Verdict with Ted Cruz - UFC w POTUS, Big Tech Exemption from Tariffs & Trump Victory Deporting Anti-Israel Radical

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.760 Good Monday morning.

00:00:07.080 Welcome.

00:00:07.600 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:10.800 And Senator, you had one eventful weekend, a little time on Air Force One,

00:00:15.080 catching your first UFC fight.

00:00:17.040 Not a bad way to hang out on the weekend.

00:00:19.640 Well, I did.

00:00:20.580 I had a fantastic weekend.

00:00:22.140 I spent much of Saturday evening, in fact, all of Saturday evening with President Trump,

00:00:27.360 flew down to Miami on Air Force One, went to the UFC fight, which was incredible,

00:00:32.060 was joined by multiple members of the cabinet.

00:00:34.480 I'm going to tell you all about that.

00:00:35.860 I'm going to take you on Air Force One.

00:00:37.240 I'm going to take you to the UFC, tell you everything that happened.

00:00:40.300 There's also a lot of battles that are playing out in Washington.

00:00:43.740 The dominant story continues to be tariffs.

00:00:46.900 And tariffs are having massive economic impacts on the United States, on the world.

00:00:52.340 The particular rules and policies are changing every week, sometimes every day.

00:00:58.360 We're going to break down those changes, what they mean,

00:01:00.740 and we're going to talk about what's likely to happen next.

00:01:03.100 We're also going to talk about a decision from an immigration judge this past week

00:01:07.240 that Mahmoud Khalil, who was the anti-Israel protester at Columbia University,

00:01:12.320 that he can be deported.

00:01:14.320 He can be sent home.

00:01:15.260 This is the right decision.

00:01:16.340 We're going to explain what happened.

00:01:17.600 All of that in today's podcast.

00:01:19.760 Yeah, it's going to be a really interesting story there.

00:01:21.500 That's for sure.

00:01:22.640 I want to talk to you real quick about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

00:01:26.680 So many of you are now getting involved in helping the people in Israel right now.

00:01:31.120 And unfortunately, Israel is still under attack.

00:01:33.660 Missile fire has resumed from the Houthis, from Hezbollah and Hamas.

00:01:38.060 And the enemies that are seeking Israel's destruction, 0.69

00:01:41.260 they've been pretty clear from the river to the sea.

00:01:43.900 Well, here in America, we cannot imagine living under constant threat of terrorism and rocket attacks.

00:01:48.680 And this is the reality, unfortunately, in Israel.

00:01:52.160 Parents who take their kids to school and then are forced to fall to the ground,

00:01:56.140 lay on top of their children, trying to comfort them as the sirens blare.

00:02:00.260 The next attack against Israel is happening, 0.93

00:02:02.860 and it's with little time for the people there to get into a safe place.

00:02:07.940 And that is where you come in.

00:02:09.740 The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews are providing life-saving aid and security essentials.

00:02:15.240 And your gift today will help provide security essentials like bomb shelters,

00:02:20.800 flat jackets, bulletproof vests for first responders,

00:02:24.700 as well as armored security vehicles, armored ambulances,

00:02:28.620 so they can save people that are in dangerous areas, and so much more.

00:02:33.100 So join me in standing with Israel.

00:02:36.620 You can call right now to give your gift.

00:02:39.800 888-488-IFCJ.

00:02:43.200 That's 888-488-4325, 888-488-IFCJ,

00:02:50.800 or go online to supportifcj.org.

00:02:55.080 That's one word, supportifcj.org.

00:03:01.300 Senator, I got to say, the videos that came out of you with Donald Trump

00:03:07.140 and some others that people will know, like the FBI director, Tulsi Gabbard,

00:03:11.900 at this UFC fight.

00:03:13.680 It looked like you guys were just having a blast.

00:03:17.660 Was this your first time at a UFC fight, and what did you think of it, first off?

00:03:21.880 So it was.

00:03:22.600 I've never been to a UFC fight.

00:03:24.220 It was a blast.

00:03:25.420 Dana White invited me to come,

00:03:26.740 and then the president invited me to join him on Air Force One coming down.

00:03:30.860 So I was part of the president's team that came in,

00:03:35.300 and so I came in with the president, with Elon Musk and Little X.

00:03:40.840 We had also Marco Rubio came,

00:03:44.340 Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, came,

00:03:47.200 Bobby Kennedy came, and his wife, and Tulsi Gabbard came.

00:03:51.080 And so we were all on Air Force One, came to the event.

00:03:56.900 And I got to say, have you ever been to a UFC fight?

00:04:00.180 I actually have, and I think they're just unbelievable.

00:04:03.320 Holy cow. 0.89

00:04:04.980 Number one, it's in Miami that the stadium was rocking.

00:04:09.680 The energy, I mean, it just shook the floor.

