Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Trump's Inauguration! plus Tik Tok Ban-What's Next?

Transcript

Trump's Inauguration! plus Tik Tok Ban-What's Next? · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: It is Verdict with Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: on inauguration Day. Sit back, stretch out America. Donald Trump
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: is back and it's going to be a glorious Monday
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: and Center.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: You're right there in the middle of all of it.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Well, I am. Today is a momentous day.
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: At noon today, January twentieth, Joseph Robinette Biden Junior will
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: cease to be President of the United States and Donald
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: John Trump will become the forty seventh President of the
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: United States. We will see a new administration come into office.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: We will see the entire direction of the country, the
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: path we're on change. We're gonna break down everything that's
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: been happening on inauguration today and throughout the weekend. I've
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: been up here all weekend, so we're gonna bring inside
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: what it's like on an inauguration weekend. That's what we're
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: gonna start with. Then we're gonna talk about TikTok TikTok.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: The ban went into effect on Sunday. TikTok went down.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: It's now back up. What's gonna happen now next? What
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: does it mean? We're going to break that down all
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: of that.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: In this verdict, I want to tell you real quick
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: about our friends over at the International Fellowship of Christians
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: and Jews. On January the twenty seventh, just a few
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: days away, the International Holocaust Rememberance date will be here,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: and that is a day we remember the great evil
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: of the Holocaust, when millions of Jews were slaughtered during
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: the Nazis reign of terror. Now today, unfortunately, the rise
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: in global anti Semitism and the constant attacks on Israel
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: show us that it's more important than ever to remember
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the atrocities of the Holocaust to ensure that it never ever,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: ever happens again. And that's why I have partnered with
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. What the work
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: they do is just truly unbelievable. Not only do they
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: provide food and shelter and safety to Jews in Israel
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: and around the world, including those remaining Holocaust survivors. And
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: that is where your donation today will help provide that food, water, medicine,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: and other basic necessities to the Jewish community, including bomb
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: shelters and armored ambulances that have saved countless lives throughout
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: the last year and a half and your gift will
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: also send a message that you stand with the Jewish
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: people against this growing anti Semitism and hatred. So to
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: give and show your support right now to the Jewish people,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: you can do it by going to support IFCJ dot org.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: That's one word, support if CJ dot org. You can
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: also call eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ that's
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: eight eight eight four eight eight if CJ eight eight
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: eight four eight eight four three two five, or support
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: IFCJ dot org center.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: All right, I gotta be honest with you.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I'm having fomo and and I were going to come
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: up for the inauguration, and then we saw the attempts
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: and then we saw that they can and sold it
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: being outside, and then it was a question of all right,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: do we come do we not?
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You're there.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I've seen your pictures, you hang out with family. You
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: even got a picture with Snoop Dogg and your daughter
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: the crypto ball. It looks like it's been an amazing
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: weekend celebrating democracy and Donald Trump coming back into office.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Well, well it has, and I guess we got to
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: start ben with you know, why do you hate America?
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I set you up pretty well for that one right.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: You know, you could choose to be here celebrating a
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: new day at America, celebrating changing the course. Well, or
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: you could stay at home and say, you know, I'm
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: really cold.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: See I can blame you for this.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Anna said, is Center Cruz going to make sure we
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: go with him to see Snoop Dogg's That's what I
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: want to do. And I said, he hasn't offered, honey,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: So technically it's your fault.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go back hard.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: You didn't ask, I would have happily brought you in. So,
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: particularly because it's already passed. That's the easiest way is
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: to offer things in the hypothetical after the effect. So look, look,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: the whole weekend we start started with Friday. So so Friday,
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: the Senate was in session this week, and so so
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: we voted. We voted actually on the Lake and Riley Act.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: We got a bunch of Democrats who voted for it
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: as well. So we actually moved forward with the Lake
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: and Riley Act. And it may show that Democrats are
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: a little bit scared of the election results, particularly their
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: open border policies. Then Friday night we had I started
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: the festivities with the party, the Donald Trump Junior hosted
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: and there are a bunch of folks there, a bunch
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: of cabinet members. There was good, good to celebrate.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: And then went from there to the Crypto Ball. And
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: the Crypto Ball was was remarkable. It was a big
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: black tie gala and the performer was Snoop dog And
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: you know, it's interesting. In the first term, Snoop Dogg
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: was not a fan of Donald Trump.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: But but this administration, he is performing at one of
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: the inaugural galas, the Crypto Crypto Ball, and h you know,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I'll tell you my daughter Caroline, as you know, she's
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: not particularly into politics, but but I did ask her, hey,
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: you got any interest in seeing Snoop Dogg perform?
