Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Iran's Problem w Trump as POTUS, Harris PAID Celebrities to Like Her & Details of Picking a Sen. Majority Leader Week In Review

Transcript

Iran's Problem w Trump as POTUS, Harris PAID Celebrities to Like Her & Details of Picking a Sen. Majority Leader Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: It is Verdict with Ted Cruz and the week in
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Review Ben Ferguson with you. And these are the major
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: stories that you may have missed that we talked about
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: this week. First up, Donald Trump now responding to an
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Iranian plot to take his own life and why do
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: we only find out about this after election day? We'll
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: dive into that in just a moment. Also, Kamala Harris
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: blew through a billion dollars with her campaign, and she
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: made a lot of people rich in the process. So
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: why is it that so many celebrities took major paychecks
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: from donors instead of quote doing the right thing to
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: support Kamala will break down the money and who got rich. Also,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: the purpose of secret ballot for selecting the Senate majority leader, Well,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: what actually happened behind the scenes? Center Cruse and I
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: break down exactly how that vote took place. It's the
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Weekend Review and it starts right now. You hear this
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: plot and you sit there and you go, how on
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: earth has the Biden Hearris administration allowed Iran to get
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to this point where they can just easily go out
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: into the United States of America knock on people's doors
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: in America get away with this and not hold them
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: accountable for any of this while they're also attacking Israel.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: And the question is number one, let's start with the
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: real political aspect of this. What is a Trump administration
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: response seed to be with this. I'm not saying because
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: they were targeting Trump. I'm saying the president of the
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: United States of America, regardless of who that person is,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: should never allow Ran to feel this comfortable on American
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: soil to do this, much less plan to take out
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: our president or a former president of the United States
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: of America.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Well, election day was a fantastic day for America. It
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: was fantastic day for everyone who wants to see jobs,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: who wants to see border security, who wants to see
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: national security enhanced. But it was a terrible, terrible day
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: for the Ayatola and the Iranian Malahs. Four years Joe
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Biden and Kamala Harris, with a support of every Democrat
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: in Congress, they have funneled over one hundred billion dollars
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: to Iran. It's not just that Biden Harris allowed Iran
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: to do this, they paid for it. One hundred billion
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: dollars is a lot of money. I'm here to tell
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: you that is going to end. In January of next year.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: The Trump administration is going to cut off the money.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: That's going to be the beginning. And I expect serious
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: consequences for Iran repeatedly trying to murder President Trump. I
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: don't know what those consequences will be, but I guarantee
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: you the Iatolas are the Iotola and the Mullahs are deeply,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: deeply worried and scared and the brazenness of this. And
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: look understand, the Justice Department knew about this. They deliberately
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: did not make it public until after election day. I
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: think they had a judgment, well, gosh, if people know
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: that Iran is like actively trying to murder Trump, if
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: they know the details of this, that's going to end
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: up benefiting Trump's let's just keep it quiet and well
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Trump one.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So then it was cover your ables. Is that a
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: fair way of describing this?
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: And no. I mean, look, they had to file the
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: complaint at some point, so they're prosecuting these folks, So
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: it was inevitable that it would be filed, because you
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: can't prosecute them without filing the indictment and bringing charges.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: The timing the fact that they did not say anything public. Look,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: DOJ has long standing rules that you're not supposed to
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: do anything to interfere in an election. I would say
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: that that foiling an assassination attempt by a foreign government
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: is not DOJ doing something to interfere with an election.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: It is instead DJ doing its job. And I think
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: the public has a right to know that. But and
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: so I think their decision to bury it and listen
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: under Joe Biden, this Biden Department of Justice, if there's
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: one thing they know how to do, it is leak.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Merrick Garland and his team, they leak like crazy when
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: the story. When the story suits them politically, they give
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: it to all their buddies in the press. This thing
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: stayed absolutely silent until after election day. They also kept
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: silent uh the the murder attempt of the US citizen
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: by Iran, because it also shows the incredible weakness of
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: this administration, just how much they've had boldened Iran that
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: they feel that they can carry out attempted murder plots
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: on US soil. It is a real demonstration of the
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: basic principle that that weakness invites hostility. In this case,
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Iran was only emboldened by Joe Biden, Kamala Harris's weakness.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and Fox News when they reported on this, it
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: was very interesting to see how they report it. And
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I want to play this people, and I want you
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: to think about why you didn't know this before Election day.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Listen, the Justice Department unsealing criminal charges in a thwarted
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Iranian plot to kill President elect Donald Trump in the
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: lead up to this week's election. Welcome everybody. I'm deal cabudo.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: There's still a lot we don't we know about this,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: but David spun piecing together what we do, David.
