Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 17, 2025


Trump Calls for the House to RELEASE the Epstein files, plus Republicans WON the Shutdown


Episode Stats


Length

32 minutes

Words per minute

174.99255

Word count

5,676

Sentence count

404

Harmful content

Misogyny

16

sentences flagged

Toxicity

28

sentences flagged

Hate speech

8

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz is joined by Sen. Ben Ferguson (R-CA) to discuss the Epstein scandal, the Democratic response to the release of the Epstein files, and why Michelle Obama will not run for President in 2020.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.700 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.260 Welcome.
00:00:05.840 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:07.420 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:08.580 It's so nice to have you with us.
00:00:09.800 And Senator, we can start with some very interesting news.
00:00:12.680 It seems like Democrats are playing checkers.
00:00:16.060 Donald Trump is playing chess.
00:00:18.440 He got them to go all in on Epstein everything.
00:00:21.740 Now Trump's like, all right, fine.
00:00:23.220 Let's see it.
00:00:23.720 No, by the way, I think we should be investigating a bunch of people that were hanging out with
00:00:27.540 Jeffrey Epstein as well.
00:00:28.660 I don't think Democrats had that on their bingo cards.
00:00:32.340 No, I don't think they did.
00:00:33.760 Sunday night, President Trump called on the House of Representatives to vote for releasing
00:00:37.960 all the Epstein files.
00:00:39.400 This is a big deal.
00:00:40.300 We're going to break it down, why he did it and what it means.
00:00:43.180 We're also going to talk about the polling numbers that have come down that showed decisively
00:00:47.580 the Democrats lost the shutdown.
00:00:49.660 It did not go well for them.
00:00:51.460 The American people view it as the shutdown, the end of the shutdown, as a major victory
00:00:56.160 for President Trump and Republicans.
00:00:58.100 We're going to break that down as well.
00:01:00.060 And finally, we're going to talk about Michelle Obama did an amazing interview this week in
00:01:05.460 which she was asked if she would run for president. 1.00
00:01:07.820 She basically said, no, the American people are too much of bigots to elect a woman. 1.00
00:01:12.780 That apparently is why Kamala Harris lost, is because the voters are all secret misogynists. 1.00
00:01:19.400 And Michelle Obama, why she will not grace us with her presence is the same.
00:01:23.640 All of that we're going to get into in detail right now.
00:01:27.260 Yeah, it's truly incredible.
00:01:29.060 I want to tell you, with the holidays coming, and many of you may be looking for charities
00:01:33.580 that you can get involved in, especially to spend time with your kids, your grandkids,
00:01:37.860 and talk about how you can give back.
00:01:39.840 There is an organization I want you to know about, and it's an amazing one, Compassion International.
00:01:45.040 I want you to just pause what you're doing for the next 60 seconds.
00:01:48.940 And I want you to imagine Lucy, a seven-year-old.
00:01:52.080 Her stomach often aches with hunger.
00:01:54.300 Her small hands, instead of holding crayons.
00:01:57.300 Know only the struggle of survival on dusty streets.
00:02:01.060 School is a distant dream.
00:02:03.440 Medical care, a forgotten hope.
00:02:05.720 Lucy's potential is overshadowed.
00:02:08.100 Her future is dim.
00:02:09.420 But what if someone stepped in?
00:02:11.060 What if there was a way to ignite hope for children just like Lucy?
00:02:14.920 Well, there is.
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00:02:23.580 More than just food, they receive critical medical care, life-changing education, vital skills
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00:02:33.960 And you can empower a child just like Lucy to break free from poverty.
00:02:39.280 I want you to do what I've done and sponsor a child today.
00:02:43.020 You can visit Compassion.com.
00:02:45.860 That's Compassion.com.
00:02:48.600 All right.
00:02:49.080 So, Senator, this has been a very interesting couple of weeks with the Epstein files.
00:02:54.020 You probably dealt with it the same way I have.
00:02:56.660 The media is, like, obsessed with it all of a sudden out of nowhere.
00:02:59.020 They didn't give a damn about the victims for literally years and years and years.
00:03:03.080 But now they think they could hurt Donald Trump somehow with the Epstein files.
00:03:07.160 So they're obsessed with it.
00:03:08.200 And I said this the other night on CNN.
00:03:10.720 I said, I genuinely wish that you guys, and I was referring to the liberals on the show
