
00:02:20.860 Yep.
00:02:21.960 This particular funding ended at midnight on September 30th.
00:02:26.300 You and I are recording this just minutes after midnight on September 30th.
00:02:32.020 The appropriation, the authorization for Congress to spend money expired minutes ago.
00:02:38.360 Now, there are a couple of ways you can extend the government funding.
00:02:42.880 One is an appropriation.
00:02:44.280 And so they're typically, in a good year, there are 13 appropriation bills that fund each different kind of major segment of government.
00:02:52.940 For a number of years, the appropriation bills have not passed.
00:02:56.360 The other major way that government authorization occurs is through what are called CRs.
00:03:02.900 CR is short for Continual Resolution.
00:03:05.600 A Continual Resolution is essentially Congress saying what we are spending now, we can continue, continue the status quo identically for X period of time.
00:03:16.040 Now, the House of Representatives passed a CR, a clean CR, to fund the federal government through the middle of November.
00:03:23.800 So if the Senate had passed it...
00:03:25.280 Hold on, let's be clear.
00:03:26.180 When you say a clean CR, that means no political shenanigans in it.
00:03:30.820 But it's literally saying we're taking the 25 budget year, and we're going to say the exact same amount we spent in August, we're going to spend September, October, November, until we get the new budget.
00:03:43.000 There is no pork barrel extras.
00:03:45.160 There's no political shenanigans from either side.
00:03:48.420 Yes, yes, yes.
00:03:49.560 A clean CR says what we spent yesterday is what we'll spend tomorrow.
00:03:55.180 That everything just continues the same.
00:03:58.640 And that's what the House has passed.
00:04:01.120 Now, the challenge is for anything to pass the Senate that is in the nature of an appropriations or a CR.
00:04:07.440 Yeah.
00:04:07.840 It takes 60 votes.
00:04:09.680 Because under the filibuster rule, you've got to have 60 votes to move forward on legislation.
00:04:15.760 So as I mentioned, we got 55.
00:04:17.420 We got three Democrats.
00:04:18.380 But we need 60, which means we need at least seven Democrats, and actually here we need eight Democrats, because Rand Paul voted no.
00:04:28.480 So we had 52 Republicans vote yes, and we needed eight Democrats to vote yes to fund the government.
00:04:35.480 Well, we only got three.
00:04:38.740 And that was on purpose.
00:04:40.240 And I want to pause just for a second to go back to the CR historically.
00:04:44.120 Historically, let's just go back to Biden's time in office when you guys were in the minority.
00:04:50.640 If I'm not mistaken, you guys did this more than a dozen times where you came together and said, hey, we may not.
00:04:57.300 Thirteen times.
00:04:58.120 All right.
00:04:58.320 So 13 different times.
00:05:00.580 Y'all came together and said, we're going to spend exactly what we spent yesterday to keep the government open.
00:05:05.920 So we avoid a government shutdown and you put the American people ahead of politics.
00:05:12.120 And that is a bipartisan moment, right?
00:05:14.840 They had to have some of your votes.
00:05:16.180 So look, every time we came to the end of government funding, you would have enough Republicans join with Democrats to keep the government funded.
00:05:24.700 Now, what has changed?
00:05:26.280 Well, several months ago, we had another expiration of government funding.
00:05:29.720 And what happened is Chuck Schumer and the Democrats decided, OK, let's keep the government going.
00:05:35.880 A very reasonable, a very common sense, a very normal decision.
00:05:39.700 The Democratic left wing base lost their mind.
00:05:44.180 Yeah.
00:05:44.780 And Chuck Schumer nearly lost his job because Schumer allowed the government to be funded several months ago.
00:05:52.880 The left wing rose up against him.
00:05:55.520 And you want to understand why we have a shutdown?
00:05:57.580 It's one thing.
00:05:59.840 Schumer is looking over his left shoulder and he sees AOC running up behind him.
00:06:06.060 And he is terrified he's going to lose his job.
00:06:09.540 So listen, Schumer knows this is not going to work.
00:06:12.840 He knows this is failure.
00:06:14.880 So this is just pure cover your AWS politics 101 by Schumer.
00:06:19.320 So the radical left wing, they hate Trump.
00:06:22.700 And they want today to be a giant F.U. to Trump.
00:06:28.020 They want it to be we hate President Trump and we hate President Trump so much we're going to shut the entire government down because rawr.
00:06:38.260 That's what we're watching.
00:06:39.800 Now, by the way.
