Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 11, 2025


The Politics of Water in CA, Benefits of Greenland & Pan Canal plus the Fall of Corporate Media Week In Review

Topics
fire management and politics Greenland becoming an American territory corporate media lies
Hosted by
Ted Cruz
Mentioned
Donald Trump Jr. Gavin Newsom Jimmy Carter Verdict Cal Fire Ben Ferguson Morning Joe Jennifer Stewart Caitlin Clark Joe Scarborough John Fetterman Sam Harris Hunter Biden Jim Vanderhay Elon Musk Benjamin Netanyahu Teddy Roosevelt Jonathan Lemire Kate Sanchez Karen Bass and 5 more
California Inferno-the Catastrophic Policy Decisions that are Making the Wildfires Much, Much Worse How to WIN：The Inside Story on the Battle to Enact Trump's Legislative Agenda

Episode Stats


Length

36 minutes

Words per minute

160.62

Word count

5,911

Sentence count

460

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

14

sentences flagged

Hate speech

8

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergus take a look at the devastating wildfires in California, and how the politics of water are to blame. Also, the U.S. government acquires Greenland and the Panama Canal, and the demise of the corporate media.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.480 Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz and our Week in Review.
00:00:08.080 Ben Ferguson with you, and we've got a lot of major stories that broke this week,
00:00:11.620 and we're going to cover them all for you.
00:00:13.800 First up, the politics of water.
00:00:17.040 Well, it made the California wildfires worse.
00:00:20.600 We'll explain exactly how that happened.
00:00:23.000 And now it seems like everybody in office out there is pointing the finger at one another.
00:00:27.900 Also, there's been a lot of talk this past week about another issue,
00:00:32.980 and that is the U.S. acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal.
00:00:37.560 How would this work?
00:00:38.920 Is it a crazy, brilliant idea?
00:00:40.940 We'll explain that.
00:00:42.560 And finally, the demise of the corporate media.
00:00:46.280 Is it fair to say now that the media has lost the war,
00:00:49.400 especially after the last election outcome we just had?
00:00:52.720 It's the Week in Review, and it starts right now.
00:00:55.660 All right, and I also think it's important for us to talk about the other aspect of this,
00:01:00.780 and that is about the water.
00:01:03.520 Gavin Newsom, he made this an issue.
00:01:06.820 He was obsessed with water and fish and all of this kumbaya-ism, 0.99
00:01:12.220 and he had press conferences about it, and now all that's coming back to haunt him as well.
00:01:16.360 There's no doubt the water policies have greatly exacerbated the problems with wildfires
00:01:24.900 and the ability to fight the wildfires.
00:01:26.920 And listen, L.A. right now is facing a drought,
00:01:31.140 and at the same time California is dumping massive quantities of fresh water into the ocean.
00:01:38.080 They're wasting it.
00:01:39.120 Here's what Donald Trump said yesterday when he came.
00:01:43.080 He was in the Senate.
00:01:44.460 He met with me and all the Republican senators.
00:01:47.520 We spent about two hours with him,
00:01:48.880 and what he said is he said that Gavin Newsom wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish
00:01:54.600 called a smelt, but didn't care about the people of California.
00:01:58.560 Now the ultimate price is being paid.
00:02:00.580 I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to flow into California. 0.99
00:02:06.900 He is to blame for this.
00:02:08.420 Now, let's lay out the facts that go behind this.
00:02:12.080 So California's main water hub is the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
00:02:18.200 And among other things, the state of California has been refusing to provide sufficient water to California farmers,
00:02:25.580 and as I said, they're dumping it in the Pacific Ocean instead.
00:02:28.080 And the reason they're doing so is because of a fish called the Delta smelt.
00:02:40.640 And so Trump, when he was president, wanted to divert supply to the farmers,
00:02:48.260 and in response, environmental groups argue that it would hurt the population of Delta smelt,
00:02:56.640 small fish that were once crucial to California's ecosystem but has since been rendered effectively extinct.
00:03:03.560 So Trump first promised, and this is from the New York Post,
00:03:07.700 Trump first promised to redirect California's northern runoff south to benefit farmers
00:03:12.660 when he was running for president in 2016, and he made good on the promise in 2020
00:03:17.080 with a federal memorandum that redirected millions of gallons of water
00:03:23.020 he said was otherwise needlessly flushed into the ocean.
00:03:27.160 So that's what Trump did in 2020.
00:03:30.300 But what did Gavin Newsom do?
00:03:32.280 He sued the federal government to stop that water from going to California farmers.
00:03:39.340 Days later, Newsom's administration sued to block Trump's move,