00:03:15.340 and the host, cared about the victims of Jeffrey Epstein this much years ago.
00:03:21.360 And they didn't.
00:03:22.620 But this time, it's only about trying to hurt Donald Trump.
00:03:25.820 Now, Donald Trump seems to be playing chess in an amazing way, saying, all right, fine.
00:03:31.660 A, I'm in favor of doing it now.
00:03:33.460 Let's vote on it.
00:03:34.300 Let's get it done.
00:03:35.000 And not only that, I want to investigate people that were in and around Epstein to see what may have been covered up.
00:03:41.000 And that includes names like Bill Clinton.
00:03:43.540 Well, Sunday night, Donald Trump sent out a lengthy truth on Truth Social.
00:03:47.920 Here's what he said.
00:03:48.600 As I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the fake news media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, 0.51
00:03:58.100 because we have nothing to hide and it's time to move on from this Democrat hoax perpetuated by the radical left lunatics in order to deflect from the great success of the Republican Party,
00:04:09.120 including our recent victory on the Democrat shutdown.
00:04:12.760 The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the public on Epstein and are looking at various Democrat operatives,
00:04:21.620 Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc., and their relationship to Epstein.
00:04:26.780 And the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legit entitled to.
00:04:31.900 I don't care.
00:04:32.660 I don't care as in all caps.
00:04:34.360 All I do care about is that the Republicans get back on point, back on point as in all caps,
00:04:39.500 which is the economy, affordability, where we are winning big, our victory on reducing inflation from the highest level in history to practically nothing,
00:04:50.860 bringing down prices for the American people, delivering historic tax cuts,
00:04:55.580 gaining trillions of dollars of investment into America, a record in all caps,
00:05:00.940 the rebuilding of our military, securing our border, deporting criminal illegal aliens,
00:05:05.400 ending men and women's sports, stopping transgender for everyone, and so much more.
00:05:11.260 Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive.
00:05:14.680 And if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our landslide election victory.
00:05:21.920 I'm going to come back to that in a minute.
00:05:24.040 Some, quote, members of the Republican Party are being used, and we can't let that happen.
00:05:30.760 Let's start talking about the Republican Party's record-setting achievements and not fall into the Epstein trap, 0.64
00:05:39.040 which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us.
00:05:42.920 Make America great again.
00:05:45.520 So that tweet went out Sunday night.
00:05:48.000 I got to say it's breaking news, and I think it's a big deal.
00:05:51.800 I fully expect the House will do exactly what President Trump urged them to do,
00:05:55.760 which is vote to release the files, and hopefully the president is right that that will put the constant obsession
00:06:04.960 about the Epstein files behind us for the media.
00:06:08.100 Because understand, the media is not upset and obsessed over the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
00:06:14.540 They're not obsessed over protecting the teenage girls who were sexually assaulted.
00:06:18.800 They're obsessed over one thing, which is attacking Donald Trump.
00:06:21.840 If it's not attacking Donald Trump, they have zero interest.
00:06:25.060 By the way, the Democrats, if it's not attacking Donald Trump, they have zero interest.
00:06:29.920 And one of the important things to understand, Jeffrey Epstein was a Democrat.
00:06:36.480 Jeffrey Epstein was a major Democrat donor.
00:06:40.780 Jeffrey Epstein was one of the major FOBs, friends of Bills, very close to Bill Clinton.
00:06:47.020 Jeffrey Epstein was so close to Bill Clinton that in his New York home,
00:06:51.760 he had hanging on the wall a painting of Bill Clinton in Monica Lewinsky's blue dress wearing red pumps.
00:07:02.140 Now, that is weird and Freudian, and I'm very glad I was not Jeffrey Epstein's shrink,
00:07:07.560 because I don't want to know what's going on inside of his mind that he's fantasizing about Bill Clinton in a blue dress with red pumps.
00:07:14.820 But at the end of the day, this guy was a massive donor to Democrats, including Bill Clinton, including Chuck Schumer, including Nancy Pelosi.
00:07:23.660 And the Democrats have engaged in one of the most incredible political jujutsus that I think has ever happened,
00:07:31.500 because they've tried to hang this scandal around Donald Trump's neck.
