Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Stop China: Trump Increases Scrutiny of CCP Ties for Student Visas, plus the Great Phil Robertson Passes & CA Relents on Boys in Girls' Sports

Transcript

Stop China: Trump Increases Scrutiny of CCP Ties for Student Visas, plus the Great Phil Robertson Passes & CA Relents on Boys in Girls' Sports · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: It's nice to have you with us on Verdict, with
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as always and center.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: We've got a lot to talk about.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Well, there's a ton happening. The Trump administration announced that
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: they are going to begin revoking student visas for Chinese
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: students and vigorously scouring their applications to make sure that
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: they are not connected to the Chinese Communist Party. That
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: is a welcome step that is much needed. We're going
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: to break that down in detail. California also reversed its
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: policies on transgender athletes, taking a major step to protect
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: women and really showing that the left realizes they are
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: in full retreat. We're going to explain exactly what's going
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: on there. We're also going to talk about the sad
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: news this past week that my good friend Phil Robertson,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: the Great Phil Robertson, passed away. We're going to reflect
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: on the impact he had, and I'm going to take
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: you guys inside what it's like to go duck hunting
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: with Phil Robertson, one of the most incredible and fun
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: things I've ever had the joy of doing. And finally,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: the Trump administration announced that the American Bar Association the
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: ABA is no longer going to have any special role
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: in judicial selection. Long overdue, and a great announcement all
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: of that on today's show.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good one.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I want to talk to you real quick though, about
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: what's happening in Israel and what we're seeing right now
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: is truly disturbing. Anti Semitism is on the rise around
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the world, and sadly, even right here in America. Jewish
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: schools are being targeted, synagogues are being threatened, and families
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: are living in fear. It's something that we hoped we'd
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: never see again in our lifetime. And so let me
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: say this, silence is not an option. This is the
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: moment that we can all take a stand with the
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: people in Israel. And that's why I want you to
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: be involved with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
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  Speaker 1: You may have heard of it.
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  Speaker 2: It's called IFCJ and they are on the front lines
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  Speaker 2: children in Israel, and they're helping survivors of hate rebuild
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: their lives. And they don't just respond to crisis, they
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  Speaker 2: gift of only forty five dollars will help support their
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• 2:44
  Speaker 1: All right, so let's.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Dive into this big first topic center and it deals
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: with what you mentioned earlier, China and Chinese student visas.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: There was an interesting number that was thrown out earlier
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: in the day on TV, and I'm going to quote it.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure if it's ex exactly accurate, but it is,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and that's why I said it was. I saw it
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: earlier today and I want to prefix that with saying it.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: But it's said that there were about five hundred American
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: students that have visas in China and more than two
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: or eight thousand Chinese students in the US is what
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: was said, Why are we doing so much for Chinese students,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: many of them by the way they come in here,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: that spy and rob of us of our intellectual property,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: and the administration ter administration is basically saying, we're trying
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: to put a stop to this.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Well, what the Trump administration has announced. Secretary of State
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Marco Rubio announced that they will begin aggressively revoking the
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: visas of Chinese students in the United States. China engages
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: in extensive propaganda and espionage, and they're going to begin
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: vetting and vetting aggressively whether a particular student seeking a
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: visa to come to this country has ties to the
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Chinese Communist Party. I think this is long overdue and
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: it's part of a broad effort. They're also engaged with
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: foreign students that are coming to the United States, examining
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: their social media history, examining if they have a history
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: of radicalism. So, if you are seeking a student visa
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: to come to America and you've been public saying I
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: hate America, I want to destroy America, which Sadly, we've
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: seen some of these radical students who've said that, and nonetheless,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Joe Biden the Democrats said, welcome to America. We need
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: more people who hate our nation and want to destroy it. Well,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: I think the president's exactly right to stand up and
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: say we're not going to welcome people to this country
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: who are trying to undermine and destroy this country. With
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: respect to China, you know the question of espionage and
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: intellectual property theft that's existed since the dawn of time. Look,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: when the first caveman invented the wheel, I suspect somebody
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: stole his idea and made another wheel. That that's part
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: of the human condition. What is not ever before existed
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: is a nation state with massive economic resources like China
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: making it a state policy to engage in the theft
