Verdict with Ted Cruz - February 17, 2025


WINNING: Polls Surge for Trump as Illegal Border Crossings PLUMMET & More Government Waste Exposed


Episode Stats


Length

30 minutes

Words per minute

176.45334

Word count

5,417

Sentence count

439

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Toxicity

13

sentences flagged

Hate speech

14

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergusons discuss the surge in support for Donald Trump's immigration plan, the impact of the border patrol agents on illegal immigration and border security efforts, and the new poll that shows Americans are not tired of winning yet.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.240 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.360 Senator, I got to say there's some polling numbers that have come out that are shocking
00:00:13.060 to even me and many other conservatives of just how big of a victory the issues have become for
00:00:20.400 Donald Trump with the country.
00:00:22.320 Well, that's exactly right. But let me stop by saying, you know, Friday's podcast for the
00:00:27.680 first time ever. We had to cancel the podcast because you were sick. And so we did a rerun
00:00:33.480 of our Christmas Day podcast of my favorite movies because you were in bed, curled up,
00:00:39.740 hacking up a lung. So let me ask you a couple of days later, how are you feeling?
00:00:44.020 I survived. I have not been. I think I texted you. I have not been that sick in 25 years.
00:00:49.800 It was four days in a row of 103 fever from the flu. So this year's flu is no joke. If you get it,
00:00:56.920 God be with you because I rarely miss a show and power through and there was no way I could do
00:01:03.920 the show. So thanks, you guys, for bearing with me on Friday.
00:01:07.900 Well, I hope you enjoyed the movie recommendations. But I felt bad. I was ready to go. But Ben was
00:01:13.000 miserable and unconscious. So I'm glad to have you back. Welcome back.
00:01:18.080 It's good to be here.
00:01:18.980 And, you know, and you're still hurting a little bit. But but but but I'm glad if we have a moment
00:01:25.100 in the pause pod where things pause, it will be because he's still coughing up a lung. But
00:01:30.240 it's very accurate. And it's moments like this. I'm glad that some of these episodes we do remotely
00:01:36.800 because no offense, but I don't really want you coughing on me right now. That's also very accurate.
00:01:41.820 Very astute medical advice there. I like it.
00:01:43.840 There you go. That that would be all my years in med school. All right. So let's talk about the
00:01:48.640 substance because we had a lot to talk about. Number one, as you pointed out, we're seeing a
00:01:55.240 sea change in this country. We're one month into the Trump presidency. And I got to say, the polling
00:02:01.020 numbers, the American people are embracing a common sense conservative agenda. And the media,
00:02:08.140 the corporate media, they don't know what to do with it. And the Democrats, they don't know what to
00:02:12.200 do with it. Now, part of it is because we're seeing real results. And one of the things that
00:02:16.540 we're going to talk about today are the incredible results we're seeing on the border. Look, I said
00:02:21.580 last year over and over again, we're going to secure the border and it's not going to take a year. It's
00:02:26.680 not going to take six months. It is going to happen on January 20th. Well, I'll tell you what,
00:02:31.080 the numbers have backed that up. We have seen the illegal immigration plummet. We're going to break
00:02:35.560 that down for you and give you the facts and figures on that. And then finally, Doge, Doge every day
00:02:40.860 continues to be breathtaking, uncovering more and more government waste. And to watch the Democrats
00:02:47.440 run around like chickens with their heads cut off, defending all this nonsense is really astonishing. 0.92
00:02:54.620 Yet, you know, I got to say, the president asked a while ago, he said, we're going to win so much, 0.65
00:03:00.080 you're going to get tired of winning. I got to tell you, Ben, right now, I'm not tired of winning.
00:03:03.820 Yeah. And the majority of Americans in this new poll that we're mentioning, yeah,
00:03:07.660 they're not tired of winning yet either. I want to tell you real quick about our friends over at
00:03:11.640 the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. After more than a year of war,
00:03:16.340 terror and pain in Israel, there is still a great demand for basic humanitarian aid.
00:03:22.720 The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has supported and continues to support those
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00:03:50.940 first responders and volunteers, wounded soldiers, and even elderly Holocaust survivors.