00:06:40.860 So then hold on.
00:06:41.840 When did when did this become the plan?
00:06:44.120 Was this weeks ago, months ago?
00:06:45.560 Was this when they had the last year is like, God, the next time it comes up, I have no choice.
00:06:49.580 I got to shut down the government to to flex my muscles.
00:06:52.040 And also to to there is a real concern by him that AOC is going to run against him, primary him in the Senate.
00:06:59.220 By the way, that is after the next presidential election cycle.
00:07:02.400 Is that in that?
00:07:02.960 Isn't he up two years after, if I'm not mistaken?
00:07:05.420 So it'd be like five plus years from now.
00:07:07.160 So and to be clear, I predicted on this podcast, the inaugural member, the chairman of the AOC for President campaign is Chuck Schumer, because he is desperate for AOC not to primary him.
00:07:20.100 Yeah, he's going to he's going to say, Alexandria, you are such a big deal.
00:07:24.080 You are so important.
00:07:25.740 Really, the Senate's too small for you.
00:07:27.760 Why do you want to bother being in the Senate?
00:07:30.140 Sure.
00:07:30.580 You should be in the White House.
00:07:31.820 Schumer is going to be all in on that.
00:07:34.120 But he is living with with absolute PTSD.
00:07:38.480 He is traumatized.
00:07:40.560 He sees left wing Antifa crazies coming around on every side.
00:07:47.260 And so from his end, this shutdown is necessary politically.
00:07:51.820 Now, what did the Democrats demand?
00:07:53.760 They demanded a lot of things.
00:07:55.280 You know what their number one demand was?
00:07:57.040 What's that?
00:07:57.600 Free health care for illegals all over the country.
00:08:02.420 By the way, I mean, when you think about that and the polling data and what it says, I don't understand why that would make your number one thing, because it's clear that the people are behind President Trump securing our borders, stopping government waste, fraud, abuse.
00:08:16.600 Doge was a big part of it.
00:08:17.760 And also making sure that we're not giving out benefits to illegal immigrants.
00:08:21.480 No, no, no, no.
00:08:22.220 We want to spend, what, $1.5 trillion if you want our votes.
00:08:25.140 And it has to be for health care for illegal immigrants and food stamps for people that are able-bodied, for example, that refuse to work. 0.77
00:08:32.540 That's another thing.
00:08:33.540 And they're like, no, no, no.
00:08:34.360 By golly, you better give mine to people that are just straight up lazy that have the ability to work.
00:08:39.940 But you've got to pay them to stay home.
00:08:42.600 Yeah.
00:08:42.740 A huge chunk of this is getting rid of the work requirement for government benefits.
00:08:47.920 Democrats don't want anyone to have to work.
00:08:50.040 They want them to be able to sit at home and get government checks.
00:08:53.000 But did you see the AI video the White House put out?
00:08:56.920 Which one?
00:08:57.780 They put out a couple different things.
00:08:59.280 Which one are you talking about?
00:09:00.180 I want to play this for everyone.
00:09:04.020 This is fake.
00:09:05.960 So all the nattering nabobs, this is fake news.
00:09:09.880 But it is absolutely hysterical that the White House put out.
00:09:13.580 This is Chuck Schumer and Akeem Jeffries explaining what this shutdown is all about.
00:09:17.900 Now, before we get to that, I want to talk to you about my friends over at Berna.
00:09:21.380 If you've ever listened to the show before, you know I'm a big advocate for the Second Amendment.
00:09:25.100 And I've shared on numerous occasions how carrying a firearm literally saved my life from a gang-related attack.
00:09:31.280 But many of you out there may not feel comfortable carrying a firearm.
00:09:34.220 Maybe you have a loved one that's just not comfortable.
00:09:36.740 They need a way to protect themselves.
00:09:38.360 And that's why I want you to know about Berna launchers.
00:09:41.320 I have them, and I've given them to many family members.
00:09:44.100 Berna is a handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants to separate you from an attacker.
00:09:51.460 Josh Sherrard from Berna has been with us telling stories of how Berna has helped save lives
00:09:56.340 or could have been the best option for protection.
00:09:59.520 Josh, this next one is incredibly sad, and I want you to talk about a father that was involved with a shooting.
00:10:05.340 Absolutely. So, in this particular case, a 16-year-old girl was coming home late one night,
00:10:11.080 about 3 a.m. in the morning, entering through the garage.