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: of resources. And so I am very I think it's
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: exactly right that we're going to vigorously scrutinize those students
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: coming in to make sure that they are not operating
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: as agents of the Chinese Communist Party. Now, let me
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: say at the same time, look, part of the reason
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: you don't get that many Americans going to China to
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: study is you don't have a whole lot of folks
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: that want to go to Chinese universities, whereas people from
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: all over the world want to come to American universities.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: And I will say, if you have people who are
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: not agents of the communist government, we want the best
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: and brightest in the world coming to America. We end
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: up having inventions coming here because the best and brightest
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: students across the country come and come and study science
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: at engineering and they make inventions, and those inventions in
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: turn fuel American companies and they create great jobs. And
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: so I think the administration is cutting the right balance here,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: which is saying we're going to stop spies, we're going
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: to stop terrorists, but at the same time that that
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: doesn't mean that we want to close our doors entirely
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: too brilliant physicists and engineers from around the world being
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: able to come to America and benefiting from from the
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: fruits of that.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: You know, there's one thing that we mentioned. Gosh, there's
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: probably a little over a year ago on this show.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: In the podcast that we do, I tell people this
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: is why you should download Verdict with Ted Cruz.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: We do it three days a week.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: We talked back when under the Biden Harrison administration there
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: was even warnings coming from their administration that they're the
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: number one threat to this country was China and Chinese
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: espionage and influence operations. That is now a Kumbaya moment
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: with the Trump administration, where in essence, two administrations that
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: saw nothing o't eye both agreed on China and what
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: they were trying to do and stealing an electual property
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and sending an incredible number of spies into this country
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: and many of them come through our university system.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but the Biden administration did next to nothing to
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: stop it. So they acknowledged it's a problem, but at
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: the same time, they were complicit in it. And I'll
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: tell you I have for over a decade been leading
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: the fight to stop Chinese espionage, to stop Chinese propaganda,
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: to stop China's malign efforts. I think we need a
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: comprehensive effort to take on communist China, much like we
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: had under Ronald Reagan to win the Cold War against
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: the Soviet Union. And I'll tell you, Ben, one of
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: the very first pieces of legislation that I authored and
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: passed dealt with exactly this, and it dealt with what
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: are called Confucius institutes. So Confucius institutes were started at
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: US universities all across America, where there were roughly two
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: hundred of them, and they were controlled by Communist China.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: They were paid for by Communist China, by the government,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: and they were used to engage in propaganda and espionage
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: on campus. I authored legislation and said, if you have
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: a Confucius Institute on campus, you will not get funding
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: from the federal government, from the Department of Defense. I
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: passed it into law, and I'll tell you that simple
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: piece of legislation resulted in over a hundred Confucius institute
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: shutting down at universities across the country, shutting down their espionage,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: shutting down their propaganda. I think the Trump administration's announcement
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: is the next step in that very important fight.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Senator, Let's deal with California.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: And there has been a fight since the President came
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: in with his executive order on trying to protect women
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: from men being in their locker rooms, being in their
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: sports beating them up. We saw it during the Olympics
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: in boxing. We've seen countless women who their achievements have
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: been taken away from them. On the podium because of
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: men claiming their women, which is impossible in reality, and
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: California decide they were going to stand up to Donald Trump,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: and guess what, it didn't go very well for them.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Well, listen, we've seen the Democrat Party getting more and
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: more radical ever since Donald Trump took the oath of
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: office back in twenty seventeen. They hate Trump and they've
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: gotten more and more extreme on a host of issues.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: And one of the poster children for their extreme issues
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: is embracing boys in girls sports, men and women's sports.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: And it is wrong, it is unfair, it invites injury,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: and it also deprives both both girls and women of
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: athletic victories they should have and they've earned. There are
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: differences between boys and girls. There are differences between men
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: and women that did not used to be a controversial proposition.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: It is only in today's looney tune left that they
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: can't tell to the difference between men and women. But