00:07:37.360 And what he said Sunday night is enough of this already.
00:07:41.380 Vote to release the files.
00:07:43.280 We're winning.
00:07:44.180 We're winning every day.
00:07:45.580 And this is about Democrats.
00:07:47.640 We're not going to pretend it's about anything else.
00:07:49.100 By the way, there was also another really big story that was connected to this the media did not want to cover either.
00:07:54.300 It wasn't Republicans that Epstein was texting during apparently hearings on Capitol Hill.
00:08:02.340 Epstein was texting House Democrats during the Michael Cohen hearing and trying to give advice on how to hurt Donald Trump.
00:08:11.640 That is like completely been admitted by the media.
00:08:14.340 They are not going to cover the story that Epstein was literally texting, trying to hurt Donald Trump, texting Democrats in real time.
00:08:22.720 Like if you've ever watched Congress or Senator during a hearing and they look at their phone, Epstein's texting what you should be saying or doing.
00:08:30.000 That's insane.
00:08:31.320 House Democrats, while they're cross-examining witnesses, trying to attack Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein was like, OK, ask this.
00:08:37.760 Now ask this.
00:08:38.480 And the Democrat congresswoman was doing that. 1.00
00:08:42.440 And this is that broke this week.
00:08:44.840 And of course, the corporate media doesn't want to cover it because their narrative is Epstein equals Donald Trump.
00:08:50.980 At the end of the day, Epstein was a major Democrat donor.
00:08:55.440 And I got to say, the most important sentence in what Trump tweeted is the following.
00:09:02.620 Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive.
00:09:07.220 And if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our landslide election victory.
00:09:14.660 So understand, all the Epstein files were in the possession of the Biden Department of Justice.
00:09:21.020 Yep.
00:09:21.200 They were in the possession of the Biden FBI.
00:09:23.760 Yep.
00:09:23.900 Now, I know that the corporate media, their hearts are going pitter-patt.
00:09:28.100 They want some incredibly damning evidence of Donald Trump committing a crime.
00:09:33.120 They want video of Donald Trump committing a crime.
00:09:35.380 They've been dreaming about that forever and ever and ever.
00:09:38.040 And I just want to ask you, I want to ask you what Trump said.
00:09:41.040 If there were evidence of that, and the Biden Justice Department, the most politicized, politically weaponized Department of Justice in the history of this country, had it,
00:09:52.600 what are the chances that they would not have released it before Election Day last year?
00:09:56.980 Yeah, 0% chance.
00:09:59.580 I mean, of course they would have used it.
00:10:01.600 They would have leaked it.
00:10:02.340 They're masters at leaking.
00:10:03.360 If there was anything they could come up with to hurt Trump, they will use it.
00:10:06.360 Hell, they'll even make up stuff like the Steele dossier to try to hurt Trump.
00:10:10.400 I mean, there's nothing they won't do to try to bring him down, including trying to connect the Epstein files now to Donald Trump,
00:10:16.620 which, again, this goes back to their obsession.
00:10:19.340 They don't care about the victims.
00:10:20.520 They only care about hurting Donald Trump, orange man, bad.
00:10:23.280 Yeah, and look, I assume somewhere in the vast files there is something that is embarrassing to some Republicans somewhere.
00:10:30.540 I assume that.
00:10:32.020 Sure.
00:10:32.860 Because there was clearly some hesitancy to release this information.
00:10:37.960 They haven't done so.
00:10:38.900 But everything we know about it is the overwhelming weight of the evidence is a bunch of corrupt Democrats who were on Jeffrey Epstein's plane,
00:10:46.980 on the Lolita Express, who went to his island, and who presumably participated in sexually assaulting underage girls.
00:10:54.640 And I've said for a long time, release that all, make it public.
00:10:58.540 If anyone has sexually assaulted an underage girl, prosecute them.
00:11:03.120 And so I think Donald Trump and the Trump White House said, all right, fine, if some Republican is embarrassed by some glancing reference,
00:11:11.740 and I have no idea what it is.
00:11:12.820 I haven't seen these files.
00:11:13.760 So be it.
00:11:16.220 But the bulk of the evidence from everything we know is going to be evidence that is a real, real problem for, I suspect, a significant number of Democrats.
00:11:26.880 I'm glad the president did this.
00:11:29.680 I'm hopeful the House can vote.
00:11:31.720 We can put this behind it.
00:11:32.780 And then we can have some real accountability to people who committed criminal acts and hurt underage girls.
