Verdict with Ted Cruz - August 13, 2020


Screaming Primal Rage


Episode Stats


Length

26 minutes

Words per minute

172.16406

Word count

4,501

Sentence count

438

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz decries the Democratic response to the Antifa rioting in response to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Antifa violence and calls for all Democrats to join him in condemning Antifa. Ted Cruz is joined by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) to speak at the hearing.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.500 That's called freedom of speech, and that's what the searing title is.
00:00:09.500 Protecting speech.
00:00:11.540 So all I can say is, look, we should all join hands in denouncing
00:00:16.460 and whatever words you want to use about violent extremism of all stripes.
00:00:25.400 And I think we can all agree on that.
00:00:26.900 So to constantly accuse Democrats of not caring about that is really,
00:00:33.040 I can only say that you aren't listening.
00:00:36.940 So I hope this is the end of this hearing, Mr. Chairman,
00:00:39.540 and that we don't have to listen to any more of your rhetorical speeches.
00:00:42.940 Thank you very much. I'm leaving.
00:00:44.700 Well, I appreciate the, as always, kind and uplifting words of Senator Hirono.
00:00:49.760 And I would also note that throughout her remark,
00:00:52.320 she still did not say a negative word about Antifa, nor has any Democrat here.
00:00:57.480 They instead engage in a political game where they depend.
00:01:02.140 You're welcome to say something negative about Antifa right now.
00:01:06.760 I think that I've covered the subject quite well.
00:01:09.820 You are not listening.
00:01:10.940 Okay. She declined to speak.
00:01:13.400 So that is the position of the Democratic Party.
00:01:15.640 I would note also that of the seven Democratic senators who spoke,
00:01:19.880 not a one of them apologized for or denounced multiple Democrats calling law enforcement officers Nazis,
00:01:27.440 stormtroopers and Gestapo, to be fair.
00:01:29.060 I have not heard the word Nazi, but stormtrooper was Nancy Pelosi,
00:01:32.480 and Gestapo was another Democratic leader.
00:01:34.240 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:01:42.060 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:01:43.480 I'm sitting here, of course, with the senator.
00:01:46.060 Senator, you have not yet chased me out of this room,
00:01:49.260 but I notice you seem to have chased your Democratic colleague out of the Senate yesterday.
00:01:54.680 Well, Michael, I don't like what you're saying,
00:01:56.300 so I'm going to need to get up and run away and leave now.
00:01:58.900 You're very frightening, and you're causing me to hyperventilate.
00:02:04.160 Yes. Well, because I'm posing these very difficult questions to you,
00:02:07.680 such as, are you willing to condemn Antifa?
00:02:11.040 So it was really crazy.
00:02:12.560 So I chaired a hearing on Antifa violence,
00:02:16.320 and I, as you know, chaired the Constitution subcommittee,
00:02:19.380 the Senate Judiciary Committee.
00:02:20.260 And so the hearing was focused on the right and the First Amendment peaceably to assemble.
00:02:28.680 And by the way, if you remember back, do you remember Chris Cuomo on CNN saying,
00:02:36.360 where is it written that protesting and gathering has to be peaceable?
00:02:42.160 And it's kind of like, well, okay, there's this thing called the First Amendment.
00:02:46.620 It's in the Constitution.
00:02:47.760 The right of the people peaceably to assemble.
00:02:50.740 It's right there.
00:02:51.420 First Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, attach the – well, you've got to understand.
00:02:54.540 CNN, they don't have copies of the Constitution.
00:02:56.500 So you can understand.
00:02:58.580 You wouldn't expect Cuomo to be familiar with it.
00:03:02.200 I don't know that it's even allowed in the building, frankly.
00:03:04.160 I think that's probably right.
00:03:05.700 Well, the hearing was on free speech and the right peaceably to assemble
00:03:11.240 and how radical anarchists and Marxists are taking over these protests and engaging in rioting and violence.
