Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Who Elected Comrade Mamdani, How to Test Negative for Stupid & a Pilgrimage to Israel Week In Review

Transcript

Who Elected Comrade Mamdani, How to Test Negative for Stupid & a Pilgrimage to Israel Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome in his verdic with Ted Cruz, we can review
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Ben Ferguson with you. And here's some big stories that
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you may have missed that we talked about this week.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: First up, the polling numbers are out and we now
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: know a lot more about who voted for communism in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: New York City. What does it mean for the rest
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of the country. We'll break it down for you. Also,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Senator Kennedy joined us to talk about his new book.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Who did he write it for and what was the goal?
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And finally, I just got back from Israel with an
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: incredible trip, and we'll give you those highlights. It's the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: weekend review and it starts right now. All right, So
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: let's break down the election. It was a quote disaster.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: The media was just thrilled of what happened on election night.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Mandani is the one though, that I want to really
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: focus on for a second. He is a communist, He's
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: a proud communist. He went back to his core beliefs
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: in his victory speech, basically yelling at Donald Trump and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: saying we are at communist city. The red apple literally
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: now is red apple of communism.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Breaking this down, this seems to be.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: A point where Democrats are actually almost doubling down on
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: this type of extremism in the party. I think this
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: is actually going to grow between now and the midterms.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And I want your reaction to what we learned.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Well, Comrade Mundami is the face of the Democrat Party now.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: And I got to say the election results this week,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: they were a disaster, that they were an absolute blowout.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: What is striking as several things. Number one, turnout was
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: exceptionally high among the left wing base, and that's a
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: real warning sign for next year for the midterms. The
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: left showed up in massive numbers. They're pissed, they hate
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump, and that anger is dangerous, that anger is motivating.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: And too many folks on the right, too many kind
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: of in the common sense middle stayed home. And I
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: will tell you if you look historically. All right, let's
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: go back to two thousand and eight. Two thousand and eight,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Barack Obama's elected. As a result, a lot of folks
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: on the right, you and me included, were really unhappy.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: We didn't like Barack Obama's policies. We were pissed off.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Twenty ten was a massive title wave year. It was
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: the Tea party wave and It was in large part
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: because those on the right were particularly energized and angry.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Fast forward to twenty twelve, twenty twelve, Barack Obama's re
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: elected president and the reaction again. Twenty fourteen was another
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: wave election, a huge election. We won nine Senate seats,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: We retired Harry Reid as majority leader. We won the
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: biggest majority in the House since nineteen twenty eight And
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: it was because, again, those on the right were angry,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: They were energized, they were contributing money, they volunteered, and
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: those on the left were complacent. By the way. Fast
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: forward to twenty eighteen. Donald Trump had just been elected
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: in twenty sixteen. Twenty eighteen was a very good Democrat year.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: We lost a bunch of seats. Why because the left
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: was really energized and folks on the right were a
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: little bit placement. This week's election day suggests that we're
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: in real danger of that happening again in twenty twenty
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: six that the left, I'll tell you on fundraising, the
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: left is out raising the right anywhere between three to
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: one and four to one. That is really really dangerous.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: And the turnout, the turnout in Virginia, the left showed
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: up in much bigger numbers. The turnout in New Jersey,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: the left showed up in much bigger numbers. The turnout
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: in New York City, the left turned out in much
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: bigger numbers. Now, Ben, I'll tell you one of the
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: most interesting do you know what demographic was dominated by
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: the radical left wing on election day?
