Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 18, 2025


The ＂Oligarchs＂ are Coming, Rape Gangs in the UK plus Moving Trump's Agenda Forward Week In Review


Episode Stats

Length

33 minutes

Words per Minute

161.67593

Word Count

5,419

Sentence Count

343

Misogynist Sentences

13

Hate Speech Sentences

14


Summary

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergusons discuss the Democratic Party's new obsession with the idea of "Oligarchs" and why it's a bad idea. They also discuss the latest in the UK rape crisis and what the Trump administration should do about it.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.260 Welcome.
00:00:05.940 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, The Weekend Review.
00:00:08.840 Ben Ferguson with you as always.
00:00:10.800 And my, oh my, do we have a lot of big stories that happened this week,
00:00:13.780 especially before Donald Trump is inaugurated on Monday.
00:00:18.060 First up, Bernie Sanders and the President Joe Biden going out with a bang,
00:00:23.900 saying to any rich person in America,
00:00:26.260 you better be careful before you work with Trump
00:00:29.120 because when we get back our power, we're coming after you.
00:00:32.900 They even use the word oligarchs.
00:00:35.500 Yes, we'll explain that for you in just a moment.
00:00:38.240 Also, shocking news coming out about rape gangs in the UK
00:00:42.740 and how this is a very concerning issue,
00:00:46.220 especially for what's happened in the United States of America
00:00:50.040 with so many kids being lost that have come across the southern border.
00:00:53.600 So what will the administration do about that?
00:00:56.420 We'll explain that for you as well.
00:00:57.860 And finally, Donald Trump went to Capitol Hill to meet with leaders on the Hill,
00:01:03.520 had a sit-down with a Senate Republican.
00:01:06.040 So what was said behind closed doors and what does it mean for the Trump agenda?
00:01:11.380 It's The Weekend Review, and it starts right now.
00:01:14.640 It also goes back to this other narrative.
00:01:17.380 When we heard it from the President of the United States of America the other night,
00:01:20.020 he was obsessed with this idea of oligarchs.
00:01:22.720 I actually think this was a little bit different.
00:01:25.880 And Bernie Sanders started naming names when he was doing the confirmation hearing
00:01:31.920 for the man who's up for Treasury Secretary.
00:01:35.100 And I want to get your take, and we're going to play Bernie.
00:01:37.380 But one of the things I felt was really kind of icky about this was the fact that it's like,
00:01:44.000 hey, we're warning some of you that have stepped out of line from the Democratic Party
00:01:49.660 that we're coming after you when we get our power back.
00:01:54.360 If you step out too far into the conservative side of things,
00:01:58.880 and that's why we're warning you that if we name you as an oligarch,
00:02:05.100 then when we get our power back, there's going to be some sort of hell to pay.
00:02:10.140 And you better be careful how much you work with Donald Trump
00:02:13.480 and you support freedom of speech and you support freedom of expression online
00:02:18.100 and the ability to post things.
00:02:20.600 And that's what it was boiling down to.
00:02:22.960 And it was, I think, even more weird.
00:02:24.980 It was in a back and forth of the guy for Treasury Secretary.
00:02:28.880 It's like, wait, are you trying to weaponize Treasury to say,
00:02:31.840 hey, your job is to now make sure there's no billionaires in America?
00:02:36.020 Well, look, it's worth giving a listen.
00:02:38.080 So listen to this back and forth.
00:02:40.160 And in terms of the demagogic language of the Democrat Party,
00:02:45.800 this is a great example. Give a listen.
00:02:47.280 When you have a small number of multi-billionaires
00:02:52.200 who have enormous economic, media, and political power,
00:02:58.400 would you agree with President Biden,
00:03:02.400 who last night stated, and I quote,
00:03:05.020 an oligarchy is taking shape in America
00:03:07.740 of extreme wealth, power, and influence
00:03:10.940 that threatens our entire democracy,
00:03:14.020 our basic rights, and freedoms.
00:03:16.360 End of quote.
00:03:16.840 That's what President Biden said last night.
00:03:18.960 I agree with him.
00:03:20.420 Do you?
00:03:20.740 I enjoyed our visit,
00:03:23.160 and I hope you got my follow-up materials
00:03:25.880 on the discussions,
00:03:27.580 my previous writings on the tariffs in China.
00:03:32.560 And look, the three billionaires
00:03:37.380 who you listed,
00:03:39.940 they all made the money themselves.
00:03:43.140 Mr. Musk came to the country as an immigrant.
00:03:46.860 I understand that, but what I'm asking you is,
00:03:50.320 when you have a handful of people,
00:03:53.100 like Musk, who will soon be part of the Trump administration,
00:03:57.920 and others,
00:03:59.420 when you have three people owning more wealth
00:04:01.440 than the bottom half of American society,
00:04:03.640 when these people have enormous influence over the media,
00:04:06.660 when they spend huge amounts of money
00:04:08.780 in both political parties to elect candidates,
00:04:11.540 what Biden said last night is we're moving toward an oligarchy.
00:04:14.920 I'm asking you that question.
00:04:16.840 Do you think, forget how they made their money,
00:04:19.460 do you think that when so few people
00:04:21.720 have so much wealth
00:04:23.000 and so much economic and political power,
00:04:25.340 that that is an oligarchic form of society?
00:04:27.400 Well, I would note that the President Biden
00:04:32.480 gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom
00:04:34.080 to two people who I think would qualify for his oligarchs.
00:04:38.780 So...
00:04:39.620 This is not a condemnation of any one individual.
00:04:43.880 I'm just asking you,
00:04:44.920 when so few people have so much wealth and power,
00:04:49.080 do you think that that is an oligarchic form of society?