00:03:22.160 And so we had testimony, and in the entire course of it – so we had testimony originally from the Department of Justice
00:03:27.280 and Department of Homeland Security.
00:03:28.780 Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary, testified, did a fabulous job.
00:03:32.960 But seven different Democratic senators participated in the hearing.
00:03:38.160 Not a single one of them was willing to say even a single word critical about Antifa.
00:03:45.400 They wouldn't – and it's – you know, I've got to say, look, I'll give the Dems credit.
00:03:49.760 They have a message discipline.
00:03:52.220 Like when a talking point goes out, I don't know who it is.
00:03:55.540 Is that what it is, though?
00:03:56.380 I mean, they basically – they get the talking points, they stick to it.
00:03:59.240 They repeat the same words over and over again.
00:04:02.780 So, for example, all of them called the DHS law enforcement officers secret police.
00:04:08.340 That was clearly the talking point.
00:04:10.700 So Maisie Hirona is the ranking Democrat on the committee.
00:04:13.500 She plays this video, I think, from the New York Times, where it refers to them as unidentified officers.
00:04:20.360 And literally the video playing, they have in giant yellow all-caps letters the words police.
00:04:27.240 Like that's not unidentified.
00:04:30.420 They are identified.
00:04:31.220 There's no question about that.
00:04:32.700 But it's – but it doesn't stop them.
00:04:35.000 So they're talking points.
00:04:36.100 And so they're talking points on Antifa, on the terrorists.
00:04:40.580 It is – they just scream right-wing violence, white supremacists, white supremacists.
00:04:45.420 And the difference, by the way, look, white supremacists, Nazis, KKK, those guys are racist idiots.
00:04:52.760 Lock them all up.
00:04:53.360 If they commit violence, lock them up and throw them in jail.
00:04:55.100 This is the point.
00:04:55.820 This was what was so shocking to me when I was watching this clip of you talking to Senator Hirona.
00:05:00.340 When some fringe lunatic guy who maybe he associates with the right, then he comes out and says something bigoted.
00:05:06.920 All the right disavows, condemns, takes two seconds.
00:05:09.760 Nobody worries about it.
00:05:10.780 But none of your Democratic colleagues –
00:05:13.940 Zero.
00:05:14.400 Not one – could condemn Antifa or the Marxists or the other – I mean, it seems so simple to me.
00:05:20.180 Why couldn't they do it?
00:05:21.100 So not only that, but also we've seen their rhetoric.
00:05:24.780 So Nancy Pelosi called federal police officers stormtroopers. 0.97
00:05:29.240 Jim Clyburn, one of the ranking – leading Democrats in the House, called them Gestapo.
00:05:33.380 No, like calling cops Nazis and not a single Democrat – I mean, repeatedly that was called out.
00:05:41.760 Not one of the Democratic senators would walk away from it.
00:05:44.260 And so at the end of the hearing, Maisie got up and stormed out. 1.00
00:05:48.900 And she's like, well, no, no, I've condemned violence.
00:05:52.820 I'm like, well, no, not from Antifa, not from the left.
00:05:56.800 You insist the only violence that occurs is on the right.
00:05:59.620 Facts be damned.
00:06:00.420 Do you know what Ken Cuccinelli told us at the hearing?
00:06:02.500 What?
00:06:04.700 He said there have been, in the last six months, 277 officer injuries in Portland.
00:06:12.680 Wow.
00:06:13.580 277.
00:06:14.280 So Ken Cuccinelli, Deputy Secretary of Department of Homeland Security.
00:06:17.480 And he testified it, and he testified – in fact, he had – so they're throwing rocks at the officers.
00:06:24.260 They're throwing frozen water bottles.
00:06:25.860 In fact, Ken had a frozen water bottle with him, just to illustrate.
00:06:28.600 They hit an officer in the head with a sledgehammer.
00:06:33.780 They're bringing knives.
00:06:35.040 They're bringing guns.
00:06:35.920 They're throwing gasoline and lighting gasoline on fire.
00:06:38.680 They're firing mortars with commercial fireworks.