00:04:13.860 And I walked in with President Trump.

00:04:16.840 When the president walked in, there are not words to describe

00:04:20.700 how much the people in that stadium love President Trump.

00:04:25.460 And it just erupted.

00:04:27.020 It, you know, if he were Mick Jagger riding on Evel Knievel's motorcycle

00:04:33.400 through flaming rings, I'm not sure they would have cheered louder.

00:04:37.900 And it was very cool.

00:04:41.240 We were all seated right ringside, right by the octagon.

00:04:46.160 And it is so close.

00:04:47.420 I mean, it is something else.

00:04:49.280 These guys, these fighters, they are big dudes.

00:04:53.540 Actually, some of them are little dudes, but the little dudes are ripped. 0.89

00:04:57.280 And they just beat the living crap out of each other. 0.91

00:05:01.400 I mean, they are so fast.

00:05:02.940 You know, the first fight we saw, you know, one hard punch literally dropped a guy.

00:05:09.700 And he was basically just knocked out cold because he stepped into a punch.

00:05:14.780 Some of these fights, they get pretty bloody, which was like, wow.

00:05:19.800 I mean, they just beat the living daylights out of each other.

00:05:22.800 But the skill, these fighters are boxers, they're wrestlers, they do jujitsu, they do mixed martial arts.

00:05:32.980 And so there's kicking and punching and throws and grappling.

00:05:37.080 And it was incredible.

00:05:39.240 And I got to tell you that the number of fighters that came up to the president and just said, you're my guy, that was powerful as well.

00:05:46.780 But this place, as you mentioned, was packed.

00:05:49.200 And one of the things that, as I was watching it on TV, and many may have seen some of the tweets that were sent out,

00:05:55.140 the excitement, as you mentioned, for Donald Trump, the chants of USA and Trump, they were very loud.

00:06:02.000 He comes in there.

00:06:03.640 And look, this guy understands the moment.

00:06:06.720 It's one of the, I think, one of the best things about Donald Trump.

00:06:09.540 He walks in like he's a prize fighter walking in for a match.

00:06:12.380 And that's how he's treated.

00:06:14.860 It is.

00:06:15.980 It absolutely is.

00:06:17.480 Now, I will say, one of the strange things is, you know, President Trump wears a suit and tie pretty much everywhere.

00:06:23.940 Other than the golf course, he wears a suit and tie constantly.

00:06:27.220 So if I were going to a UFC fight, I would never wear a suit and tie.

00:06:31.280 Like, that is not how I would dress.

00:06:33.800 Sure.

00:06:34.180 And so I'll confess, I kind of debated, all right, what do I wear?

00:06:38.320 And you know what?

00:06:39.080 I figured, all right, if you're hanging with the president, you owe the respect to the office.

00:06:43.760 And so I went ahead and put on a suit and tie and came in.

00:06:48.780 And it was, and look, it was very nice.

00:06:51.900 They introduced me during the course of the fight.

00:06:55.440 And there was a big, loud cheer.

00:06:56.760 I was gratified.

00:06:57.820 Look, I'm, you know, I'd represent Texas, not Florida.

00:07:00.380 But the Miami folks were feeling, sending some, I love my way.

00:07:04.520 So that made me happy.

00:07:06.660 And it was, it was an amazing time.

00:07:09.940 We were taking lots of pictures.

00:07:12.500 Several of the pictures that I tweeted out were actually taken by Cash Patel, the FBI director, who's a friend of mine.

00:07:20.920 Yeah, good guy.

00:07:21.660 Good friend of mine as well.

00:07:22.640 He's awesome.

00:07:23.300 And by the way, he gets away with not wearing the suit.

00:07:26.040 Did you notice that?

00:07:26.900 He was like black on black. 0.98

00:07:28.060 I did give him some grief for that.

00:07:30.220 Now, Cash is a huge UFC fan.

00:07:33.820 He's been to a bunch of the fights and he follows them closely.

00:07:37.500 And he was, he was just like, no, this is what, this is what I'm going to wear.

00:07:41.220 But, so I had him take several of the pictures. 0.99

00:07:43.440 Then I, then I turned to him and I said, Cash, what kind of moron gives his cell phone to the director of the FBI? 0.99

00:07:51.080 And he cracked up laughing. 0.97

00:07:52.680 And I said, just to be clear, I'm not waiving any Fourth Amendment privilege on my phone.

00:07:56.300 And he did give it back.

00:07:57.940 He gave it back and he did not search the contents.

00:08:00.340 That's awesome.

00:08:01.600 When you look at this cabinet and I, you were on Air Force One, by the way, down there.

00:08:06.580 And this is your first time on Air Force One in 47, this term, his new term.

00:08:12.120 You've been on it, obviously, before.

00:08:14.060 I've been on Air Force One.

