Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / WOKE Target Loses BILLIONS Plus IRS Whistleblower Catches AG Merrick Garland In A Lie

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WOKE Target Loses BILLIONS Plus IRS Whistleblower Catches AG Merrick Garland In A Lie · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome. It is verdict for Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson
0:04
Speaker 1: with you as always, Senator, We've got a lot to
0:06
Speaker 1: talk about, including this second IRIS whistleblower coming forward and
0:10
Speaker 1: telling his story at a very shocking place. We're going
0:13
Speaker 1: to tell you about that in a moment. Also, would
0:15
Speaker 1: you have ever imagine that a big presidential campaign would
0:19
Speaker 1: be launched on social media? Ronda Santis said exactly that.
0:22
Speaker 1: We'll talk about how unique that is. And Target they're
0:27
Speaker 1: going looken, well, they're they're going broke. Target has lost
0:30
Speaker 1: eight to nine billion dollars, they say, in the week
0:34
Speaker 1: following the calls for a boycott over their Gay Pride
0:38
Speaker 1: LGBTQ plus Friendly Kids clothing and propaganda. Senator, let's start
0:46
Speaker 1: with this Iris whistleblower. You and I were talking before
0:49
Speaker 1: the show. It's interesting that he's come forward. It's also
0:52
Speaker 1: very interesting where he did his sit down interview. Let's
0:56
Speaker 1: talk about that.
0:57
Speaker 2: Well, it's quite stunning.
0:59
Speaker 3: CBS News put him front and center, interviewed him on camera,
1:03
Speaker 3: and he's making serious allegations. He's making serious allegations that
1:07
Speaker 3: the Biden Department of Justice is slow walking, is blocking
1:12
Speaker 3: the investigation of Hunter Biden. One of the consequences of
1:15
Speaker 3: those allegations is, if that's true, it means Merrick Garland
1:20
Speaker 3: lied under oath. And I got to say, listening to
1:23
Speaker 3: this interview on CBS takes your breath away. Give a listen.
1:27
Speaker 4: When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately
1:31
Speaker 4: saw it was way outside the norm of what I've
1:34
Speaker 4: experienced in the past.
1:36
Speaker 5: Gary Shapley is a supervisory special agent for the IRS.
1:40
Speaker 3: Where he's worked for fourteen years.
1:42
Speaker 5: In January twenty twenty, he was assigned to what he
1:45
Speaker 5: calls a high profile investigation. Who's the subject of the investigation?
1:50
Speaker 4: I can't confirm or deny the subject of this investigation.
1:53
Speaker 4: Why not because you know part of the tax secrecy
1:56
Speaker 4: laws don't allow it.
1:58
Speaker 5: Shapley can't say it. But CBA News has learned the
2:01
Speaker 5: investigation was the probe of Hunter Biden by the Trump
2:04
Speaker 5: appointed US attorney in Delaware. Senior Biden administration officials have
2:09
Speaker 5: vowed to let it run its course without interference.
2:13
Speaker 6: It's not restricted in his investigation in any way.
2:16
Speaker 5: But CBS News has obtained this letter Shapley's lawyers sent
2:19
Speaker 5: to Congress Monday, alleging irregularities in DJ's handling of the investigation.
2:25
Speaker 5: Shapley is seeking legal protections from Congress so he can
2:28
Speaker 5: share specifics of his allegations.
2:31
Speaker 4: There was multiple steps that were or slow walked at
2:35
Speaker 4: the direction of this Department Justice.
2:39
Speaker 5: Had you ever encountered that before?
2:41
Speaker 4: I have not known these deviations from normal process. In
2:45
Speaker 4: each and every time it seemed to always benefit the subject.
2:49
Speaker 5: Shapley says he decided to blow the whistle after a
2:52
Speaker 5: heated meeting last October with federal prosecutors.
2:56
Speaker 4: That was my red line meeting that just got to
2:59
Speaker 4: that point where that switch was turned on and I
3:03
Speaker 4: just couldn't silence my conscience anymore.
3:06
Speaker 1: Senator, He says, he couldn't silence his conscience anymore, and
3:09
Speaker 1: that's why he's been so brave and to come forward.
3:12
Speaker 1: When you hear this whistlebo or speak, what comes to
3:15
Speaker 1: mind for you initially.
3:17
Speaker 3: Well that these allegations are very serious. That what he
3:23
Speaker 3: is stating is that for the first time in his
3:26
Speaker 3: experience of over a decade, the Department of Justice was
3:30
Speaker 3: actively impeding an investigation, was slow walking it, and that
3:37
Speaker 3: that number one reeks of political cover up, but number two,
3:43
Speaker 3: it's it's directly contrary to what Merrick Garland has said.
3:46
Speaker 3: And you know, one of the things that Merrick Garland
3:49
Speaker 3: is fond of saying, and that that gets repeated a lot,
3:52
Speaker 3: is that the person doing this investigation is the quote
3:55
Speaker 3: Trump appointed US attorney in Delaware with that that individual
3:59
Speaker 3: is a person named DAVIDI. And it's true he was
4:01
Speaker 3: appointed by Donald Trump. He had previously been the acting
4:06
Speaker 3: US attorney under Barack Obama. And you know, let me
4:09
Speaker 3: point out about how US attorneys are appointed. In order
4:14
Speaker 3: for them to go through, you have to get the
4:16
Speaker 3: sign off of the senators from that home state. Delaware
4:20
Speaker 3: has two Democrat senators, which means is a practical matter,
4:25
Speaker 3: the Democrat senators in Delaware picked this US attorney. And
4:29
Speaker 3: so the phrase the Trump appointed US attorney suggests that
4:33
Speaker 3: he's a Republican, that he somehow might be out to
4:37
Speaker 3: get the Bidens. There is zero, in fact less than
4:41
Speaker 3: zero evidence that's true. But if what this whistleblower is
4:46
Speaker 3: alleging is accurate, then his investigation was actively slow walking
4:54
Speaker 3: the investigation of Hunter Biden. And one of the things
4:58
Speaker 3: striking is that means that the Attorney General testified falsely
5:03
Speaker 3: to the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to questions, I
5:07
Speaker 3: asked him directly.