00:06:43.220 And they have those lasers.
00:06:44.020 Well, and you and I – so we did an interview with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, and we did it at DHS, which was pretty cool.
00:06:54.760 But while we're doing the interview, you and I are sitting there.
00:06:59.240 Into the room walks Ken Cuccinelli.
00:07:01.800 You know, in the moment, I couldn't quite tell.
00:07:04.160 Obviously, the lighting was a little dark.
00:07:05.420 So I said, who is this guy who's kind of walking in?
00:07:07.980 If I'd known it was him, I would have said he should come right on the show.
00:07:11.100 And if I'd have seen him, he came in behind me, so I didn't see him.
00:07:14.220 If I'd have seen him, I said, Cooch, come on over, pull up a chair.
00:07:16.480 Because he was coming to testify that afternoon.
00:07:18.340 And he had a prop.
00:07:19.000 He had – so the commercial laser that they're using, I have to admit, when I read about the sort of lasers to the eyes, that struck me as a little bogus.
00:07:30.160 Because we've always had little laser pointers, right?
00:07:31.780 You chase your cat around with it.
00:07:33.280 Yeah, like, I mean, isn't that all of Twitter is cat videos?
00:07:36.860 Like, I think that's the entirety of the internet.
00:07:39.180 Yeah.
00:07:39.480 But what was interesting is these commercial ones.
00:07:43.520 So Cooch had one of those.
00:07:46.140 He said, here, hold your hand out.
00:07:47.100 So I did, and he points it, and in like one second, it takes about a second, and then you go, oh, crap, and you yank your hand.
00:07:53.560 I mean, it burns.
00:07:54.460 Well, you know, I don't think that you were necessarily foolish when he says put your hand out.
00:07:58.740 You did it.
00:07:59.140 But then I saw it burned you, and then you tell me, hey, Michael, put your hand out.
00:08:03.300 And I, like a fool, I put my hand out, and I get it burned by Cuccinelli's laser.
00:08:07.960 Look, this is basic human instinct.
00:08:10.560 You know, you have, like, spoiled milk, and you go, oh, this tastes terrible.
00:08:14.180 Here, try some.
00:08:15.500 Like, is that –
00:08:16.500 But it's serious.
00:08:17.360 I mean, you can light a piece of paper on fire with those lasers, and this is the kind of thing that's being shined in the cop's eyes.
00:08:22.940 And Cuccinelli testified over 30 officers have had eye damage where they shine it in their eyes, and it's a risk of permanent blindness.
00:08:30.940 And, in fact, what they're doing is they have these shields, and they get up right close at them to shine the laser right in their eye and try to blind them.
00:08:40.960 Yeah, and, you know, one thing you did very well at the hearing, and for some reason I noticed these clips aren't going around.
00:08:46.660 I don't know why the press isn't covering it.
00:08:49.000 You went through with great specificity who these people are, the organized anarchists, the organized Marxists who are behind these riots all over the country.
00:08:58.200 You know, I think the Democrats, they've outright denied that Antifa even exists.
00:09:02.480 Jerry Nadler the other day pretended it's not real.
00:09:04.720 You went through those specifically.
00:09:06.580 These are real Marxists.
00:09:07.900 These are real anarchists.
00:09:08.780 Well, and you take two different groups that are worth focusing on.
00:09:12.100 One, Antifa, and you've got – we heard a lot of testimony.
00:09:14.560 Antifa is profoundly violent.
00:09:17.420 They engage in terrorism.
00:09:18.920 They encourage terrorism.
00:09:20.240 They train people to engage in this violence.
00:09:22.740 They're also profoundly anti-free speech.
00:09:25.240 They use violence as a way to silence speech they disagree with.
00:09:31.400 Yeah.
00:09:31.500 And these are concerted – you know, Andy Ngo, the journalist, he testified at the hearing about being violently beaten up.
00:09:41.840 By the way, they call him a white supremacist.
00:09:45.060 As he described, he's the son of a Vietnamese immigrant.
