Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Dems Refuse to Pay Federal Workers, Antisemitism on the Right, Standing up to the Muslim Brotherhood & Defending Christians in China

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Dems Refuse to Pay Federal Workers, Antisemitism on the Right, Standing up to the Muslim Brotherhood & Defending Christians in China · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome.
0:01
Speaker 2: It is Verdic with Center, Ted Kruz, Ben Ferguson with
0:04
Speaker 2: you and many of you listening on the radio around
0:06
Speaker 2: the country.
0:06
Speaker 1: It's so nice to have you with a center.
0:08
Speaker 2: We've got a lot to talk about, including we're still
0:11
Speaker 2: in a dead gum government shut down and Democrats seem
0:13
Speaker 2: to be held bent on digging in hurting Americans.
0:16
Speaker 3: Well, the Schumer shutdown continues. As of Friday, it was
0:21
Speaker 3: day twenty four of the Schumer shutdown. The government remains
0:24
Speaker 3: shut down. Federal employees are not getting paid. We had
0:29
Speaker 3: a vote on the Senate floor on Thursday on Ron
0:32
Speaker 3: Johnson's legislation, very simple legislation to pay government workers who
0:37
Speaker 3: have to work, to have them actually pay their salaries.
0:40
Speaker 3: In other words, essential workers, workers who are ordered to
0:43
Speaker 3: come into work should get their salaries. It's a very simple,
0:46
Speaker 3: common sense proposition. The Democrats voted no. The vote was
0:51
Speaker 3: fifty four to forty five. So Warnock, Osoff, and Feederman
0:56
Speaker 3: were the three Democrats who voted to pay the federal
0:59
Speaker 3: workers that are being forced to work and are not
1:01
Speaker 3: getting their paychecks, and every other Democrat voted no. No
1:05
Speaker 3: paycheck for you. So we continue going through the weekend
1:09
Speaker 3: next week. Next week, the Senate is going to take
1:12
Speaker 3: up a series of votes uh to to try to
1:16
Speaker 3: reopen the government again. We're going to break that down
1:18
Speaker 3: what to expect in this next week and and when
1:21
Speaker 3: and how this shutdown is going to end. We're also
1:23
Speaker 3: going to talk to you about the need to fight
1:25
Speaker 3: anti Semitism on the right. Anti Semitism is rising on
1:28
Speaker 3: the right, and and and we need to stand up
1:30
Speaker 3: and combat it. We're going to break that down for you.
1:33
Speaker 3: We're going to talk about an individual who's been nominated
1:36
Speaker 3: to be ambassador to Kuwait, who unfortunately has an extreme record,
1:42
Speaker 3: a record of praising the Muslim brotherhood, of opposing President
1:47
Speaker 3: Trump's foreign policy objectives and principles, and and and and
1:51
Speaker 3: I called for his nomination to be rejected. We're going
1:54
Speaker 3: to tell you all about that. And finally, we're going
1:56
Speaker 3: to talk about the need to stand up against the
1:59
Speaker 3: persecut of Christians in China. Communist China is imprisoning pastors
2:03
Speaker 3: and Christians. I'm leading a bipartisan effort in the Senate
2:07
Speaker 3: to call out China to stop persecuting Christians. All of
2:10
Speaker 3: that on today's pod.
2:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've got a lot to cover.
2:14
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Speaker 2: Hillsdale dot edu slash verdict. All right, sat, So let's
3:56
Speaker 2: start with where we are in the shutdown. It is amazing,
4:00
Speaker 2: actually thought there could be some movement this week. The
4:02
Speaker 2: radical left and the Democratic Party clearly is saying no
4:05
Speaker 2: to that. They want to hurt people right now. It
4:08
Speaker 2: is hurting Americans, and they don't seem to care about that.
4:11
Speaker 2: In fact, they seem to be proud of the fact
4:13
Speaker 2: that people are hurting.
4:15
Speaker 4: Well they are.
4:15
Speaker 3: You have Democrats going on TV bragging that the shutdown
4:19
Speaker 3: gives them leverage, although it's not clear what they want
4:21
Speaker 3: leverage for other than their demand that illegal aliens get
4:24
Speaker 3: free taxpayer funded health care, and that demand is going
4:28
Speaker 3: nowhere and is wildly unpopular with the American people. This
4:32
Speaker 3: shutdown is really just about politics, though, It's about the
4:35
Speaker 3: fact that Chuck Schumer in March, when the Democrats worked
4:39
Speaker 3: with Republicans to keep the government open, his left wing
4:42
Speaker 3: base got furious and he almost lost his job. They
4:44
Speaker 3: almost fired him. And so this is his saying screw
4:48
Speaker 3: you to President Trump. This is hit Chuck Schumer and
4:52
Speaker 3: the Democrats trying to prove to their radical base, to
4:55
Speaker 3: everyone who's marching in those No Kings rallies, that they
4:58
Speaker 3: hate Donald Trump as my much as the radicals do.