00:03:43.960 and he succeeded in limiting the amount of water that can be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
00:03:51.260 This is, and now we're facing the enormous frustration of people in Los Angeles
00:03:59.800 when they don't have sufficient water to fight these wildfires,
00:04:04.920 and yet Gavin Newsom continues to fight for not directing water anywhere other than fixing these problems.
00:04:19.620 You listen to Governor Newsom and bragging about not only what you described,
00:04:24.800 but bragging about tearing down dams to save fish because woke activists said you got to do it.
00:04:30.840 But this is, again, the consequences of actions.
00:04:35.060 Here is Gavin Newsom cheering on how brilliant his idea was when he did it.
00:04:41.420 Largest dam removal project in U.S. history,
00:04:45.360 and one of the most significant, if not the most significant, water restoration project,
00:04:51.680 bringing back salmon and steelhead into this basin.
00:04:55.340 This project could not have happened without extraordinary partnerships with tribal nations
00:05:00.720 and, of course, our partners in the north and Oregon.
00:05:04.740 We just finished a celebration with the Secretary of the Interior and our tribal council and tribal leaders,
00:05:11.080 and I couldn't be more proud as a Californian, and I couldn't be more proud as a prophet,
00:05:14.940 because my kids and their great-great-grandkids will have the opportunity to see something
00:05:19.620 that Trump has been here since time immemorial, and it's about dam time we got this time.
00:05:26.500 That's not you and me characterizing what he did.
00:05:30.360 That's in his own words, saying how incredibly proud he is of, quote,
00:05:35.280 the largest dam removal project in U.S. history.
00:05:39.460 That's a policy decision he made.
00:05:42.600 Now, what are the consequences of this?
00:05:44.700 Give a listen to Gavin Newsom being asked about L.A. not having water in its fire hydrants.
00:05:51.380 Here was his answer during this crisis.
00:05:54.380 What is the situation with water?
00:05:55.860 Obviously, in Palisades ran out last night in the hydrants.
00:05:58.540 I was trying to fire a firefighter in this block.
00:06:00.180 They left because there was no water in the hydrants here.
00:06:02.640 The local folks are trying to figure that out.
00:06:05.200 I mean, just when you have a system where it's not dissimilar to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large-scale fires,
00:06:10.440 whether it be pipe, electricity, or whether it just be the complete overwhelm of the system.
00:06:16.140 I mean, those hydrants are typical for two or three fires, maybe one fire.
00:06:19.900 You have something at this scale.
00:06:21.120 But, again, that's got to be determined by the local.
00:06:23.540 Not my problem.
00:06:24.740 It's the local people.
00:06:25.860 And he literally, as he's saying this, threw his hands up in the air on national TV.
00:06:29.560 Like, this is, I guess, below my pay grade.
00:06:32.880 You ask the local officials.
00:06:34.200 Not my problem as the governor.
00:06:36.720 So, local folks are going to figure that out.
00:06:39.160 Not my job.
00:06:40.820 Without taking any responsibility for his decisions.
00:06:44.880 He's literally sued the federal government to block money going to Californians.
00:06:51.000 And bragged about how proud he is of the largest dam removal in U.S. history.
00:06:57.420 And, by the way, you know, he's also trying to put all the blame on local officials.
00:07:02.080 And I agree the local officials had policies in place that had a significant consequence.
00:07:07.120 But I'll tell you also, so did Gavin Newsom.
00:07:13.620 You know, we talked a minute ago about firefighters and Karen Bass slashing the budget for the fire department. 1.00
00:07:22.600 Well, last year, Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have let Cal Fire, the statewide fire agency, retain seasonal firefighters to help with staffing shortages.
00:07:35.220 And his veto forced the layoff of thousands of seasonal firefighters.
00:07:41.200 This is from Kate Sanchez, who is a California assemblywoman, and who goes on to say his veto forced the layoff of thousands of seasonal firefighters who he never replaced despite his promises.
00:07:56.220 This is negligence of the highest orders.
00:07:59.300 And I want to read to you.
00:08:01.320 So this is September 22nd, 2024.
00:08:04.440 So not very long, just a few months ago.
00:08:07.680 Office of the governor.
00:08:09.500 Quote, to the members of the California State Assembly, I am returning Assembly Bill 2538 without my signature.
00:08:16.280 The bill would, among other things, require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Cal Fire, to employ seasonal firefighters through the use of an employment list.
00:08:25.320 This bill would also require the Department of Human Resources to coordinate with the state personnel board and any other relevant state agency to take the necessary actions to allow Cal Fire to employ seasonal firefighters for longer than nine months in a consecutive 12-month period.
