Verdict with Ted Cruz - Twitter Takeover

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.400 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.060 Let's be clear.

00:00:06.260 Ted Cruz and Michael Knowles are guilty of chipping away at democracy.

00:00:11.860 Holding fast to democracy starts at the local level by refusing Cruz and Knowles an audience.

00:00:18.080 You have a method of intervention.

00:00:20.060 Buy tickets, but don't attend.

00:00:22.680 Refuse to legitimize the event.

00:00:25.140 You signal to other Yale students and to the organization that invited them

00:00:28.820 that democracy is non-negotiable and that you refuse to normalize the abnormal.

00:00:34.360 This is what good civic action looks like.

00:00:36.840 There are many ways to do this, and I'm only suggesting one.

00:00:39.960 Yale is an influential cultural, political, and economic institution.

00:00:44.560 Yale students, flush with that great power, hold the great responsibility

00:00:49.880 to fight for a more just society and a healthy democracy.

00:00:54.800 Democracy is non-negotiable.

00:00:56.180 On April 11th, Ted Cruz and Michael Knowles are coming to speak at Yale.

00:00:59.800 A fair number of students are considering attending.

00:01:02.340 I think this is an error.

00:01:04.320 So says the Yale Daily News.

00:01:07.680 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

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00:04:54.220 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:04:55.900 I am a threat to democracy.

00:04:58.740 Senator, congratulations.

00:05:00.600 I'm so glad that our event next week is already creating a little bit of buzz on campus.

00:05:04.900 I am really happy, and, you know, I'm really impressed

00:05:08.860 that there's an 18-year-old Yale freshman who believes he's Spider-Man.

00:05:15.320 Like, he literally closes his op-ed with,

00:05:18.840 with great power comes great responsibility.

00:05:23.120 That's impressive.

00:05:24.420 It is very impressive.

00:05:25.520 This is, of course, because when you matriculate at Yale,

00:05:28.320 you immediately get six months of being told that you are the most important, special, wonderful person

00:05:33.720 in the history of the world.

00:05:34.980 You're all going to be president someday.

00:05:36.940 You are told.

00:05:37.640 My only problem with this piece from the Yale Daily News

00:05:40.580 is the evidence they use that I'm a terrible threat to democracy

00:05:44.400 is they quote me on January 6th of this year saying that we should all remember the wise men who traveled a great distance for their leader,

00:05:52.600 the true leader of us all in defiance of an unjust government.

00:05:55.640 These Yalies don't get a good Feast of the Epiphany joke. 1.00

00:05:59.420 What are they teaching them in New Haven?

00:06:02.660 Well, there is apparently neither God nor man at Yale.

00:06:05.960 But we will be there.

00:06:07.900 We will be there on April 11th.

00:06:11.300 I think the event is sold out, as I understand it.

00:06:14.160 Well, I mean, this op-ed author, I think, bought all the tickets.

00:06:17.740 By the way, the tickets are free.

00:06:20.040 So he's such an insightful soul that somebody's selling the tickets to him.

00:06:25.120 And I'll tell you what, this young man, this freshman, he has a special invitation.

00:06:29.800 We'll sell him a ticket.

00:06:31.140 Yep.

00:06:31.920 A hundred bucks just for him.

00:06:33.360 It's a special deal.

00:06:34.280 Everyone else, it's free.

00:06:35.760 But if he comes, I'm going to promise him he gets the first question.

00:06:40.140 And let's see if this brave Peter Parker is willing to actually have a conversation using your words and logic and reason.

00:06:54.020 But I got to say, I'm also kind of happy because if he's Spider-Man, that means we're Spider-Man villains.

00:06:59.420 And really what I want to know is which one of us is the Green Goblin and which one of us is Doc Ock?

00:07:05.800 I simply don't have high enough cheekbones to look like Willem Dafoe.

00:07:09.520 So unfortunately, I don't think I get the Green Goblin.

00:07:13.000 But you're right, Senator.

00:07:14.420 This is a great responsibility that you can exercise, that you can use, that you can show up, ask a question of a sitting United States senator.

00:07:23.900 Come air your views.

00:07:25.320 We can engage in a respectful debate.

00:07:27.740 Or don't.

00:07:29.100 Or just take pot shots from the sidelines and buy scalper tickets to a free event.

