Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 22, 2025


We're not WORTHY or READY for Michelle, a Gambling Curveball in Pro Sports & the Ongoing Atrocities against Christians in Nigeria Week In Review


Episode Stats

Length

35 minutes

Words per Minute

177.70152

Word Count

6,352

Sentence Count

470

Misogynist Sentences

20

Hate Speech Sentences

18


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.340 Welcome, it is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:07.400 Week in Review, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.540 And here are the big stories that you may have missed
00:00:11.340 that we talked about this week.
00:00:12.860 First up, Michelle Obama going scorched earth on Americans.
00:00:18.300 She says it's your fault that a woman hasn't become president.
00:00:22.360 And that also means she's not going to grace you as a candidate
00:00:26.060 because you don't deserve her.
00:00:27.900 We'll have that in a moment.
00:00:29.140 Also, there is a big gambling issue that has come to light
00:00:33.760 with game fixing or prop bet fixing in major sports.
00:00:38.400 So now, what does it mean for Congress getting involved?
00:00:41.900 We'll have that for you as well.
00:00:43.780 And finally, Christian persecution, Nigeria.
00:00:47.220 It is a real problem, and it's time that we all sound the alarm
00:00:51.660 and we'll let you know what you can do to get involved.
00:00:54.720 It's the Week in Review, and it starts right now.
00:00:57.680 Yeah, and if you think that, by the way,
00:00:59.560 they're the only ones that are discontent right now, you would be wrong.
00:01:03.560 Let's move to Michelle Obama.
00:01:05.800 She has come out and basically said,
00:01:07.700 I will not grace you with my presence as a president of the United States of America.
00:01:13.640 You don't deserve me because there's too many misogynists out there,
00:01:17.760 and I'm not going to give you my candidacy.
00:01:21.280 Yeah, she was asked whether or not she would run for president.
00:01:24.920 Her response was, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain't ready.
00:01:31.200 That's why I'm like, don't even look at me about running,
00:01:34.040 because you all are lying.
00:01:35.560 You're not ready for a woman.
00:01:37.140 You are not.
00:01:38.120 And she says, you know, we've got a lot of growing up to do,
00:01:42.580 and there's still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman,
00:01:47.000 and we saw it.
00:01:48.020 What utter and complete nonsense.
00:01:50.520 By the way, Joe Biden was getting his ass kicked.
00:01:52.960 Now, I understand the Democrats can't tell the difference between a man and a woman,
00:01:56.120 so maybe Michelle Obama thinks that Joe Biden is a woman,
00:02:00.900 but Trump was winning when Biden was the nominee.
00:02:03.480 Trump was winning when Michelle Obama was the nominee.
00:02:05.980 Trump was winning, A, because the Biden-Harris-Democrat agenda was a train wreck
00:02:10.760 that hurt the American people,
00:02:12.260 and B, because the American people wanted President Trump back in the Oval Office here.
00:02:16.760 I want you to give a listen to exactly what Michelle Obama said.
00:02:20.260 Give a listen.
00:02:21.040 Do you think that that impacts the room that we've made for a woman to be president?
00:02:25.040 Well, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain't ready.
00:02:32.240 That's why I'm like, don't even look at me about running,
00:02:35.140 because you all are lying.
00:02:36.600 You're not ready for a woman.
00:02:38.560 You are not.
00:02:39.720 So don't waste my time.
00:02:42.360 You know, we got a lot of growing up to do,
00:02:45.200 and there's still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman,
00:02:50.560 and we saw it.
00:02:52.540 What was the question?
00:02:55.760 I just said, mm-hmm.
00:02:58.760 So we don't need to ask it again.
00:03:00.820 You answered it.
00:03:02.680 I mean, you listen to that, and the room goes wild with women.
00:03:06.100 It was clearly a female audience that she's talking with there.
00:03:09.240 It was also effeminate men.
00:03:11.540 Don't forget that.
00:03:12.440 Oh, that's true.
00:03:13.240 We can't assume.
00:03:14.240 I mean, this is the Democrat Party.
00:03:16.960 Yes.
00:03:17.480 We can't assume from the high-pitchedness of the screams in the room that it was actually women.
00:03:22.780 It could be people that identify as a woman.
00:03:25.060 That's true.
00:03:25.540 Valid point.
00:03:26.080 I apologize for you.
00:03:27.000 Well, if you have a male who's taking estrogen and, like, wearing a tight strap to, like, tuck in,
00:03:32.960 they have pretty high squeals.
00:03:35.180 Well, you know, they shop, hey, during the holidays, they can shop at Target,
00:03:37.760 get those tucking swimsuits for them, right?
00:03:39.760 And half of them used to work at the White House anyway, so there's always that as well.
00:03:43.780 When I heard that, I laughed because I thought it was so funny.
00:03:50.000 One, I don't think there's a bunch of people that are wanting her to run right now for president.
00:03:55.780 Her best shot at it would have been a coronation like we had with Kamala Harris.
00:04:01.340 That obviously didn't happen, but she's like, you basically don't deserve me.
00:04:04.920 That is the weirdest Jedi mind trick political thing I've ever seen.
