Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 13, 2023


Terror Threat in America, Biden Admin's Daily Efforts to Undermine Israel & the Latest on the Speaker of the House


Episode Stats


Length

46 minutes

Words per minute

155.56541

Word count

7,248

Sentence count

480

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

12

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergusons discuss the possibility of a terrorist attack on Friday the 13th, and why Biden needs to wake up to the threat of an attack on the United States. They also discuss the Democratic response to the call by Hamas for a global day of jihad on Friday 13th.

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.
00:00:02.540 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.680 Welcome, it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you, and we have a lot to
00:00:10.680 cover, including the possibility of a terror attack around the world on the 13th of Friday,
00:00:19.280 this being declared by Hamas as a day for people to go out and unleash war wherever
00:00:25.520 they are in the world if you are a follower of them.
00:00:28.740 Senator, I want to start with this.
00:00:30.200 There's a lot of parents I've talked to, even notes that are coming out now from schools
00:00:34.680 to parents about this concern of this threat.
00:00:38.300 From your perspective as a senator, what have you guys been told or briefed on, or has there
00:00:42.980 been anything really, or is this more just, hey, it's an international threat, a call to
00:00:46.920 arms by a terrorist organization?
00:00:50.240 Well, as senators, we have not been briefed differently from anything that is public right
00:00:56.920 now and in the news.
00:00:57.920 So you and I are sitting here, it is 11.20 p.m. on Thursday night, and we're recording
00:01:04.900 this right now.
00:01:05.900 This pod will come out early Friday morning.
00:01:09.580 As of now, nothing has happened in terms of a terrorist attack in the United States.
00:01:16.520 All of us have read the news that Hamas has called for a global day of jihad on Friday the 13th.
00:01:28.540 I don't know what will come of that.
00:01:31.580 I hope and pray nothing will come of that.
00:01:34.040 But one of the things we've talked about on the pod this week, on both Mondays and Wednesdays,
00:01:40.180 is in my judgment, the risk of a serious terrorist attack in the United States is right now greater
00:01:50.560 than it has been any time since September 11th.
00:01:53.900 I think there's a confluence of a number of factors.
00:01:58.520 One, obviously, the most significant war in Israel in 50 years, the most significant attack on Israel in 50 years. 0.51
00:02:09.300 Number two, two and a half years of open borders on our southern border, 7.6 million people coming in illegally,
00:02:18.560 including a very significant number of people on the terror watch list,
00:02:24.680 and an exposure that there could be a significant number of terrorists from countries in the Middle East
00:02:30.620 who have come into this country in the past two and a half years.
00:02:36.420 All of that combines, I know that law enforcement in cities across America is on high alert today.
00:02:45.140 Police officers, police departments are taking these threats seriously.
00:02:50.640 In New York, obviously, New York has long been tragically a target for terrorism,
00:02:58.000 and New York has a very significant Jewish population.
00:03:01.660 The NYPD is beefing up patrols, in particular at Jewish schools,
00:03:09.320 because, sadly, with a call to jihad, that could be a target of violence or terrorism.
00:03:17.280 My hope, my prayer, is that we don't see that today in America or globally,
00:03:25.360 but I do think the risks are significant.
00:03:28.620 This is a dangerous world, and so I think everyone should be careful and be vigilant and be alert.
00:03:37.200 There are scheduled protests across the country by pro-Palestinian forces,
00:03:42.940 and that we have seen with Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots that protests can turn violence,
00:03:53.640 particularly when you have local politicians that prevent the police from doing their jobs.
00:04:03.080 We saw that with the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots.
00:04:07.440 I certainly hope and pray we don't see a repeat of that tomorrow,
00:04:12.960 but I do think this is a time for everyone to be cautious, to be careful, to be alert,
00:04:19.580 and certainly law enforcement is on high alert right now.
00:04:24.740 You know, you have talked about this, and it's something that keeps coming up with everybody
00:04:31.440 that I've been talking to for the last several days, and that is for years, not months, years,
00:04:37.460 you've been warning Congress and the country when you are either on this show or on Fox
00:04:44.560 or wherever you're doing TV or doing other interviews of the national security threat at the southern border.
00:04:49.800 It's not just illegal immigrants coming across. It is a national security threat of who may be coming across.
00:04:57.020 How frustrated are you right now that Democrats refuse to understand, I think is the scariest part,
00:05:05.560 and admit that an open border allows for terrorists to come in?
00:05:09.180 This year, for example, we have gotten five years' worth in one year of people coming across the southern border
00:05:17.020 who are on the terrorist watch list, and that's who we've caught.
00:05:19.800 So this year, more people in the last five years combined.
00:05:23.840 That is a shocking number, and that is an official government number.
