Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 20, 2025


Trump's Inauguration! plus Tik Tok Ban-What's Next？


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

175.69572

Word count

5,842

Sentence count

471

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

10

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergus break down what it's like to attend an Inauguration weekend in Washington, D.C. and the events that took place throughout the weekend. They also discuss TikTok's ban on streaming services and what it means for the future of the space.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.540 Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you on Inauguration Day.
00:00:11.160 Sit back, stretch out America.
00:00:13.820 Donald Trump is back and it's going to be a glorious Monday.
00:00:17.780 And Senator, you're right there in the middle of all of it.
00:00:20.560 Well, I am. Today is a momentous day at noon today, January 20th.
00:00:25.660 Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. will cease to be president of the United States.
00:00:29.180 And Donald John Trump will become the 47th president of the United States.
00:00:34.140 We will see a new administration come into office.
00:00:37.400 We will see the entire direction of the country, the path we're on, change.
00:00:41.920 We're going to break down everything that's been happening on Inauguration today and throughout the weekend.
00:00:46.400 I've been up here all weekend.
00:00:48.260 So we're going to bring inside what it's like on an Inauguration weekend.
00:00:51.680 That's what we're going to start with.
00:00:53.240 Then we're going to talk about TikTok.
00:00:54.520 TikTok, the ban went into effect on Sunday.
00:00:59.780 TikTok went down.
00:01:01.220 It's now back up.
00:01:03.160 What's going to happen next?
00:01:04.640 What does it mean?
00:01:05.700 We're going to break that down.
00:01:07.200 All of that in this verdict.
00:01:09.040 I want to tell you real quick about our friends over at the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
00:01:13.840 On January the 27th, just a few days away, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be here.
00:01:21.440 And that is the day we remember the great evil of the Holocaust when millions of Jews were slaughtered during the Nazis' reign of terror.
00:01:28.520 Now today, unfortunately, the rise in global anti-Semitism and the constant attacks on Israel show us it's more important than ever to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust to ensure that it never, ever, ever happens again.
00:01:43.460 And that's why I have partnered with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
00:01:48.680 The work they do is just truly unbelievable.
00:01:52.180 Not only do they provide food and shelter and safety to Jews in Israel and around the world, including those remaining Holocaust survivors.
00:02:01.480 And that is where your donation today will help provide that food, water, medicine, and other basic necessities to the Jewish community, including bomb shelters and armored ambulances that have saved countless lives throughout the last year and a half.
00:02:17.760 And your gift will also send a message that you stand with the Jewish people against this growing anti-Semitism and hatred.
00:02:26.440 So to give and show your support right now to the Jewish people, you can do it by going to supportifcj.org.
00:02:35.740 That's one word, supportifcj.org.
00:02:40.840 You can also call 888-488-IFCJ.
00:02:45.500 That's 888-488-IFCJ.
00:02:49.640 888-488-4325.
00:02:52.080 Or supportifcj.org.
00:02:54.820 Senator, all right, I got to be honest with you.
00:02:56.820 I'm having FOMO.
00:02:58.000 Ann and I were going to come up for the inauguration.
00:03:00.740 And then we saw the temps.
00:03:02.800 And then we saw that they canceled it being outside.
00:03:05.920 And then it was a question of, all right, do we come?
00:03:08.460 Do we not?
00:03:09.480 You're there.
00:03:10.300 I've seen your pictures.
00:03:11.440 You're hanging out with family.
00:03:12.540 You even got a picture with Snoop Dogg and your daughter, the crypto ball. 0.77
00:03:15.880 It looks like it's been an amazing weekend celebrating democracy and Donald Trump coming back into office.
00:03:23.600 Well, it has.
00:03:24.820 And I guess we've got to start, Ben, with, you know, why do you hate America?
00:03:30.440 I set you up pretty well for that one, right?
00:03:33.220 You know, you could choose to be here celebrating a new day in America, celebrating changing the course.
00:03:39.560 Or you could stay at home and say, you know, I'm really cold.
00:03:44.040 See, I can blame you for this.
00:03:45.520 Anna said, is Senator Cruz going to make sure we go with him to see Snoop Dogg?
00:03:49.480 That's what I want to do.
00:03:50.980 And I said, he hasn't offered, honey.
00:03:52.400 So technically, it's your fault.
00:03:53.800 I'm going to go back hard.