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: And she was all over that that's so fun. So
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: it was very you know, look it's good as.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: A game cool yead for like a couple of hours.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: And so it was a good chance, you know.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: And I told her, I said, I'm pretty sure I
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: can get you backstage and and and it turned out
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: I could, and and so Caroline was up there, and
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: we went back back to Snoop's bus and and he
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: was there with his entourage.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: We hung out with him for a few minutes.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: He was very kind, took a picture with Caroline, and
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: that was It was very nice and very gracious. I'm
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: not going to say we were partying with Snoop, but
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: we got to meet him and he took a picture
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: with Caroline, so that was fun.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: So what is a demeanor like and does it feel
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: like it did eight years ago after sixteen or does
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: it feel very different this time?
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: And explain the difference.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: There's real excitement, there's a greater mandate. Look in twenty sixteen,
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: almost nobody believed Trump would win, including Trump, and it
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: was everyone was kind of a little shocked. And the
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: Trump team had never done this before, and so they
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: were trying to figure out what to do. The difference
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: now this team is hitting the ground running one hundred
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: miles an hour instead of two miles an hour, like
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: it is night and day. You look at the cabinet
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: members have all been announced, We've already had hearings on
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: half the cabinet members. They are hitting the ground running.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: I think today you are going to see somewhere in
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: the neighborhood of one hundred executive orders. They're going to
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: come down. It is and and the election results were
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: so overwhelming for Trump to win the popular vote, for
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Trump to win of the seven swing states, all seven
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: with a big majority in the Senate, fifty three Republicans,
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: the majority in the House. There's a clear mandate. And
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: so I will say, there's an excitement in the air.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: You also don't have the same anger and resistance that
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: we had in twenty seventeen. It was such a resounding
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: result that the left really is in shock, but there's
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: not the disbelief there was in twenty seventeen. In twenty
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: seventeen they thought this was a clear aberration, it makes
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: no sense and it will be over very very soon.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: They now recognize, wow, this is what the voters wanted.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: And so the feel is fundamentally different.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: After Friday, on Saturday, I went then had had meetings,
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: went and spoke to the Texas State Society, which was
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: great to see all the folks up from Texas. And
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: then went to a party that was hosted by Peter
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: Teal and David Sachs, and that was kind of a
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: tech artificial intelligence party. And as you know, Peter Teale
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: and I and friends for twenty five years, so that
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: was fun to see a lot of the techies. I
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: then went to the Hispanic Inaugural Ball, which was massive,
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: couple thousand people. The excitement there was enormous.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: And by the way, I want people to understand, these balls,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: it is not easy to get tickets.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I want to be clear.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: It is tough for even people and insiders. So when
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: it's a big deal, it's like, I mean, it's a
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: really cool thing to get to do.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: I've done an inauguration. It's amazing.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: But it is when people like, oh, I'm gonna go
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: to DC, Like, if you don't have an invite, it
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: is it is very different than that if you're there
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: and you're in the know. And that's one of the
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: things I think is actually the excitement around it is
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: that you may not get one of these every four years.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: It can be eight years in between, like we saw
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: with Obama. So when they get to celebrate your team winning,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: it's a big celebration.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: These are five star events.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: Now look, I have to admit it's not my favorite
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: thing to do. I don't really like going to black tie,
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: big galas. I would much rather sit around the table
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: with some good friends with with some scotch and a
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: cigar and play poker that I'd take that a thousand
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: out of a thousand times as compared to two thousand
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: people in a giant auditorium all pressing up and crazy
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: that that's not really my scene. But at the same time,
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: I got a job to do, and so I'm i.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: You know that the Hispanic Inaugural Ball. I was one
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: of the honorary co chairmen of the ball, and so
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: I had an obligation to be there and and talk