00:08:15.260 It's the coolest plane in the world.

00:08:16.680 I don't care what anybody says.

00:08:17.760 It's absolutely unbelievable.

00:08:18.860 But, but what's it like in the mood there?

00:08:22.460 This, this cabinet, and the reason why I ask is, it seems like they are much tighter.

00:08:28.260 They have a genuine affinity for one another.

00:08:31.640 And they enjoy each other's company.

00:08:34.260 You can see it when they're in the cabinet meetings.

00:08:36.640 You can see it when they're on the plane.

00:08:38.400 But you're there with them.

00:08:39.900 I mean, it just seems like there's a different level of mesh, like they're genuine teammates working together every day.

00:08:46.420 Yeah, I think that's right.

00:08:48.920 I think the cabinet, the second term, is much stronger than the cabinet in the first term.

00:08:53.620 I think the president has been looking for and has appointed change agents, people that are going in to really make a serious difference in the cabinet agencies they've been appointed to.

00:09:04.020 And he's looking for people who are committed to fighting to implement his agenda.

00:09:07.420 And I'll tell you, in the first term, he had some people who did that, but, but he had some of his appointments who actively undermine and fought the White House and did real damage.

00:09:16.680 And so I think, I think there's a much greater consistency of the cabinet fighting alongside the president rather than fighting against the president in this second term.

00:09:26.480 And you asked what the mood was, look, on Air Force One, I've been on Air Force One a bunch of times, the mood, the president was, he was in great spirits.

00:09:35.860 He was in great cheer.

00:09:37.060 You know, we flew back at two in the morning.

00:09:40.280 I got to say, the president is seven, eight, he's almost 79 years old.

00:09:44.840 And he had complete and total energy.

00:09:47.520 And I got to tell you, X, who's four, he turns five in May, as a four-year-old, he was wide awake and running around at two in the morning.

00:09:59.940 And in fact, I asked the president, I said, OK, Mr. President, who has more energy, you or X?

00:10:05.740 And he just kind of laughed, but it was kind of close.

00:10:08.040 They're both at two o'clock in the morning.

00:10:10.400 In fact, the president went to the back of the plane and did an impromptu news conference.

00:10:15.480 The reporters fly in the back of the plane.

00:10:18.160 And he was joking, you know, but before he went in, he was talking with all of us, said, all right, I'm going to go talk to the reporters now.

00:10:23.440 And he said, can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?

00:10:25.760 And he said, look, Biden would be asleep by like 8 p.m.

00:10:28.360 How could he possibly?

00:10:30.280 He wouldn't even bet the fight.

00:10:31.840 Let's be honest.

00:10:32.740 Yeah.

00:10:33.780 Now, look, if they had a game of shuffleboard, Biden might have made that.

00:10:39.040 That's true.

00:10:40.160 Or, you know, he did like riding the bikes until he fell over.

00:10:42.760 But, you know, there's that as well.

00:10:44.260 I just think it's incredible to see not only the stamina, but also the excitement and the love for life.

00:10:51.540 I feel like there's a genuine happiness around this Trump.

00:10:54.780 I feel like there's a lot of days in 16 to 20 where he was angry and for good reason and mad and frustrated.

00:11:00.980 And he was going to war with the media.

00:11:03.000 I feel like now he's messing with him a little bit more.

00:11:05.160 And he's genuinely loving this time as being president this time.

00:11:08.620 It's a different perspective.

00:11:09.600 Is part of that because the assassination attempt, do you think?

00:11:12.660 And also saying, hey, I'm getting another chance to redo basically from 16.

00:11:16.760 I'm better at this time.

00:11:17.880 I know what I'm up against.

00:11:19.000 I know how bad the government is, the deep state, etc.

00:11:21.940 Look, I think he's having fun.

00:11:23.440 I also think this is something actually he and I talked about quite a bit on Air Force One, which is he's able to accomplish a lot more this term than he would have been if he had served an immediately successive term.

00:11:37.920 If he'd gone back in the White House in 2021 in what would have been a close and bitter and contested election, we would not be accomplishing a fraction of what he's accomplishing now.

00:11:51.740 It really took the four years of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the absolute train wreck that they made of everything to make, I think, the American people ready for the Trump administration to implement real and serious change.

00:12:05.560 I also think those four years, the Trump team spent that time really thinking and thinking seriously about what they wanted to accomplish.

00:12:15.260 And so you look at these executive orders they're putting in place that they're rolling out day after day after day.

00:12:20.940 I think if it were an immediately successive term, you would not have seen anywhere near as bold and as effective executive action as we've seen.

00:12:30.900 And Trump emphatically agreed that the fact that he was coming after four years of Biden gave him much more ability to implement significant change than if he'd just been serving an immediately consecutive second term.