00:04:08.860 Well, look, it's just arrogance, and you're right.
00:04:12.260 Had she wanted to do it, they would have handed it to her instead of Kamala Harris,
00:04:16.140 and you and I talked about this a lot on this podcast.
00:04:19.000 By the way, this podcast predicted more than a year before the Democrat Party pulled the rug out
00:04:24.480 from under Joe Biden.
00:04:25.700 We predicted on verdict.
00:04:27.100 Regular listens of verdict, no.
00:04:28.860 We regularly make predictions.
00:04:31.020 We make predictions that, frankly, are risky, that are out there,
00:04:34.840 and the overwhelming majority of the predictions we make on this podcast have come true.
00:04:40.500 When you and I said a year before Joe Biden was yanked unceremoniously off the ticket
00:04:45.860 that Biden would be pulled off the ticket,
00:04:49.600 you and I, and by that I mainly mean me,
00:04:53.420 I was mocked mercilessly.
00:04:58.260 Hold on.
00:04:58.820 I agreed with you at the time.
00:05:00.300 Give me a little bit there.
00:05:01.540 Come on.
00:05:02.060 No, no, you did agree with me, but they didn't make fun of you.
00:05:05.100 The press went after me and says Cruz is a moonbat numbskull.
00:05:10.380 I think they kind of bake into the cake that you're a moonbat numbskull.
00:05:14.260 I do host this show with you, so there's that, right?
00:05:16.880 Guilty by association.
00:05:17.480 It's guilt by association.
00:05:18.900 Sorry about that.
00:05:19.780 But, like, literally the corporate media went crazy.
00:05:23.060 They had episodes mocking me.
00:05:24.760 What a crazy thing for Cruz to say Biden's not going to be the nominee.
00:05:28.300 Obviously, anyone with any sense at all knows he's going to be the nominee.
00:05:33.280 Well, we were right.
00:05:35.380 And if Michelle Obama had wanted it, she would have been the nominee last time.
00:05:38.880 We predicted that as well.
00:05:39.940 She didn't want it.
00:05:41.160 But the dripping arrogance of her, you know, you listen to her comments.
00:05:45.300 The American people have a lot of growing up to do.
00:05:48.520 Yeah.
00:05:48.620 Like, the absolute condescension, you people are too immature to elect my magnificence.
00:05:56.180 Why?
00:05:56.920 Not because my ideas are terrible.
00:05:59.440 Not because the Democrat ideas are horrible and have resulted in open borders, have resulted
00:06:04.420 in people being murdered and women being raped and children being assaulted.
00:06:08.080 Not because we had rampant inflation.
00:06:10.080 Not because Joe Biden and the Democrats caused war all over the earth, turned peace and prosperity
00:06:15.900 into a war in Ukraine and October 7th and a war in Gaza.
00:06:19.840 You know, not because every single thing we touched turned to absolute garbage.
00:06:25.640 No, no, no, no.
00:06:26.440 That's not the reason Kamala Harris lost resoundingly.
00:06:29.680 The reason, according to the leftist ideology, is you all are bigots and you're racist and
00:06:35.560 you're sexist.
00:06:36.260 And that's the only possible reason.
00:06:38.480 And I got to say, that contemptuous condescension is one of the worst characteristics of the
00:06:46.460 Democrat Party today.
00:06:47.660 But it also does indicate this is not a party that is reassessing.
00:06:54.200 You know, normally when you lose an election and you lose an election badly, at least some
00:06:59.580 people with sense in the party go, huh, I wonder why the voters rejected what we said.
00:07:04.560 Maybe we should change.
00:07:05.560 You know, you think back to in 1980, Reagan was elected.
00:07:09.820 In 84, Reagan was re-elected, won 49 out of 50 states, came within a few thousand votes
00:07:15.540 of winning every single state in the union.
00:07:17.400 Reagan won California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, every state but Minnesota.
00:07:23.480 1988, George Herbert Walker Bush was elected.
00:07:26.600 And after losing three consecutive presidential races, Democrats said, huh, maybe nominating Jimmy
00:07:33.440 Carter and Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis was a bad idea.
00:07:37.420 Maybe crazy left-wing loons do not command a majority in America.
00:07:42.360 And what did they do?
00:07:43.060 They pivoted.
00:07:43.700 They moved dramatically towards the center.
00:07:45.460 And they nominated what was then a moderate to conservative Democrat, the governor of Arkansas,
00:07:51.080 named Bill Clinton.
00:07:52.140 And Bill Clinton won two consecutive elections because they shifted.
00:07:56.240 You know what?
00:07:56.740 I don't see any Democrats doing that right now.
00:07:59.500 I don't see them looking and saying, why did we get clobbered?
00:08:03.040 Why did Trump win all seven of the swing states?
00:08:07.880 I don't see Democrats saying that at all.
00:08:09.660 And Michelle Obama saying, you people are a bunch of bigots and sexists, and you just
00:08:13.600 need to grow up.
00:08:15.140 You know what I'm saying?
00:08:16.720 Whoever the Democrat nominee is in 28, please make Michelle Obama your spokesperson, because
00:08:21.520 we really need her lecturing the American people how much the voters suck.
00:08:26.500 Because, you know, that historically has proved such an effective way to campaign.
00:08:31.580 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast
