Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 20, 2024


Spending the Day w Trump, Elon & Rocket Ships, plus Alvin Bragg Continues his Lawlessness


Episode Stats


Length

44 minutes

Words per minute

187.67169

Word count

8,403

Sentence count

526

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sits down with Sen. Ben Fincher (D-NJ) to talk about his trip to the SpaceX launch with President Trump and Elon Musk, and what they talked about on board Air Force One.

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.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.220 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:08.940 Senator, you had one heck of a day, and anybody that was watching the SpaceX launch
00:00:13.600 saw you standing right next to President Trump and Elon Musk.
00:00:17.900 This had to be a very interesting day of conversations as you spent 11, 12 hours with them.
00:00:24.960 Well, I did, and I'll tell you, last night I was on the Senate floor until nearly midnight,
00:00:30.000 because Chuck Schumer is ramming through a whole bunch of judges,
00:00:33.760 and we were fighting him until midnight, kept the Democrats on the Senate floor until midnight.
00:00:38.840 And then this morning I woke up early, I got on a plane, and I flew from D.C. down to Palm Beach.
00:00:46.240 And then I flew with President Trump from Palm Beach to Brownsville, Texas,
00:00:51.000 for the launch, the SpaceX launch today, and spent the afternoon with President Trump and Elon Musk,
00:00:58.080 and then flew back with President Trump to Palm Beach, where I'm overnighting,
00:01:02.580 and I'll be back in D.C. tomorrow.
00:01:04.720 So it was a full day. It was a fascinating day.
00:01:07.800 A lot to talk about.
00:01:09.480 We also are going to talk about today Alvin Bragg's attempt to extend lawfare,
00:01:16.620 to extend this criminal trial for five years, to punt it down the road,
00:01:21.220 and to hold it as a sort of Damocles over President Trump.
00:01:24.220 This is going to fail, is my prediction, but we're going to talk about that as well.
00:01:28.440 Yeah, I got a lot of questions to ask you about that plane ride,
00:01:31.360 and what all was talked about, because it's the first time you guys have spent some real quality time together
00:01:35.480 since Election Day, and I know everybody listening has got a million questions in their head,
00:01:40.360 just like I do.
00:01:41.040 I'm going to get as many of those out as I can.
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00:03:22.220 All right, Senator, we're going to do rapid fire here
00:03:24.500 because there's a million people that are thinking what I'm thinking,
00:03:27.600 and that is how does it work?
00:03:29.840 You go down to Florida, you meet at the tarmac, and then you get on Trump Force One.
00:03:35.780 What is the process of that even like?
00:03:38.960 So that's exactly right.
00:03:40.420 And the way it worked is I got a call yesterday from Trump's team saying,
00:03:43.540 hey, you want to fly with the president down to Texas and go to the launch?
00:03:47.820 And I said, sure.
00:03:48.780 And so I had to get myself down here.
00:03:50.860 And so I flew in commercial down to Palm Beach and then went over to the FBO
00:03:56.340 and met the president on Trump Force One.
00:04:00.060 I have to say, it's the first time I've been on Trump Force One.
00:04:02.440 I've been on Air Force One with him a lot of times,
00:04:04.420 but it's the first time I've been on his campaign plane.
00:04:07.720 You know, it made me, it reminded me of the first time I joined him on Air Force One,
00:04:13.500 and this was just, I don't know, a couple of months after he became president in 2017.
00:04:17.640 And when I came on Air Force One, I said, Mr. President, nice plane.
00:04:23.180 And he looked at me and laughed and said, yeah, my other one was nicer.
00:04:28.480 And I said, true, but that one didn't have missiles, which he laughed as well.
00:04:35.980 And I have to say, having been on both, Trump Force One is really nice.
00:04:40.020 It's a very well decked out.
00:04:41.660 It's a beautiful plane inside, a lot of space.
00:04:45.540 And so we sat, sat, had about a two and a half, three hour flight to Texas and about the same back.
00:04:51.760 And so spent a lot of time sitting in the plane talking.
00:04:55.640 It was beautiful.
00:04:56.600 We were there also with a number of folks.
00:04:59.900 Don Jr. came.
00:05:02.440 Don Jr.'s eldest daughter, Kai, came.
00:05:06.760 We had, actually, you are going to be very impressed by who came.
00:05:13.980 Do you know who was there?
00:05:15.460 Who else?
00:05:18.160 Bryson DeChambeau.
00:05:19.400 Well, see, now I'm having FOMO right now.
00:05:23.440 And for people that don't know who Bryson is, Bryson is a world-class golfer.
00:05:29.120 He has won majors and has been a huge Trump supporter and loves hanging out with him.
00:05:34.760 They play golf together quite often.
00:05:37.120 Well, and he just won the U.S. Open.
00:05:39.160 Yeah.
00:05:39.440 And it was, I'll tell you, a good chunk of the discussion.
00:05:43.740 So I was, there were four of us seated together and I was across from Trump and Bryson was
00:05:49.240 next to me.
00:05:49.760 And a good chunk of the conversation was about their golf game.
00:05:53.300 And he and Trump play a lot.
00:05:55.920 And what do you think Bryson drives?
00:05:58.040 So I'm going to go 340 would probably be somewhere in that area.
00:06:05.720 I mean, the guy just hammers the ball.
00:06:07.340 And he's had some that have been 375, 380 as well.
00:06:11.260 He said he drives pretty consistently 350 to 360.
00:06:15.600 There you go.
00:06:16.280 And that, yeah, with technology now, he's getting better every year.