00:10:13.820 Unfortunately, the father hears a noise in the garage, grabs his gun, goes out there,
00:10:18.760 sees a dark figure walking through the garage, points that gun, fires.
00:10:21.960 Only at that point, realizing that he had just killed his 16-year-old daughter.
00:10:26.380 This is an illustration of where guns in homes, if not used properly, can have dire, dire consequences.
00:10:34.760 In this case, one bullet killed two lives, and the lives of many others in that family.
00:10:39.900 It was incredibly tragic.
00:10:41.560 And unfortunately, we see this situation dozens and dozens of times every year throughout the U.S.
00:10:46.300 Yeah, that's one of the questions that I think somebody will ask is, like,
00:10:48.800 is this just a one-off occurrence? It would never happen to me.
00:10:51.640 Unfortunately, as you mentioned, this happens a lot more often than people realize.
00:10:55.440 Yeah, absolutely. Unfortunately, people think that the best tool and the only tool for home defense is a gun.
00:11:00.420 And they get a gun, they never train with it, they never train the tactics that it requires.
00:11:04.040 They don't do the other things, like flashlights and all the other things that are necessary
00:11:07.580 to make sure that they can use that gun properly.
00:11:09.860 And then that's when you have something like this happen.
00:11:12.240 With a Berna, if the same thing had happened, you put a Berna in his hand,
00:11:15.340 his daughter would be really mad after she was done coughing for about 45 minutes, but still alive. 1.00
00:11:20.000 Yeah. If you want to get more information on how Berna can help you or a family member protect themselves,
00:11:24.660 go to Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com. 1.00
00:11:28.180 That's Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com. 1.00
00:11:30.680 Again, Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com. 1.00
00:11:35.280 All right, so Senator, here is that audio.
00:11:37.300 Yes, as you mentioned earlier, this is a spoof.
00:11:39.820 It is like Saturday Night Live, except it's coming from President Donald Trump's account,
00:11:43.360 which is the best part about it.
00:11:44.880 Take a listen to this.
00:11:46.700 Look, guys, there's no way to sugarcoat it.
00:11:49.600 Nobody likes Democrats anymore. 1.00
00:11:51.160 We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bullshit. 1.00
00:11:54.960 Not even black people want to vote for us anymore. 1.00
00:11:57.280 Even Latinos hate us. 0.99
00:11:58.900 So we need new voters. 0.99
00:12:00.960 And if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, 1.00
00:12:05.000 we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us.
00:12:08.340 They can't even speak English. 1.00
00:12:10.060 So they won't realize we're just a bunch of woke pieces of shit, you know, 1.00
00:12:15.240 at least for a while until they learn English and they realize they hate us too. 1.00
00:12:19.180 See, this is when I love AI.
00:12:21.900 This is when I absolutely love the spoof from the president.
00:12:25.780 And if you can't see this, you need to go look at it.
00:12:27.920 We put it up on social media.
00:12:29.220 The video is important.
00:12:29.960 Hakeem Jeffries has got a really nice handlebar mustache and a sombrero on.
00:12:34.680 So look, pause for a second and realize that was released by the White House.
00:12:41.880 That was released by the president of the United States.
00:12:45.860 I feel a little guilty because we've got some curse words in there.
00:12:49.180 We try to avoid curse words on this podcast.
00:12:52.960 But what do you do when the president has put that out?
00:12:56.660 You play it.
00:12:57.860 And I got to say, the video, so today at lunch,
00:13:01.920 so every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday,
00:13:03.900 all the Republican senators have lunch together.
00:13:06.460 Yeah.
00:13:06.820 Today at lunch, John Thune met with the president,
00:13:10.460 met with Schumer, met with Hakeem Jeffries at the White House.
00:13:13.860 And so Thune was giving us a download on that.
00:13:17.240 And, you know, Thune was talking about, okay, the Democrats,
00:13:20.240 they don't want to cut a deal.
00:13:21.180 They're not willing to give in on anything.
00:13:22.660 And I will confess, I raised my hand.
00:13:25.740 I questioned.
00:13:26.680 I said, John, was Hakeem Jeffries wearing the sombrero?
00:13:30.560 And what did he say?
00:13:34.720 He just laughed.
00:13:36.040 But look, and everyone cracked up.
00:13:38.540 But that image, listen, the Democrats have literally shut down the federal government
00:13:44.780 because they want free health care for every illegal alien in America.
00:13:49.660 Yeah.