00:12:46.540 So the question I'm going to ask, which is the one I think 99% of the people listening want me to ask you right now is, all right, so did you guys talk about tariffs?

00:12:54.360 Did you talk about trade?

00:12:57.020 Like, what's the conversation?

00:12:59.060 What were you guys chatting about when it comes from a policy standpoint?

00:13:01.700 Because if you look at the different people you're with, it could have gone a lot of different ways.

00:13:06.060 You had Kennedy there.

00:13:06.880 That's totally different than Cash Patel conversation or Tulsi's conversation maybe.

00:13:11.820 What were you guys talking about?

00:13:13.540 Yeah, look, a lot of times the conversations are substantive.

00:13:17.580 I got to tell you this one, everyone was excited about going to the UFC.

00:13:20.420 And so it was kind of a happy, jovial mood.

00:13:25.000 On the way back, his granddaughter Kai was there, and she's a terrific golfer.

00:13:30.660 So he was like, you know, show everyone your golf swing.

00:13:32.820 And so he had her pull out a phone and show, you know, she's going to be playing at University of Miami golf team.

00:13:38.080 And so it was a relaxed, joking around, fun environment.

00:13:44.620 Look, there was some discussion of tariffs, but the main discussion of tariffs, and we're going to get into tariffs right now,

00:13:52.500 was he was talking about all of the law firms that have cut deals with the administration

00:13:58.300 and have signed commitments to give typically $100 million or, in some instances, $125 million of pro bono legal services,

00:14:08.220 free legal services for issues that matter to the Trump administration.

00:14:15.860 And he was saying collectively it's over a billion dollars in legal services.

00:14:19.540 And so he was saying, you know, what should we use that for?

00:14:22.460 And I'll tell you what I suggested and what he was agreeing is you've got some of the best lawyers in the world.

00:14:28.560 And I was saying, look, we ought to use these guys to help negotiate trade deals.

00:14:32.740 We've got we've got companies all over the world or countries rather all over the world that are coming and wanting trade deals,

00:14:39.740 wanting to lower their tariffs against U.S. goods and services,

00:14:42.400 wanting to get President Trump's tariffs lowered against them.

00:14:46.380 And just papering 100 plus deals is incredibly complicated.

00:14:51.540 It takes a lot of serious lawyering.

00:14:54.360 And so having over a billion dollars of free legal services.

00:14:58.620 And I think I think the president was was quite interested and was pretty emphatically agreeing that that is a very good thing to devote a lot of that energy is to negotiate negotiating trade deals

00:15:09.360 that benefit America and that that lower tariffs on American goods going abroad.

00:15:14.000 Well, you mentioned that there's a lot of paperwork.

00:15:16.460 Yeah, there's going to be an awful lot of paperwork because we're now hearing from the White House that they have negotiations that are,

00:15:25.420 in essence, underway with what was 40 countries early.

00:15:29.380 Then it jumped to 70.

00:15:30.780 Now they're saying 130 countries are sitting there ready to have the conversation on tariffs.

00:15:36.360 Yeah, that's exactly right.

00:15:37.540 Kevin Hassett, who's the head of the National Economic Council, he was on on TV this weekend.

00:15:42.120 Give a listen to what Kevin said.

00:15:43.560 Well, what do you say to small business owners or even big business owners who say they're having difficulty making long term business decisions because the country seems right now to be run by capricious whim?

00:15:55.460 Oh, I don't think at all it's run by capricious whim.

00:15:58.120 The way that I would think about it is that in the previous administration, you can sort of say, if you're thinking about it in the football analogy, is that they were running out the clock.

00:16:06.600 And what's going on now in the Trump administration is across a wide array of policy areas, we're in a two-minute offense.

00:16:14.040 And the two-minute offense is pushing, as you've seen, the reconciliation bill through so that we get tax relief for American people, deregulation, and, of course, trade policy.

00:16:23.220 Now, in the trade policy, the whole point of the trade policy is to address the national emergency that we're too dependent on foreign products in the U.S., especially if we were at a time of conflict.

00:16:35.940 And we're doing something about that.

00:16:37.500 And the reciprocal act was basically, guys, if you come to the table and negotiate us with us and treat us the same way we treat you, then we'll get your rate really low.

00:16:47.940 And so right now, 130 countries have responded, and we're negotiating with them, and they've got their rate down to 10%.

00:16:56.100 And so really, it's kind of almost a two-world system.

00:16:59.020 There's a process about China, and that's very, very nascent, if at all, and then the process for everybody else.

00:17:06.160 So the process for everybody else is orderly.

00:17:08.220 It's clear.

00:17:09.180 People are coming to town with great, great offers.

00:17:13.180 We've got Japan, Korea, India.

00:17:15.760 I was just talking to the foreign minister of India, and everything is moving forward very quickly.