00:06:18.620 That makes sense.
00:06:19.380 And that is insane.
00:06:20.460 If you've ever played golf, you know, I mean, I hit the ball pretty decent and my average
00:06:25.320 drive is like 265.
00:06:27.920 So he's got a hundred yards on that.
00:06:30.380 Trump was saying you play a par four and he's on the green and won.
00:06:34.300 It's unbelievable.
00:06:35.240 So he just went to go watch the launch as well.
00:06:37.580 That's so much fun.
00:06:38.860 Yeah.
00:06:39.100 No, he's, he is.
00:06:40.060 And he's a, he's a Texan.
00:06:41.240 He went to SMU.
00:06:42.220 He's from California originally.
00:06:43.320 So I didn't know him, but I hung out with him.
00:06:45.200 He was a great guy.
00:06:46.000 Really enjoyed hanging out with him.
00:06:47.580 Uh, Linda McMahon was, was on the plane. 0.99
00:06:51.140 Now, Linda McMahon, uh, was just announced as, as the new secretary of education.
00:06:56.180 I know Linda under the first administration. 1.00
00:06:58.040 She was, uh, the, the administrator of the small business, uh, administration.
00:07:02.080 And, and actually Trump told us on the plane, he said, well, what do you think?
00:07:06.060 Linda's going to be our new secretary of education. 0.99
00:07:07.920 What do you think of that?
00:07:08.720 And we were like, great.
00:07:09.960 In fact, he was talking with Linda.
00:07:11.460 Do we put this out today?
00:07:12.440 We put it out tomorrow.
00:07:14.440 Um, and, and they ended up putting it out today.
00:07:16.760 So, so, so, so the news broke, she's going to be terrific at that.
00:07:20.560 Um, and, and so that was a good discussion.
00:07:22.880 And so I had a good chance.
00:07:23.800 I know Linda well, and she's, she's been sharing the board of the America first policy institute.
00:07:28.680 So she'd been very engaged with the president.
00:07:31.140 She's helped leading, uh, she's helping lead the, the transition team for president Trump.
00:07:35.500 And, and Linda and I talked quite a bit about, uh, the legislation that I authored during the first Trump administration, uh, that, that would be the most far-reaching federal school choice legislation that's ever passed.
00:07:50.120 And it was legislation that I announced with Betsy DeVos, Trump's first secretary of education at the Department of Education.
00:07:56.940 And it became the Trump administration's, uh, lead school choice proposal was my legislation.
00:08:02.640 And in fact, he talked about it, uh, in one of the state of the union addresses.
00:08:05.920 And so Linda and I talked about that and, and, and working to, to, to push for school choice, to expand, uh, the options for students and working together on that.
00:08:15.120 And she's an advocate for school choice from what I've read.
00:08:18.040 Is that correct?
00:08:18.720 I mean, that's something that, that certainly she is saying, yes, I like this idea.
00:08:22.840 Yeah, she, she, she is certainly an advocate for school choice.
00:08:26.020 Um, and, and she also has been an advocate for workforce training and education.
00:08:31.580 That's something she's done a lot of at America first policy Institute.
00:08:34.300 And, and, and the proposal that, that, that, that I authored, uh, what it consists of is federal tax credits, dollar for dollar tax credits, $10 billion a year.
00:08:47.200 So $100 billion over 10 years, $5 billion of it is focused on K through 12 education.
00:08:53.240 And $5 billion of it is focused on workforce development education.
00:08:57.380 And the way that the, the, the legislation is structured, each state can choose whether to opt in or not.
00:09:04.060 So it's not forced on the states.
00:09:06.460 Um, and the states can opt in to the K through 12 part or the workforce development part or both.
00:09:12.920 And, and the way it operates is once the state opt in, opt in, any individual or corporation that makes a contribution to a scholarship granting organization in that state gets a dollar for dollar tax credit on their federal taxes.
00:09:29.120 And so what it results in is $10 billion in additional resources going, uh, to, to education and school choice.
00:09:37.540 The way it is drafted, however, the federal government stays out of the business of curriculum.
00:09:42.360 The federal government has no control, no strings over what's taught.
00:09:46.460 The only requirement is that for the states to participate, they cannot discriminate against private schools or religious schools.
00:09:52.940 They have to let parents and students decide.
00:09:55.360 And, and if they do that, the, the, the money flows and it would be transformational to give you a sense of what it means for, it means for a state the size of Texas.
00:10:05.140 Texas is about 10% of the national population.
00:10:08.420 The money is allocated pro rata.
00:10:10.060 So that would mean about a billion dollars a year and additional scholarships going, uh, to, to young people and adults in the state of Texas, which would be really, really potent.
00:10:20.880 So let's talk about that reform since you mentioned her name.
00:10:23.800 And I, this is the best part about this show is we get to, we get to, you know, go down these rabbit holes.
00:10:29.440 There has been such, um, um, just fervor from the left to not move towards school choice, uh, because it's all about the teachers unions.
00:10:39.720 It's all about putting the unions first instead of the kids.
00:10:43.160 There's a lot of kids in failing schools.
00:10:44.820 There's a lot of African-American kids, minority kids, Hispanic kids that are in failing schools as well.
00:10:50.140 Uh, is there the political willpower this go around to actually do it?
00:10:55.180 Because look, I've seen a lot of conservatives say, oh, they, they like the idea, keyword idea of school choice.
00:11:00.040 But when it comes down to it, they're afraid they're gun shy.
00:11:03.640 Do you feel like we're seeing a turn now, especially if you have, uh, a secretary of education that's on board with it as well?