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00:04:08.440 supportifcj.org. That's one word, supportifcj.org. You can even call them 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-IFCJ.
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00:04:31.960 So Senator, there's certain points where the President has been pushing different agenda items
00:04:37.300 and the media takes the opportunity to really come down on him and basically do what they've
00:04:43.720 done for years, which is, well, you Americans don't want to be a part of this. And now the poll
00:04:48.800 numbers are showing that the media is having virtually no influence on the public and the public
00:04:54.760 is backing Trump now more than ever. Well, it turns out common sense is a lot more common than
00:04:59.740 the media was telling us. And I want you to listen to this clip on ABC with Jonathan Carl,
00:05:05.200 and he's interviewing Akeem Jeffries. And you need to picture this. Akeem Jeffries is the
00:05:10.720 leader of the Democrats in the House. Jonathan Carl is going to ask him about the polling
00:05:14.920 numbers, talking about how the American people are supporting the Trump agenda, the common sense
00:05:20.760 conservative agenda in big numbers. And at the end of it, Jeffries has no answer whatsoever. So
00:05:27.320 listen, this is not me. This is not you. This is ABC News talking about where the American people are
00:05:32.660 right now. Donald Trump's favorability rating is actually higher than it ever was the first time
00:05:38.800 around. Let me ask you, a recent poll by Marquette looked at several of the things that he has done
00:05:44.460 or says that he is going to do, and 63 percent favor federal government's recognition of only
00:05:50.660 two sexes. 60 percent favor deporting immigrants who entered the United States illegally. 60 percent
00:05:57.340 favor expanding oil and gas production. 59 percent favor declaring an emergency at the southern
00:06:04.880 border. Is there anything you are seeing that Trump is doing that you are in favor of that you think is
00:06:11.120 the right thing? Let me say, as it relates to all of those issues, we're just at the beginning.
00:06:17.900 We're just at the beginning. So that's my answer. And Jonathan Karl's face was actually hilarious
00:06:24.840 there because you go back. No, no, no. Hakeem Jeffries face was funnier. Yeah, that's true.
00:06:30.220 Because when when Karl asks him, Jeffries is shocked and astonished. He goes through the American 1.00
00:06:36.540 people. 60 plus percent are agreeing with Trump on X, Y, Z, all these issues. Is there anything he's
00:06:42.200 doing that's right? Now, if you're the leader of the Democrats in the House, what the hell do you say
00:06:47.180 about that? Like like like he had no response other than, well, it's just the beginning. I'm hoping
00:06:52.400 something will go bad and then we'll cheer that. Like it is. 63 percent favor the government
00:06:58.640 recognizing only two sexes. Those are not close numbers. 63 percent is a super majority any way you
00:07:04.640 look at it. 60 percent favor deporting illegals, illegal aliens. 60 percent favor expanding oil and 0.75
00:07:11.840 gas production. 59 percent favor declaring an emergency on the southern border. Those are
00:07:18.400 compelling numbers. And it's an example of look, number one. Can we talk poll numbers just for a
00:07:23.940 second so people understand in politics? Like when when I was at the Bush administration, we were on the
00:07:29.580 campaign. If you had a poll on something we wanted that was above 53 percent, that was like a home
00:07:36.400 run. If you were at 55 percent or above, it was like a mandate. I have not seen 60 percent polls like
00:07:44.300 these in decades. Have you on these types of issues? And to see ABC reporting on it. And you're right.
00:07:50.720 Jonathan Karl is very dismayed to be reporting on it. He's shaking his head. But but Akeem Jeffries looks
00:07:56.460 like he's filming a hostage video. He's just terrified. Why are you asking me this? Because
00:08:01.440 he doesn't want to say, no, I don't agree with Trump on anything, because when you're on the wrong
00:08:06.260 side of a bunch of 60 40 issues, that's a recipe to lose elections. But he doesn't want to say, yes,
00:08:11.900 I agree with Trump on anything because his base hates Trump so much they'll lose their mind and go 0.90
00:08:18.300 nuts. So all he can say is, well, it's just the beginning. I hope things will go wrong. And then
00:08:23.280 then we can celebrate the things are going wrong. It is astounding, astonishing, I should say, that
00:08:28.880 this is now where we are. But this turns into what I call a mandate, a super mandate. And it just means