00:08:40.660 Increasing Cal Fire's capacity is an important objective.
00:08:44.260 And with the introduction of the 66-hour work week for firefighters, my administration will need to hire more than 2,000 new year-round firefighters.
00:08:51.640 Note that California Assemblywoman said he didn't do that.
00:08:55.320 Significantly increasing the Department's capacity in the off-season.
00:08:59.420 This bill is, therefore, unnecessary.
00:09:04.060 So he vetoes hiring more firefighters, just like the mayor of Los Angeles did.
00:09:16.300 And I want you to listen to this exchange.
00:09:19.560 This exchange, when Gavin Newsom is confronted by a woman asking for answers about his disastrous policies, give a listen to this exchange.
00:09:36.420 Governor, you got a second?
00:09:38.260 No.
00:09:39.360 Governor, Governor, I live here, Governor.
00:09:42.340 That was my daughter's school, Governor.
00:09:44.480 Please tell me what you're going to do.
00:09:45.820 I'm not going to hurt him, I promise.
00:09:46.960 I'm literally talking to the president right now to specifically answer the question of what we can do for you and your daughter.
00:09:54.140 Can I hear it?
00:09:54.960 Can I hear your call?
00:09:56.220 Because I don't believe it.
00:09:58.700 I'm sorry.
00:09:59.800 There's literally, I've tried five times, that's why I'm walking around to make the call.
00:10:03.300 Why is the president not taking your call?
00:10:05.760 Because it's not going through.
00:10:07.040 Why?
00:10:07.180 So I have to get self-service.
00:10:08.380 So let's get it.
00:10:09.220 Let's get it.
00:10:09.760 I want to be here when you call the president.
00:10:11.540 I appreciate it.
00:10:12.260 I'm doing that right now.
00:10:14.120 And it's to immediately get reimbursements, individual assistance, and to help you.
00:10:18.360 I'm a devastated family.
00:10:19.620 I'm so sorry, especially for your daughter.
00:10:22.240 I have four kids losing the school.
00:10:24.560 Everyone who went to school there, they lost their homes.
00:10:28.020 They lost two homes because they were living in one and building another.
00:10:31.880 Governor, please tell me, tell me, what are you going to do with the president right now?
00:10:35.420 We're getting the resources to help rebuild.
00:10:38.240 Why was there no water in the hydrants, Governor?
00:10:41.580 That's all literally.
00:10:42.900 Is it going to be different next time?
00:10:44.740 It has to be.
00:10:45.960 It has to be, of course.
00:10:47.220 What are you going to do?
00:10:48.260 To fill the hydrants.
00:10:49.480 I would fill them up personally, you know that.
00:10:51.520 I would fill up the hydrants myself.
00:10:55.440 But would you do that?
00:10:56.800 I would do whatever I can.
00:10:58.340 But you're not.
00:10:59.580 I see the, do you know there's water dripping over there, Governor?
00:11:02.880 There's water coming out there.
00:11:04.360 You can use it.
00:11:05.440 I appreciate it.
00:11:06.140 I'm going to make the call to address everything I can right now, including making sure people are safe.
00:11:11.820 I'd like to make sure you do.
00:11:12.620 Can I have an opportunity to at least tell people you're doing what you're saying you're doing?
00:11:17.200 Could somebody have a contact?
00:11:19.160 Can I have your contact information?
00:11:20.300 Yes, right there.
00:11:22.180 Nothing like ducking into your SUV and then saying, oh, I've got to take a phone call with the president.
00:11:26.840 You move on, lady. 1.00
00:11:28.740 I hear what you're saying, but you move on.
00:11:31.080 One of the most shocking parts of that exchange, though, Senator, was the fact that both people involved,
00:11:35.620 the lady who lived there, her child's school was burned to the ground,
00:11:39.700 and Gavin Newsom are both admitting there will be a next time.
00:11:43.480 And if you know that this is a next time and you know that you deal with these fires, why did you make all these decisions?
00:11:51.140 And it's over and over again, repeated decisions.
00:11:55.660 And he's accepting no responsibility.
00:11:58.780 He was warned about the consequences of those decisions, and yet he doesn't change them.
00:12:03.980 The mayor was warned, and she doesn't change them.
00:12:07.580 And look, his first reaction when the woman comes up is to lie to her.
00:12:11.700 Oh, I'm on the phone with the president right now, and I've got to give the woman credit.
00:12:15.400 It's the old trick pretending to be on a phone call, and she's like, great, can I listen?
00:12:19.280 He's like, oh, well, I'm not actually on the phone, but I'm trying.
00:12:23.620 Like, it is a horrific natural disaster, a horrific crisis.
00:12:29.340 Although I say natural disaster, we're getting also multiple reports of some or all of these fires having originated from arson.
00:12:38.880 We don't know the full details of that, and so it may turn out that these fires are not entirely natural in their origin.