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: Neil, we know it's just another threat coming from Iran
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: directed at President elect Donald Trump. The man that authorities
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: are looking for is a fifty one year old who
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: is allegedly working with the Iranian regime on a plan
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: to kill Trump.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: His name is Farhad Shakiri.
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: Authorities believe he's in Iran right now as I speak
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: to you. According to a criminal complaint on Seal today,
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: Shakiri demanded large sums of money for working on this
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: plot to kill Trump over the past few months. At
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: stated in a complaint, Shakiri indicated to an Iran Iranian
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: government official that this would cost a huge amount of money.
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: In response, the Iranian officials said, we have already spent
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: a lot of money, so the money's not an issue.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: In a statement from FBI Director Christopher Ray, he says
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization,
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: gun down Americans on US soil, and that simply won't
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: be tolerated. Thanks to the hard work of the FBI,
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: their deadly schemes were disrupted.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: By the way they said. And this is the part
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you. They said it was won't
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: be tolerated. I'm not sure I believe that based on
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: what we know now. It seems like we've been tolerating
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Iran basically doing whatever the hell they want to do
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: for quite some time in the world.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Well, that's right. And look, it's important to understand a
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: lot of the press when they talk about Donald Trump's
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: foreign policy, they mischaracterize it. There are a lot of
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: folks that characterized Trump as an isolationist. That's not remotely
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: the case. I mean, part of the reason Iran is
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: so angry is because remember Trump took out he killed
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: General Solomony. General Solomony was responsible for orchestrating the murder
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: of over six hundred American servicemen and women. He was
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: one of the leading terrorists in the world, and Iran's
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and Donald Trump took
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: him out. Donald Trump also enforced the oil sections, pulled
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: out of the Iran deal, brought the Iranian economy to
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: its knees, cut off their money, had the regime ready
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: to topple. That is strength what Trump rightly did. And
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: by the way, on all of those steps, I was
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: urging Trump to proceed to vigorously defend us against Iran.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: What Trump also did, though, is he did not get
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: us in foreign wars. It is amazing how the weakness
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: and appeasement of the left gets it exactly backwards. They're
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: eager to get us and mesh and foreign wars all
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: over the world, but they're not willing to be strong
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: against people who actually are trying to kill us. And
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: in this instance, there are going to be very very
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: real consequences for Iran. The first will be economic. Their
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: money is going to disappear, but there's going to be
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: consequences that are a lot more real world than just
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: dollars and cents.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Finally center some breaking news.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I just want to get your quick thoughts on this
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: because it's an interesting story and it's really just a
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: sad story. I think it's a such a sad story
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: for the people that are hurting, who were needing the
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: help of their government. It has come out now that
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: a FEMA official ordered relief workers to deliberately and purposely
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: skip the houses of people that have been affected by
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: the hurricane that had Trump signs up. A whistle blower
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: came forward, so it's almost unbelievable to think that somebody
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: in the federal government would think that's okay. I'm actually,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: by the way, not surprised, unfortunately, that there are people
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: in this Biden Harris government that would say, screw those
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: that are Trump supporters and don't give them government aid
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: even after a hurricane.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Yet this did happen.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this story, it's a story of an incredible abuse
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: of power and just a brazen partisanship that sadly it
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: typifies what has happened throughout the Biden Harris administration. I
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: want to give credit to the Daily Wire. The Daily
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: Wire broke this story. It also illustrates how so called
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: mainstream media, the corporate meet does not actually report on
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: real news. It took the Daily Wire to make this public.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: It's also the Daily Wire that broke the stories in
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: Loudon County couple of years ago about the teenage girl
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: who was sexually assaulted in the bathroom by the boy
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: wearing a skirt, because again, the corporate media wouldn't report
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: on it.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: Well.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: In this instance, the Daily Wire reported that that instructions
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: were given to FEMA workers that said, and they actually
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: have screenshots of the instructions that say, quote implement best practices.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: No one goes anywhere alone, avoid homes advertising TRUMP, practice
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: de escalation and preventative measures. Communicate with and follow the rules.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Bring a towel with yourself in the field. Frequent breaks,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: and drink water. Avoid high salt diets and coffee. Coconut
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: water is a fast way to replenish your electrolytes quickly.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: So this is written instructions for emergency emergency workers who
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: are dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane a natural disaster,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: and they are told in writing avoid homes advertising TRUMP. Now, Now, look,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: this only happens when you absolutely normalize the weaponization of
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: government against the enemies of your regime. This is this
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: particular individual was caught, and this person's been fired. Now,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: of course she's been fired, she should have been fired.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: But the broader question was what kind of culture was
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: there that made you think you should explicitly say hey,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: and and I mean these are this is providing put
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: it in right.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Comfortable enough to put it in writing. Yep, yeah, wonder
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: what else is in writing that that that is exactly right?