00:08:36.640 from earlier this week.
00:08:38.860 Canadian women are looking for more.
00:08:40.940 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:08:44.920 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:08:48.940 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:08:50.040 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:08:51.280 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:08:55.020 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of
00:08:59.900 their journey.
00:09:00.760 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:09:04.000 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:09:09.780 Now on to story number two.
00:09:11.640 I want to move to another issue, and that is sports gambling.
00:09:15.520 This is an issue.
00:09:17.220 I just genuinely, this is like my TMZ, my soap opera.
00:09:20.960 I'm loving watching the corruption slowly unfold before our very eyes.
00:09:28.040 I say that because I'm a sports fan.
00:09:29.860 You are as well.
00:09:30.500 We've gone to games together.
00:09:31.520 We've gone to playoff games.
00:09:32.840 And I've noticed, and I've got friends that literally play pro sports, and they will watch
00:09:38.000 games, and they'll text him like, that's not normal.
00:09:41.220 That was weird.
00:09:42.700 The end of that game was strange.
00:09:44.720 Look at the cut.
00:09:45.860 Look at the point spread.
00:09:47.060 What the gambling line was here.
00:09:50.080 Look at the over-under.
00:09:51.460 I mean, I have friends who are in these sports, and they're like, they even are like, this is
00:09:57.480 a red flag.
00:09:58.340 Like, this doesn't make sense.
00:10:00.340 What just happened in the last two minutes of the game, or the last four minutes of that
00:10:04.780 game, and now we're finding out we weren't crazy.
00:10:08.140 There's a lot of fixing that's going on.
00:10:10.360 Now, it may not be fixing the outcome of the winner and the loser, and that's what people
00:10:13.700 need to understand, the caveat here.
00:10:15.380 A lot of times, this is like total number of points that are going to be scored.
00:10:19.260 The margin between the two teams.
00:10:21.820 How much will one win by our losing?
00:10:23.440 It can even be as simple as a certain player not hitting what they were projected in points
00:10:29.640 or three-pointers or even free throws, and you see these anomalies or weird things that
00:10:36.140 happen with an individual player or faking an injury so that they make sure they don't
00:10:40.760 finish the game.
00:10:41.900 This was happening in a widespread way among sports, and there were people that were literally
00:10:48.520 getting rich off it.
00:10:49.600 It's called fixing.
00:10:50.440 It may not be fixing the game as in the score, it's fixing aspects of the game that you can
00:10:56.200 bet on.
00:10:57.240 Well, look, you and I are both big sports fans.
00:11:00.040 Sports is an amazing thing.
00:11:01.320 It brings people together.
00:11:02.360 It gives you something to cheer for.
00:11:03.720 It's powerful.
00:11:04.440 It can unify.
00:11:05.460 Yeah, it's so fun.
00:11:06.600 But, you know, look, unfortunately, as long as there's been sports, there's been some risk
00:11:10.880 of corruption in sports, and I got to say, the proliferation of betting on sports has increased
00:11:16.860 that risk, and it's not just betting.
00:11:18.520 It's one thing to bet that your team's going to win or lose.
00:11:21.660 Presumably, if you're betting particularly that your team will win, the incentives are
00:11:25.320 aligned that all the members of the team want to win.
00:11:28.540 But you now have these prop bets where you can bet on all sorts of different aspects of
00:11:32.980 the game.
00:11:33.560 And that, I think, significantly increases the risk of corruption.
00:11:37.080 Because a prop bet, an individual player, can have really significant impact on the outcome
00:11:43.740 of that bet.
00:11:45.460 And so we've seen there's an ongoing criminal investigation involving the NBA, involving
00:11:50.240 coaches and players, fixing games, and Major League Baseball as well.
00:11:55.220 And so I'm chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
00:11:59.220 Part of the jurisdiction of the Commerce Committee is sports, both college sports and pro sports.
00:12:04.540 And so I've launched an oversight investigation into the problem of corruption and the impact
00:12:11.960 of prop bets in particular on sports.
00:12:14.700 And so I want to read to you a portion of it.
00:12:17.720 I sent a letter to Major League Baseball, and let me just read you a portion of it, because
00:12:23.980 the facts are really concerning.
00:12:25.940 Here's what my letter said.
00:12:27.460 Dear Mr. Manfred, game-fixing allegations are not new to baseball.
00:12:31.720 105 years ago, a Chicago grand jury indicted eight Chicago White Sox players for allegedly
00:12:38.040 rigging the 1919 World Series.
00:12:41.540 Labeled the Chicago Black Sox in the press, the players were eventually acquitted by a Chicago
00:12:46.200 jury, even though some had earlier confessed, and all eight were banned from baseball for
00:12:52.540 life.
00:12:53.980 Major League Baseball and American sports generally are facing a new integrity crisis.
00:12:58.420 Last week, prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment against two