00:04:52.880 Senator, I think it depends on the ability to move up and down the...
00:05:00.760 No, that's not really the answer.
00:05:02.300 I mean, even if you had that mobility,
00:05:03.900 no matter who those individuals might be.
00:05:06.220 All right, but let me ask you another question.
00:05:07.780 I love there how he's like,
00:05:09.220 all right, I'm going to move on,
00:05:10.120 because this isn't landing.
00:05:10.980 You just threw it back in my face
00:05:12.120 that we just gave medals of the highest level of medal
00:05:16.540 you can give to a civilian
00:05:18.960 to two of the people that would be categorized oligarchs.
00:05:21.600 One of them, by the way,
00:05:22.820 is a hardcore radical by the name of George Soros.
00:05:28.100 Yeah, George Soros just got the Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden.
00:05:32.020 He celebrated.
00:05:33.140 He also gave it to Hillary Clinton.
00:05:35.120 And by the way, before that,
00:05:36.560 Barack Obama gave the Medal of Freedom to Bill Gates.
00:05:40.780 And listen, the position of Bernie Sanders is,
00:05:43.620 we hate billionaires,
00:05:44.740 unless you're billionaires who support socialists
00:05:47.620 and the Democrat Party.
00:05:48.580 Then you're okay.
00:05:49.480 But to be clear, you're only okay if you're buying absolution.
00:05:53.880 The instant you stop buying absolution,
00:05:56.160 we will demonize you
00:05:57.540 and we will burn you an effigy in the streets.
00:06:00.580 And I got to say, I like Scott Besson's point.
00:06:02.940 He's like, wait, you're attacking these people.
00:06:05.800 None of these three people you're attacking,
00:06:07.900 none of them inherited wealth.
00:06:10.480 You know, Elon Musk came as an immigrant from Africa.
00:06:12.860 Like he built amazing companies.
00:06:16.720 And to a socialist,
00:06:18.040 they don't care what you did to build wealth.
00:06:22.000 They're going to demonize you.
00:06:23.320 They're going to attack you.
00:06:25.020 And it's an example of,
00:06:27.260 and by the way,
00:06:27.980 it's why you get so many incredibly rich,
00:06:31.840 so many billionaires who back the Democrat Party
00:06:34.240 because they're basically paying for protection
00:06:37.640 from Robespierre,
00:06:40.460 from the guillotine in the French Revolution.
00:06:44.800 And I got to say,
00:06:46.580 that is where the Democrat Party is.
00:06:48.240 But I'll give Scott Besson a shout out.
00:06:50.800 He responded
00:06:51.960 with fantastic answers,
00:06:55.620 which is why Bernie ran,
00:06:57.240 ran to the hills and ran away
00:06:59.040 because he realized it wasn't going the way he wanted.
00:07:00.980 Scott Besson's going to get confirmed.
00:07:03.220 Every Trump cabinet member is going to get confirmed.
00:07:05.960 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
00:07:08.620 you can go back and listen to the full podcast
00:07:11.020 from earlier this week.
00:07:13.280 Now on to story number two.
00:07:15.660 I want to move to another story you mentioned earlier.
00:07:18.820 And this is a story that on face value,
00:07:23.140 it's something that's in the UK.
00:07:26.260 And there's some people that say,
00:07:27.400 well, like this is the UK.
00:07:28.720 Why does this matter to me?
00:07:29.860 And I want to connect it
00:07:31.680 to what has happened in this country
00:07:33.620 because of our open borders
00:07:36.000 and the number of minors
00:07:38.240 that we have released in this country
00:07:40.220 to non-family members
00:07:41.860 through the Biden-Harris program.
00:07:45.520 And when we go back to check on them,
00:07:47.560 they are nowhere to be found.
00:07:49.900 There are tens of thousands of children.
00:07:53.780 Over 300,000, not tens of thousands.
00:07:56.300 Over 300,000.
00:07:58.340 That's in the United States
00:08:00.360 that the Biden administration has lost,
00:08:03.240 that they do not know where they are,
00:08:04.980 that they came as unaccompanied minors
00:08:07.440 and they were handed over to adults
00:08:09.760 and they have no idea where they are.
00:08:11.240 And many of them are no doubt being abused.
00:08:13.660 And the corrupt corporate media
00:08:16.400 could not care less.
00:08:17.560 The Democrats could not care less.
00:08:19.480 I don't know a Democrat senator
00:08:20.740 who's ever asked about the 300,000 children
00:08:24.000 that this administration lost.
00:08:25.780 They don't care about it.
00:08:26.840 But look, I want to say
00:08:28.780 what's happened in the UK
00:08:29.960 and is happening right now
00:08:31.520 is horrifying
00:08:33.440 and it's a real warning sign here.
00:08:36.000 I want to start by reading
00:08:37.840 from an article in the Free Press
00:08:39.540 because it sums it up really effectively.
00:08:42.680 It's entitled,
00:08:43.640 The Biggest Peacetime Crime
00:08:46.320 and Cover-Up in British History.
00:08:50.000 The grooming and serial rape
00:08:51.680 of thousands of English girls
00:08:53.460 by men of mostly Pakistani Muslim background
00:08:56.660 over several decades
00:08:58.260 is the biggest peacetime crime
00:09:00.720 in the history of modern Europe.
00:09:03.460 It went on for many years.
00:09:05.580 It is still going on.
00:09:07.460 And there has been no justice
00:09:09.540 for the vast majority of the victims.
00:09:11.700 British governments,
00:09:13.540 both conservative and labor,
00:09:15.460 hoped that they had buried the story
00:09:17.320 after a few symbolic prosecutions
00:09:19.680 in the 2010s.
00:09:21.620 And it looked like they had succeeded
00:09:23.480 until Elon Musk read some of the court papers
00:09:26.920 and tweeted his disgust
00:09:28.540 and bafflement on X over the new year.
00:09:32.540 Britain now stands shamed before the world.
00:09:36.680 The public's suppressed wrath
00:09:38.640 is bubbling to the surface
00:09:40.620 and petitions calls for a public inquiry
00:09:43.340 and demands for accountability.
00:09:45.660 The scandal is already reshaping British politics.
00:09:49.120 It's not just about the heinous nature of the crimes.