00:12:46.460 That we will find out more, hopefully, in the days ahead.
00:12:51.320 But regardless, better forest management and mitigation could reduce the risks of these fires, and yet the politicians in California refuse to do it.
00:13:07.780 Investing in firefighters putting the priority of doing their job and putting sufficient resources there could make a real difference,
00:13:15.340 and yet the politicians actively refuse to do so, both the mayor and the governor,
00:13:21.980 and ensuring their sufficient water could make a real difference in fighting these forest fires,
00:13:29.580 and yet the elected politicians repeatedly refuse to do so and brag about how proud they are of these policies.
00:13:39.920 I hope on the federal government that this prompts a serious reconsideration of the policies of what are allowed on federal forest lands.
00:13:52.440 I know President Trump wants to see that happen, and we will see whether our Democrat colleagues in Congress are willing to work to get that done,
00:14:01.340 or if they will continue to double down on the same failed policies that are endangering people's lives and costing people's lives.
00:14:09.560 And I just want to close where we started.
00:14:11.160 Listen, we are praying for the people of California who are living through hell right now.
00:14:15.860 We are praying for the firefighters and police officers and first responders,
00:14:20.240 and by the way, just ordinary citizens and churches and charities who are coming together and helping each other.
00:14:26.840 And I will say, you know, in the wake of any disaster, you see people come together and help each other.
00:14:34.000 And that's an amazing, powerful thing.
00:14:36.600 But at the same time, we need to ask, are there policies that caused this disaster or made it worse?
00:14:44.500 And are there policy changes that can reduce the risk of another tragedy like this in the future?
00:14:52.100 And sadly, the answer to those questions is unquestionably yes.
00:14:57.020 And I think for that reason, a whole lot of people in California are understandably and justifiably furious right now.
00:15:04.920 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.
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00:15:22.120 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
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00:15:37.020 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:15:41.400 Now on to story number two.
00:15:46.300 Is this one of those things that would come down to a vote and they would vote on it?
00:15:49.660 How does this actually work?
00:15:51.000 I mean, is there a purchase price?
00:15:52.900 I mean, explain to people the reality if this moves forward, what it looks like.
00:15:57.340 So in all likelihood, there would be a purchase price paid to Denmark because Denmark has control.
00:16:04.200 Denmark governs Greenland right now.
00:16:06.900 And so it would be a purchase price, like the Louisiana Purchase, like buying Alaska.
00:16:10.820 And there's a long history of countries buying territories, one from the other.
00:16:16.000 And so that you'd have to go and negotiate it.
00:16:19.020 We saw this week Donald Trump Jr. flew to Greenland and went there and reported back,
00:16:26.320 reported back that he had a tremendous reception, that people were cheering him on, that they
00:16:31.020 were wearing MAGA hats.
00:16:33.660 You know, I've heard multiple reports that the locals can't stand Denmark, that they're
00:16:39.120 treated as second class citizens by the Danes.
00:16:41.580 And that, you know, if you're a young Greenlander, the opportunity to become an American, that's
00:16:51.940 a big deal in terms of your future.
00:16:55.540 If Greenland becomes an American territory, the investment from the United States that goes
00:17:01.180 into Greenland is suddenly very significant.
00:17:03.720 And so that could well be appealing.
00:17:07.560 Now, I would think there would be a real likelihood that you'd probably have a referendum of Greenlanders
00:17:11.900 if they want to do it.
00:17:13.060 It's not clear that you would, but I think there's a reasonable chance of that.
00:17:17.320 And so you'd have both Denmark and Greenland to contend with.
00:17:20.420 But I will say, from America's perspective, there would be enormous advantages to Greenland
00:17:28.140 becoming an American territory.
00:17:30.600 And I will say, just this week, interestingly enough, John Fetterman, Democrat senator from
00:17:37.400 Pennsylvania, he was on Fox News.
00:17:41.200 And he brought up Greenland.
00:17:43.580 It was very interesting.
00:17:44.380 I want you to listen to what John Fetterman had to say on this topic.
00:17:47.040 Like, there's a lot of talk about Greenland, for example.
00:17:52.040 And I know there's a lot of freak outs, you know, and of course, I would never support
00:17:55.660 taking it by force.
00:17:57.060 But I do think it's a responsible conversation if they were open to acquiring it and, you