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: to the folks there and congratulate everyone in the enthusiasm
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: that's there is enormous. I went from there to the
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: America First Policy Institute Ball, which is you know, AFPI
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: is a big, big think tech that now that came
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: out of Trump World.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: And so was there.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: And and then and then on Sunday, actually started the
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: day by having breakfast with President Trump, and and he
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: had breakfast with with all of the Republican senators. But
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: in classic Trump manner, that breakfast lasted two and a
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: half hours.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: And that really was it. Where did you guys meet.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: At the Blairhouse? So the Blairhouse is across the street
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: from the White ho House.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: And this is part of history of the inauguration I love.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: So, so Blair House is it is typically where the
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: president resides before he's sworn in. So so Trump got
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: up to d C last night. He took Air Force
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: one from mar A Lago up to DC and then
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: went to Blair House. And Blair House is also where
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: visiting heads of state will stay.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: So if the.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: British Prime Minister is in town, the US government will
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: put him up in Blair House. And it's it's a
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: very nice residence right across from the White House. So
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: that's where Trump is until he's sworn in and moves
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: into the White House. And we had we literally arrived
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: at nine thirty for breakfast and we left shortly before noon,
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, and it was he basically just kind of
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: talked stream of consciousness for two and a half hours
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: and we all talked back and forth and had him
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: really and he was in great spirits. And then on
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: Sunday night, the big thing that is Sunday Night is
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: black Tie in Boots, which is the Texas State Society Ball.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: That is always a huge It's it's typically the hottest
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: ticket in town. That actually, the Texas Ball has always
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: been considered, uh probably the top ball and most fun,
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: and it's it's packed and and and then you get
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: to Monday morning and Monday morning is is is the
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: real shebang? When when when Trump takes the oath of office?
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: That will happen noon today.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about also the big change. And there
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: was everybody saying, hey, was it the weather? Was it security?
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Was it both?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: At the end of the day, we're not outside for
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: the inauguration. It is indoor. Uh, it is something that's
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: we've It's happened before, not that long ago. Ronald Reagan
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: had one of his indoor because of weather at the time. Uh,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: when you found out about this, how much does that
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: change things? Because for example, every every office gets x
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: number of tickets for the inauguration. There's a lot of
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: people coming up, and then all of a sudden, it's like, hey,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: these tickets are basically something you can frame, but they're
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: worthless now because we're moving indoors. So gets on the
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: list indoors because it's a lot smaller.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: So I'll tell you how I found out about it.
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: It actually was Friday afternoon, as it so happened. I
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: was in the office of the Speaker of the House,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: and I spent an hour in the Speaker's office with
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: the Speaker and me and Lindsey Graham, the three of
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: us talking about the issue we did a podcast on
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: last week, which is whether to do one reconciliation bill
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: or two reconciliation bills. And as we talked about on
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: that podcast, the Speaker disagrees with Lindsay and me and
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: with just about every senator. He thinks one bill makes sense.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: I think two bills make sense. And we're spent about
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: an hour talking about that. And I got to say,
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: as I was walking into the meeting with the Speaker,
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: we were talking about the inauguration and the fact that
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: we were all expecting to be freezing our asses off
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: sitting outside. You know, typically for an inauguration, you're out
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: on the steps of the capital, you're outside, and Monday
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: is projected to be very, very cold to be in
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: the teens. And I'll tell you what I was telling
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: the Speaker. Look, I just want to make sure that
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: they don't like Secret Service, doesn't drag us out there
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: two hours early and have us just sit there and
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: freeze way before the President gets there. And I'm like,
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: you know, come on, miss a Speaker, you can get
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: this done. We can get out there right before it
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: starts instead of having to like turn into ice boxes
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: and have a bunch of octagenarians getting pneumonia. Well, while