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: This is shocking because you and I we geek out
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: on the political stuff and dat after elections, young people
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: in the Democratic Party were really ready to go vote.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but let me be more precise, young women, and
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: let me give you some stats. In New York City,
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: among young women eighteen to twenty nine, eighty one percent,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: eighty one percent voted for Comrade Mandani. In New Jersey
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: eighteen to twenty nine, Wow, In New Jersey, among young women,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: eighty percent voted for Mikey Cheryl the Democrat in New Jersey.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Of young women in Virginia, seventy eight percent of young
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: women voted for Abigail Spanberger. It was dominant. And by
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: the way, to give you a comparison, because yes, young
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: people went left, but there was there was a big
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: gender gap. So young women in New York eighty one
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: percent for Mondamie. Young men sixty four percent for Mondammie,
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: so almost a twenty point gender gap. How about New
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Jersey young women eighty percent for Mikey Cheryl fifty four
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: percent of young men, so a twenty five twenty six
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: percent gender gap in New Jersey. How about Virginia seventy
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: eight percent for Span Burger of young women, just fifty
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: six percent of young men in Virginia. So we saw
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: that this was a race where the single most overwhelming
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: demographic was young women, which was so overwhelmingly lopsided that
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: it helped drive the results on election day.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: When you think about this, and then it goes back to, Okay,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: what was the messaging that was connecting with young women
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: to have them come out in these numbers or was
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: it not so much of a message? And this is
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: part of the breakdown of trying to figure out what
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: you learned from election to make sure before the midterms
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: we can either we can course correct it. Or was
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: it just that the left and women in the Democratic
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Party were so motivated compared to conservative women. I call
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: it the Trump sump. You feel like your party's in power,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: you feel like they're doing the things that you asked
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: them to do. In places Donald Trump is putting in complacency,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: but you feel comfortable because you're like, we just want
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: an election.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, things are great. Donald Trump's doing what he said
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: he was going to do.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: So when you look at it, was it issue base
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: based on data that we've seen, or was it more
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: just the other side was so angry that Donald Trump
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: won and they wanted to win so badly to send
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: a middle finger to the president that they showed up
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: in these record numbers and they voted for their candidate.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't have that data yet. There will be
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: time to break that out, but we don't have it
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: right now. But I'll give you another aspect. In New
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: York City, so there was a massive difference based on
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: whether you were a longtime New Yorker or you were
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: new to the city. So if you're a New York
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: voter and you had been in New York City, you
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: lived in New York City less than five years, what
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: percent of the people who lived in New York City
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: less than five years do you think voted for Comrade
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Mundani got to be overwhelmingly high, eighty three percent. All right,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: how about five to ten years, what do you think
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: five to ten years.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I would say it's probably still fairly high, but not
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: as high as that first.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Group seventy six percent. Okay, let's go ten years or more,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: but not born in New York City. What do you
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: think the percentage.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Is above fifty percent?
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: Fifty four? So it drops from seventy six five to
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: ten years to fifty four. How about I was born
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: in New York City, which, by the way, is forty
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: seven percent of the voters were born in New York City.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: What do you think what percent of the vote do
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: you think Mondanni got a people born in New York City.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I'm going to guess below fifty percent, thirty four percent.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: Couloma got forty five percent. So Cuomo beat Mondanni by
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: eleven points among people born in New York, but among
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: people who lived in New York less than five years,
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Mondanni beat him eighty three percent to fifteen percent, So
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: it is overwhelmingly Look, yeah, h clear was.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: A cuil rowling cry from Mandanni, and he did this
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: in his campaigning. He did it, by the way, in
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: his victory speech. He said that New York City is
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: a city of immigrants. In other words, if you came
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: here recently, I'm your guy. That the establishment, the old school,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the American citizen, You're not a priority in New York
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: City anymore. This reminds me an awful lot of what
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: we were talking about ten years ago in major cities
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: in the UK. We are seeing a lot of those
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: same type of results now in New York City.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and by the way, there's also a significant educational differential.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: All right, So if you're in New York and you
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: had an advanced degree, what percent of the vote do
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: you think Mandani.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Got advanced degree? I would say maybe around fifty percent
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: or below.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Fifty seven percent. Advanced degree fifty seven percent. How about
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: bachelor's degree?
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I'm going to go maybe even lower.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Fifty seven percent. So advanced in bachelor's both tied a
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: fifty seven. How about associates degree?