00:09:49.640 He's Vietnamese and gay. 0.97
00:09:51.520 He's not – you're like –
00:09:52.740 He is the most Vietnamese white supremacist I've ever met.
00:09:55.020 There's no question.
00:09:56.320 But you know what?
00:09:57.100 They call Ben Shapiro a Nazi.
00:09:58.500 So never let facts get in the way of their attacking rhetoric.
00:10:04.060 Yeah.
00:10:04.440 But, you know –
00:10:05.200 So you had the anarchists of Antifa, and you had Marxists as well, as you explained yesterday.
00:10:10.420 Well, and I talked at some length about Black Lives Matter.
00:10:14.040 Now, it's important to understand the difference.
00:10:17.380 The phrase Black Lives Matter –
00:10:19.460 Oh, yeah, of course.
00:10:20.940 – is indisputably true.
00:10:22.560 It's simple, yeah.
00:10:23.140 Period, the end.
00:10:23.860 And let me actually take a digression for a minute.
00:10:25.780 But I think most Republicans are morons when it comes to talking about Black Lives Matter.
00:10:30.460 Huh.
00:10:31.100 Because when you have someone say, does Black Lives Matter?
00:10:34.800 You get all these Republicans, no, all lives matter.
00:10:36.660 Yeah.
00:10:37.480 Why can't you just say yes?
00:10:38.560 Right, right.
00:10:38.700 Like, if you ask me, yes, Black Lives Matter.
00:10:40.840 Well, it's like Maisie Hirono's answer, right?
00:10:42.540 Well, you condemn Antifa.
00:10:43.420 I condemn extremism.
00:10:45.280 Say, right, but what about specifically Antifa?
00:10:46.980 You know, a very simple question.
00:10:47.960 Like, absolutely, Black Lives are precious, and they matter immensely, and the reason is
00:10:53.580 every life is created by God.
00:10:55.960 But you don't – you see Republicans, like, terrified to say that.
00:11:00.900 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:01.620 Because we're in such a weird politicized world.
00:11:04.460 Well, and also because there's this organization, which is very different.
00:11:07.740 Well, and that's – so the statement Black Lives Matter is a truism, overwhelming majority
00:11:12.720 of Americans agree with it.
00:11:13.780 It should be everyone.
00:11:14.820 Yeah, basically everyone, I think, agrees with that.
00:11:16.820 But there's something very separate from the organization that is called Black Lives
00:11:21.840 Matter.
00:11:22.300 And this – there's an article I entered into the record of the hearing from the Washington
00:11:28.240 Examiner that gives some of the history of the organization.
00:11:31.340 So it was founded by three radicals who describe themselves in their own words as trained Marxists.
00:11:39.780 So they are – this is not me calling them Marxists.
00:11:43.380 They tell you they're Marxists.
00:11:44.860 They tell you they've studied Marx and Lenin and Mao.
00:11:47.660 They – I mean, there's a video of Patrice Colors, who's one of the co-founders.
00:11:52.780 She says Alicia and I – or Alicia Garza, another co-founder, are trained Marxists.
00:11:56.520 And the third co-founder, Opal Tometi, is seen smiling in photographs with the communist
00:12:01.280 dictator of Venezuela.
00:12:02.680 They're not hiding this sort of thing.
00:12:04.280 So not only that, one of the founders of the organization Black Lives Matter describes as
00:12:10.940 her mentor, Angela Davis.
00:12:13.620 Now, Angela Davis – I don't have to call her a communist.
00:12:17.700 She tells you she was a communist.
00:12:19.180 She was not once but twice the vice presidential nominee of the Communist Party of the United
00:12:24.940 States.
00:12:25.340 So she's an avowed communist Marxist.
00:12:28.140 And by the way, you know, is rabidly anti-Semitic, rabidly anti-Israel.
00:12:38.420 Someone else who – Susan Rosenberg.
00:12:41.280 Now, who is Susan Rosenberg? 0.98
00:12:42.520 Susan Rosenberg is the vice chair of the board of directors of Thousand Currents.