00:05:27.380 That means Joe Biden knows that number, and yet Democrats refuse to look at the border,
00:05:32.720 even from a national security standpoint.
00:05:35.400 Well, I have to say Joe Biden does not know that number.
00:05:39.060 I do not think there is any chance, if you ask Joe Biden that number,
00:05:42.880 that any part of his brain has any awareness of that number.
00:05:45.680 And I have no indication that anyone's briefing him on it.
00:05:48.980 I have no indication that anyone in the administration cares about it,
00:05:53.000 that anyone thinks he cares about it.
00:05:55.740 And I got to say, that number is not the one that worries me the most.
00:06:00.200 Yes, we are seeing a massive spike in terms of the number of people apprehended
00:06:05.500 who are on the terror watch list.
00:06:07.000 And mind you, you get on the terror watch list because there is credible and meaningful evidence
00:06:11.560 that you are a risk for terrorism.
00:06:13.900 You don't get on that list lightly.
00:06:17.220 What worries me much more is how many people on the terror watch list are among the gotaways.
00:06:23.540 And you have to understand, there are two broad categories on our southern border,
00:06:27.740 those who are apprehended and those who they see but they get away.
00:06:32.100 And the difference, the people who are apprehended, the vast majority of the people who are apprehended
00:06:38.360 are voluntarily turning themselves in.
00:06:41.120 They're going and seeking Border Patrol agents and turning themselves in.
00:06:44.720 And which raises the question, the gotaways, why are they bothering to run?
00:06:51.400 Why are they actively evading Border Patrol and law enforcement?
00:06:54.560 And it raises the natural inference that the gotaways are much more likely to have seriously
00:07:01.580 dangerous characteristics, whether it is that they're convicted felons, convicted murderers,
00:07:06.020 convicted rapists, convicted child molesters, whether they're gang members, MS-13 or other
00:07:11.320 gangs, or whether they are in fact terrorists coming to America with the intention of committing
00:07:18.920 acts of terror.
00:07:19.820 And given the very high numbers in the people we've apprehended, the big concern is how many are in the ones
00:07:30.260 that got away?
00:07:31.200 Those gotaway numbers are something that have to be hunting to law enforcement, border security as well.
00:07:38.420 You combine that with these new threats.
00:07:41.460 And my biggest fear is we could have stopped these people from getting in.
00:07:46.320 And we deliberately chose not to because the Democratic Party said, I would rather put politics
00:07:51.980 ahead of national security.
00:07:53.340 Did they learn nothing from 9-11?
00:07:55.380 And how frustrating is that from your perspective when you have to work with them on these things
00:08:00.080 in Congress?
00:08:01.880 Well, it certainly seems that this White House and this administration learned nothing from 9-11
00:08:08.480 because they're setting up the conditions for yet another 9-11.
00:08:13.340 And it's worth noting that this horrific terror attack, this act of war carried out by Hamas 0.89
00:08:21.140 and Israel, it's the worst attack on Israel in 50 years.
00:08:24.560 It is Israel's 9-11. 0.96
00:08:26.900 But it is also an American terror attack.
00:08:30.480 Just yesterday, John Kirby updated the number of Americans killed in Israel.
00:08:35.940 The number from the White House is we now know that 27 Americans were killed in Israel and at least 14 stand
00:08:47.320 unaccounted for, which means there's a very real possibility that they are hostages in Gaza right now.
00:08:54.460 27 Americans killed in a terror attack ranks high among the worst terror attacks directed at Americans in history.
00:09:03.600 Now, obviously, the Israelis paid orders of magnitude higher price, and it was directed principally at the more than 1,200 Israelis who were murdered.
00:09:16.280 But 27 Americans being killed in a terror attack is very significant.
00:09:22.240 And I pray that that is not foreshadowing for what could come next.
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00:10:54.980 You just brought up another aspect of everything that's happened in Israel.
00:10:58.420 We have seen other countries, for example, Mexico, quickly evacuate people that were in Israel who were visiting there.
00:11:11.220 We have seen other nations that have come in as well, and there seems to be somewhat of a slowness in response.
00:11:16.680 There's been criticism of Americans that have been in Israel trying to get out quickly and not seem like it's a top priority of this administration to hurry up and allow them to get home.
00:11:29.460 There's a lot of people that go on pilgrimages, a lot of elderly people that are from this country that go on trips to Israel.
00:11:36.920 They're wanting to get home quickly, and there seems to be a lack of urgency compared to other countries.
00:11:43.620 Have you heard from people in Texas specifically that are trying to get home, and what is the government's response on that?
00:11:51.180 Well, we have.
00:11:52.960 We have heard from a great many Texans who are in Israel who are trying to get home.