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: I would say I would say.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Higher forty five percent. By the way, Cuomo got forty
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: eight So if you had an associates to degree, Mandanni lost.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: How about some college so you don't have an associate's.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Degree, Mandannie, I would my gut is it way to
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: go even higher? But you're saying I'm wrong.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: You're wrong some college Mandanni forty percent. Cuomo forty eight percent.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: How about high school graduate.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: See I would have thought high school graduated seventy plus
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: percent for Mondanni.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Nope, you're telling me that's wrong.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: This is Mandanni.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: This is breaking the normal model game of.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: High school graduates. Mandanni got thirty nine percent, Cuoma got
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: forty seven percent, and finally no high school degree, so
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: didn't even graduate high school.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I mean clearly based on the trend.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Now, the majority vote against Mandani that didn't have a
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: high school degree.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: So no high school degree forty percent voted from Mandani,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: forty nine percent for Cuoma. So Cuomo beat Mandanni by
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: nine points. So who elected comrade Mandani. It is the
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: smarty pants, college educated advanced degrees. It is the rich
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: who elected Mondani. By the way, working class, look, if
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: you got a ged, if you've got a high school degree,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: They're like, we don't want a socialist. These people are nuts.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: And it is the rich New Yorkers who Look, I'm
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: not an armchair psychologist.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: But that is the elect This is the Sorouses.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: It is the Sorosys. By the way, the same comrade
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Mondonne who said we should have no billionaires also happily
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: tweeted out a picture. Actually, Alex Soros tweeted out a
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: picture so proud to be a New Yorker. The American
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: dream continues. Congrats Mayor with a picture of the two
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: of them together. This is the same guy who said
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: no billionaire as well, except for the billionaires that funded
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: the communist takeover of New York City.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. I
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: know you got to run center soon, but I want
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to ask you one other thing you want, And it
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: goes back to the book. When you write this book
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and you sit down to do it, who did you
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: envision reading it? Is there some bigger purpose where you're like,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I want to write this for the future generation?
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Was part of it?
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Just I wanted to just tell my story and how
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I got to where I am today.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: What was it?
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: Here's what I did. I sat down with a handheld
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: dictaphone at my kitchen table, and I started dictating, and
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: I dictated. I dictated I don't know how many hours,
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: hundreds of hours, and then I had it transcribed, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: then I put it together and then I had an
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: editor come in who looked at it and rearranged it,
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: and then I just started editing. And I was speaking
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: to the same person that Ted and I both speak
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: to when we do interviews, the average America. And I
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: tried to speak plainly. I don't try to muddy the
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: water to make it look deep. The American people don't
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: have time for that. And I wanted him to understand
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: that if you get mad, I can't help it. I
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: have the right to remain silent, but God did not
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: give me the ability. And some people are gonna like
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: it and some don't. But that's what the American people
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: expect from their politicians today. And it's one of the
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: reasons that that Senator Schumer, who Ted and I both know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: he's right now. He's got thirty percent approval rating, he's
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: got a sixty percent disapproval rating. The other ten percent
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: won't pause their video game to answer the poster's call.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: And Chuck is polling, he's pulling right up there with
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: clubbing baby Seals. That's what I mean.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: But to be fair, he's still above chlamydia.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: He's still he's still both. It's large, it's close, but
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: because Chuck's been here so long. Ted, you know he's
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: been here so long. He sounds like Washington.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: So I will say, it's interesting you and I have
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: a very similar process. It sounds like for writing a book,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: because that's that's very much the books I've written, and
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: some of it is it maybe being a lawyer and
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: having written briefs that that that process of recording and
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: telling stories. In my books, I just try to tell
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: stories because that's how people came.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: I've read a couple of books. There's a differ between
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: you and me, though I've written one book. Ted's written
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: about a squillion. Okay, but but it's hard. I mean,
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: it is a painful process.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: You know, all right, you're a kid. When does the
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: idea of being a lawyer? What was it that made
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: you say, hey, I can do that. I want to
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: do that.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: My dad was from a depression family in Oklahoma. He
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: got a degree, works the way through college and patrol
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: im engineering came to losing end of the work in
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: the wall fields married my mom. I have three brothers.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: From day one, they drilled into us education education, education,
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: and it wasn't where you're going to go to college
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: or when you're going to go to college was where right,
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: and that was drilled in from day one. And I
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: enjoyed college. But I started thinking about law school then.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: But but I stalled and restalled it as long as
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: I could. I mean, I spent four years in college,
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: and then I went three years in law school, and
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: then a clerk for a federal judge. And I tried
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: to get a Supreme Court clerkship. I didn't, you did,
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: uh uh? And then I said, well, I'm not ready
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: for the real world. I'm going back to school. I
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: went back and got another law of grid ye. And
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: then finally I had, you know, I had to. I
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: was out of money, you know, and I wanted to
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: eat and live indoors, so I didn't want to live
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: in a refrigerator box behind an outback. So I had
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: to go to work for a living.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: And Ben, I know something that I know you don't know.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: I know the name of his old law partner.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Who is that?