00:08:36.160 keep going, Trump. Keep going, Republicans. What does this do to some of your colleagues who maybe
00:08:42.300 didn't want to go along with some of these types of things when they see these poll numbers? Is this
00:08:46.620 going to make it easier to get things done in Congress as well? I would hope so.
00:08:49.960 Well, it certainly should. And by the way, I'll tell you, historically, for the last four years,
00:08:56.280 every Democrat voted on the wrong side of these issues on the question of are there two sexes, 1.00
00:09:01.520 male and female, every single Democrat in the Senate voted no over and over and over again on
00:09:06.580 the question of deporting illegals. Every Democrat in the Senate voted no over and over and over again
00:09:11.820 on the question of more oil and gas exploration. Virtually every Democrat, actually, Joe Manchin
00:09:17.500 would vote yes. Occasionally, Joe Manchin isn't there anymore. So every Democrat that remains in
00:09:22.840 the Senate has voted no over and over and over again on the question of declaring an emergency
00:09:28.320 on the southern border. Again, every Democrat voted no. And so the Democrat Party, listen,
00:09:33.400 they're in a crisis. If you're on the wrong side of 60, 40 issues across the board,
00:09:39.380 well, that's how you get the kind of election we had in November. That's how you get
00:09:42.780 a president elected with more than 300 electoral votes. That's how you get a president who of the
00:09:48.060 seven swing states wins all seven. That's how you get a Republican Senate and a Republican House,
00:09:53.180 because the Democrats on the issues, they're not listening to the American people. They're listening
00:09:58.680 to the crazy fringe. And I don't see a whole lot of indication that they're moving. You know, it's
00:10:05.900 a fascinating question is, are there Democrats in the party who say, gosh, we've gotten so far out
00:10:12.740 of the mainstream. We're really listening to just a fringe. Let's get back to the middle.
00:10:19.520 There are one or two people saying that. But I got to say, all right, I want you to listen to James
00:10:25.760 Carville. James Carville is a Democrat through and through. Listen to what James Carville had to say
00:10:31.500 about his party just, just completely getting so extreme that they leave the American people behind.
00:10:39.300 He's really upset about it. Here are the words Carville is quoted online as saying, we don't
00:10:44.280 have the audio, but we have the words. And look, I'll give a warning. Carville's language is always
00:10:49.320 colorful and it is here, but here's how he's quoted. Quote, I dedicated the best years of my effing
00:10:55.180 life to this party only to see it taken over by a bunch of stupid MFers. Everything's gone to S. 1.00
00:11:03.500 By the way, he did not abbreviate any of those. And if you look at the tweet that is particularly
00:11:09.600 circulating online, it says Carville is especially livid following the DNC leadership election,
00:11:15.380 reportedly saying, quote, who are these people? This David Hogg guy and that other sissy, 0.98
00:11:21.340 referring to Malcolm Kenyatta, come out of the GD left field. Well, there goes the mail vote forever.
00:11:27.700 Thanks, guys. We're effed and we deserve it. That's James Carville's assessment of where the
00:11:34.240 Democrat Party is right now. Based on the poll numbers that we're seeing, he's not far off,
00:11:39.440 by the way, from reality. I mean, if he's an honest broker, I have known James for years,
00:11:44.000 you have as well. Like he's this is the assessment. I think he's spot on with where the Democratic Party
00:11:51.360 is. And they still don't seem to understand where that this is how far they are away from
00:11:56.400 the American people. That's a blessing in disguise for us. Yeah, they are not listening to reality.
00:12:03.600 But but look, let's look at the facts. Let's take the facts. All right. Here's a headline from the New
00:12:08.700 York Post just a couple of days ago. Quote, illegal border crossings hit record low after Trump's swift
00:12:15.980 crackdown and could be on track for levels not seen in 60 years. Wow. The numbers are stunning. So far
00:12:26.500 in February, about 359 illegal migrants per day have been caught across the entire southern border down
00:12:34.440 more than 90 percent, 9-0 from February 2024, according to leaked customs and border protection
00:12:42.660 data. That puts the U.S. on track to have the lowest monthly border crossings in at least 25 years.
00:12:50.060 If the trend continues, the number of illegal migrants coming into the U.S. could hit a level
00:12:55.000 not seen since 1968, nearly 60 years ago. Here's a quote from Mark Ricorian, who runs the Center for
00:13:04.360 Immigration Studies. It's the lowest the U.S. has seen, quote, in almost a lifetime. Quote, if you kind of