00:17:21.680 And so I guess the bottom line is that the small business owner has experienced over the last few weeks the start of a process that's settling down really quite quickly.

00:17:31.400 Again, 130 countries are at 10% now.

00:17:33.940 130 countries are at 10% now, and they're saying they're coming in, and they want a deal done, and they want to get done quick.

00:17:39.260 Well, look, and I think that's notable, that the number of countries are coming in, asking for a deal, negotiating, eager to come to the table.

00:17:47.600 It's up to 130 is what the White House is saying.

00:17:50.140 That is unprecedented.

00:17:51.660 That is remarkable, and that is a significant victory.

00:17:55.100 That is reason to celebrate.

00:17:56.940 Now, you and I have talked before about how this administration's approach has been an approach kind of borrowed from Silicon Valley of move fast and break things.

00:18:05.740 And so things are moving fast.

00:18:08.560 There's a lot of uncertainty.

00:18:10.280 And I do think it's right that the business world is disconcerted by the uncertainty, that when it comes to investment,

00:18:19.860 if you're going to invest money, and this is true whether you're a small business or a giant corporation,

00:18:29.300 you need some modicum of certainty to know whether to deploy capital.

00:18:33.800 And so every time the rules change, that makes businesses less likely to deploy capital.

00:18:40.880 And so my hope is that we will see a greater degree of predictability and certainty.

00:18:45.800 Now, you and I have talked in this podcast about how there is a battle waging within the Trump administration.

00:18:51.900 That's still very much going on.

00:18:54.160 And it is waging, on the one hand, you have people like Kevin Hassett, you have people like Elon Musk,

00:19:00.720 you have people like Scott Besant who are arguing aggressively lower tariffs from other countries,

00:19:09.240 use these tariffs as leverage to negotiate extraordinary free trade agreements,

00:19:15.180 and those voices, right now I think there's some momentum behind those voices.

00:19:22.180 Those voices prevailed when last week President Trump paused the tariffs across the board,

00:19:28.600 as we talked about in this podcast.

00:19:30.800 I spent an hour the night before, along with several other senators,

00:19:33.860 urging the president to do exactly that, and he listened to us and others that were arguing to do that.

00:19:39.820 But there are other voices in the administration that are saying,

00:19:45.620 no, don't lower the tariffs.

00:19:47.640 It doesn't matter if other countries lower their tariffs.

00:19:50.940 Let's keep tariffs in place in perpetuity.

00:19:53.660 And I very much hope that that second group of voices does not prevail,

00:19:57.780 because I think that would be a really harmful economic policy for the country

00:20:02.680 if we end up having massively high tariffs of every country on earth against America

00:20:07.880 and massively high tariffs in America against every country on earth.

00:20:11.160 I think that would be really bad for Texas farmers and ranchers and businesses

00:20:16.280 and for American farmers and ranchers and businesses.

00:20:18.800 And so I'm encouraged right now that I think the free market side of that argument is prevailing,

00:20:24.740 but I would say don't get complacent.

00:20:26.960 This battle is very much going back and forth, and it is a live argument.

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00:21:01.060 There's also a big separation now that we're seeing in this conversation,

00:21:06.440 and it deals with he's saying, hey, we're dealing with a lot of these countries one way.

00:21:10.520 We're going to deal with China a little bit differently. 0.97

00:21:13.460 Then we also had this announcement come out that there were going to be some exemptions on tech items

00:21:20.480 like phones, computers, and chips from these tariffs.

00:21:23.800 The Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, he went on ABC this week to try to explain all of this,

00:21:30.180 saying, hey, this is, in essence, also short-term, and we will see tariffs come in there.

00:21:36.340 But we're trying to make this work now so that there's not a major disruption

00:21:40.960 or a massive hike in some of these important items.

00:21:43.920 Take a listen to what he had to say on ABC this week.

00:21:46.760 I'm joined now by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

00:21:50.260 Secretary Lutnick, thank you for being with us this morning.

00:21:52.940 I really appreciate your time.

00:21:55.220 So let's start with that news.

00:21:56.620 It's my pleasure.

00:21:57.580 Let's start with that news late Friday, this exemption on electronics, smartphones, laptop, computers, and the like.

00:22:03.920 What's the thinking? Why the exemption?

00:22:05.440 Well, if you remember, over the past couple of months, President Trump has called out pharmaceuticals and semiconductors and autos.

00:22:15.900 He called them sector tariffs.

00:22:18.320 And those are not available for negotiation.

00:22:21.580 They are just going to be part of making sure we reshore the core national security items that need to be made in this country.

00:22:30.940 We need to make medicine in this country.

00:22:33.260 We learned it during COVID.

00:22:34.520 We need to make it in this country.