00:11:39.360 When all this comes out, and if it does go the way that we believe it is, it's all going to be there.
00:11:46.200 What is the obligation then, and what can people expect will happen afterwards from a congressional oversight perspective?
00:11:57.380 I don't know.
00:11:58.620 I think you will see Congress engage in some oversight.
00:12:01.380 You know, I've talked on this podcast before about how Pam Bondi, the attorney general, told me there were significant videos that they were in the process of reviewing to make sure they're protecting the victims.
00:12:12.100 Obviously, that's important.
00:12:13.220 You want to protect the victims.
00:12:15.060 There are also, as I understand it, limitations in terms of what can be released publicly based on orders from federal judges.
00:12:22.080 My understanding, again, is those judges are all judges appointed by Democrat presidents.
00:12:26.500 And so DOJ feels some constraints because of those judicial orders in terms of what they can release.
00:12:33.200 I'd like it all to be public, make it all public, have there be accountability across the board.
00:12:37.780 And I think the president's tweet Sunday night is a big step in that direction.
00:12:41.960 I want to play what Donald Trump had to say before he got on the plane to return back to Washington, before this tweet was put out.
00:12:49.000 And he got in the face of a reporter who asked him a question, trying to, again, make this into some sort of Epstein-Trump connection.
00:12:56.520 Take a listen to what he said.
00:12:58.100 Fake news like you. 0.96
00:12:59.460 You're a terrible reporter. 0.99
00:13:00.860 And fake news like you. 0.93
00:13:02.320 They just keep bringing that up to deflect from the tremendous success of the Trump administration.
00:13:08.040 So a guy like Massey, his poll numbers are showing he's at 6% approval rating right now.
00:13:13.180 And we call him Rand Paul Jr. because he never he never votes for the Republican Party.
00:13:19.500 So they're using Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the tremendous success that we're having as a party.
00:13:27.140 You know, I do think there's politics here.
00:13:30.020 President Trump's figured that out. 0.97
00:13:31.760 And he's like, they just bring this crap up whenever they want to start hitting me on something because they don't want to talk about something else. 0.95
00:13:37.540 And that's why I think he's so irritated. 0.96
00:13:39.100 And it's also, I think, the reason why on the plane decided, all right, forget it.
00:13:43.000 I'm all in on this one.
00:13:44.240 Let's go.
00:13:45.580 Well, and listen, the substantive point about his tweet is exactly right, that we have seen major historic victories the past year.
00:13:52.640 You look at illegal immigration.
00:13:54.440 We went from the worst invasion of this country in history, 12 million illegals, by far the highest rate ever, to illegal border crossings dropping more than 99%.
00:14:04.760 When's the last time the corporate media covered that?
00:14:06.740 They don't cover that.
00:14:07.380 The fact that this crisis that was endangering Americans across this country, President Trump has solved that.
00:14:13.700 You look at the one big, beautiful bill you and I have talked about before.
00:14:16.740 There are more conservative victories in that one big, beautiful bill than any legislation that has ever passed into law,
00:14:23.640 including more than $4 trillion in tax cuts, including no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security,
00:14:30.640 including the provision I authored, the largest federal school choice provision in history that is going to help millions of kids across America get access to an excellent education,
00:14:41.300 including the Trump accounts that is going to make every child in America an owner of the biggest companies in America.
00:14:47.560 These are landmark victories, and I think the president is frustrated that not enough Republicans are talking about that.
00:14:55.740 The media is not talking about that, and I think this is his efforts to say, look, let's focus on our real successes.
00:15:01.500 The president, as a result of his leadership, we're seeing trillions of dollars of new investments in the U.S. economy, opening new factories.
00:15:09.400 I'm talking to CEOs every week who are talking about making massive new investments in America, creating jobs.
00:15:16.480 Then I think the president quite rightly says that's what we should be talking about, how we're making a difference in the lives of Americans,
00:15:23.000 not the Democrats' political game trying to blame this Democrat donor who was a pedophile trying to blame him on Republicans.