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: And you know, one of the employees who was one
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: of the whistleblowers said, quote, I know their short staff.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I thought we could go help and make a difference.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: When we got there, we were told to discriminate against people.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: It's almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: government would think that's okay. The employee said that it
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: felt wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: at their most vulnerable.
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: Quote.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: It didn't matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump,
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help. That
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: would be actually the government doing its job. But sadly,
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: too many in the Biden Harris administration. Too many on
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: the left that they have convinced themselves Trump is hitler.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Anyone who supports him as garbage, and therefore you can
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: do anything possible to go after them. It's a really
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: sad example of just how weaponized this administration's gotten.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I hope this inspires others if there are other stories
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: out there, other emails and things in writing like this
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: that will be brought forward. I am glad by the
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: way that the woman's been fired, But the question that
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I have to ask after that is, well, were there
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: any laws broken?
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: And I hope they look at that as well well.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: And Ben and Ben, let me let me say, if
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: you go into the story, there are photos from the
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: cysts the federal relief workers used to track the homes
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: they visited, and it showed that they followed the written guidance.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Several addresses were marked as quote not able to access property,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: with listed explanations such as quote Trump sign, no entry
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: per leadership, quote per leadership, no stop Trump flag quote
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: Trump sign end quote Trump sign, no contact per leadership.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: This was.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Yes, it was carried out by supervision that the name
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: of the individual is someone Marnie Washington is the one
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: who issued this order. Marnie Washington has been fired, but
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: this was an organization where this order was.
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: Par for the course.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: from earlier this week. Now onto story number two, Senator.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: One other story is Donald Trump is getting his cabinet
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: together and making appointments. That has not gotten a lot
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: of attention is the take out the trash everybody throwing
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: everybody under the bus in the Biden camp, the Harris camp.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: We find out she blew through a billion dollars. She's
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: upside down in debt. They're begging for money with text
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: messages to liberals saying we need your help with accounting
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: of the votes and give money. Now, I wish I
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: was joking, but I'm not, and I don't know. Someone
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: said eighteen twenty million upside down. And then we found
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: out where a lot of the donations actually went. The
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: donations were going to celebrities. Oprah's had to come out
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: after there was a million dollar check given to her
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Quote production company for production of a one day sit
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: down interview that we many people saw on TV with Oprah.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: It doesn't cost a million dollars to produce that, but
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: that was the price tag. And then we found out
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: that there were a lot of celebrities that were being paid.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: To act like they loved Kamala Harris.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: And there are some Democratic donors that are livid right
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: now over the price tag on this.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: You know, there's a terrific article in the Spectator World
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: entitled Kamala Harris ran the Fry Festival of Campaigns and
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: it points out that Trump's campaign spent roughly four hundred
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: and eighty eight million dollars and Kamala spent more than
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: a billion, So she outspent Trump more than two to one.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: And Kamala's campaign ended up twenty million dollars in debt. Well,
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: it turns out where did that money go. Well, one
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: of the things that went to is they paid many
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: of the quote unquote celebrities who supported her. We were
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: getting paid and getting paid significant sums. So for example,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: remember the Call Me Daddy podcast? Yeah, well apparently the
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: campaign spent upwards of six figures to build a custom
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: set for her appearance on the podcast, and the podcast
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: netted only eight hundred thousand downloads. Less than a million downloads. Look, Ben,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: you and I we have roughly a million unique listeners.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: If she wanted eight hundred thousand downloads, I'll tell you,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Kamala right now, even though you've lost Ben and I
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: will invite you on Verdict right now. We will welcome you.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: We will not charge you to build a set, so
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: you can save all your money. And you paid Oprah
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: a million dollars for production costs, we will charge you
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: for production costs on Verdict. What do you think fifty bucks?