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Who's that?
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: So he would practice his name obviously as John Kennedy
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: and his partner with Jose Kenseko, and he'd walk in it.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: He'd be John Kennedy and Jose Story. That's they would double.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Take one of my best friends. I was in a
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: for Louisiana, a big offer six trading halliers, and one
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: of my good friends was jose Knseka And we'd go
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: to meetings. I'd say, I'm John Kenny, this is jose Kensekh.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: We're here to see so and so, and they said,
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: they would say, you're here to see securities.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Story.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: All right, So when did you get when did you
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: get the idea in your head you wanted to run
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: for office? Was this something like as a kid, you
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: always want to live.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: I always thought about it, but I was practicing all
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: earning a good living. Louisiana politics was rough, I mean
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: it was rough. He was under Governor Edwin the Edwards.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: I wasn't part of his clique.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Who has my favorite political bumper sticker?
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Ever? Yep?
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: And you know exactly where I'm going?
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Do you know?
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: Do you know this? Ben? I don't know.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: If you know this, I do not.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: So Edwin Edwards is running for governor against David Duke. Now,
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: David Duke was the former Grand Grand Wizard of the KKK.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah grand words.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: But Edwin Edwards was as corrupt, He was as crooked
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: as the dog's hind legs. See, I'm trying to do
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: this to keep up with John pretty good ted and
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: and everyone knew he was corrupt, and so Edwin Edwards
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: bumper sticker said vote for the crook, it matters. And
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: if you're running against a kleansman, that was a winning slogan.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: And then you know what, he was indicted and convicted
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: of embezzlement or fraud.
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: When the economy was doing well, Abusian, I mean, this
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: was having a colorful governor was all fun and games.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: He was. He was a big he's very promiscuous. He
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: used to say, uh, I give they make How did
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: he put it? When I give blood? They usually to
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: make Viagara? That was at I always thought that was
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: a pretty good and and there's a bump that's.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: The line they would have used about strom Thurmon too.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: You and I didn't serve with strom Thurman, but by
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: all accounts, that would have described him accurately.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: And he was running for governor. I think it's the
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: third time, and he was way ahead of the polls.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: He was running against incumbent and the press asking us,
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: they said, you're gonna win this race, and he said, well,
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: I put it this way. The only way I could
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: lose this race, and the last week is if I'm
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: caught in bed with a live girl or a dead boy.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: And I thought that was pretty clever. But eventually his
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: past caught up to him and we elected a reform
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: governor named Buddy Romer, and I'd supported him. He asked
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: me to leave my practice come to Baton Rouge, and
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: I liked it. I was his legal counsel and I stayed.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: And then I ran for office and got elected, and
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: I ran for the Senate three times. Took me three
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: times to get here, and I thought they left me
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: for dead for a few times. Politically, I switched parties
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: because the Democrat I couldn't. I just couldn't be a
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: Democrat anymore. And they all got mad at me, and
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: they tried to hurt me. But the mistake they made,
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: they're gonna let me live. They never should have letting
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: me live it. So I wanted on the third time,
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: and here we are. We're having fun, all right.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Biggest surprises when you get to the Senate. Biggest surprise
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: upside and biggest surprise downside.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: Biggest surprise upside. You probably saw this. I came in
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: wanting to gallop you can't gallop in the Senate. You
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: have to inch along, and at first that frustrated me.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: It still does, but it's not altogether bad because after
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: a while you realize the senator's job is not just
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: to advance good ideas, it's to kill bad ideas, and
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: sometimes killing the bad ideas is more important than advancing
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: the good ideas. That has been my biggest transformation in
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: the Senate. But it's frustrating Senator McConnell, who's your friend
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: and mine. But Mitch was the arding leader, and I
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: wouldn't used to taking orders from another politician. And Mitch
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: and I butted heads a few times. She butted heads
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: with you. Oh, Mitch liked to run it from the
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: top down, and I thought, I remember you and I talked.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: When we passed President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: We passed it through reconciliation, and Ted was an advocate
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: of doing a second bill, yep, And it just took
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: a majority vote no Democrats, and I'm backed him and
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: Mitch wouldn't do it, and we left so much good
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: policy on the take.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: It remains the most politically indefensible decision I've ever.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Seen, and I hope we don't do it under Trump's
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: second term.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: Actually, John brought that up at lunch today, made that argument,
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: and it's clearly. Look, it is our best avenue to
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: win victories, and we should be focused on winning the
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Now that man said, we got a lot done in
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: that one big bore.
