Verdict with Ted Cruz - December 04, 2020


The Battle Over Ballots


Episode Stats


Length

28 minutes

Words per minute

170.3495

Word count

4,939

Sentence count

426

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Michael Knowles are back in Washington, D.C. to respond to an emergency Supreme Court filing by President Trump's campaign challenging the results of the Pennsylvania primary election. They discuss the implications for the future of the election and the ongoing recount process.

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.
00:00:02.480 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.560 Today, an emergency appeal was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court,
00:00:08.820 challenging the election results in Pennsylvania.
00:00:11.340 This appeal raises serious legal issues,
00:00:14.040 and I believe the court should hear the case on an expedited basis.
00:00:18.900 I do believe that, but I did not write those words.
00:00:21.680 Those words come from our intrepid co-host, Senator Cruz,
00:00:25.520 as we continue this election mess.
00:00:30.000 I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:38.080 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:40.440 It is excellent to be here, Senator, with you in person in Washington, D.C.
00:00:45.800 We haven't done this because, what, we had to spend some time with our families or something?
00:00:50.280 It has been too long, and we should apologize to all the great listeners of Verdict,
00:00:56.060 but last week I was home with my family and my kids, and we were eating turkey and relaxing,
00:01:02.320 and so it's good to be back.
00:01:04.620 It is good to be back.
00:01:05.320 We want to thank all of the subscribers who have stuck with us through some of those virtual shows,
00:01:11.180 and thank you to everybody who has listened in.
00:01:13.400 If you haven't subscribed already, please do so on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, on Google Play, on YouTube.
00:01:20.340 We're still on those platforms for now, although I suppose a little bit later we'll get to the threats that we might face.
00:01:26.860 Senator, first, the election is still dragging on.
00:01:33.180 Some people are saying the president should concede immediately.
00:01:36.140 Some people are saying we should let the legal process play out.
00:01:38.720 Some people are saying Joe Biden is the president-elect.
00:01:40.840 Some people are saying the electors won't vote until December 14th.
00:01:44.260 What is the state of the race and the legal challenges?
00:01:47.940 Well, it's not resolved right now.
00:01:49.680 There are multiple lawsuits all across the country, and those lawsuits need to be resolved.
00:01:54.200 And until then, you know, I have to say the media kind of stamping their feet and insisting it's over now because we say it's over, that's a little weird.
00:02:05.680 We're going to have a clear and definitive result.
00:02:07.900 Anytime you have an election and the election is contested, you wait until the results of that contest are over.
00:02:14.220 You know, you remember, think back to the Minnesota Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken,
00:02:20.580 where Al Franken litigated, fought, and by hook or by crook managed to get enough votes to beat Norm Coleman.
00:02:29.100 Good choice of words there.
00:02:30.440 You know, when Democrats are filing the lawsuits, everything's hunky-dory that they can challenge it.
00:02:36.300 But in this instance, because it's President Trump and his legal team that's challenging it,
00:02:40.700 the media is treating it like it is the most unimaginable thing we've ever seen for a legal team to bring cases and to try to litigate their claims.
00:02:53.680 And now I know there have been a lot of claims of fraud.
00:02:56.580 There's been some evidence of irregularities, of poll watchers not being able to see the vote count.
00:03:00.840 And this has gone on in various states.
00:03:03.180 We've heard about Arizona.
00:03:04.460 We've heard about Georgia.
00:03:05.420 We've heard about Michigan.
00:03:06.160 I want to focus on Pennsylvania because it just seems as though there are so many narratives going on about fraud
00:03:14.480 or how now it's being stolen in the other direction or whatever.
00:03:19.220 What is the deal in Pennsylvania and what's the status of that claim?
00:03:23.880 Well, let me say two things on this.
00:03:25.360 One, just speaking more broadly, it is 100 percent clear there was fraud this election cycle.
00:03:31.140 And there's been fraud in prior election cycles.