00:12:00.320 And actually, I have put up on my official Senate website a page of resources.
00:12:06.280 So the website is cruise.senate.gov slash information-for-texans-currently-in-israel.
00:12:22.840 So it's a little bit clunky, but you can find it by searching for information for Texans currently in Israel.
00:12:30.140 And we have put up a series of links for people who are in Israel who are trying to get home, links to go through the State Department, links and resources, links to our staff.
00:12:41.580 I have an entire staff of people that are working right now with numerous Texans who are in Israel who are wanting to come home.
00:12:50.660 And it is not necessarily easy, but we are actively working with dozens of Texans trying to assist them in coming home.
00:13:00.660 But it remains a very dangerous time because Israel is in a state of war right now.
00:13:06.600 You talk about the national security side of this, and John Kirby, it seems almost like he's the acting president of the United States of America, giving out more information than the president is.
00:13:15.600 It is out there, and he talked about the Americans that have died, but also those that are unaccounted for.
00:13:21.540 I want people to hear what he had to say, and then I want to get your reaction to it.
00:13:25.300 Start with the saddest of news.
00:13:28.900 We can now update the number of Americans that we know have been killed to 27,
00:13:35.760 and the number of unaccounted for stands today at 14.
00:13:40.440 We are obviously doing everything we can to support and inform the families.
00:13:47.380 Now, sadly, five more families have now gotten the worst possible news that any family can conceive of getting.
00:13:54.480 And we are going to stay in touch with them as appropriate.
00:13:57.900 Same goes for those family members of those who are unaccounted for.
00:14:01.520 And by unaccounted for, we mean that.
00:14:02.980 We don't know where they are.
00:14:04.240 They don't know where they are.
00:14:05.280 So we're going to obviously stay in touch with them as well, and certainly we're continuing to work with Israeli officials
00:14:10.120 to make sure that we're getting as much context and information as possible that we will share with them.
00:14:17.420 That is very concerning if you're an American who has a loved one that's still missing.
00:14:22.420 What have you been told, and what are we doing behind the scenes to get them back?
00:14:26.320 Because we still have not seen a very clear statement from this White House that you do not harm Americans,
00:14:32.360 and if you do, there will be hell to pay.
00:14:34.100 Well, and for those 27 Americans who've been murdered, there has been no suggestion from this White House of consequences.
00:14:48.180 Israel is exacting consequences. 0.98
00:14:52.100 But look, one of the things that has been so frustrating, we're now just under a week into this war.
00:14:58.700 Virtually every single day, the Biden administration has put out statements, one after the other, undermining Israel, urging Israel not to react, urging Israel not to engage in military conduct,
00:15:14.820 urging Israel to have a ceasefire.
00:15:18.660 And let's just run through a few of those, because the night of the first attack, as the atrocities were happening,
00:15:26.580 here's what the Biden State Department tweeted out.
00:15:28.880 Quote,
00:15:29.160 Now, a couple of observations about that tweet.
00:15:48.520 Number one, the opening sentence, we unequivocally condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists.
00:15:52.660 Okay, that part is okay.
00:15:55.060 And the loss of life that has incurred.
00:15:59.500 Now, it's interesting, that is written in the passive voice.
00:16:03.420 Have you ever heard that phrasing, the loss of life that has incurred?
00:16:08.860 That is someone trying desperately to say, to remove, the passive voice is when you remove the actor.
00:16:17.520 You remove that Hamas terrorists have murdered, now over a thousand Israelis.
00:16:24.900 Instead, it's simply loss of life that has incurred.
00:16:28.040 It just happened magically.
00:16:29.740 Not through any actor murdering them.
00:16:32.640 And then we urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks.
00:16:37.800 So who are the retaliatory attacks?
00:16:39.840 That's clearly directed at the Israeli military.
00:16:42.780 And then terror and violence solve nothing.
00:16:45.020 Now, as you know, this came out at three in the morning.
00:16:47.520 And within minutes, I had a response out on Twitter denouncing it, saying this is disgraceful.
00:16:52.820 And every single person involved in drafting and approving this tweet should be immediately expelled from the U.S. government.
00:16:58.580 And within minutes of my pointing it out, the State Department deleted that tweet.
00:17:04.360 That was the first day, the very first instinct.
00:17:06.440 As Israel's being invaded, as terrorists are murdering their civilians, as their citizens are being kidnapped, as infants and children are being murdered, the position of the State Department was, do nothing.
00:17:17.720 Do not engage in retaliatory strikes.
00:17:19.580 Just sit there and allow the terrorists to continue to murder your citizens.
00:17:23.940 Now, the next day, the State Department posted a summary of a call between Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, and the Turkish government.
00:17:36.280 And the next day, the State Department said they were working on an immediate ceasefire.