5:01
Speaker 3: And and sadly that means the government stays shut and
5:05
Speaker 3: there are a lot of real consequences. As I said
5:07
Speaker 3: on Thursday, the Democrats, almost straight party line, voted not
5:11
Speaker 3: to pay the federal workers who are forced to go
5:13
Speaker 3: in and work. And by the way, the Association of
5:16
Speaker 3: Federal Workers both active and retired, supported this this provision.
5:20
Speaker 3: Democrats are normally always, you know, always eager to be
5:24
Speaker 3: supporting federal workers. Well they just voted none of them
5:27
Speaker 3: get paid. Next week, next week we're going to vote
5:31
Speaker 3: on legislation from Dan Sullivan that I'm a co sponsor
5:35
Speaker 3: of that will pay our troops, pay our soldiers and
5:38
Speaker 3: sailors and airmen and Marines and pay our coast guardsmen.
5:42
Speaker 3: And my suspicion is the Democrats are going to vote
5:44
Speaker 3: now that they don't want to pay our active duty military. Now.
5:47
Speaker 3: Right now, the military is being paid because President Trump
5:50
Speaker 3: has reallocated funds from another portion of the budget. But
5:54
Speaker 3: this is going to be a straight up vote, do
5:55
Speaker 3: you want to pay the military or not. My suspicion
5:58
Speaker 3: is that the Democrat Party is radical enough they'll vote no.
6:02
Speaker 3: We're also going to vote next week on legislation I
6:05
Speaker 3: filed to pay those concerned with air travel. So right now, Ben,
6:12
Speaker 3: there are roughly fifty thousand TSA workers who are going
6:15
Speaker 3: into work and they're not getting paid. They don't get
6:18
Speaker 3: a paycheck. There are roughly fourteen thousand air traffic controllers
6:23
Speaker 3: who are going into work and they're not getting paid.
6:26
Speaker 3: They don't get a paycheck. Now, the result of that,
6:29
Speaker 3: we're seeing more and more flight delays, We're seeing more
6:32
Speaker 3: and more cancelations. Just a couple of days ago, Houston's
6:34
Speaker 3: Hobby Airport had a ground stop. They had a groundstop
6:38
Speaker 3: why because of a shortage of air traffic controllers. And
6:40
Speaker 3: this problem will only get worse. I'll tell you a
6:43
Speaker 3: senior Democrat aide told Politico that the shutdown will continue
6:47
Speaker 3: quote until planes start falling from the sky. Wow, that's
6:53
Speaker 3: not remotely funny. It is reckless, it is dangerous, and
6:57
Speaker 3: it is imposing real costs on the American people. And so, now,
7:01
Speaker 3: by the way, is.
7:01
Speaker 2: There any accountability for that individual so far that we
7:04
Speaker 2: know of.
7:05
Speaker 3: It was an anonymous quote. So I suspect we'll never
7:07
Speaker 3: know who said that.
7:09
Speaker 1: But amazing.
7:10
Speaker 3: The bottom line is, And by the way, if this
7:14
Speaker 3: shutdown continues through Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time
7:18
Speaker 3: of the year. And if the Democrats have been forcing
7:22
Speaker 3: air traffic controllers to work for a month with no pay,
7:26
Speaker 3: you can predict real shortages and delays and cancelations that
7:30
Speaker 3: will impact Americans across this country. Now, I'll tell you
7:33
Speaker 3: something that'll make you mad. Ben. You know who is
7:35
Speaker 3: being paid? Who's that Democrat politicians? Oh?
7:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they didn't do what you did. By the way,
7:41
Speaker 2: another conservatives are like, don't pay me during the shutdown.
7:44
Speaker 2: We don't need to get paid.
7:45
Speaker 3: So under the Constitution, the twenty eighth Amendment to the
7:48
Speaker 3: Constitution provides that members of Congress cannot have their salary
7:52
Speaker 3: altered during their term in office. And so that means constitutionally,
7:57
Speaker 3: even when the governments shut down, members of Congress keep
7:59
Speaker 3: their page coming. Now, as you just noted, you don't
8:03
Speaker 3: have to do that. And when this shutdown started, I
8:05
Speaker 3: sent a letter to the Secretary of the Senate and
8:08
Speaker 3: I said, please hold my paycheck, do not pay me.
8:11
Speaker 3: I do not want to accept a penny of salary
8:14
Speaker 3: unlessen until the government opens up. Un lesson, until our
8:18
Speaker 3: soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines are being paid.
8:20
Speaker 3: A lesson until our air traffic controllers are being paid,
8:23
Speaker 3: and all the federal workers, our border patrol agents are
8:26
Speaker 3: being paid, our FBI agents are being paid. Virtually every
8:30
Speaker 3: Democrat in the House and Senate has said, no, keep
8:32
Speaker 3: my paycheck going. I'm going to take away yours. But
8:35
Speaker 3: you know me, the Democrat politician, I need every penny
8:38
Speaker 3: of my salary.
8:39
Speaker 1: Center.
8:40
Speaker 2: Let's talk about another big issue, and that is the
8:42
Speaker 2: rise of anti Semitism.
8:44
Speaker 1: But it's not just on the left.
8:47
Speaker 2: We are witnessing it happen within the conservative movement as well,
8:50
Speaker 2: and that is very concerning to me and you as well.