00:03:34.340 Election fraud is a challenge we deal with and it occurs.
00:03:37.720 The question that we don't know the answer to is whether or not the Trump team is going to be able to present sufficient evidence of fraud to change the outcome.
00:03:48.660 And that's really a question.
00:03:50.020 That's why we have a judicial system. 0.99
00:03:51.260 We have a system to resolve those claims.
00:03:53.720 They don't get resolved by wild allegations on Twitter.
00:03:57.740 They don't get resolved by TV pundits screaming at the camera.
00:04:01.600 They get resolved by evidence and witnesses and expert witnesses and facts.
00:04:07.140 And the judicial process exists to determine what can be proven and what can't.
00:04:12.780 That hasn't happened yet.
00:04:15.000 I very much hope we see a different outcome in the presidential than we have right now.
00:04:19.580 Yeah.
00:04:19.960 It's a tough road.
00:04:20.960 I'm sorry to say it is an uphill road to get there because there are multiple states where the outcome needs to flip.
00:04:26.100 And so the president's legal team to change the ultimate outcome needs to prevail not just in one state but in several.
00:04:35.460 That's hard.
00:04:36.320 It's not an easy thing.
00:04:37.880 But he is absolutely entitled to litigate it.
00:04:40.540 And I think it is important to get to the bottom of what happened.
00:04:44.360 Now, you asked about Pennsylvania in particular.
00:04:46.300 Pennsylvania is the biggest of the states whose outcome is in dispute.
00:04:51.100 And there are serious legal issues at the core of Pennsylvania.
00:04:57.300 One of the problems you've got in Pennsylvania, you've got a Supreme Court that consists of partisan Democrats.
00:05:04.840 Democrats have a 5-2 advantage on the Supreme Court.
00:05:07.860 The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
00:05:09.280 Of Pennsylvania, yes.
00:05:10.500 And they have been – they have not been good actors.
00:05:14.520 They have behaved in a nakedly partisan way.
00:05:19.060 So we saw before the election, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that ballots that were received after election day, even potentially ballots that were mailed after election day, could be counted.
00:05:31.420 And it was a decision – it was a partisan decision.
00:05:36.120 They were rewriting state election law because they thought it benefited the Democrats.
00:05:39.920 And actually, the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sam Alito, wrote an opinion.
00:05:44.720 He was joined by Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch where he said that the decision of the Supreme Court very likely violated the U.S. Constitution.
00:05:53.940 That was before the election.
00:05:55.700 The U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve that issue before the election, which they should have.
00:06:00.460 Yeah.
00:06:01.000 Okay.
00:06:01.260 So fast forward to now, the statement you read at the opening of the pod, I wrote yesterday.
00:06:06.480 And I wrote it because I read the Supreme Court pleading that was filed in Pennsylvania.
00:06:12.080 So they've asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.
00:06:16.100 The central claim in this case is a little bit different from the one the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided before the election.
00:06:24.460 Right.
00:06:24.580 The state of Pennsylvania, the state legislature in March of this year, changed the election law pretty dramatically in Pennsylvania to allow universal mail-in balloting.
00:06:38.300 With no excuse, no basis, anyone can mail-in ballots.
00:06:41.080 And so this is distinct from the traditional system of absentee, which is you go, you request, you say, I've got this reason that I need an absentee ballot.
00:06:48.420 Right.
00:06:48.880 This is a new system that they instituted, which is you just get mailed a ballot.
00:06:53.140 Yes.
00:06:54.480 And they did so.
00:06:56.700 Now, what's interesting is the Pennsylvania state constitution explicitly lays out the circumstances in which you can have absentee ballot.
00:07:05.160 And the Pennsylvania state constitution is pretty strict on it.
00:07:07.920 As a general matter, the Pennsylvania constitution requires in-person voting.
00:07:13.160 And then there are a handful of exceptions that are specified, things like military service, things like if you're sick or have a serious disability.