5:09
Speaker 1: I want people to hear exactly that back and forth.
5:12
Speaker 1: Take a listen to this.
5:14
Speaker 3: It occrues, Thank you, mister Chairman General Garland. The Department
5:20
Speaker 3: of Justice should enforce the law regardless of politics. I
5:24
Speaker 3: do not believe that has been what is happening in
5:26
Speaker 3: the last two years, among other things, I believe you
5:31
Speaker 3: very much want to indict Donald J. Trump. Toward that end,
5:35
Speaker 3: the Department of Justice has leaked that DOJ is investigating
5:40
Speaker 3: and intends to indict Hunter Biden. The purpose of those leaks,
5:45
Speaker 3: I believe, was to set the predicate for an indictment
5:49
Speaker 3: of Trump, to say, look how even handed we are.
5:52
Speaker 3: We're indicting A Biden. We're indicting a Trump. Those leaks
5:56
Speaker 3: are not law or enforcing the law. They are politics.
6:01
Speaker 3: Did you know about the leaks about the Hunter Biden investigation.
6:06
Speaker 6: I don't know about the leak that you're talking about,
6:09
Speaker 6: and I'm not leaks are in violation of our regulations
6:15
Speaker 6: and our requirements.
6:16
Speaker 3: So the answer is the leaks are consistently on one
6:20
Speaker 3: side of the aisle, advancing one political agenda. As you know,
6:24
Speaker 3: the FBI raided Donald Trump's mar Lago home, and subsequent
6:30
Speaker 3: to that raid, there have been multiple leaks about what
6:34
Speaker 3: was discovered there, including a photograph of documents that were
6:37
Speaker 3: discovered there. Did you know about the leaks?
6:41
Speaker 5: Rate?
6:41
Speaker 6: The photograph was a filing in court in response to
6:45
Speaker 6: a motion filed by mister Trump. It was not a leak.
6:49
Speaker 3: So you're testifying there haven't been leaks about the Trump
6:53
Speaker 3: rate investment.
6:53
Speaker 6: I'm responding to the point about that.
6:55
Speaker 3: You know about the leaks that have occurred because the.
6:58
Speaker 6: Leaks, they are inappropriate. We also don't know where they
7:01
Speaker 6: come from witnesses on the well.
7:04
Speaker 3: What's interesting is when the shoe was on the other foot.
7:07
Speaker 3: I believe your intention, and I believe it's a political
7:10
Speaker 3: intention to indict President Trump became infinitely harder when classified
7:15
Speaker 3: documents were discovered repeatedly at President Biden's multiple residences. According
7:23
Speaker 3: to the public record, those were first discovered on November two,
7:26
Speaker 3: six days before the prior election. Department of Justice was
7:30
Speaker 3: notified on November fourth, and yet miraculously, there was no
7:33
Speaker 3: leak about the classified documents at President Biden's home when
7:38
Speaker 3: it politically benefited The effort to go after and charge
7:43
Speaker 3: Donald Trump. DOJ leaked when it potentially harmed the Democrat president.
7:49
Speaker 3: DOJ did not leaked. Does that strike you as at
7:54
Speaker 3: all a double standard?
7:55
Speaker 6: Weeks under all circumstances are inappropriate, and they were not
7:59
Speaker 6: directed by anyone in the justice.
8:01
Speaker 3: Let me say, in particular on Hunter Biden, I very
8:05
Speaker 3: much hope that an investigation of Hunter Biden is focused
8:08
Speaker 3: not just on his own personal substance of abuse issues,
8:12
Speaker 3: but on connections to his father and potential corruption. That
8:16
Speaker 3: is the matter of public concern and why people are concerned.
8:20
Speaker 3: It was striking that the leak that came out from
8:22
Speaker 3: DJ suggested this is just going after some poor, poor
8:26
Speaker 3: person struggling with drugs instead of looking at the very
8:29
Speaker 3: real evidence of corruption. Will you commit that the investigation
8:34
Speaker 3: will actually examine the public corruption aspect and not simply
8:39
Speaker 3: scapegoat Hunter Biden as an individual.
8:43
Speaker 6: I can't comment about the investigation other than to say
8:45
Speaker 6: that all the matters involving mister hunter Biden are in
8:49
Speaker 6: a purview of the US Attorney in Delaware. It's not
8:53
Speaker 6: restricted in his investigation in any way.
8:55
Speaker 3: Well, you don't comment here, but then you leak at
8:57
Speaker 3: the same time Senator.
8:58
Speaker 1: Holy Senator, ask you a pretty simple but one question.
9:03
Speaker 1: Did he lie to you? And more importantly, did he
9:06
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Speaker 1: acting at the Attorney General? Did he lie to you?
10:33
Speaker 1: And did he lie to Congress?