00:13:03.600 pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians, accusing them of rigging their own pitches to make a profit.
00:13:10.660 That indictment comes just a few weeks after prosecutors leveled similar allegations against
00:13:15.820 coaches and players in the NBA.
00:13:18.560 Ranking member Cantwell and I sent a letter to the NBA requesting documents and information
00:13:22.640 about that matter, and we now seek information from Major League Baseball about how the league
00:13:27.480 is addressing alleged game manipulation and threats to baseball's integrity.
00:13:32.240 The recent indictment alleges Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clace and Luis Ortiz purposely
00:13:39.480 threw certain pitches for balls or strikes.
00:13:43.740 Yep.
00:13:44.040 Both players allegedly told friends of their plan and to place prop bets beforehand.
00:13:51.540 Clace allegedly even made some bets himself.
00:13:55.680 Perhaps most shockingly, this scheme lasted more than two years before Major League Baseball
00:14:00.700 found out.
00:14:01.900 On May 19, 2023, Clace, pitching in relief against the New York Mets, allegedly informed friends
00:14:08.880 he would throw a pitch faster than 94.95 miles per hour.
00:14:14.060 He did.
00:14:15.340 And his accomplices won $27,000.
00:14:18.640 I mean, can you just hit pause there for a second?
00:14:21.800 This letter so people understand.
00:14:23.160 This is like making a mockery of the game.
00:14:25.820 Yes.
00:14:26.040 But it's also just fixing the game where you're like, hey, I'm going to perform differently
00:14:30.520 so that my friends can get hooked up and make $27,000 there.
00:14:35.700 It went on for years.
00:14:37.280 And it's not like this was like one person.
00:14:39.940 I actually believe this is probably a lot more widespread than we are being told.
00:14:44.660 And part of that is I think that Major League Baseball and others are going to cover their
00:14:48.000 ASSs, they want to make sure that we don't realize just how bad it actually was or is.
00:14:54.000 Well, and with individual players and prop bets, they have almost total control over the outcome
00:14:58.660 of that bet.
00:14:59.740 Yep.
00:15:00.000 And so, look, the $27,000 is not the worst part.
00:15:02.760 Let me give you a few more of the facts from the letter.
00:15:05.620 Clace would go on to blow a save opportunity as the Guardians lost 10 to 9 in extra innings.
00:15:11.200 In June 2023, Clace flung a pitch into the dirt in two separate games, well short of the
00:15:19.720 strike zone.
00:15:20.800 While Cleveland fans were shouting in frustration, Clace was apparently cashing in.
00:15:26.100 In both games, he allegedly sent texts notifying his friends that he would throw balls.
00:15:33.160 They placed prop bets on his pitches, winning a combined $96,000.
00:15:41.920 Unbelievable.
00:15:43.360 Across other games from 2023 to 2025, Clace and his accomplices are accused of winning
00:15:49.700 at least $400,000 through fraudulent bets.
00:15:54.500 I mean, that's a lot of money, folks.
00:15:56.240 And that's just one example that got busted.
00:15:58.840 You got to wonder how many others were out there, right?
00:16:01.600 I mean, we've seen what's interesting.
00:16:03.300 I was reading an article the other day.
00:16:05.300 It was talking about there's been an uptick in wild pitches.
00:16:09.700 Yeah.
00:16:09.800 But because you can bet on that, and they're just saying there is certain data that has
00:16:17.000 significantly changed since prop betting got introduced nationwide, basically, you know,
00:16:22.640 where everybody can bet on these things and has grown.
00:16:25.380 And it's like, that didn't happen for 50 years of baseball before when we have data or 30 years
00:16:30.180 in football of data or whatever it may be.
00:16:33.240 And then all of a sudden, they're like, wow, this is happening a lot more often.
00:16:37.300 This is weird that they would get worse at these anomalies when technology and cameras and coaching
00:16:46.380 has gotten so much better.
00:16:48.440 You'd think that would actually reduce the number of these unique moments that happen in sports.
00:16:53.140 And now we're finding out, yeah, it may not be unique at all.
00:16:55.160 Well, and negative prop bets are 100% within the control of an individual player.
00:17:00.600 So if you think about it, if you or I were a major league pitcher, we may not be able to win a bet that my next pitch will be a strike,
00:17:08.940 because you might try to throw a strike and fail.
00:17:11.400 I could not throw a major league strike.
00:17:13.680 But you know what you and I could win a bet on?
00:17:16.760 That my next pitch will be a ball.
00:17:19.760 Because as much like I suck at baseball, but yet I can throw the ball into the dirt.
00:17:24.960 I'm quite confident I can pitch a ball.
00:17:27.320 I could pitch a ball 100% of the time with no deviation.
00:17:31.780 And some of the times, and in this instance, you know, someone who's good at cheating would not pound it into the dirt.
00:17:38.440 They would just be a little bit outside the strike zone, so you couldn't tell.
00:17:41.320 Well, it looks really obvious when you don't even make it to home plate.
00:17:45.540 But that problem, look, you were a Division I tennis player.
00:17:51.740 I'm pretty sure they didn't have prop bets.
