Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Charlie Kirk a Profession of Faith, Kimmel Off Kimmel On & the Rhetoric that Fires the Left to Violence Week In Review

Transcript

Charlie Kirk a Profession of Faith, Kimmel Off Kimmel On & the Rhetoric that Fires the Left to Violence Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome. It is Verdic with Ted Cruz, the Weekend Review,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Ben Ferguson with you, and here are the big stories
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: that you may have missed that we talked about. First
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: up Centator Cruz and I went to the memorial for
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk. We're going to talk about that memorial and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: just how incredible it was to watch that level of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: worship and honoring of God and the future legacy of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk. We're also going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: being fired, but not really. It was a four day
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: vacation at ABC bringing him right back on the air.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And finally, it is the third time we've seen us
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: shooting alone in Texas, the second time in Dallas area
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: with ICE agents being targeted. So what's behind it? We'll
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: have that as well. It's the Weekend Review and it
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: starts right now. One of the things I think that
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: is so cool that came out of this that is
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: just something that no one could have planned, is how
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: many people are now sharing their own faith and sharing
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the gospel. You and I have talked more about our
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: faith on this podcast in the last two weeks than
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: we have ever before, and it's not that we're afraid
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to talk about our faith, but we talk a lot
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: about what's happening in the world in politics. Jd Vance said, and.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: That was something really profound. Jad said as he said
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: that he often felt uncomfortable talking about faith, and he
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: made the same comment that he's talked more about faith
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: in the last two weeks than he has probably in
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: his entire life.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: And I mean even this morning. I had two times
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I was on Fox this morning before the before it started,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and the entire conversation was not about politics. The entire
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: conversation was about faith. Yeah, that his life being taken
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: has given the opportunity for all of us to share faith.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: And I think in a more bold way, in a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: more proud way, and a more I'm not afraid to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: share my faith. I think sometimes I think I'm in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the world of politics and that's maybe not my place
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: to be doing that as much. I'm going to change
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: my mentality on that, I think forever moving forward.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: And I can think of very few sentiments that would
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: make Charlie happier than that.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And it was the whole time, it was about faith.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: If you look at today, I also think one of
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the most incredible things was you and I were sitting
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: there with the most powerful people in the world, certainly
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: in the conservative movement where we're all in the political world,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: and the entire thing was about God. I've never seen
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: that before. I've never been a part of that before.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: No, And at the very end, President Trump spoke and
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: he gave I think, very good remarks. But I want
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: you to listen to what he said, in particular about
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Erica and her testimony. Here here, give a listen.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Did Charlie's incredible and beautiful widow, Erica. We know the
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: weight of this monumental loss is almost unbearable, but even
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: in the midst of heartache campaign too great to even fathom,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: you have somehow found the strength and deep faith to
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: be a comfort to millions and millions of people. And
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: thank you very much, Erica, Thank you very much.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: You and I have seen Donald Trump give a lot
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: of speeches. This was one of the most I think, somber,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: sincere and one of the most incredible speeches I think
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: by Donald Trump that had nothing to really.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: Do with him.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Well, and President Trump knew Charlie. Well, Charlie has spent
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: a lot.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I think he's rattled by it.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Charlie. Charlie in the twenty sixteen campaign was Don Junior's
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: body man. He traveled with Don Junior all over the
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: country and Charlie helped mobilize young people for the twenty
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: sixteen election. He helped mobilize young people for the twenty
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: twenty election. He played a really, really integral part in
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: the victory in twenty twenty four. And President Trump has
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: spent a lot of time with Charlie Kirk. Just about
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: everyone in the White House has. I mean, it was
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: one of the things the entire White House has shaken.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: This is not some distant person they don't know. This
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: touched almost everyone who works in the Trump administration had
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: connections to Charlie, had personal connections, and they were shaken
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: by it. And you know one of the bits of
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: news that broke this week that I thought it was
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: a small snippet, but it encapsulated who Charlie was well.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: And Van Jones, you and I both know, well he's
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: very much a man of the left, maybe even far left.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: He's not someone who you would typically envision saying nice
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: things about Charlie Kirk. But I want you to listen
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: to what he said in the last few days about
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: his last interaction with Charlie Kirk.