00:11:12.160 So at the state level, definitely at, at the federal level, it's still going to be a challenge.
00:11:17.500 Let's talk about the state level for a minute.
00:11:19.580 I think next year, Texas is going to pass landmark school choice legislation.
00:11:24.920 And that's something I've been incredibly active in.
00:11:28.160 And, and, and, and so going down this, this, this rabbit hole, as you, as you mentioned, in the state legislature, so, so out of 100 senators, to the best of my knowledge, 99 of them avoid making endorsements and primaries in their states and state legislative races.
00:11:45.980 And there's a reason for that, Ben, if you're a U.S. senator, and you make endorsements and primaries in your state, it is a political loser for you.
00:11:54.980 The, the, the, the rule of thumb is when you make an endorsement, you get half their friends and all their enemies.
00:12:00.960 And so most people don't do that.
00:12:02.280 They stay out of primaries.
00:12:03.800 Um, I am the only exception of which I'm aware.
00:12:06.920 And, and I met regularly, I make many, many endorsements in primaries in the state house and the state Senate.
00:12:14.360 And I make those endorsements based on a single criteria, which is school choice.
00:12:20.260 I, I think school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.
00:12:24.800 And, and I am absolutely committed to fighting for school choice.
00:12:28.840 I think every child should have the right to have access to, to an excellent education, regardless of their race, their, their ethnicity, their wealth, their zip code.
00:12:38.400 And, and, and, and so the way I do it in Texas, it is every two years, every election cycle, I have my team prepare an Excel spreadsheet of every vote that every state legislator and every state senator has cast on school choice.
00:12:53.860 And if you've voted in favor of school choice and you're otherwise relatively conservative, you are very likely to get my support.
00:13:02.940 If, if on the other hand, you voted against school choice, the chances of you're getting my support are zero.
00:13:11.020 And if you have anything resembling a credible primary challenger, I am quite likely to support that primary challenger.
00:13:18.720 And when I do so, I don't do so gently.
00:13:21.140 I come in, I'll often cut radio ads or TV ads.
00:13:24.360 I'll come in and actively campaign.
00:13:27.880 And, and, and I'll tell you over the last two cycles, we have repeatedly beaten incumbent state legislators who oppose school choice.
00:13:38.280 Two years ago, we almost passed school choice in Texas, but it failed because a bunch of Republicans voted against it.
00:13:45.420 And this cycle, I endorsed against those Republicans.
00:13:48.960 So did Greg Abbott, the governor.
00:13:50.480 He jumped in this time, and we beat almost every one of them.
00:13:54.040 And, and, and I actually think the opponents of school choice are going to regret killing it two years ago,
00:13:59.760 because I think what passes in Texas this spring is going to be much bigger and bolder,
00:14:05.900 and I'm hopeful it will be the biggest and boldest school choice program in America.
00:14:09.880 So at the state level.
00:14:10.600 And does that become the blueprint then, and part of the reason why you've taken these political risks and hit,
00:14:15.740 and doing what you decided to do in these primaries,
00:14:18.440 I'm guessing is because you want Texas to be the beacon for the,
00:14:22.400 the blueprint for the way to get this done state by state, correct?
00:14:26.620 Yes.
00:14:27.120 Texas should be leading.
00:14:28.760 And, and, and one of the things to remember,
00:14:30.860 Texas has about 10% of the school kids in the entire country.
00:14:34.440 So when Texas leads,
00:14:36.240 when we pass the biggest and boldest school choice program,
00:14:39.100 that is going to impact the whole country profoundly.
00:14:41.680 Now, at the federal level, at the federal level to pass legislation,
00:14:46.620 you've got to get it through the Senate,
00:14:48.180 which means you've got to overcome a filibuster,
00:14:50.020 which means you've got to get some Democrats.
00:14:52.200 Right now, we do not have any Democrats,
00:14:54.580 not even one in the Senate who supports school choice.
00:14:57.780 Part of the reason my legislation combines K through 12 education with workforce development
00:15:02.740 is with the workforce development,
00:15:05.240 I'm trying to broaden the coalition.
00:15:07.780 The Democrats are perfectly happy to tell African American kids and Hispanic kids 1.00
00:15:11.540 and their parents,
00:15:12.620 go jump in the lake,
00:15:13.700 we're not going to do anything for you
00:15:15.300 because we're bought and paid for by the teachers unions.
00:15:18.560 And, and so we get no Democrats because of that.
00:15:21.640 I'm trying to expand it so we get the trade unions and construction unions,
00:15:25.880 all of whom care a lot about workforce development,
00:15:29.980 and they are historically significant constituents of Democrats.
00:15:34.160 I'm trying to expand the political coalition.
00:15:37.180 That being said,
00:15:38.080 we still have a significant journey to go.
00:15:41.540 So, so, so I think I'm much more optimistic at the state level than the federal level.
00:15:46.440 Now, let's talk more about the, the, the, the, the plane trip with President Trump.
00:15:50.240 I'll tell you just mood wise,
00:15:52.200 the president was in a great mood.
00:15:56.700 He was laughing.
00:15:58.140 He was as happy and relaxed as I've ever seen him.
00:16:01.420 As I said, we were talking about golf quite a bit.
00:16:03.220 Um, it, it, uh, we, we were hanging out.
00:16:07.820 He was, he was glowing in the election results.
00:16:10.740 I saw him, I think two weeks before the election was the last time I'd seen him.
00:16:14.380 So I hadn't seen him since the election.
00:16:16.220 I've talked to him since the election, but this is the first time I saw him in person.