00:22:36.520 We need to make semiconductors because if we don't own semiconductors here, remember, virtually all semiconductors are made now in Taiwan and they're finished in China.

00:22:46.520 It's important that we reshore them.

00:22:48.880 And so the president is going to come out with his policies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

00:22:55.000 They're going to be outside the reciprocal tariffs.

00:22:57.140 And he was just making sure everyone understood that all of these products are outside the reciprocal tariffs and they are going to have their own separate way of being considered.

00:23:06.960 But wait a minute, I'm asking you about the exemption, not about, I mean, the notice that went out Friday night saying that electronics, a wide range of electronics, including smartphones, including components used to make microchips, that these are now exempt from the reciprocal tariffs.

00:23:27.540 Why that move?

00:23:29.540 Well, remember, those products are going to be part of the semiconductor sectoral tariffs, which are coming.

00:23:37.760 So you're going to see this week there'll be a register in the federal registry.

00:23:42.480 There'll be a notice put out that is different types of work.

00:23:47.340 So we're going to do that.

00:23:48.240 We did that in autos.

00:23:49.600 The president's going to do it for pharmaceuticals and he is going to do it for semiconductors.

00:23:53.700 So all those products are going to come under semiconductors and they're going to have a special focus type of tariff to make sure that those products get reassured.

00:24:03.220 We need to have semiconductors.

00:24:05.380 We need to have chips and we need to have flat panels.

00:24:07.980 We need to have these things made in America.

00:24:09.860 We can't be reliant on Southeast Asia for all of the things that operate for us.

00:24:15.260 So what he's doing is he's saying they're exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.

00:24:26.120 So these are coming soon.

00:24:28.680 You shouldn't think this is really outside of it.

00:24:31.440 Really think of it as being included in the semiconductor space, much like pharmaceuticals.

00:24:37.420 These require special attention and the president is on it.

00:24:40.820 So you're saying that the big tariffs on things like smartphones and laptops, iPhones, all those iPhones built in China, that those tariffs are temporarily off, but they're going to be coming right back on in another form in a month or so?

00:24:58.560 Or what are you saying?

00:25:00.420 Correct.

00:25:01.180 That's right.

00:25:02.100 That's right.

00:25:02.880 Semiconductors and pharmaceuticals will have a tariff model in order to encourage them to reassure to be built in America.

00:25:09.940 We need our medicines and we need semiconductors and our electronics to be built in America.

00:25:15.680 We can't be the holden and rely upon foreign countries for fundamental things that we need. 0.59

00:25:23.080 We can't be relying on China for fundamental things that we need.

00:25:27.100 Our medicines and our semiconductors need to be built in America. 0.99

00:25:30.780 Donald Trump is on it.

00:25:32.180 He's calling that out.

00:25:33.040 So you should understand these are included in the semiconductor tariffs that are coming and the pharmaceuticals are coming.

00:25:40.520 Those two areas are coming in the next month or two.

00:25:43.500 So this is not like a permanent sort of exemption.

00:25:46.440 He's just clarifying that these are not available to be negotiated away by countries.

00:25:51.940 These are things that are national security that we need to be made in America.

00:25:58.620 You listen to Howard there.

00:26:00.680 You know him, obviously.

00:26:02.240 And you hear what he's saying.

00:26:03.720 He's trying to say, hey, we're still moving forward, but we're also having to make sure we don't do too much at one time that can hurt people.

00:26:11.600 And so there's a tough line here.

00:26:13.160 I understand how frustrating this can be as an American because you may say, well, hold on.

00:26:18.300 It sounds like maybe they're getting a better deal than the little guy is here.

00:26:22.840 Break that down for us.

00:26:24.880 Well, it sounds like that because they are.

00:26:27.840 Listen, I like Howard.

00:26:29.120 He's a smart, very effective business leader, and he's joined a team that is drinking from a fire hose.

00:26:36.660 So they're trying to do an awful lot all at once.

00:26:38.640 But I have to say the result is the rules are changing, and they're changing very rapidly, which makes it incredibly hard for anyone to know and predict what they're going to be tomorrow and for them to deploy capital knowing what the rules are going to be.

00:26:54.760 That's a problem.

00:26:55.820 You need consistency.

00:26:57.840 There's a bigger problem, which is the question that was being asked is the administration announced this week that for smartphones and laptops,

00:27:08.640 and electronics, that they were exempt from the tariffs announced, including the tariffs in China, the 145 percent tariffs.

00:27:16.900 I got to say that that's a policy a lot of folks are quite rightly pointing out, that that benefits gigantic tech companies that have armies of lobbyists in Washington,

00:27:28.940 whose CEOs were arrayed on the stage at Inauguration Day.

00:27:34.900 But it doesn't do a whole lot of good for the little guy.