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: Sure, but we get a second bite.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: At the act exactly, and a third if we want.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: It, and why not take it? Ye, why not take it?
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: And we don't have to get we don't have to
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: get Democratic votes. Yep, Because I'm I'm I'm you know,
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: I think I want to think the best of people,
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: but I just think it's gonna be hard to negotiate
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: anything with the Democrats from here on now.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: They just hate Trump. They're they're so extreme right now.
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: I'm just blinded by by their their passion.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Senator, I'm gonna. I'm afraid of hitman from Louisiana. Your
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: staff's telling me we're supposed to wrap with you a
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: few minutes ago. So I want to hold up the
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: book again.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Sons, all right, so let me tell everyone again. Book
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: is How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: Never Will It is by John Kennedy, not John F. Kennedy,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: But John Kennedy, the great United States Senator. The book
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: is funny, it is interesting. It gives you stories behind
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: the scenes of what's going on in the US Senate
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: John Kenny he rats out all his colleagues. He makes
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: them embarrassed. He makes them curl up, curl up. Chuck
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: Schumer curled up in a ball in the closet and
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: cried like a little girl. When when when John Kennedy
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: wrote this book. So you need to go to Amazon
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: and buy it. And I will say as I said before,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: John Kennedy is easily one of my favorite colleagues. He
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: is by monny as hell, and he is smart as hell.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: A lot of people don't realize this man is dangerous
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: and has you know he's an Oxford educated lawyer and
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: and with a Southern accent, particularly Yankees, underestimated and be like,
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: all right, he's got a Southern accent. He can't be
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: all that bright.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: You can't accuse me of being self aware, not being
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: self aware. I'm fully aware that my voice scares small children,
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: it sets off carl arms. But it's my voice. But
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: thank you for having me ed, Thank you, Ben, And.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna close. I'm gonna close with my favorite kennedyism,
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: which was in a Judiciary committee hearing. John Kennedy leaned
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: forward into the microphone and he said, Christmas tree ornaments
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: and Jeffrey Epstein, two things you know didn't hang themselves.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: I was sitting there going, wait, this is at an
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: open hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Did he really
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: say that it was?
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: I did? It was true. I'd read that joke somewhere.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: It seemed like a good idea at the time.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: As before, If you want to hear the rest of
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear the
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: entire thing. I want to get back to the big
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: story number three of the week.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: You may have missed.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: So, Ben, have you been to Israel before? Is this
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: first trip?
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: This is my pilgrimage very first time ever.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: Well, it is amazing. I've been a number of times
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: to Israel and it is a breathtaking place. It is
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: a place all of history converges on. It is the
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: birthplace of Christianity, is the birthplace of Judaism. In Israel
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: and Jerusalem, you walk down roads the city of David,
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: which is this underground archaeological excavation under Jerusalem. You walk
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: down the road from from the Pool of Shiloh to
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: the old Temple where Jesus most certainly walked, and you
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: walk along it and there are platforms that a street
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: preacher and itinerant preacher would stand and preach on it.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: And you stand. I've stood on those platforms, and it
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: takes your breath away that Jesus Christ almost certainly stood
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: on this particular piece of stone addressing the crowd of
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: the Israelites who were there in Jerusalem. The Sea of Galilee.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: You look at you imagine Jesus walking up to Peter,
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: walking up to fishermen and saying, follow me, and let
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: me make you fishers of men and not just fishermen.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: And it is. It's a beautiful place. It is a
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: profound place. So tell me when did you arrive and
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: what have you done on the ground at Israel.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: So arrived on on Monday after delayed flight missed missed
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: a flight because of actually the shutdown is what we're
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: told with And then we had a time out with
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: with with the with the air traffic controllers and also
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the crew on the plane. So we sat on the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: tarmac for about five hours in Houston and then they
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: said you got to goetut the plane.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: We've lost our crew because of the rules. Uh.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: And this is a TSA And it was at the
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: very beginning of kind of the bread part of a broader.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Group or like what what's the reason for going to Israel.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I was asked to come over from the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Israeli government and also came with the CEO of i
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: f c J, the International Fellowship of Christian Jews.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: There is a a Christian leadership conference happening here as
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: well at the same time that is UH. It is
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: one that's been postponed because of the war. And so
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I was asked to speak at that.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: This is a conference where BB is speaking, where you
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: have the Mayor of Jerusalem is speaking, you have the