00:17:53.220 I promise you I could double fault on command.
00:17:55.320 I could hit a ball long on command.
00:17:57.420 100% of the time.
00:17:58.360 I could hit a ball in the net on command.
00:17:59.980 I could whiff at a ball if that was a prop bet and make money off of it.
00:18:03.440 Yes.
00:18:04.100 All of those things you can 100% control.
00:18:07.580 By the way, I want our listeners to know,
00:18:08.860 if you also get in Ben's head and screw with him,
00:18:12.240 you can make him double fault even when he doesn't want to.
00:18:14.720 But that's a totally different.
00:18:16.440 He's an infinitely better tennis player than I am.
00:18:18.720 But I do have a little bit of ability to taunt him.
00:18:21.320 And if he gets pissed enough, that can happen.
00:18:24.420 Either that or you're going to get hit with the ball.
00:18:26.020 It's one of the two.
00:18:26.860 One of the two is going to happen.
00:18:29.900 One of the two.
00:18:31.340 And that would be a great prop bet, by the way.
00:18:33.080 There is that, although the sad thing is when Ben and I play tennis,
00:18:36.580 we usually play together.
00:18:38.160 So if he's hitting me with the ball, he's really doing it wrong.
00:18:41.180 Because it's one thing to hit your opponent.
00:18:42.760 If you're hitting your teammate, good God, you're doing it wrong.
00:18:44.720 It's only when you get lackadaisical can you become a target.
00:18:47.580 It's just motivation.
00:18:48.760 It's just a straight-up motivation there.
00:18:50.760 Final question on this.
00:18:52.200 I've seen a lot of people in sports, journalists, say,
00:18:55.840 how do you fix this?
00:18:58.020 If it's not saying no more prop bets, right,
00:19:02.260 you have normal gambling on games,
00:19:04.900 I don't know if you can even fix this.
00:19:07.740 Is that far out of control?
00:19:09.040 And is it the job of Major League Sports to police their own?
00:19:12.840 Or can they be trusted?
00:19:14.960 Look, I think there need to be some steps taken to fix this.
00:19:18.400 I'm not sure exactly what those steps are.
00:19:20.340 And so I'm starting with sending letters to the NBA and Major League Baseball
00:19:24.920 because you've got scandals in both sports.
00:19:26.760 And listen, as you know, I'm a diehard Rockets fan.
00:19:31.060 I'm a diehard Astros fan.
00:19:32.820 By the way, did you happen to see the Rockets' last victory against Orlando?
00:19:37.260 No, I did not.
00:19:38.060 Was it a beatdown?
00:19:39.300 Oh, no, no.
00:19:40.000 It was an overtime victory.
00:19:41.500 It was spectacular.
00:19:42.580 Look, the Rockets actually were trailing almost the entire regular season.
00:19:46.800 And I DVR every Rockets game.
00:19:48.320 And so I watched this.
00:19:49.740 I actually watched this.
00:19:50.460 By the way, you haven't mentioned my Ole Miss Rebels in a few weeks.
00:19:53.120 And I just want everybody to know that's because we're winning and we're now, what is it, 10-1?
00:19:57.540 I think that's right.
00:19:58.180 Just want to throw that out there.
00:19:59.160 Beat the Gators.
00:20:00.120 Now back to your Rockets.
00:20:01.500 But when my team loses one game this year, there's two shows in a row that it was brought up.
00:20:06.840 The other 10 weeks, not a peep out of you.
00:20:09.160 I just want to be clear about that record.
00:20:10.860 Keep going.
00:20:11.280 Look, I got to say, as a Texan beating the Gators, I'm kind of like, that's interesting.
00:20:17.240 That's interesting, yeah.
00:20:17.980 One of my favorite images, when Florida played A&M, I tweeted out there was a giant barbecue truck in College Station
00:20:26.060 that had, I think, five seven-foot Gators on a rotisserie rotating around being cooked.
00:20:32.820 So, okay, fine.
00:20:34.240 You guys beat the Gators.
00:20:35.520 That's fine.
00:20:36.460 Okay, good.
00:20:37.020 Thank you for that moral support there.
00:20:38.840 I felt that.
00:20:40.120 I felt that tonight.
00:20:42.060 I'm just saying, the Rockets' win against Orlando was really sweet,
00:20:45.760 because we were not playing great during the whole of the game,
00:20:48.640 and then it was this huge comeback.
00:20:51.040 And KD, I'm going to say right now, I think the Rockets can win the whole damn thing.
00:20:55.820 Really?
00:20:56.320 Oh, that's an early season prediction right there.
00:20:59.120 Now, look, most seasons, I think the Rockets can win it all.
00:21:02.740 But listen, last season, we got to...
00:21:04.180 Yeah, but you've never said it the way you just said it with me.
00:21:06.560 Like, there's hoping, and then there's, like, the real possibility.
00:21:09.600 So you think they're the real deal this year.
00:21:11.440 I really do.
00:21:12.660 They've got a ton of young talent.
00:21:14.380 They're really good.
00:21:15.120 Our problem last season is we didn't have a closer.
00:21:17.680 We didn't have someone who, in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, you could give
00:21:22.080 the ball to, and he could bring it home.
00:21:25.100 And KD, I mean, look, he's one of the greatest players in history.
00:21:28.520 And in the game against Orlando, I mean, it was, you want to talk about cold.
00:21:33.160 He hit two three-pointers that were just devastating.
00:21:37.880 And you had Shang-Goon, who's a great center, who played a great game as well.