00:03:55.260 You didn't ask.
00:03:56.440 I would have happily brought you in.
00:04:01.160 So particularly because it's already passed, that's the easiest thing is to offer things in the hypothetical after the effect.
00:04:07.920 So look, look, the whole weekend we started with Friday.
00:04:11.200 So Friday, the Senate was in session this week.
00:04:13.560 And so we voted.
00:04:14.700 We voted actually on the Lake and Riley Act.
00:04:17.280 We got a bunch of Democrats who voted for it as well.
00:04:19.500 So we actually moved forward with the Lake and Riley Act.
00:04:21.560 And it may show that Democrats are a little bit scared of the election results, particularly their open border policies.
00:04:28.280 Then Friday night, we had – I started the festivities with the party that Donald Trump Jr. hosted.
00:04:34.960 And there were a bunch of folks there, a bunch of cabinet members there.
00:04:37.240 It was good to celebrate.
00:04:38.400 And then went from there to the Crypto Ball.
00:04:41.940 And the Crypto Ball was remarkable.
00:04:43.760 It was a big black tie gala.
00:04:46.300 And the performer was Snoop Dogg.
00:04:50.000 And, you know, it's interesting.
00:04:51.620 In the first term, Snoop Dogg was not a fan of Donald Trump.
00:04:54.900 But this administration, he is performing at one of the inaugural galas, the Crypto Ball.
00:05:03.680 And, you know, I'll tell you, my daughter Caroline, as you know, she's not particularly into politics.
00:05:09.380 But I did ask her, hey, you got any interest in seeing Snoop Dogg perform?
00:05:12.940 And she was all over that.
00:05:14.760 That's so fun.
00:05:16.020 So it was very – you know, look, it's good as a dad.
00:05:17.680 You got to be a cool dad for like a couple of hours.
00:05:20.840 And so it was a good chance, you know, and I told her, I said, I'm pretty sure I can get you backstage.
00:05:25.480 And it turned out I could.
00:05:27.680 And so Caroline was up there.
00:05:29.380 And we went back to Snoop's bus.
00:05:32.920 And he was there with his entourage.
00:05:35.020 We hung out with them for a few minutes.
00:05:36.380 He was very kind, took a picture with Caroline.
00:05:38.320 And that was – it was very nice and very gracious.
00:05:40.860 I'm not going to say we were partying with Snoop.
00:05:43.880 But we got to meet him and he took a picture with Caroline.
00:05:46.400 So that was fun.
00:05:47.200 So what is the demeanor like and does it feel like it did eight years ago after 16?
00:05:53.660 Or does it feel very different this time?
00:05:56.560 Very different.
00:05:57.200 And explain the difference.
00:06:01.620 There's real excitement.
00:06:03.560 There's a greater mandate.
00:06:05.140 Look, in 2016, almost nobody believed Trump would win, including Trump.
00:06:12.640 And it was – everyone was kind of a little shocked.
00:06:16.480 And the Trump team had never done this before.
00:06:19.560 And so they were trying to figure out what to do.
00:06:22.080 The difference now – this team is hitting the ground running 100 miles an hour instead of two miles an hour.
00:06:27.900 Like, it is night and day.
00:06:30.980 You look at the cabinet members have all been announced.
00:06:33.700 We've already had hearings on half the cabinet members.
00:06:37.300 They are hitting the ground running.
00:06:39.380 I think today you are going to see somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 executive orders that are going to come down.
00:06:45.100 It is – and the election results were so overwhelming for Trump to win, the popular vote for Trump to win of the seven swing states, all seven, with a big majority in the Senate, 53 Republicans, a majority in the House.
00:07:02.280 There's a clear mandate.
00:07:03.720 And so I will say there's an excitement in the air.
00:07:06.340 You also don't have the same anger and resistance that we had in 2017.
00:07:15.000 It was such a resounding result that the left really is in shock.
00:07:20.240 But there's not the disbelief there was in 2017.
00:07:24.320 In 2017, they thought this is a clear aberration.
00:07:28.740 It makes no sense, and it will be over very, very soon.
00:07:31.540 They now recognize, wow, this is what the voters wanted.
00:07:34.440 And so the feel is fundamentally different.
00:07:39.120 You know, after Friday on Saturday, I went then, had meetings, went and spoke to the Texas State Society, which was great to see all the folks up from Texas, and then went to a party that was hosted by Peter Thiel and David Sachs, and that was kind of a tech artificial intelligence party.