8:53
Speaker 3: It is deeply concerning. So last weekend. Last Sunday night,
8:57
Speaker 3: I was the keynote speaker at Christians United for Israel
9:01
Speaker 3: at their annual night to honor Israel. And I was
9:05
Speaker 3: in San Antonio at Cornerstone Church with Pastor John Hagy,
9:09
Speaker 3: and I talked about I talked about number one, the
9:11
Speaker 3: grief and tragedy of October seventh. Number two the incredible
9:15
Speaker 3: military victory that Israel won and that President Trump won
9:19
Speaker 3: against Iran. But then I also talked about about the
9:22
Speaker 3: danger of rising anti Semitism. One of the points I
9:25
Speaker 3: made is that we support Israel because it is in
9:28
Speaker 3: America's national security interest to do so. Here give a
9:32
Speaker 3: listen here, the United States provides roughly three billion dollars
9:36
Speaker 3: in military assistance to Israel. The benefit we get from
9:39
Speaker 3: that the massade, the intelligence resources. You look at Iran,
9:44
Speaker 3: where they knew where every anti aircraft weapon was, every
9:46
Speaker 3: military leader, every IRGC leader. That benefit. If America tried
9:51
Speaker 3: to replicate that intelligence network, it would cost us tens
9:57
Speaker 3: of billions of dollars. And I will tell you every
10:01
Speaker 3: lunatic terrorist in Hamas or Hesbla or Iran that Israel
10:06
Speaker 3: took out made America safer. In the United States of
10:09
Speaker 3: America should say to that little nation, thank you, thank you,
10:14
Speaker 3: thank you. That's why, as a matter of public policy,
10:35
Speaker 3: we should support Israel.
10:36
Speaker 1: Senator You're absolutely right there.
10:38
Speaker 2: It is a bargain for what we get in response
10:40
Speaker 2: to what Israel and their intelligence community does for us
10:44
Speaker 2: to keep us safe and others around the world.
10:47
Speaker 3: Well, when the terrorists chant death to Israel and death
10:50
Speaker 3: to America, they mean it. When the Ayahtola refers to
10:53
Speaker 3: Israel as the little Satan and America is the great Satan,
10:56
Speaker 3: he means it. And when Israel is taking out those terrorists,
11:00
Speaker 3: Israel is saving American lives. But I also took them
11:04
Speaker 3: the opportunity of this keynote speech to directly address a
11:07
Speaker 3: threat that I think a danger that is deeply concerning.
11:10
Speaker 3: That is the rise of anti Semitism on the right.
11:14
Speaker 3: Here give a listen. But there is a danger that
11:19
Speaker 3: is very real, and we've talked about anti semitism.
11:22
Speaker 4: Listen.
11:22
Speaker 3: About a decade ago, anti Semitism began rising on the
11:27
Speaker 3: left and the Democratic Party did nothing, and in the
11:30
Speaker 3: decade that followed it has consumed the Democrat Party. I
11:35
Speaker 3: do not believe this is exaggeration to say there is
11:38
Speaker 3: a real and meaningful pro Hamas contingent of the Democrat
11:43
Speaker 3: Party in Washington, and the remainder of the Democrats are
11:47
Speaker 3: terrified of the pro Hamas contingent.
11:51
Speaker 1: We know that.
11:53
Speaker 3: But the danger that I want to highlight to you
11:55
Speaker 3: tonight is not anti Semitism on the left. It is
11:58
Speaker 3: anti Semitism on the right. And I'm here to tell you,
12:01
Speaker 3: in the last six months, I have seen anti Semitism
12:05
Speaker 3: rising on the right in a way I have never
12:08
Speaker 3: seen it in my entire life. Listen, Kufi is extraordinary.
12:14
Speaker 3: The work that Kufi does is desperately, desperately needed. But
12:18
Speaker 3: I'm here to tell you the church is asleep right now.
12:30
Speaker 3: If I pick up my phone and send out a tweet,
12:33
Speaker 3: if I say good morning, within minutes, I will have
12:37
Speaker 3: hundreds of blatantly anti Semitic responses. When Prime Minister det
12:44
Speaker 3: and Yahoo was here a few months ago, I sat
12:46
Speaker 3: down with him for a couple of hours. I raised
12:48
Speaker 3: this issue with him and his first reaction was he said, well,
12:51
Speaker 3: that's cutter, that's Iran. They're paying for it. It's AstroTurf.
12:57
Speaker 3: And I said, mister Prime Minister, yes, but no, yes,
13:02
Speaker 3: Cutter and Iran are clearly paying for it, and there
13:04
Speaker 3: are bots, and they are putting real money behind it.
13:07
Speaker 3: But I am telling you this is real, It is organic.
13:11
Speaker 3: These are real human beings and idiots spreading. In the
13:15
Speaker 3: last year, we had three prominent voices on the right
13:20
Speaker 3: publicly muse, gosh, maybe Hitler wasn't that bad a guy
13:25
Speaker 3: after all, Yes he was. He was the embodiment of evil.
13:39
Speaker 3: And I asked Prime Minister Netanya, who, I said, imagine
13:42
Speaker 3: how different American political history would have been if rush
13:47
Speaker 3: Limbaugh had been an anti Semite instead of a philo Semite.