00:13:49.940 You want to talk about, like on every issue that's 80-20 or even 90-10,
00:13:55.720 they're on the 20 or the 10 side.
00:13:58.080 The American people do not support, if you want to have a referendum in this country,
00:14:02.580 should we give illegals free health care? 0.98
00:14:05.140 Wow, that will be overwhelming.
00:14:07.360 But here's the secret.
00:14:10.500 This shutdown is not actually about free health care for illegals.
00:14:14.100 That's what the Democrats have hung their hat on because they got to say they want something.
00:14:18.080 Yeah, they got to say something, right?
00:14:19.940 This is all about just, we hate Donald Trump.
00:14:25.100 And it is Chuck Schumer job preservation.
00:14:30.380 And that also means the end of this.
00:14:33.000 Okay, there's no universe in which Chuck Schumer will get President Trump to agree to,
00:14:39.360 let's give free health care to illegals. 0.92
00:14:41.060 Yeah, not going to happen.
00:14:42.020 They know that.
00:14:42.900 Yeah, there's pandering.
00:14:43.880 There's no universe in which Republicans in Congress are going to say,
00:14:46.840 hey, that's a great idea.
00:14:48.240 Let's give free health care to every illegal. 1.00
00:14:49.660 Like that's, you might as well ask for Area 51 to release the Martians and let them take over the country. 1.00
00:14:58.020 Yeah.
00:14:58.300 That is as likely to happen as free health care for illegals from Republicans. 0.50
00:15:02.700 The Democrats know that.
00:15:04.660 This is not about getting what they're demanding.
00:15:07.020 This is about how long do they want to demonstrate orange man bad.
00:15:14.340 Yeah.
00:15:14.580 And the radical base is what has put them in this scenario, right?
00:15:19.520 Yes.
00:15:19.940 Do you actually believe, and let's go back to the history of the Senate here.
00:15:25.680 I don't believe that Chuck Schumer actually wanted to shut down the government.
00:15:29.480 No, no.
00:15:30.280 I think he was forced to do it.
00:15:32.820 He would lose his job.
00:15:34.280 He would lose his job if the government was open today.
00:15:37.340 Self-preservation.
00:15:38.080 It was self-preservation.
00:15:39.380 Yes.
00:15:39.560 In other words, this is weird.
00:15:41.840 Chuck Schumer is being held hostage by the Marxist, communists, and socialists in his party,
00:15:45.860 which they did not police and they allowed to take over their party.
00:15:49.880 Then he's now holding the American people hostage with a government shutdown, which brings me to the big question.
00:15:57.480 Even when we've had shutdowns in the past, there has been some agreements under like, hey, certain people should deserve to get paid.
00:16:04.720 Those that are in the military, those with badges, like the list is not that long, but the essential, important people that deserve to get a paycheck,
00:16:13.040 we don't screw with them when they're protecting the thing in this country.
00:16:15.980 Can you guys at least, was there an agreement to pay them?
00:16:20.060 No.
00:16:20.320 Really?
00:16:20.880 Okay.
00:16:21.280 So walk us through that, because I'm assuming that came up at lunch.
00:16:24.740 So one of the things I did today is I sent a letter, because under the Constitution, members of Congress, our pay cannot be stopped.
00:16:33.840 It's actually unconstitutional to reduce the compensation for members of Congress during the term we're elected to.
00:16:39.820 So I sent a letter, and I've done this during every shutdown, saying, while the government is shut down, don't pay me.
00:16:48.020 It's not fair.
00:16:49.400 It's not right for an elected member of Congress to receive a paycheck when federal workers are not.
00:16:55.660 Now, to be clear, I don't lose my pay when the shutdown is over.
00:16:59.900 I'll get paid back pay.
00:17:00.440 It's just deferred.
00:17:01.480 But it's deferred.
00:17:02.640 A lot of people don't understand that.
00:17:05.700 The long, which I think is asinine, and I have family members who work in the federal government, and they're like, the dumb part about this that I think a lot of Americans don't understand is that you don't miss a paycheck in your calendar year.
00:17:21.680 You just miss a month, and then you get it backdated, and you get it back the next time whenever the government does open back up.
00:17:28.360 And so I know people that are in the FAA, for example, and they're like, dude, we just plan our vacations like great trips around shutdowns because we know we're still getting paid.
00:17:36.860 We save.
00:17:37.740 Not everybody can do that, but they've almost pre-planned for this bonus vacation, and they're going to get paid back.