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: we're meeting with the speaker get he gets handed the
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: note card and said, oh, well, problem solved. Trump just
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: decided to move it indoor. So it was Trump's call.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: He made the decision. And so now the swearing in
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: will occur in the rotunda of the Capital. That is
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: the same thing that happened in nineteen eighty five for
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Reagan's second term. In nineteen eighty five, just like this year,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: it was very, very cold on inauguration Day, and so
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: they did it indoor. So that's what's going to happen here.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: But what it means is the number of people that
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: will be physically present plummets. They're anticipating about six hundred
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: people will be in the rotunda. Now give you some
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: quick math. They're five hundred and thirty five senators and
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: members of the House. If you got six hundred total,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: there ain't a whole lot more people than the members
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: of Congress, and an additional sixty five seventy people. So
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: virtually everyone who was planning to go. There were thousands
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: and thousands of seated seats that people had flown up
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: for tickets. There were many, many more thousands of standing
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: room only seats would that would extend for blocks and blocks.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: And I do feel really bad for all the folks
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: who came up here who were planning to see it.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's an expensive trip to fly to ec
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: They were excited and they found out, well, okay, now
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: we're not going to get to see it. You know,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: what most people are doing is going somewhere where there's
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: a TV and it's warm to go watch it. I
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: can tell you I had a bunch of our top
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: supporters that flew up here and and so we've we've
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: tried to we've been talking with them and try to
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: help folks find find warm places. We've got some folks
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: that we've got a sports bar where they're gonna come
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: come watch it there. Uh, but it a lot of
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: people were left just just in the cold. I will
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: say this though. If it had been outside, you would
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: have people, particularly in the standing room only seats, who
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: might be out there six hours or more.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: And I did.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: And that's one thing people don't I don't think understood
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: because I had someone calling and like, hey, we've got seats,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: we're going to go, and you know it should be fine,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: we'll just get there right before them. Like it didn't
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: work that way. There's incredible security protocol and you're out
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: there for hours. I remember it during four this is
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I had a seated seat right up at the front,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: and that seat was frozen solid. When we sat down,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: it was a solid basically sitting on an ice cube.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: And so even if you think, oh, well, you have
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: a seat and you can sit down, I would have
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: actually preferred to be standing so you can move around
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: a little bit, because when it's cold Indie See and Wendy,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: it is cold and windy.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: And look, a lot of people would be getting there
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: at like six and seven in the morning, and the
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: swearing in doesn't happen till noon. So that's a lot
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: of hours to be out in the cold and wind
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: and ice. You know, Heidi's in town for it, Caroline's
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: in town for it. I had advised them they were
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: gonna have heavy jackets and wrap up.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: I bought a new set of Long Johns and went
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: on Amazon and order some Long Johns and actually we
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: had There were hundreds of tickets that I gave out
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: of Texans who wanted to come and asked me to,
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: and so we gave out hundreds of tickets. And one
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: of the things I had my team do with everyone
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: that was going to get a ticket is is I
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: got them handwarmers and feet warmers. I figured, all right,
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: if they're going to be freezing, you know the things
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: that you take skiing that like you can put in
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: your gloves or putting your your boots and warm your
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: feet and hands. I thought that was a nice thing
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: to give the Texans who were coming up here. But
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: I will say this because they canceled it.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: Number one.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Look, I'm glad you've got a bunch of members of
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: Congress who were in their eighties. I mean, you could
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: easily have had someone catched ammonia and die. I'm sure
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: Trump was thinking of William Henry Harrison, who was president.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: He gave a speech on a very cold Washington day
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: atn inauguration speech and he died thirty days later. He
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: is the shortest president in US history. And you know,
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Trump at seventy eight, I'm sure that precedent occurred to him.