00:18:03.280 know, where they're just buying it outright.
00:18:05.080 I mean, if anyone think that's bonkers, it's like, well, remember the Louisiana purchase?
00:18:09.960 I think Alaska was pretty great deal, too.
00:18:12.680 $50 million, I think it was, it was referred to as Seward's Folly.
00:18:18.660 And now that was Alaska now.
00:18:20.200 So, I mean, you know, open to having all kinds of conversations as well.
00:18:25.100 And now, I don't think we, it's not helpful to freak out.
00:18:28.920 But some things might work out, some may not.
00:18:31.860 But that's part of ongoing dialogue.
00:18:33.840 But he hasn't even taken office in two weeks.
00:18:36.480 And, you know, we really need to pace ourselves if we're going to freak out over every last
00:18:41.240 tweet or every last conversation or press conference.
00:18:47.720 I love this demeanor there.
00:18:51.100 It's like, we should be having this conversation.
00:18:53.380 There's nothing wrong with it.
00:18:54.340 Now, the conversation a lot of people listening are going to say is, Senator, what are we,
00:18:57.920 $35 trillion in debt?
00:18:59.360 How can we afford to buy Greenland?
00:19:01.440 So how does the economics of that work?
00:19:03.540 Well, look, I don't know what a purchase price would be.
00:19:06.580 We'd have to see.
00:19:07.440 But I do think the mineral reserves there are significant.
00:19:10.380 And the national security and geopolitical advantages are significant.
00:19:15.280 And so we invest in policies that make a difference, that make America safer and make America more
00:19:23.280 prosperous.
00:19:23.700 And it is certainly possible and, in fact, even likely that Greenland would do that.
00:19:28.820 Now, again, I don't know what the price would be.
00:19:31.180 It's something that would have to be pursued.
00:19:33.540 But it's interesting, since Trump started talking about this, you've seen Greenlanders
00:19:38.140 talking about wanting independence, wanting to be their own country.
00:19:42.280 And from Denmark's perspective, they may be sitting there going, well, wait a second.
00:19:48.500 America could buy Greenland from us and we could get a crap ton of money.
00:19:52.600 Or Greenland could just declare their independence and they leave us and we get nothing.
00:19:56.940 And so the incentives for Denmark may have changed because Trump is bringing this up and bringing
00:20:04.060 it up in a context that it's driving real conversation.
00:20:07.040 But I think we should lean in and pursue this, pursue this with Denmark and Greenland, because
00:20:12.440 I think there are major advantages to the United States if we were to succeed in this.
00:20:19.120 And I think this is a this is a serious possibility.
00:20:22.820 It's a serious possibility.
00:20:24.680 So so with that serious possibility, let's move to the third, you know, Panama, big story.
00:20:31.300 Panama, the Panama Canal, Donald Trump making it very clear we're being taken advantage of.
00:20:38.040 Well, that's right.
00:20:38.720 And look, you look at Panama and the Panama Canal.
00:20:41.620 Now, Jimmy Carter, number one, America built the Panama Canal.
00:20:45.520 We lost many American lives building it.
00:20:48.660 We invested major money building the Panama Canal.
00:20:52.160 Teddy Roosevelt is one of the most significant things he did as president.
00:20:57.140 Jimmy Carter gave it away, gave it to Panama.
00:21:01.200 And it was egregious of, you know, this week is Jimmy Carter's funeral.
00:21:04.800 And when we did did our remembrance of Jimmy Carter, I tried to find positive things to
00:21:11.580 say about him, not to not to speak ill of someone who had just passed.
00:21:14.820 But I will say Jimmy Carter's giving away the Panama Canal was one of the most egregious
00:21:19.300 foreign policy mistakes in the history of our country.
00:21:21.860 It was horrific.
00:21:23.100 It undermined the safety and security and economic vitality of America.
00:21:28.340 It made no sense.
00:21:31.180 Now, can it be undone?
00:21:33.660 I don't know.
00:21:35.160 I think I think the likelihood of us getting the Panama Canal back is significantly lower
00:21:40.720 than the likelihood of us acquiring Greenland.
00:21:44.360 It's not nearly as low as the likelihood of Canada joining America.
00:21:48.600 As I said, I don't think that is at all possible.
00:21:51.560 I think that was purely a troll.
00:21:53.520 I think Greenland is quite possible.
00:21:55.400 And I put Panama somewhere in the middle. 0.88
00:21:57.180 And Trump's argument is is is important on this, which is which is that when when when
00:22:02.580 Jimmy Carter gave it away, Panama entered into an agreement with the United States, a legal
00:22:08.020 agreement.
00:22:08.440 And and and I could tell you, I and my team right now are examining the contours of that
00:22:12.840 agreement to see exactly what Panama committed to.
00:22:16.380 But Trump's argument is that Panama has has broken the terms of that agreement that they are not living up to.
00:22:24.020 They are violating that agreement.