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: Charlie Kirk and I were not friends at all. In fact,
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: the last week of his life we were beef and hard,
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: beefing online, beefing on air. But the day before he died,
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: he did something that shocked me. He sent me a
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: personal message calling for personal dialogue. Wanted me to come
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: on the show. He said we could be gentlemen together.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: He said we could deal with our disagreements agreeably. And
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: in the past week and a half, just watching people
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: talk about civil wars and censorship and all this stuff
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: coming out of his death, I just thought it was
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: important to let people know don't put that on Charlie Kirk,
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: because the last day of his life he was reaching
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: out to have not more censorship, more conversation, more dialogue
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: with somebody who honestly was one of his adversaries. Me
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: and I just wanted to share that with the world,
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: and I hope that maybe it might help somebody on
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: both sides deal with issues more like he did.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Then putting that out there immediately brought me to today. You
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and I were sitting there and we looked over to
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the right of us, and you leaned over and you said,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: there's Elon. And several weeks or months ago, Charlie had
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: said that he wanted Donald Trump and Elon to make up.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: We then a few minutes later see Elon in the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: box with President Trump. They hugged the President, patted him
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: on the chest, and he tweeted out a picture Elon
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: did of them talking, and all it said was for Charlie.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, you want to.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Talk about bringing people back together.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: That's incredible, that's important, it's valuable. It is very much
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: a testament to Charlie. The legacy for Charlie. I will say,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I respect Van Jones for putting that out. You know
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Van better than I do. But he didn't have to
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: put that out. He didn't have to say that. And
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I do think it reflects who Charlie was, yea, And
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I think the entire memorial today reflected. It was a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: celebration of his life, and it was a proclamation of
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the gospel and that I'm really grateful to have been
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: friends with Charlie. I'm really grateful to have a chance
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: to be there for the celebration because I think it
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: is going to have really profound impacts on our country.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I think we're going to end up finding out down
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the road that today was one of the biggest days,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: not in politics with the biggest people in politics in
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: a room, but one of the biggest days for young
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: men and women accepting Christ and learning about the Lord
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: from this horrific moment in our history. And I think
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: you look at that bring all these people together, the
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: way that he was doing it. I think it's going
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: to change the way we have dialogue and conversation. I
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: think my demeanor is probably gonna be different. I'm still
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: going to fight the good fight, and I'm still going
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: to fight hard, but I want to have better conversations
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: while doing it. I think everybody's temperature is going to
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: change a little bit and how we interact the way
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: that Charlie did it. And I left there today, and
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I want to ask you this as
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: we wrap. I left there today more hopeful for the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: future of this country, yes, than I have been in decades,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and more hopeful for the younger generation in this country
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: that they're going to see the light because I've been
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: very worried for quite some time. It's part of the
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: reason why I do this is that we have lost
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: an entire generation to the radical left. I think we
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: are seeing a very quick pendulum shift that only God
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: could create and put people in a place to do it.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. You know, I'm reminded of the Scripture, second Chronicle
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: seven fourteen. If my people, who are called by my
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: from heaven, and I will forgive their sins, and I
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: will heal their land. That has been my prayer for
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: a long time, and I think today was, in a
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: very real sense, a great many people in America calling
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: out for God to hear our prayer and to heal
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: our land. And I pray that that is the outcome
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: the path we are on, that we see revival. Our
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: country needs it now.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: If you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. All right,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: I want to pay you real quick to something that
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: just truly is hysterical, and that is ABC News. We
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: thought they had actually done the right thing, and we're
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: willing to say that, Yet no Jimmy Kimmel, You're not
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: going to go out there and lie about who assassinated
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: and what they believed in of Charlie Kirk. We now
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: know that the sin for doing that, for that crime
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: is a sentence of going on a vacation for about
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: six days, so less than a week. And ABC News like,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: all right, we started back up on Tuesday night. Now
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: here's the other interesting thing. Not everybody's going along with this.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Next Star and Sinclair are saying no, they're not.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Going to be hearing it.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: They want a real apology for him before they think
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: about putting him back on the air. Your reaction to that.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Well, you and I are recording this show Tuesday night,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: and as we're recording it, Kimmel has not yet gone
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: on air, So I don't know what he's going to say.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: He might do all sorts of things. He might stand
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: up up and give a heartfelt apology. He might admit
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: that in his last show he told a lie, he
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: engaged in active disinformation. His sort of joke, which wasn't