00:15:31.680 I think that's exactly right.
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00:16:03.380 By the way, you go back to what the Republicans have done compared to what the Democrats have done.
00:16:10.380 It's a great segue into some data that we now have, and it may explain why the Democrats, eight of them,
00:16:17.500 decide to go along with the Republicans after the longest shutdown in American history.
00:16:22.540 It also, in theory, if there is sanity in the Democratic Party, could tell you a lot about what may or may not happen come January
00:16:30.760 with another government shutdown, and that is the Democrats, this isn't because I'm saying it,
00:16:37.280 the polling is now saying it, Democrats lost on the issue of the government shutdown.
00:16:43.980 Let's break those numbers down for everybody.
00:16:46.660 Yeah, so CBS News conducted a poll.
00:16:49.020 Here's what CBS News tweeted.
00:16:51.960 Quote,
00:16:52.260 By a wide margin, Americans say it was Republicans and President Trump who succeeded in getting more of what they wanted from negotiations to end the shutdown.
00:17:01.480 This survey recontacted Americans first interviewed in our early November poll while the shutdown was in effect.
00:17:08.020 And here's what CBS concluded.
00:17:10.160 Ending the shutdown, who got more of what they wanted?
00:17:13.520 Trump and Republicans.
00:17:14.620 What percent do you think it is, Ben?
00:17:16.680 What is it?
00:17:19.800 55%.
00:17:20.200 There you go.
00:17:21.820 How about Democrats?
00:17:22.680 You think it's close?
00:17:24.100 I'm going to go probably not.
00:17:26.480 6%.
00:17:28.000 55% say Trump and Republicans got more of what they wanted.
00:17:32.340 6% say Democrats did.
00:17:34.360 15% say both equally.
00:17:36.840 And 24% say neither.
00:17:39.380 So that's what CBS, CBS is hardly this right-wing source.
00:17:43.800 CBS is concluding the American people clearly see this as a loss for Democrats.
00:17:50.160 And I want you to listen to Tim Kaine.
00:17:52.360 So Tim Kaine is, as you know, a Democrat senator from Virginia.
00:17:57.240 Virginia has an awful lot of federal employees who went 43 days without being paid, without getting a paycheck, many of whom were frustrated.
00:18:07.220 And Tim Kaine, by the way, voted for reopening the government.
00:18:11.200 And so I want you to listen to Tim Kaine when he's being asked about AOC attacking Senate Democrats for being willing to open the government at all.
00:18:20.380 Give a listen.
00:18:21.900 The lesson that they're learning is that Democrats are weak.
00:18:24.920 And that next time, we just need to hurt working people and working Americans more to get them to hold. 0.99
00:18:30.120 And I don't want them to learn that lesson.
00:18:31.900 Senator, what do you say to that argument that Democrats projected weakness here?
00:18:37.220 So twofold.
00:18:38.360 I have 320,000 federal employees in Virginia.
00:18:42.280 And together with their families, that's probably 700,000 dependents.
00:18:46.840 Getting them all back to work with two paychecks that they've missed restored, with protections against future firings.
00:18:54.520 You know, some folks like AOC may think that's nothing.
00:18:58.480 Virginians think it's an awful lot.
00:19:00.700 And second, if the goal was to try to get health care front and center, she was not at the table with the Republicans in the Senate.
00:19:09.440 And so maybe she thinks that the Republicans would have caved.
00:19:13.180 Would it have been another week of SNAP recipients losing their SNAP benefits?
00:19:18.240 Another month of air traffic or air travelers enduring chaos and even danger?
00:19:23.500 Another two months of federal employees losing their paychecks?
00:19:27.160 I was at the table with the Republican senators.
00:19:29.940 And I knew if we wanted to get to the health care discussion, we had to open up government.
00:19:34.720 I mean, this is a little bit of a civil war, I think, you're witnessing on live TV if you're watching Meet the Press.
00:19:42.320 Tim Kaine is exactly like the most conservative guy in the world.
00:19:46.320 The Democratic Party is pretty progressively liberal.
00:19:49.480 AOC there.
00:19:50.600 And look, I think this is going to be the fight they're going to have come January, right?
00:19:54.040 Are they going to be held hostage again by the AOCs of the party?
00:19:59.180 Or will the sane look at the poll numbers and say, we can't do that again?
00:20:03.600 It didn't work out for us.
00:20:05.580 Yeah.
00:20:05.720 And by the way, this civil war is playing out.
00:20:08.000 You know, Tim Kaine voted for reopening the government.
00:20:10.800 The other Virginia senator, Mark Warner, did not.
00:20:14.780 Mark Warner voted to keep the government shut down.