00:22:25.960 And in particular, that they have have have essentially sold significant parts of the Panama Canal to China, that Chinese companies now control both ends of the Panama Canal.
00:22:38.360 And they've ceded control to China.
00:22:40.180 That's incredibly harmful.
00:22:41.680 And Trump is also arguing that that that Panama charges American ships egregious prices.
00:22:49.560 And and and look, we we need to dig in more to the facts behind that.
00:22:54.700 But that is a legal argument.
00:22:56.460 I'll tell you what I think Trump is really doing is negotiating on price.
00:23:00.200 And I think the outcome of this is going to be that America gets much more favorable prices.
00:23:06.080 And it may also be a significant diminution of China's involvement in the Panama Canal.
00:23:12.060 Both of those are very likely.
00:23:13.560 But I want you to listen to what Trump had to say about Panama and Mar-a-Lago earlier today.
00:23:19.900 The deal was that, you know, they have to treat us fairly.
00:23:23.280 They don't treat us fairly.
00:23:24.240 They charge more for our ships than they charge for ships of other countries.
00:23:27.540 They charge more for our Navy than they charge for navies of other countries. 1.00
00:23:32.380 They laugh at us because they think we're stupid, but we're not stupid anymore. 1.00
00:23:37.780 So the Panama Canal is under discussion with them right now. 1.00
00:23:41.540 They violated every aspect of the agreement.
00:23:44.460 And it's they morally violated it also.
00:23:49.400 And they want our help because it's leaking and not in good repair.
00:23:54.460 And they want us to give three billion dollars to help fix it.
00:23:58.380 I said, well, why don't you get the money from China?
00:24:00.780 Because China is basically taking it over. 0.67
00:24:03.600 China is at both ends of the Panama Canal.
00:24:05.780 China is running the Panama Canal.
00:24:08.260 China is running the Panama Canal. 1.00
00:24:10.020 And he says they laugh at us because they think we're stupid. 1.00
00:24:13.020 We're not stupid anymore. 1.00
00:24:14.460 When you hear the basics, they're charging us more in our Navy more than others.
00:24:18.180 Now they want us to give them a bunch of money to fix the thing.
00:24:21.380 He's got points that aren't political.
00:24:23.600 Those are serious.
00:24:25.600 And I think we're going to see a significant change, I believe, in the conduct of Panama
00:24:31.580 concerning the Panama Canal.
00:24:33.500 Will it result in the canal coming back to America?
00:24:36.160 I don't know.
00:24:37.860 That is a difficult hurdle to clear.
00:24:40.240 But I am very glad President Trump is leading in on this issue.
00:24:44.080 It's incredibly important. 1.00
00:24:45.800 And China's growing influence over the Panama Canal is just stupid. 1.00
00:24:49.800 It is unacceptable. 1.00
00:24:50.760 And that's leadership that, frankly, can you imagine in a billion years Joe Biden or Kamala
00:24:58.900 Harris making these points?
00:25:00.820 You can't at all because they don't defend America.
00:25:04.280 They're celebrating.
00:25:06.520 And I'm sure they cheered on when it happened.
00:25:09.100 Jimmy Carter's giving it away to begin with.
00:25:11.580 And it's the opposite of America first, where Biden and Harris are.
00:25:17.500 It's America last. 0.74
00:25:18.820 And I'm very glad we're going to have a president that, again, puts our country first.
00:25:22.900 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back
00:25:28.080 and download the podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
00:25:32.460 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
00:25:34.480 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:25:38.680 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:25:42.500 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:25:43.580 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:25:44.540 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists,
00:25:49.920 athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:25:54.320 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:25:57.540 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:26:03.260 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:26:07.860 We really saw the demise of the corporate media.
00:26:12.400 I call it the state-sponsored media.
00:26:14.540 And for decades, we have seen the media, especially the big ABC, NBC, CBS, the CNNs, MSNBCs, be able,
00:26:24.460 and so much of print, to control the narrative and the mindset of so many voters and sway elections
00:26:32.040 towards the left and the Democrats.
00:26:34.180 I hope that we have just witnessed the true demise of the media and their influence and their corruption
00:26:42.360 because so many times we've just seen how biased they are, whether it was COVID and that issue,
00:26:49.860 whether it was the issue with Hunter Biden and the laptop.
00:26:54.080 We have now seen where there's a lot of Americans that aren't getting their news from,