00:08:01.800 And as you know, Peter Thiel and I have been friends for 25 years, so that was fun to see a lot of the techies.
00:08:08.620 I then went to the Hispanic inaugural ball, which was massive, a couple thousand people.
00:08:14.920 The excitement there was enormous.
00:08:17.680 And by the way, I want people to understand, these balls, it is not easy to get tickets.
00:08:22.600 I want to be clear.
00:08:23.400 It is tough for even people and insiders.
00:08:25.700 So it's a big deal.
00:08:27.760 It's like, I mean, it's a really cool thing to get to do.
00:08:30.200 I've done an inauguration.
00:08:31.480 It's amazing.
00:08:32.080 But it is, when people are like, oh, I'm going to go to D.C., like, if you don't have an invite, it is very different than if you're there and you're in the know.
00:08:39.940 And that's one of the things I think is actually the excitement around it, is that you may not get one of these every four years.
00:08:44.780 It can be eight years in between, like we saw with Obama.
00:08:47.920 So when they get to celebrate your team winning, it's a big celebration.
00:08:51.680 These are five-star events.
00:08:54.080 Yeah.
00:08:54.240 Now, look, I have to admit, it's not my favorite thing to do.
00:08:57.920 I don't really like going to black tie big galas.
00:09:01.200 I would much rather sit around the table with some good friends with some scotch and a cigar and play poker.
00:09:08.160 I take that a thousand out of a thousand times as compared to 2,000 people in a giant auditorium all pressing up and crazy.
00:09:18.180 That's not really my scene.
00:09:20.140 But at the same time, I've got a job to do.
00:09:22.320 And so, you know, the Hispanic inaugural ball, I was one of the honorary co-chairmen of the ball.
00:09:27.760 And so I had an obligation to be there and talk to the folks there and congratulate everyone.
00:09:32.940 And the enthusiasm that's there is enormous.
00:09:35.060 I went from there to the America First Policy Institute ball, which is, you know, AFPI is a big think tank now that came out of Trump world.
00:09:43.620 So I was there.
00:09:44.540 And then on Sunday, I actually started the day by having breakfast with President Trump.
00:09:49.940 And he had breakfast with all of the Republican senators.
00:09:53.860 But in classic Trump manner, that breakfast lasted two and a half hours.
00:09:58.920 And where was it?
00:09:59.800 Where did you guys meet?
00:10:01.120 At the Blair House.
00:10:02.000 So the Blair House is across the street from the White House.
00:10:04.700 And this is part of history of the inauguration, I love.
00:10:07.560 Yeah.
00:10:07.780 So Blair House is it is typically where the president resides before he's sworn in.
00:10:13.720 So Trump got up to D.C. last night.
00:10:16.220 He took Air Force One from Mar-a-Lago up to D.C. and then went to Blair House.
00:10:20.840 And Blair House is also where visiting heads of state will stay.
00:10:23.640 So if the British prime minister is in town, the U.S. government will put him up in Blair House.
00:10:29.320 And it's it's a very nice residence right across from the White House.
00:10:32.500 So that's where Trump is until he's sworn in and moves into the White House.
00:10:36.880 And and we had we literally arrived at 930 for breakfast and we left shortly before noon.
00:10:42.500 I mean, and it was he basically just kind of talked stream of consciousness for two and a half hours.
00:10:48.740 And we all talked back and forth and had a really and he was in in in great spirits.
00:10:54.340 And and then on Sunday night, the big thing that is Sunday night is black tie and boots, which is the Texas State Society ball.
00:11:03.660 That is always a huge it's it's typically the hottest ticket in town that actually the Texas ball has always been considered probably the top ball and most fun.
00:11:13.840 And it's it's packed.
00:11:14.840 And and then you get to Monday morning and Monday morning is is is is the real shebang when when when Trump takes the oath of office that will happen noon today.
00:11:25.540 So let's talk about also the big change.
00:11:29.300 And there was everybody saying, hey, was it the weather?
00:11:33.120 Was it security?
00:11:34.220 Was it both?
00:11:35.380 The end of the day, we're not outside for the inauguration.
00:11:38.140 It is indoor.
00:11:39.820 It is something that's we've it's happened before.
00:11:42.300 Not that long ago.
00:11:43.240 Ronald Reagan had one of his indoor because of weather at the time.