00:07:21.280 And those are written into the constitution.
00:07:22.780 And there's actually a long history in Pennsylvania where the legislature has multiple times previously passed laws expanding absentee ballot.
00:07:32.980 And the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck them down over and over again and said, no, the Pennsylvania constitution says you can't do that.
00:07:40.400 So what happened here?
00:07:41.700 Here, the Pennsylvania legislature rewrote the law in direct contradiction to the Pennsylvania constitution.
00:07:47.700 So this claim that is at the center of this case is arguing that the universal mail-in law that Pennsylvania passed contradicts the constitution of Pennsylvania.
00:08:03.360 Now, a district judge in Pennsylvania agreed with that claim.
00:08:07.660 Okay.
00:08:07.960 It seems clear, doesn't it?
00:08:09.260 I mean, it's, it's, and, and, and there are two different Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases from decades past, clearly holding that, explicitly holding that.
00:08:16.640 The text of the constitution explicitly says that.
00:08:19.260 And so a Pennsylvania district judge said, you're likely to prevail on this claim, that, that what the legislature did is contrary to the constitution.
00:08:28.760 Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected that claim.
00:08:30.840 And they rejected it under a legal doctrine called latches.
00:08:36.440 Now, what the heck is latches?
00:08:38.800 Latches is a very common doctrine and it essentially means you slept on your rights.
00:08:43.020 Another way of putting it is you waited too long.
00:08:45.140 Yeah.
00:08:45.900 And the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said, look, you guys waited till after the election to bring this case.
00:08:52.680 You should have brought it earlier.
00:08:54.020 So now you can't bring it.
00:08:55.040 You missed your chance.
00:08:55.680 Yeah.
00:08:55.800 So yesterday morning, I printed out and read the Supreme Court pleading and I was actually, it, it was, it raises some very serious legal issues.
00:09:06.840 One of the points they made is they said, look, Pennsylvania Supreme Court said, threw our case out based on latches.
00:09:13.120 But they also have ruled that a candidate lacks standing to challenge an election law before the election.
00:09:19.780 So they put us in a catch 22 where we can't challenge it before the election because we don't have standing and we can't challenge it after the election because they say we waited too long.
00:09:28.100 It can't be the case that you can never challenge a law that's facially unconstitutional.
00:09:34.840 Right.
00:09:35.660 Now, that's a pretty damn good argument.
00:09:37.120 Yeah.
00:09:37.320 I mean, you read it and you're like, okay, wait a second.
00:09:39.000 That, that's pretty strong.
00:09:40.860 But when the Pennsylvania legislature changed their election law, they also put on the ballot a referendum to amend the constitution in Pennsylvania to allow universal mail-in voting.
00:09:54.800 So that's going to be on the ballot.
00:09:57.340 Here's one of the weird things.
00:09:59.520 When it's on the ballot, whether or not to allow universal mail-in voting, Pennsylvania is going to have it voted on using universal mail-in voting.
00:10:06.860 Right, right, right.
00:10:07.640 So, I mean, it really is, that's actually a footnote in the Supreme Court pleading that just, I laughed out loud and said, this is frigging nuts.
00:10:15.340 You're, so, I wrote a statement and the statement you read, it's about a page long.
00:10:22.140 Yeah.
00:10:22.780 By the way, on, you know, look, most press releases that I put out, I've got a team, a staff, a very talented staff.
00:10:28.740 You're telling me you don't write every single word of every single press release?
00:10:31.580 I, I, I, that one I did, that, that one I sat down and, and, uh, hammered it out on the keyboard and tried to explain, look, these issues are serious.
00:10:41.160 Yeah.
00:10:42.240 And the U.S. Supreme Court, I believe, should hear it.
00:10:45.580 Now, there's a very good chance they say no.
00:10:47.580 They declined to hear it.
00:10:48.540 Frankly, if you're a Supreme Court justice and you're trying to protect your own backside, the natural instinct is not to take the case.