00:21:42.600 Did you have a problem on that overtime, by the way?
00:21:44.700 I'm just curious, because you're really into this right now.
00:21:47.980 I didn't.
00:21:48.980 I just had great joy.
00:21:50.380 And as I said, I DVR the games, and I watch them typically late at night at the end of the
00:21:53.960 day, but anyway, my point is, it's one thing, and I will say, I like to play poker, but I've
00:22:01.020 never been into sports betting.
00:22:02.160 So among vices, that is not one that has impacted me.
00:22:07.820 But I get, you know, I'll put five bucks in a March Madness pool, and I've got to say
00:22:12.680 my picks are almost always wrong, because I don't know that I've ever won a March Madness
00:22:16.240 pool, but I'll throw away my five bucks.
00:22:17.820 You're what we refer to as a charity bracket, and we appreciate your service to the charity
00:22:22.380 community.
00:22:22.880 Okay, so I actually, I just pick a homer thing.
00:22:25.680 I pick Texas teams.
00:22:26.820 I pick teams I like, and I'm just like, I'm going to go with, I think my final four a year
00:22:31.480 or two ago was, I think, three Texas teams in the final four.
00:22:35.100 Yeah, that didn't work out too well for you, I'm not going to lie.
00:22:38.120 Yeah.
00:22:39.120 Excuse me, did Ole Miss win the tournament?
00:22:41.780 We do football very well, sir.
00:22:44.020 We do football very well.
00:22:45.720 We win natties and golf, baseball, and tennis.
00:22:49.660 I just, yeah, I know where I am.
00:22:51.760 I know where we live.
00:22:53.160 Basketball's not there yet.
00:22:54.320 I'm okay with that.
00:22:55.320 But I don't pick them to go to the final four.
00:22:57.420 That I can promise you.
00:22:59.040 Yeah, so look, on the question of gambling, and by the way, you've got pro sports, but
00:23:03.200 I'm also concerned about college sports.
00:23:04.980 And in many ways, with such a proliferation, you know, you look at a small school with a
00:23:11.720 game that's not in the headlines, and an individual player there, you know, you may have, it's
00:23:17.200 one thing for, you know, am I that worried about massive superstars making millions or
00:23:23.040 tens of millions of dollars of being corrupted?
00:23:25.500 Well, yes, because we're seeing this in the NBA and Major League Baseball.
00:23:29.180 Well, but the incentive is less than some, you know, 19-year-old kid playing at Podunk
00:23:34.920 School who has a chance to make 10 grand fixing the game.
00:23:41.020 And so I think that is a real challenge.
00:23:43.940 I think the leagues can maybe take some steps about it, but it would not surprise me to see
00:23:48.300 Congress act.
00:23:49.040 And it's one of the reasons I'm just trying to start with saying, okay, tell me the facts
00:23:53.600 of how many allegations you're getting of cheating.
00:23:55.720 What are the facts?
00:23:56.520 Tell me what you know.
00:23:57.800 Tell me what you know.
00:23:59.200 And then, particularly the more serious the problem is, my hope is we may see Congress
00:24:05.120 act in a bipartisan way to fix it.
00:24:07.180 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go
00:24:11.740 back and download the podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
00:24:16.420 Canadian women are looking for more.
00:24:18.200 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:24:22.460 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:24:26.380 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:24:27.560 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:24:28.780 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:24:32.480 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of
00:24:37.440 their journey.
00:24:38.280 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:24:41.520 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:24:47.320 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:24:51.340 Senator, one of the reasons why you do this show and why I love co-hosting it with you
00:24:55.620 is we get to talk about issues that are not getting the attention they deserve.
00:25:01.700 One of those right now is the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
00:25:06.800 It is shocking what is happening there.
00:25:09.080 And I just came back from Israel.
00:25:10.720 We haven't got to talk about that as much as we thought because the government shut down.
00:25:14.100 And we're going to get to that.
00:25:15.040 But one of the things that you see when you see that people are under attack because of
00:25:18.600 their faith, and I witnessed it going into the kibbutz, into the homes of those that were
00:25:23.640 killed, including that nine-month-old child.
00:25:25.480 When I met with the parents who lost their loved ones on that soccer field as their kids
00:25:29.620 were just playing soccer.
00:25:30.980 When I went to the north and I saw the homes that were destroyed and met with people whose
00:25:35.940 lives were destroyed by Hamas there.
00:25:38.580 And you witnessed this type of persecution and death and destruction and went to the
00:25:43.880 site where the music festival was and watched people die just because they were Jews.
00:25:47.760 It makes me angry to now see what's happening in Nigeria.
00:25:52.620 You're shining a light on that.
00:25:54.260 The White House is doing that as well.