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: US ambassador Mi Kacabee as well, and it is bringing
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Christians together.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Back to the Holy Land.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: But then what also has happens They've set up these
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: incredible moments and tours where I've been able to meet
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: with some of the victims of the war and go
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: and see where the war is hanging placed. So yesterday
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: We actually went to the border with Syria and with
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Lebanon and went literally to where we could see Hesblah
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: looking at us.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: And we met with the parents of the kids who
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: were killed on the soccer field. Tell us about that.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so last night I have and I will try
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: not to get emotional, but it's hard not to. I
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: was asked to come and to meet with the families,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: some of the families who children. There was twelve children
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: that were killed while playing soccer on a soccer field.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: It made international news. We covered it on this show.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: And they asked me if I would meet with the
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: families and hear the family stories. And I was there
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and the parents were talking of This was one of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the little girls you can see who died, and her
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: mother was the first one to speak, and she was
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the age of the kids wanted to tell the story.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: They were all different ages. They were very young to
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a seventeen year old if I remember correctly. Some of
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: it was through translation, but you can kind of see
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the different ages here. Some of them are obviously most
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: were younger, but you can see there someone's a little
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: bit older and junior high. You can see that's one
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: of the oldest kids there and and that was you know,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: it's it's incredible. But we sat there and we were
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: hearing their stories, these kids, and at the very end,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: they said they'd like to present me with things. I
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: didn't know they were going to do this, and I
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: put the picture of on social media, but the mother
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: of this young girl said that they wanted to give
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: me something. And I didn't see the ball before they
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: brought it out. But these pictures on this ball, so
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: people understand their stickers, they're handmade. And they said they
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: wanted to say thank you for standing up for their
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: kids and for telling their story to the world, because
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: they they want people to understand what it's like to
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: live in Israel and and what was taken from them.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Uh from By the way, these were children that were
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: doing nothing. They were they were playing on a soccer field.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: There were being kids and suddenly Hesbala rocket came over
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: and killed them all.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and and it was a the way that they
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: described it was they didn't care who they killed. There
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: was there was a lot of media spend that well,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: this this soccer field maybe wasn't directly target Hesbla doesn't
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: care who they killed.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: They just want to kill Jews.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Northern Israel, Southern Israel. Where the where's the kvotes You went.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: To tip the tip of northern on the opposite side
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: of where the attack happened. The initial attack hap in
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: October the Okay border with Lebedon and and Hesbelah. So
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: if you're looking at the map, this would be in
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Syria Hesbla at the at the northern point. And they
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: started us there because they said they wanted us to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: understand that.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: The goal, by the way, for folks from both sides.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: For folks at home to understand. So Israel is a
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: very small nation. It's about the size of the state
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: of New Jersey. Where October seventh happened was in the
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: southern part of Israel. It's right by the Gaza Strip.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: The Gaza Strip is along the Mediterranean in the southern part,
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: and Hamas, which is the terrorist major terrorist organization in
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: the Gaza Strip, entered into southern Israel and murdered over
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: twelve hundred Israelis, raped women and little girls, took over
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: two hundred Israelis hostage. It was also one of the
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: worst American terrorist attacks ever, as we saw dozens of
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: Americans murdered, dozens of Americans taken hostage. Now northern Israel,
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: which is up by Lebanon and Syria, what you have
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: up there is hesbel A. Hesbel As a different terrorist organization.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Both Hesbela and Hamas their patron is Iran, and Iran
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: funds over ninety percent of Hamasa's budget. Iran funds over
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: ninety percent of Hesbela's budget. When October seventh first erupted,
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: Israel quite rightly declared we are going to utterly destroy Hamas.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: There was an interesting period that extended for weeks and
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: then even a couple of months where it wasn't clear
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: if Hamas would be or rather Hesbela would be drawn
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: into this. Hamas was the restaurant on October seventh, and
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: Hesbela had the opportunity just to shut up and not engage,
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: and then Hesbela pretty quickly decided, nope, we want to
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: raise our hand, we want to engage, and began just
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: just firing rockets, a massive barrage of rockston in northern Israel,
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: thousands and the kids percent.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: I was told yesterday by the US government about sixty
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: percent of all the rockets on hand that Hesbla had