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: remotely funny, was that the murderer of Charlie Kirk was
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: a right wing maga guy. Now that's a lie, and
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: it's a lie. With consequence. I mean, we've seen the
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: polling that shows a majority of Democrats believe Charlie Kirk's
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: killer was a right winger. Now that is a brazen lie.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Charlie Kirk's killer was radicalized. He was a leftist. Law
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: enforcement has said this over and over again. He was
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: living with his boyfriend who was a transgender, who was
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: a furry, who was a man transitioning to be a woman.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: The killer engraved Antifa and transgender slogans on the casings
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: that he used for the assassination. So there's no ambiguity.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: This is a man of the left. And so maybe, maybe,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: just maybe, and I may be holding out hope. Kimmel
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: stands up and gives a heartfelt apology, says I'm sorry,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: and what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific. It was
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: a political assassination. It is wrong, and it's clear this
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: was not some right winger who did this. This was
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: a leftist. This is my side of the aisle. This
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: is Jimmy Kimmel speaking, and I'm sorry. If that happens.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I think the odds are very very high. You and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I almost regardless of what happens, are going to be
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: talking about this on Friday's pod. So on Friday, we'll
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: know what he said. We don't know what he said
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: right now. I think that's unlikely. Maybe I'll be proven wrong,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: but I think it's unlikely that Kimmel. He may give
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: a half hearted apology. He may say I'm sorry some
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: people were offended. Maybe I actually think he's more likely
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: to be defiant and say, to hell with you everyone
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: who was offended by the lies that I told. But
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: we'll see what I will say. Look my view on Kimmel,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I think he is profoundly unfunny. He hasn't been funny
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: in years. There was a long time ago when he
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: could be a comedian, a thousand years ago, but then
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: partisanship and hate overcame him, and his show consists of
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: just relentlessly screaming I hate Donald Trump. I hate Donald Trump,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: I hate Conservatives, I hate Republicans. By the way, frequently,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: I hate Ted Cruz. Ever since I beat him at basketball,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: I've lived rent free in his head. And the problem is, listen,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I'm as a Republican, I'm actually fine with comedy that
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: is roasting Republicans and Democrats. I think good comedy makes
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: fun of everyone. Actually, today I retweeted, so John Stewart
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: did a whole riff on the Daily Show blasting me,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: and it was funny as hell. He actually played a
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: clip from our last Verdict uh where you know where
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: where I talked about Kim Olenna and I did an
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: impression of of of of a godfather. Actually, I'll tell
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: you what. Let's play John Stewart because this is actually comedy.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Listen.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: I don't agree with John Stewart's politics, but Stuart is
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: actually funny. I mean he makes me laugh and and
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: and and so let's play the clip. I'm gonna play clip.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: This is making fun of me. But to all our
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Verdict listeners, this is me playing John Stewart, just mocking me,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: and he does a very good job. He's a talented comedian.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: I'm perfectly fine with with with comedians who mock me,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: as long as that's not all they do, as long
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: as they don't just scream I hate you, I hate you,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: I hate you. But but they're actually funny. So here
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: was John Stewart on the Daily Show talking about it.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: He's gonna quote Verdict and then he's just gonna mercilessly
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: mock me give a listen.
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: Now, Cruz has supported this president through insults to his
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: own wife looks, and to his own father's loyalties, and
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: yet Cruz still manages to maintain a modicum of self
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: respect when it comes to this president trampling all over
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: a constitution, Sir, it brings me no pleasure.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: To have to play this.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Look. I like Brendan Carr. He's a good guy. He's
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: But what he said there is dangerous as hell.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: Fan TASTI fan pasthi, Senator Ted Cruz, boldly stating that
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: the FCC chairman threatening the licenses of networks is dangerous.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: And Senator Cruz, I would just say, maybe you should
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: stop there. I would stop there. I would not continue
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: with the thought perfect no notes, all right, go.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: On, And I got to say, he threatens it. He says,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: we can do this thease way, or we could do
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: this the hard.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: Way, the sort of routed the hard way.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Oh what kind of monster.
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: Have you ever heard? We could do that did way?
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: God, we could do it.
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: By god way, hazy odd.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: It's nothing, Godfather, that Lenny from Mice and Men.
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: I get bunny.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: The bunny can do a dasy the hard way. You
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: got you got more, Senator? Do you?
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: And I got to say, that's right out of good Fellows.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: That that that that that that's right out of a
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: mafioso coming into a bar going nice bye. You have here.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: It'd be a shame if something happened to it.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: That's not a good Fellaw's call. I know this because
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: all of my decorative pillows have good fellas called karma.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: I mean I would go home. I would say, as
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: me at home.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Look at me.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: Now, Senator, unless a man might tell you to go
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: home and get your shine box. But I don't because
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: you wouldn't even know what that means.
• 17:26
  Speaker 6: Dead cruise. I mean to do that with goodfellas, but
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: that accent. Is there anything in pop culture that I
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: love that you can't ruin?