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Sure? I think I took a fair price. Fifty bucks.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: Fifty bucks will get you a very nice coffee cup
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: with some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. That's what we'll spend
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: the fifty bucks on. And you can reach the same
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: number of people all right. By the way, she also
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: turned down Joe Rogan, so call me daddy. Got eight
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: hundred thousand dowarsad, How how many do you think Joe
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Rogan's interview.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Of Donald Trump got a lot more than that?
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: Forty seven million?
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's a lot. That's a lot.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: So there were also seven swing state concerts with expensive performers,
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: and it turns out every one of them they got
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: a price. It is the world's oldest profession and they
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: are charging for it. So who are the performers that
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: got paid millions of dollars? Katie Perry, Lady Gaga, John
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: bon Jovi, Ricky Martin.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Hold On, you're telling me none of these people were
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: like doing it for free because they were all in
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: for Kama.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: They wanted to get paid.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Show me the money. They ended up spending more than
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: twenty million dollars on event production alone. Oprah, as you noted,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: charged a million dollars and and they went so far
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: into debt that the campaign allegedly had to scrap Alanis Morisset.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: They were planning to do a lon of Morris set
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: and they said, no, okay, we can't afford her anymore.
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: Nevermind.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, it is truly stunning, and you've got to wonder,
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Like I gotta say, I don't get paying millions of
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: dollars for celebrities to fake endorse someone she spent paid
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: money to.
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: What Beyonce?
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go over the big ones.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: This is coming from Fox and I'm gonna play this
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: this audio.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Take a listen.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: This is again from Fox, as they were going through
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: how much cash was spent.
• 17:34
  Speaker 7: I can't get over these numbers. Ten million dollars for
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: Beyonce to step up and back Kamala Harris publicly, five
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: million for Megan the Stallion, three million for Lizzo, one
• 17:46
  Speaker 7: point eight million for em and M is that.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: Those numbers are unbelievable if you just look at them.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: And I was like, hold on a second, and I
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: went back and watched that clip a couple of different times,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: because you've got them.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Ten million for Beyonce.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: If you're a donor and you wrote a big check Meghan,
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: this Stallion, five million, Lizzo three million and one point
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: eight million, I called on, I just raised all this
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: money for you, and this is how you spent it.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Look, I gotta say I've run a bunch of campaigns.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: I ran my first campaign for Senate in twenty twelve.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: I ran my next campaign for president in twenty sixteen.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: We won twelve states all over the country. I ran
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: my next campaign for Senate again in twenty eighteen, and
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: I just finished running my most recent campaign for Senate
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: reelect a third term in twenty twenty four. I can
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: tell you, in the whole time, I've never paid any
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: one a million dollars for anything. I don't think we
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: paid any entertainers. I don't know of any entertainers we paid.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Maybe at some point we paid five or ten grand
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: for someone performing at some party. I'm not aware of it,
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: but I can tell you this. Look our stars, now,
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: to be clear, the stars we have at our events
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: are are international, supermodeled, global talents like Ben Ferguson.
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: And I gotta tell you.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Want that ten million dollar payday once in my career,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: like oh yeah, beyondest, Yeah yeah, I'm all in for
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: the cause, but I just seed ten million to make
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: it happen.
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: Okay, Ben, To be clear, we don't pay you ten dollars.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: No, that's.
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: Look, I'm a fiscal conservative, damn it.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: If you want to be there and you believe in
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: saving the country, stand up and save the country.