00:11:46.920 When you found out about this, how much does that change things?
00:11:50.520 Because, for example, every every office gets X number of tickets for the inauguration.
00:11:55.560 And there's a lot of people coming up and then all of a sudden it's like, hey, these tickets are basically something you can frame.
00:12:01.020 But they're worthless now because we're moving indoors.
00:12:03.660 So who gets on the list indoors?
00:12:05.520 Because it's a lot smaller.
00:12:07.780 Yeah.
00:12:08.060 So so I'll tell you how how I found out about it.
00:12:10.920 It actually was was Friday afternoon.
00:12:13.420 As it so happened, I was in the office of the speaker of the house and I spent an hour in the speaker's office with with the speaker and me.
00:12:21.680 And Lindsey Graham, the three of us talking about the issue we did a podcast on last week, which is whether to do one reconciliation bill or two reconciliation bills.
00:12:31.400 And as we talked about on that podcast, the speaker disagrees with with Lindsey and me and with with just about every senator.
00:12:38.740 He thinks one bill makes sense.
00:12:40.540 I think two bills make sense.
00:12:41.920 And we're spending about an hour talking about that.
00:12:43.720 And I got to say, as I was walking into the meeting with the speaker, we were talking about the inauguration and the fact that we were all expecting to be freezing our asses off sitting outside.
00:12:54.280 You know, typically for an inauguration, you're out on the steps of the Capitol.
00:12:57.620 You're outside.
00:12:58.760 And Monday is projected to be very, very cold to be in the teens.
00:13:04.160 And and I'll tell you what I was telling the speaker.
00:13:07.400 Look, I just want to make sure that they don't like Secret Service doesn't drag us out there two hours early and have us just sit there and freeze way before the president gets there.
00:13:17.100 And I'm like, you know, come on, Mr. Speaker, you can get this done.
00:13:20.360 We can get out there right before it starts instead of having to, like, turn into ice boxes and have a bunch of octogenarians getting pneumonia.
00:13:27.840 Yeah. Well, while we're meeting with the speaker, we get he gets handed a note card and said, oh, well, problem solved.
00:13:34.280 Trump just decided to move it indoors.
00:13:36.420 So it was Trump's call.
00:13:37.880 He made the decision.
00:13:39.960 And so now that the swearing in will occur in the rotunda of the Capitol.
00:13:45.320 That is the same thing that happened in 1985 for Reagan's second term in 1985.
00:13:51.480 Just just like this year, it was very, very cold on inauguration day.
00:13:55.940 And so they did it indoors.
00:13:57.260 So that's what's going to happen here.
00:13:59.240 But what it means is the number of people that will be physically present plummets there.
00:14:04.360 They're anticipating about 600 people will be in the rotunda.
00:14:07.820 Now, I'll give you some quick math.
00:14:10.100 There are 535 senators and members of the House.
00:14:13.840 If you got 600 total, there ain't a whole lot more people than than the members of Congress and an additional 65, 70 people.
00:14:23.000 So so virtually everyone who was planning to go.
00:14:28.200 There were thousands and thousands of seated seats that people had flown up for tickets.
00:14:33.520 There were many, many more thousands of standing room only seats that would that would extend for blocks and blocks.
00:14:40.580 And I do feel really bad for all the folks who came up here who were planning to see it.
00:14:45.220 I mean, it's an expensive trip to fly to D.C.
00:14:47.460 They were excited and they found out, well, OK, now we're not going to get to see it.
00:14:51.300 But, you know, what most people are doing is is going somewhere where there's a TV and it's warm to go watch it.
00:14:58.960 I can tell you, I had a bunch of of our top supporters that that flew up here.
00:15:04.680 And so we've we've tried to we've been talking with them and trying to help folks find find warm places.
00:15:10.400 We've got some folks that we've got a sports bar where they're going to come come watch it there. 1.00
00:15:14.860 But it a lot of people were left just just in the cold.
00:15:21.240 I will say this, though, if it had been outside, you would have people, particularly in the standing room, only seats who might be out there six hours or more.
00:15:30.380 And I did. And that's one thing people don't I don't think understood because I had someone calling like, hey, we got seats.
00:15:35.340 We're going to go and, you know, it should be fine.
00:15:38.120 We'll just get there right before. And I'm like, it doesn't work that way.
00:15:40.120 There's incredible security protocol. And you're out there for hours.