00:13:12.280 break down the numbers, divide them by 365, we hadn't had numbers this low since the 1960s. So we're talking
00:13:18.140 60-year lows if it's sustained, obviously. The CPP data shows that just 3,953 illegal migrants have been
00:13:26.940 caught this month through February 11th. If that trend continues through the month, that would put the
00:13:33.780 February boarding crossings at roughly 10,000, which is a number that hasn't been seen since CPP began
00:13:40.660 tracking month-to-month data in 1999. 10,000. Under Biden, we were getting 10,000 a day. We're on track
00:13:50.900 for that to be the total monthly traffic, and that's just in the very first month. It's a momentum thing
00:13:58.040 now, right? I mean, you've got to feel it, I'm sure, on Capitol Hill, which is we've just gotten
00:14:02.840 started. The American people are behind us, and we're recruiting a bigger audience that's cheering
00:14:08.480 this on each and every day. Well, look, this election, President Trump and Republicans in the
00:14:15.220 Senate and House promised the American people real results. And you look at what was promised.
00:14:19.920 Number one, we promised we are going to secure the border. And remember, repeatedly, Joe Biden said,
00:14:28.140 first of all, he said the border is secure. He said it over and over and over again. People knew
00:14:31.680 that was a lie. And then he said, well, it's impossible to fix it. Look, it's up to Congress.
00:14:40.800 I want you to listen to this clip from the National Border Patrol Council Vice President
00:14:46.400 talking about Biden lying to the American people on this topic. Give a listen.
00:14:50.940 You know, it's interesting because down on the southern border, there has also been
00:14:54.720 a dramatic reduction in the number of people who are coming across the border. I want to put a call
00:14:59.020 for number four here. This is a senior DHS official talking about that, Chris. Delivering consequences
00:15:04.320 has results. Illegal crossings are down. Godaways are down. Criminal prosecutions are on the rise.
00:15:10.760 Daily reports of large groups in Mexico, Guatemala, turning back south and surrendering to
00:15:15.560 authorities, requesting to go home. And we have only just begun policy matters. President Biden told
00:15:22.200 us repeatedly, Chris, that he had basically done all he could and that it was up to Congress to do
00:15:27.780 more. What's happened in the last two and a half weeks would seem to suggest that Biden was just
00:15:32.420 gaslighting everybody. Yeah, you know, it's unfortunate. I think, yeah, I don't know. I don't
00:15:38.340 know who he thought he was fooling. I mean, it darn sure wasn't us. We knew what was going on the
00:15:42.600 whole time. And you're right. The apprehension numbers have have slown to a crawl. Last night,
00:15:47.580 I was actually working the river and you have the Mexican military patrolling their northern
00:15:51.780 border. So that that slows down a lot of traffic coming our way. So things have changed a great
00:15:56.280 deal. And this president has proven that he's a man of his word and and can get it done. He actually
00:16:02.120 gave President Biden, then President Biden, the roadmap to do it. He just failed to fail to do it.
00:16:08.300 There it is. Failed to do it. Right. That's what it boils down to. Well, and it was deliberate. It was
00:16:13.980 a decision. And listen, Biden knew he was lying to the American people. Kamala Harris knew she was
00:16:20.580 lying to the American people. Corrine Jean-Pierre knew she was lying to the American people. Chuck
00:16:25.100 Schumer knew he was lying to the American people. Every Democrat in the Senate and the House, they knew
00:16:29.480 they were lying to the American people. And it's because they elevated politics above their basic job
00:16:35.160 of representing their constituents and protecting them. And listen,
00:16:40.220 reasonable people can disagree, say, on the right level of legal immigration. Some people might say
00:16:45.440 we should allow more legal immigration. Other people might say we should allow less. That's a
00:16:51.160 discussion reasonable and rational people can have. Let me ask you something. Seriously, Ben,
00:16:56.780 imagine for a second. You're a Democrat strategist. So imagine you're a transgender witch 1.00
00:17:03.440 and you are a complete lunatic and you have no reason. Even so, you presumably want your team to 1.00
00:17:11.240 win. I mean, one would think that would be sort of the basics if you're running a campaign.
00:17:15.500 Sure. Explain to me how a political party gets so far away from common sense in the American people
00:17:25.280 that they decide let's release multiple child rapists that raping kids. You know, apparently 0.99