10:36
Speaker 3: Well, if what the whistleblower is saying is accurate, then
10:42
Speaker 3: Merrick Garland, in all likelihood gave false testimony to Congress. Now,
10:46
Speaker 3: whether it's a lie depends on two things. Number One,
10:52
Speaker 3: his knowledge at the time. It is possible that he
10:55
Speaker 3: believed what he was saying was true even though it
10:58
Speaker 3: was false. There should be an investigation. If he knowingly
11:03
Speaker 3: gave false testimony, that's a lie. That is also a felony.
11:08
Speaker 3: Because his testimony began with his raising his right hand
11:12
Speaker 3: and taking an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth,
11:14
Speaker 3: and nothing but the truth. Merrick Garland knows that, and
11:18
Speaker 3: so the whistleblower's testimony strongly suggests that the Attorney General's
11:25
Speaker 3: testimony was false. And I believe there should be a
11:28
Speaker 3: serious investigation into whether it was knowingly false.
11:33
Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot of people that are
11:34
Speaker 1: gonna ask this question, when is there going to be
11:36
Speaker 1: some accountability, Because when these whistleblowers come forward and they
11:39
Speaker 1: tell their stories and we see what was really going
11:42
Speaker 1: on behind closed doors, there are so many people that
11:44
Speaker 1: are just so angry, Senator that I talked to you
11:47
Speaker 1: talk to every day when you are in and around
11:50
Speaker 1: Texas and around the country in Washington, DC, who are
11:53
Speaker 1: saying they're sick and tired of watching these people get
11:55
Speaker 1: away with this is Do you feel like the momentumouslowly
12:00
Speaker 1: starting to change where there will be real and honest accountability.
12:04
Speaker 3: Well, I think there will be accountability in the House
12:07
Speaker 3: of Representatives. You have investigations both from Jim Jordan and
12:12
Speaker 3: Representative Comer that are looking directly at these issues. I
12:16
Speaker 3: think you will continue to see hearings in the House
12:19
Speaker 3: of Representatives that are putting evidence before the American people.
12:23
Speaker 3: There is more and more indication that the House may
12:27
Speaker 3: hold Chris Ray, the Director of the FBI, and contempt
12:31
Speaker 3: for refusing to respond to subpoenas issued by Congress, and
12:37
Speaker 3: if the Attorney General. I expect the House of Representatives
12:41
Speaker 3: to cross examine the Attorney General on whether he lied
12:45
Speaker 3: and whether he knowingly lied in the Senate. I don't
12:49
Speaker 3: expect the Senate Judiciary to do anything about it. I
12:51
Speaker 3: think Dick Durbin and the Democrats they do not care.
12:54
Speaker 3: They are happy for the Attorney General to cover up
12:57
Speaker 3: the investigation of Hunter Biden. They want the Attorney General
13:01
Speaker 3: to cover up the investigation of Hunter Biden.
13:03
Speaker 2: They want the.
13:04
Speaker 3: Department of Justice to be the political arm of the
13:06
Speaker 3: White House. They want this DOJ to be utterly corrupt.
13:11
Speaker 3: And look, that's a strong allegation. But if they didn't,
13:17
Speaker 3: Dick Durbin could hold a hearing tomorrow. If they didn't,
13:21
Speaker 3: Dick Durbin could subpoena the Attorney General tomorrow. If they didn't,
13:29
Speaker 3: just one of the Democrats, just one of the Democrats
13:33
Speaker 3: could muster up the mustard seeds of courage to ask
13:38
Speaker 3: the Attorney General about it. But if you look at
13:40
Speaker 3: the hearings, the Democrats all get in and play patty
13:44
Speaker 3: cake with him, that they praise him, if anything, that
13:48
Speaker 3: they urge him. Why can't you be more vigorous going
13:52
Speaker 3: after our enemies why can't you be more vigorous going
13:56
Speaker 3: after every little old lady who waved an American flag
13:59
Speaker 3: on the mall during Januari. Those are the questions the
14:01
Speaker 3: Democrats ask. And so if there is a Democrat senator
14:05
Speaker 3: who gives a damn about whether DOJ is obstructing justice
14:10
Speaker 3: and covering up criminal activity from the President of the
14:14
Speaker 3: United States involved in corruption with foreign countries like China
14:20
Speaker 3: and Ukraine and his son, if there's a Democrat who cares,
14:23
Speaker 3: he or she has yet to open his or her
14:26
Speaker 3: mouth about.
14:26
Speaker 1: It, Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how
14:29
Speaker 1: many more whistle blowers come forward as well, and how
14:31
Speaker 1: so many men and women are becoming so brave now
14:34
Speaker 1: feeling like they have a safe place to go to
14:37
Speaker 1: conservative members of Congress to tell their stories. And this
14:40
Speaker 1: is shocking that CBS did it. So I got to
14:42
Speaker 1: ask you the politics of this senator CBS News doing
14:46
Speaker 1: this interview to me, just screamed, this isn't normal, this
14:51
Speaker 1: is odd. They've not wanted to cover any of the
14:54
Speaker 1: Hunter Biden scandal. Now all of a sudden, they're not
14:56
Speaker 1: only they covering it, they're breaking news. The coveted whistle
15:01
Speaker 1: blower were you taken aback by that? And is there
15:05
Speaker 1: a chance The reason why they're doing this is because
15:07
Speaker 1: they realize the Republican field is getting more crowded with
15:10
Speaker 1: Rohnda Santis announcing as well, and they're really worried that
15:13
Speaker 1: any of these candidates might be able to beat Joe Biden.
15:18
Speaker 3: Well, it is fascinating that CBS ran this story, that
15:23
Speaker 3: they focused on it, that they highlighted it.