00:10:55.880 But the reason I wrote that statement was to say to them, I think the U.S. Supreme Court has a responsibility, the, the degree of distrust in this election.
00:11:07.840 Yeah.
00:11:08.900 Um.
00:11:09.680 Yeah, well, you, you actually give the number in the statement.
00:11:12.540 Uh, according to Reuters and Ipsos polling, 39% of Americans believe, quote, the election was rigged.
00:11:19.540 30, almost 40% of Americans.
00:11:21.120 That, that is, the, the next sentence I think I say in that is, that, that is not healthy for our democracy.
00:11:26.640 That is.
00:11:27.580 Now, I know you really did write the statement.
00:11:30.020 But, part of the reason I urged the court to take the case is, is, is, I think this, the Supreme Court has a responsibility to try to ensure we're following the law and the Constitution and, and to take a step to calm the acrimony and the division.
00:11:47.580 Yeah.
00:11:47.700 So, having so many Americans distrust our entire system as rigged, as fake, as bogus, that ain't good.
00:11:56.360 Right.
00:11:56.520 Well, you know, it's funny because your reaction was the same as mine, which is, if I were on the court, I sure wouldn't want to take the case.
00:12:02.680 I don't want to be accused of politicizing anything.
00:12:04.600 But it does seem that there's an irony where the court that's so reticent to be seen as political actually seems very, very political.
00:12:13.160 You know, if they, if they were to take the case, first of all, it, it very likely would not change the outcome of the presidential election.
00:12:19.180 But at least, for goodness sakes, it would restore some confidence that we're not just all playing partisan politics, that we actually will follow the state constitutions and the law.
00:12:28.540 Well, and, and look, let me be candid.
00:12:31.320 The Pennsylvania case, there are challenges also.
00:12:33.560 So there's, number one, there is a jurisdictional doctrine at the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the U.S. Supreme Court cannot take an appeal if there is what is called an adequate and independent state ground.
00:12:47.540 In other words, on a question of Pennsylvania state law, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is the final arbiter.
00:12:53.560 The U.S. Supreme Court doesn't decide issues of state law.
00:12:57.020 And so if a state Supreme Court has decided a case on an issue of state law and that's sufficient, the U.S. Supreme Court can't take it.
00:13:06.140 And so a tough question in this case is what is the federal question that gives the U.S. Supreme Court jurisdiction?
00:13:14.020 Well, you know, actually, from your own state, I think we'd mentioned this in a prior podcast, there was a Senate race in 1948 when Lyndon Johnson stole an election and it went all the way up to the Supreme Court.
00:13:25.360 And the Supreme Court said, we don't have jurisdiction here.
00:13:28.260 We don't want to settle.
00:13:29.160 We don't want to interfere in the state election.
00:13:31.420 And that was it.
00:13:32.180 And they gave, they gave Johnson the seat.
00:13:34.520 Now, look, there are obvious counterpoints, Bush versus Gore.
00:13:36.940 And as you know, I was part of the legal team litigating that.
00:13:39.720 Um, we've talked on the podcast before about my book, One Vote Away, where I talk at great length about Bush versus Gore, about the inside strategy.
00:13:48.880 There, likewise, the Florida Supreme Court twice issued rulings.
00:13:53.080 That was also a partisan Democratic court.
00:13:55.380 They were lawless rulings.
00:13:57.340 And the U.S. Supreme Court and Bush versus Gore stepped in and ultimately resolved the case.
00:14:02.880 And they did the right thing.
00:14:04.000 Um, a challenge here is even if the Trump team wins in Pennsylvania, that alone is not enough to switch the outcome.
00:14:14.980 And so that, that may well, that will certainly be a basis that encourages the justices not to take the case.
00:14:22.940 Is, is either way the outcome's the same.
00:14:25.860 It's why I wrote what I did that, listen, this dynamic of so many Americans not having faith in the integrity of our democratic system, that that's a, a real problem.