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: in their Arsenal were shot during this war.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: Repeat that, that's a powerful statement.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Sixty percent.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: And as we had our briefing from the Israeli government,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: we actually went to this neighborhood, this kibbutz, and in
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: this neighborhood, their sin for being targeted by Hesbla was
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: it that they farm pink lady apples that we eat
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: in the United States of America.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: And by the way, much of northern Israel was evacuated
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: because the rocket attacks were so intense that the Israelis
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: couldn't live there anymore, because you couldn't go into your
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: own home without risk of rock blowing it up. And
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: so the amazing thing is Hesbela literally volunteered and said, hey,
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: we want to be part of this. And then the
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Israelis carried out the Pager Attack, which remains one of
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: the most extraordinardaried military and intelligence operations I think the
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: world has ever seen. Where I mean, I've joked, but
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: this is not a joke. If you wrote the Pager
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: Attack as a script to a movie, nobody in Hollywood
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: would buy it. If you wrote it as a Jason
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: Bourne movie, they said, this is ridiculous. You're telling me
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: Israel creates a shell company in Hong Kong, builds pass
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: years in advance, makes them heavy duty, kind of serious,
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: hardcore pagers and in beds where the battery would be
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: a tiny little explosive. Then gets this shell company in
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: Hong Kong to sell the pagers to Hesbela, Like, how
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: the hell do you do that? I don't know how
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: you sell pagers to Hesbela, but the Masad does. Israel does,
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: sells them to Hesbela, and then this remains the single
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: most targeted military and intelligence attack I think in history,
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: because it was Hesbela leadership that decided, Okay, who is
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: it that gets these pagers? I'm going to give it
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: to every crazy ass terrorist we have in lemanon the
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: people that I want to be able to page and say, hey,
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: would you go blow up a bus, would you go
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: blow up at a mall? Would you go murder children?
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: Take this pager? And then Israel, in a simultaneous moment,
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: detonated all the pagers and took out every person that
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: was injured, every person that was killed, with very minor
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: exceptions of someone who was really close to a terrorist.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: They were personally selected by the leaders of Hesbela. Hesbela
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: decided which terrorists died. And by the way, within a
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: day or two there was a second operation where Hesbela
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: was using walkie talkies.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Those blew up and I say traded yeah as well. Yeah.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: By the end of it, I think every Hesbela terrorists,
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: every Hamas terrorists, every Iran ir GC terrorists, like every
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: time a phone rang, they jumped. It was extraordinary and
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: it was a response to so what Hesbela literally volunteered
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: and said, we want to be decimated as bad as
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: as Hamas, and Israel said, well, happy to oblige.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you go back to this neighborhood. And as
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: we went into this neighborhood which the people have a
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: lot of them have still not returned. Some of the
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: farmers are coming there to farm. But Hesbela knew the
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: houses that they were blowing up in this neighborhood were farmers.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: They knew that they were families, and what they did
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: was to justify their attacks. Early on was when the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: people had fled, the Israeli military would take back in
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: to the husband of the home to go get some
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: of their belongings before they would flee again. And they
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: justified the military walking in the house is the reason
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: to blow the house up. And so I met with
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: a farmer who had three children the exact same age
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: as my kids. Wow, and he was showing us his neighborhood,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: and he was talking about how I had to come
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: back to tend the fields because this is my home.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: And I was literally under rocket barrage and would come
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: to work knowing that Hesbelah was targeting the houses. And
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: so finally after a few days that the homeowners said
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: to the military, don't go back into my house, because
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: as soon as you go in there, they blow up
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: my home and everything is destroy We went into a home.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: The books of the children were still there, the stove
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: was still there the way it was at that morning.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: The one of the homeowners offered me a piece of
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: a broken pot of their home and a burner of
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the stove and said take it back, and a piece
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: of their tile in their children's bathroom. I'll put it
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: on my desk for the rest of my life. But
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: to hear them talk about the brutality of Hesbla, knowing
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: that you're blowing up a farmer's home who has never
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: bothered you in your entire life for sport. It was
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: just for sport at that point. It was even killing
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: a person they knew that they were Yeah, just pure
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: sport and hatred, Like we're going to blow up your
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: neighborhood because you are Jewish. We know you're not there,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: we know you have fled, but we want you to
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: come back to destruction in ruins.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: And so you've been in northern Israel, in Tel Aviv?