00:09:51.720 It's that every level of the British system
00:09:54.660 is implicated in the cover-up.
00:09:58.060 Social workers were intimidated into silence.
00:10:01.660 Local police ignored,
00:10:03.440 ignored, excused,
00:10:04.820 and even abetted pedophile rapists
00:10:07.600 across dozens of cities.
00:10:10.500 Senior police and home office officials
00:10:12.320 deliberately avoided action
00:10:13.780 in the name of maintaining
00:10:15.540 what they called, quote,
00:10:17.200 community relations.
00:10:19.740 Local counselors and members of parliament
00:10:21.740 rejected pleas for help
00:10:24.760 from the parents of raped children.
00:10:28.420 Charities, NGOs, and labor MPs
00:10:30.580 accused those who discussed the scandal
00:10:33.040 of racism and Islamophobia.
00:10:36.780 The media mostly ignored or downplayed
00:10:39.340 the biggest story of their lifetimes.
00:10:42.560 Zealous in their incuriosity,
00:10:44.960 much of Britain's media elite
00:10:46.420 remained barnacled to the bubble
00:10:48.240 of Westminster politics
00:10:49.700 and its self-serving priorities.
00:10:52.600 They did this to defend the failed model
00:10:56.500 of multiculturalism
00:10:58.200 and to avoid asking hard questions
00:11:00.800 about failures of immigration policy
00:11:03.200 and assimilation.
00:11:05.140 They did this because they were afraid
00:11:07.280 of being called racist or Islamophobic.
00:11:10.780 They did this because Britain's
00:11:12.540 traditional class snobbery
00:11:14.180 had fused with the new snobbery
00:11:17.120 of political correctness.
00:11:19.260 All of which is why
00:11:21.560 no one knows precisely
00:11:23.540 how many thousands
00:11:25.460 of young girls were raped
00:11:27.920 in how many towns across Britain
00:11:30.120 since the 1970s.
00:11:31.900 What we do know
00:11:33.020 is that the epicenter
00:11:34.500 was in the post-industrial mill towns
00:11:36.640 of England's North and Midlands
00:11:38.760 where immigrants from Pakistan
00:11:40.820 and Bangladesh settled
00:11:42.340 in the 1960s.
00:11:44.400 White locals say
00:11:45.660 the grooming and rapes began
00:11:47.100 soon after.
00:11:48.120 In Rotherdam,
00:11:50.540 the run-down Yorkshire city
00:11:52.180 where the scandal first broke,
00:11:54.460 local police and counselors
00:11:55.960 were notified
00:11:57.400 about systematic grooming
00:11:59.280 and sex abuse by 2001.
00:12:01.840 The first convictions
00:12:03.040 did not occur
00:12:03.960 until 2010
00:12:05.780 when five men
00:12:06.800 of Pakistani background
00:12:07.940 were jailed
00:12:08.900 for multiple offenses
00:12:10.260 against girls
00:12:11.180 as young as 12 years old.
00:12:13.920 The breadth of what occurred
00:12:16.500 is staggering
00:12:17.500 and the systematic
00:12:19.560 willingness
00:12:21.620 to look aside
00:12:23.500 is truly horrific.
00:12:25.740 And let's be clear,
00:12:26.880 the reason why
00:12:27.660 they look the other way,
00:12:28.640 you mentioned it,
00:12:29.500 is really from a PR standpoint.
00:12:31.560 They wanted to have,
00:12:32.800 quote,
00:12:33.360 good relations
00:12:34.340 and not have a stigma
00:12:35.780 related to people
00:12:36.920 that were coming
00:12:37.460 from the Middle East
00:12:38.320 that were there.
00:12:39.460 So they said,
00:12:39.960 all right,
00:12:40.200 we'll just look the other way
00:12:41.300 and that'll make it easier.
00:12:42.280 It's actually less Middle East
00:12:43.940 than primarily Pakistan,
00:12:45.980 Pakistan,
00:12:46.800 and it's Pakistani Muslims.
00:12:49.760 And what we've seen,
00:12:51.180 so we have seen
00:12:53.960 since the 1970s,
00:12:55.920 the grooming and serial rape
00:12:57.600 of thousands of children.
00:13:00.080 And the issue
00:13:03.200 is in particular relevant
00:13:05.880 because Keir Starmer,
00:13:08.260 the prime minister,
00:13:09.720 was England's director
00:13:11.380 of public prosecutions
00:13:13.140 between 2008 and 2013.
00:13:15.960 And so he was actively involved
00:13:17.940 in looking the other way.
00:13:21.840 And, all right,
00:13:23.020 so let's break down
00:13:24.240 a little bit of the facts
00:13:25.200 of what happened
00:13:25.880 because the story sounds
00:13:28.120 so extreme
00:13:30.360 as to not be credible.
00:13:32.020 But the child sex rapes
00:13:37.560 weren't just individual instances
00:13:40.860 done by rogue individuals.
00:13:42.340 Rather, in nearly all the cases,
00:13:44.380 there were groups
00:13:45.500 of mostly Pakistani men
00:13:47.120 that cooperated
00:13:48.980 and conspired to groom
00:13:51.520 and sexually abuse
00:13:52.840 girls over decades.
00:13:56.060 And they targeted
00:13:58.640 mostly vulnerable girls,
00:14:00.740 poor,
00:14:02.440 orphans,
00:14:03.520 children in care homes.
00:14:05.260 They raped the girls.
00:14:06.580 They passed them around networks,
00:14:08.640 so raping them
00:14:09.460 one after the other
00:14:10.740 after the other.
00:14:11.760 Some of these child rapists
00:14:14.060 had roles
00:14:15.620 in local governments.
00:14:16.800 The leader of one
00:14:17.620 of the rape gangs
00:14:18.460 in Oldham,
00:14:20.600 an individual named
00:14:21.320 Shabir Ahmed,
00:14:22.980 worked for the local council
00:14:24.800 as a, quote,
00:14:25.500 welfare rights officer
00:14:27.080 and ran his gang
00:14:29.540 from the council's
00:14:31.780 welfare office.
00:14:33.920 And let me give you
00:14:34.640 some of the facts
00:14:35.260 because they're just
00:14:36.140 horrifying.
00:14:38.820 One of the victims,
00:14:40.400 a girl named
00:14:41.160 Victoria Agaglia.
00:14:43.840 Victoria was a 15-year-old
00:14:45.220 teenager
00:14:45.680 and she was subject
00:14:48.300 to the government's
00:14:49.140 round-the-clock
00:14:49.700 caretaking,
00:14:50.440 but she went missing
00:14:51.240 19 times
00:14:53.180 in three months
00:14:54.540 for up to two weeks
00:14:55.880 at a time.
00:14:56.420 Instead of trying to find her,
00:14:57.460 the welfare workers
00:14:59.000 simply messaged her