15:25
Speaker 2: They have had.
15:28
Speaker 3: Little to no interest in covering the mounting evidence of
15:31
Speaker 3: corruption in the Biden family. So this is a big
15:35
Speaker 3: break and that decision would have been highlighted by a
15:40
Speaker 3: network executive. That was not done by an individual reporter.
15:45
Speaker 3: It was not done by an individual anchor. That was
15:47
Speaker 3: done by a higher up by the suits at CBS,
15:51
Speaker 3: by someone with authority, the head of the news division,
15:54
Speaker 3: somebody with real authority made the decision greenlight thiss go
15:59
Speaker 3: with this. That's powerful as to why I don't know,
16:04
Speaker 3: you know, you asked about whether it is the Republican
16:06
Speaker 3: field getting a little bit more crowded with ron De
16:09
Speaker 3: Santis getting in the race. That could be a factor.
16:14
Speaker 3: I have said before, so six months ago, I did
16:19
Speaker 3: not believe Joe Biden was going to be the nominee.
16:21
Speaker 3: I didn't think Joe Biden was going to run because
16:24
Speaker 3: he is so obviously diminished mentally that he's not up
16:27
Speaker 3: to it. And pretty much everyone knows that. Republicans certainly
16:31
Speaker 3: know that, but the Democrats know that too. What changed
16:35
Speaker 3: in the last six months it is I right now
16:38
Speaker 3: think Biden is quite likely to be the nominee. Why
16:42
Speaker 3: because I think right now most Democrats believe Donald Trump
16:47
Speaker 3: will be the nominee, and Democrats who believe Donald Trump
16:51
Speaker 3: will be the nominee also believe that if Trump is
16:54
Speaker 3: the nominee, that they can nominate Biden and just hide
16:57
Speaker 3: him in the basement for two years and on a
17:00
Speaker 3: campaign about how much they hate Donald Trump. And they
17:02
Speaker 3: believe that Biden in the basement plus their antipathy for
17:06
Speaker 3: Donald Trump, produces a victory on general election Day. I
17:10
Speaker 3: do think if if the nominee, if Democrats believe the
17:14
Speaker 3: Republican nominee really is anyone other than Trump, I think
17:18
Speaker 3: the odds skyrocket that Democrats decide they want to dump
17:22
Speaker 3: Joe Biden and find somebody else, because if the nominee
17:25
Speaker 3: is someone other than Trump, it's much harder for them
17:28
Speaker 3: to run a campaign on how much they hate Trump,
17:30
Speaker 3: then they actually have to find a candidate who can
17:32
Speaker 3: actually leave the basement and say something. And so whether
17:37
Speaker 3: this is CBS network execs starting to starting to have
17:41
Speaker 3: those knocking knees, I don't know, but it is. It
17:45
Speaker 3: is a very interesting development and it will get more
17:48
Speaker 3: interesting if you see more of the corrupt corporate media
17:50
Speaker 3: following suit.
17:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's no doubt about it. I got to ask
17:54
Speaker 1: you about the other story. Ron DeSantis has the announced
17:57
Speaker 1: he's running for president, and yes, that's that's newsworthy. But
18:02
Speaker 1: the way that he did it is something I could
18:05
Speaker 1: have never imagined. You actually worked on a presidential campaign.
18:10
Speaker 1: You've run for president as well, and I've worked on
18:15
Speaker 1: presidential campaigns. I never could have imagined us sitting in
18:18
Speaker 1: a room saying, hey, we should announce on social media.
18:22
Speaker 1: Is this moving and changing? Just in proof how important
18:27
Speaker 1: social media is. To see a candidate do it the
18:31
Speaker 1: way that Ron DeSantis did it. Could you've ever imagined
18:34
Speaker 1: this ten, fifteen, twenty years ago?
18:36
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's twin commentary Number one, the rising
18:39
Speaker 3: importance of social media and alternative avenues of communication, and
18:44
Speaker 3: number two a continuing indictment of the corrupt corporate media.
18:48
Speaker 3: It's remarkable that there's there's certainly been no prior cycle
18:52
Speaker 3: where when any presidential candidate would make an announcement like
18:55
Speaker 3: this on social media and Twitter spaces. I'll tell you
19:00
Speaker 3: going back to twenty eleven, when I first announced my
19:04
Speaker 3: campaign for US Senate, very first time, I made that
19:07
Speaker 3: announcement on a conference call with bloggers, and it was,
19:12
Speaker 3: to my knowledge, the first time anyone had done that,
19:15
Speaker 3: and bloggers were relatively due. And the reason I did
19:19
Speaker 3: that is that there were a lot of folks who
19:22
Speaker 3: were blogging and who were writing things, and I wanted
19:24
Speaker 3: them to write about the campaign. I wanted them to
19:26
Speaker 3: get excited about the campaign. And so it was at
19:28
Speaker 3: the time trying to take advantage of a cutting edge
19:34
Speaker 3: in the development of media and communication. I think what
19:37
Speaker 3: Desanus did this week is similar to that, but obviously
19:41
Speaker 3: the technology and communication has changed dramatically in the years
19:44
Speaker 3: since then.
19:46
Speaker 2: Now there's been a ton.