00:07:33.400 So I hope that we get a wonderful engagement here.

00:07:36.180 Free speech does seem to be a huge issue now.

00:07:39.100 And all the news on free speech that we get is so negative.

00:07:43.660 There is a story right now.

00:07:45.200 It might be the most positive development for free speech in the last five or six years.

00:07:51.520 Elon Musk is now the largest single shareholder in Twitter.

00:07:57.380 I think it is absolutely awesome.

00:08:00.100 But there are not words to describe how happy I am about this.

00:08:04.880 He bought, I think, 9.2% of the company.

00:08:08.140 They named him a board member, which is very nice given that he has four times as much stock as Jack Dorsey does.

00:08:14.940 And so he magically has a board seat.

00:08:19.300 And it's funny.

00:08:19.900 I was reading online that there are a bunch of Twitter employees who are freaking out.

00:08:24.440 Oh, my God.

00:08:25.240 Someone who believes in free speech is like suddenly owns 10% of the company.

00:08:30.480 It is more spectacular than words can allow.

00:08:37.280 And it's a great example of, look, I hope Elon says, open it up.

00:08:45.320 If you disagree with someone, we're not going to silence you.

00:08:49.360 We're going to let you disagree with them.

00:08:51.180 And let's actually have, you know, John Stuart Mill said the best cure for bad speech is more speech.

00:08:56.860 I hope Elon embodies that libertarian free speech ethos.

00:09:02.500 It's fantastic.

00:09:04.200 It's also important because it's shifted the conversation on free speech.

00:09:08.840 I remember five or 10 years ago, you would hear conservatives tell you with a straight face,

00:09:14.760 well, if you don't like what Facebook is censoring, build your own Facebook.

00:09:18.700 You don't like how Google is suppressing the conservative news.

00:09:22.480 Well, go build your own Google.

00:09:23.980 Go build a new public square that currently controls 90% of the information that flows around our republic.

00:09:30.400 And what we're seeing here is something a little different than that.

00:09:34.360 Elon Musk is going in and taking over these companies that have entrenched themselves,

00:09:39.340 either through chicanery, some sort of fraudulent practices by exploiting legal loopholes that give them liability protections. 0.77

00:09:47.280 He's just going in as a non-woke person and saying, no, that's mine now.

00:09:52.040 Look, I am so happy about it. 0.99

00:09:54.240 I may go out and buy a damn Tesla. 0.98

00:09:56.420 Like I really, and by the way, my girls want me to get a Tesla anyway. 0.99

00:10:00.820 You know why the girls love the Tesla?

00:10:03.700 Why?

00:10:04.260 Because the central computer makes fart noises in each of the seats.

00:10:08.800 And for an 11-year-old and 13-year-old, that is the coolest feature.

00:10:13.360 And I got to admit, as a 51-year-old, that's a pretty cool feature, although I don't, I probably shouldn't admit that publicly as I say it and do a TV camera.

00:10:23.140 But it is compelling to an 11-year-old and 13-year-old.

00:10:28.260 I'm totally with you.

00:10:29.860 I think it's wonderful.

00:10:31.180 I think he's a guy who, if not uniquely, can do it.

00:10:34.100 He's really well positioned.

00:10:35.200 He's putting his money where his mouth is.

00:10:37.060 I hope he makes a lot of money doing it.

00:10:38.860 Absolutely.

00:10:39.820 I think he can improve Twitter.

00:10:41.880 It'll improve the experience for everybody.

00:10:44.180 And it's in the private enterprise sphere.

00:10:46.340 It's not simply in politics.

00:10:48.460 But turning to the realm of pure politics and government, the White House is not happy with how you've been using your free speech.

00:10:56.620 You were called out yet again by the White House, this time by Ron Klain, chief of staff to the president, for your claim that Ketanji Jackson, who is a judge who's soon going to be on the Supreme Court,

00:11:07.500 will be the farthest left jurist ever.

00:11:12.020 Well, I think the facts back that up.

00:11:14.080 If you look at her substantive record, if you look at her record as a judge, if you look at the speeches she's given, if you look at the legal academic writing she's done,

00:11:22.200 it is consistently far, far left.

00:11:25.780 And I think on every issue, free speech, religious liberty, the Second Amendment, school choice, life, I think she will vote hard, hard left.