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: And if not, get the hell out.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: But like, what is it with these lefties who ironically
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: they want to put socialists in office, who make it
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: impossible for people to earn a living, and yet they're
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: such capitalists that they're like, show me the money to
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: do it. I mean, there is an intense hypocrisy on this.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: I believe this, and I'm not just saying this because
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: this moment in this headline, But I'm being dead serious.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: This could be a huge problem for Democratic cants moving
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: forward because when you see this type of abuse campaign
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: finance money from donors, those same donors, somebody's going to
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: be asking them for money and four years or less
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: than four years from now.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: And I'm the next time Beto O'Rourke, Collin all Red
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: jumps on a stage with with Willie Nelson, Everyone's going
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: to ask how much you pay him?
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: How much of my money did that I gave you?
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Did you just give him for that thirteen minutes of
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: him singing?
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: It's it's an question, and it undermines the entire credibility
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: that I'm here because I love America so much and
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: you've got to vote for this candidate.
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: Look, I'll give you an example in the presidential race.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: So one of the cooler people that I got to
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: meet and spend time with was Phil Robertson, you know
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: from Duck Dynasty.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and here was I mean massive back in
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: the day, like unbelievable star.
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: Huge star.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: And so so he invited me to Monroe, Louisiana to
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: come stay at his place, and I went out duck
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: hunting with Phil, which, by the way, ranks among the
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: cool things I've ever gotten to do. And we went
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: to the duck blind. We're there at four in the morning. Look,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: I like to hunt in Texas. I gotta be careful
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: about what I say because there's so many really serious
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: hunters that I can't overstate. I go hunting a couple
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: times a year. I enjoy it, but I'm not someone
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: who like lives and breathes it. Phil in that duck blind,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: I have never seen a person who is a better
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: shot with a shotgun. He would drop birds at a
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: distance that I wouldn't pick up my gun. They were
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: too far away. I'm like, yeah, if the duck flies
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: over here, I'll shoot it, but I can't shoot it
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: way over there. And he would just boom, and then
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: the dogs would swim out and grab the duck and
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: bring it back. And Phil, I'll tell you So I
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: went there and spent the day when hunting with him.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: He recorded an ad for our campaign that we put out.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: It remains one of my favorite ads we've ever done.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: I'm all like wearing camo grease paint and I'm in
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: the duck blind with Phil.
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: It was really cool.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: But Phil, it was during the Iowa Caucuses and we asked, Phil,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: will you come to Iowa and campaign with me? And Phil,
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: for something like forty years, had not missed a single
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: day of duck season. He'd been out there every single
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: day for four decades, and we'd invited him to come.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: And that morning he went to the blind at four
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: in the morning and he's sitting there in the blind
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: and I guess you know, it weighed on his heart.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: I can't do this today. I need to go fight
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: to save America. And Phil left the blind and he
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: went and hopped on a plane and he flew to
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: Iowa and he did a big rally with me in Iowa.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: And I told him then, I'm like, Phil, I am
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: beyond humboldt that you missed the first day of duck
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: season in forty years to be here in campaign alongside me. Now,
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: I didn't write m a damn check to do that.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: I just said, if you gave.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Him beyond save money, you know you're like, oh, and
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: by the way, here's ten million dollars.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: No. No, I just said, come help save America. And
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: it meant a lot like for him to miss it,
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: and that day we were literally touch and go. We
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: didn't know who's going to come, but it meant a
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: big deal when he came. If you're paying Beyonce ten
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: million dollars, I mean my good I mean goodness, who
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: would she not endorse for ten million dollars?
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: As before, If you want to hear the rest of
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: dow the podcasts from earlier this week to hear the
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: entire thing.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I want to get back to the big story number
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: three of the week you may have missed.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: So what is that? What is the purpose of the
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: secret ballot? Is that just so people can vote their
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: conscience and there's not so much you know, hoophar? Is
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: it to keep it more efficient? What's the what's or
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: is it just traditions? What's behind that?
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: Look?