00:12:47.520 Now, what is Thousand Currents?
00:12:48.720 Thousand Currents is what is funding the organization Black Lives Matter.
00:12:52.920 Now, who is Susan Rosenberg also?
00:12:55.700 She is – was part of the revolutionary military group known as the May 19th Communist Organization,
00:13:02.740 affiliated with the Weather Underground.
00:13:04.960 She was convicted of weapons and explosive charges and sentenced to 58 years in prison.
00:13:11.880 So she's a convicted terrorist.
00:13:13.780 By the way, she was pardoned by Bill Clinton on the last day of his presidency.
00:13:19.220 It was one of those midnight pardons that he did.
00:13:20.720 She and a million other people were pardoned at the end of the –
00:13:22.920 Administration.
00:13:23.700 So she was – Rosenberg in the 1960s and 70s was on the FBI's most wanted list.
00:13:30.200 She was caught in 1984 unloading hundreds of pounds of dynamite and weapons, including a submachine gun.
00:13:37.360 So we're not talking like a sort of mild little rebel.
00:13:41.620 It's not just a frozen water bottle either.
00:13:43.140 It is not.
00:13:45.200 So Garza, one of the Black Lives Matter founders, talks about how convicted cop killer Asanta Shakur is one of her main inspirations.
00:13:57.680 Now, Shakur is right now today on the FBI's most wanted list.
00:14:02.340 There's a million-dollar reward for Shakur's information leading to her capture.
00:14:07.160 She's believed to be hiding in Cuba.
00:14:09.520 And she was a member of the Black Liberation Army, another terrorist organization.
00:14:16.300 She's wanted for escaping from prison. 1.00
00:14:18.540 And she was in prison serving a life sentence for murdering a police officer.
00:14:23.480 And the police officer, an individual named Warner Forster, was shot execution-style point blank.
00:14:30.700 This wasn't an accidental.
00:14:32.800 This was – and by the way, it's not like these folks are just kind of, okay, we're all like vaguely know each other.
00:14:41.680 So Cullors, one of the three founders, wrote a memoir entitled, When They Call You a Terrorist, A Black Lives Matter Memoir.
00:14:50.440 So it's like what we're all about.
00:14:53.040 The foreword is written by Angela Davis.
00:14:57.100 And the epigraph is written by Shakur, the cop killer.
00:15:00.280 Wow.
00:15:00.920 So they're –
00:15:02.320 They don't tell you this in the mainstream media.
00:15:04.040 In fact, I had never heard that.
00:15:05.460 And I've actually done some research into the BLM organization.
00:15:07.900 So Angela Davis – you want to talk about the anti-Semitism of Angela Davis for a minute.
00:15:12.600 She was asked – so she was a big apologist for the Soviet Union.
00:15:15.920 Yeah, yeah.
00:15:16.560 Look, communists, that's what they did.
00:15:19.620 So she was traveling to Moscow, and she was asked if she would speak up for the Jewish prisoners of conscience in the gulags in the Soviet Union.
00:15:28.880 And her answer was, and this is a quote, that they are all Zionist fascists and opponents of socialism.
00:15:38.880 And so therefore, she would be urged – she would urge that they be kept in prison.
00:15:43.860 Not only would she not speak up with them, she'd be like, lock them up.
00:15:47.520 By the way, Angela Davis just recently endorsed Joe Biden for president.
00:15:50.500 That's right.
00:15:50.900 And she said he would be easy to manipulate.
00:15:52.720 It – Black Lives Matter itself refers to Israel as an apartheid state committing genocide.
00:15:59.800 That's their terms.
00:16:02.120 But what does Black Lives Matter stand for?
00:16:05.840 If you go look at their website.
00:16:07.180 Yeah.
00:16:07.320 Their number one priority is abolishing the police nationwide.
00:16:12.780 Yeah.
00:16:13.120 Which is, by the way, according to Gallup polling, opposed by 81% of black Americans.
00:16:18.060 It was either Gallup or it was a YouGov poll, but it just came out.