00:17:42.540 Now, an immediate ceasefire, this is after the massive terror attack carried out by Hamas, the position of the Biden State Department on day two was they wanted a ceasefire.
00:17:56.840 And by ceasefire, they mean Israel, do nothing, do not attack Hamas.
00:18:00.900 Again, I blasted that as indefensible.
00:18:05.320 And again, they deleted the tweet.
00:18:08.700 Now, two days ago, President Biden gave, after much delay, a serious speech on the issue.
00:18:17.080 And on the face of it, the speech seemed pretty solid.
00:18:21.940 He finally said unequivocally that America would support Israel, period, full stop, without the caveats that his administration had been putting in day after day after day. 0.88
00:18:33.860 But it's worth noting that before and after the speech, the Biden administration continues to undermine Israel.
00:18:44.300 So the day before Biden's speech, the deputy national security advisor went on MSNBC and warned the Israelis.
00:18:51.360 Here's the quote.
00:18:53.220 It is our advice that this war be conducted based on principles of international law.
00:19:00.020 Well, Ben, what the heck does that mean?
00:19:02.020 Has Israel ever not fought its wars based on principles of international law?
00:19:06.580 Why is that something they're lecturing Israel on right now?
00:19:10.180 And then, as the speech concluded, reporters started asking Biden's staff to explain.
00:19:18.860 Now, Biden refused to take questions.
00:19:20.760 He ran out of the room.
00:19:22.640 And Politico asked the National Security Council,
00:19:24.920 Why is it they're talking about the need to follow the rule of law?
00:19:33.240 And to be clear, the State Department also put out a statement and said,
00:19:39.180 quote,
00:19:40.380 We also discussed how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law.
00:19:51.260 Again, what the hell are they talking about?
00:19:53.120 When is Israel not fought according to the rule of law?
00:19:57.540 So they're lecturing them.
00:19:59.000 They're saying that it has to be conducted based on the principles of international law.
00:20:03.660 It has to be in accordance with the rule of law.
00:20:05.820 That suggests the Biden White House doesn't think Israel will do that.
00:20:09.720 And here's what the National Security Council said when asked, quote,
00:20:13.640 We support Israel taking necessary and proportionate action. 0.94
00:20:20.420 Understand what they're saying at every step.
00:20:24.840 It almost seems a daily basis.
00:20:27.900 The Biden White House is telling Israel, do nothing, stand down.
00:20:32.100 And if you look at those two adjectives, necessary and proportionate action.
00:20:38.880 Here's what's coming next, Ben.
00:20:40.880 We're going to hear the Biden administration.
00:20:42.920 We're going to hear left wing Democrats.
00:20:44.500 And we're going to hear the media blasting Israel that their actions are not necessary.
00:20:48.920 And they're not proportionate.
00:20:51.600 That's going to be what they're going to say next.
00:20:53.640 And they're going to say it especially because, and listen, we need to be ready.
00:20:59.600 Tragically, there are going to be a significant number of Palestinian civilian casualties.
00:21:05.120 Now, that is not the desire of the IDF.
00:21:09.880 That is not the objective of the Israeli military.
00:21:12.480 And in fact, the Israeli military goes to greater lengths to avoid civilian casualties than any military on the face of the planet.
00:21:20.880 But the reason that we know there will be very significant Palestinian civilian casualties is Hamas wants those Palestinians to die.
00:21:30.640 And they deliberately use Palestinians as human shields.
00:21:34.200 They put Palestinian women and children around their military targets, around their missiles, around their terrorists, around their headquarters. 0.72
00:21:41.860 And their intention is for those Palestinian civilians to die because then the media does what they can always be counted to do,
00:21:51.300 which is to use those images as an excuse to blast Israel.
00:21:56.840 And all of these quotes about international law and the rule of law, necessary and proportionate,
00:22:02.640 this is all foreshadowing where the Biden administration and the press intend to go.
00:22:08.540 Yeah, great point there.
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00:24:05.020 It's truly shocking to see the press because even the press is still basically being apologists for Hamas and the Palestinians.
00:24:17.280 And that part is so frustrating.
00:24:19.440 I also want you to hear what John Kirby had to say.
00:24:22.240 And I want to get your reaction to this.
00:24:23.500 As there were many members of the media that were trying to debunk that babies were killed by Hamas.
00:24:32.420 New images have been put out showing babies murdered by Hamas.
00:24:36.620 But American, actual American journalists were trying to debunk this to imply, oh, no, it really didn't happen.
00:24:43.260 Oh, no, that's some sort of, you know, a line or propaganda.
00:24:47.000 And John Kirby was asked not just about that, but also he was asked about the president and us not hearing about him very much, hearing from him very much.
00:24:57.720 Take a listen to this from MSNBC.