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Dad? I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat animals, but Lisa,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: animals are so delicious. There's the animal. We get bacon
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: from the animal, we get ham from the animal, we
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: get sausage from dad. That's all the same animal.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Smith has release the hounds eggs.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: They're not booing, they're saying boo earns. Imagine having to
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: endure a Texas power outage with this guy who wants
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: to hear my poo anyway, Well, he ruined my love
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: of the sentence. At least I've still got my favorite franchise,
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: Star Wars, all to myself, So I don't have the
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: force is strong with this storm.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: There is no try.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Do or do not.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: At best, he sounds like Yoda with a sinus infection,
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: trying not to come. Dore Duke, you may enjoy Star
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Wars that Christ, but there's one thing will never have
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: in common, and that's my comfort movie. The Princess Bride,
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: a fantastical tale of adventure and true love with an
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: outstanding cast. Oh you know what's coming. You know what's
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: coming with an outstanding cast, including the inimitable Oh it
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: just roll it.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: So what does it you have that's so worth living
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: for presses on his chest and Wesley goes true liar,
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: shut up, witch, I'm not a witch. I'm your wife.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: But after what you just said, I wish I wasn't.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Don't say that name what pumping, pumpting, hopping, humpet it.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: I can't hear you?
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: So whoa that was the straight But oh I'm like, oh,
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: the one man. So do you know how hard it
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: is to make Mario Lopez uncomfortable? Truely, Mario Lopez, the
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: man who need I remind you did this dance in
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: a tank tee in front of everyone at the Max.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: All Right, I gotta say I'm laughing a little bit
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: because it is pretty good roast. I'm not gonna lie.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Look, Ben, that's hysterical. I do like to do impressions.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not particularly great at him, but I have fun
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: and I like pop culture. But like, that's actual comedy.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Like I'm gonna make a prediction right now. What John
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Stewart just did there is one hundred thousand times funnier
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: than whatever Jimmy Kimmel will do tonight. So we'll see
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: what he does. But look, the point that I made
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: in this podcast is the federal government, the FCC, should
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: not be threatening the licenses of ABC in order to
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: force them to take someone off the air, even someone
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: incredibly unfunny with terrible ratings who gets one point one
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: million views, which means he gets fewer views and listens
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: than Verdict. Does we beat Jimmy Kimmel regularly, and someone
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: who was actively lying about a political assassination. I think
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: all of those are reasons for ABC to fire him,
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: But I don't think the federal government should be forcing
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: ABC to fire him. Why because look, when Biden was president,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the Biden FCC tried to yank Fox News's license, and
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: I led the fight against it. We beat them, we
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: stopped them from doing it. You know what, if we
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: embrace the FCC stripping licenses from anyone who says something
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: you disagree with, the next Democrat president who gets in
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: the White House will do this, and will come after,
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: will come after everyone right of center, and so that
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: is that is a slippery slope to oblivion. But at
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: the same time, understand, just because I'm saying the federal
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: government shouldn't force Kimmel off the air, I think market
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: forces should. And it's interesting that that sixty six ABC
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: stations did not carry the Kimmel program tonight. And if
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: there are enough market forces, ABC ultimately will respond to them.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: I think market forces are a great check for horrific, unfunny, partisan,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: dishonest speech. And by the way, if you're dishonest enough,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: there could also be legal liability and litigation and all
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: sorts of consequences that come when you lie on air.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I just don't think it should be government regulators saying
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: we don't agree with the politics of your speech, so
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: we're taking your license. But that being said, the world
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: is better off without an unfunny, dishonest left wing partisan
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: who lies to the American people. And sadly, there was
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: a time when Jimmy Kimmel could be funny, but that's
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: what he has become.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great point, as before. If you want to hear
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: go back and dow the podcast from early this week
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: to hear the entire thing. I want to get back
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to the big story number three of the week. You
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: may have missed, Senator, you were in Dallas when this
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: shooting happened. It was eight hours after we watched Gavin
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Newsom go on late night TV demonizing ICE agents, saying
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that they are authoritarian. And then the liberals are like, wait, wait,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: we're not attacking ICE agents. Yes they are. They've undermined them,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: they've demonized them, and we were watching attack after attack
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: happen against ICE agents. It's horrific.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was in Dallas this week for a series
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: of unrelated meetings, and the news broke that this strange
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: gunman had opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: That he had gone onto a rooftop emulating Charlie Kirk's
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: assassin and with a bolt action rifle fired multiple rounds,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: ended up killing two people severely injuring a third. And