00:16:20.620 And if Black Lives Matter succeeded in their stated objective of abolishing police, the result would be many, many more black lives are lost.
00:16:28.080 Of course.
00:16:28.420 Because you would have many more murders, many more rapes, many more assaults, which sadly we're seeing in big cities right now as police are being held back.
00:16:37.260 But without law enforcement, those living in the most high-crime neighborhoods get – they're victims.
00:16:43.620 And many of the – far too many of the victims of crime are African-American. 0.52
00:16:47.420 And Black Lives Matter is essentially abandoning them to that.
00:16:50.580 Not only that, Black Lives Matter, the organization, calls for abolishing the nuclear family.
00:16:56.380 Like, moms and dads.
00:16:59.660 Could you say that again?
00:17:00.680 It's very –
00:17:01.540 Like, they explicit – and this – go read their own website.
00:17:05.060 Don't take my word for it.
00:17:06.920 That's what they're advocating for.
00:17:08.940 Now, let me tell you – and by the way, they also call for a white boycott.
00:17:15.080 They say boycott white corporations, that nobody should buy anything from white corporations. 0.77
00:17:20.980 Now, one of the things I talked about at the hearing yesterday, we're seeing all these companies, particularly tech companies, that are wanting to virtue signal, who are giving millions and millions of dollars to this organization, Black Lives Matter.
00:17:35.260 Those – among those tech companies that are doing it are Microsoft, Amazon.
00:17:41.040 I went and listed a whole bunch.
00:17:42.940 But pause for a second and think.
00:17:44.700 Look, Microsoft's largest shareholder is a guy named Bill Gates.
00:17:49.020 Yeah.
00:17:49.280 Last time I checked, Bill Gates, a white guy.
00:17:51.080 Yeah.
00:17:51.780 So, Microsoft is literally donating money to an organization calling for people to boycott Microsoft.
00:17:59.180 Like saying, do not purchase any products from anything Bill Gates.
00:18:03.260 Amazon.
00:18:03.860 Amazon's giving them money.
00:18:04.840 Yeah.
00:18:05.560 Jeff Bezos is a white guy.
00:18:07.780 Amazon is funding a group saying don't buy anything from Amazon.
00:18:12.700 And it's – look, you want to support social justice?
00:18:17.920 Great.
00:18:18.320 Wonderful.
00:18:19.420 Go support School Choice.
00:18:20.680 Go give scholarships for inner city kids to go to excellent schools.
00:18:23.920 There are all sorts of things you can do.
00:18:25.600 But the problem is because people are terrified of contradicting the indisputably true statement that Black Lives Matter.
00:18:35.720 Yeah.
00:18:36.160 That they'll support this awful organization.
00:18:37.920 And they are funding explicit Marxists who want to destroy capitalism, destroy free enterprise.
00:18:49.580 Destroy the family.
00:18:50.300 Speaking of our friends who are stuck at home, a number of them are writing in questions for the mailbag from Balaam's donkey.
00:18:57.360 This is a Twitter account.
00:18:58.440 I don't think it's his – I don't think it's his Christian name.
00:19:00.040 So, what can I do personally to stop this madness?
00:19:03.860 I'm not famous.
00:19:04.680 I'm not important.
00:19:05.440 I'm not even a good debater.
00:19:06.780 But I know what I believe.
00:19:08.520 Give me specifics.
00:19:10.740 Speak.
00:19:12.140 Speak to your friends.
00:19:13.160 Speak to your family.
00:19:14.580 And you know what?
00:19:15.740 You are famous, Balaam's donkey. 1.00
00:19:17.820 Because you've got – with social media, every one of us is publisher now.
00:19:21.680 I know.
00:19:21.980 He's also on a big podcast right now.
00:19:23.440 Like, every one of us can speak out.
00:19:25.700 And I actually tell, like – I don't know how old Balaam's donkey is, but I talk to a lot of, you know, high school kids, college kids.
00:19:34.880 And when it comes to defending freedom, why does freedom matter?