00:14:41.480 And, and I think the Supreme Court has a responsibility to, to, to cure the claims and, and decide them pursuant to the law.
00:14:48.080 Well, there, there are other issues in other states and I, we do have to touch on not just the presidential race, but, and not just Pennsylvania, but Georgia and specifically the Georgia Senate races.
00:14:58.760 Because whatever happens with the presidential race there, you've got these runoff races.
00:15:03.060 This will decide who controls the Senate.
00:15:06.180 You laid out the Democrats plan for if they do take control of the Senate in the White House, it's pretty radical stuff.
00:15:13.060 It could end the Republican party in many ways as a national party.
00:15:17.440 What is the state of play there?
00:15:19.460 It's David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are the Republicans and the incumbents.
00:15:23.740 You sit next to David Perdue in the Senate.
00:15:25.940 So you've got a very close view of all of this.
00:15:28.060 How do things stand in Georgia?
00:15:29.820 So where we are right now in the Senate is Republicans have a 52, 48 majority, but two of those seats, the Georgia seats, there's a runoff on January 5th.
00:15:38.980 If we lose them both, the Senate becomes 50, 50.
00:15:43.060 If we win them both, we stay at 52, 48.
00:15:47.160 And 50, 50, by the way, if Joe Biden does ascend to the presidency, the tiebreaker then is Kamala Harris, so the Democrats have it.
00:15:54.700 So it means if we lose them both and Joe Biden is president, it means Chuck Schumer is the majority leader.
00:16:00.260 And I got to say, in our lifetimes, I don't believe there has been a Senate race as consequential as the Georgia Senate race on January 5th because the two outcomes are radically different.
00:16:16.220 World number one, the Democrats win. 0.79
00:16:20.360 If we have a Biden-Schumer-Pelosi government, there's no check on the radicals in the Democratic Party.
00:16:27.920 Here's what I believe will happen with a Biden-Schumer-Pelosi government.
00:16:31.180 I think they'll end the filibuster, which means there is no ability to the minority to stop the most radical policy proposals they put forward.
00:16:39.780 I think they will pass a massive tax increase, not just repealing the Trump tax cut, but massively increasing taxes.
00:16:49.480 I think they will pass all or major components of the Green New Deal, which will be absolutely crushing to small businesses and jobs. 0.68
00:16:57.620 I think they will grant amnesty to every single illegal alien in America and try to make them voters as quickly as possible. 0.81
00:17:03.960 But Biden has more or less said that already.
00:17:06.240 And I think they will add two new states to the union.
00:17:09.580 They will add the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico because they believe they'll elect four Democratic senators immediately, which means we could start January with 50 Democratic senators and end the year with 54.
00:17:22.380 And this is all about power.
00:17:23.620 This is about locking in their power.
00:17:25.460 And I believe if we lose these two Georgia seats, I believe that the Democrats will pack the U.S. Supreme Court.
00:17:31.780 They'll put on four radical judicial actions.
00:17:34.780 So you think that there's really only one even sort of quasi-moderate Democrat left, Joe Manchin from West Virginia.
00:17:42.480 When Joe Manchin says, I'm going to vote against all the radical stuff, I'm going to be the stop against AOC, you think that's just a lot of talk?
00:17:51.400 I don't believe him.
00:17:52.480 I think what Joe is doing is politicking in Georgia.
00:17:56.560 He's trying to convince Georgians to vote for the Democrats.
00:17:59.420 Listen, Joe is someone I've served with for eight years now.
00:18:02.060 Joe is a very – Manchin is a very nice guy.
00:18:05.400 He's a very affable guy.
00:18:07.080 Nobody dislikes Joe.
00:18:08.260 It's hard to dislike him.
00:18:09.580 He keeps a boat on the Potomac and he invites senators to go out on like a sunset cruise in the Potomac, which is fun to do.
00:18:19.900 Look, I've gone out with him and hung out with him.