00:20:17.100 And by the way, you know which one of them is on the ballot in 2026?
00:20:20.540 Which one is that?
00:20:21.620 Mark Warner.
00:20:22.240 There you go.
00:20:23.460 So every one of the federal government employees who didn't get paid, Mark Warner voted even on day 43.
00:20:31.300 No, we're not going to pay you.
00:20:33.620 And now look, the Virginia gubernatorial election, you had Democrat turnout because their hardcore partisans were mad.
00:20:42.080 But the Virginia gubernatorial election was not a terribly high turnout election.
00:20:47.280 It's an interesting decision.
00:20:49.280 Usually when you have two senators from the same party from the same state, they vote as a pair because they don't like to have a distinction.
00:20:57.460 Mark Warner is not going to enjoy for the next year being asked, why didn't you vote with Tim Kaine to reopen the government?
00:21:03.500 That is a problem for Mark Warner.
00:21:06.500 And ultimately, I assume, look, Mark Warner styles himself.
00:21:11.060 He calls himself a moderate Democrat.
00:21:13.260 Now, he votes with Chuck Schumer virtually every single time.
00:21:18.180 But Schumer himself has a fundamental problem.
00:21:22.540 I mean, when you said Democrat civil war, that's not hyperbole.
00:21:26.220 And it is the reason we had the Schumer shutdown, the largest, longest government shutdown in American history is because Schumer has a political crisis.
00:21:36.660 His left wing wants to take him out and fire him, end his job.
00:21:41.480 By the way, the second longest government shutdown in history was the first Schumer shutdown under the first Trump term.
00:21:47.300 So Chuck Schumer has spots one and two in the record books.
00:21:51.020 But even though Chuck Schumer threw this temper tantrum, shut the government down, didn't pay federal government employees, inflicted enormous pain on the American people, even though he did all of that to show his crazies he hates Trump as much as they did, even though on day 43 of the shutdown, Chuck Schumer still voted, no, don't reopen the government.
00:22:09.320 You know what?
00:22:10.320 The radicals still want to throw him out of office.
00:22:12.320 It wasn't enough.
00:22:13.420 Take a listen to Tim Kaine being asked about whether Schumer should be fired.
00:22:19.040 The Democratic Party, more than a dozen House members are calling for Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to step down, including my next guest, Congressman Ro Khanna.
00:22:30.320 Senator, given this, given that so many Democrats are calling for Leader Schumer to step aside, can he be an effective leader?
00:22:40.080 Yes, Chuck has been an effective leader.
00:22:42.120 Remember, when Chuck was Majority Leader during the Biden administration, he produced a string of legislative wins with a bare majority, nearly unparalleled in recent history.
00:22:54.080 Infrastructure, the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, fixing the Electoral College first gun safety bill in 25 years, an important veterans legislation.
00:23:04.600 Being a minority leader is tough.
00:23:06.180 In the Senate, we have some tools in minority, but not many.
00:23:10.220 We don't control what's on the floor.
00:23:12.360 And you know if you're dealing with senators, and, Kristen, you do, it's not exactly like senators just get in line and follow the leader.
00:23:20.800 So I don't tell Ro Khanna or AOC or anybody else who you should pick as your House leader, because I got a full-time job being a senator.
00:23:28.420 I don't need to freelance opinions about House leadership.
00:23:31.600 They should focus on their own leadership and let senators do what we need to do to keep this country moving forward. 0.94
00:23:37.920 I mean, Senator, this is just a straight-up problem for Democrats now, right?
00:23:41.600 Like, they don't know who their leaders are.
00:23:44.340 They don't know who they're standing behind.
00:23:46.380 They don't know who they want to be in charge.
00:23:48.980 And yet they just were able to shut down the government and claim they were successful, and now that's even a backfire.
00:23:54.940 Look, this is Democrat on Democrat political warfare.
00:23:58.240 This is a civil war.
00:23:59.680 You know, it reminds me of the old quip that Ronald Reagan used to say, which is the problem with Republicans is the right hand doesn't know what the far right hand is doing.
00:24:06.580 This is an instance where, for Democrats, the left hand doesn't know what the far left hand is doing, other than they are punching each other.
00:24:14.200 They are fighting like crazy. 0.98
00:24:15.740 And so it really is striking to see Tim Kaine going on a Sunday show and getting asked, AOC says you guys suck, and Ro Khanna says Chuck Schumer should be fired. 0.99