00:17:44.280 Yeah, but let me make several points of clarification.
00:17:46.940 Sure.
00:17:47.640 Number one, government shutdown is a misnomer.
00:17:51.720 More than 80% of the government will continue to operate.
00:17:54.980 So the basic principle is everything that is essential keeps going.
00:18:00.700 So the military, our active duty military, like defending the nation against bad guys, that keeps going.
00:18:07.420 The FBI catching criminals, that keeps going.
00:18:10.880 The Border Patrol and ICE, that keeps going.
00:18:14.220 The FAA, air traffic controllers, tomorrow, if you get on an airplane, the air traffic controllers all go to work.
00:18:21.100 By the way, the air traffic controllers are not getting a paycheck, so they're going to work.
00:18:27.620 But every two weeks, federal government employees get paid.
00:18:31.860 Air traffic controllers, Coast Guardsmen, military, the federal government, nobody gets a paycheck.
00:18:38.340 And so what shuts down?
00:18:40.440 Every cabinet secretary was assigned.
00:18:44.040 Designate among your employees who is essential and who is not essential.
00:18:48.700 I remember when Bill Clinton was president.
00:18:50.460 We had a shutdown then.
00:18:51.860 Remember Newt Gingrich and the Republican Congress were fighting with Bill Clinton.
00:18:55.340 We had a shutdown for a number of weeks.
00:18:57.160 And I remember there was a headline that said the Department of Commerce designated 30% of their employees is essential and 70% is non-essential.
00:19:07.640 I remember thinking, that's great.
00:19:09.760 We just set a new bench line.
00:19:11.440 All those non-essential, that's 70%.
00:19:13.620 They ought to be done.
00:19:15.140 But what that means, so what will be shut down?
00:19:20.500 Starting October 1, national parks will be shut down.
00:19:24.080 So I've got to say, if you were planning to take your family to Yosemite this weekend, I'm sorry to say you're out of luck.
00:19:32.020 Yosemite will be closed.
00:19:33.200 If you were coming to D.C. to tour our nation's capital, you wanted to go to the Smithsonian, go to the Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian will be shut down.
00:19:41.880 If you look at things like the National Institute of Health, like research on cancer, much of that will be shut down.
00:19:50.880 Wow.
00:19:51.200 Because that's non-essential?
00:19:52.940 And people are going to say, that seems insane.
00:19:54.740 Why wouldn't we fix that to make sure when we have these shenanigans happen that that's not affected?
00:19:59.780 And I think this shutdown will extend, I think it'll be weeks.
00:20:06.260 I think it will be Schumer is trying to protect his own rear end, and everything else is secondary to protecting his own political life.
00:20:15.540 So I think we will see an extended shutdown.
00:20:17.580 So is this polling?
00:20:19.540 I mean, how do you decide when you won or you lost if you're Schumer?
00:20:23.840 Because this is not about the country hating Schumer.
00:20:26.840 This is only about New York and protecting his seat from AOC.
00:20:31.100 So in essence, you don't care how many people hate you in the country.
00:20:35.200 It's only a New York thing.
00:20:36.500 Is that, I mean, will they do polling?
00:20:38.220 I mean, this is weird.
00:20:40.160 Yeah, look, so this is being called the Schumer shutdown.
00:20:43.480 And I got to say, the Democrats are losing the messaging battle.
00:20:49.780 It is clear this is a Democrat shutdown.
00:20:51.920 There was action exchange right before we had the vote on the CR to keep the government open.
00:20:56.560 And this is a clean CR.
00:20:57.800 No riders, no nothing.
00:20:59.040 This is just keep the lights on.
00:21:01.540 Status quo.
00:21:03.060 Schumer stood up and was speaking.
00:21:05.040 And all the senators, or most of us, were standing on the Senate floor.
00:21:08.040 And Schumer said, look, there's been reference to polling.
00:21:12.260 But the polling has been biased.
00:21:15.580 It's been right-wing polling.
00:21:18.020 For example, the New York Times.
00:21:21.260 And I got to tell you, I and every other Republican, we just started cracking up laughing.
00:21:26.080 And you could see Schumer, he actually turned red.
00:21:29.120 He looked sheepish because he just said on the Senate floor that the New York Times was a biased right-wing poll.
00:21:38.080 Yeah, seriously. 0.98
00:21:39.620 And it was a moment where, like Schumer, you saw Democrats looking at him going, dude, you look like a clown. 0.99
00:21:47.160 That's weak. 0.98
00:21:48.040 And that's because the New York Times did a poll.