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: I got to tell you, even though in the Senate,
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Senate Democrats all of them continue to defend men in
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: women's sports and boys and girls sports, we're seeing the
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: state of California. We're seeing the Democrats beginning to retreat.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: We're seeing Gavin Newsom, the governor who's been a far
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: left radical governor. He's got ambitions of being president, he's
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: looking at running in twenty twenty eight, and he's decided, Okay,
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: we're on the wrong side of an eighty twenty issue.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: I want to get the hell away from this. And
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: so California announced this is a big deal. They're changing
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: their policy for track and field so that if you're
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: a biological girl and you got you missed out on
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: making it to the state championship because you were beaten
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: by a biological male who claims to be a transgender woman,
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: then the girl you will still get your slot. You
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: still get invited to the state championship. Look, that's a
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: significant step in the right direction, and Gavin Newsom is
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: embracing it. And I got to say this really illustrates
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: that at least some Democrats realize, Wow, we are on
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: the wrong side of an issue that America. America wants
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: to protect girls sports and women's sports. We want to
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: protect our daughters and we don't want to see them
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: hurt or competing unfairly. And so the crazy thing is
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: that means in track and Field in California. Now they
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: may give three gold medals, one to the boy, one
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: to the girl, and one to the transgender athlete. You
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: may have gold medals all around. But for bright blue
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: California to make this concession, it shows that at least
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: some Democrats realize they are way on the wrong side
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: of this issue.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: This also, I think is an issue that it's worth
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: fighting for, and I think many that are listening or saying,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: we don't want to give in, and we don't want
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: to give up, and the penoum went so far to
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: the radical left for so many years that this is
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: the fight that is worth fighting on and fighting over.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: And showing California having to change girls track and field
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: championship rules after the Trump threatens funding over the trans
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: athletes is just an example of hey, we are and
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: many times the silent majority, and we need to start
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: acting like it, especially on these types of issues.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you Ben this, this issue is a
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: powerful issue. And as you know, I ran for re
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: election in Texas last year in twenty twenty four. It
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: was a quarter billion dollar race. I was Chuck Schumer's
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: number one target and my campaign was was the first
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: campaign in the country last year to put real time
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: and energy behind this, this issue of We're going to
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: protect girl sports from boys competing, and we put tens
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: of millions of dollars behind this issue. What's fascinating is
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: the media completely misunderstood the issue. So one of the
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: things that my campaign did is we did focus groups
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: in Houston and Dallas of undecided moderate women to understand
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: what issues moved them, and we tested thirty thirty five
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: different messages. The number one issue that moved undecided moderate
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: women in Texas was boys and girls sports. And when
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: I started campaigning on it, it was very funny. The
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: reporters are like, oh, Cruise is trying to appeal to
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: the crazy right wing, and I was just laughing at him,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, you guys are so clueless. This is not
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: the crazy right wing. This is soccer moms. This is
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: soccer moms who love their daughters. And we land on
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: this issue. And then you saw senate races all across
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: the country pick up the same message because they were
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: seeing the same data. We where we saw President Trump
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: lean in Harvard on this.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Some of those women that you were talking to, let's
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: be very clear, had moved from California because you know,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: the like, how many people from California moved to Texas
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: over the last six years a lot.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: We have over one thousand people a day moving to
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: the state of Texas, and California is overwhelmingly the heaviest,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: the largest state that is sending people to Texas. But
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: this issue, what's fascinating Ben, is you know, four years ago,
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: this issue did not work politically. You saw campaigns try
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: to raise it four years ago, and I think people
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: thought then that that that it was jumping the shark,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: that it didn't feel real. Four years ago, I think
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: people said, oh, come on, that's that's that's not a
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: real threat. Well, you know what we've now seen Leah Thomas,
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: the the the the swimmer who who is a biological
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: man and looks like Michael friggin Phelps, who who who
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: We've also seen And I think this was really a
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: seminal moment in the Olympics, the two dudes competing in
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: in in women's boxing and beating the hell out of women.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: And I think a whole lot of people said, wait,
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: this is not theoretical. This is happening over and over