00:24:24.760 What say you? 0.79
00:24:25.820 And he's like, they should butt out and let us be Senate Democrats because we're screwing things up so badly that we're really good at it.
00:24:32.240 Yeah, and if you think that, by the way, they're the only ones that are discontent right now.
00:24:36.580 You would be wrong.
00:24:37.900 Let's move to Michelle Obama. 0.94
00:24:40.080 She has come out and basically said, I will not grace you with my presence as a president of the United States of America.
00:24:47.580 You don't deserve me because there's too many misogynists out there, and I'm not going to give you my candidacy.
00:24:55.620 Yeah, she was asked whether or not she would run for president. 0.95
00:24:59.320 Her response was, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain't ready.
00:25:05.600 That's why I'm like, don't even look at me about running, because you all are lying.
00:25:09.960 You're not ready for a woman. 1.00
00:25:11.520 You are not.
00:25:13.540 And she says, you know, we've got a lot of growing up to do, and there's still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they could be led by a woman, and we saw it.
00:25:22.420 What utter and complete nonsense. 1.00
00:25:24.920 By the way, Joe Biden was getting his ass kicked. 1.00
00:25:27.240 Now, I understand the Democrats can't tell the difference between a man and a woman, so maybe Michelle Obama thinks that Joe Biden is a woman. 0.99
00:25:35.280 But Trump was winning when Biden was the nominee.
00:25:37.880 Trump was winning when Michelle Obama was the nominee.
00:25:40.360 Trump was winning, A, because the Biden-Harris Democrat agenda was a train wreck that hurt the American people,
00:25:46.640 and B, because the American people wanted President Trump back in the Oval Office here.
00:25:51.120 I want you to give a listen to exactly what Michelle Obama said.
00:25:54.660 Give a listen.
00:25:55.420 Do you think that that impacts the room that we've made for a woman to be president?
00:26:00.360 Well, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain't ready.
00:26:05.640 That's why I'm like, don't even look at me about running, because you all are lying.
00:26:11.000 You're not ready for a woman. 1.00
00:26:12.960 You are not.
00:26:14.160 So don't waste my time.
00:26:16.760 You know, we got a lot of growing up to do, and there's still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it.
00:26:26.920 What was the question?
00:26:30.140 I just said, mm-hmm.
00:26:31.460 We don't need to ask it again.
00:26:35.220 You answered it.
00:26:37.060 I mean, you listen to that, and the room goes wild with women. 1.00
00:26:40.500 It was clearly a female audience that she's talking with there. 1.00
00:26:43.620 It was also effeminate men. 0.85
00:26:45.940 Don't forget that.
00:26:46.860 Oh, that's true.
00:26:47.620 We can't assume that we know just for me.
00:26:49.680 I mean, this is the Democrat Party.
00:26:51.360 Yes.
00:26:51.900 We can't assume from the high-pitchedness of the screams in the room that it was actually women. 0.99
00:26:57.160 It could be people that identify as a woman. 1.00
00:26:59.440 That's true.
00:26:59.920 Valid point.
00:27:00.400 Look, when you have a male who's taking estrogen and, like, wearing a tight strap to, like, tuck in, they have pretty high squeals.
00:27:09.580 Well, you know, they shop, hey, during the holidays, they can shop at Target, get those tucking swimsuits for them, right?
00:27:14.200 And half of them used to work at the White House anyway, so there's always that as well.
00:27:18.160 When I heard that, I laughed because I thought it was so funny.
00:27:23.900 One, I don't think there's a bunch of people that are wanting her to run right now for president.
00:27:30.240 Her best shot at it would have been a coronation like we had with Kamala Harris. 1.00
00:27:35.240 That obviously didn't happen.
00:27:37.000 But she's like, you basically don't deserve me.
00:27:39.340 That is the weirdest Jedi mind trick political thing I've ever seen. 0.89
00:27:43.800 Well, look, it's just arrogance.
00:27:45.420 And you're right.
00:27:46.660 Had she wanted to do it, they would have handed it to her instead of Kamala Harris. 1.00
00:27:50.620 And you and I talked about this a lot on this podcast.
00:27:53.400 By the way, this podcast predicted more than a year before the Democrat Party pulled the rug out from under Joe Biden.
00:28:00.100 We predicted on verdict.
00:28:01.500 Regular listens of verdict, no.
00:28:03.260 We regularly make predictions.
00:28:05.420 We make predictions that, frankly, are risky, that are out there.
00:28:09.380 And the overwhelming majority of the predictions we make on this podcast have come true.