00:26:59.000 not just not trust them.
00:27:00.200 They're not even watching anymore.
00:27:01.960 They're not even reading these newspapers anymore.
00:27:04.080 And they're turning to podcasts just like this show.
00:27:09.300 And podcasts, Senator, had a massive impact on the 2024 elections at the local, state, and national level.
00:27:17.340 And that is good for everyone.
00:27:20.260 Well, and that's the final.
00:27:21.480 That's prediction number 10.
00:27:22.540 There's no doubt that we are seeing across the media landscape a disintermediation,
00:27:28.220 that the mediators, those who had a monopoly on communicating with the public, are losing that monopoly.
00:27:34.820 They're losing that control.
00:27:36.600 And listen, part of the reason they're losing that monopoly is because they've been so dishonest.
00:27:41.280 They've been such partisan propagandists that they don't report on news.
00:27:46.240 They simply advocate for the left wing of the Democrat Party, that they have utterly destroyed the trust they had with the American people.
00:27:53.000 And the corporate media has been exposed as liars.
00:27:56.180 We have seen the rise, the democratization of media.
00:27:59.560 We've seen the rise of podcasts.
00:28:01.080 I think this podcast has had a significant impact on the public discourse.
00:28:04.900 I think other podcasts, we saw Donald Trump go on multiple podcasts in the election and go right around the corporate media,
00:28:11.120 go straight to the American people. 0.81
00:28:13.060 We see the impact of people like Joe Rogan, which is enormously impactful, going straight to the American people.
00:28:19.320 And the prediction that we made is that we were going to see more and more democratization,
00:28:24.540 both from podcasts and also from Twitter and X and just speaking the truth right around the so-called gatekeepers.
00:28:32.640 So I want you to listen to this prediction.
00:28:34.800 This prediction was in August of 2024.
00:28:37.720 Give a listen.
00:28:38.180 Why do you and I do the podcast often at 11 o'clock at night or midnight or even one or two in the morning?
00:28:45.880 Why do we do it three days a week?
00:28:47.680 We do it because if your only source of news is the corporate media, if you only watch CNN or MSNBC or ABC, NBC, CBS,
00:28:56.620 you do not know what is happening.
00:28:58.580 They are lying to you.
00:29:00.120 And the reason this podcast, we've got roughly a million unique listeners, is because people find it valuable.
00:29:07.040 We give you facts that CNN will never air.
00:29:11.940 We play the full segment of what Elon and Trump said about Hiroshima and Nagasaki instead of their dishonestly edited snippet that was designed to mislead you and lie to you.
00:29:25.400 And this podcast goes right around the corporate media.
00:29:29.680 And in fact, just about every podcast we put out drives stories in the corporate media.
00:29:35.720 That is going to accelerate.
00:29:38.020 People are going to podcast.
00:29:39.380 People are going to social media.
00:29:41.100 People are going to X.
00:29:43.320 Elon's buying Twitter remains, I think, the single most important step for free speech in decades.
00:29:50.780 And I think that's only going to accelerate and you're going to see a panic as the corporate media.
00:29:57.140 They want a monopoly on what we know, what we hear, what we understand, and they're losing their monopoly.
00:30:03.680 So I predict more and more frantic panic, but also more and more power to the people, which is a very good thing.
00:30:12.420 Senator, I mean, this is, I really do believe, a major turning point.
00:30:16.640 And I think there is proof in the outcome of the election that we just saw.
00:30:21.180 And it's not that I want to have a conservative media just have a monopoly.
00:30:28.600 I just want honest journalism and those that are telling the truth to have a real platform with a real audience.
00:30:35.120 And we're gaining that now through podcasts and other venues, as we mentioned.
00:30:39.920 Yeah, that's exactly right.
00:30:42.280 And we're seeing that.
00:30:44.060 Look, these 10 predictions that we've gone through on this podcast and Wednesday's podcast.
00:30:49.160 If you got all your news from CNN, you would have heard zero of these 10 predictions.
00:30:55.300 If you got all your news from The New York Times, you would have heard zero of these predictions.
00:31:00.320 And so it's why people tune in to verdict, because you learn things and you know things that you cannot get through the corporate media, that this is one of the very few avenues that is putting out the facts.
00:31:12.720 And that prediction, we saw the massive impact of podcasts and X on the 2024 election.
00:31:20.040 But also the prediction that I made about the panic from the media, I want you to listen, this is in November 2025 after the election, to Axios CEO Jim VandeHei just completely losing his mind over Elon Musk saying to everyone on X, you are the media.
00:31:39.080 Give a listen to Jim VandeHei losing it.