00:25:00.800 Understood.
00:25:01.480 The last question, I don't know exactly if or how you'll answer it, but viewers may know you have a military background.
00:25:08.640 You also have an extensive government communications background.
00:25:10.900 And in the days ahead, there's a communications aspect to all this where the president, who's been quite forceful across the week, can sort of pull back and go back to governing.
00:25:22.100 You're busy with trying to find out who the new speaker is going to be and deal with a lot of other priorities at home or sort of double down or extend this with a communications approach.
00:25:30.560 And so I'm curious, can you tell us anything about whether there'll be any other formal address to the nation, formal address to Congress, evening address to the nation, as you know, and other past terror attacks, including on allies?
00:25:41.660 Otherwise, over time, there either is a kind of an ebb where people say, oh, well, that was last week's news and it's that country's problem over there.
00:25:49.320 And sometimes there's more of a priority of summoning the U.S. sustained attention.
00:25:53.820 Again, I know you guys aren't going to break any any secret news tonight, so to speak.
00:25:57.640 But can you speak to any of that in the days ahead and what's on the mind of the communicators in the White House?
00:26:02.160 Sadly, we don't think this is going to end any time very soon, certainly in coming weeks for sure, if not longer.
00:26:10.240 So I think you can count on hearing from President Biden in the future about this particular conflict and what we're doing to support Israel.
00:26:18.300 I have no doubt that you'll continue to hear from him.
00:26:20.980 But I also think you're going to continue to hear from him on a range of other issues that are important to governing in other places around the world, such as Ukraine, such as the Indo-Pacific.
00:26:31.040 I'm sure he'll continue to, as he did this week, talk about, you know, economic issues, the junk fees.
00:26:37.180 So you're going to you're going to continue to hear him talk about issues that also matter on a domestic scale as well.
00:26:42.980 That's what being president is. That's what being commander in chief is.
00:26:45.900 You've got to handle it all. And he's more than equipped and more than ready to do that.
00:26:50.600 At the White House, John Kirby, thanks for taking a break from some of your work to speak with.
00:26:54.360 I mean, that's the biggest non-answer I've ever heard when this is going on.
00:26:58.400 Americans are being held hostage. Like, well, you might hear from him in the future and about future Hamas attacks in the future. 0.69
00:27:05.480 But you're not going to hear from him all the time on it.
00:27:08.000 And there's going to be other things as well that are just as important.
00:27:10.540 What, I guess that's global warming?
00:27:12.800 Oh, no, no, no. Remember, he mentioned junk fees.
00:27:15.080 So clearly they've got their priorities right.
00:27:17.860 We've got the worst attack in Israel in 50 years. 0.84
00:27:20.540 We have a war on the Middle East, and their concern is we need to address junk fees right now.
00:27:27.760 Look, this is not a serious administration.
00:27:31.940 And their instincts, they want Israel to stand down.
00:27:37.380 Prime Minister Netanyahu is committed to eliminating Hamas.
00:27:42.780 He's right in that.
00:27:44.240 The Israeli government and the Israeli military, I believe, they've convened a war cabinet.
00:27:48.500 They are going to do exactly that.
00:27:50.540 And throughout that journey, and it is going to be in all likelihood months that it's going to take,
00:27:58.660 and it is going to be a long and arduous and bloody ground battle with significant casualties on both sides.
00:28:08.820 This White House doesn't want to get into that, doesn't want to talk about the need to eliminate Hamas,
00:28:16.220 doesn't want to talk about Iran in any respect.
00:28:19.760 If you look at Biden's speech, he didn't talk about Iran.
00:28:22.580 He didn't talk about Iran planning this attack.
00:28:25.140 He didn't talk about Iran funding this attack.
00:28:28.320 He didn't talk about Iran directing this attack.
00:28:31.000 None of that did he address.
00:28:32.440 Now, we've talked at length on this pod before about how the Biden White House treats every issue not as a national security matter,
00:28:41.880 but as a public relations matter.
00:28:43.760 And so as it concerns Iran, I think a lot of Democrats felt a PR problem with the six billion dollars that was recently paid as a ransom for five American hostages released.
00:28:56.520 And so we saw just yesterday the news break that the Biden administration is going to freeze that six billion dollars.
00:29:03.420 Well, that's great.
00:29:04.360 They never should have offered it in the first place, but if they're freezing it, that needs to happen.
00:29:08.960 But that is about as easy as possible.
00:29:11.120 And a bunch of Democrats, particularly vulnerable Democrats running in red states who realized, holy cow, we're actually funding the terrorists who are committing this.
00:29:19.560 That's a problem.
00:29:20.280 So a lot of Democrats had come out against that six billion in the last couple of days and it said freeze it.