00:15:43.660 I remember it during oh four. It pushes at a seated seat right up at the front.
00:15:49.060 And that seat was frozen solid when we sat down.
00:15:53.120 It was a solid basically sitting on an ice cube.
00:15:56.600 And so even if you think, oh, well, you have a seat and you can sit down, I would have actually preferred to be standing so you could move around a little bit.
00:16:03.140 Because when it's cold in D.C. and windy, it is cold and windy.
00:16:06.680 And look, a lot of people would be getting there at like six and seven in the morning and the swearing in doesn't happen till noon.
00:16:13.060 So that's a lot of hours to be out in the cold and wind and ice.
00:16:18.460 You know, Heidi's in town for it. Caroline's in town for it. 0.98
00:16:21.800 I had advised them they were going to have heavy jackets and wrap up.
00:16:25.040 I'll tell you, I bought a new set of long johns.
00:16:27.100 I went on Amazon and ordered some long johns.
00:16:29.100 And actually, we had there were hundreds of tickets that I gave out of Texans who wanted to come and asked me to.
00:16:35.220 And so we gave out hundreds of tickets.
00:16:38.040 And one of the things I had my team do with everyone that was going to get a ticket is is is I got them hand warmers and feet warmers.
00:16:44.420 I figured, all right, if they're going to be freezing, you know, the things that you take skiing that like you can put in your gloves or put in your boots and warm your feet and hands.
00:16:51.380 And I thought that was a nice thing to give the Texans who were coming up here. 0.70
00:16:55.280 But I will say this because they canceled it.
00:16:59.000 Number one, look, I'm glad you've got a bunch of members of Congress who are in their 80s.
00:17:03.220 I mean, you could easily have had someone catch pneumonia and die.
00:17:06.240 Yeah, I'm sure Trump was thinking of William Henry Harrison, who was president.
00:17:12.400 He gave a speech on a very cold Washington Day at inauguration speech, and he died 30 days later.
00:17:18.880 He is the shortest president in U.S. history.
00:17:22.160 And, you know, Trump at 78, I'm sure that precedent occurred to him.
00:17:26.840 You know, I can't think it would be very healthy for Joe Biden at his age and in his health to have him sit a couple hours out in the freezing cold.
00:17:33.940 And for that matter, the thousands of people standing there, we probably would have had some people get frostbite.
00:17:41.240 We might have had some serious health issues.
00:17:42.940 So I do think that was a major factor and behind President Trump's decision to move it indoors.
00:17:51.420 So here's to put it in perspective, your family that's up there for it.
00:17:54.780 Do they get to go in the rotunda for the swearing in?
00:17:57.500 No.
00:17:58.280 So just and I knew the answer, but it was just to put it in perspective.
00:18:01.920 That's how different it's going to be, that even senators' own family members who thought they were going to watch the inauguration, they're going to be watching it on TV as well.
00:18:10.820 So what works to each member of Congress has a spouse ticket, and the spouse ticket, when it's outside, they're seated nearby, and you get one ticket for that.
00:18:21.360 Those tickets are not even going to be in the rotunda.
00:18:23.960 They're going to be in the Capitol Visitor Center.
00:18:25.780 So they will be watching it on TV nearby, but they won't be physically there able to see it.
00:18:31.100 That's incredible.
00:18:32.640 So let's talk about afterwards what's going to happen, because you mentioned this earlier, that this Trump administration is just operating at a different level of sophistication than 2016.
00:18:47.260 It is a different level of readiness, and this is going to be a huge day for the country, specifically for people that voted for change and voted for safety and security and secure borders.
00:19:01.420 The number of things that we're going to get done right away after Trump is sworn in is significant.
00:19:07.760 It is.
00:19:08.800 You know, this is something I talked about.
00:19:10.240 So I did two other podcasts this weekend.
00:19:12.120 I went on with Barry Weiss on the Free Press podcast and talked with her, and then I also went on the All In podcast.
00:19:20.740 Both of them I talked about verdict and then urged listeners of those podcasts to come over here and subscribe to verdict.
00:19:27.320 But, you know, we talked about what to expect today, and shortly after the president is sworn in, we are going to see a flurry of executive orders.
00:19:36.940 And I think we're going to see something on the order of magnitude of 100 executive orders signed today.
00:19:43.280 That is massive.
00:19:45.220 Those orders are prepared.