00:19:40.320 I say, look, you can do it much better.
00:19:43.220 I'm 49 years old.
00:19:44.400 How many 15-year-olds are going to listen to me?
00:19:46.040 Yeah.
00:19:46.440 I'd much rather have a 15-year-old say, why does it matter to be free?
00:19:49.280 Use your voice to explain why freedom matters, why free speech matters.
00:19:55.440 Look, the left are intolerant, totalitarian, and oppressive.
00:20:00.720 So speaking out, using humor, telling stories.
00:20:08.100 And on that point, knowing what you say.
00:20:10.340 I mean, Balaam's donkey says he knows what he believes, and I believe him. 1.00
00:20:13.320 But I think some people, you know, they want to get out there and argue their point of view.
00:20:17.020 The other side of this is study the facts.
00:20:20.140 I mean, read up.
00:20:21.140 Know what your point of view is so that you can articulate why you support your country, why you like your freedoms, why you like your rights.
00:20:27.700 And help educate others.
00:20:30.780 Yeah.
00:20:31.700 Look, left and right tend to communicate differently.
00:20:35.840 Too many people on the right communicate like accountants.
00:20:39.520 Yes.
00:20:40.020 Yes.
00:20:40.600 Just facts and numbers in a green eye shade.
00:20:43.640 Yeah.
00:20:43.780 And the left, they go for the heart.
00:20:46.700 Yeah.
00:20:47.060 I mean, their argument is he wants to eat your children.
00:20:49.420 Yeah.
00:20:49.600 I mean, that's what they say.
00:20:50.660 Right.
00:20:52.080 We got to do both.
00:20:53.380 And it's why stories are, you know, when you and I did the pod with John Voight.
00:21:00.080 Yeah.
00:21:00.260 And we were talking to him about like storytelling is a natural skill.
00:21:04.540 And actually, actually, this may have been afterwards where we were enjoying a cigar together.
00:21:10.240 Oh, yeah.
00:21:10.640 And I think this was after the pod and we were talking with John and I said, look, storytelling is a natural human expression of all of us.
00:21:20.540 And it's how we all communicate.
00:21:22.660 And John Discreet said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no lad.
00:21:26.160 No, no lad.
00:21:27.220 No.
00:21:27.580 You do a better John Voight impression than I do.
00:21:29.780 But his, to be sure, there are better storytellers.
00:21:33.320 Yeah.
00:21:33.680 And worse storytellers.
00:21:34.960 Right.
00:21:35.680 But it is how our hearts are stitched together.
00:21:38.260 Yes.
00:21:38.840 Yeah.
00:21:39.180 So tell stories.
00:21:41.500 We need more than just eggheads. 0.81
00:21:43.360 I mean, we want, you know, we want the accounting to work out.
00:21:45.340 But you have to grab people with a narrative.
00:21:48.620 Chase wants to know.
00:21:49.640 Um, speaking of sometimes we're lemmings, sometimes we fight back.
00:21:54.240 He has a question about owning the libs, you know, a politics of opposition.
00:21:57.880 Yep.
00:21:58.180 Banding together.
00:21:58.700 He says, is owning the libs a strong enough policy platform to win the House, Senate, and keep the White House?
00:22:05.200 Of course not.
00:22:06.100 So, of course not.
00:22:06.680 Look, I, this election, we win.
00:22:11.020 Trump gets reelected.
00:22:12.720 Republicans win.
00:22:14.120 If this is a battle of ideas.
00:22:16.020 Hmm.
00:22:17.000 Because the left has gone insane.
00:22:19.140 Yeah.
00:22:19.340 Their ideas are terrible.
00:22:21.500 If this is a battle between socialism and free enterprise, we win.
00:22:25.740 If this is a battle between, um, abolishing the police and protecting people's safety, we win.
00:22:35.460 Yeah.
00:22:35.800 Like, their positions are so extreme.
00:22:38.420 But I suppose this raises the question, because when I hear owning the libs, there is something to this, right?