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: and over again. Enough is enough and and I think
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: this is another milestone that that California is retreating on
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: this issue shows that that truth and sanity are are winning.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and now the question becomes how much are they
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: going to be able to fight back through the court
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: system and is this going to be something that's going
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: to be unfortunately an issue for probably years to come.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Well, look, we'll see. And to be honest, California hasn't
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: conceded all together. They're still having biological males compete against women,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: which is which is unfair. It invites injury. You know,
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: if you're playing volleyball, We've seen women who have a
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: biological man spiked the ball into their head and they
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: get injured. I mean, I mean it is California is
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: still looney Tunes. But the fact that even the lefty
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: government of California is saying we've gone too far, that's
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: a very positive sign.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: We had some really sad news this week, but also
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: a celebration of an incredible legacy in a life.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: You know him from Dug Dynasty.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Phil Robertson passed away this week and many people may
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: not realize this, he was actually incredibly influential in your
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: twenty sixteen presidential campaign. He went all in for you
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: and even did an ad for you. Some thought that
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: was political suicide for Duck Dynasty, the brand, Oh don't
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: get involved in politics. Whatever you do, just you know,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: be Dug Dynasty stuff well, you know, in Walmart, and
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: just be famous. He was not afraid to take a
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: stand for what he believed in, whether it was his
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: faith or in politics. And that's one of the reasons
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: why I absolutely love the legacy of Phil Well.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: Phil Robertson was extraordinary. He was one of a kind.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: He was truly an American original.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: He passed this week at age seventy nine. And and
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: and Phil built a business empire as the the the
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: founder of Duck Commander, and and and on television, he was,
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: you know, a unique character. He and his family with
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: their long scraggly beards, with their love of hunting, with
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: their real I mean, there was a genuineness to fill.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: And then there is to his whole family that that
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: is it is spectacular and and and there is also
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: a love of a love of Jesus, a love of God,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: an open embrace of faith, which which frankly you don't
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: see on TV very much. And and and it is
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: part it was integral to who Phil was. I I
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: was really blessed I got to know Phil, I admired him,
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: I considered him a friend, and I got to say,
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: you know it, one of the coolest things I've ever
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: done in my life is I got to go duck
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: hunting with Phil. And this was during the twenty sixteen
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: presidential campaign. They invited me to come to his home,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: and so I came to his home and went and
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: had dinner with him and the whole family, which was
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: really cool. And then then we got up at four
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: in the morning the next morning and went to the
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: duck blinde. And listen, you and I both enjoy hunting.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Hunting is a lot of fun. I've hunted with a
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: lot of different people. I will tell you, hands down,
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Phil Robertson is the best shot with a shotgun I've
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: ever seen in my life.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Like, like, we're not the only person that's told me that.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I was talking with another friend that went and hunted
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: with him. They said like he was next level, like
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: completely different level, that it was just in his blood
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: and he knew how to shoot. And it was just like,
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: oh wow, Like this is like Olympic level is I
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: was described to me this week.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: So we would be in the blind and you see
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: some ducks flying over the horizon, and Phil would take
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: a shot at a distance. I wouldn't even pick up
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: my gun, like it's a distance, like there's no way
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: on Earth I'm hitting that bird. If the duck flies
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: over by us, I'll shoot it. But like that, like
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: he he. That was the thing that really stood out
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: is that he would shoot ducks at a distance that
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: was like fifty percent further than any other duck hunter
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: I've ever seen. And as I said, they were far
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: enough away that I didn't even buy I'm an okay
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: shot with a shot, and I could hold my own,
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: but these ducks were so far away I wouldn't waste
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: the shells. And it was It was impressive to watch.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: He was also just just real. He was fun. All Right,
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you a neat Phil Robertson story that
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: he told me.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: So.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: So, Phil was a very good athlete. He was actually
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: the starting quarterback at Louisiana Tech University. I did not
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: know that he was the starting quarterback. And then one
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: day he quit. He quit the team and said, I'm
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: not gonna play anymore. Now, do you know who his
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: backup quarterback was?