00:27:39.160 You know, I'm hearing from Texas small businesses that are manufacturing goods, and some of the components that go into the goods they're making are coming from China,

00:27:48.820 coming from other countries, and they're facing very significant tariffs.

00:27:52.920 And the small business is not getting an exemption.

00:27:55.000 And I got to say, the argument that, well, yeah, we gave a gigantic gift to Tim Cook and Apple,

00:28:03.420 but don't worry, in the future we'll put some different tariffs on semiconductors.

00:28:09.420 But we're not going to tell you what they are.

00:28:10.740 But they are going to come.

00:28:12.440 And at some point in the future they'll come.

00:28:14.200 But presumably they're going to be a lot less than the 145 percent on China that everyone else has to pay if they're not in big tech.

00:28:24.360 I mentioned that there is an ongoing battle within the administration.

00:28:30.940 I think this policy is a consequence of that ongoing battle.

00:28:34.540 I'll be clear, I am not a fan at all of sectoral exemptions that essentially benefit, that pick winners and losers.

00:28:45.360 I think, you know, when you talk about the swamp, when Washington decides to say, okay, you're the winner, you're the loser, you're the winner, you're the loser,

00:28:55.220 that is a really dangerous and slippery slope.

00:28:58.360 And if you're going to do it at all, if you want to make an exemption, make an exemption for small businesses.

00:29:05.380 Make an exemption for the little guy.

00:29:07.360 If you want to say a small business with revenues below $50 million or $100 million, a small manufacturing business is exempt from paying the tariffs,

00:29:18.560 that might make sense because we're going to see some of those small businesses that are really import dependent potentially go out of business.

00:29:24.240 And if you wanted to make an exemption, rather than do it for gigantic companies, I'd do it exactly on the other side and look out for the little guy that is more vulnerable

00:29:38.640 to the immediate vicissitudes of the changes in policies.

00:29:44.140 Yeah, and like you said, they're drinking from a fire hose.

00:29:46.620 This is when it gets complicated.

00:29:48.280 When you're trying to break big things and change things, there are X factors in here and caveats.

00:29:53.920 It's where you say, hold on a second.

00:29:55.280 Is this really what the, like, as you put it, the small business owners need, which is the reason why we have this conversation every day.

00:30:02.060 I want to move to this other big issue also that we mentioned earlier, and it was a massive victory for the Trump administration

00:30:09.960 when it came to an immigration judge doing a major ruling on deporting students that are advocating for the death and destruction of students on campus,

00:30:19.700 that, by the way, are Jewish, are advocating their support for terrorist organizations. 0.76

00:30:25.480 And this all comes out of Columbia University, where it has become a major point of, all right, who's going to win this?

00:30:32.960 Is the Trump administration going to win this, or are the radicals on the left going to win?

00:30:36.800 And it was a big win for Donald Trump this week.

00:30:39.460 Well, it was a win.

00:30:40.780 I don't know that it was a massive victory because it's clearly right under the law.

00:30:45.000 So it was a win that was going to happen, but I'm glad it did.

00:30:49.160 And so, listen, one of the things that President Trump is doing that is exactly right

00:30:53.740 is the Trump administration is deporting those who engage in anti-Israel, anti-American protests,

00:31:01.940 who are foreign students, who are on student visas, who are non-American citizens.

00:31:05.960 You don't have an entitlement to be here.

00:31:07.840 And, look, we talked about during the Biden administration,

00:31:11.520 when these viciously anti-Israel, anti-Semitic protests were going on,

00:31:15.640 that the Biden administration could do something about it, but they didn't want to

00:31:19.600 because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer, they agree with the pro-Hamas protesters.

00:31:26.080 They agree with the radicals.

00:31:27.540 And so you didn't see the Department of Justice investigating them.

00:31:30.680 You didn't see them following the money.

00:31:32.100 You didn't see them trying to do anything, really,

00:31:35.540 to protect the Jewish students on campus who were being targeted for harassment and threats of violence.

00:31:41.300 Well, you and I, in fact, one of the very first pods we did in the new administration

00:31:46.060 is we interviewed Pam Bondi at CPAC.

00:31:49.280 And in that podcast with then-Attorney General Bondi right after she got confirmed,

00:31:55.880 she made clear then they're going to go after these radicals.

00:31:59.060 And I will say immigration law gives considerable flexibility to the administration to decide

00:32:09.580 who that is here on a permissive visa can be sent home.

00:32:15.460 And so in this case, you had Mahmoud Khalil, who was a Colombia anti-Israel protester,

00:32:21.460 who the administration is in the process of deporting.

00:32:24.580 And he is challenging that in court.

00:32:27.500 And an immigration judge ruled that he can be deported due to his involvement in last year's

00:32:35.080 pro-Hamas protest at Colombia.

00:32:37.320 And this is a judge, Judge Jamie Comins, and he said the government had met its burden of proof.