00:16:19.840 And he was, he was just, he was justifiably really happy about the election results.
00:16:26.640 And, and, and we were talking about how it's a mandate about, about how his election results,
00:16:31.760 how winning the Senate, the house, how he's winning the popular vote, how he's winning
00:16:35.800 all seven of the swing States really as a mandate to deliver on our promises.
00:16:41.460 And, and, and that was a big part of what we talked about on the plane.
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00:17:14.320 Well, let's talk about also policies and, and cabinet.
00:17:20.680 You mentioned he, he, you know, you guys are on the plane.
00:17:22.900 He named one that does he, does he talk policy with you and, and with everybody around, is
00:17:28.360 he talking about cabinet positions that are still left and open and need to be filled?
00:17:32.200 Or is he talking about confirmations and, and how that's going to work?
00:17:35.460 I mean, I mean, how, how organized is it when it comes to just, or is he just picking
00:17:39.240 your brain saying, all right, what are we up against?
00:17:40.980 What do we need to do next?
00:17:41.960 So, so look, we're just sitting there, it's, you know, a three hour plane ride.
00:17:46.100 So you're just talking back and forth.
00:17:47.740 You're, you're, you're, you're hanging out and, and, and talking.
00:17:50.520 Um, he mentioned at the beginning of the plane ride, he said, RFK really wants, uh, Dr. Oz,
00:17:56.600 uh, to, to, to, to be his right hand.
00:17:58.900 And, and, and, and so he asked what we thought of that.
00:18:00.920 I, I said, I, I don't know Oz personally, but he seems like an impressive guy.
00:18:05.700 He seems like a good communicator.
00:18:07.020 He's obviously a, a medical doctor who, who knows how to communicate issues of healthcare
00:18:12.580 effectively, which is something that, that I think is very valuable.
00:18:16.120 Um, and so he showed us, for example, a statement that, that, that they were going to put out that
00:18:20.460 he was like writing right there on the plane.
00:18:22.920 And he, he would be with his comm staff and they'd come up with a statement.
00:18:26.840 They put it out.
00:18:27.660 And, and, and I mean, it's a wild thing where, where, where he composes a statement or a tweet
00:18:32.440 that goes out and like five minutes later, you know, the TV on the plane is on and there's,
00:18:37.460 there's the news with his statement, boom, right on the TV.
00:18:41.120 And so the news broke that Dr. Oz was, was, was, was going to be RFK's right hand at health
00:18:47.820 and human services.
00:18:48.800 And that, and I know you guys, you had it on CNN and MSNBC, right?
00:18:51.840 No Fox on the plane, right?
00:18:53.180 Uh, all Fox, thankfully, although we did talk some about, uh, Joe Scarborough and Mika going 0.91
00:18:59.720 down to, to, to Mar-a-Lago and we were kind of laughing about that.
00:19:03.920 And what did he say about it?
00:19:05.000 Because it was, and we know what they said on TV about it.
00:19:07.840 What did he say about it?
00:19:08.740 Why was there, why, what was the, the logic behind having that meeting?
00:19:13.320 Look, I, he didn't say a lot.
00:19:15.920 He was pretty gracious about it.
00:19:17.720 Um, it, it was, I, I will say, you know, Don Jr.
00:19:22.040 was, was, was less, uh, you know, he made a comment, something to the effect of my dad's
00:19:25.960 a lot nicer than I, than I would be.
00:19:28.100 Uh, but you know, he, he met with them and, and sort of look that MSNBC is, is in crisis
00:19:36.100 because they've lost their viewers.
00:19:38.200 Um, I will say we watch as we were flying back, uh, uh, on Fox tonight, Rosie O'Donnell
00:19:43.840 had this like blistering statement, blasting Joe and Mika.
00:19:47.780 How dare you go talk to Trump?
00:19:49.600 Uh, you'll never be forgiven for this.
00:19:51.660 And, and, and I, I will say we all got a pretty hearty laugh at, at watching the, the, the
00:19:56.620 intense hatred from Rosie O'Donnell and the left who are angry.
00:20:01.220 They're angry at the voters.
00:20:02.300 They're angry at America.
00:20:03.240 They're angry at the world right now for, for where we are.
00:20:06.880 And, and, and I think I, I, in my view, Joe and Mika, we're, we're desperate to try
00:20:12.020 to, to respond to changed circumstances.
00:20:14.420 But apparently when they spent two years or four years or 10 years saying he's Hitler,
00:20:19.720 he's Hitler, he's Hitler. 0.90
00:20:21.060 Um, apparently they want to sit down and pal around with Hitler.
00:20:24.260 Yeah.
00:20:25.080 Hang out with Hitler and come back and say, we had a really nice meeting with Hitler said 0.90
00:20:28.240 no one ever.
00:20:29.240 Uh, but that is exactly what they did on TV.
00:20:32.000 And I think that's part of the reason why there was such a strong reaction from both
00:20:35.460 sides.
00:20:35.780 It was pandering, uh, and it's, in its worst form.
00:20:38.980 I actually think it was a brilliant move by Trump and this goes back to the, the, I call
00:20:43.020 it the Trump doctrine.
00:20:44.280 He's willing to meet with anybody pretty much at any time, even the people that hate him.
00:20:48.080 He's willing to have conversations with Kim Jong-un or with Mika and Joe Scarborough or with
00:20:53.480 Vladimir Putin.
00:20:54.480 I like that.
00:20:55.520 And I think that's one of the things that the American people like, and I want to get
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00:22:43.180 So let's talk about this.