13:53
Speaker 3: We would have a fundamentally different country if rush Limbaugh
13:57
Speaker 3: had spent years spreading poor I want to tell, especially folks.
14:07
Speaker 4: That are no.
14:08
Speaker 3: Longer teenagers, are in your twenties, this poison of anti
14:12
Speaker 3: Semitism on the right, It is spreading with young people.
14:18
Speaker 3: It is gaining traction. Part of it is philosophical. There's
14:25
Speaker 3: an isolationism. So they will argue, what business do we
14:29
Speaker 3: have supporting Israel? Why should America support Israel? It's their problem.
14:34
Speaker 3: Let them deal with it. Then let me give you
14:38
Speaker 3: an answer, as someone elected to represent thirty one million Texans,
14:42
Speaker 3: and fight every day for your jobs, your freedom, and
14:46
Speaker 3: your safety and security. The United States supports Israel not
14:53
Speaker 3: because we are helping out a down on his luck neighbor.
14:55
Speaker 3: We're not engaged in a charity act. The United States
14:59
Speaker 3: supports Israel be because it is unequivocally in the national
15:02
Speaker 3: security interests of the United States to support Israel.
15:09
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree with you more of their centator. By
15:11
Speaker 2: the way, and I think most people listening right now,
15:13
Speaker 2: it's true. You've got to remind younger people why it
15:18
Speaker 2: is important to stand with Israel because of so much
15:20
Speaker 2: anti Semitism we're witnessing now, even on the right.
15:24
Speaker 3: Well, and that's where it's spreading, and that's where it's dangerous.
15:27
Speaker 3: And I don't want us to make the mistake that
15:29
Speaker 3: the left made a decade ago of sitting there silently.
15:31
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you in particular, my call was to
15:33
Speaker 3: church leaders wake up. You know, you look at the polling,
15:37
Speaker 3: at the number of young Christians who are turning away
15:39
Speaker 3: from Israel, and it is really sad that they're being misled,
15:43
Speaker 3: but they're being misled, and they're very few pastors who
15:47
Speaker 3: are standing up and speaking the truth, speaking teaching biblical
15:51
Speaker 3: truth that there are very few who are engaging and
15:55
Speaker 3: confronting these lies. And I think if we do nothing,
16:00
Speaker 3: will wake up in a few years and the Republican
16:02
Speaker 3: Party will be lost like the Democrat Party is lost.
16:05
Speaker 3: That will have two anti Israel parties. And I, for one,
16:10
Speaker 3: I don't intend to sit quietly and let that happen.
16:13
Speaker 3: We're going to speak the truth. We're going to speak
16:14
Speaker 3: the truth on this podcast, and I'm going to speak
16:16
Speaker 3: the truth in every fourum I can.
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Speaker 2: about something else that happened and this is really important
18:16
Speaker 2: on Capitol Hill this week it was the confirmation for
18:20
Speaker 2: the ambassador to Kuwait. Needless to say, there were some
18:23
Speaker 2: fireworks involved in this ambassadorship conversation and debate and confirmation hearing.
18:31
Speaker 1: You were involved in that break it down for us.
18:34
Speaker 4: Well.
18:34
Speaker 3: Sure, the Trump administration has named as the Ambassador to
18:38
Speaker 3: Quate an individual named Amer Ghalib, who was the mayor
18:42
Speaker 3: of Hamtrak, Michigan. Amerghalib is a Democrat, a Democrat mayor,
18:49
Speaker 3: and in twenty twenty four he endorsed President Trump in
18:53
Speaker 3: the election campaign, and then that resulted in his being
18:55
Speaker 3: nominated to be Ambassador to Quait. The problem, however, is
19:00
Speaker 3: that mister Ghalib's record is really extreme and it is
19:05
Speaker 3: very far out of touch with President Trump's record, with
19:09
Speaker 3: his positions, with his beliefs, and with the positions of
19:11
Speaker 3: the United States. And so we had a hearing this
19:14
Speaker 3: week in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where
19:16
Speaker 3: I questioned mister Ghalib on his record. One of the
19:19
Speaker 3: things in his record, he's publicly praised the Muslim Brotherhood.
19:23
Speaker 3: He said he finds the Muslim Brotherhood to be an inspiration. Now,
19:27
Speaker 3: I believe the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. I
19:30
Speaker 3: filed legislation to designate the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization,
19:34
Speaker 3: and I think the Trump administration is likely to do so,
19:37
Speaker 3: and so mister Ghlib's record is squarely out of step
19:41
Speaker 3: with President Trump's views. Here give a listen to my
19:43
Speaker 3: questioning mister Ghalib on the Muslim Brotherhood. August of twenty twenty,
19:48
Speaker 3: you posted that the Muslim Brotherhood was an inspiration. Do
19:54
Speaker 3: you continue to believe the Muslim Brotherhood is an inspiration?
19:57
Speaker 4: Thank you, senator.
19:58
Speaker 5: I think a lot of I post written in an
20:01
Speaker 5: Arabican and mistransplated. I believe that you know there there is.