00:21:51.420 If the Democrats don't get everything they want, should they shut the government down?
00:21:55.440 And 65% of Americans said, no, don't shut the government down.
00:21:59.860 It was a small percentage.
00:22:01.300 It was just over 20% of Americans that said, yes, shut the government down.
00:22:05.760 So that's who the Democrats are responding to.
00:22:08.560 But they've got Schumer's message is the New York Times is a right-wing mouthpiece.
00:22:14.680 And how dare you tell the American people that we, the Democrats, are shutting the government down?
00:22:20.840 This is headed to failure.
00:22:23.060 Everyone knows that.
00:22:24.140 Every Republican knows that.
00:22:25.720 Every Democrat knows that.
00:22:27.000 Is there an outcome where Republicans say, okay, great, let's fund health care for illegals?
00:22:32.420 No.
00:22:33.720 The Democrats will give in.
00:22:35.280 Three Democrats voted to fund the government.
00:22:38.100 What will happen is the government is shut down.
00:22:41.080 People are going to get ticked off.
00:22:43.160 People are going to want to, like, use, by the way, things like passport services will be greatly reduced.
00:22:49.140 All sorts of government, now listen, the military keeps going, law enforcement keeps going, Social Security keeps going, Medicare keeps going, Medicaid keeps going, an awful lot of government keeps going.
00:23:00.780 But the lack of government being open will be a serious function.
00:23:04.900 And at some point, we will see seven or eight Democrats say enough is enough, reopen the government.
00:23:11.120 That will happen, but let me tell you a huge piece that is an X factor in this, which is Russ Vogt, who is the head of OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, works for the White House.
00:23:24.480 He put out a memo a week ago that said, if there is a government shutdown, we are going to lay off federal workers.
00:23:33.660 We're not going to give them a furlough.
00:23:35.820 This is, hold on, this is the brilliant game of chess that was early on preemptive, warning, you do this, and here's what we're going to do.
00:23:47.680 And this might be one of the best moves I've seen politically in a long time in D.C., which is, go ahead, do it, and watch what happens, because a lot of people, they're going to lose their jobs, and that's going to be on you guys for allowing it to happen, right?
00:24:00.700 So explain all that.
00:24:02.260 Yes.
00:24:02.760 So Russ is a good friend.
00:24:03.980 He's a strong conservative.
00:24:05.480 He's a strong fiscal conservative.
00:24:06.900 And what he said is, listen, if Congress decides not to fund the federal government, we're going to react to that by the White House has instructed every cabinet agency to prepare a plan for a rift, a reduction in force, to give permanent layoffs, pink slips, to government bureaucrats who are left-wing bureaucrats who are advancing the priorities of the Democrat Party.
00:24:32.720 So what you are going to see in the next few days, you are going to see bureaucrats at the EPA, fired.
00:24:40.700 You're going to see bureaucrats at the Department of Labor, fired.
00:24:46.520 You're going to see bureaucrats at the IRS, fired.
00:24:50.040 And within a couple of days, we're going to see Democrat senators, they're going to be in their lunches screaming at each other, because this is, frankly, an excuse for the Trump administration to do what they wanted to do anyway, which is get rid of left-wing bureaucrats.
00:25:06.060 But they now have an incredible justification, which is, hey, Congress chose not to fund them.
00:25:13.060 So instead of giving them a paid vacation, stay home several weeks, and then we'll pay you back pay and come back to your job, they're going to give them a pick slip and say, you're done.
00:25:24.020 You no longer have a job.
00:25:25.480 And I think that is going to ratchet up the pressure on Democrats massively.
00:25:29.100 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98
00:25:36.200 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:25:39.920 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
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00:25:54.800 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:25:59.100 So how quickly can these firings take place?
00:26:04.300 How massive could they be?
00:26:06.420 Today.
00:26:06.600 And how much research has been done behind the scenes to get rid of a lot of these woke bureaucrats that we've been wanting to get rid of, that the presidents want to get rid of, that cabinet secretaries have wanted to get rid of?
00:26:19.460 Like, I mean, I'm assuming they're burning the midnight oil kind of like Doge did.
00:26:23.980 Let's find the people we want to get rid of, and this is our chance to do it.
00:26:27.020 And by the way, once it's done, like, it's not like you got to offer their jobs back.
00:26:31.400 Like, it's done.
00:26:32.540 So I think that starts happening today.