00:11:35.860 I think she'll vote to overturn the Heller decision, protecting our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

00:11:40.940 I think she'll vote to overturn Citizens United, protecting our right to free speech and to participate in the political process.

00:11:47.280 I think she'll vote to strike down the death penalty. 0.98

00:11:49.600 I think she'll vote to strike down every reasonable restriction on abortion, including bans on partial birth abortion, parental consent, parental notification.

00:11:59.760 I think she'll vote to strike down every school choice program in America. 0.97

00:12:05.400 It is – her record is radical.

00:12:08.100 And look, one of the ways that that's illustrated, she's unable to answer the question, what is a woman? 0.96

00:12:15.400 Yeah, right.

00:12:15.920 Like this didn't used to be a trick question.

00:12:19.460 There have been 115 Supreme Court justices to date.

00:12:23.500 Every one of them was able to answer that question.

00:12:26.820 I got to say it was funny.

00:12:27.580 I was walking down the hallway in the Capitol today and a left-leaning reporter from Huffington Post came up to me breathlessly and said,

00:12:35.640 OK, I'm asking every Senate Republican in the Judiciary Committee, what is a woman? 1.00

00:12:45.920 And he looks at me with this gotcha, and I turned to him and said, an adult female human? 0.99

00:12:54.580 You sly dog. 0.97

00:12:56.660 Well, but the response is better. 0.98

00:12:58.180 He looks at me completely befuddled and says, wait, did you look it up?

00:13:02.120 That's exactly the dictionary definition.

00:13:05.640 And I said, no, I just happened to speak English.

00:13:09.500 Yeah, yeah.

00:13:10.300 And then I provided a secondary definition, which was a homo sapien with two X chromosomes.

00:13:15.640 And at that, he rushed off and had his story.

00:13:17.880 But what I find amazing is he was befuddled at the actual definition of a woman.

00:13:25.720 Like it was apparently difficult for him to conceive.

00:13:32.260 What is this woman word you keep using? 1.00

00:13:34.820 That he thought that there were some kind of memo, perhaps, that went out among the Senate Republicans.

00:13:39.960 Listen, fellas, you're going to get some tough questions today.

00:13:42.400 Like, what is a woman? 1.00

00:13:43.520 And so here is the talking point.

00:13:45.720 This, not long ago, this is something that people would have known, and they would have actually laughed at the question because it's so absurd.

00:13:53.280 So this is why I don't really understand Ron Klain's attack on you, where Ron Klain is saying your claim that Ketanji Jackson will be the furthest left judge that we've ever had.

00:14:04.580 It is totally baseless.

00:14:06.380 It's without evidence.

00:14:07.380 And you say, look, if you can't define what a woman is, if you're that radical, then obviously just by the nature of where we are. 0.53

00:14:12.420 It's the year 2022 that the left has moved so far to the left that, of course, a judge is going to be more radical than one would have been 10, 20, 30 years ago.

00:14:20.780 You know, there's no area where her record is more egregious than crime, and this is something that the Democrats and their cheerleaders and the press really lost their minds over is that if you look at her record on crime – and I actually had my team assemble because – so there was a lot of discussion about child pornography, and there's a reason her record on child pornography is really troubling.

00:14:42.880 The response that the Democrats gave, the sort of first-order response was, well, she's sentenced below the sentencing guidelines, but many judges sentenced below the sentencing guidelines, particularly on these cases, and that response is actually right insofar as it goes.

00:14:59.600 But they said, well, that means that she's well within the mainstream. 0.85

00:15:04.360 So I actually had my team do some empirical studies of just her overall sentencing.

00:15:09.520 So if you look at criminal cases, so all criminal cases between 2015 and 2019 where she was a federal district judge, so the average sentence for all criminal cases by all federal judges in the country, all federal district judges, is 45.1 months, so a little under four years.

00:15:29.780 Her average sentence for criminal cases is 29.9 months, so her average is 34 percent less than the national average.

00:15:41.700 So it's not just that it's 31 percent less than the guidelines.

00:15:45.280 It's 31 percent less than what people are actually seeing in practice.

00:15:49.120 Yep, and that's judges. 1.00

00:15:50.380 That includes all the judges.

00:15:51.720 That includes Obama judges, Trump judges, Bush judges, Jimmy Carter judges, Bill Clinton judges.

00:15:56.820 That's all across the board, every federal district judge in the country.