20:08
Speaker 5: It's an ideology. It's not just a group of people.
20:11
Speaker 5: I disagree with a lot of things that they do.
20:13
Speaker 5: Some of them are extreamith some of them are part
20:15
Speaker 5: of some governments in them Addle East. So I trust
20:18
Speaker 5: our government to do the research.
20:20
Speaker 3: And Okay, again, my question was simple and straightforward. Do
20:24
Speaker 3: you continue to believe the Muslim Brotherhood is an inspiration?
20:27
Speaker 4: No, I'm not part of that. I don't believe in that.
20:29
Speaker 3: But if anybody you did post it in twenty twenty,
20:32
Speaker 3: let me ask you how would you be able to
20:35
Speaker 3: serve as an ambassador if President Trump designates the Muslim
20:38
Speaker 3: Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, I have legislation to do that.
20:42
Speaker 3: I believe it is likely the Trump administration will designate
20:45
Speaker 3: the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization hamas is the
20:48
Speaker 3: Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.
20:52
Speaker 5: I would trust the President, and then if it's designated,
20:56
Speaker 5: be committed to implement President Trump's post. I'm not you know,
21:03
Speaker 5: I trust the President's policy and it confirmed that would
21:06
Speaker 5: be implementing the policies of the administration. I mean, I'm
21:09
Speaker 5: I wouldn't go against the President and his policies.
21:11
Speaker 3: To mister Gerlie, but I will say from your long
21:15
Speaker 3: standing public positions, it appears you have a deep felt
21:20
Speaker 3: and passionate view about the Middle East, but it is
21:23
Speaker 3: a view that is in direct conflict with the policy
21:26
Speaker 3: positions of President Trump in this administration.
21:30
Speaker 2: I mean, you listen to his background as you just
21:32
Speaker 2: described it. How did this get to the point where
21:35
Speaker 2: we're actually having a confirmation hearing for him?
21:39
Speaker 3: I don't know. I think this was largely a political decision.
21:42
Speaker 3: He was a Democrat mayor in Michigan who endorsed President Trump.
21:46
Speaker 3: And it's not unusual that that that that's something like
21:48
Speaker 3: an ambassadorship rewards someone who did something politically beneficial and
21:53
Speaker 3: helped President Trump win the state of Michigan. But but
21:56
Speaker 3: I don't know that that that the team did. Did
21:59
Speaker 3: it particularly dive into his record as the mayor of Hamtrak,
22:06
Speaker 3: that city passed a resolution calling for BDS, calling to boycott, divest,
22:12
Speaker 3: and sanctioned israelis the first city in America to pass
22:15
Speaker 3: a BDS resolution that is directly contrary to President Trump's policy.
22:18
Speaker 3: It's directly contrary, uh to to US foreign policy. Not
22:23
Speaker 3: not only that, but but mister glib Uh describes Saddam
22:30
Speaker 3: Hussein as a martyr. And at the same time, he
22:37
Speaker 3: also liked a Facebook comment that said all Jews are monkeys.
22:47
Speaker 3: Now that is obviously anti Semitic, and he tried to
22:51
Speaker 3: run away from it. But here, listen, I questioned him
22:54
Speaker 3: on this record and how out of step it is
22:56
Speaker 3: with President Trump. Give a listen. Do not understand is
23:03
Speaker 3: how you could possibly serve as a United States ambassador
23:07
Speaker 3: for President Trump in the Middle East when you have
23:10
Speaker 3: passionate views, including having been a vocal opponent of the
23:16
Speaker 3: Abraham Accords, the singular and most consequential accomplishment President Trump
23:22
Speaker 3: has negotiated, and and your long standing views are to
23:26
Speaker 3: publicly oppose the Abraham Accord.
23:28
Speaker 4: Thank you, senator.
23:29
Speaker 5: Let me be clear, I support that Brahma Cord, and
23:31
Speaker 5: I think there's a golden opportunity to get everybody involved
23:34
Speaker 5: in that. And let me be clear, in February of
23:37
Speaker 5: twenty twenty two, as the mayor, the first thing I
23:40
Speaker 5: did is to pass a resolution to condemn anti Semitism.
23:44
Speaker 5: It's documented. That's what I perform in my official capacity.
23:47
Speaker 5: The other things people are making assumptions based you know,
23:50
Speaker 5: trying to judge my intention.
23:52
Speaker 3: But you're I'm curious what a statement like all Jews
23:55
Speaker 3: or Monkeys would that qualifies anti Semitism.
23:57
Speaker 5: Well, that's somebody that wrote it who is mentally challenged.
24:01
Speaker 3: My question is, does the statement all Jews or Monkeys?
24:04
Speaker 3: Does that anti Semitism? I don't agree with this that
24:08
Speaker 3: you're not answering my question.
24:10
Speaker 5: It's definitely intestimoni, But clicking on it doesn't mean I
24:13
Speaker 5: endorse it.
24:13
Speaker 3: It's actually like it means exactly that when you like something,
24:17
Speaker 3: it means you no center.