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Who was that?
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: It's a guy named Terry Bradshaw.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Is that why he quit?
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Nope, Nope, that's not why he quit. So Terry Bradshaw, who,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: for those of you who are not not football fans,
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: is one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks ever to play,
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Is a legendary quarterback.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Terry Bradshaw was Phil Robertson's backup. He was not getting
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: a ton of playing time because Phil Robertson was the starter.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: He quit because football season interfered with hunting season. And
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: so the story Phil told me is is his coach
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: came to his apartment and was gonna was trying to
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: convince Phil to come back and play football. And Phil said, hey, coach, coach,
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: come on in, come on in. Hey, he said, come
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: on in the bathroom. I'm cleaning a deer here in
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: the bathroom in my bathtub.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: So the coach which comes in and he's.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Cleaning a deer, and the coach says, Phil, I'm not
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: going to convince you to come back and play football,
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: am I? And Phil says no, not a chance. But
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: but I'm really glad you came over. And so he
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: quit and Terry Bradshaw, a legend was born, and then
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: a second legend, Phil Robertson was born because his love
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: of hunting led him led him to to to form
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: for Duck Commander, to start Duck Dynasty and one of
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: the coolest things. So in twenty sixteen, he cut a
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: TV commercial for my presidential campaign and like the image
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: of it. It's the two of us hunting together and
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: wearing camo and we got face paint and he's talking.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: But I want to play that that ad. You don't
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: have the visuals, but you can google it if you
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: want to watch the visuals. And it was classic. But
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: this is this is all Phil, And I'll just say this.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Not a word of this was scripted. They just pointed
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: the camera at him and said, Phil talk, and this
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: is what he said.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: And by the way, let's meet.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: This has got to be the only presidential campaign ad
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: that actually starts with duck calling. I just want to
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: point that out, because Phil is calling in the Ducks
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: and that's the first thing you're going to hear.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: Our qualifications for President of the United States or rather,
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: Nara is here.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: She's got me?
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: Does he or she love us?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: And he or she do the job?
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: And finally, well to kill a duck and put him
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: in a pot and make him a good duck Combo.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: I've looked at the candidates. Ted Kruse is my man.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: He fits the bill, He's got me, he loves us,
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: he's a man for the job, and he will go
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: duck hunt. Because today we're going Ted Krues is my man.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: I'm voting Park Cruise. The reason we're going to vote
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: for you, all of us, is because you're one of us,
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: my man. That's why looking for you. It's no ever.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: I got to say, it might be one of the
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: best ads I've ever seen. It's the closest you'll ever
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: be to Rambo Senator uh with a face paint.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: But but this was a big.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Risk for him, and I'm sure there was a lot
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: of pr people around him, like why do you want
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: to get involved in politics? Gonna alienate people that could
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: be you know, duck commander friends and and people that
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: could buy stuff from you. Why do you want to
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: get into politics? He believed in you that much, he said,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I don't care.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look if he was listening to pr people. I
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: I certainly saw no evidence of it. I think he's
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: a man who followed what he believed was right, and
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: he spoke out and he spoke the truth. You know.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: One of the things I loved about Duck Dynasty is
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: is that his faith was real and he and he
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: talked about it, and he was proud to to to
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: demonstrate the love of Jesus every day. And I'll tell
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: you a really cool follow up. So he cut that
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: ad and and I asked Phil, hey, would you come
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: to Iowa? Would you campaign with me on the ground
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: in Iowa. Now it was in the middle of duck
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: season and Phil had gone hunting every single day of
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: duck season every year for more than forty years. He
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: had never missed a day. And so we'd asked him
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: to come. We were having a big rally in Iowa.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: We asked him, Phil, you would you fly up to
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Iowa and join us? And we didn't get a definite answer.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: He had the invite and he told me he actually
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: went to went to the Duck blind at at you know,
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: four four thirty in the morning, and he was sitting
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: there and he said he sat there like twenty minutes,
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: and then he got up and left and got on
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: a plane and flew to Iowa. And it was the
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: first day in over forty years that he didn't go
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: duck hunting on a day during duck season, and instead
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: he came and campaigned in Iowa.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: He was awesome. Some of what the impact did that
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: have in Iowa?