00:16:00.240 She sentences on average 34 percent lower than they do.

00:16:04.320 But when you look at child pornography, it gets even more disturbing.

00:16:07.860 So for possession of child pornography, the average sentence nationally is 68 months, a little over five years for possession of child pornography.

00:16:19.060 Her average sentence is 29.2 months.

00:16:25.700 That is 57 percent less than the average.

00:16:31.460 There's another category of child pornography cases, which are distribution.

00:16:35.320 And just like a drug dealer where selling drugs is punished more severely than just possession, the same is true with child pornography, that if you're distributing child porn to other people, it's punished more severely.

00:16:47.180 The national average, as every federal district judge in the country, the average for distribution of child pornography is 135 months, so 11 years.

00:16:58.180 It's a serious crime.

00:16:59.680 It is a serious punishment.

00:17:01.820 Judge Jackson's average is 71.9 months.

00:17:07.520 That's 47 percent less than the average.

00:17:10.400 But that actually understates it because for distribution of child pornography, there is a mandatory minimum sentence.

00:17:18.120 So Congress has set the lowest any defendant can receive is 60 months.

00:17:23.900 So that's by law.

00:17:25.560 No judge has the authority to deviate below that.

00:17:27.960 That means, on average, federal judges across the country sentence those who distribute child porn to 75 months more than the mandatory minimum, and Judge Jackson sentences them to 11.9 months more.

00:17:43.760 It's a massive differential.

00:17:46.300 This pattern, 100 percent of the cases where she had discretion, she sentenced way, way below what the prosecutors asked for, and the response of Ron Klain, who's the White House chief of staff, the response of Democrats on the committee, the response of the media is to scream and yell,

00:18:10.220 well, this is horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, this attack is terrible, why are you being so mean to her, and you must be a racist for saying this.

00:18:17.620 Right. 0.62

00:18:19.260 This is her actual record.

00:18:21.980 Well, this point is really important, Senator, because Dick Durbin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he came out and he said, I'm so sorry, I'm embarrassed by some Republicans who have said vile things about you, Judge Jackson,

00:18:37.260 vile things before your family and your parents and your kids.

00:18:42.540 Now, of course, we remember genuinely vile things being said about Brett Kavanaugh, which were smears manufactured completely out of whole cloth without any evidence whatsoever.

00:18:51.460 In most cases, no evidence that Brett Kavanaugh had ever even been in the same state as some of the people who were making claims.

00:18:58.460 In this case, the vile things that were being said about Judge Jackson were just quotes from her own record, were quotes from her own court decisions.

00:19:08.360 I was visiting with a reporter last week, and I made the point that there's a big difference between this confirmation hearing and the political circuses that Democrats have put on over and over and over again with Robert Bork, with Clarence Thomas, with Brett Kavanaugh.

00:19:23.000 By the way, do you know who the chairman of the Judiciary Committee was with Clarence Thomas during that horrible smear?

00:19:29.820 I actually do happen to remember, although he may not, that would be our president, Joe Biden.

00:19:35.600 OK, and do you know who the chief counsel for the Judiciary Committee was when Joe Biden was chairman of the committee and they were smearing Clarence Thomas?

00:19:43.260 I don't.

00:19:44.640 That would be Ron Klain.

00:19:47.180 He's now the White House chief of staff.

00:19:48.960 He's horrified that I and others brought up Judge Jackson's actual record.

00:19:56.420 And, you know, I was talking to this one reporter last week and I said, look, the Democrats, they go nasty. 0.97

00:20:03.740 They go into the gutter.

00:20:05.480 Republicans don't do that.

00:20:06.600 We've never done that to a nominee.

00:20:07.960 We're not going to do that to a nominee.

00:20:09.420 And he responded. 0.75

00:20:10.460 He said, well, the child porn stuff's pretty hard hitting.

00:20:13.940 That stuff is tough.

00:20:15.160 And I said, yes, but it's her actual record.

00:20:20.960 Like, as a judge, these are real criminal cases.

00:20:24.940 This is the reading from the transcripts while she's sentencing people to slaps on the wrists. 0.59

00:20:31.940 And I said, look, we're not asking for her high school yearbook.

00:20:35.260 We're not going into the gutter the way the Democrats did with.