00:22:46.920 It's not just domestic policy.
00:22:48.940 It's foreign policy.
00:22:50.140 Trump is clearly saying, I'll talk to anybody, anywhere, if it's for the good of the country
00:22:55.320 and for the good of the people, and whether it's on the media side or with these leaders
00:23:00.600 around the world.
00:23:01.360 And that is something I think is contagious that also threatens Washington.
00:23:06.220 Well, yeah.
00:23:06.960 And we spent a good chunk of the plane ride also talking about, number one, how to resolve
00:23:11.380 the war in Ukraine and Trump's concern and my concern that Joe Biden is escalating the
00:23:17.560 war and it really is getting dangerous where we are in these next two months, but also talking
00:23:23.340 about how to end the war in Israel, how to defeat Hamas and get the hostages back.
00:23:26.940 And so we had a really robust conversation on both of those fronts.
00:23:31.220 And those are major foreign policy challenges that Trump is inheriting.
00:23:36.140 And I have predicted for a long time that both of those wars will come to an end in the
00:23:41.020 next year and maybe even sooner than that because they were both caused, I think, fundamentally
00:23:47.260 by the weakness of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the weakness of our commander in chief.
00:23:52.500 And I think having a strong commander in chief is going to dramatically alter how our enemies
00:23:58.460 behave and bring those conflicts to an end.
00:24:01.840 So we talked about that a considerable length.
00:24:04.140 Yeah.
00:24:04.260 And you can see people taking his lead at Germany, even talking with Russia, saying maybe it's
00:24:08.160 time to wind this thing down.
00:24:09.460 That's not something they'd said before.
00:24:11.540 So let's talk about confirmations for a second.
00:24:14.680 What is the the schedule look like right now?
00:24:18.740 Uh, and I'm sure this had to be part of the conversation because he names people.
00:24:23.000 And then what you do next is you go meet with members of Congress to try to gain support.
00:24:28.760 I'm assuming that's full speed ahead right now.
00:24:31.780 Those meetings are already taking place.
00:24:34.220 Sure.
00:24:35.100 That is moving forward.
00:24:36.820 And what's going to happen is at the beginning of January, the new Congress will be sworn in.
00:24:41.380 So the new Congress will be sworn in before Trump is.
00:24:43.900 And, and so we will begin in the Senate hearings on, on his, the people he's named in the cabinet,
00:24:50.620 even before he's president.
00:24:52.400 Now we can't confirm anyone before he's president because he can't nominate anyone until he is
00:24:57.140 president, but we can do the hearings the first couple of weeks of January.
00:25:00.780 And I fully anticipate that's what the Senate will do so that we can move expeditiously with
00:25:06.280 confirmations in particular, uh, of the top cabinet appointments.
00:25:09.900 And so we talked about that, uh, at, at considerable length as well.
00:25:14.400 And, and, and then I got to tell you, when we landed in Texas and we landed in Brownsville,
00:25:18.260 Brownsville, as you know, is the Southern tip of Texas.
00:25:21.900 And it's where SpaceX at, at Boca Chica has built their launch site and has built a factory.
00:25:29.600 And, and, and the factory is where they build, uh, starships, which are massive, that they're
00:25:35.800 the largest rockets in the world.
00:25:38.160 They're absolutely massive.
00:25:39.660 Uh, they build them there and it's where the launch was.
00:25:42.460 And, and, and the size of it, just the rocket booster has 33 Raptor engines in it.
00:25:50.040 Wow.
00:25:50.740 And each of those Raptor engines produces twice as much thrust as all four engines on a 747.
00:26:00.000 So, I mean, it is incredible the power, uh, that, that, that comes out of the engines.
00:26:04.840 And by the way, SpaceX makes those engines, they, they make the boosters, they make, they
00:26:08.760 make the starship.
00:26:09.720 And, and so we were gathered at the observation, uh, deck to watch the launch.
00:26:15.840 And, and the observation deck is a couple of miles away from the launch because you can't
00:26:19.940 be too close.
00:26:20.800 The noise is too great.
00:26:23.420 And, and so we, you know, saw the launch control room and, and, and then stood there with
00:26:27.780 it with Elon and he was telling us about all the challenges.
00:26:30.220 And listen, they're still in the, in the testing mode.
00:26:33.860 I mean, this is, this is a starship, uh, that, that, that Elon hopes and intends to take to
00:26:38.960 Mars.
00:26:39.300 And so they are testing that they're improving, for example, the, the, the ceramic heat shield
00:26:45.560 tiles that are on the starship.
00:26:47.680 They're improving their thrusters that, and they're experimenting and learning what works.
00:26:51.800 And, and so we, you know, look, Elon was, was very honest.
00:26:54.980 He said, look, at a test like this, we don't know what happens.
00:26:57.460 And, and sometimes when you're testing rockets, you know, rockets can blow up.
00:27:01.260 It's why you test them to make sure that, that, that, that if they do have a problem,
00:27:05.160 that they have a problem before you have, uh, a manned crew on it.
00:27:10.000 Uh, and there was no manned crew on this launch, but you're testing different, different technology
00:27:14.620 to see how it operates.
00:27:15.600 And so we stood there and watched the launch and people all around the world watched the
00:27:19.260 launch.
00:27:19.920 Uh, the launch was successful.
00:27:21.400 It was amazing to watch.
00:27:22.820 We saw it.
00:27:23.640 What was really striking is you see it and then, then it takes, uh, several seconds for
00:27:29.320 the sound to travel that distance.