00:17:34.560 our constituents want child rapists in our community. And if you think, OK, come on, Ted,
00:17:39.780 that's a little extreme. The Democrats are not doing this. I want you to listen about Bill Malugin.
00:17:44.960 Bill Malugin is the best immigration reporter in the country with Fox News. I want you to listen to
00:17:50.000 this clip because this is exactly what the Democrat Party has been doing. Give a listen.
00:17:54.320 Well, Dana, it's hard to believe there are any jurisdictions out there that wouldn't cooperate 0.82
00:17:58.000 with ICE when it comes to illegal aliens charged with forcibly raping children. But in Massachusetts,
00:18:03.840 it's just routine. Take a look at this case. ICE Boston just announcing they arrested this
00:18:08.380 Guatemalan illegal alien charged in Massachusetts with three counts of aggravated child rape and three
00:18:13.900 counts of forcible rape of a child. So the question is, why was he on the streets, right? Well,
00:18:18.920 ICE says their detainer request on him was ignored by the Essex County Superior Court due to sanctuary
00:18:24.640 policy. The locals released him into the community on bail without any notice to ICE. In a statement,
00:18:31.200 the director of ICE Boston says in part, quote, Jose Fernando Perez has been charged with some
00:18:35.880 horrific crimes against a minor in our commonwealth. He is exactly the type of alien we are targeting with 1.00
00:18:41.040 our worst first policy. He posed a significant danger to the children of Massachusetts, and we will not
00:18:46.740 tolerate such a threat to our community. ICE Boston also announcing the arrest of this Turkish illegal 1.00
00:18:52.080 alien charged in Massachusetts with assault and battery against an intellectually disabled person
00:18:57.620 and witness intimidation. But ICE says their detainer on him was also ignored by the sanctuary city of
00:19:04.540 Somerville. He had also been released into the public. Elsewhere around the U.S., ICE Seattle arrested
00:19:10.260 this Salvadoran illegal alien wanted in his home country for aggravated homicide. Here in Los Angeles,
00:19:16.760 ICE arrested this Guatemalan illegal alien charged with sexual assault and rape with a gun. And in
00:19:22.940 Colorado, the DEA announced their top 10 arrests of illegal immigrants in recent days, including several
00:19:28.940 affiliated with Trendy Aragua and others with egregious crimes like kidnapping, child sexual assault,
00:19:34.960 and fentanyl trafficking. And Dana, I was talking to a law enforcement source in Massachusetts about the
00:19:39.880 child rape case that I referenced. And I asked, like, there's got to be some sort of a catch here,
00:19:43.900 right? Forget about cooperating with ICE. How does somebody charged with so many counts of aggravated,
00:19:49.580 forcible child rape even get released on bail in the first place? The response I got was, quote,
00:19:54.460 welcome to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I'll send it back to you.
00:19:57.960 Well, they're finally on their way out. Thanks, Bill.
00:20:01.460 Welcome to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That's how much they hate Donald Trump. They
00:20:05.600 don't care about these rapists running around among us. It really is shocking. And understand 0.98
00:20:13.200 what is being reported there, which is that in Massachusetts, but also you're seeing it in
00:20:20.580 Seattle, also you're seeing it in Colorado and across the country. You have Democrats who have
00:20:26.720 people who are violent child rapists, who are violently, horribly raping little children. 1.00
00:20:34.040 And number one, these Democrats are releasing these child rapists. Now, these child rapists are 1.00
00:20:39.320 illegal immigrants. They could be deported. But their politics of we want as many illegal immigrants as 1.00
00:20:45.200 possible is more important than any sort of common sense of let's stop.
00:20:52.600 Let's stop horrible crimes against vulnerable kids. You know, there's a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche
00:21:02.080 in Beyond Good and Evil, which I think is really on point here. And it is, quote,
00:21:07.640 there is a point in the history of society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender
00:21:14.140 that among other things, it sides even with those who harm it, criminals. And it does this quite
00:21:21.260 seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it. And it is certain that imagining
00:21:28.640 punishment and being supposed to punish hurts it, arouses fear in it. Is it not enough to render him
00:21:38.320 undangerous? Why still punish? Punishing itself is terrible. With this question, herd morality,
00:21:47.600 the morality of timidity draws its ultimate consequence.