00:20:38.980 And it's interesting, this left leaning reporter, he nodded, he said, yeah, that's right.

00:20:42.560 And it's what the Democrats think is hard hitting is that her actual record is very hard to defend on the substance.

00:20:52.740 So I totally agree.

00:20:54.280 It's a completely fair hit.

00:20:55.820 It's not even as though you're bringing up some personal issue.

00:20:59.620 You know, let's say Judge Jackson had gotten a DUI or something 10 years ago.

00:21:03.560 She didn't.

00:21:03.920 But let's say she had.

00:21:05.100 It's not even that kind of an attack.

00:21:07.120 You're actually talking about what is totally relevant for the job.

00:21:09.720 I think it's a totally fair hit.

00:21:10.900 I think it's extremely creepy.

00:21:12.640 It's not a conspiracy theory.

00:21:14.260 I suppose it could be a conspiracy, but whatever it is, it demonstrates very poor judgment.

00:21:18.640 So then I have to ask, I don't want to put you on the spot, but I guess I sort of do.

00:21:23.480 Why are some of your Republican colleagues voting for this woman, the most radical left wing woman to ascend to the high court?

00:21:32.600 I'm speaking about a certain senator from Utah, and I'm not talking about Mike Lee, a certain former governor of Massachusetts, a certain liberal Republican whose name rhymes with Ritt Momney, and he's going to vote for this woman to make it to the Supreme Court.

00:21:49.240 So, look, I have no idea.

00:21:51.300 Three Republicans have said they're going to vote for her.

00:21:54.440 I can tell you we had vigorous conversations at our lunches all last week and all the week before.

00:21:59.740 And I and several other Republicans in the Judiciary Committee described in detail what occurred.

00:22:07.600 I that chart I gave you that actually came out of those lunches where a couple of the Republicans said, well, gosh, they're saying that others depart below the sentencing guidelines.

00:22:18.520 How does she sentence compared to other judges? 1.00

00:22:20.800 So that was a question that that some of my colleagues asked me.

00:22:23.700 So I went back and did that research and the chart that I just read you, I did in response to questions from fellow Republican senators.

00:22:31.300 And I'm not surprised at the outcomes because I read the transcripts of her sentencing.

00:22:37.900 And by the way, I made copies of key portions of the transcripts and I sent them to the fellow Republican senators.

00:22:44.760 I said, just take 20 minutes and read them.

00:22:48.600 To be honest, two weeks ago, I think we easily could have seen five or 10 Republicans vote for.

00:22:55.820 And I think the work that a handful of us did on the Senate Judiciary Committee laying out her record caused several of the people who would have been wobbling, who would have wanted to vote for because they would have wanted to get the praise for the press.

00:23:12.820 I think her record was so extreme that that we're holding 47 of the Republicans, but but but not all 50.

00:23:20.500 She she has underperformed. She in the sense that she hasn't had good answers to these questions.

00:23:27.060 The stuff that's come out about her record is pretty troubling.

00:23:30.520 It was funny. Whoopi Goldberg on The View, where we turn for our understanding of politics and philosophy.

00:23:36.720 Whoopi Goldberg said this, of course, is because Republicans hate black women and don't think black women can do the job. 0.73

00:23:42.360 And she she had to phrase it in exactly that way, because if she said Republicans don't think black people can be on the court, she would have to explain Clarence Thomas, probably our favorite judge on the court as far as the conservative base goes. 0.96

00:23:54.600 And if she said we don't think women can do it, you'd have to explain Amy Barrett. 0.75

00:23:58.180 It was the last conservative judge who was put up there.

00:24:00.380 So I agree. It's it's silly. It's just sad to me when I see a Republican U.S. senator refuses to endorse Mike Lee, a conservative senator from his own state and voting for Ketanji Jackson, this radical leftist jurist. 0.97

00:24:17.340 I'm just disappointed, I guess, is all I would say on that. I know a lot of conservatives are.

00:24:22.040 I do have a question for you, Michael.

00:24:23.420 How does the show, The View, figure out who can be their hosts?

00:24:29.560 The View is structured to be a show with only women as hosts. 1.00

00:24:33.280 How do they know?

00:24:34.960 They're not biologists. Last I checked, you know, I just I find it.

00:24:40.820 Apparently.

00:24:42.720 This is a question that that that is beyond human comprehension.