00:14:59.980 saying,
00:15:00.520 when are you coming back?
00:15:02.380 Wow.
00:15:03.140 It turns out
00:15:04.060 she was forced
00:15:04.940 into a Pakistani
00:15:05.940 sex ring
00:15:06.700 by older women
00:15:08.520 who raped her
00:15:09.360 in exchange for cash,
00:15:10.760 alcohol,
00:15:11.260 and hard drugs.
00:15:12.600 She was sometimes
00:15:13.760 abused by up to
00:15:14.960 25 men
00:15:16.540 in a single night.
00:15:19.200 Victoria wrote
00:15:20.220 a heartbreaking letter
00:15:21.480 to the police
00:15:21.980 documenting her abuse,
00:15:23.140 but it was ignored.
00:15:23.820 It was ignored.
00:15:26.300 Ignored.
00:15:27.140 And she was found
00:15:28.580 dead
00:15:29.100 from a fatal
00:15:30.640 dose of heroin
00:15:31.640 given by an abuser
00:15:33.180 and she was repeatedly
00:15:34.900 drugged and raped
00:15:35.840 the night she was killed.
00:15:37.880 I'll give you
00:15:38.440 another example.
00:15:39.840 Charlene Downs.
00:15:41.240 In Blackpool
00:15:41.960 in 2003,
00:15:43.040 14-year-old
00:15:43.740 Charlene Downs
00:15:44.500 disappeared.
00:15:46.100 Police had a leave
00:15:46.860 that Charlene's body
00:15:47.740 had been dismembered
00:15:48.640 and disposed of
00:15:49.640 at a kebab shop
00:15:50.980 in Blackpool.
00:15:52.860 Police uncovered
00:15:53.800 evidence that Charlene
00:15:54.980 had been the victim
00:15:55.760 of child sexual exploitation
00:15:57.940 after being groomed
00:15:59.040 by a gang.
00:16:00.260 The criminals
00:16:00.820 have not been found
00:16:01.700 and her body
00:16:02.900 is missing
00:16:03.300 20 years later.
00:16:05.140 Lucy Lowe
00:16:05.740 in Telford,
00:16:07.940 an individual
00:16:08.540 named Azar Ali Mahmoud
00:16:10.880 groomed Lucy Lowe
00:16:12.520 from the age of 12
00:16:13.820 and impregnated her
00:16:16.080 at 14.
00:16:18.140 He burned her alive
00:16:20.280 in her own home
00:16:21.980 with her mother
00:16:23.740 her disabled sister
00:16:25.700 and her unborn
00:16:27.400 second child
00:16:28.340 also fathered
00:16:30.080 by Mahmoud.
00:16:31.580 Mahmoud was jailed
00:16:32.740 for life
00:16:33.300 in 2001
00:16:34.060 for murder,
00:16:34.760 not for the sex crimes,
00:16:35.720 for murder.
00:16:37.040 Reports indicated
00:16:38.520 that South Asian men
00:16:40.300 were targeting
00:16:40.820 teenagers in Telford
00:16:41.860 since the 1980s.
00:16:42.820 I'll give you
00:16:43.080 one other example.
00:16:44.400 Sophie.
00:16:46.080 In Oldham
00:16:46.860 in 2006,
00:16:47.920 a 12-year-old girl
00:16:48.880 named Sophie
00:16:49.500 entered a police station
00:16:51.420 and reported
00:16:52.020 that she had just
00:16:52.760 been molested
00:16:53.480 in a graveyard
00:16:54.340 by a man named Ali.
00:16:57.080 A desk officer
00:16:58.180 told her to come back
00:16:59.300 with an adult
00:17:00.100 when she was sober.
00:17:01.700 Mind you,
00:17:01.980 she was 12.
00:17:03.520 Two men accosted her
00:17:04.880 in the police station.
00:17:07.680 Joined by a third,
00:17:08.780 they raped her
00:17:10.360 in their car.
00:17:11.980 When they dumped
00:17:12.820 her on the street,
00:17:14.400 she asked a man
00:17:15.380 named Sarwar Ali
00:17:16.640 for directions.
00:17:18.520 He took her
00:17:19.380 to his home,
00:17:21.220 raped her,
00:17:22.300 and gave her money
00:17:23.040 for bus fare home.
00:17:24.880 Sarwar Ali
00:17:25.520 was arrested
00:17:26.200 and remanded to prison
00:17:27.220 over his attack
00:17:27.860 on Sophie.
00:17:29.000 However,
00:17:29.440 he was then released
00:17:30.740 following a bail application
00:17:32.240 to a judge
00:17:33.140 despite being
00:17:34.280 an illegal immigrant
00:17:34.960 in the United Kingdom.
00:17:36.380 He subsequently
00:17:37.320 failed to attend
00:17:38.360 his appointment
00:17:38.840 with the Immigration Service
00:17:40.060 and is still at large.
00:17:42.920 Then,
00:17:43.980 a man named Shaquille
00:17:45.460 Chowdhury
00:17:46.640 pulled up at his car
00:17:47.780 and offered
00:17:49.180 to take Sophie home.
00:17:51.580 He abducted her,
00:17:53.480 took her to a house,
00:17:54.920 fed her alcohol.
00:17:56.460 Soon after,
00:17:57.140 he and four other men
00:17:58.180 repeatedly raped her.
00:18:00.320 Only Shaquille
00:18:01.060 was convicted,
00:18:01.900 six years in prison.
00:18:03.620 During his trial,
00:18:04.460 Chowdhury named
00:18:05.100 two of the other men
00:18:05.840 involved in the rapes
00:18:06.680 of Sophie
00:18:07.080 as part of his
00:18:07.760 mitigation
00:18:08.360 but these were not
00:18:09.300 followed up
00:18:09.820 by police at the time.
00:18:12.260 One of the men
00:18:13.020 named by Chowdhury
00:18:13.820 was subsequently
00:18:14.560 convicted in 2009
00:18:16.000 of the attempted murder
00:18:17.840 of his wife.
00:18:19.740 This pattern
00:18:20.920 happened
00:18:22.140 over
00:18:22.840 and over
00:18:24.100 and over
00:18:25.200 again
00:18:25.660 and
00:18:27.260 the numbers
00:18:28.620 are staggering.
00:18:29.840 We are talking
00:18:30.480 about
00:18:30.860 thousands
00:18:31.760 of girls
00:18:33.140 systematically,
00:18:35.560 repeatedly
00:18:36.360 raped
00:18:37.600 and
00:18:37.940 the entire
00:18:38.880 British government
00:18:39.780 looked the other
00:18:40.420 way for decades.
00:18:41.820 So Senator,
00:18:42.780 the question
00:18:43.240 that I'm sure
00:18:43.840 everyone listening
00:18:44.520 is thinking
00:18:44.980 to themselves
00:18:45.900 like,
00:18:46.640 A,
00:18:47.100 has anything
00:18:47.740 changed now
00:18:48.880 and B,
00:18:50.040 what should happen
00:18:51.240 the fact that
00:18:51.940 now this is all
00:18:52.600 out in the open?
00:18:53.200 Well,
00:18:54.340 what has changed
00:18:55.500 is
00:18:56.560 Elon Musk
00:18:57.940 has started
00:18:58.380 tweeting about it
00:18:59.160 and Elon
00:18:59.520 has over
00:19:00.520 200 million
00:19:01.220 followers
00:19:01.700 and it has
00:19:02.340 drawn attention
00:19:03.460 to it in a way
00:19:04.160 that is really
00:19:05.080 important
00:19:06.100 and it has become