00:31:43.360 The thing we do is under fire.
00:31:46.360 Elon Musk sits on Twitter every day or X today saying like, we are the media, you are the media. 0.97
00:31:53.600 My message to Elon Musk is bulls**t, you're not the media. 0.84
00:31:58.680 You having a blue checkmark, a Twitter handle and 300 words of cleverness doesn't make you a reporter. 0.98
00:32:11.360 You don't do that by popping off on Twitter.
00:32:15.040 You don't do that by having an opinion.
00:32:17.680 You do it by doing the hard work.
00:32:21.100 Yeah, come on, slow clap everybody.
00:32:23.680 First of all, I've got to say, extraordinary content.
00:32:28.800 It needed to be said.
00:32:30.760 Yeah.
00:32:31.000 It continues to need to be said. 0.55
00:32:33.020 When all of the garbage is flying around on social media, lying about reporters, lying about the hard work they do, lying about the hard work editors do, lying about everything up and down, about not only their alternative set of facts, but alternative set of facts about what people like you do.
00:32:53.500 Or if social media people lying every day, every hour, every minute about the news, what you do matters, what the New York Times does matters, what the Wall Street Journal does matters, what Jonathan Lemire does matters, what the Financial Times does matters, what NBC News and MSNBC reporters do matters. 0.63
00:33:22.660 It matters.
00:33:23.140 It matters.
00:33:25.620 It matters.
00:33:26.580 I love the self-righteousness there, right?
00:33:29.480 Well, and yes, and that kicked in at the end, mourning Joe to Joe Scarborough and Mika, losing their minds, also echoing Jim Vande Hei and just, yes, yes, yes, he's exactly right. 0.68
00:33:41.980 And listen, the corporate media, they hate democracy.
00:33:46.940 They hate the democratization of communication.
00:33:50.360 They hate the rise of podcasts.
00:33:52.900 They hate that people can talk directly to the voters.
00:33:56.840 They hate the ability to get the truth.
00:33:59.880 And this is destroying their monopoly.
00:34:02.500 Now, a big part of the reason so many people turn to podcasts is the corporate media lies.
00:34:08.300 They lie deliberately.
00:34:09.560 And when they had a monopoly, their lies were pretty effective.
00:34:12.380 But people are turning elsewhere.
00:34:14.300 Look, mourning Joe.
00:34:16.220 Mourning Joe.
00:34:19.300 During the week that Trump, that Joe Scarborough and Mika went down to meet with Mourning Joe.
00:34:28.720 Do you know how many viewers Mourning Joe averaged every day?
00:34:33.380 How many?
00:34:34.360 They averaged 691,000 total viewers during the week that Joe and Mika went to meet with Trump.
00:34:39.600 691,000.
00:34:40.520 We have about a million.
00:34:41.960 So, Joe, it ought to concern you that you've got an entire corporate bureaucracy.
00:34:46.300 You've got millions of dollars that are broadcasting your show into every television set in America.
00:34:52.640 And yet, Verdict is getting substantially more listeners than you are.
00:34:57.360 And the reason is simple.
00:34:58.960 The corporate media, they lie to you.
00:35:00.700 They are so partisan.
00:35:02.140 They are so brazen.
00:35:03.440 They are willing to lie.
00:35:04.580 And they are horrified that their ability to lie is checked by the ability of you and me and others to speak the truth.
00:35:12.620 That's the power of podcast.
00:35:14.280 And I think that's the power of Verdict.
00:35:17.200 Finally, let's end with a prediction to watch.
00:35:21.980 Senator, not that long ago, you predicted that the U.S. will sanction the ICC for the egregious move to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.
00:35:34.760 And that prediction, I want to play for people.
00:35:38.600 Take a listen.
00:35:39.160 I'm going to predict we will take up the legislation to sanction the ICC, and we will do it early next year when we have a Republican Congress and a Republican president.
00:35:50.020 I don't even know that we'll need that legislation, though, because I expect the Trump administration to act unilaterally.
00:35:56.240 I think there's ample authority under the law for them to act.
00:35:58.760 Even if the Democrats filibuster legislation to sanction the ICC, I think the president will have ample authority to act come January 20.
00:36:07.700 Let me talk to you.
00:36:09.140 That was a prediction that you're now saying we should watch this very carefully.
00:36:14.400 Yeah, I think that's going to happen in 2025, and we'll all see it.
00:36:18.860 And you know what?
00:36:19.380 When it happens in 2025, Verdict will come back and point out exactly as we predicted it came to pass.
00:36:25.320 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:36:31.260 Don't forget to download my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast every other day if you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.
00:36:38.280 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast, and we will see you back here on Monday morning.
00:36:44.400 This is an iHeart podcast.
00:36:47.180 Guaranteed human.