00:25:56.080 And the American people need to know what's going on.
00:25:58.860 Yeah, listen, radical Islamic terrorists, they hate Christians and they hate Jews.
00:26:04.220 And they have murdered vast numbers of Christians.
00:26:07.540 They have murdered vast number of Jews.
00:26:09.600 They continue to do so.
00:26:10.620 And they also murder a significant number of Muslims.
00:26:13.340 Radical Islamic terrorists, if you don't embrace their radical jihadist view, their ideology
00:26:20.300 justifies violence or even murder to force you to submit.
00:26:25.320 And the 13 years I've been in the Senate, I've spent a lot of time fighting for persecuted
00:26:29.940 Christians, fighting for persecuted Christians all across the globe, especially those being persecuted
00:26:36.300 by radical Islamic terrorists.
00:26:37.920 Boko Haram, that is in Nigeria, is a vicious radical Islamic terrorist group.
00:26:43.780 And if you look at, there is no country on planet Earth where more Christians have been murdered
00:26:50.140 in the last 20 years than Nigeria.
00:26:54.240 Since 2009, more than 50,000 Christians have been murdered in the country of Nigeria.
00:27:00.860 I mean, literally, these Christians are being hunted down.
00:27:04.200 Yeah, they absolutely are.
00:27:07.080 Over 20,000 Christian churches and schools have been burned to the ground or otherwise destroyed.
00:27:13.820 I mean, this has been mass murder, and it is horrific.
00:27:18.320 And so I filed legislation in the Senate to direct the administration to designate Nigeria
00:27:23.980 a country of particular concern and to impose in particular sanctions on the government officials
00:27:29.660 because there are many government officials who are acquiescing in this mass murder against
00:27:34.700 Christians.
00:27:35.200 And so my legislation would impose sanctions on particular government officials.
00:27:41.520 There are 12 states in the North where Sharia laws or blasphemy laws are enforced.
00:27:47.480 There's also federal Sharia and blasphemy laws that are enforced.
00:27:50.920 And the government officials use those laws to discriminate against and to persecute Christians.
00:27:56.880 In some instances, they simply just turn a blind eye, as Boko Haram and other radical
00:28:02.140 Islamic terrorist murder Christians.
00:28:04.200 In other instances, they actually use the law to facilitate the persecution.
00:28:09.820 But after I filed the legislation and I began pressing the administration to designate
00:28:16.440 Nigeria as a country of particular concern, President Trump did so.
00:28:20.160 And he sent out a tweet.
00:28:21.840 Here's what his tweet says.
00:28:23.680 It says, Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria.
00:28:28.100 Thousands of Christians are being killed.
00:28:30.580 Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.
00:28:34.140 I am hereby making Nigeria a country of particular concern, but that is the least of it.
00:28:40.160 When Christians or any such group is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria, 3,100 versus 4,476
00:28:49.380 worldwide, something must be done.
00:28:52.440 I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations
00:28:57.960 Committee to immediately look into this matter and report back to me.
00:29:01.880 The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria and numerous
00:29:07.780 other countries.
00:29:08.540 We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the world.
00:29:15.600 Donald J.
00:29:16.160 Trump, President of the United States.
00:29:17.960 That was exactly the right thing to do.
00:29:20.620 I saw President Trump shortly after he issued that designation, and I thanked him.
00:29:26.000 I said, it really makes a difference.
00:29:28.220 It's the right thing to do.
00:29:29.800 He was happy to do it.
00:29:31.480 And I'll tell you, the government in Nigeria is deeply dismayed, and their response, their
00:29:38.140 main defense, they say, well, they argue it's not a genocide.
00:29:42.880 And what they say is, well, yes, 50,000 Christians have been killed, but you know what?
00:29:47.960 Boko Haram has also killed Muslims, so it's all fine.
00:29:50.960 Well, it is true.
00:29:51.920 They have killed Muslims.
00:29:52.880 Nobody's disputing that they've killed Muslims as well, but radical Islamic terrorists target
00:29:58.680 Christians in particular for persecution, and the government is complicit in that persecution.
00:30:05.560 That's what this is designed to address.
00:30:08.300 And, you know, I got to say, you and I have talked about before that those who hate Jews
00:30:16.480 hate Christians, and those who hate Israel hate America, that that is true.
00:30:21.700 We've also talked about rising anti-Semitism, and we've talked quite a bit about Tucker Carlson,
00:30:26.060 because I think Tucker has unfortunately gone down a very, very dark path, a path where he
00:30:31.920 brings on Hitler-praising nutjobs onto his show over and over and over again, but it also
00:30:39.720 results, not only does he attack Israel in almost every show he does, but when you go on the
00:30:47.320 path of hating Israel and blaming everything on the Jews, that often that same dark path
00:30:54.500 leads you to embrace the enemies of America.
00:30:57.340 So Tucker has said, we should apologize to the family of Osama bin Laden.
00:31:02.440 No, no, we should not.