00:19:46.600 They're drafted.
00:19:47.600 The lawyers are putting the finishing touches on them right now.
00:19:50.860 I don't know everyone that's coming out.
00:19:53.140 We can predict a lot of them.
00:19:55.080 There are going to be executive orders focusing on securing the border.
00:19:58.260 Catch and release is going to end.
00:20:00.660 When illegal immigrants are apprehended, they will be detained. 0.78
00:20:03.820 They will be deported.
00:20:04.760 You're going to see law enforcement going after and apprehending and arresting criminal illegal aliens, murderers, rapists, gang members.
00:20:13.840 All of that you're going to see early on.
00:20:16.120 I'm confident you will see executive orders undoing the Biden administration's war on American energy, the war on Texas oil and gas.
00:20:25.220 I think we'll see that unwind.
00:20:26.840 I'm confident we'll see executive orders unwinding DEI initiatives throughout the federal government.
00:20:32.140 I'm confident that Joe Biden's artificial intelligence executive order will be rescinded.
00:20:40.060 The flurry of it will be enormous.
00:20:43.680 And the phrase that's being used is shock and awe.
00:20:46.920 And I think that's exactly what it is.
00:20:49.300 And I'll tell you, Ben, in my view, I think there is a fixed quantum of outrage.
00:20:55.100 And I actually call that quantum the arsenic quantum.
00:20:58.780 And so you and I both remember the first term of George W. Bush, Bush 43.
00:21:05.380 So when Bush 43 came in in 2001, one of the first things the Bush administration did is it rescinded an EPA reg that had regulated how much arsenic can be in water.
00:21:17.980 And it changed it from one microscopic amount of arsenic to a different microscopic amount of arsenic.
00:21:26.160 And for six weeks, the press lost their mind and their hair was on fire.
00:21:31.100 And they said the evil Republicans are trying to poison our children with arsenic.
00:21:34.740 Now, I think today, when Trump issues all of these executive orders, you're going to see the same outrage, except instead of all directed at arsenic, it's going to be at all 100.
00:21:45.840 And I actually don't think the outrage gets any greater.
00:21:49.300 That's how much outrage there is, which is why I'm expecting today to be an extraordinary day.
00:21:55.720 I hope and believe these orders are focused on delivering on our promises and carrying through on the mandate from the election.
00:22:02.860 And if and when they do that, that's a very good thing.
00:22:05.940 There's also a different aspect of this, this winning a second time after losing.
00:22:11.280 And that is, if these hundred executive orders that are signed today make the media mad, the press mad, and they lose their mind,
00:22:22.040 I think there's a lot of Americans like, good, he's doing exactly what I sent him back to Washington to do.
00:22:27.960 And you didn't have that type of mandate feel, I think, in 16 like you do now.
00:22:33.480 Absolutely.
00:22:34.000 If CNN is happy at what happens today, then the incoming team will have screwed up badly.
00:22:42.180 But I feel absolutely confidence.
00:22:44.640 I think the odds that CNN will be happy are 0.0%.
00:22:48.620 So that's a good thing.
00:22:50.180 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
00:22:52.380 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:22:56.520 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:23:00.200 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:23:01.400 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:23:02.400 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:23:06.460 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.
00:23:10.000 All at different stages of their journey.
00:23:12.200 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:23:15.420 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:23:21.420 Let's move to TikTok for a second because this has actually been a big conversation around the inauguration.
00:23:28.460 Elections having consequences.
00:23:30.140 Laws having consequences.
00:23:31.140 Consequences, Supreme Court getting involved.
00:23:33.660 So can we take it back to square one so that people that maybe weren't paying attention to TikTok, maybe don't use it, they understand.
00:23:41.140 TikTok is extremely important to a younger generation.
00:23:45.180 And there are a lot of Americans that make a living on TikTok.
00:23:48.900 There are a lot of people that support their businesses.
00:23:51.340 There is a lot of things on TikTok that you can say are very good.
00:23:55.060 There are a lot of things you can also say are very bad.
00:23:57.400 But explain what happened with TikTok and why it was shut down.
00:24:02.560 Well, Congress passed a law last year dealing with TikTok.
00:24:07.120 TikTok is owned and controlled by a company called ByteDance.
00:24:11.280 ByteDance is a Chinese company.
00:24:13.080 And it's a Chinese company that is under the direct control of the Chinese communist government.