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: When when he I mean because this was at the
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: height of their fame obviously in sixteen.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: Well look we wont Iowa on Iowa, uh decisively, and
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: and and and ended up winning twelve states in twenty sixteen,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: and Phil's coming there UH played a uh made a
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: real difference. And I'll tell you Phil spoke at that rally,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: and my dad spoke and and and Phil and my
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: dad were about the same age.
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: It.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: Phil was a little bit younger than my dad. My
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: dad's eighty six. Phil was seventy nine when he passed.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: But but they got along. And my father's a pastor
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: and and and and like Phil, my dad is is unapologetic.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Like like my father Ben, you know my dad well
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: he is. He's incapable of guile, He's incapable of telling you,
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: of not telling you what he thinks it really is
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: sometimes to his own fault. My dad will just say
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: exactly what he thinks. Consequences be damned. Uh and and
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: it's a and And the back to back at that
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: rally of having Phil talk and my dad talk, that
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: combination was was really really potent.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: It's it's an incredible story.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: I know you you you know the family as well,
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: and I know you wanted to say to them obviously
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: it's something about their father passing, and just how thankful
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: you are for the legacies.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: Left well, look to the to the entire family, to
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Jason and Willie and cy and and and the entire
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: extended family. You guys have had an incredible impact on America.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: You've had an incredible impact touching people's lives, You've had
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: an incredible impact speaking up for for ordinary Americans. But
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: but also you guys have powerfully spread the gospel. And
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that, that cheerful, happy warrior, that unapologetic willingness
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: to speak truth. Look, we are sad that that Phil
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: is not with us. We are mourning, and I'll tell
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: you Heidi and I are praying for the family that
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: is mourning the loss of of the patriarch. But at
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: the same time, we're celebrating a life incredibly well lived,
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: and and and he's with Jesus now and and and
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: Phil we love you all.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Right, Senata, So let's dive into this other issue that
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: really is an interesting one. You've got a lot to
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: say about the Trump Justice Department telling the American Bar
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Association that it will no longer comply with ratings for
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: judicial nominees.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Now, explain the politics behind this.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: The ABA has had a lot of power and they're
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: basically now saying we're not going to let you guys
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: have that power because there's been a lot of bias
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: coming out of the American Bar Association.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: Well, the American Bar Association, it's a national organization of lawyers,
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: and it is a left wing advocacy group. It is
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: not fair, it is not impartial. It is a radical
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: left organization. And the ABA has had a formal role
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: in judicial selection for seventy five years. It started rating
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: judicial nominees in nineteen fifty three, and an until Hill
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: two thousand and one, the ABA actually had a formal
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: role evaluating judicial nominees before they were nominated. So a
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: president a Department of Justice and Administration would would share
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: with the ABA, Hey, we're thinking of nominating Ben Ferguson
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: to be a federal judge. And they'd go and research
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: and interview former clients, and at some point people would say, wait,
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Ben's not even a lawyer, How the hell is he
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: going to be a judge? Like, you probably should go
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: to law school first. And by the way, that point
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: is not crazy. But they engaged that they would do
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: a formal role and they would rate the qualifications of
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: judicial nominees. Now here's the problem. For decades, the ABA's
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: qualification measures were wildly biased. So, for example, Robert Bork,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: Robert Borke. Ronald Reagan nominated Robert Borke to the Supreme
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: Court in nineteen eighty seven. Robert Bork was, by any measure,