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: then then he took the gun to himself and took
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: his own life. And it was horrific. When the news broke,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: I canceled my morning meeting and just drove over to
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: the ICE facility that morning was there, was there shortly
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: after the shooting had occurred. And this has happened far
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: too often. Here's what I had to say at the
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: press conference that was ongoing when I arrived at the facility.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: If this needs to stop, violence is wrong, Politically motivated
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: violence is wrong. It was two weeks ago today that
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: we saw political assassination in Utah that tore the heart
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: out of much of this country. This is the third
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: shooting in Texas directed at ICE or CBP. This must stop.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: To every politician who is using rhetoric demonizing ICE and
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: demonizing CBP, stop to every politician demanding that ICE agents
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: be dosed and calling for people to go after their families. Stop.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: This has very real consequences. Look in America, we disagree.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: That's fine, that's the democratic process. But your political opponents
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: are not Nazis. We need to learn to work together
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: without demonizing each other, without attacking each other. And I
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: want to say thank you. I want to say thank
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: you to the brave men and women of law enforcement.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I want to say thank you to the brave men
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: and women of ICE and CBP and everyone who puts
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: their lives on the lines to keep us safe. The
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: divisive rhetoric tragically has real consequences. I hope that every
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: one of us will I hope that every one of
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: us will pray Number one, for the safety of law
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: enforcement that are risking their lives to keep us safe.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Number two, for the health of those who were shot
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: and injured. Today we still don't know the full details
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: of who was injured, but for the families also of
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: the victims of this shooting. Violence has no place, It
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: is wrong, and we should come together. If we want
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: to have a debate of an immigration policies, we can
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: do so in the halls of Congress without demonizing each other,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: and especially without demonizing the men and women who every
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: day put on a badge and go risk their lives
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: to keep us safe. And we should not be putting
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: language out there that inspires mad men to commit evil crimes.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Our prayers are with the men and women of law enforcement,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: and we ought to come together and have some decency
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: across the political aisle to say this violence is wrong
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: and it needs to stop.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: We know Senator a lot about this gunman. We know
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: that he was googling the shooting of our friend whose
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: funeral we just went to, Charlie Kirk. We know that
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: he was looking at the app that they put out
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: there and these websites where you can track ICE agents
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: which is doccent where they are.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: That is an app designed to encourage violence against ICE
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: agents and law enforcement. And whether it's Gavin Newsom or
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: a Keen Jeffries or any any other Democrat who is
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: encouraging this targeting of ICE agents, it is fundamentally wrong
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and that they need to stand up and stop it.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: You know, I will say this shooter, it's the news
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: has since come out. This shooter his mother was a
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: hard leftist who actually had been vocally critical of me
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: and other Texas Republicans for not in brace seeing gun
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: control and in fact, in May of twenty twenty two,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: she posted the following, Governor Abbot, Senator Cornyn, and Senator Cruz,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: how does it feel that your action to open up
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: gun laws is responsible for the killing of twenty one
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: more people? Do you secretly sit in front of a
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: TV and smile with a demented smile. You must be
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: proud of all the money that sits in your bank
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: accounts from the gun lobby support. Was it worth it?
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Governor Abbot? How about you senators? When you prioritize money
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: over people, this is what you get. And I will
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: say the irony is rich that this leftist mom who
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: was championing gun control now her son has committed a
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: mass murder as a sniper. It is tragic and it
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: is a consequence of extreme rhetoric, extreme ideology that is
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: poisoning the minds of those who are driven to violence.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: And I will say this assassin wrote on his shell
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: case anti ice very much, emulating what Charlie Kirk's murderer did,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: writing pro Antifa and pro transgender propaganda on he'll shell casings.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: And we need to stop this violence, regardless of where
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: your politics are, but we need to stop the rhetoric
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: that is fueling this violence. And there's a lot of
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Democrat politicians engaging in this rhetoric, no matter how many
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: lives are lost. And I want to be clear, I
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: am not calling them Nazis. I am absolutely opposing any
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: violence or calls to violence. I'm calling on them to
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: tone down their rhetoric and stop demonizing their opponent, stop
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: demonizing ice, stop demonizing law enforcement, because it's dangerous and tragically,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: lunatics are acting on the rhetoric they're hearing from these politicians.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Center
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to dealt
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: with my podcast and you can listen to my podcast
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: every other day you're not listen to Verdict or each
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and we will see you back here on Monday morning.