00:24:17.820 The Chinese communist government uses TikTok and uses it in a way that I think poses a very real national security risk to the United States. 0.97
00:24:27.080 There are some 170 million Americans that use TikTok, overwhelmingly young people, teenagers, young adults, young professionals.
00:24:38.360 And the Chinese communist government uses it, number one, to engage in espionage, to monitor what those Americans are doing, what they're saying, potentially where they are.
00:24:49.460 They have the potential to monitor their locations.
00:24:51.900 But number two, the Chinese communist government uses TikTok aggressively to push propaganda, to push propaganda that is, number one, pro-China.
00:25:03.300 And they suppress content, things like Tiananmen Square.
00:25:07.560 They suppress content about the one million Uyghurs that are in concentration camps in China.
00:25:13.380 They suppress content about Hong Kong or China or Taiwan.
00:25:16.960 But they also push anti-American content.
00:25:22.940 They push anti-capitalist content.
00:25:25.980 They push communist content.
00:25:27.380 They push socialist content.
00:25:29.240 They also push harmful content to young people.
00:25:32.700 They push substance abuse.
00:25:34.800 They push self-harm.
00:25:36.600 They push suicidal ideation.
00:25:38.780 I got to say that the same company that owns TikTok, they have a TikTok version in China that's very different from the TikTok in America.
00:25:48.120 The Chinese kids that are on TikTok, they're getting videos on math and calculus, and they're limited in the number of hours they can do it. 0.66
00:25:55.440 But it's developing the kind of skills that are going to make them really effective in life.
00:25:58.940 You know, the Chinese kids are getting calculus, and our kids are getting chewing Tide Pods. 0.97
00:26:04.740 That ain't good.
00:26:06.340 The Chinese communist government is not doing it because they love our kids and they want to see a good outcome.
00:26:12.440 We also see heavily skewed political propaganda.
00:26:17.240 So, for example, anti-Semitism, anti-Israel, pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah propaganda is rampant on TikTok and at a complete differential, wildly different ratios than on other social media platforms.
00:26:34.080 And so, given China's malevolent use of TikTok, Congress passed a bipartisan bill designed to force China to divest from TikTok.
00:26:46.380 And the terms of the bill said that TikTok had to shut down by January 19th unless it had been sold and was no longer under the ownership or control of the Chinese communist government.
00:27:02.740 Now, TikTok has done next to nothing to comply with the efforts to sell itself.
00:27:08.620 In fact, they brazenly said, we will not sell.
00:27:12.240 Instead, they've tried to do a couple of things.
00:27:14.280 Number one, they've tried to engage in litigation.
00:27:16.420 They filed lawsuits.
00:27:18.020 They went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
00:27:20.220 They argued at the U.S. Supreme Court.
00:27:21.980 And TikTok lost unanimously.
00:27:24.040 The Supreme Court said, no, your First Amendment argument is not valid.
00:27:27.780 So the First Amendment protects the free speech rights of Americans.
00:27:32.060 But it doesn't protect the Chinese communist government.
00:27:34.680 And the Supreme Court unanimously concluded this law is focused on national security.
00:27:39.060 It's not trying to suppress any Americans' free speech.
00:27:42.400 It is trying to prevent a hostile government from being able to engage in espionage and propaganda in the United States.
00:27:49.560 So they devoted a lot of time to litigation, a lot of time to lobbyists.
00:27:53.200 They've had lobbyists descend on Capitol Hill trying to lobby against the ban.
00:27:57.120 Well, Saturday night at midnight, TikTok turned itself off.
00:28:03.720 And I will tell you, there were teenagers and young people all across the country that expressed enormous dismay when it shut down.
00:28:11.440 But they shut it down.
00:28:13.020 And so TikTok, for most of Sunday, was shut down.
00:28:16.520 And then Sunday afternoon, they turned it back on.
00:28:19.560 And they turned it back on because Trump had indicated that he intends to give TikTok another 90 days.
00:28:27.040 The statute has a provision that the president can extend the ban for 90 days in order to help facilitate a sale of TikTok.
00:28:35.940 And Trump has said that's what he intends to do.
00:28:38.040 Look, my view on this, if in the next 90 days, TikTok follows through and sells the company to a non-Chinese buyer, a non-Chinese government-controlled buyer, ideally to an American company, that will be a very, very good thing.