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: Some of it is because you've got to work with
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: these people. Remember, the Senate's a small place. They're fifty
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: three of us, and and so you know, if you're
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: voting against the person who's your leader, that is a
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: small and awkward dynamic. So I would have liked the
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: ballot to be public. I would have absolutely supported making
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: it public. It's why I announced that I was voting
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: for Rick Scott, because I wanted to tell the voters.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: But most of the senators don't, So I don't know.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: I know some of the centers, some of the senators
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: chose to say who they were voting for. But I'd
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: say at least half the senators I have no idea
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: how they voted. They didn't say, they haven't publicly said.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: And there is a dynamic when you're dealing with a
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: small enough group of people that you've got to after
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: the election, you've got to turn around and work not
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: just with whoever won, but whoever lost.
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: So I think that's some of the history.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: It's always, to the best of my knowledge, it has
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: always been a secret ballot, and because of that dynamic,
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: and the other Senate leadership votes are secret ballot as well.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: And look two years ago, in twenty twenty two, had
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: the first contested leadership ballot in sixteen years and two
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: years ago, Rick Scott challenged Mitch McConnell, and I was
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: the point of the spear. So the beginning of that
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: battle two years ago, the very first thing that happened
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: as I stood up and I made a motion to
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: delay the election for a month, so we were voting
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: two years.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: We did a great show on this it's all coming
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: back to me now that you can go back and
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: listen to, because I think, if I'm not mistaken, we
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: did it like it two in the morning after the
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: voting had taken place, and you'd come out and told
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: this story. I would encourage everybody if you want to
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: go back and listen to this episode. Like you said,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: it's like two years ago, and it was a big
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: fight then, and like you said, you were the one
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: leading that the tip of the spear on it.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Yep, and it was two years ago. It is always
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: the week after the election now. By the way, Republican
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: leadership does that because the people who vote are the
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: senators who will be the senators for the next two years.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: So the brand new baby senators who were just elected
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: they vote. The senators who are retiring or leading the
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: Senate they don't vote. And part of the reason they
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: do that is because they want the brand new baby
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: senators not to know what they're doing, to be just
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: in their basement office, not to know where the men's
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: room is, and they don't want newly elected senators to
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: rock the vote. It's designed. It's actually a pretty cynical thing.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: It's designed not to not to challenge the status quo.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: So two years ago I made a motion, Look, twenty
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: twenty two should have been a fantastic election for Republicans.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: We should have won the Senate. We should have we
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: should have grown our majority in the House. It should
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: have been a fantastic election. And it was a lousy election.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: And I stood up and said, listen, we ought to
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: delay this this vote by a month, and we ought
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: to spend the month next month talking about why we
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: got our asses kicked, Like what's going wrong? And I
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: turned them at McConnell I said, listen, for the last
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: two years, we had a handful of Republicans team up
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: with the Democrats to pass the Democrats' priorities. Now, maybe
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: that's a good idea. Someone here can make the argument
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: why that's a good idea. I think it's dumb as hell.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: But if you want to make the argument it's a
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: good idea, we ought to talk about it. What I
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: could tell you that is objectively true is the Democrats
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: never do that. Like when we had Trump was president,
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: we had a Republican Senate Republican House. There was not
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: a single bill we passed that consisted of all the
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Republicans and a handful of Democrats joining us. They opposed everything,
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: and by the way, for the next two years, I
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: think they will as well. So I said, look, we
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: ought to debate. Whatever we did didn't work. We ought
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: to debated, and so I laid out. I gave a
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: forty five minute speech. I looked at Mitch McConnell and
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: I said, tell me, over the next two years, what
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: are you willing to fight over? I said, listen, you
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: and I may disagree. There are a lot of things
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: I think we should fight over. They're not for you,
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: But is there anything? Is there one thing you're willing
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: to fight on over the next two years. By the way,
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Mitch refused to answer that question. We ended up after
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: I made the motion to delay the vote. I ended
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: up getting sixteen votes for that motion. I needed twenty five,
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: so we had forty nine Republicans, so I needed twenty
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: five for a majority, So I fell nine votes short.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Those sixteen votes were the first votes ever cast against
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Mitch McConnell, and that was very consequential after that, Rick Scott,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: because I failed to delay the election. Rick Scott ran
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: against Mitch. I voted for Rick. I was quite vocal
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: about it, and Rick got ten votes, and so that's
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: what happened. I was one of those ten. By the way,
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: after the votes, Mitch McConnell exacted retribution on the senators
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: who opposed him. So, for example, the Commerce Committee, both
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Rick Scott and Mike Lee used to be on the
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: Commerce Committee, and Mitch McConnell uses his authority as the
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: GOP leader to throw them both off the Commerce cat
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: Many Eric Schmidt from Missouri who also voted against Mitch.