00:19:07.360 thankfully
00:19:08.020 a political
00:19:08.660 crisis
00:19:09.300 in the United
00:19:11.400 Kingdom
00:19:11.800 but I want you
00:19:12.680 to listen to
00:19:13.400 Keir Starmer,
00:19:14.200 this is just
00:19:14.660 about a week
00:19:15.200 ago,
00:19:16.200 addressing this
00:19:17.400 crisis
00:19:17.840 and listen to
00:19:18.860 what he had to say.
00:19:19.460 This is the Prime
00:19:20.020 Minister of the
00:19:20.600 United Kingdom.
00:19:21.100 And when
00:19:22.480 politicians,
00:19:24.740 and I mean
00:19:25.220 politicians,
00:19:26.840 who sat in
00:19:27.620 government for
00:19:28.060 many years,
00:19:29.180 are casual
00:19:29.840 about honesty,
00:19:32.400 decency,
00:19:33.080 truth,
00:19:33.540 and the rule
00:19:34.000 of law,
00:19:36.120 calling for
00:19:36.700 inquiries because
00:19:37.400 they want to
00:19:38.120 jump on a
00:19:38.800 bandwagon of
00:19:40.000 the far right,
00:19:42.060 then that
00:19:42.480 affects politics
00:19:43.520 because a
00:19:45.640 robust debate
00:19:46.380 can only be
00:19:47.000 based on the
00:19:47.620 true facts.
00:19:49.140 So there you
00:19:50.060 have it,
00:19:50.400 the sitting
00:19:51.200 Prime Minister
00:19:51.960 is saying
00:19:53.740 that if you're
00:19:54.300 concerned about
00:19:55.280 the ongoing
00:19:56.080 rape of
00:19:56.860 thousands of
00:19:57.780 girls in
00:19:59.140 the United
00:19:59.500 Kingdom and
00:20:00.280 the complicity
00:20:01.500 of government,
00:20:02.480 he says you're
00:20:03.080 jumping on
00:20:04.420 the bandwagon
00:20:05.380 of the far
00:20:06.160 right.
00:20:06.560 That continues
00:20:07.320 to be the
00:20:08.500 multiculturalism,
00:20:09.680 political
00:20:09.980 correctness that
00:20:10.700 he does not
00:20:11.380 want to
00:20:11.880 acknowledge.
00:20:12.840 And by the
00:20:13.300 way,
00:20:13.620 he was the
00:20:14.360 chief prosecutor
00:20:15.060 for many of
00:20:15.740 these years.
00:20:16.520 He was the
00:20:17.220 one who was
00:20:19.040 directly involved
00:20:20.400 in looking the
00:20:21.040 other way,
00:20:21.600 so naturally
00:20:22.360 he doesn't
00:20:23.380 want an
00:20:23.760 inquiry.
00:20:24.420 Now, I'll
00:20:25.500 give you the
00:20:25.920 response of
00:20:26.680 Nigel Farage,
00:20:27.760 one of the
00:20:28.320 leaders, and
00:20:28.720 actually Nigel
00:20:29.280 Farage, we've
00:20:29.880 had on this
00:20:32.040 podcast.
00:20:32.640 He's been a
00:20:33.000 guest on this
00:20:33.500 podcast before.
00:20:34.480 Nigel Farage
00:20:35.100 obviously led
00:20:36.240 the fight for
00:20:37.160 Brexit in the
00:20:38.480 United Kingdom,
00:20:39.320 and listen to
00:20:40.560 Nigel Farage's
00:20:41.420 response to
00:20:42.220 what Keir
00:20:42.560 Starmer said.
00:20:43.120 Well, so much
00:20:44.340 talk over the
00:20:44.960 last few days
00:20:45.700 about grooming
00:20:46.420 gangs, or
00:20:47.040 should I say
00:20:47.480 rape gangs,
00:20:48.720 and Keir
00:20:49.060 Starmer today
00:20:49.660 saying that
00:20:50.260 anyone who's
00:20:50.740 calling for a
00:20:51.480 full public
00:20:52.400 inquiry is
00:20:53.440 jumping on the
00:20:54.380 bandwagon of
00:20:55.240 the far right.
00:20:56.300 Wrong, Prime
00:20:56.980 Minister.
00:20:57.540 The vast
00:20:58.140 majority of
00:20:58.700 people in
00:20:58.960 this country
00:20:59.380 are absolutely
00:21:00.540 mortified by
00:21:02.240 what has gone
00:21:02.720 on, but even
00:21:03.740 worse, the
00:21:04.380 cover-up we've
00:21:05.000 had from the
00:21:05.800 police, social
00:21:06.860 services, and
00:21:08.140 both conservative
00:21:09.020 and Labour
00:21:10.060 governments.
00:21:11.160 The inquiries
00:21:11.820 that have
00:21:12.140 happened so far
00:21:12.880 have been
00:21:13.120 nothing more
00:21:13.560 than a
00:21:13.820 whitewash.
00:21:14.760 There needs
00:21:15.040 to be a
00:21:15.640 full public
00:21:16.840 inquiry.
00:21:17.780 Let us find
00:21:18.260 out the truth
00:21:18.900 of the scale
00:21:19.860 of this.
00:21:20.320 I'm told that
00:21:21.380 in up to 50
00:21:22.320 British towns
00:21:23.520 these gang
00:21:24.360 rapes were
00:21:25.020 going on.
00:21:25.820 I believe the
00:21:26.360 public need
00:21:26.960 the truth.
00:21:27.620 We must have
00:21:28.700 an inquiry.
00:21:29.880 Senator, you
00:21:30.460 hear the
00:21:31.040 frustration there
00:21:32.480 from Nigel,
00:21:33.220 but it also,
00:21:34.220 and this is
00:21:34.800 where I say
00:21:35.440 let's bring it
00:21:36.100 back to the
00:21:36.660 US.
00:21:37.840 I worry that
00:21:38.740 we're going to
00:21:39.100 have the same
00:21:39.780 type of
00:21:40.180 conversation
00:21:40.840 in the not
00:21:42.380 too near
00:21:42.780 distant future
00:21:43.540 about all
00:21:44.160 the children
00:21:44.620 that we've
00:21:45.500 lost in
00:21:46.200 this country.
00:21:47.440 So the
00:21:47.660 answer to
00:21:48.160 both needs
00:21:48.660 to be the
00:21:49.060 same, which
00:21:49.600 is there
00:21:49.800 needs to
00:21:50.140 be an
00:21:50.360 inquiry, there
00:21:51.160 needs to
00:21:51.500 be transparency
00:21:52.500 in the
00:21:52.880 United Kingdom.
00:21:54.240 You know,
00:21:54.900 Nigel Farage
00:21:55.860 mentioned that
00:21:56.520 there are
00:21:56.900 allegations of
00:21:57.720 up to 50
00:21:59.460 towns where
00:22:00.320 these rape
00:22:00.840 gangs were
00:22:01.400 ongoing for
00:22:02.180 years and
00:22:03.140 years.
00:22:03.900 That's a
00:22:04.540 staggering scale,
00:22:05.620 so there
00:22:05.980 needs to be
00:22:06.720 full transparency,
00:22:08.580 the opposite of
00:22:09.380 a whitewash
00:22:09.960 or a cover
00:22:10.440 up, but
00:22:11.080 real transparency.
00:22:12.000 In the United
00:22:12.340 States, the
00:22:12.880 over 300,000
00:22:13.920 children that
00:22:14.900 the Biden
00:22:15.300 administration
00:22:15.800 lost, we
00:22:16.660 need full
00:22:17.160 transparency.
00:22:17.960 We need to
00:22:18.240 find those
00:22:18.760 kids, those
00:22:19.720 kids who are