19:48
Speaker 3: Of coverage on the technical glitches that the Twitter spaces,
19:51
Speaker 3: that there were so many users on it that it
19:53
Speaker 3: was delayed and glitchy and didn't work very well. And
19:56
Speaker 3: look that I am sure Elon Musk has decapitated more
20:01
Speaker 3: than a few people at Twitter because that was not
20:03
Speaker 3: a good moment for Twitter. That that was a high
20:06
Speaker 3: profile moment for Twitter as an avenue for communicating to
20:10
Speaker 3: hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously. But I am quite
20:15
Speaker 3: confident this will not be the last campaign launched in
20:19
Speaker 3: this format. And it's striking that it wasn't launched on
20:23
Speaker 3: a TV show. It wasn't launched on Fox News, which
20:27
Speaker 3: I think Fox News was less than happy about. It
20:32
Speaker 3: wasn't launched in a big rally. When I launched my
20:38
Speaker 3: campaign in twenty fifteen, I did so at Liberty University
20:42
Speaker 3: in an auditorium with about ten thousand students, and that
20:45
Speaker 3: was that that was a fantastic place to launch it
20:49
Speaker 3: and and energizing to be surrounded by a crowd. Uh,
20:55
Speaker 3: And and that that's how I chose to launch it
21:00
Speaker 3: years ago. This reflects that that technology is moving, communication
21:07
Speaker 3: is moving. But it also reflects, presumably that a Santus
21:10
Speaker 3: campaign believing they wouldn't get a fair shake from much
21:13
Speaker 3: of the traditional media and so trying to cut out
21:17
Speaker 3: the middleman and go straight to the voters. And I
21:20
Speaker 3: think you'll see a lot of that. It also reminds
21:22
Speaker 3: me in six or in twenty sixteen, Trump's use of
21:27
Speaker 3: social media was cutting edge. It was he would put
21:32
Speaker 3: out tweets that would drive the news cycle in a
21:35
Speaker 3: way that had never happened before, and it changed how
21:38
Speaker 3: people communicate through his use of Twitter. I'll say, actually,
21:43
Speaker 3: in response, among other things, to the glitches on the announcement,
21:49
Speaker 3: the Trump campaign put out a mock Twitter spaces with
21:54
Speaker 3: featuring the Santus and Mosque, but also featuring people like
21:59
Speaker 3: the Devil and eight Off Hitler. And I got to say,
22:01
Speaker 3: whoever the writer was, it was funny as hell. So
22:04
Speaker 3: it was clever how they mocked it. And I think
22:07
Speaker 3: you're going to see an awful lot more humor and mockery,
22:10
Speaker 3: probably on both sides. But you're right, this was a
22:15
Speaker 3: milestone in terms of communications and how candidates communicate with
22:21
Speaker 3: the voters.
22:22
Speaker 1: I also think it also shows us from the Twitter files, Senator,
22:28
Speaker 1: just how important social media is to driving Americans viewpoints
22:34
Speaker 1: and opinions and views. We have seen that in a
22:37
Speaker 1: topic we're going to talk about in a minute with Target.
22:39
Speaker 1: We've seen that that's happened with bud Light. But it
22:42
Speaker 1: also shows you how important the Democrats understood Twitter and
22:47
Speaker 1: Facebook to be when they were meeting with them on
22:49
Speaker 1: the regular, trying to influence the news and what people
22:52
Speaker 1: were seeing. And then you see somebody like DeSantis use
22:56
Speaker 1: the platform to announce the president to run. It's like, yeah,
23:00
Speaker 1: it's because we're we all know how important this medium is.
23:04
Speaker 1: And the Democrats are cooking the books for years against conservatives,
23:08
Speaker 1: silencing and censoring conservatives, and they want us to act
23:10
Speaker 1: like it wasn't a big deal when clearly it was.
23:14
Speaker 2: Well, that's right.
23:15
Speaker 3: And let me say there's also an avenue of social media,
23:18
Speaker 3: which is that it drives traditional media. I cannot tell
23:23
Speaker 3: you how many times if there's a topic that I
23:25
Speaker 3: want to engage on, I'll pull out my phone and
23:28
Speaker 3: send a tweet, and within minutes you can see people
23:33
Speaker 3: reporters who follow Twitter. If the tweet is on a
23:37
Speaker 3: topic of a public concern and something they care about,
23:40
Speaker 3: you can see stories written I've typed out tweets and
23:45
Speaker 3: within ten minutes seeing them on the TV on Fox
23:48
Speaker 3: News the tweet that I just typed on my phone.
23:50
Speaker 3: That there's a speed of it that in many ways,
23:54
Speaker 3: engaging in social media is an instantaneous press release two
23:59
Speaker 3: millions of people, including every reporter on planet Earth, and
24:02
Speaker 3: so that it's a different relationship than it used to be.
24:07
Speaker 3: And as I said, it was Trump who pioneered that.
24:09
Speaker 3: But I've been on Air Force One with Trump where
24:12
Speaker 3: we were talking about a topic and he said, all right,
24:14
Speaker 3: let's send a tweet on that, and he in that instance,
24:18
Speaker 3: dictated it to his social media guy, Dan Scavino. Dan
24:21
Speaker 3: sent the tweet out from Air Force One. And I've
24:23
Speaker 3: been in the President's office on Air Force One with
24:27
Speaker 3: Fox News on the TV and boom as tweet pops
24:30
Speaker 3: up on the TV again five ten minutes after he
24:34
Speaker 3: decided to send that tweet. And so there's an instantaneous
24:37
Speaker 3: communication piece to it that is very, very.