00:21:53.120 You say that and you look at where we are. I still feel like we're in a position as Democrats
00:21:58.460 refuse to move that more and more Americans, regardless of that they consider themselves
00:22:03.420 an independent or a Democrat or Republican, are just looking at this issue as a national security
00:22:08.820 issue, a local community safety issue. And that that's why this the support for it is so high.
00:22:15.220 We talked about in those poll numbers. I think that's right. Look, any, you know,
00:22:20.780 a lot of people, most many normal people are not terribly political. They're they're focused on
00:22:25.860 their family and their lives. But but if you ask anyone who's not a moron or a radical, 1.00
00:22:31.940 do you want child rapist released in your community? The answer is no. If you ask most normal people, 1.00
00:22:37.160 should we secure the border? They'll say yes. If you ask most normal people, how many sexes are 1.00
00:22:42.180 there? They're going to say two. Now, we've lived in a world where people were afraid to say there
00:22:47.600 were two sexes because the left, they're so hectoring there. They're so just a few years ago, 0.95
00:22:55.260 they would silence you. They would cancel you that that people were afraid to say up was up and down
00:23:00.820 was down. And and and I do think we're seeing the pendulum swing back because people are tired of
00:23:06.920 the crazier. They want less crazy. Canadian women are looking for more, more of themselves, 1.00
00:23:12.800 their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them. And that's why we're thrilled
00:23:16.920 to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart and I'm Catherine Clark. And in this
00:23:22.580 podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians
00:23:28.260 and newsmakers all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect,
00:23:33.160 then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeart Radio or wherever you listen
00:23:38.180 to your podcasts. Let's go to Doge for a second and give an update there because they're finding the
00:23:45.380 crazy each and every day. They are continuing to find wasteful spending at numbers that I couldn't
00:23:51.560 have imagined. I think a lot of people still can't believe how bad it is. A great example of that is
00:23:57.080 they discovered 1.9 billion, not million, 1.9 billion in HUD money that was, quote, misplaced by
00:24:05.700 the Biden administration this last week. Yeah, they just simply lost it. And so Elon Musk and also
00:24:13.420 Scott Turner, the new new secretary of HUD, they're going to go try to try to get that back. You look
00:24:18.400 at the EPA. The EPA says he's going to seek the return of $20 billion in clean energy grants awarded
00:24:25.500 by Biden. And I got to say, you know, we played on last week's pod reporters saying, well, gosh,
00:24:32.900 we want evidence. Show us the evidence. Well, here are a few examples of what Doge has already discovered.
00:24:39.080 $36,126 from USCIS for, quote, diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility training for
00:24:47.740 leadership and supervisors who manage teams. $2.86 million for, quote, a public relations firm
00:24:56.820 contract for the Council for Inclusive Innovation at the Patent Office, which is to make sure women
00:25:04.980 and minorities were no longer, quote, underrepresented as inventors and patentees. That's $2.86 million.
00:25:12.140 $35,338.58 for, quote, Sri Lankan climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience coordinator
00:25:24.360 services. You know who paid that? The U.S. Forest Service. What the hell is the U.S. Forest Service
00:25:31.020 doing funding climate grants in Sri Lanka? It's a question everybody's asking. And you look at Doge
00:25:38.200 and how this continues to expand. They're now saying they don't think they're going to be able to find
00:25:43.300 all the waste. It could take a year or a year and a half just to get through the waste. Is that a number
00:25:49.000 that shocks you? No. Look, I mean, there's massive waste. And I got to say, it is striking to see
00:25:55.940 Democrats in Congress. They're defending all of it. I have not seen a single Democrat senator say
00:26:02.540 of any of this stuff, OK, that's too much. I'm glad we're getting rid of it. Now, I will say it is
00:26:08.060 fairly striking. Give a listen to the guys at Pod Save America, which are, you know, the leftist bros
00:26:15.420 admitting that Doge is doing some real good and feeling some chagrin. Give a listen to this.
00:26:22.620 And also, as much as I want to throw all of Trump's campaign promises in his face,
00:26:27.700 like the price of eggs is not down, you have not ended the war in Ukraine, etc., etc. You said you'd