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: You know, I can't think it would be very healthy
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: for Joe Biden at his age and in his health
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: to have him sit a couple hours out in the
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: freezing cold. And for that matter, the thousands of people
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: standing there. We probably would have had some people get frostbite,
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: we might have had some serious health issues. So I
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: do think that was a major factor and behind President
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: Trump's decision to move it indoors.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: So here's to put it in perspective. Your family that's
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: up there for it, do they get to go in
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: the rotunda for the swearing d No, So just and
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: I knew the answer, but it was just to put
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: in perspective. That's how different it's going to be that
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: even senators own family members who thought they were going
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: to watch the inauguration, they're going to be watching it
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: on TV as well.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: So what works to each member of Congress has a
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: spouse ticket, and the spouse ticket when it's outside, they're
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: seated nearby, and you get one ticket for that. Those
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: tickets are not even going to be in the rotunda.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: They're going to be in the Capital Visitors Center, So
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: they will be watching it on TV nearby, but they
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: won't be physically they're able to see it.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: That's incredible.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about afterwards what's going to happen, because
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: you mentioned this earlier that this Trump administration is just
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: operating at a different level of sophistication than in twenty sixteen.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: It is a different level of readiness, and this is
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: going to be a huge day for the country, specifically
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: for people that voted for change and voted for safety
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and security and secure borders. The number of things that
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: we're going to get done right away after Trump is
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: torn in is significant.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: It is you know, this is something I talked about.
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: So I did two other podcasts this weekend. I went
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: on with Barry Weiss on on the Free Press podcast
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: and talk with her, and then I also went on
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: the All In podcast. Both of them I talked about
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Verdict and then urge listeners of those podcasts come over
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: here and subscribe to Verdict. But but you know, we
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: talked about what to expect today, and shortly after the
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: president has sworn in, we are going to see a
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: flurry of executive orders, and I think we're going to
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: see something on the order of magnitude of one hundred
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: executive orders signed today.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: That is massive.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: Those orders are prepared, they're they're drafted, the lawyers are
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: putting the finishing touches on them right now. I don't
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: know everyone that's coming out. We can predict a lot
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: of them. They're going to be executive orders focusing on
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: securing the border. CA Catch and release is going to end.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: When illegal immigrants are apprehended, they will be detained, they
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: will be ported. You're going to see law enforcement going
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: after and apprehending and arresting criminal illegal aliens, murderers, rapist
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: gang members.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: All of that you're going to see early on.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: I'm confident you will see executive orders undoing the Biden
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: administration's war on American energy, the war on Texas oil
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: and gas.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: I think we'll see that unwind.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: I'm confident we'll see executive orders unwinding DEI initiatives throughout
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: the federal government. I'm confident that Joe Biden's artificial intelligence
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: executive order will be rescinded.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: The flurry of it will be enormous.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: And the phrase that's being used is shock and awe,
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: and I think that's exactly what it is. And I'll
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: tell you Ben, in my view, I think there is
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: a fixed quantum of outrage. And I actually call that
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: quantum the arsenic quantum. And so you and I both
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: remember the first term of George W. Bush Bush for three.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: So when Bush forty three came in in two thousand
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: and one, one of the first things the Bush administration
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: did is it rescinded an EPA rag that had regulated
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: how much arsenic can be in water, and it changed
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: it from one microscopic amount of arsenic to a different
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: microscopic about of arsenic. And for six weeks, the press
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: lost their mind and their hair was on fire, and
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: they said, the evil Republicans are trying to poison our
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: children with arsenic. Now I think today, when Trump issues
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: all of these executive orders, you're going to see the
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: same outrage, except instead of all directed at arsenic, it's
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: going to be at all one hundred. And I actually
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: think don't think the outrage gets any greater. That's how
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: much outrage there is, which is why I'm expecting today
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: to be an extraordinary day. I hope and believe these
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: orders are focused on delivering on our promises and carrying
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: through on the mandate from the election, And if and
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: when they do that, that's a very good thing.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: There's also a different aspect of this, this winning a
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: second time after losing, and that is if these one
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: hundred executive orders that are signed today make the media mad,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: the press mad, and they lose their mind. I think
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of Americans but good. He's doing exactly
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: what I sent him back to Washington to do. And
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: you didn't have that type of mandate feel I think
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: in sixteen like you do now.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, if CNN is happy at what happens today, then
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: the incoming team will have screwed up badly. But I
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: feel absolutely confidence. I think the odds that CNN will