00:18:22.900 Joe, when I was first elected to the Senate, one of my colleagues said to me, he said, Joe is like a purple unicorn.
00:18:34.360 He will always, always be with you right up until the moment you need him.
00:18:38.140 And I can tell you in eight years in the Senate, I cannot think of a single issue where Joe Manchin was the deciding vote.
00:18:52.740 He will occasionally vote with Republicans when his vote doesn't matter.
00:18:56.140 Yeah.
00:18:57.200 But –
00:18:58.140 When push comes to shove.
00:18:59.700 I don't believe he will stand up to Chuck Schumer.
00:19:02.180 Yeah.
00:19:02.320 Now, what I could see him doing – I think he'll vote with Schumer to end the filibuster and he'll vote with Schumer to add D.C. and Puerto Rico.
00:19:11.200 And then if they have 54 Democrats, maybe he votes against packing the court.
00:19:14.260 Right, right.
00:19:15.580 After ensuring that they can win.
00:19:17.800 And they lock in this majority.
00:19:19.360 And it's worth pointing out too, the opponents here are pretty radical people.
00:19:25.140 You have John Ossoff, who if that name is familiar to any of the listeners, it's because Hollywood propped him up to run for Congress.
00:19:31.620 It was just a few years ago and he lost that race.
00:19:34.460 But he was a sort of Hollywood darling.
00:19:37.140 He's just come out and said we need to basically empower the bureaucracy to make all of the decisions for us and basically have government by experts so much for we the people.
00:19:45.480 And then the other candidate in this race, Raphael Warnock, is as radical as they come.
00:19:51.400 He has openly embraced socialism.
00:19:55.360 He's said that one cannot serve God and be in the United States military for goodness sakes.
00:19:59.640 This guy is – forget we talk about AOC or whoever.
00:20:03.600 This guy is maybe the most radical politician I've seen in our national discourse.
00:20:08.660 He is quite radical.
00:20:10.460 He is a preacher in the mold of Jeremiah Wright.
00:20:13.980 Yeah.
00:20:14.120 And in fact, his former church welcomed and embraced Fidel Castro.
00:20:20.900 Right.
00:20:24.480 The Democratic Party, particularly in Georgia, has decided to go far, far left.
00:20:28.740 But to be honest, I actually don't think even though these candidates are extreme, in some ways, it doesn't even matter.
00:20:40.440 The Democrats are disciplined.
00:20:43.720 Look, they're collectivists.
00:20:45.220 They believe in statism.
00:20:47.560 They believe in –
00:20:48.700 Party line.
00:20:49.260 You know, some of them are Marxist.
00:20:50.540 They obey orders.
00:20:51.720 Yeah.
00:20:52.080 That's – I was talking with – I was talking today with Lamar Alexander.
00:20:56.000 Lamar Alexander is retiring.
00:20:57.480 He gave his farewell speech today.
00:20:59.600 And so I was talking with Lamar on the Senate floor.
00:21:02.260 And we were talking about the challenge that the Democrats, they always have message discipline.
00:21:08.180 They're always together.
00:21:10.020 Look at the Republican side.
00:21:12.660 For good or for ill, we've got a bunch of individualists.
00:21:15.240 We've got a party with Rand Paul and Susan Collins.
00:21:19.560 That's a lot of diversity.
00:21:21.100 And we're running all sorts of different crazy directions.
00:21:24.400 I mean, it's – we don't follow orders.
00:21:26.840 Right.
00:21:27.520 There are virtues to that.
00:21:29.280 But on the Democratic side, if they get a majority, Chuck Schumer, Pelosi will dictate the agenda in Congress,
00:21:40.460 which means AOC and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders will dictate the agenda.
00:21:46.160 Yeah.
00:21:46.580 In particular because Schumer will be terrified of being primaried from the left by AOC.
00:21:52.240 Yeah.
00:21:52.780 Right.
00:21:53.540 I think this is a – I remember you had warned about this point a while ago.