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Have you been in Jerusalem? Where else have you been
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: been in?
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: So?
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Been in Tel Aviv as well, which is an incredible city.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize how much it's like New York.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: City or a maze. Yeah, it's a very modern nightlife city.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: But one other thing I want to mention about this
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: trip so far is I met with the mother of
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: one of the hostages that was taken that became unfortunately,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: she became famous. If you remember the videos that came out,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: there is a girl that's been separated from her boyfriend.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: She is in between two terrafts on a motorcycle and
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: she's reaching out and screaming for her boyfriend who is
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: being held with his arms and minds back by two
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: terrats and they're separating them and that video just went
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: viral early on in the moments after he was held
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: underground for two years without seeing sunlight and was starved.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: He was returned. They just re reunited. You may have
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: seen that video of them in the hospital finally getting
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: to see each other again and hugging and falling backwards
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: as a hug on the hospital bed, and the mother
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: was telling the story of her son and the trauma,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the way that they were mentally tortured and lied to,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: that there was destruction of all of Israel been destroyed,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: that the that there were told that their loved ones
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: had been killed, their family members had been murdered, that
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: no one had survived, that they were going to die,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: that they were going to dig their own grapes. Some
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: of them did to to see the torment. And I
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: think that's one of the things I will forever remember
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: from this trip, and I'm grateful for it. Is when
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: we talk about what this is like, the psychological warfare
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: center and the evil of Hamas and Hezbelah has no ends,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: whether it's blowing up farmers' homes for sport, whether it
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: is killing children, is that the soccer ball and seeing
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: these kids who were their only crime was being Jewish
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: and playing sports.
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: That's it look soci chill.
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: Civilians are the embodiment of evil, and sadly we live
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: in a world where evil is plentiful.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: It's incredible.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: So today I'm going to be leaving with the government
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: and going down to the side of the attack at
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the festival, and I'm going to be meeting with some
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: of the hostages there. I'm going to hopefully tell those
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: stories as well in one of our next episodes, because
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: it's just telling their stories and letting people understand what
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: happened that day, and going to go to the kibbutz
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: that were attacked there and tour the homes of the
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: children that were murdered in their cribs. I'm going to
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: meet with the families of the elderly that were killed,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: including Holocaust survivors. I met with some Holocaust survivors that
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: we had to are homeless in essence and had to
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: move to Jerusalem to survive the war. I met with
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: them as well. Incredible stories. So we'll have more of that,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: I promise you coming up in other episodes. But I
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: want to say to everyone that is listening, if you
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: are a person of faith, the pilgrimage to come here
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: and to see, I think the hope of our faith
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: in Christianity, to walk where Jesus walked, to walk where
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: he carried the cross.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: I did that the first day I was here. Uh.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: And to be able to just see the Sea of
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: Galilee and witness where so much of our biblical eighty
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: percent of the biblical history.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: And in the in the Bible with Jesus, I got
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: to witness from sending him one.
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: Place one It's amazing to see.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: And it spread to the war.
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: Where they believe Jesus was crucified, where they believe it
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: was buried, and and and and where he rose again
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: in heaven.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: I got to go to the tom Yeah.
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean standing in the tomb, I look as
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: a believer, it takes your breath away.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: The the the as I described it to family in
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: a text, I said, the level of feeling, I would
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: say the Holy Spirit in these places is something I've
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: never felt before.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: The second closest I've ever spelt to that type of
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: spiritual gathering of Christians was honestly, at Charlie Kirk's memorial
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: and and.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: And it was incredible.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Two of the biggest spiritual moments in my life have
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: happened in the last sixty days, both in a weird
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: way around tragedy, which also is why I think it's
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: incredible when you're a Christian that you know that.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: God is still a God of hope.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Amen as always, thank you for listening to Verdict with
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Senator Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with you don't forget to
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: deal with my podcast, and you can listen to my
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: each day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: to have you as a listener to again the Ben
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Ferguson podcasts, and we will see you back here on
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: Monday morning.