24:18
Speaker 5: Every post since twenty ten every comment, because I used
24:23
Speaker 5: to have like ten twenty comments. I used to acknowledge
24:25
Speaker 5: it to read it, but sometimes I would respond under
24:28
Speaker 5: it to oppose it. And there was a response here
24:30
Speaker 5: that wasn't translated by the media that says you cannot
24:33
Speaker 5: say this in your country. It wasn't translated, and I
24:36
Speaker 5: was when I.
24:37
Speaker 3: Not disagreeing with the statement that all Jews are monkeys.
24:40
Speaker 5: But let me be clear, now, I disagree with that
24:42
Speaker 5: and I but you didn't at the time.
24:45
Speaker 4: You are making assumption, cirt, I'm asking.
24:47
Speaker 3: I'm not making an assumption.
24:48
Speaker 5: That's why I did disagree at the time, and I
24:50
Speaker 5: still disagree.
24:51
Speaker 3: Did you disagree publicly? Did you say a word of
24:54
Speaker 3: disagreement or was your only public statement a like, which
24:57
Speaker 3: is the universal method of saying you like something and
25:00
Speaker 3: agree with it.
25:01
Speaker 5: Everybody who asked me, I told them it doesn't mean
25:03
Speaker 5: I endorse it.
25:04
Speaker 4: It's just technology reading it.
25:06
Speaker 5: But I am opposing that, and I make it clear
25:08
Speaker 5: now I pass a resolution to condemn anti Semitism in
25:11
Speaker 5: all forms of shape.
25:14
Speaker 3: So you mentioned earlier that the posts were in Arabic
25:18
Speaker 3: and they haven't been translated, right, I have in my
25:22
Speaker 3: hands right now one of those Arabic posts on August thirteenth,
25:25
Speaker 3: twenty twenty, and I have the English translation. Among other
25:30
Speaker 3: things you talk about, you talk about individuals who died
25:37
Speaker 3: in Egyptian prisons, and you said quote they die to
25:40
Speaker 3: be etched on the pages of history, stained in positions
25:43
Speaker 3: that inspire generations and make millions of Brotherhood fans exposed
25:49
Speaker 3: to a global demonic campaign and unprecedented demonic media infliction.
25:56
Speaker 3: I have only seen such situations in the March Sadam
26:00
Speaker 3: Hussein and his companions. May God have mercy on them.
26:04
Speaker 5: Thank you Zana for that question. I was talking about
26:08
Speaker 5: standing firm for the cause of a person, doesn't mean
26:10
Speaker 5: I agree with him. I am a strong advocate of
26:13
Speaker 5: democracy in them at least. Yes, I was against the
26:15
Speaker 5: military coup and I believe in democracy. That's the best
26:20
Speaker 5: value that we have and we want everybody to enjoy
26:23
Speaker 5: that value in the Middle East. So I was advocating
26:27
Speaker 5: for democracy in the add least. Doesn't mean that I
26:31
Speaker 5: support certain group, but I support democracy and.
26:34
Speaker 3: Well, as I said, I think your long standing views
26:37
Speaker 3: are directly contrary to the views and positions of President
26:40
Speaker 3: Trump and to the position of the United States, I
26:44
Speaker 3: for one am not going to be able to support
26:45
Speaker 3: your confirmation. And I want to enter into the record
26:52
Speaker 3: this post in both the Arabic and English translation. I
26:55
Speaker 3: asked that it be entered into the record.
26:57
Speaker 1: It'll be entered into the record without objection.
27:00
Speaker 3: And look, I think the facts here are quite clear,
27:05
Speaker 3: and your long standing position is directly contrary to that
27:09
Speaker 3: of the presidents.
27:10
Speaker 2: So where do we go from here? I mean, this
27:12
Speaker 2: seems to be pretty damning. Are any of your colleagues
27:16
Speaker 2: rallying behind this? And what was the reaction in the
27:19
Speaker 2: room and also afterwards?
27:21
Speaker 3: So I don't know what the result will be. I
27:24
Speaker 3: think we'll see this nomination withdrawn. I think the White
27:27
Speaker 3: House will make the decision to withdraw this nomination. If
27:30
Speaker 3: they don't, I will vote now. I'll vote no one committee,
27:32
Speaker 3: and I'll vote no on the floor. And I don't
27:34
Speaker 3: think this individual will be confirmed. But let's take one
27:37
Speaker 3: component where this fellow refers to Sodom Hussein as a martyr. Now, now,
27:48
Speaker 3: mind you, he's being nominated to be the ambassador to Kuwait.
27:53
Speaker 3: Kuwait is the country that Sodom is saying invaded that
27:58
Speaker 3: started the first Iraq War, that George Trobert Walker Bush
28:00
Speaker 3: went in to liberate Kuwait. So the American ambassador to
28:05
Speaker 3: Kuwait is someone who describes Saddam Hussein, who was toppled
28:09
Speaker 3: by America, as a martyr, it's not possible for him
28:14
Speaker 3: to do his job and faithfully represent President Trump. And
28:18
Speaker 3: by the way, as I said, he vocally opposed the
28:21
Speaker 3: Abraham Accords, President Trump negotiated the Abraham Accords, bringing Arabs
28:26
Speaker 3: and Israelis together. And this individual, I think he believes
28:31
Speaker 3: every word he's saying. He spent his entire life passionately advocating,
28:36
Speaker 3: praising the Muslim brotherhood, praising Saddam Hussein. Those are not
28:40
Speaker 3: the views or position of President Trump or the United
28:43
Speaker 3: States of America. And that's why I believe that this
28:46
Speaker 3: individual is not going to be a US ambassador to Kwait.