00:27:31.420 So it's already, and I mean, you're literally even at a cut several miles away, like, like
00:27:36.200 the ground is shaking from the force of the rocket launch.
00:27:40.520 And, and, and, and Elon is someone whom, whom I know, well, I've spent a lot of time with
00:27:44.380 Elon, but, but every time I'm with him, the guy is just so frigging smart.
00:27:48.940 I mean, I mean, it's, uh, look, Ben, I've been blessed, uh, to, to get to know a lot
00:27:54.580 of really scary, smart people.
00:27:56.780 And, and I got to say, Elon is just in a class all by himself.
00:28:00.320 I, I mean, it's the, the, the guy just thinks it's not even outside the box.
00:28:05.620 He doesn't know there's a box.
00:28:06.960 He just, you, you look at something like rocket ships, everyone fired rockets in the
00:28:12.580 air and then the boosters fell and you just discarded them and you did it again.
00:28:15.780 And so every rocket was a single use rocket and, and, and Elon revolutionized, said,
00:28:21.040 well, wait a second, why do we have to have single use rockets?
00:28:23.260 Why not fire a rocket in the air and then have it come down?
00:28:26.060 And why not catch it out of the air with giant robot arms, which he calls chopsticks?
00:28:31.140 And, and everyone said, okay, that's absurd.
00:28:32.820 That's insane.
00:28:33.900 Nobody can do that.
00:28:34.800 That doesn't make any sense.
00:28:35.860 And, and of course, that's exactly what Elon built.
00:28:37.740 And it's, it has so changed.
00:28:40.500 It was kind of funny.
00:28:41.120 Elon referred several times, uh, to the, to this as alien technology.
00:28:45.220 And, and, and, and, you know, it, it, I don't think that's too much of a, uh, an exaggeration
00:28:50.540 watching it.
00:28:52.040 So we all watched in amazement, uh, as, as, as we were watching our, I was watching on TV
00:28:58.120 and many others were, I do have to say one of the most fun parts for me of watching, you,
00:29:03.780 you know, Trump and you and everybody there is just the boy boyhood excitement is, and I,
00:29:09.600 and I say that in the, in the, in the, the, the most sincere and authentic way ever on
00:29:14.600 the faces of everyone that was able to watch this, I don't care who you are just getting
00:29:20.340 to watch it and to see Elon's face and, and your face and president Trump's face and others
00:29:25.340 that were around you guys.
00:29:26.200 I saw Hagerty there, for example, the, it was just the, the moment of like, this is
00:29:30.600 unbelievable.
00:29:31.320 Well, and, and it was traveling, so, so the starship itself, uh, traveled halfway around
00:29:38.540 the world, uh, the booster separated, we saw the booster separate, and, and initially the
00:29:44.560 plan was that it was going to go down and, and be caught by the robot arms where it had
00:29:49.740 been launched, and in fact, it separates, so it, the, the booster was attached to the
00:29:54.300 starship for a minute and a half, and then it separated, and we initially got the call
00:29:58.760 catch as a go, which we were excited about, because they only try to catch it if all the
00:30:03.520 conditions are right, and so they were, they were going to catch the booster, and then
00:30:07.220 they ended up altering the plan and not doing the catch, but having it instead land in the
00:30:12.760 Gulf of Mexico, and so the conditions were slightly off, and so they had it land in the
00:30:16.320 Gulf, but Elon was really happy because it landed in the Gulf, um, but it, but it did
00:30:21.440 not explode, and last time when it landed in the Gulf, it did explode, and so look, they're
00:30:25.220 testing different things to see what happens, uh, and it was interesting, it, it floats in
00:30:29.920 the water, and I was asking Elon, why does it float? He says, well, look, once, uh, once
00:30:34.020 the, the, the, the, the liquid methane and liquid oxygen is out, he said it has the density
00:30:38.380 essentially of an empty beer can, and, and so just like you throw an empty beer can on
00:30:43.180 the water and it floats, that's, that's the same thing as the booster, and, and so they're
00:30:47.120 going and, and salvaging the booster and discovering, okay, what happened, what's going on there,
00:30:52.460 all right, so that landed pretty quickly. The starship traveled for about an hour, uh, and
00:30:58.780 it landed, uh, I think about 600 miles.
00:31:01.140 And then did you guys go inside, or, or did, or what, after, how long were you outside,
00:31:04.500 and then where did you get to watch the second part?
00:31:07.080 So, we, we were outside, we arrived probably an hour before the launch, and so we were talking
00:31:13.220 with Elon, and we were in, uh, uh, the control room and, and just having conversations, and we
00:31:18.100 watched, and we watched, uh, the, the booster separate, and then we watched the booster come
00:31:24.000 down, although we couldn't see, the booster landed far enough out in the gulf that we
00:31:27.900 couldn't see with our naked eye the booster landing in the water, but we had the, the video
00:31:32.200 on a big screen, so we were watching it there. And then what we did, because you had about
00:31:36.820 an hour while the starship was traveling, uh, in space, and it was going, uh, about 26,000
00:31:43.020 kilometers an hour, it was about 160 kilometers above planet earth. Um, one of the things Elon
00:31:48.400 said is that the starship was traveling, uh, about 10 times the speed of a bullet out of an assault
00:31:54.900 rifle, which there's an analogy you, you, you can understand, uh, Dan, and as funny, Doug Jr.
00:32:00.360 was laughing, going, all right, that, that makes sense to me too, but that's fast.
00:32:04.920 Yeah, that's fast on a, on a whole nother level. And so you got to watch all of this take place.