24:40
Speaker 1: Potent, no doubt about it. I want to talk about
24:42
Speaker 1: one of the places where social media is driving change
24:47
Speaker 1: and reform that deals with bud Light and now Target
24:50
Speaker 1: losing nine billion dollars in the week following the calls
24:55
Speaker 1: for boycotts over what they've been doing, going after kids
24:58
Speaker 1: and their gay pride to and some of the just
25:02
Speaker 1: horrific things that they're selling online and their designers are
25:05
Speaker 1: designing the clothes it is a Satanist who is designing it,
25:08
Speaker 1: saying that, you know, trans people should come to Satan.
25:12
Speaker 1: It's shocking to see this all play out, but it's
25:14
Speaker 1: cost him now apparently nine billion dollars. And before we
25:18
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26:37
Speaker 1: I love watching victories play out in real time. The
26:41
Speaker 1: victory over Anheuser Busch by conservatives after they decide to
26:46
Speaker 1: partner with a dude who's dressed like a chick mulvaney.
26:50
Speaker 1: Now we're seeing Target. Target is posted a nine billion
26:54
Speaker 1: dollar loss and market cap in just a week after
26:56
Speaker 1: they face backlash for their Pride gear, which included tuck
26:59
Speaker 1: friendly swimsuits and other gender related products. Just like Budweiser.
27:03
Speaker 1: They're learning very quickly that parents and normal adults are
27:07
Speaker 1: going to not just sit back and take it anymore.
27:09
Speaker 1: They're not going to allow their children to be manipulated. Conservatives,
27:13
Speaker 1: and I say this with hope, now are finally waking
27:17
Speaker 1: up and realizing how powerful we are as a group
27:21
Speaker 1: when we stand together as patriots and say no more.
27:25
Speaker 3: You don't have to say, it's amazing how many big
27:27
Speaker 3: companies don't understand their customers and don't respect their customers,
27:34
Speaker 3: because if you respect your customers, you don't insult them.
27:37
Speaker 3: If you respect your customers, you focus on what your
27:40
Speaker 3: customers want, and you don't try to impose your political
27:45
Speaker 3: ideology or your extreme views on your customers. It's the
27:48
Speaker 3: phrase the customer is always right used to mean something.
27:53
Speaker 3: We see this throughout corporate America, where ad agencies are
27:59
Speaker 3: hard left, h our departments are hard left. That the
28:02
Speaker 3: C suite is scared to death of the shareholder activist,
28:06
Speaker 3: is scared to death of the twenty four year old
28:09
Speaker 3: children that they've hired out of woke universities who are
28:11
Speaker 3: demanding that they virtue signal. And it used to be
28:16
Speaker 3: the case that that that the CEOs believed, well, if
28:20
Speaker 3: I give in to the mob, it'll appease the mob,
28:23
Speaker 3: and I can go do what I want. And I
28:25
Speaker 3: got to say that that there's a constellation now of
28:28
Speaker 3: three events and in fairly quick order. Uh, there's Disney
28:33
Speaker 3: and and and when Disney came out vocally against Florida's
28:38
Speaker 3: law prohibiting the teaching of sexually explicit information to children.
28:43
Speaker 3: The backlash was significant when when the legislature acted to
28:47
Speaker 3: strip Disney's special tax subsidy and exemption from the ordinary
28:51
Speaker 3: rules in Florida law. That was one of the very
28:54
Speaker 3: first big consequences to a company going woke then, and
29:00
Speaker 3: you had bud Light and bud Light likewise not understanding
29:05
Speaker 3: or respecting its customers. And the reaction was was swift
29:09
Speaker 3: from the customers who could who found that they could
29:13
Speaker 3: switch to another beer and another light beer really quite
29:16
Speaker 3: easily and quite costlessly. And and that cost has been
29:20
Speaker 3: significant for Anheuser Busch and now thirdly Target and Target
29:25
Speaker 3: nine billion dollars in just a few days. That's a
29:28
Speaker 3: lot of money. That's a lot of money anyway you
29:30
Speaker 3: look at it, and and it's you know, Target is
29:35
Speaker 3: trying to wrap themselves in oh, we're just you know,
29:39
Speaker 3: defending pride, and and you know people are LGBT that
29:43
Speaker 3: that they shop too, and that's true, they do. But
29:46
Speaker 3: but Target was not simply selling to all their customers
29:50
Speaker 3: straight or gay. It was rather aggressively directing this propaganda
29:56
Speaker 3: kids at little kids, at three year olds, at time, toddlers,
30:00
Speaker 3: at babies. And I got to say that is extreme.
30:06
Speaker 3: It is only well, it's actually, as we pointed out
30:10
Speaker 3: in the lot last podcast, they literally hired a self
30:14
Speaker 3: identified Satanist to design the display, and and they're selling
30:20
Speaker 3: clothing with explicit appeals to the devil, Like I'm sorry,
30:26
Speaker 3: what imbecile at Targets said, you know what, our customers
30:31
Speaker 3: really want more Satanic worship, and maybe Satanic worship combined
30:37
Speaker 3: with convincing two year olds that they really should have
30:41
Speaker 3: sex and be gay like what and be transgender and
30:46
Speaker 3: be two like? How exactly does that pitch go? And
30:51
Speaker 3: is there anyone in the room that says, well, gosh,
30:56
Speaker 3: maybe some of our customers just want them us to
30:58
Speaker 3: leave their kids alone. I do think there is the
31:03
Speaker 3: cumulative effect of Disney and then bud Light and then Target.
31:10
Speaker 3: It's much greater than additive because I think it is
31:12
Speaker 3: a deterrent to the next company thinking about doing this.
31:16
Speaker 3: You know, we already have information for within Target. They're saying,
31:19
Speaker 3: we don't want to be bud Light, we don't want
31:20
Speaker 3: to be bud Light. Well you know what the next
31:22
Speaker 3: company is going to say, we don't want to be
31:23
Speaker 3: bud Lighter Target, we don't want to be bud later Target.