00:32:47.580 I think that's clearly right.

00:32:50.240 And the Department of Homeland Security laid out how Khalil misrepresented himself on his

00:32:56.120 green card application.

00:32:57.260 And in particular, he was not up front about his involvement with organizations he's involved with.

00:33:03.960 He willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian office in the British embassy

00:33:11.300 in Beirut when he applied for permanent U.S. residency.

00:33:14.280 And what the federal government argued is that made him inadmissible at the time he was given

00:33:23.260 his green card because of, quote, fraud or willful misrepresentation of material fact.

00:33:29.520 He also failed to disclose his work for UNRWA.

00:33:33.880 And, you know, UNRWA, we've talked about before, is the U.N. agency that has literally been in bed with Hamas.

00:33:40.980 You had multiple Hamas terrorists working at UNRWA.

00:33:44.320 UNRWA has given significant material aid to Hamas terrorists.

00:33:50.600 And the court ruled that, look, that is ample grounds to deport him.

00:34:00.000 I think that ruling is clearly right.

00:34:02.800 And if you looked at Khalil, you looked at his writings, this is someone who is viciously anti-Israel

00:34:12.020 and anti-American.

00:34:13.480 And in fact, he's using the deportation to just rail against America and what a hostile environment

00:34:21.220 it is.

00:34:21.740 And in fact, Khalil's argument, here's something he wrote.

00:34:29.560 He wrote an op-ed in Colombia, you know, attacking, how dare you deport me?

00:34:33.860 And he says something.

00:34:36.880 He accuses the Colombia administrators of manufacturing, quote, public hysteria about anti-Semitism

00:34:45.300 without once mentioning the tens of thousands of Palestinians murdered under bombs made of

00:34:51.940 your dollars.

00:34:53.300 So understand, this guy's complaint is that the Colombia administrators stood too strongly

00:35:00.020 against anti-Semitism.

00:35:01.340 They let their entire campus get taken over. 0.87

00:35:03.700 They let Jewish students be terrorized. 1.00

00:35:05.660 They let campus buildings be taken over. 0.96

00:35:07.420 They were weak and ineffective, which is why the president of Colombia had to step down.

00:35:13.500 And yet this guy's claim is, nope, nope, they were too strong against anti-Semitism.

00:35:19.100 They should have been effectively marching alongside me in favor of Hamas. 0.96

00:35:23.500 This ruling is clearly right. 1.00

00:35:25.020 I'm glad it came down.

00:35:26.280 There are going to be more rulings like this.

00:35:28.560 If you are here...

00:35:29.820 So this will have precedent, right?

00:35:31.500 Like this is going to now...

00:35:32.920 No, no.

00:35:33.440 It won't?

00:35:33.980 Okay.

00:35:34.120 This is a ruling of an immigration judge in this case.

00:35:37.420 Um, so, so it doesn't resolve the issue across the country, but the immigration law is quite

00:35:45.040 clear that, that, look, Khalil's case was harder because he was a legal permanent resident.

00:35:51.980 He has a green card and legal permanent residents have greater legal protections than just somebody

00:35:56.840 under a student visa.

00:35:57.820 Somebody under a student visa, they can have their visa revoked and sent back.

00:36:02.860 Uh, it is not a high threshold to do that.

00:36:05.380 To revoke a green card is a higher threshold.

00:36:08.680 And so the ruling here is, well, the Department of Homeland Security gave evidence that he

00:36:13.800 had lied when getting his green card, and that was basis for deportation.

00:36:17.900 And so that, I think that's the right ruling here.

00:36:20.220 It's a good ruling.

00:36:21.020 Uh, and, and I think you're going to see, listen, let me say to, to, to any anti-American radicals

00:36:28.640 who've come in on student visas, you are not welcome in America. 1.00

00:36:31.980 And, and I, if you are going to use our hospitality to attack and threaten and harass fellow students, 0.80

00:36:39.680 if you're going to use our hospitality to attack America, get the hell out.

00:36:44.400 And, and we're going to help you get the hell out.

00:36:46.720 And, and that is one of the, the, the best things the Trump administration is doing right now.

00:36:51.380 Yeah.

00:36:51.540 Amen to that.

00:36:52.360 Don't forget, we do this show on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

00:36:55.080 We have a week in review on Saturdays of things you may have missed during the week.

00:36:58.680 So make sure you hit that subscribe or auto download button.

00:37:01.540 Share this podcast on your social media, uh, wherever you are, because it helps us reach

00:37:05.400 more people and get the news out of what we're talking about.

00:37:07.620 And the Senate and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.

00:37:10.200 This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 14, 2025

UFC w POTUS, Big Tech Exemption from Tariffs & Trump Victory Deporting Anti-Israel Radical

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