00:32:10.880 How important is this, just this technology and the fact that it's being done in Texas,
00:32:16.340 because that is the reason why you were on that plane. That's why they asked you to go
00:32:21.240 down there because this is in Texas. I don't think people realize what this is doing for
00:32:26.740 the Texas economy as well. So it is incredible. And, and while the starship was, was flying
00:32:33.220 halfway around the world, we left the launch observation site. We went to the factory, which
00:32:39.640 is right at the launch site. Now the factory, so five years ago, this was essentially an
00:32:46.440 empty beach, like, like just sand and nothing was on it. And in five years, Elon has built
00:32:52.860 this incredible, and I've, I've been to it before. I've toured it before, but, but it
00:32:57.660 is, it takes your breath away. They are manufacturing about one rocket ship a month. And then these
00:33:05.080 things are massive. So you go into the factory and, and there, I think it was 22 stories high
00:33:10.700 is how tall the booster is. I mean, it just goes up and up and up and up. And it's, it's
00:33:15.420 huge. And, and, you know, we went in and saw, and they are manufacturing them to a level of
00:33:21.240 precision down to the 10th of a millimeter. I mean, you think about this, it's not like,
00:33:25.920 it's not like SpaceX is making just widgets. I mean, if a screw is wrong, the damn thing can blow 0.99
00:33:32.360 up. Like there's so many ways for something to go wrong. And they have a level of precision that 0.99
00:33:40.980 is just astonishing. And, and so we went in and, and, and saw and toured. And one of the things
00:33:47.760 Elon said is, is look, they're doing launch after launch after launch and everyone, they're improving
00:33:52.380 the technology and they're trying different things. So one of the things they did on this one
00:33:55.780 is they're testing different angles of re-entry to see, okay, if, if you angle the, the, the starship
00:34:04.200 at a slightly different angle, is there more heat? Is there less heat? What, what happens, you know,
00:34:09.020 what, what's the optimum angle? So they're trying all sorts of different things. So we, we, we toured
00:34:14.040 those facilities. By the way, they like basically built a whole town. They built housing for the
00:34:21.240 employees. One of the things Elon said that, that, you know, is a challenge when you're
00:34:25.040 recruiting the, the, the best engineers and, and rocket scientists, and they're literally
00:34:28.920 rocket scientists, is he said, you've got to find a place that, that their significant
00:34:33.480 others want to live. And so they basically built a whole community with like houses all
00:34:38.060 around there. And like, I didn't go this time, but I've been previously, they have like
00:34:42.300 a little tiki bar that's sort of a, a club that, that, that the employees can go and hang
00:34:47.760 out. And then, you know, he said, look, you got to, you, you have to create an environment
00:34:51.280 that, that, that, that, that both your, your incredibly skilled employees and, and their
00:34:55.720 significant others want to be in. And, and one thing, you know, but not every, every verdict
00:35:01.420 listener may know, look, Brownsville has historically been, faced very significant economic challenges.
00:35:09.340 And, and so to have this incredible high tech billions and billions of dollars invested
00:35:16.720 in, in, in, in deep South Texas in the Rio Grande Valley was really significant. By the
00:35:22.920 way, when we took the motorcade from where Trump Force One landed to the launch site,
00:35:28.320 the entire roadside of driving along, that there were thousands of people waving signs,
00:35:35.520 waving American flags, cheering. And, and one of the most significant aspects of this election
00:35:42.000 in Texas is, is, is that both Donald Trump and I, both of us won Hispanics in the state of Texas. I
00:35:50.000 won Hispanics by six points statewide. That's unprecedented. And the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas,
00:35:56.800 has been bright blue for a hundred years. It has been just an absolute bastion, uh, of the Democrat
00:36:05.360 party. And this election, South Texas flipped red. I mean, their star County had a 50 point move. It's
00:36:14.160 the most Hispanic County in America. And it had, it had a massive move. Trump won it, but the move in 0.97
00:36:21.520 South Texas, I think is generational and transformational. And you could just see it as
00:36:26.480 people were cheering and, and thrilled the president was there. That, that was a very cool aspect of it as
00:36:31.840 well. Every day I wake up early in the morning and I got to make sure I get a cup of coffee.
00:36:37.040 And look, when you do radio, you got to keep your voice going and you need something hot to drink.
00:36:41.520 Well, I'm not going to have an average cup of coffee. And that's exactly why I want you to know
00:36:46.720 about blackout coffee. And I want you to try it. There's a lot of woke coffee companies out there.
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00:37:20.960 they accept, as I mentioned a moment ago, no compromise on taste or quality. Now I get
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00:38:00.720 verdict. Use a coupon code verdict for 20% off your first order. All right. Final question on this trip.
00:38:06.480 So you get done with all this excitement and then this is still kind of awesome. You get back on Trump
00:38:12.560 Force One and you fly back to Florida. What was the conversation like on the way home?
00:38:19.520 Again, it was relaxed. We're having fun. We're talking. You know, we had had Fox on. And so we're
00:38:25.880 watching Jesse Waters, Laura Ingram and Hannity. We're talking about all that and just sort of
00:38:30.720 riffing back and forth. You know, as we were landing, Trump began playing music. And so when he's
00:38:38.480 down at Mar-a-Lago, Trump likes to basically be the DJ and he has an iPad there that he controls
00:38:43.920 the music at Mar-a-Lago and they'll sit there at the table and just play the songs he wants to listen
00:38:47.620 to. And so as we were landing in Palm Beach, he put on Guns N' Roses, a music video that he loves
00:38:55.620 from Guns N' Roses. And then he put on another music video from Pavarotti, which you want to talk
00:39:00.960 about some breadth in music taste. That's what we were listening to as we went wheels down back
00:39:08.440 in Florida. Now, did you eat any McDonald's? Because there's a lot of pictures that get taken
00:39:12.940 on Trump Force One eating McDonald's. We did not. Our dinner instead was Whataburger because we were
00:39:18.240 in Texas, damn it. I love it. See, I set you up perfect for that answer. So you didn't even know 0.99
00:39:23.660 the answer to that, did you? I know, but I set you up there perfectly. So what did he say about
00:39:27.960 Whataburger compared to McDonald's? Was it a no brainer for him? He was like, this is a really
00:39:32.320 good hamburger. Wow. This is really great. I mean, he was, I would say he was a fan.