00:26:32.560 do it in 24 hours. I think most voters get that it was a shtick and they're going to give him some
00:26:37.240 time to actually get things done. Trump is like he is moving so fast. They are doing a lot. It's not
00:26:45.620 just the perception of it. They hit the ground running in a serious way. It's like genuinely
00:26:50.920 impressive, impressive in a dark and sinister way. But it's nonetheless impressive. And if
00:26:55.820 you're turning on the news every day and hearing about all these different things Trump is doing
00:26:58.440 and all the different criticisms coming out of it, you may not like all of it. But like in comparison
00:27:02.280 to how people felt about Joe Biden being basically absent, I imagine for a lot of people, it's a
00:27:08.060 welcome change. The energy and he's signing things and he's affecting all that. I think that is
00:27:12.000 playing extraordinarily well. I know. You don't want to seem like you're opposed to government
00:27:16.040 efficiency. But obviously now they're just rampaging through like the government Venmo
00:27:20.240 and shutting off. Yeah. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm just lamenting our situation.
00:27:24.200 Me too. No, I love it. I felt the same way because I've seen the messaging memos and it's
00:27:27.980 like, you know, the young people, Gen Z, they like Doge and what Elon's doing because, you
00:27:33.280 know, they don't see they see government as sclerotic and inefficient and they like the
00:27:36.940 move fast and break things ethos and they want to get stuff done and they like the results.
00:27:41.320 And it's like, yeah, we, yes, of course, we all want that. We all know the government
00:27:45.680 is slow. We all know the government can be inefficient. We all know that the bureaucracy
00:27:48.860 can be bloated. We all worked in the White House. We tried to reorganize the government.
00:27:52.760 We tried to find efficiency. It's hard to do. And honestly, some of this is pretty annoying
00:27:56.260 because it's some of the stuff we should have done. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you could
00:27:59.100 do some of this. You just got to talk Gen Z to him. You're like, I could dig these Doja 0.95
00:28:02.640 cats. Oh my God. That was horrible. I mean, I can't say that they're wrong, but I think
00:28:10.620 they're, they're at the point where they're like, we got to tell the truth. All right,
00:28:13.540 Ben, the astonishing thing is pod save America makes more sense than any Democrat in the
00:28:19.060 U S Congress. I have not heard a single Democrat saying that, that gosh, this spending is, is
00:28:24.880 egregious. No, I will, we'll say you notice they sort of reflexively tossed out egg prices.
00:28:30.700 Yeah. Let me give you a couple of stats that that'll blow you away in the 25 days since Trump's
00:28:36.660 inauguration. How many times do you think CNN has mentioned egg prices? Oh, it's got to be,
00:28:41.520 I mean, dozens and dozens. 45. Wow. All right. In the 25 days before the inauguration,
00:28:49.420 how many times do you think CNN mentioned egg prices? Five or less. Zero. Wow. Zero. All right.
00:28:58.900 How about MSNBC? Surely they're more balanced. In the 25 days since Trump's inauguration,
00:29:04.040 how many times do they mentioned, mentioned egg prices? 30, 80. Wow. All right. How about the 25
00:29:11.100 days before inauguration? How many times do they mention it? I'm going to go with zero. Are we
00:29:15.500 going to go with zero? One, one. I'll give them credit. It's, it's 80 to one. And, and, and it's
00:29:20.600 just, listen, suddenly they discovered, by the way, eggs were expensive before Trump was sworn in.
00:29:26.540 And you know, we did have avian flu and they, they, they like slaughtered a whole bunch of 1.00
00:29:30.240 chickens. So that is a problem because you know, I, I'm, I am not, uh, uh, an avian biologist,
00:29:36.060 but I'm pretty sure you need chickens to get eggs. So it is fascinating to see we're securing the
00:29:43.880 border. We're cutting down massive government waste. We're getting wins, wins, wins. And the
00:29:48.480 one thing the media has discovered is to start screaming, eggs are expensive, eggs are expensive, 0.96
00:29:52.640 as if they apparently had never noticed it until Donald Trump, uh, took the oath of office.
00:29:58.660 Yeah. I think the American people are paying a lot closer attention to all of this. That's
00:30:02.980 why it's not working on them. And I also think the American people just don't trust the media
00:30:06.540 anymore. It's going to be interesting to see how long that lasts. Cause if it keeps going
00:30:10.760 the way it is right now, Democrats and the media are in serious trouble. Don't forget we do this
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