00:26:35.100 I think October 1, you start seeing pink slips.
00:26:39.800 I think we will see left-wing bureaucrats fired today. 1.00
00:26:43.980 I think we'll see them fired tomorrow.
00:26:47.300 You know, this evening I had dinner with the deputy secretary of HHS, who's a longtime friend of mine.
00:26:52.920 He was actually a groomsman at my wedding.
00:26:54.560 Great guy.
00:26:55.920 I asked him, I said, okay, the White House asked every cabinet agency prepare a list of people for the RIF.
00:27:03.820 And he said, yeah, we're doing that.
00:27:05.440 He said, every agency, when the White House directs us to do that, we do that.
00:27:08.920 We're going to see, I think, hundreds if not thousands of left-wing bureaucrats fired in the next several days. 0.99
00:27:15.900 I think that's going to put the Democrat Party in crisis.
00:27:19.360 And by the way, we're not going to fire people that are critical for the priorities you and I care about.
00:27:26.400 So we're not going to see Border Patrol agents who are securing the border fired.
00:27:30.400 We're not going to see ICE agents who are deporting gangbangers fired.
00:27:34.760 We're not going to see FBI agents who are catching pedophiles.
00:27:38.860 We're not going to see them fired.
00:27:40.320 We're not going to see soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines who are keeping this nation safe.
00:27:45.500 We're not going to see them fired.
00:27:47.400 We're going to see bureaucrats who are shutting down factories, who are destroying jobs, 0.71
00:27:53.400 who are pursuing radical left-wing agendas.
00:27:58.420 They're going to be the ones fired.
00:28:00.600 And ultimately, the Democrats are going to cave.
00:28:03.200 The only question is how long Schumer wants to go through this charade before he gives in.
00:28:10.300 Which brings me to my final question.
00:28:12.240 That is, the media does seem to be covering this a little bit more with honesty than I've ever seen them before.
00:28:18.540 Today, there was a viral clip that is, the tables have been turned.
00:28:22.580 Democrats are now literally under fire for a clip that shows them slamming government shutdown tactics,
00:28:29.220 the same ones they're accused of using right now.
00:28:32.020 And here's what it sounded like back in 2018, in December of 2018,
00:28:35.600 Donald Trump was president, Chuck Schumer, Nance Pelosi, in the Oval Office.
00:28:39.800 Listen.
00:28:39.960 We do not want to shut down the government shutdown.
00:28:42.140 Because you can't get your way.
00:28:43.200 It's the last time you shut it down, you got killed.
00:28:44.600 Yeah, let me say something, Mr. President.
00:28:46.340 North Dakota.
00:28:47.100 This is the most unfortunate thing.
00:28:48.780 We came in here in good faith, and we're entering into this kind of a discussion in the public view.
00:28:56.600 But it's not bad, Nancy.
00:28:58.300 It's called transparency.
00:28:59.960 I know.
00:29:00.300 It's not transparency when we're not stipulating to a set of facts.
00:29:04.200 I mean, you listen to that one.
00:29:05.840 They're like, we're not in favor of it.
00:29:07.380 And then the speaker also put out a very interesting video montage reminding people the same thing.
00:29:16.400 Like, hey, you guys think that it's the Democrats.
00:29:19.480 Mike Johnson putting this out, and here he is,
00:29:21.900 and what he said to remind the people about Democrats in their own words.
00:29:24.880 It is not normal to shut down the government when we don't get what we want.
00:29:32.740 If the government shuts down, it will be average Americans who suffer most.
00:29:37.420 A government shutdown means seniors who rely on Social Security could be thrown into chaos.
00:29:42.580 Families will be hurt.
00:29:44.640 Farmers will be hurt.
00:29:46.080 It's the service members who will work without a paycheck.
00:29:49.880 It's the firefighters who will be furloughed.
00:29:53.020 This shutdown, you know who's going to feel the pain?
00:29:55.680 You know who it hurts?
00:29:56.820 You.
00:29:57.540 Everyday people.
00:29:58.740 And the most vulnerable.
00:30:00.160 Seniors.
00:30:01.040 Veterans.
00:30:01.700 Working families.
00:30:02.740 Hungry kids, y'all.
00:30:08.680 Democrats are signaling they're ready for a fight.
00:30:11.460 This time, Schumer tells the Associated Press, quote, things have changed.
00:30:15.500 It is not normal to shut down the government when we don't get what we want.
00:30:19.160 I mean, I love them using AOC's words.