00:29:28.160 Now, mind you, very few of these Democrats had the courage to say don't send it when Biden initially sent it.
00:29:35.740 But but suddenly they discovered it.
00:29:37.980 But as we've talked about at length, the six billion is the tip of the iceberg and they need to not only freeze the six billion,
00:29:45.000 they need to stop the 10 billion that went several weeks earlier from Iraq to Iran.
00:29:49.820 And beyond that, the most important flow of funds is the over 40 billion in oil revenues.
00:29:56.860 And they need to immediately vigorously enforce the oil sanctions to shut down that revenue.
00:30:04.080 And you're not seeing Democrats talk about that.
00:30:06.440 They think that with the six billion, OK, we're done.
00:30:10.100 That's our price.
00:30:10.960 We're taking the six billion.
00:30:12.420 We're freezing that.
00:30:13.460 So, OK, we're not vulnerable on Iran anymore.
00:30:17.320 Look.
00:30:19.000 Tomorrow.
00:30:20.680 The Ayatollah should not sell two million barrels of oil.
00:30:24.880 And.
00:30:26.160 The Biden administration has the ability to make that happen.
00:30:29.420 And yet Democrats are not calling for it.
00:30:31.720 And and listen, their instinct.
00:30:34.080 I want us to play a different clip.
00:30:35.920 And this is a clip from a pro-Israel rally where Democrat Senator Ed Markey is speaking.
00:30:42.680 And he's speaking and along with him on the stage is Elizabeth Warren.
00:30:47.640 So you have two very liberal Democrats.
00:30:49.900 And take a listen to what Markey says and then take a listen to the crowd's reaction.
00:30:55.080 There must be a de-escalation of the current violence.
00:31:00.720 The United States.
00:31:01.740 His face, by the way, because I could see the video, he was like he was in shock that people would be booing.
00:31:23.420 It was like, whoa, wait, I thought you guys would want to hear that.
00:31:26.600 He was in shock and standing behind his left shoulder is Elizabeth Warren.
00:31:32.120 And she's in shock.
00:31:34.120 They're both because, look, their instinct is Israel's the bad guy. 0.98
00:31:38.500 And Israel needs to stop. 0.83
00:31:40.820 There needs to be no effort to defeat Hamas because we're Democrats.
00:31:44.640 We stand with the Palestinians.
00:31:48.280 And that exchange, number one, it reveals the instincts of today's left-wing Democrat Party.
00:31:57.080 They are already denouncing Israel for retaliating.
00:32:03.160 They want de-escalation.
00:32:04.600 De-escalation and cease fire.
00:32:06.600 Understand what that means.
00:32:08.060 Every time a Democrat says it, it means Israel, do nothing, stop trying to destroy the terrorists.
00:32:14.280 And the look of shock from both Markey and Elizabeth Warren in that clip, I think it's very revealing.
00:32:22.820 And I think we're going to see a lot more exchanges just like that.
00:32:27.260 Well, and then you have the other side, which is AOC.
00:32:32.160 She comes out and says that, by golly, the United States of America has a responsibility to, I guess, intervene and prevent the attacks on Hamas.
00:32:42.960 She claims it's to prevent a, quote, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
00:32:47.380 Here's what she said in her own words.
00:32:49.280 It's our responsibility is to the stability and the security of the region.
00:32:58.260 That means being able to support, not support.
00:33:03.840 Yes, Israel in its defensive capacities.
00:33:06.260 Right.
00:33:06.740 And it's built in that context.
00:33:09.720 But it also means that the United States has a responsibility to ensure accountability to human rights, to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and to ensure that horrors do not happen in the names of victims who do not want their tragedy used to justify further violence and injustice.
00:33:33.280 Right.
00:33:34.060 Beautifully said.
00:33:35.320 Beautifully said.
00:33:36.300 Right.
00:33:36.540 Beautifully said.
00:33:37.280 So America's job is, after terrorists kill Americans, is for us to make sure that none of the terrorists and the people around them get killed.
00:33:45.000 I mean, that's what she's saying.
00:33:47.060 To intervene to defend the terrorists.
00:33:49.940 That is what she is calling on.
00:33:51.460 And look, this is one of the most powerful and influential Democrats in the House of Representatives.
00:33:58.500 The other House Democrats are terrified of AOC.
00:34:01.480 She campaigns for Democrats all over the country, and they are all scared to cross her.
00:34:07.260 And understand what she's saying.
00:34:08.880 She's accusing Israel.
00:34:10.320 She says, we don't want to see an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
00:34:15.080 She's accusing Israel of wanting to carry out an ethnic cleansing.
00:34:20.500 That is an absolute slander.
00:34:23.360 It is a vicious lie.
00:34:24.820 It is an anti-Semitic trope.