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: be happy are zero points zero percent.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: So that's a good thing.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: Let's move to TikTok for a second, because this has
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: actually been a big conversation around the inauguration, elections having consequences,
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: laws having consequences, Supreme Court getting involved. So can we
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: take it back to square one so that people that
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: maybe weren't paying attention to TikTok maybe don't use it.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: They understand TikTok is extremely important to a younger generation,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: and there are a lot of Americans that make a
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: living on TikTok. There are a lot of people that
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: supports their businesses. There is a lot of things on
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: TikTok that you can say are very good. There are
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: a lot of things you can also say are very bad.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: But explain what happened with TikTok and why it was
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: shut down.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: Congress passed the law last year dealing with TikTok. TikTok
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: is owned and controlled by a company called Byte Dance.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: Byte Dance is a Chinese company, and it's a Chinese
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: company that is under the direct control of the Chinese
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: Communist government. The Chinese Communist government uses TikTok and uses
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: it in a way that I think poses a very
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: real national security risk to the United States. There are
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: some one hundred and seventy million Americans that use TikTok,
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: overwhelmingly young people, teenagers, young adults, young professionals, and the
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: Chinese Communist government uses it number one to engage an
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: espionage to monitor what those Americans are doing, what they're saying,
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: potentially where they are. They have the potential to monitor
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: their locations. But number two, the Chinese Communist government uses
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: TikTok aggressively to push propaganda, to push propaganda that that
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: that is number one pro China, and they suppress content
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: things like like Tianaman Square. They suppress content about the
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: one million wiguers that that are in concentration camps in China.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: They suppress content about Hong Kong or China or Taiwan.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: But but they also push anti American content. They push
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: anti capitalist content, they push communist content, they push socialist content.
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: They also push harmful content to young people. Uh, they
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: push substance abuse, they push self harm that they push
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: suicidal ideation. I got to say that the same company
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: that owns TikTok, they have a TikTok version in China
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: that's very different from the TikTok in America. The Chinese
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: kids that are on TikTok, they're getting videos on math
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: and calculus, and they're limited in the number of hours
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: they can do it, but it's developing the kind of
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: skills that are going to make them really effective in life.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: You know, the Chinese kids are getting calculus and our
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: kids are getting chewing tide pods.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: That ain't good.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: The Chinese communist government is not doing it because they
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: love our kids that they want to see a good outcome.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: We also see heavily skewed political propaganda. So, for example,
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: anti Semitism, anti Israel, pro Hamas, pro Hesbela propaganda is
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: rampant on TikTok and at a complete differential, wildly different
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: ratios than on other social media platforms. And so, given
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: China's malevolent use of TikTok, Congress passed a bipartisan bill
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: designed to force China to divest from TikTok, and the
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: terms of the bill said that TikTok had to shut
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: down by January nineteenth unless it had been sold and
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: was no longer under the ownership or control of the
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: Chinese Communist government. Now, TikTok has done next to nothing
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: to comply with the efforts to sell itself. In fact,
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: they brazenly said we will not sell. Instead, they've tried
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: to do a couple of things. Number one, they've tried
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: to engage in litigation. They filed lawsuits. They went all
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: the way to the U. S Supreme Court. They argued
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: it the US Supreme Court, and TikTok lost unanimously. The
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: Supreme Court said, no, your First Amendment argument is not valid.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: So the First Amendment protects the free speech rights of Americans,
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: but it doesn't protect the Chinese Communist government, and the
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: Supreme Court unanimously concluded this law is focused on national security.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: It's not trying to suppress any Americans free speech. It
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: is trying to prevent a hostile government from being able
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: to engage in espionage and propaganda in the United States.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: So they devoted a lot of time to litigation, a
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: lot of time to lobbyists. They've had lobbyists descend on
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Capitol Hill trying to lobby against the ban. Well, Saturday night,
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: at midnight, TikTok turned itself off, and I will tell
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: you there were teenagers and young people all across the
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: country that expressed enormous dismay when it shut down. But
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: they shut it down. And so TikTok for most of
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: Sunday was shut down, and then Sunday afternoon they turned
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: it back on. And they turned it back on because
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Trump had indicated that he intends to give TikTok an
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: other ninety days. The statute has a provision that the
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: president can extend the ban for ninety days in order
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: to help facilitate a sale of TikTok, and Trump has
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: said that's what he intends to do. Look my view
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: on this, If in the next ninety days TikTok follows
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: through and sells the company to a non Chinese buyer,
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: a non Chinese government controlled buyer, ideally to an American company,
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: that will be a very, very good thing. The objective
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: of this law, it's important understand the objective of this
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: law was never to ban TikTok. The objective of this
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: law was to force the Chinese Communist government to end
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: its ownership and control of TikTok.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: I don't know if that's going to happen. I hope
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: it's going to happen.