00:21:57.100 Yeah.
00:21:57.260 And I sort of thought, oh, no, I don't know.
00:21:59.240 He'll stand up.
00:22:00.240 No.
00:22:00.620 There's no incentive for him to – you know, if this is a unified government, the left is going to be calling the shots.
00:22:04.720 Well, and Schumer is a political animal through and through.
00:22:08.000 That's just who he is.
00:22:09.040 He lives for politics.
00:22:10.700 And he's seen Democrat after Democrat beaten from the left in primaries.
00:22:17.900 I don't think there will be any appetite to stand up to the demands of the far left.
00:22:23.820 Now, with a Republican majority, if we win in Georgia, it's not all going to be, you know, honey and roses.
00:22:31.320 If we win, we will have a narrow Republican majority.
00:22:35.920 If we have a Biden presidency, look, there will be some bad things that Republicans join with Democrats to pass that I will fight hard against.
00:22:43.580 Yeah.
00:22:43.840 And we'll have podcasts with me raving about them.
00:22:46.160 Yeah.
00:22:47.720 But the reason majority matters so much is ball control.
00:22:54.260 So in the majority, you're the chairman of every committee and you can control what bills are voted on and what are not.
00:23:00.600 So I can tell you with a 100 percent certainty that if there's a Republican majority in the Senate, we will not see a massive tax increase.
00:23:10.020 Yeah.
00:23:10.860 I can tell you with 100 percent certainty D.C. will not become a state.
00:23:14.920 I can tell you with 100 percent certainty the U.S. Supreme Court will not be packed.
00:23:20.280 All of those, if we have the majority, they ain't happening.
00:23:26.300 Will there be some other bad things?
00:23:28.200 Will there be some trillion dollar spending bills that are horrific and drive up the debt?
00:23:35.940 Yes.
00:23:38.740 Will there be some terrible immigration deal?
00:23:41.800 Probably.
00:23:43.420 I'll fight hard against those.
00:23:45.140 But you know what?
00:23:45.680 I'd rather be in those fights where I'm trying to fight against policies that are bad versus fundamental, permanent, structural.
00:23:56.700 Taking the U.S. Supreme Court from nine justices to 13, that does damage to the Constitution not just for a year but forever.
00:24:05.080 Right, right.
00:24:05.700 Or increasing the number of senators or the makeup.
00:24:08.640 Absolutely.
00:24:09.940 It shows you what's on the ballot in Georgia.
00:24:12.320 I know that there are some people who feel a bit demoralized by the election and by people not taking certain examples of fraud seriously.
00:24:19.360 I get that.
00:24:20.300 I actually understand the demoralization.
00:24:22.120 But one thing that you've done that I've been so pleased to see is keeping up the fight and keeping up the fight in a lot of different realms.
00:24:30.080 You know, going to the Supreme Court and saying, you've got to hear this Pennsylvania case.
00:24:33.980 And also while you're doing that, make sure the Republicans win in Georgia.
00:24:37.820 And President Trump has said that also.
00:24:39.160 He said, got to go out there and vote for Loeffler and for Purdue.
00:24:42.440 So it's a very important battle.
00:24:44.520 There's not just one phase.
00:24:47.260 There's not just one stage of this battle.
00:24:48.880 It's on many fronts.
00:24:50.160 And we could look up.
00:24:51.320 And if we lost the Senate, we're in a very bad situation.
00:24:55.220 Now, that's exactly right.
00:24:56.420 So Georgia, I'm going to be going to Georgia.
00:24:58.040 I'm going to be campaigning on the ground in December.
00:25:00.320 I'm campaigning on the ground in January.
00:25:03.020 I'm working with the Club for Growth that has launched a plan to knock on one million doors in Georgia.
00:25:08.500 It's entirely a turnout election.
00:25:10.360 Right.
00:25:10.860 It's getting conservatives.
00:25:11.640 We're going to do a bus tour where the plan is to hit all of the biggest counties in Georgia where the population is.