00:24:48.040 Well, you know, Senator, most shows have a director and a producer and some editors.

00:24:53.420 And maybe it is the case that The View does have a biologist on staff.

00:24:57.100 That's the only thing that I could possibly make sense of it.

00:25:00.120 But by the way, I do need to tell you one other thing on on Judge Jackson.

00:25:04.960 Yeah.

00:25:05.300 So I submitted to her after the hearing 239 written questions.

00:25:11.540 By the way, the reason that was 239 is it was one fewer than the 240 written questions that Senator Dianne Feinstein gave to Brett Kavanaugh.

00:25:19.420 And so I thought that was an appropriate level for the questions.

00:25:23.800 But one of the questions was I asked her about natural rights.

00:25:29.020 And do you believe do you believe in the position that that people have natural rights?

00:25:37.260 Her response to that is, I have no view on that topic.

00:25:43.500 I have no view on whether or not people possess natural rights. 0.99

00:25:47.420 Now, as you know, in the Declaration, Jefferson wonderfully penned one of the greatest proclamations of humanity and human liberty ever written.

00:25:59.580 We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

00:26:11.000 It literally is the central portion of the document declaring our independence from Great Britain and forming our nation, setting up the Constitution.

00:26:22.980 And she has no view on whether you or I are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.

00:26:30.940 That is a stunning and radical position.

00:26:35.180 And that was her answer in writing.

00:26:36.560 Well, because the left has tried to say these questions, they're a circus, they're a sideshow, they're irrelevant.

00:26:42.700 These are directly relevant questions.

00:26:44.780 Even when Senator Blackburn asks, what is a woman? 0.99

00:26:47.280 That's directly relevant.

00:26:48.580 There are going to be a lot of cases, increasingly cases before the court, that hinge on the question of what is a woman?

00:26:54.580 What is the protection for sex?

00:26:56.100 Title IX itself.

00:26:57.200 We've been talking about women's sports a lot.

00:26:58.660 That's come before the judges.

00:27:00.300 That is good.

00:27:01.080 You do need to have an answer to that.

00:27:02.760 And if you don't have an understanding of natural rights, if you don't have a view on natural rights, how can you view our jurisprudence?

00:27:10.660 How can you view our country, which is predicated on that idea?

00:27:13.440 By the way, one of the most disturbing cases was a case called Make the Road versus McAleenan.

00:27:20.760 That was a case concerning the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security.

00:27:25.560 The rules they set up for removing illegal immigrants from the United States, people here illegally, the rules they set up for deporting them. 1.00

00:27:35.460 She struck it down. 0.89

00:27:36.760 Now, the statute explicitly says that this question is given to the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security, and it is unreviewable by federal courts.

00:27:47.120 It is not subject to review by federal courts.

00:27:51.140 She ignored that and said, I'm going to review it.

00:27:54.420 It's not clear that he has this authority or not, even though there's no way to write the statute that is more clear than the way Congress wrote it.

00:28:02.860 She struck it down. 0.89

00:28:04.060 She issued a nationwide injunction against the removal of illegal aliens.

00:28:09.400 That case went on appeal to the D.C. Circuit.

00:28:12.260 The D.C. Circuit is a left-leaning liberal court.

00:28:15.440 Unanimously reversed her as her decision was contrary to the plain language of the statute.

00:28:21.680 But it was consistent with a political outcome.

00:28:25.620 That's one of the reasons I say that I am convinced she will prove to be the most liberal justice ever to serve as a decision like that is a results-oriented political decision.

00:28:38.600 Just like a refusal to say what a woman is, is a results-oriented indicium of a focus on your preferred politically correct outcome rather than the ordinary use of language.

00:28:57.960 This is a really great point.

00:28:59.820 It's not that anyone is actually confused about what a woman is.

00:29:03.480 It's just that some people, because of their ideology and their agenda, are unwilling to admit it.

00:29:08.920 They're being too clever by half, and they're putting aside common sense.

00:29:11.220 I think that's a great observation.

00:29:12.900 Before we go, talking about the wisdom of the people, we must get to the mailbag.

00:29:18.540 At least a couple of rapid-fire questions.

00:29:20.640 First one up, this ties back in with Elon and Big Tech, from Jimmy.

00:29:25.700 Can data collection be outlawed?

00:29:27.840 All of these social media companies who generate nothing of value will stop all of this nonsense if we don't let them take our data.