00:30:23.320 I feel like the media has changed a little bit here.
00:30:25.880 Your thoughts on that?
00:30:27.880 Well, I'm impressed that you recognize AOC's voice.
00:30:31.020 I didn't know.
00:30:31.660 I knew that was a shrill Democrat. 0.97
00:30:33.240 I didn't know who that was.
00:30:34.820 So I appreciate that clarity.
00:30:37.600 Listen, every single Democrat, I think without exception, has gone on record being against shutdowns. 0.98
00:30:44.260 The fact that they shut it all down today demonstrates what utter hypocrites they are. 0.92
00:30:49.980 And I've got to say, as I was walking off the Senate floor, so I voted to fund the government this afternoon. 0.97
00:30:56.440 The Democrats voted against it and caused a shutdown.
00:30:59.280 All the reporters were circling, and their talking point that they really wanted to press is they said, okay, Cruz, in 2013, in the fight over Obamacare, you, Ted Cruz, forced a shutdown.
00:31:15.340 Isn't that what the Democrats are doing now?
00:31:17.760 And I just started laughing at them.
00:31:19.560 And I said, look, number one, in 2013, when I did a 21-hour filibuster on the floor, I was fighting for Americans.
00:31:29.000 I was fighting for American citizens whose health care premiums had skyrocketed.
00:31:34.000 And they had skyrocketed because Obamacare was a train wreck.
00:31:37.700 It was a disaster.
00:31:38.780 It caused a massive increase in health insurance premiums.
00:31:42.260 It made the health insurance companies rich, and it made millions of ordinary Americans unable to afford health insurance.
00:31:50.960 And, by the way, I was also fighting for it at a time when the House of Representatives, that was Republican, had voted to fund the federal government, fund the entirety of the federal government, but not fund Obamacare.
00:32:04.780 So not fund the law that was causing damage to American citizens.
00:32:08.920 And I said, here what's happening is Chuck Schumer is shutting down the federal government, not to help American citizens who are getting hurt, but he's shutting down the federal government in order to help millions of illegal aliens and give them free health care.
00:32:24.460 And he's willing to shut down your federal government to give free health care to illegals. 0.97
00:32:31.080 And that fundamentally, there's a hypocrisy to it.
00:32:34.460 And I also said, you know, the reporters were like, isn't it the same?
00:32:38.520 And I said, listen, let me be clear.
00:32:40.880 In 2013, it was Chuck Schumer who shut the government down then.
00:32:46.400 I was trying to fund the entirety of the federal government except for Obamacare.
00:32:50.360 And Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid decided, no, we'll shut it all down because we care so much about socialized medicine.
00:32:57.340 And I told the reporters, we had like 50 reporters standing outside the Senate floor.
00:33:01.300 And I said, look, none of you guys reported that.
00:33:04.200 You all blame the shutdown on me because you're all left-wing hacks.
00:33:07.340 Because today, all of you are still left-wing hacks.
00:33:13.360 You agree with the Democrats.
00:33:15.000 But the facts are so overwhelming.
00:33:17.640 It is Chuck Schumer and the Democrats who are shutting the government down that even you dishonest liars are reporting this is the Schumer shutdown.
00:33:25.460 Because the House has funded the government exactly the status quo.
00:33:31.980 The funding yesterday has continued to tomorrow.
00:33:35.560 It is the Democrats who said, let's shut it down.
00:33:38.900 And I think at the end of the day, they're going to lose that battle.
00:33:42.100 But this is what you got to ask yourself is how long do the Democrats have to perform for their crazy left-wing activists before they allow the government to reopen?
00:33:53.840 Until a poll tells them otherwise is my guess.
00:33:56.560 It's going to be interesting.
00:33:57.760 I have a feeling you're right.
00:33:58.860 We're going to be talking about this for days.
00:34:00.340 But you know what?
00:34:01.180 They're not going to trust the polls from that right-wing mouthpiece and the New York Times.
00:34:09.720 But maybe, I don't know, when Mother Jones and, you know, Communist Party of America has a poll that shows they're losing.
00:34:17.000 Maybe then they'll give up.
00:34:18.400 Maybe then.
00:34:19.620 We're going to cover it all.
00:34:20.880 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:34:23.160 Make sure you hit that subscribe or auto-download button.
00:34:25.680 Also, share this podcast on social media wherever you are.
00:34:29.540 And the center, I will see you back here under probably a government shutdown on Friday morning as well.
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