00:34:26.460 It is something leftists do all the time, which is they take the horror and evil that has been directed at Jews, most prominently in the Holocaust,
00:34:36.420 and they then say that's what Jews want to do to others.
00:34:41.700 Israel has never engaged in ethnic cleansing.
00:34:44.760 Israel would not engage in ethnic cleansing because they are a liberal democracy that values human rights,
00:34:50.760 and they go to extraordinary lengths to save human life.
00:34:55.260 But Israel is also surrounded by terrorists who want to kill them,
00:35:00.420 and Israel is willing to stand and fight to defend themselves.
00:35:03.240 And understand, this is not some fringe kook on the Internet.
00:35:08.760 This is one of the most influential Democrats in the House of Representatives accusing the state of Israel of wanting to engage in ethnic cleansing
00:35:20.460 and saying the U.S. military needs to intervene to stop Israel from carrying out a genocide.
00:35:28.900 That is a lie and a vicious lie, and it ignores the actual atrocities and war crimes that these Hamas terrorists have carried out over the past week. 0.90
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00:37:15.020 It's going to be very interesting to see what happens with this, especially American foreign policy with the president that doesn't want to step up here.
00:37:22.700 We're going to keep you up doing this.
00:37:23.940 I also want to get to some other news, and that is Steve Scalise, who got the majority of the votes in the conference to become the Speaker of the House.
00:37:32.340 He has now made big breaking news by saying this about dropping out of the race.
00:37:39.280 I know we've been following this.
00:37:41.000 It's been quite a journey, and there's still a long way to go.
00:37:45.900 I just share with my colleagues that I'm withdrawing my name as a candidate for the Speaker-designed need.
00:37:51.560 If you look at over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there's still work to be done.
00:38:00.140 Our conference still has to come together, and it's not there.
00:38:05.660 There are still some people that have their own agendas, and I was very clear.
00:38:09.420 We have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs.
00:38:16.580 This country is counting on us to come back together.
00:38:19.840 This House of Representatives needs a Speaker, and we need to open up the House again.
00:38:26.560 But clearly, not everybody is there, and there's still schisms that have to get resolved.
00:38:33.540 This is not that surprising to me, Senator, because it was clear he wasn't going to have the votes.
00:38:41.640 Just like with Kevin McCarthy, he didn't have the votes.
00:38:45.540 That means, is this now a pathway for Jim Jordan to become the Speaker?
00:38:49.240 Because you also came out and endorsed Jim Jordan, saying you believe he's the most fiscally conservative, the best guy for this job.
00:38:56.020 Well, that's right I did, and it's worth going back and explaining why I did that, because we had talked on the podcast previously that I intended to stay out of the House leadership election, and that's what I've done.
00:39:09.460 The 11 years I've been in the Senate, I've stayed out of every House leadership election we've ever had, and my standard position has been that questions of House leadership are for the House members to decide.
00:39:20.400 And that's what I had said on the podcast repeatedly, I'd said it to reporters in Capitol Hill repeatedly.
00:39:27.340 That was a position I was very comfortable with, and then a couple of days ago, Jim Jordan called me, and he made a very direct ask.
00:39:39.180 He asked for my support.
00:39:41.660 Now, Jim is a friend. He's a good friend.
00:39:43.420 I know Jim very well. Jim has been a guest on this podcast.
00:39:46.080 We had him on two consecutive episodes doing a deep dive into the fantastic work that he's doing as focusing on the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the FBI and government.
00:39:59.760 And Jim is someone I've worked with the entire time I've been in the Senate.
00:40:04.620 He is a strong conservative, and he asked for my support, and he leaned in hard on it.
00:40:10.020 And I thought about it, and I thought carefully, and my general philosophy on political endorsements, and I make endorsements all over the country in Senate races, in House races, in gubernatorial races, in school board races, all sorts of races, is that I support the strongest conservative who can win.
00:40:33.700 And both of those are important.
00:40:35.260 I want a proven record that you're a real conservative, and I want a path to victory.
00:40:39.540 I'm not interested in tilting at windmills.
00:40:41.240 I'm not interested in a candidate that does not have a path to victory.
00:40:45.440 And as I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that Jim was that person, that he would be certainly the most conservative speaker we'd ever had, but that he had a real and viable path to win, that he had real and meaningful support.
00:41:00.520 Now, obviously, his chief rival and the only two declared candidates at the time for speaker were Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise, and Steve is a friend as well.
00:41:12.840 Steve and I are good friends.
00:41:13.920 We spent a lot of time together.
00:41:15.980 I like Steve.
00:41:17.180 Steve is a conservative, and Steve, look, the statement that you just played, that was not an easy statement for Steve to give, and I respect that he gave it.
00:41:29.300 I think it was heartfelt.