00:22:20.280 being abused
00:22:20.920 right now, we
00:22:21.960 need to get
00:22:22.440 them out of
00:22:22.960 harm's way,
00:22:24.220 and sunlight
00:22:25.640 and transparency
00:22:26.820 is powerful,
00:22:27.740 but there also
00:22:28.460 needs to be
00:22:29.140 accountability for
00:22:30.540 those who are
00:22:31.040 culpable.
00:22:32.020 As before, if
00:22:32.900 you want to
00:22:33.220 hear the rest
00:22:33.700 of this
00:22:33.940 conversation on
00:22:35.080 this topic,
00:22:35.860 you can go
00:22:36.260 back and download
00:22:36.960 the podcast from
00:22:38.100 earlier this week
00:22:38.740 to hear the
00:22:39.180 entire thing.
00:22:41.020 I want to get
00:22:41.700 back to the
00:22:42.420 big story number
00:22:43.480 three of the
00:22:43.960 week you may
00:22:44.460 have missed.
00:22:45.480 Let me ask you
00:22:46.180 this, just to
00:22:46.980 paint the picture
00:22:47.500 of the room.
00:22:48.040 When you guys
00:22:48.600 meet with him,
00:22:49.280 are you seated?
00:22:50.500 Yep.
00:22:50.940 And then when
00:22:51.400 you talk to him,
00:22:52.300 when you're making
00:22:52.760 your points, do
00:22:53.320 you stand?
00:22:53.960 What does it look
00:22:54.920 like?
00:22:55.160 Is it a very
00:22:55.700 chill room?
00:22:56.960 Is it a casual
00:22:58.020 room or very
00:22:58.600 formal?
00:22:59.260 So we're in a
00:23:00.360 room called the
00:23:01.060 Mansfield room,
00:23:02.040 which is a room
00:23:02.660 named for Mike
00:23:03.240 Mansfield, former
00:23:04.360 Senate Majority
00:23:06.220 Leader, Democrat
00:23:07.000 Senator for
00:23:07.640 Montana.
00:23:08.740 It has a big
00:23:09.080 picture of Mike
00:23:09.660 Mansfield holding
00:23:10.380 a pipe, the big
00:23:11.400 painting on the
00:23:11.900 wall.
00:23:13.560 It is a large
00:23:15.480 room in the
00:23:16.160 Capitol.
00:23:17.140 And when we
00:23:18.260 met with him,
00:23:19.500 there's a table
00:23:20.400 that's basically a
00:23:21.400 giant table set in
00:23:22.460 a rectangle.
00:23:23.020 So we're all
00:23:23.700 facing each other.
00:23:24.860 So, you know, 53
00:23:27.240 of us plus the
00:23:28.200 president around a
00:23:29.220 table looking at
00:23:29.960 each other.
00:23:31.420 And it's a very
00:23:32.460 nice room, and
00:23:33.160 it's where we have
00:23:34.080 lunch every day.
00:23:36.740 It's actually one
00:23:37.700 of the perks of
00:23:38.380 being in the
00:23:39.180 majority.
00:23:40.120 So the majority
00:23:40.840 has lunch in the
00:23:41.600 Mansfield room, the
00:23:42.580 minority has lunch in
00:23:43.540 the LBJ room, which
00:23:44.460 is smaller.
00:23:45.540 So when we became a
00:23:46.460 majority, we got into
00:23:47.220 the bigger room, which
00:23:47.940 is nice, because the
00:23:48.700 LBJ room, it's pretty
00:23:51.200 tight quarters, and so
00:23:52.240 there's a lot more
00:23:52.780 space in the
00:23:53.240 Mansfield room.
00:23:53.800 So, look, I made a
00:23:55.940 case to him because
00:23:56.720 he came in and he'd
00:23:57.640 been told by the
00:23:58.300 House, hey, this is
00:23:59.200 the only way we can
00:23:59.820 get it done.
00:24:00.360 And I said, Mr.
00:24:00.960 President, I want you
00:24:01.500 to understand
00:24:01.880 something.
00:24:03.160 I said, we had a
00:24:04.080 meeting earlier today
00:24:05.060 of all of the Senate
00:24:06.480 committee chairs, all
00:24:08.600 of us, every single
00:24:11.340 one of us, agrees that
00:24:14.840 doing this with two
00:24:16.040 bills is the only way
00:24:17.300 to get it done, and
00:24:18.240 one bill has a
00:24:20.120 massive, massive risk
00:24:21.780 of failure.
00:24:22.300 And extending it to
00:24:24.060 eight months.
00:24:25.060 And I pointed out to
00:24:26.160 him, I said, look,
00:24:27.620 there are 53 of us in
00:24:28.860 this room, I want you
00:24:29.600 to look around the
00:24:30.320 room.
00:24:31.040 Every single one of us
00:24:32.540 agrees, all of us.
00:24:34.420 I agree, John Thune
00:24:35.820 agrees, Lindsey Graham
00:24:37.200 agrees.
00:24:37.980 I said, look, you've
00:24:38.520 got Susan Collins and
00:24:39.660 Rand Paul, they agree
00:24:40.460 on nothing.
00:24:41.700 They agree on this.
00:24:43.560 I want you to
00:24:44.540 understand why.
00:24:45.400 And one point that I
00:24:46.240 made to him is I said,
00:24:47.060 look, you need to
00:24:47.580 understand, I love the
00:24:49.500 House of Representatives,
00:24:50.140 I love Mike Johnson, he's
00:24:51.280 a great man, he's a
00:24:52.760 good friend, he has a
00:24:53.840 nearly impossible job.
00:24:55.040 So I feel for how
00:24:56.520 difficult that job is.
00:24:58.480 The House of
00:24:59.380 Representatives, more
00:25:00.540 than 60% of the House,
00:25:03.240 was not here when we
00:25:06.520 passed 2017 tax cuts.
00:25:08.620 Wow.
00:25:09.160 That is a significant
00:25:10.480 number.
00:25:11.080 So they do not
00:25:12.280 understand what goes
00:25:13.680 into it.
00:25:14.240 They do not understand
00:25:15.560 the thousands of hours
00:25:17.640 of back and forth.
00:25:18.660 Look, they're passionate,
00:25:20.540 they believe in what
00:25:21.360 they're saying, but they
00:25:22.240 don't have the experience
00:25:23.240 of having gone through
00:25:23.940 this.
00:25:24.160 By the way, they also,
00:25:25.980 many of them don't
00:25:27.140 understand the rules of
00:25:28.460 reconciliation of what the
00:25:29.840 Senate could do.
00:25:30.400 Remember I talked about
00:25:31.240 we can do budgetary
00:25:32.440 things and not policy
00:25:33.640 things?
00:25:34.140 Yeah.
00:25:34.680 There's always a battle
00:25:35.720 between the House and
00:25:36.480 Senate because the House
00:25:37.120 gets mad at the Senate.
00:25:38.540 You damn senators, you
00:25:39.780 won't do what we want.
00:25:41.040 It's like, well, there's a
00:25:41.880 statute that governs what
00:25:42.860 we can do, and it does
00:25:43.860 limit what the Senate could
00:25:44.920 do on reconciliation.
00:25:46.460 That'll be a back and
00:25:47.440 forth.
00:25:47.700 It always is.