00:39:38.320 I love it. All right. I want to ask you lastly about big news that happened. And this is much
00:39:44.540 more of a serious topic. Trump team is declaring victory after the Manhattan prosecutors push for
00:39:51.940 a four year freeze on sentencing Donald Trump in his business records case. I've never heard of
00:39:59.180 this before in my life. Maybe this is something that's normal. And Alvin Bragg is upset. He's like,
00:40:05.200 no, no, I still want to go after Donald Trump. You're going to delay it. We'll delay it. But I
00:40:09.100 want him. I still want him. I still believe I'm right. I still want to put him in jail.
00:40:13.360 Well, President Trump has filed a motion to dismiss his criminal conviction.
00:40:17.020 And, and the Manhattan prosecutor, instead of agreeing to that, has suggested to the judge,
00:40:23.520 no, no, no, don't dismiss it. Just put it on hold for four years. Just freeze it. Don't sentence him.
00:40:29.860 Just leave the conviction hanging out there. And I got to say, look, unprecedented doesn't begin to
00:40:35.940 describe it. It is an absolute abuse of power. And look, you got to understand, Alvin Bragg is,
00:40:41.860 is an elected Democrat in Manhattan. In Manhattan, you've still got an overwhelming majority of
00:40:48.360 Democrats, many of whom hate Donald Trump's guts. And so for Alvin Bragg, even though politically,
00:40:55.360 nationally, the persecution and lawfare of Donald Trump, I think actually played a significant factor
00:41:02.340 in his winning. And that was a point I made to him on the flight is that I said, we talked quite a
00:41:07.580 bit about all the cases and everything he's endured. And I said, look, ironically, the more they went
00:41:12.140 after you, the more I think it helped you. And if it had been just one indictment, it might have been
00:41:17.200 more harmful. But there were so many that it became obvious to anyone that this was just a persecution.
00:41:23.480 This was a, a political witch hunt. This was a partisan effort to go after someone because they
00:41:30.080 were terrified that what would happen is what in fact did happen, that the American people would vote
00:41:36.020 to reelect him. And I think, as I said, it ended up boosting him significantly in the polls. Well,
00:41:43.960 even though it, I think, was harmful to Democrats nationally, in Manhattan, I suspect it's quite
00:41:51.420 helpful to Alvin Bragg, because there are a lot of partisans who hate Trump. And I got to say,
00:41:56.760 I am very hopeful, you know, that this will be thrown out. The judge, Juan Merchan, has demonstrated,
00:42:06.740 I think, a lot of bias. He is, he is a partisan Democrat as well. It'll be interesting to see what
00:42:14.600 he does. Because I think if he agrees with the prosecutor, if he says, okay, we're going to just put
00:42:22.760 this on ice for four years, I think that will prompt an appeal. It will probably prompt what's
00:42:29.340 called a writ of mandamus to an appellate court to order either the case dismissed or to order him to
00:42:35.860 rule. Because what Alvin Bragg wants to do is he wants to run for reelection, saying, I prosecuted
00:42:43.000 Donald Trump. I got a conviction of Donald Trump. And to use it, number one, for his political
00:42:48.760 advantage. Number two, he wants to avoid an appellate reversal. So he wants four years of
00:42:53.060 the appellate courts not examining the many and the rampant legal errors in his rulings.
00:43:00.260 But number three, he wants to use this to threaten the president, to have it hang over. And this guy's
00:43:06.660 enough of a zealot that, I mean, he's literally talking about, okay, four plus years from now,
00:43:11.940 when he's done with being president, he's 82 years old. Alvin Bragg wants to put him in jail.
00:43:16.140 But like it just to be there to threaten the president every day. And by the way, number
00:43:21.280 four, he wants CNN and MSNBC and all of the corporate media to refer to him as a convicted
00:43:26.620 felon over and over and over again. And if the case is thrown out, that becomes a lot more
00:43:33.220 problematic. I do not believe Alvin Bragg will succeed in this. Either the trial judge will
00:43:39.660 say, look, this is not tenable. You can't have a jury verdict and then just free sentencing
00:43:45.440 for four years. Or if not, I think we will see an appellate court step in and say that this is
00:43:51.540 inconsistent with New York law and is inconsistent with the Constitution. I'm very hopeful that's
00:43:57.580 what will happen.
00:43:58.740 Well, I think it's fair to say one heck of a day, Senator, and a great day for the citizens
00:44:04.260 in Texas, for just everybody down there in Brownsville. And also to hear that things are
00:44:10.080 full speed ahead on the Trump train after this mandate and a big victory. I also just love
00:44:14.720 hearing that Donald Trump's in such good spirits. He's been through hell and back. He's literally
00:44:18.940 been shot in the last six months. And to see him enjoying life the way that you described
00:44:24.420 it with so many heavy things around him. I think that's just great for everybody to hear.
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