00:28:14.400 When you and I said a year before Joe Biden was yanked unceremoniously off the ticket, that Biden would be pulled off the ticket, you and I, and by that I mainly mean me, I was mocked mercilessly.
00:28:32.660 Hold on.
00:28:33.220 I agreed with you at the time.
00:28:34.700 Give me a little bit there.
00:28:35.920 Come on.
00:28:36.500 No, no.
00:28:36.800 You did agree with me, but they didn't make fun of you. 0.84
00:28:38.960 The press went after me and says Cruz is a moonbat numbskull. 0.96
00:28:44.840 I think they kind of bake into the cake that you're a moonbat numbskull. 0.87
00:28:48.680 I do host this show with you, so there's that, right?
00:28:51.260 Guilty by association.
00:28:51.880 Guilty by association.
00:28:52.080 Guilty by association.
00:28:53.280 Sorry about that.
00:28:54.180 But, like, literally the corporate media went crazy.
00:28:57.460 They had episodes mocking me.
00:28:59.140 What a crazy thing for Cruz to say Biden's not going to be the nominee.
00:29:03.540 Obviously anyone with any sense at all knows he's going to be the nominee.
00:29:07.460 Well, we were right, and if Michelle Obama had wanted it, she would have been the nominee last time.
00:29:13.260 We predicted that as well.
00:29:14.340 She didn't want it.
00:29:15.580 But the dripping arrogance of her, you know, you listen to her comments, the American people have a lot of growing up to do.
00:29:22.920 Yeah.
00:29:23.100 Like, the absolute condescension, you people are too immature to elect my magnificence.
00:29:30.440 Why?
00:29:30.880 Not because my ideas are terrible, not because the Democrat ideas are horrible and have resulted in open borders, have resulted in people being murdered and women being raped and children being assaulted, not because we had rampant inflation, not because Joe Biden and the Democrats caused war all over the earth, turned peace and prosperity into a war in Ukraine and October 7th and a war in Gaza. 0.95
00:29:53.660 You know, not because every single thing we touched turned to absolute garbage. 0.97
00:30:00.040 No, no, no, no.
00:30:00.840 That's not the reason Kamala Harris lost resoundingly. 0.98
00:30:04.020 The reason, according to the leftist ideology, is you all are bigots and you're racist and you're sexist, and that's the only possible reason. 0.90
00:30:12.860 And I got to say, that contemptuous condescension is one of the worst characteristics of the Democrat Party today, but it also does indicate this is not a party that is reassessing. 0.81
00:30:28.600 You know, normally when you lose an election and you lose an election badly, at least some people with sense in the party go, huh, I wonder why the voters rejected what we said.
00:30:38.940 Maybe we should change.
00:30:39.940 You know, you think back to, in 1980, Reagan was elected.
00:30:44.200 In 84, Reagan was re-elected, won 49 out of 50 states, came within a few thousand votes of winning every single state in the union.
00:30:51.780 Reagan won California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, every state but Minnesota.
00:30:57.860 1988, George Herbert Walker Bush was elected, and after losing three consecutive presidential races, Democrats said, huh, maybe nominating Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale
00:31:09.460 and Michael Dukakis was a bad idea.
00:31:11.820 Maybe crazy left-wing loons do not command a majority in America. 1.00
00:31:16.760 What did they do? 0.59
00:31:17.460 They pivoted.
00:31:18.100 They moved dramatically towards the center, and they nominated what was then a moderate to conservative Democrat,
00:31:24.340 the governor of Arkansas named Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton won two consecutive elections because they shifted.
00:31:30.640 You know what?
00:31:31.120 I don't see any Democrats doing that right now.
00:31:33.880 I don't see them looking and saying, why did we get clobbered?
00:31:37.420 Why did Trump win all seven of the swing states?
00:31:42.280 I don't see Democrats saying that at all. 0.99
00:31:44.060 And Michelle Obama saying, you people are a bunch of bigots and sexists, and you just need to grow up. 0.98
00:31:49.540 You know what I'm saying? 0.98
00:31:50.620 Whoever the Democrat nominee is in 28, please make Michelle Obama your spokesperson because we really need her lecturing the American people how much the voters suck because, you know, that historically has proved such an effective way to campaign. 0.99
00:32:06.420 Amen to that.
00:32:07.400 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
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00:32:17.040 That would be greatly appreciated.
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