00:25:48.260 Every reconciliation,
00:25:49.360 there's a battle between
00:25:50.020 the House and Senate
00:25:50.720 because the House wants
00:25:52.400 to do things that the
00:25:53.820 Senate is not allowed to
00:25:54.960 do under the terms of
00:25:56.560 the statute.
00:25:57.660 What I told President
00:25:59.180 Trump is I said, listen,
00:26:00.780 if we put this all in
00:26:02.020 one bill, we have a
00:26:03.340 massive risk of failure.
00:26:04.700 If we do it in two
00:26:05.500 bills, we can start with
00:26:07.200 a huge victory, securing
00:26:08.780 the border, rebuilding the
00:26:09.940 military, unleashing
00:26:10.880 American energy, and then
00:26:12.440 we will get tax cuts
00:26:15.040 passed.
00:26:15.700 It's just going to take
00:26:16.620 longer.
00:26:19.040 And, you know, on the
00:26:20.180 argument that, well, gosh,
00:26:21.820 this is the House
00:26:22.900 leadership's argument, we
00:26:24.400 need each piece as a
00:26:25.560 sweetener to get the
00:26:26.340 votes, what I've said in
00:26:27.340 response is, okay, show me
00:26:29.720 this magical unicorn of a
00:26:31.320 House member.
00:26:32.540 Because I know most of
00:26:34.020 these guys.
00:26:34.580 Yeah.
00:26:35.040 So show me, don't talk
00:26:36.600 about, well, I got members,
00:26:37.960 I can't get their vote
00:26:38.600 without it.
00:26:38.980 All right, tell me who.
00:26:40.500 You talking about crazy
00:26:42.420 right-wing knuckle-draggers?
00:26:43.560 Okay, I'm a crazy right-wing
00:26:44.660 knuckle-draggers.
00:26:45.220 Those are my peeps.
00:26:46.780 I'll go talk to them.
00:26:47.460 I'll go talk to them.
00:26:48.500 But when I'm talking to
00:26:49.520 them, they're not saying
00:26:50.280 that.
00:26:51.200 Are you talking about really
00:26:52.580 moderate Republicans?
00:26:53.860 All right, fine, that's a
00:26:54.600 different problem to
00:26:58.060 solve, but we talk about
00:26:58.800 that.
00:27:00.000 One of the issues that
00:27:02.220 complicates this is what's
00:27:03.620 called the SALT tax.
00:27:05.480 Explain that.
00:27:06.960 Okay, so the SALT tax is
00:27:09.400 state and local tax
00:27:10.600 deduction.
00:27:10.980 So one of the things that
00:27:12.520 happened when we passed
00:27:14.980 the 2017 tax cut is we
00:27:18.580 eliminated, initially we
00:27:20.120 eliminated deducting state
00:27:22.100 and local taxes.
00:27:22.880 So it used to be before
00:27:23.800 2017, if you're in
00:27:26.300 California and you pay a
00:27:27.640 crap ton of taxes to the
00:27:29.060 state of California, you
00:27:30.740 could deduct all those
00:27:31.840 taxes on your federal
00:27:32.740 taxes.
00:27:33.180 Now, what that ended up
00:27:35.280 doing was having the
00:27:36.320 federal government subsidize
00:27:37.980 big blue states that tax
00:27:39.900 the hell out of their
00:27:40.640 constituents.
00:27:41.880 Right.
00:27:42.420 And big blue states that
00:27:43.620 have massive taxes, you
00:27:45.300 just got it deducted for
00:27:46.340 your federal taxes.
00:27:47.240 And so we were like,
00:27:47.980 Gavin Newsom, keep raising
00:27:49.380 taxes, the feds will
00:27:50.480 subsidize you on that.
00:27:51.820 So in 2017, we eliminated
00:27:54.900 that.
00:27:55.140 Now, we eliminated it, but
00:27:56.180 we actually allowed some
00:27:57.320 deduction.
00:27:57.880 We put a cap of $10,000.
00:28:00.160 So you can deduct up to
00:28:01.980 $10,000 of state and local
00:28:03.540 taxes.
00:28:04.000 So you and I are both
00:28:04.800 homeowners in Texas.
00:28:06.000 The biggest state tax we
00:28:07.320 pay is property tax.
00:28:08.340 Yeah.
00:28:08.900 So you and I deduct our
00:28:10.240 property tax on our federal
00:28:12.200 income tax, but it's capped
00:28:13.440 at $10,000.
00:28:14.340 So if you're paying more
00:28:15.360 than $10,000.
00:28:16.880 It's on you.
00:28:17.520 It's on you.
00:28:19.300 Now, what's the political
00:28:20.660 problem?
00:28:21.200 The political problem is
00:28:22.440 there are a number of House
00:28:24.140 Republicans who come from
00:28:26.280 blue states, in particular
00:28:27.400 New York and California.
00:28:29.260 And the blue state
00:28:30.600 Republicans, the New York
00:28:31.680 and California Republicans
00:28:32.820 have a problem because
00:28:34.580 eliminating the SALT
00:28:35.940 deduction really impacted
00:28:38.440 people in high tax states
00:28:39.740 because, unfortunately,
00:28:40.980 their big government
00:28:41.520 Democrats keep taxing the
00:28:42.720 hell out of them.
00:28:44.060 We talked about this in
00:28:44.960 California this past week.
00:28:47.100 Those New York and
00:28:48.500 California Republicans feel
00:28:50.220 an obligation to do
00:28:53.260 something to help the
00:28:54.960 problem of not being able
00:28:57.080 to deduct more than
00:28:58.980 10, more than 10 now.
00:29:01.640 And so the argument is,
00:29:03.200 well, if we add border
00:29:04.400 security to it, they'll
00:29:06.000 have to vote for it because
00:29:07.940 they can't vote against
00:29:08.740 border security.
00:29:09.360 So this is where the
00:29:11.120 argument makes no sense.
00:29:12.140 I'm like, all right, first
00:29:13.000 of all, we tee up the
00:29:13.920 first bill, securing the
00:29:15.460 border, rebuilding our
00:29:17.080 military, unleashing
00:29:18.040 American energy.
00:29:19.460 I don't know a Republican
00:29:20.640 who's voting against that.
00:29:21.920 The mandate out of this
00:29:23.020 election was secure the
00:29:24.040 border.
00:29:24.740 Show me the idiot
00:29:25.960 Republican who's going to
00:29:26.940 say, no, I'm for open
00:29:27.940 borders.
00:29:28.400 That is a recipe.
00:29:30.160 For disaster.
00:29:30.820 You're retiring when you're
00:29:31.940 doing that because you
00:29:32.660 ain't running again.
00:29:33.940 And if you do, you're
00:29:34.600 going to get primaried.
00:29:35.360 You'll get killed.
00:29:36.900 None of them will vote
00:29:37.640 against border security.
00:29:38.600 They're just not going to.