00:29:35.140 What say you?

00:29:35.960 So it's a good question.

00:29:36.920 It's a complicated question.

00:29:38.340 So there are a couple of bills pending before the Senate right now that limit what big tech companies can do with data.

00:29:45.460 And one of the options that's under consideration is giving you, the consumer, the ability to opt out, to make the decision whether or not you want them to collect your data and for what purposes.

00:29:58.960 And I think the more we can empower consumers on that, the better.

00:30:04.320 I'm not aware of anyone that has had just a blanket prohibition on anyone ever collecting data, and I'm not sure you'd want that.

00:30:12.340 I mean, look, when, you know, you log on to a website and you're, you know, ordering your Argyle socks for your Yale reunion, you'd like them to remember that you wear a size extra small.

00:30:25.400 I mean, that you want built into the website.

00:30:27.620 Thank you for remembering my size, Senator.

00:30:29.180 I appreciate that.

00:30:30.820 You make a good point.

00:30:31.860 No, it's true.

00:30:32.780 There are some reasons why you would want a tech company to be able to collect some of that data.

00:30:38.380 We just don't want them taking our political views and targeting us and silencing us.

00:30:43.660 And so the more you can empower consumers, the better.

00:30:47.740 I'll tell you, I actually met today with some of the senior company leadership at Facebook and had about an hour-long conversation in my office that was lively.

00:30:58.140 And we had significant disagreements on censorship.

00:31:01.800 We had significant disagreements on the policies of Facebook.

00:31:04.500 But at the end, something I suggested to them, I said, look, because they were saying, well, consumers want us to do this.

00:31:13.780 It actually are consumers on Facebook show they don't like political information.

00:31:18.320 They don't like things that are divisive.

00:31:20.680 They want us to suppress them.

00:31:22.620 I said, well, why do you only suppress them when they hurt Democrats?

00:31:25.180 Why do you only suppress one side of the aisle?

00:31:27.640 But I suggested the following to them.

00:31:30.000 I said, all right, let's say you're right, that there are some consumers that want you to censor what they see.

00:31:37.560 How about this?

00:31:39.000 Give consumers the right to opt out.

00:31:41.820 Yeah.

00:31:42.040 I'm on Facebook.

00:31:43.240 I said, look, it's real simple.

00:31:44.360 Ask me, do I want you, Facebook, to censor my feed for political views that you think will be troubling to me because I'm a very fragile flower?

00:31:58.740 Naturally.

00:31:59.500 Or even for things that you determine to be false.

00:32:03.220 Do I want you making that decision or am I willing to put on my big boy pants and actually read views from both sides or multiple sides and make my own determination what is true or not?

00:32:15.880 And I said, by the way, that includes do I want to choose to be able to see Donald Trump's social media? 0.99

00:32:22.360 And if I opt in, I say, you know, damn it. 0.98

00:32:24.620 Yes, I would. 0.99

00:32:25.440 I may not agree with everything he says, but I've decided after a good stiff whiskey that I'm strong enough to read a Trump post and not have heart palpitations.

00:32:37.900 And at least the Facebook guys, they're like, well, you know, maybe that's an intriguing idea.

00:32:43.740 I'm skeptical they'll do it.

00:32:45.480 But if they did, if they gave you and I the ability to opt out of their political censorship and moderation, that would be a big, big, big step in the right direction.

00:32:56.940 Yeah, I agree.

00:32:57.580 That would be it would be something until Elon buys them, too, and then we can get some real free speech.

00:33:03.020 Final question before we go.

00:33:04.440 This is from Nate.

00:33:06.080 A little bit of a prepper question here, a little pessimistic view about the future of the country.

00:33:11.120 Do I invest in oil, gold, real estate, or food as inflation goes through the roof?

00:33:19.400 All of the above.

00:33:20.360 If you're hungry, I'd start with food in the sort of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

00:33:26.780 Fill your stomach.

00:33:29.100 Look, oil.

00:33:30.740 I'm a Texan.

00:33:31.540 I believe oil and gas.

00:33:34.060 I'm personally invested in energy because I think energy produces jobs.

00:33:38.720 And America is the world's superpower of energy despite the knuckleheaded policies of Biden.

00:33:48.220 Real estate, listen, historically, real estate has proven to be a great investment.