28:50
Speaker 2: Center it's time for us to talk about China, and
28:53
Speaker 2: a lot of people are talking about the economic issues
28:55
Speaker 2: with China, sanctions and tariffs. The subject we're about to
29:00
Speaker 2: talk about is what I hope people share everywhere on
29:02
Speaker 2: social media. This is why we do this show, and
29:04
Speaker 2: it's so important, and this is what's happening in China,
29:08
Speaker 2: cracking down on Christianity right now and is not being
29:12
Speaker 2: talked about enough well.
29:15
Speaker 3: Communist China has a terrible record when it comes to
29:18
Speaker 3: religious liberty and religious persecution, and in particular the persecution
29:22
Speaker 3: of Christians, and China has for decades persecuted Christians in China,
29:28
Speaker 3: but recently they've been cracking down and it's been getting
29:31
Speaker 3: worth So here's how I put it to Fox News
29:34
Speaker 3: this week. The Chinese Communist Party is conducting yet another
29:38
Speaker 3: sweeping crackdown on Christians, and they're again targeting Pastor Gin
29:44
Speaker 3: and the Zion Church. The CCP fears anything it cannot
29:48
Speaker 3: directly control, perhaps most of all faith. The United States
29:54
Speaker 3: has powerful tools to provide protection and relief to people
29:59
Speaker 3: facing persecution and violence, and we should use those tools
30:03
Speaker 3: unless and until China releases the members of the Zion Church.
30:08
Speaker 3: And what has happened is is China arrested several Christian leaders,
30:14
Speaker 3: including the pastor of one of the country's biggest underground
30:18
Speaker 3: evangelical church churches, and that's Pastor Jin Mingri, whose children
30:24
Speaker 3: are US citizens. Grace Jin, who is Mingri's daughters, was
30:31
Speaker 3: very kind but went out of her way to thank
30:33
Speaker 3: me for fighting to release her father from prison. And
30:38
Speaker 3: here's what Grace Jen said. She said, quote his efforts
30:41
Speaker 3: demonstrate that the world is watching on as the Chinese
30:45
Speaker 3: government unjustly imprisons pastors and church leaders for the peaceful
30:50
Speaker 3: exercise of their faith. Thank you to the leaders here
30:54
Speaker 3: and abroad for all the support and solidarity.
30:58
Speaker 2: And centat This is the I think part that's so
31:00
Speaker 2: frustrating for me and so many listening is this has
31:03
Speaker 2: been happening for so long, and because so many countries
31:07
Speaker 2: do business with China, they have deliberately looked the other
31:10
Speaker 2: way because they're basically saying, Hey, we'd rather just get
31:14
Speaker 2: along and do trade and get cheap Chinese goods and
31:17
Speaker 2: actually hold them account for what they're doing to Christians.
31:20
Speaker 3: Well, that's happening far too often. And we've discussed before
31:23
Speaker 3: on this podcast the persecution the mass murder of Christians
31:27
Speaker 3: in Nigeria. Nigeria the most Christians are murdered for their
31:30
Speaker 3: faith of any country on earth, and I've been leading
31:32
Speaker 3: the effort to hold Nigeria do account well in China. Likewise,
31:37
Speaker 3: for my entire time in the Senate, I've been vocal
31:39
Speaker 3: speaking out for Christians being persecuted in China and this crackdown. Actually,
31:44
Speaker 3: next week President Trump is going to Asia and is
31:48
Speaker 3: gonna meet with with President She of China. And so
31:53
Speaker 3: just this past week I introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning
31:58
Speaker 3: China's persecution of Christians in particular and Pastor Gin and
32:03
Speaker 3: and and I was joined by Chris Coons. Chris is
32:06
Speaker 3: a Democrat, uh and and and Chris is someone who
32:10
Speaker 3: cares deeply about religious liberty. And so we joined together
32:13
Speaker 3: with a bipartisan resolution calling on China to release Pastor Gin,
32:18
Speaker 3: to stop targeting the Zion Church, to release the pastors
32:21
Speaker 3: and the Christians who've been imprisoned, and and and to
32:25
Speaker 3: cease engaging in persecution of religious liberty writ broadly and
32:31
Speaker 3: and of Christians in particular.
32:34
Speaker 2: It really is one of those it's that is frustrating.
32:36
Speaker 2: And now this comes back to the issue of leverage.
32:39
Speaker 2: Is this going to be enough leverage to possibly see
32:42
Speaker 2: a change here, because one thing that we've learned is
32:45
Speaker 2: China only responds when their pocketbook gets hurt. And if
32:48
Speaker 2: they don't think we have the political will to stand
32:50
Speaker 2: up for Christians, uh, then they're going to continue to
32:53
Speaker 2: persecute them no matter what that's just their mo.