00:29:40.140 They know the American
00:29:40.900 people.
00:29:41.360 They know what they want.
00:29:42.240 On the SALT issue, look,
00:29:44.820 will there have to be an
00:29:46.200 accommodation for New
00:29:49.280 York and California
00:29:50.040 Republicans?
00:29:50.620 Sure there will.
00:29:52.000 There will have to be an
00:29:53.120 accommodation.
00:29:53.520 I understand that.
00:29:55.140 That's part of why this
00:29:55.980 takes a while.
00:29:56.860 You've got to negotiate.
00:29:57.860 There are geographic and
00:29:59.660 regional issues that you
00:30:00.840 have to negotiate and
00:30:01.840 there's a trade-off.
00:30:03.340 Now, will the
00:30:04.920 accommodation be
00:30:06.340 restoring in full the
00:30:08.500 state and local tax
00:30:09.340 deduction?
00:30:09.720 I don't believe it will
00:30:10.540 be because that's
00:30:11.120 terrible tax policy.
00:30:12.940 That means the red
00:30:13.980 states are all
00:30:15.300 subsidizing the blue
00:30:16.440 states and their bad
00:30:17.380 tax policy.
00:30:18.080 Here's what I think the
00:30:19.580 resolution will be.
00:30:21.360 This is actually an idea
00:30:22.160 I got from Grover
00:30:22.920 Norquist.
00:30:23.760 Grover Norquist runs
00:30:24.820 Americans for Tax
00:30:25.560 Reform.
00:30:26.100 He's a longtime friend of
00:30:28.100 mine, one of the leading
00:30:29.000 thinkers when it comes to
00:30:30.160 tax policy.
00:30:31.960 And Grover's idea, so right
00:30:35.260 now there is a marriage
00:30:36.620 penalty in how you deduct
00:30:40.660 state and local taxes.
00:30:42.680 You as an individual, if
00:30:43.840 you file your tax return,
00:30:45.060 you could deduct up to
00:30:45.860 $10,000 of state and
00:30:48.580 local taxes.
00:30:49.780 If you are married, as
00:30:51.340 you are, you and your
00:30:53.120 wife can deduct a total
00:30:54.280 of $10,000 on state and
00:30:57.180 local taxes.
00:30:58.340 What Grover suggested as a
00:31:00.140 fix is eliminate the
00:31:01.380 marriage penalty, which
00:31:02.260 means you and your wife
00:31:03.320 would be able to deduct
00:31:04.240 not $10,000, but $20,000.
00:31:06.840 So it doesn't hurt you.
00:31:09.160 You're not being
00:31:09.500 penalized for being
00:31:10.080 married.
00:31:10.300 Right. Now, that's good
00:31:12.080 tax policy as well, getting
00:31:13.480 rid of the marriage
00:31:14.160 penalty. One of the
00:31:15.100 negative things federal
00:31:16.160 law does is discourages
00:31:17.480 marriage, and marriage is
00:31:19.020 a very good thing for our
00:31:20.400 society. I think we'll end
00:31:22.940 up, if I were to predict
00:31:23.940 the bill that gets
00:31:24.640 enacted, I think we'll end
00:31:25.880 up eliminating the
00:31:26.840 marriage penalty on the
00:31:27.860 SALT deduction, which lets
00:31:29.800 the California and New
00:31:31.060 York Republicans go back
00:31:32.460 and say, hey, big win,
00:31:34.580 we doubled the
00:31:35.360 deduction. Now, what it
00:31:36.660 doesn't do is give a
00:31:38.660 multi-million dollar tax
00:31:39.880 break to Michael
00:31:40.540 Bloomberg. What it
00:31:41.280 doesn't do is give a
00:31:42.240 massive benefit to
00:31:43.600 billionaires in New York
00:31:44.680 and California who have
00:31:46.420 massive taxes, and I think
00:31:48.220 that's where we'll end up.
00:31:50.340 But again, that takes time.
00:31:52.440 And so I don't know how we
00:31:54.800 resolve this. I think we'll
00:31:56.000 end up seeing the two
00:31:57.060 proceed on parallel tracks.
00:31:58.680 I think we're going to see
00:31:59.620 the House for a while go
00:32:01.280 forward and say we're doing
00:32:02.660 one big beautiful bill.
00:32:03.880 Beautiful bill, yeah.
00:32:04.220 And I think the Senate's
00:32:05.780 going to say, yeah, that's
00:32:06.640 fine. We're moving
00:32:07.660 forward.
00:32:08.500 We're not wasting time.
00:32:09.800 We're moving forward with
00:32:11.040 our bill on the border, on
00:32:12.560 the military, and on
00:32:13.700 energy, because we can get
00:32:15.420 it done. We want a victory,
00:32:16.980 and this is how you win.
00:32:19.380 And look, I don't know how
00:32:20.840 it resolves, but I can tell
00:32:22.240 you, I think it is an
00:32:24.260 enormously consequential
00:32:25.720 question. And frankly, this
00:32:28.760 is exactly the reason I think
00:32:30.160 people listen to verdict.
00:32:31.980 For sure.
00:32:32.660 Because there is not
00:32:34.020 another show, there's not a
00:32:35.300 news show.
00:32:35.560 No one's talking about this
00:32:36.620 or covering it or
00:32:37.340 explaining it.
00:32:37.760 There's not a podcast.
00:32:38.560 People don't understand
00:32:39.360 this. And I will tell you,
00:32:41.180 this is the single biggest
00:32:42.660 topic that the Senate and
00:32:45.040 House and President Trump
00:32:46.520 are discussing right now.
00:32:47.900 And nobody is covering it
00:32:49.980 in the news.
00:32:50.920 But the reason it's the
00:32:52.060 single biggest topic is I
00:32:53.600 believe it is the
00:32:54.480 difference between
00:32:56.340 succeeding on Trump's
00:32:57.740 legislative agenda and
00:32:58.900 winning massive victories
00:33:00.060 victories or losing and
00:33:01.640 having a crushing failure.
00:33:03.520 And in my view, failure is
00:33:04.460 not an option.
00:33:05.140 We cannot fail, which
00:33:06.880 means we've got to do it
00:33:07.480 right.
00:33:08.260 As always, thank you for
00:33:09.700 listening to Verdict with
00:33:11.120 Senator Ted Cruz, Ben
00:33:12.360 Ferguson with you.
00:33:13.080 Don't forget to download my
00:33:14.300 podcast and you can listen
00:33:15.500 to my podcast every other
00:33:16.520 day you're not listening to
00:33:17.400 Verdict or each day when
00:33:18.560 you listen to Verdict
00:33:19.120 afterwards.
00:33:20.100 I'd love to have you as a
00:33:21.320 listener to, again, the Ben
00:33:22.780 Ferguson podcast.
00:33:23.840 And we will see you back
00:33:24.880 here on Monday morning.
00:33:26.260 This is an iHeart podcast.
00:33:30.280 Guaranteed human.