00:31:04.200 Tucker has said he doesn't know that Hamas is a terrorist organization.
00:31:08.060 They might just be a political group.
00:31:10.180 I'm sorry, but when you murder 1,200 innocent civilians and rape women and children, you
00:31:15.140 are most definitely a terrorist group, and Hamas has killed a great many Americans.
00:31:19.960 But it really was striking.
00:31:22.100 Just recently, Tucker did a show where he talked about Nigerians, and he disputed that
00:31:27.260 Christians in Nigeria are being persecuted.
00:31:29.540 I want you to give a listen, because he took the chance to basically defend Boko Haram.
00:31:35.840 Give a listen.
00:31:36.280 But he's all of a sudden, kind of out of nowhere, deeply concerned about the play of
00:31:40.580 Christians in Nigeria, which I want to restate.
00:31:42.740 Maybe a totally valid concern.
00:31:43.780 I don't know.
00:31:44.880 But that's weird.
00:31:46.360 What is that?
00:31:46.880 All of a sudden, everybody's concerned about people who clearly have no track record being
00:31:49.640 interested in Christians at all, including Ted Cruz.
00:31:51.620 What is going on?
00:31:53.700 That, to me, was pretty unhinged, Senator.
00:31:56.860 Look, I got to say, listen, I understand that Tucker's told the world there's no one he hates
00:32:02.120 more than Christian Zionist, and he singled out me and Mike Huckabee as the people he
00:32:06.780 hates the most in the world.
00:32:08.580 But that's truly a bizarre claim, what he says there, which is that I have no interest
00:32:13.500 in defending persecuted Christians.
00:32:15.780 I've literally spent 13 years doing that.
00:32:18.500 You know, I might ask Tucker, does he have any idea who Miriam Ibrahim is?
00:32:22.640 And I suspect he doesn't.
00:32:24.820 So Miriam Ibrahim was a Christian woman in Sudan, and she was imprisoned, and she was
00:32:32.080 sentenced to receive 100 lashes and then to hang by the neck until dead for the crime
00:32:38.400 of being a Christian.
00:32:39.300 And this was during Barack Obama's presidency.
00:32:41.500 This was early in my time in the Senate.
00:32:43.620 And I spoke out vocally for Miriam Ibrahim.
00:32:47.780 And she had two little kids.
00:32:49.820 She had a son named Martin, and she actually gave birth to a daughter, Maya, while she was
00:32:54.720 in leg irons.
00:32:56.040 And I'll tell you, I repeatedly, practically begged the Obama administration for President
00:33:01.620 Obama to just say her name.
00:33:03.660 He would not do it.
00:33:04.760 He never once said her name.
00:33:05.960 I went to the Senate floor.
00:33:07.460 I gave floor speeches.
00:33:09.080 I shined a light.
00:33:10.440 And globally, many, the Pope got involved shining a light defending her.
00:33:14.920 And the pressure became so great, Sudan released her.
00:33:18.280 And Ben, I'll tell you, it's an amazing thing.
00:33:20.940 I actually got to meet Miriam Ibrahim when she came to Washington.
00:33:25.100 And I asked her, she was a little bitty woman.
00:33:27.320 She's not very tall, maybe 5'1".
00:33:29.600 She couldn't have weighed more than 100 pounds.
00:33:32.840 And I asked her, I said, Miriam, tell me, when you were in that prison cell and your babies
00:33:38.580 are in front of you and you've been sentenced to die for your faith, how did you not give
00:33:44.840 up hope?
00:33:45.360 And she looked at me with a peace that I'll never forget, and she just said, Jesus was
00:33:51.480 with me.
00:33:52.760 And I mean, it was powerful.
00:33:54.240 That's incredible.
00:33:55.360 But I think this illustrates how anti-Semitism is a poison that ends up poisoning every other
00:34:04.380 view.
00:34:04.900 So now Tucker is running around defending Hamas, defending Boko Haram, saying, well, I don't
00:34:10.540 know that Nigerians or Christians are being killed in Nigeria, and why does anyone care
00:34:14.580 about that?
00:34:15.460 And apparently Tucker is only interested in atrocities if he can blame them on Israel.
00:34:21.140 And since it's not Israel that's killing Christians in Nigeria, it's not a concern for
00:34:25.280 him.
00:34:26.100 Look, I think we should defend Christians when they're being persecuted.
00:34:30.200 I think we should defend Jews when they're being persecuted.
00:34:32.580 I think we should stand up and make a difference.
00:34:37.300 Now, that doesn't mean that we invade every country in which there's injustice, but it does
00:34:42.600 mean we use our voice as a voice to stand up for those.
00:34:49.100 And look, as you know, my dad was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba.
00:34:53.180 And so I have a particular heart for people who are unjustly detained and have spent a long
00:35:02.200 time highlighting and doing everything we can to get people out of unjust detentions, whether
00:35:08.620 in Sudan or China or Lebanon or anywhere.
00:35:15.920 And I'm very glad President Trump is standing up for the Christians in Nigeria.
00:35:21.040 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:35:26.880 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day.
00:35:30.540 You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.
00:35:33.800 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:35:37.660 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.
00:35:41.400 This is an iHeart podcast.
00:35:44.060 Guaranteed human.