00:33:52.260 It can be complicated, the tax treatment of it.

00:33:54.300 You know, this is not an investment show.

00:33:57.600 Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:34:01.460 Please don't sue me.

00:34:02.360 Sue Michael.

00:34:03.140 Wait a second.

00:34:03.820 So, but, you know, real estate certainly historically has proven to be a pretty good investment.

00:34:10.040 And then gold, look, gold is principally a hedge against inflation.

00:34:16.840 There's certainly a lot of folks that choose to invest in gold or silver.

00:34:21.680 I think that's one of the major things that's driving Bitcoin and driving crypto is Bitcoin is really digital gold.

00:34:29.140 I'm invested in Bitcoin for that reason.

00:34:32.620 And I think as a hedge against inflation, you know, there's no doubt that this administration is printing money like crazy, spending money like crazy and deflating the currency.

00:34:43.360 And so whether your inflation hedge is Bitcoin or real estate or gold, I think you do want to think about how you protect yourself against inflation somehow.

00:34:56.720 That's true.

00:34:57.080 That's the extra category is crypto, which at some point you're going to have to educate me on.

00:35:02.320 We'll have to do an episode on crypto.

00:35:04.200 But that time is not right now because we've got to bring on our friend Liz Wheeler to talk about what will be coming up in the cloakroom.

00:35:11.100 You know, I almost didn't want to come on this episode tonight because I read somewhere from a very reputable source that you both, Senator and Michael, are guilty of chipping away at democracy.

00:35:20.400 And I wasn't sure I wanted to be associated with the likes of you.

00:35:25.820 We do have some good topics on the cloakroom.

00:35:27.960 We have one funny topic and one very serious topic.

00:35:30.400 We're going to talk a little bit about the fox hunt that happened outside of the Capitol this week.

00:35:35.700 I don't know if I should be laughing at this.

00:35:37.180 A fox actually bit a congressman.

00:35:39.080 So we're going to talk about that.

00:35:39.940 We're also going to talk about a really horrific story that happened at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C.

00:35:45.920 Five full term babies were found.

00:35:48.940 Dead babies were found.

00:35:50.680 And the Washington, D.C. police are not interested in investigating, even though it appears that there could be lawbreaking activity that were involved in the death of these these unborn, these beautiful unborn children.

00:36:01.220 It's it's it's so horrendous.

00:36:02.480 So we're going to talk about that.

00:36:03.760 It's a very heavy topic, but it's a very necessary topic.

00:36:05.840 And a lot of people want to know about the legality of the thing.

00:36:09.360 So we're going to get into that.

00:36:11.220 Of course, this happens over on Verdict Plus.

00:36:13.360 So if you'd like to join us, go to Verdict with Ted Cruz dot com slash plus.

00:36:17.580 If you use the promo code cloakroom, then you can get your first month free on an annual subscription.

00:36:22.480 That is Verdict with Ted Cruz dot com slash plus.

00:36:25.540 You know, that story you bring up, Liz, about the question of, well, is this legal?

00:36:30.080 What is the legality?

00:36:31.020 I mean, frankly, it's it's almost more scandalous, even if this sort of thing is legal.

00:36:36.080 I mean, that that might even be the bigger topic.

00:36:38.320 So I really look forward to tuning in to the cloakroom.

00:36:41.560 And as Liz mentioned, we are threats to democracy, but that is not deterring us.

00:36:46.760 No matter what the Yale Daily News says, we are going.

00:36:48.960 We're going to be at Yale on April 11th.

00:36:51.100 We are then going to be at the University of Alabama on April 18th.

00:36:55.220 You can find out all about it at why a f dot org slash verdict live.

00:37:01.100 The tickets are free, but I'll listen.

00:37:03.380 If you want to buy one, I'll sell one to you.

00:37:05.080 The senator and I were happy to scalp them for 100 bucks apiece beforehand.

00:37:09.160 Make sure to subscribe to the Verdict with Ted Cruz channel and the Gaff TV YouTube channels.

00:37:16.220 Hit that button.

00:37:17.000 Ring that bell.

00:37:17.800 We'll see you in person or virtually.

00:37:19.680 In the meantime, I'm Michael Knowles.

00:37:21.340 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:37:31.100 This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom and Security

00:37:36.400 Pack, a political action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 07, 2022

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