00:41:32.200 Steve is obviously hurting, but I think he's also trying to do the right thing.
00:41:37.760 And I'll tell you, before I endorsed Jim Jordan, when I hung up the phone with Jim, before I put out the endorsement, I picked up the phone and I called Steve.
00:41:47.120 And the first thing I did is just ask Steve how he was doing health-wise.
00:41:54.080 He's dealing with a rare form of blood cancer, and I've been concerned and praying for him, and he told me he is doing better and the treatment is proceeding very well.
00:42:04.560 But I gave him the heads-up just man-to-man.
00:42:07.640 I said, listen, you're my friend, Steve.
00:42:09.960 I'm going to make this endorsement of Jim.
00:42:12.980 He asked me to do it, and Jim and I have been very close, and I'm going to endorse him.
00:42:18.520 But I told Steve at the time, and I believe this, I said, listen, I think you'd make a terrific speaker, and I think Jim would make a terrific speaker.
00:42:24.400 So do not take this endorsement as a negative comment on you, but rather just a statement of that I think Jim Jordan is the strongest conservative who has a path to win.
00:42:39.140 And Steve was very gracious about it, and we're friends, and I certainly anticipate continuing to work with Steve in the years ahead.
00:42:46.900 Now, what happened this week is the House Republican Conference met, and they had a closed-door meeting, and they had a vote.
00:42:55.020 And Scalise won the vote by a vote of 113 to 99.
00:42:58.940 So Jordan got 99 votes.
00:43:00.960 Scalise got 113.
00:43:03.140 And actually, the press coverage was saying, well, that's it.
00:43:08.680 Scalise is the speaker.
00:43:10.560 And what happened subsequently is there were a number of House Republicans who did not vote for Scalise,
00:43:18.940 who said over the hours and days that followed that they were not going to vote for Scalise.
00:43:25.260 And they dug in, apparently, and it did not appear that Steve had a path to 218.
00:43:31.720 And so I think he's pulling out because he, at least at this point, doesn't see a path to 218.
00:43:38.000 Does that mean Jim Jordan is going to be the choice?
00:43:40.760 I don't know.
00:43:42.180 With a House majority of just four votes, any five Republicans can say no and veto anyone.
00:43:49.840 And look, Jordan got 99 votes in the conference.
00:43:53.520 That tells you there were over 100 Republicans who didn't vote for him.
00:43:58.500 So I hope Jim can earn the support of his colleagues and unify.
00:44:04.180 I will say, listen, it's a tough time.
00:44:06.240 I mean, one of the things that's playing out in the House is there are a lot of raw emotions.
00:44:10.900 People are angry.
00:44:13.900 You have the individuals who voted last week to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
00:44:21.320 I think those individuals have strong feelings.
00:44:25.660 But I also think McCarthy and his core allies are very, very angry.
00:44:33.000 And so, look, any time you have people that are emotional and angry, it's hard for them to come together.
00:44:40.720 Now, for folks worried that this chaos will last forever, I don't think it will.
00:44:46.000 I think we will have a speaker, and I think we'll have a speaker relatively soon.
00:44:50.780 I don't know how long it will take.
00:44:52.100 I still think we'll have a speaker by the end of this week, so by the end of Friday or Saturday.
00:44:59.460 But I don't know.
00:45:00.540 It may bleed into next week, and it is possible, if Scalise doesn't have the votes and if Jordan doesn't have the votes,
00:45:08.380 that someone else will emerge as a third option that is some sort of compromise candidate.
00:45:16.120 And there are a couple of names that are floating around, but it's not clear at this point what will happen.
00:45:27.920 But I will say to anyone concerned, we will have a speaker of the House.
00:45:33.600 The Republicans will come together.
00:45:35.400 It just may take a little more time and a little more opportunity for emotions to cool.
00:45:41.540 Yeah, and I think we can all agree it's something that we want to get done sooner than later,
00:45:48.280 but you don't want to rush it too fast and just put somebody in there and then have them be failed right afterwards,
00:45:54.060 just like we saw with Kevin McCarthy, where it doesn't work out long term.
00:45:57.700 That's a huge problem.
00:45:59.380 Don't forget, we do this podcast Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.
00:46:02.700 Make sure you hit that follow or subscribe or auto-download button.
00:46:06.440 We are going to keep you updated on the latest things happening in Israel, also in the speaker's race as well,
00:46:11.800 plus any other major breaking news.
00:46:14.000 We are thinking about those that are affected by what's happened in Israel and the Americans as well.
00:46:19.140 Don't forget, you can go to the official site for Senator Cruz and you can get info if you do have loved ones in Israel.
00:46:26.460 So make sure you use those resources as well.
00:46:28.500 And we will see you back here in a couple of days.
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