32:58
Speaker 4: They are.
32:59
Speaker 3: But but they respond to pressure. They respond to pressure
33:02
Speaker 3: in two forms. Number one to being publicly called out,
33:05
Speaker 3: to having light shine on their oppression. And number two,
33:08
Speaker 3: they respond to economic leverage. And President Trump is very
33:11
Speaker 3: effective at employing economic leverage. I think we should do both.
33:14
Speaker 3: Our bipartisan resolution is aimed at quote, expressing condemnation of
33:20
Speaker 3: the Chinese Communist parties persecution of Christians and reaffirming the
33:24
Speaker 3: United States's global commitment to promote religious freedom and tolerance.
33:29
Speaker 3: And it also includes a demand that the Chinese Communist
33:32
Speaker 3: Party respect the human right to freedom of religion and
33:37
Speaker 3: end all forms of violence and discrimination against religious minorities.
33:42
Speaker 3: And the resolution notes the CCP's actions mark the largest
33:48
Speaker 3: coordinated nationwide crackdown against a Christian urban house church in
33:54
Speaker 3: more than forty years. It also notes that the US
33:58
Speaker 3: Commission on International Religeious Freedom designated China as a country
34:03
Speaker 3: of quote particular concern for religious freedom every single year
34:08
Speaker 3: since nineteen ninety eight, and Pastor Jin of the Zion
34:12
Speaker 3: Church was detained by Chinese authorities, and indeed that came
34:19
Speaker 3: as nearly thirty Zion Church pastors and workers were likewise
34:24
Speaker 3: detained or went missing across Beijing, sen Jing, Shanghai, Chendo, Behai, Jingshing,
34:32
Speaker 3: and huang Do. And I apologize for my Chinese pronunciation.
34:37
Speaker 1: I forgive you.
34:39
Speaker 3: But here's what Grace Jen said about this, and she's
34:44
Speaker 3: Pastor Jen's daughter. One after another they were also taken
34:50
Speaker 3: detained like they were saying that they were people outside
34:54
Speaker 3: the doors. Then one at a time they were taken
34:56
Speaker 3: into custody. This is wrong. And President Trump has an
35:02
Speaker 3: opportunity when he is in Asia, when he is with
35:05
Speaker 3: President She, to call on President She to release these pastors,
35:10
Speaker 3: release Pastor Jin, release the Christians who are being persecuted,
35:14
Speaker 3: and stop persecuting people of faith. And I think the
35:17
Speaker 3: United States has a responsibility to be a voice for
35:21
Speaker 3: religious liberty across the country, to defend Christians when they're persecuted,
35:26
Speaker 3: to defend Jews when they're persecuted, to defend people of
35:29
Speaker 3: faith all across the world. You know, you look at
35:32
Speaker 3: radical Islamic terrorists, many of them target and persecute other
35:36
Speaker 3: Muslims who are not violent. And I think religious persecution
35:41
Speaker 3: is wrong regardless of who the victims are, and we
35:45
Speaker 3: should be a voice for religious liberty. Now, that doesn't
35:49
Speaker 3: mean that America should go and invade China to try
35:53
Speaker 3: to break the pastor out of jail. But there are
35:55
Speaker 3: lots of tools that the president can use, including the
35:59
Speaker 3: bully hopeit of the presidency, including shining a light, and
36:05
Speaker 3: including also economic leverage to try to stop this persecution.
36:10
Speaker 3: And I very much hope President Trump will do so
36:13
Speaker 3: in the coming week.
36:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, you and I both hope that final question on this.
36:18
Speaker 2: As you watch President trumpet pressure not just on China
36:21
Speaker 2: but other countries, it does seem to be that his
36:24
Speaker 2: foreign policy now is if there is a wrong that
36:27
Speaker 2: needs to be discussed, it's going to be on the table,
36:29
Speaker 2: front and center. That is pretty different from what we've
36:32
Speaker 2: seen in past administrations where they're like, well, maybe it's
36:35
Speaker 2: not the time to bring that up. Right now, he
36:36
Speaker 2: seems to be willing to bring it all up.
36:39
Speaker 3: You're absolutely right, and strong American leadership can stand up
36:43
Speaker 3: to tyrannies. The Soviet Union was terrified of Ronald Reagan.
36:47
Speaker 3: That's how we won the Cold War without firing a shot,
36:50
Speaker 3: and communist China and our enemies across the globe are
36:52
Speaker 3: terrified of Donald Trump. And that's why we're seeing such
36:55
Speaker 3: major national security improvements right now.
36:58
Speaker 2: It's incredible. Don't forget we do this show three days
37:01
Speaker 2: a week as a podcast. So download Verdict with Ted
37:04
Speaker 2: Cruz wherever you get your podcasts.
37:06
Speaker 1: You don't miss an episode.
37:07
Speaker 2: Please share the show with your family and friends, so
37:09
Speaker 2: that these important stories that we're talking about here that's
37:11
Speaker 2: a great example of China, are heard by the masses
37:15
Speaker 2: and the Senate. And I will see you back here
37:17
Speaker 2: on this radio station next weekend and all week long
37:20
Speaker 2: on our podcast as well.