00:25:17.720 And I'm going to be there campaigning on the ground to say, you've got to come out and you've got to show up.
00:25:23.320 And I'm all in because the damage that comes from a Schumer majority, I don't want to see what comes from that.
00:25:33.780 Right.
00:25:34.340 Before we go, we've got to get to a mailbag question.
00:25:37.560 I want to thank, as always, the subscribers who send these in.
00:25:40.100 Some of them, all of them excellent questions.
00:25:42.700 Some of them pretty funny as well.
00:25:45.100 Let's take a look at Daniel.
00:25:48.560 I think this actually ties in very well to what we're talking about.
00:25:50.780 Dear Senator and Michael, what is the best way to counter accusations of conspiracy theorism when discussing the ongoing lawsuits and the associated indicia of voting irregularity and election impropriety?
00:26:04.800 Because the media won't cover them.
00:26:06.320 They seem fringe and made up ideas to Democrats and liberals and leftists.
00:26:10.020 Hashtag verdict.
00:26:11.660 We hear this all the time.
00:26:12.980 Anytime you contradict the media, they call you a conspiracy theorist.
00:26:19.020 Well, that's because there are 12 media guys who are planning a conspiracy and they control the world.
00:26:23.600 It is.
00:26:24.180 By the way, that's a joke for whoever.
00:26:26.380 They're going to play that clip.
00:26:27.400 They are.
00:26:27.820 I know.
00:26:28.440 We're now conspiracy theorists.
00:26:29.740 You know.
00:26:32.700 Look, they're going to say that.
00:26:35.220 And by the way, I read Twitter.
00:26:37.280 I read all of the accusations.
00:26:40.100 I don't know what's true and what's not.
00:26:41.520 I mean, some of them sound pretty far out.
00:26:43.500 Others sound quite plausible.
00:26:45.000 Others are somewhere in the middle.
00:26:46.100 I think the best answer is, you know what?
00:26:49.120 In the United States, we have a system to resolve those claims.
00:26:52.400 So the answer is not going to be which claim got the most retweets.
00:26:57.140 It's not decided by likes.
00:26:59.160 We've got courts that hear evidence.
00:27:04.760 The only thing that is going to impact the outcome of these elections is whether the Trump campaign can present sufficient evidence to build a factual case and convince a court.
00:27:14.360 Yeah.
00:27:14.460 Some of the more far-reaching theories, I don't know if there's a factual basis for them or not.
00:27:22.760 I hope the lawyers present them.
00:27:24.240 I hope they present it effectively.
00:27:25.520 I hope they convince the court.
00:27:27.940 You know, when we were litigating Bush versus Gore, we couldn't just assert things.
00:27:31.680 We had to go and prevail in court.
00:27:33.660 And so saying that the system should work, saying that our legal system should operate the way the Constitution designed it, that's not a conspiracy theory.
00:27:45.420 That's actually believing in rule of law.
00:27:48.080 And we'll get a determination as to what the evidence shows.
00:27:53.560 And that – are those determinations perfect?
00:27:56.940 No, that there are things that go on in the world for which there isn't evidence.
00:28:05.020 Of course.
00:28:06.280 But it's the best system – you know, it reminds me of what Churchill said about democracy.
00:28:10.880 It's the worst form of government except for every other.
00:28:15.000 You know, our judicial system has challenges, but by and large, it's a pretty effective vehicle for determining the facts and weighing and considering evidence.
00:28:25.020 That is not a conspiracy theory.
00:28:27.160 That is a constitutional theory.
00:28:28.820 And I think probably the people who are attacking us for following the process, they probably hate the constitutional theories much more than the conspiracy ones.
00:28:36.380 I will have to leave it there, but we will address even more of those excellent questions as this process is certainly not going to be resolved today.
00:28:43.960 We'll do it next time.
00:28:45.040 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:28:45.720 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:28:55.020 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:28:58.520 Guaranteed Human.