00:28:58.520 The objective of this law, it's important to understand, the objective of this law was never to ban TikTok.
00:29:04.780 The objective of this law was to force the Chinese communist government to end its ownership and control of TikTok.
00:29:12.980 I don't know if that's going to happen.
00:29:14.460 I hope it's going to happen.
00:29:15.880 I am not certain what Trump is going to end up doing.
00:29:18.700 But at least right now, he's indicating that he intends to exercise the 90-day extension to give TikTok time to consummate the sale.
00:29:27.340 And so we'll see what happens in the next 90 days.
00:29:31.060 One last thing about TikTok.
00:29:33.060 Your opinion, if it is a threat to national security and to our way of life, and that's why you say it's so important for it to be sold to a non-Chinese controlled company. 0.93
00:29:45.740 Absolutely.
00:29:46.980 That's why you had overwhelming bipartisan support for this legislation, because what China is doing with TikTok is really harmful. 0.85
00:29:56.400 And it's a way to spy on Americans, and it's also a way to really inject harmful content.
00:30:05.020 They're trying to drive our country in directions that tears America down, and they're not doing it.
00:30:11.080 You know, this is not complaining about, well, gosh, Hollywood producers are not making wholesome movies anymore.
00:30:16.140 This is an adversary that is deliberately pumping propaganda to our children.
00:30:22.600 And we would be a foolish nation if we said, hey, we're great with the Chinese communists having an open pipeline to our kids. 0.99
00:30:30.000 That's why Congress acted.
00:30:31.660 And as I said, I don't know what President Trump will do, but certainly my counsel to him will be, use this law as leverage and let's force China to sell TikTok. 0.68
00:30:42.660 Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see how this happens.
00:30:46.860 Let me ask you one final question on this inauguration day.
00:30:50.260 Didn't you just have a final question?
00:30:52.020 I got, no, this is overall, though.
00:30:53.600 This is outside of TikTok.
00:30:54.300 Are you like a used car salesman?
00:30:55.820 One more thing.
00:30:56.700 One more thing.
00:30:57.460 Would you like some undercover coverage?
00:31:01.000 Hey, I'm not there.
00:31:01.980 I get my bonus question.
00:31:03.220 That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.
00:31:04.920 When you look at where we are, January 20th, 2025, how excited are you for what we're about to witness compared to January 20th of 2017 because of how prepared we are this time?
00:31:23.280 Much more excited because I think we're much more prepared.
00:31:26.120 We're hitting the ground running.
00:31:27.320 As I said, the initial Trump team, they'd never done this before.
00:31:30.520 The initial Trump White House had never worked in the federal government.
00:31:33.600 I think there's just a much greater level of experience and also awareness of the deep state, awareness of the career bureaucrats who fight against a common sense, free market, freedom-oriented agenda.
00:31:49.340 And look, as I look at this array of cabinet nominees, I'm really excited.
00:31:52.820 And I think the most consistent characterization of these or characteristic of these nominees is that they're change agents.
00:32:02.780 They're disruptors, and they're going into these agencies to change and disrupt how they operate.
00:32:07.840 I think that's a very good thing.
00:32:09.600 Now, listen, there are going to be moments of chaos.
00:32:12.020 There are going to be mistakes that are made.
00:32:13.680 The old Silicon Valley phrase of move fast and break things, I think that's what we're going to see.
00:32:20.200 They're going to move fast, and some things won't work.
00:32:24.340 But I'm excited because I think the overwhelming majority of what's accomplished will be very, very good for the country.
00:32:31.040 Well, it's going to be a really fun rest of the day for everybody.
00:32:33.900 Watch it.
00:32:34.480 Enjoy it.
00:32:35.140 It is history.
00:32:36.520 And I can tell you, I really think also verdict is going to be really fun this year.
00:32:40.820 I think we're going to have a lot of guests that because of this victory and get to cover a lot more victories than we've ever got to do before.
00:32:50.100 So get ready for that as well.
00:32:51.660 Don't forget we do the show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
00:32:55.180 We have that weekend review on Saturday.
00:32:57.520 On those in-between days, grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:33:00.940 I'll keep you up to date during those other big news days.
00:33:04.560 There's going to be a lot of them.
00:33:05.900 So we'll have all that for you as well.
00:33:07.580 And this Saturday night, we'll see you back here Wednesday morning.
00:33:10.820 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:33:13.900 Guaranteed human.