00:22:43.540 A politics of opposition where, because their ideas are so extreme, because they're, you know, they're, like, pulling down statues and burning down the country.
00:22:52.260 I wonder if, if what Chase is asking is, is it enough to just point to their craziness?
00:22:56.880 So, so, so my point on this, though, is that we have to fight on the field of ideas.
00:23:03.000 I think the Democrats want to make this election entirely a personality election.
00:23:10.700 And they wanted a referendum on, do you like Donald Trump?
00:23:13.480 Yes or no.
00:23:14.180 There's a reason Joe Biden is hiding in his basement.
00:23:16.740 Right.
00:23:17.140 And it's actually, I don't think that it's senile, that he's senile and has dementia.
00:23:21.380 I think they've made the decision.
00:23:22.740 They think they're winning.
00:23:24.180 Yeah.
00:23:24.900 On a personality popularity contest on Donald Trump.
00:23:28.720 And so they just figure, all right, why, you know, if you're winning, don't mess with it.
00:23:31.440 Yeah.
00:23:31.820 Right.
00:23:33.000 And so, and so from their perspective, they would characterize it as sort of owning Trump.
00:23:37.660 Let's, let's just make it.
00:23:39.200 Yeah.
00:23:39.940 All about him.
00:23:41.400 Look, you and I both have fun on Twitter.
00:23:44.820 Yeah.
00:23:45.120 Yeah.
00:23:45.620 You know, I.
00:23:46.340 Own the occasional lib.
00:23:47.540 Nothing wrong with that.
00:23:48.500 But I try to do it.
00:23:50.200 I know you do too, actually on substance and issues.
00:23:52.380 Yes.
00:23:52.740 So, so if it's a question of, do you have the guts to actually take them on?
00:23:58.220 Yes, that matters.
00:23:59.400 Yeah.
00:24:00.140 Do you have a sense of humor and be fun about it?
00:24:02.680 You know, do you see the, the Portland rioters are now complaining they want like, like the,
00:24:07.260 the government to fund equipment so they could riot.
00:24:11.100 And look, I saw that and I tweeted it out and I said, you know, absolutely.
00:24:14.860 I agree.
00:24:15.540 I'm more than happy to give it to you.
00:24:17.180 Every one of you that engages in violence, I'll give you a taxpayer paid orange jumpsuit.
00:24:22.760 Three hots and a cot.
00:24:23.960 That's exactly right.
00:24:25.260 I mean, it's, you know, but it needs to be on substance.
00:24:31.540 There's also a point to that.
00:24:32.880 When I'm saying that, I'm making a point that these are violent criminals that should be incarcerated.
00:24:37.080 Yeah, that's right.
00:24:37.580 You can have a little bit of fun with it.
00:24:40.380 Yeah.
00:24:40.640 And you probably should.
00:24:42.640 But it's got to be grounded in something real if it's going to be effective.
00:24:45.580 You know, just saying you suck.
00:24:47.400 Yeah.
00:24:47.700 It is not a great message.
00:24:49.320 Yeah.
00:24:49.460 And frankly, it's how leftist.
00:24:51.840 I mean, that's basically what they say to Trump is they just hate him.
00:24:55.140 I mean, they're just.
00:24:55.880 Orange man bad is what they say.
00:24:57.000 Orange man.
00:24:57.660 I mean, that's just, they just scream primal rage.
00:25:01.860 Like, but look, how many Republicans are actually engaged in a real battle of ideas right now?
00:25:11.080 Yeah.
00:25:11.740 And what I'm urging the White House, if they let it be a personality contest.
00:25:16.340 Yeah.
00:25:17.460 That's what the left wants.
00:25:18.760 That's what the left wants.
00:25:20.040 And I think that's much more dangerous than focusing on ideas that work.
00:25:25.480 Yeah.
00:25:25.760 Well, we will have to leave it there.
00:25:27.580 We'll see you on the next episode.
00:25:29.720 We'll see you on the next episode.
00:25:31.060 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:25:32.040 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
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