31:26
Speaker 3: That starts to get really powerful.
31:29
Speaker 1: You know, there's something else about this too that's really
31:31
Speaker 1: shocking to me. Target seems to understand that they don't
31:35
Speaker 1: want to be don't want to become bud Light. But
31:37
Speaker 1: at the same time, their internal memos that have been
31:40
Speaker 1: leaked show that they're not backing down from selling these goods.
31:44
Speaker 1: They're just redesigning how they're showcasing them within their stores,
31:49
Speaker 1: and specifically, it says within southern stores in Southern states.
31:53
Speaker 1: In other words, when when you walked into the Target
31:56
Speaker 1: that was right by my house, it's it was the
31:58
Speaker 1: first thing you saw when you want in this massive
32:01
Speaker 1: pride with the target set on Target Pride, that the
32:05
Speaker 1: section was very clearly there. Now they're moving that section
32:10
Speaker 1: away from the front of the store, but the goods
32:12
Speaker 1: that they were selling are still in the store. And
32:16
Speaker 1: they even said in their own internal email, says, to
32:19
Speaker 1: the teams who have been working so hard on our
32:21
Speaker 1: plans for Pride and now are showing incredible agility as
32:25
Speaker 1: we adjust. Thank you. Your efforts will ensure we can
32:28
Speaker 1: still show up and celebrate Pride in meaningful ways. They
32:32
Speaker 1: also went on to say that the lgbt Q IA
32:34
Speaker 1: plus community One of the hardest parts in all of
32:37
Speaker 1: this was trying to contemplate how the adjustments we're making
32:41
Speaker 1: that we're making to alleviate these threats quote to our
32:44
Speaker 1: team's physical and psychological safety would impact you in your
32:48
Speaker 1: well being in psychological safety. We stand with you, they say,
32:52
Speaker 1: now and basically forever. This is the part that I
32:55
Speaker 1: think is shocking about Target not learning. They're basically saying
32:59
Speaker 1: that if you are against them doing this to kids,
33:02
Speaker 1: that somehow you're attacking them and their workers psychologically and
33:07
Speaker 1: their well being. In other words, well, it's these mother's fault.
33:12
Speaker 1: It's these women who are not shopping your's fault that
33:14
Speaker 1: we're having to do this. And we still stand by you.
33:17
Speaker 1: We're still selling everything Centator, but we're going to move
33:20
Speaker 1: it around and place it in different areas, and don't worry,
33:23
Speaker 1: We're still going to accomplish our agenda here. We're not
33:25
Speaker 1: going to say we got it wrong.
33:28
Speaker 3: Well, and you notice Target is engaging in the same
33:31
Speaker 3: sleight of hand that left wing activists and the corrupt
33:34
Speaker 3: corporate media did in the fight over the law in
33:38
Speaker 3: Florida concerning teaching kids about sexuality. Remember they branded that
33:42
Speaker 3: law don't say gay, and this is all about gay rights.
33:45
Speaker 3: This is all about just efforts to suppress.
33:49
Speaker 2: The LGBT community.
33:52
Speaker 3: The law in Florida, as you and I have talked
33:54
Speaker 3: about at length, which they wrongly call the don't say
33:57
Speaker 3: gay law, I view as the don't say sex law,
34:01
Speaker 3: don't don't talk about gay sex, don't talk about straight
34:03
Speaker 3: sex with five year olds, leave five year olds alone.
34:07
Speaker 3: The law applied in Florida to pre KK one, two
34:10
Speaker 3: and three fourth grade. Florida law allowed you, katie, bar
34:14
Speaker 3: the door, get into anything you wanted in this instance. Notice,
34:17
Speaker 3: Target's entire defense is all just generically about LGBT. It's
34:23
Speaker 3: not about the fact that they are targeting infants, literally
34:28
Speaker 3: onesies for infants, and not only that, they're selling clothing
34:34
Speaker 3: for young girls to strap their breasts down to hide
34:38
Speaker 3: their breasts, and they're selling bathing suits for three year
34:42
Speaker 3: old boys to tuck their genitalia in and hide it
34:46
Speaker 3: like that is. Look, that's extreme on any measure, targeting children,
34:54
Speaker 3: and what Target is trying to do, ironically, is cover
34:57
Speaker 3: that up entirely by making it broader and more generic
35:00
Speaker 3: and ignoring the truly grotesque part about what they're doing.
35:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to ask you another question about this politically,
35:09
Speaker 1: and that is the bud like controversy was predominantly we
35:14
Speaker 1: now know from the data that's been shared, is men
35:18
Speaker 1: saying I'm not buying bud Light. The nine billion that
35:23
Speaker 1: disappeared from Target in a week is we know now
35:27
Speaker 1: from the data is clearly women. What does this say
35:30
Speaker 1: about not just moms really now getting involved in standing up?
35:36
Speaker 1: And also what does this mean going into this next
35:39
Speaker 1: presidential election? And before you answer that, I want to
35:42
Speaker 1: tell you about our friends at Patriot Mobile. We're talking
35:44
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Speaker 1: eight Patriot. Senator. I've really been encouraged, you know, with
37:14
Speaker 1: the Disney and what happened at Disney. We saw an
37:17
Speaker 1: initial kind of reaction from moms who said, Okay, we're
37:20
Speaker 1: gonna boycott, and then it's kind of disappeared. Disney's doing fine.