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: I am not certain what Trump is going to end
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: up doing, but at least right now, he's indicating that
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: he intends to exercise the ninety day extension to give
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: TikTok time to consummate the sale, and so we'll see
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: what happens in the next ninety days.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: One last thing about TikTok, your opinion, if it is
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: a threat to national security into our way of life,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: and that's why you say it's so important for it
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: to be sold to a non Chinese control company.
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, that's why you had overwhelming bipartisan support for this
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: legislation because what China is doing with TikTok is really
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: harmful and it's a way to spy on Americans and
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: it's also a way to really inject harmful content. They're
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: trying to drive our country in directions that tears America down,
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: and they're not doing it. You know, this is not
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: complaining about well, gosh, Hollywood producers are not making wholesome
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: movies anymore. This is an adversary that is deliberately pumping
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: propaganda to our children. And we would be a foolish
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: nation if we said, hey, we're great with the Chinese
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: communists having an open pipeline to our kids. That's why
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Congress acted. And as I said, I don't know what
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: President Trump will do. Certainly my counsel to him will
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: be use this law as leverage and let's force China
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: to sell TikTok.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see how
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: this happens. Let me ask you one final question on
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: this inauguration day.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Didn't you just have a final question?
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: I got no. This is overall though.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Are you like a used car salesman? One more thing?
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: One more thing? You would you like some underco coverage?
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm not there I get my bonus question.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: When you look at.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Where we are January twentieth, twenty twenty five, how much
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: how excited are you for what we're about to witness
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: compared to January twentieth of twenty seventeen, because of how
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: prepared we are this.
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: Time much more excited Because I think we're much more prepared.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: We're hitting the ground running.
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: As I said, the initial Trump team they'd never done
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: this before, the initial Trump White House had never worked
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: in the federal government. I think there's just a much
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: great level of experience and also awareness of the deep state,
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: awareness of the career bureaucrats who who who fight against
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: a common sense, free market, freedom oriented agenda. And look
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: as I look at this array of cabinet nominees, I'm
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: really excited. And I think the most consistent characterization of
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: these are characteristic of these nominees is that they're change agents.
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: They're disruptors, and they're they're going into these agencies to
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: change and disrupt how they operate. I think that's a
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: very good thing. Now, Listen, there are gonna be moments
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: of chaos. They're gonna be mistakes that are made. The
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: old Silicon Valley phrase of of you know, move fast
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: and break things. I think that's what we're going to see.
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: They're going to move fast and some things, some things
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: won't work. But I'm excited because I think the overwhelming
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: majority of what's accomplished will be very very good for
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: the country.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Well, it's going to be a really fun rest to
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: day for everybody. Watch it, enjoy it. It is history, uh,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: and I can tell you I really think also Verdict
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: is gonna be really fun this year. I think we're
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: gonna have a lot of guests, uh that that because
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: of this victory and and and get to cover a
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: lot more victories uh than we have ever got to
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: do before.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: So get ready for that as well. Don't forget.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: We do the show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: that weekend review on Saturday. On those in between days,
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcasts. I'll keep you
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: up to date during those other big news days. There's
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: gonna be a lot of them, so we'll have all
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: that for you as well. And the Sinat and I
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: will see you back here Wednesday morning.