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: Eric Schmidt wanted to be on Judiciary, and Mitch used
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: his authority to orchestrate blocking him from being on Judiciary.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: So there was there was There were real punitive measures
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: that were implemented attacking the people that dared stand up
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: to McConnell. So this time around, Rick Scott did better
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: than he did two years ago. Two years ago he
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: got ten votes. This time he got thirteen votes, so
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: we picked up three more votes. I don't know who
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: those three more votes were. I was one of those thirteen,
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: as i'd been one of those ten, but Rick did
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: not prevail, and then ultimately Thune prevailed on the second ballot,
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: so Thune will be the majority leader going forward.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about Thune for just a second. What
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: do people need to know about him that maybe they
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: don't know.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, listen, I like Johonthune. I've worked with him. I've
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: worked with Thune, I've worked with Korn, and I've worked
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: with three. I mean, the Senate is a small place.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: It's a collegial place. If you want to actually accomplish
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: every anything, you've got to deal with and and work
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: cooperatively with your colleagues. John Thune is from South Dakota.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: You know, he's a tall, good looking college athlete. He
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: was a college basketball player.
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Thune and I, you know, used to he works out
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: every morning in the gym, and he's he's very fit.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: I would work out at the same time he was,
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: and it was kind of embarrassing because he would lift
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: a lot more weight than I could lift, and he
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: would he would be like pumping iron. And it's sort
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: of humbling to watch Thune because he's just you know,
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: he's a he's a man in his early sixties who's
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: in really good shape. Look, Thune, I was not surprised
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: Thune one, because he's very well liked by his colleagues.
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: Thune is affable, he's he's a good guy. He's just
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: he's not a jerk. He's not he's everyone likes him.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: It's just I mentioned before, the Senate is a little
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: bit like a junior high. You know, thun would win
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: the class president election. It's and a lot of it
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: is the kind of small, little personal dynamics that play
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: out on that. But as I said, I was not
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: surprised Thoon won. I will say a lot of the
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: Trump world was freaking out saying, oh, Thuon hates Donald
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Trump and he's going to oppose everything Trump wants to do.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: I think those concerns were overstated. Listen, John Thune is
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: majority leader in every senator is excited that we have
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: a Republican White House, Republican Senate, Republican House, and we
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: are really focused on delivering results and delivering on our
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: promises to the voters. And so I think Thune as
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: leader is going to focus on working very closely with
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: President Trump uh to to confirm his cabinet appointments to
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: move forward. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Senate
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: is going to be a rubber stamp for one hundred
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: percent of everything that comes from the White House. Uh.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: And it's not the Senate's job to be a rubber
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: stamp for everything that comes from the White House. Under
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: the Constitution, the Senate is supposed to have a role,
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: a role of on nominations, advice and consent, a role
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: of check and balance. But but I can tell you
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: that the sort of folks and I had multiple calls
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: from Trump's team very worried, Okay, is is Thun going
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: to fight us in everything we're doing?
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: And I was like, Okay, I no, I.
• 32:34
  Speaker 7: I So.
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: So today I had an hour long.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Meeting, UH with with Thune as the new majority leader
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: and with all the committee chairs, and the entire meeting
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: was talking about, Okay, how are we going to move
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: forward with with with tax reform, with extending the Trump
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: tax cuts, with with with regulatory reform, with unleashing energy,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: with securing the border. How are we going to move
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: the legislative agenda so we can deliver big, big wins
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: in in the next year. And that was that was
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: the focus from Thune and every committee chairman. So I
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: think I understand. Look I voted for Rick Scott because
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: I think Rick was offering the greatest change. But at
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: the end of the day, to prevail, you've got to
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: be able to get a majority of the Republican Senators,
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: and Rick did not.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Sentner,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to deal
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: with my podcast and you can listen to my podcast
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: day when you.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Listen to Verdict.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: Afterwards, I'd love to have you as a listener to
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: again the Ben Ferguson podcasts, and we will see you
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: back here on Monday morning.