37:24
Speaker 1: Moms wanted to have those moments with their kids. They
37:26
Speaker 1: wanted to go to Disneyland. I've had this grand debate
37:29
Speaker 1: with many of my family and friends, and butt light happened,
37:33
Speaker 1: and that was predominatly men standing up saying, uh uh,
37:35
Speaker 1: I'm not doing this. Target is women's and I'm so
37:39
Speaker 1: happy to see mothers that are being inspired. And I
37:42
Speaker 1: think part of this was from the lockdowns and seeing
37:44
Speaker 1: what was happening their kids' schools. But this is amazing
37:48
Speaker 1: to witness mothers, and I think this is going to
37:50
Speaker 1: play out with a lot more women running for office
37:53
Speaker 1: as conservatives. We've seen some of that already happen at
37:56
Speaker 1: school board rates around the country, but this was an
37:59
Speaker 1: inspired week for me to watch so many mothers take
38:02
Speaker 1: nine billion dollars out of the pockets of target.
38:06
Speaker 3: Well, we are seeing and we have seen the power
38:09
Speaker 3: of women and moms when they get really engaged and
38:11
Speaker 3: they get really angry. As you noted, we're seeing it
38:14
Speaker 3: in school board races all over the country when they
38:16
Speaker 3: see what's being taught to their kids and their outrage
38:19
Speaker 3: at the garbage being taught to their kids, and they're
38:21
Speaker 3: flipping school board races nationwide. There are a bunch of races
38:25
Speaker 3: in Texas. I've gotten actively involved in where we flip
38:28
Speaker 3: them from left wing boards to moms taking their schools back. Look,
38:33
Speaker 3: we saw it powerfully in Virginia and Louden County, where
38:37
Speaker 3: moms in Virginia were angry at the arrogance of the schools,
38:42
Speaker 3: at the left wing propaganda, at the critical race theory,
38:46
Speaker 3: at covering up sexual assaults of little girls in the
38:51
Speaker 3: girl's bathroom in Louden County in that instance by a
38:54
Speaker 3: boyd in wearing a skirt, and those moms, and many
38:58
Speaker 3: of those moms had voted for Joe Biden just the
39:02
Speaker 3: previous election, but they flipped over and elected Glenn Youngkin.
39:05
Speaker 3: That is a very powerful thing. I think it also
39:08
Speaker 3: matters in terms of Boycott's. Historically, Conservatives have typically been
39:13
Speaker 3: not very good at Boycott's. Part of the problem is
39:17
Speaker 3: that that for some things, it's it's hard to substitute.
39:21
Speaker 3: Disney's an example where you can be annoyed at Disney
39:24
Speaker 3: but but if your kids really want to go to
39:26
Speaker 3: Disney World, that can be hard to say no to.
39:29
Speaker 2: They're not a lot of alternatives.
39:31
Speaker 3: There's six Flags, but but disney World is a pretty
39:33
Speaker 3: unique offering, and for that matter, Disney's movies. I mean look,
39:38
Speaker 3: there's only one snow Whiter or Cinderella or you know
39:42
Speaker 3: toy story from Pixar. I mean, they're, they're, they're. That
39:46
Speaker 3: is a difficult product for many people to give up permanently.
39:52
Speaker 3: I think the same thing is true about pro sports.
39:54
Speaker 3: I think lots of sports fans are unhappy with the
39:57
Speaker 3: NFL or the NBA and all of the woken. But
40:00
Speaker 3: at the same time, people and I put myself in
40:03
Speaker 3: this camp, really love going to sports events, ensuring on
40:07
Speaker 3: their teams, and so it's a painful boycott. What really
40:12
Speaker 3: came to bite bud Light is that wasn't a hard boycott.
40:17
Speaker 3: It's difficult for nobody on planet Earth if you were
40:20
Speaker 3: going to order a bud Light to say, uh, of course,
40:23
Speaker 3: like like, that's a very simple substitution. I'm not sure
40:27
Speaker 3: many people could could go through a blind taste test
40:30
Speaker 3: and tell the difference. And so it's it's an easy substitution.
40:34
Speaker 2: Target.
40:36
Speaker 3: We'll see how prolonged and easy a substitution it is.
40:39
Speaker 3: There's Walmart, you know, there are alternatives. I will say
40:44
Speaker 3: targets are located in a lot of areas and very
40:47
Speaker 3: convenient for a lot of shoppers. So we'll see if
40:51
Speaker 3: this becomes a persistent consequence or not, but whether it
40:56
Speaker 3: is sustained. The fact that it was so concentrated and
41:00
Speaker 3: intense has I think certainly made a real impression on
41:05
Speaker 3: the target executives, I hope, but also on the next executives.
41:10
Speaker 3: And you and I have talked about before. If we
41:12
Speaker 3: want to stop corporate America from going woke, we've got
41:16
Speaker 3: to change the cost benefit analysis so that when the
41:19
Speaker 3: next executives are thinking about it, the downside of the
41:24
Speaker 3: ledger is bigger and more problematic. And I do think
41:29
Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks have dramatically increased the downside,
41:33
Speaker 3: not just for these companies but for every other. And
41:36
Speaker 3: that's a good thing for those of us that would
41:39
Speaker 3: like companies just to get back to sell in their
41:41
Speaker 3: damn products and keep their idiotic politics out of our lives.
41:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, great point, and a great point to end on.
41:47
Speaker 1: Don't forget we do this show three days a week Monday,
41:51
Speaker 1: Wednesdays and Fridays that there's big breaking news. We do
41:53
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42:00
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42:02
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42:08
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