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: one of the most qualified federal judicial nominees in the
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: history of this country. Robert Bork had been the Solicitor
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: General of the United States, the chief lawyer for the
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: United States in front of the Supreme Court of the
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: United States. Robert Bork had been one of the most
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: renowned and respected law professors for decades. Robert Bork had
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: been a federal judge on the US Court of Appeals
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: for the DC Circuit and so a remarkable career. And
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: yet the ABA when they evaluated Robert Borke, they coned
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: he was quote not qualified to be a judge. They
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: also concluded the same thing for Frank Easterbrook, again, brilliant,
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: brilliant judge, brilliant professor, one of the greatest judges to
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: have ever served on the Court of Appeals. Frank Easterbrook,
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: the ABA concluded he was not qualified. Also Edith Jones.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Edith Jones is a judge on the Fifth Circuit Federal
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Court of Appeals down in Texas. I know Judge Jones well.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: She's a phenomenal jurist, one of the best and most
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: conservative of judges in the entire country. The a BA
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: rated her not qualified. Well. The breaking news is this
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: week the Trump Justice Department announced the a BA will
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: no longer have a role in judicial selection. They will
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: no longer have a role in vetting. They're out and
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: and and the Department of Justice said, you know what,
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: they can chime in like any other left wing advocacy group,
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: but they don't have a role in this process.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: This is going to have, like I think, a big
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: impact on the quality BONDI informing the a b A
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: that they'll no longer enjoy the special access to judicial nominees.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: And the left, by the way, when that news came out,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: they totally freaked out. And I think that also shows
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: just how much they were depending on the ABA to
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: get rid of good candidates that were maybe more conservative.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and and and so Pambondi sent a letter to
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: the president of the a B A and and and
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: she said, quote, well, the a BA is free to
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: come in on judicial nominations along with other activist organizations.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: There is no justification for treating the ABA differently from
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: such other activist organizations, and the Department of Justice will
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: not do so. And so previously the Office Illegal Policy,
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: which is the office within the Department of Justice that
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: handles judicial selections, they changed. They had previously directed judicial
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: nominees to provide a waiver to the ABA to let
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: the ABA access non public information, including bar records. And
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: so no longer is the Department of Justice going to
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: tell judicial nominees give the ABA special access. That is
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: over and moreover, Pambondi says, quote nominees will also not
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and will not
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: sit for interviews with the ABA. In other words, you
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: can be like every other whack job organization on the left,
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: but you're not going to have any special access whatsoever.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: This is something I've called for a long time. I
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: have for years, for more than a decade, advocated that
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: the A B a BA is wildly biased and it
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: should it should not have a special role in the process.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: And I want to commend President Trump and Pambondi. It's
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: the right thing to do.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Sinaer.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: We hear a lot about bias and and biased against conservatives,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: but my other question is were they also biased in
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: advocating for liberals.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, they are a hard left advocacy organization masquerading as
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: a non partisan professional organization. And Joe Biden over the
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: last four years nominated over and over again radicals and zealots,
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: many of whom were wildly unqualified, and the ABA was
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: more than happy to stamp them with a rating of
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: qualified and and and one example is is Charnette Charnelle
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: Bagel Congrin, who was wildly unqualified, and yet the ABA
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: happily deemed her qualified and rather than me layout how
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: bad she was. I want you to list into this
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: cross examination from my colleague John Kennedy to this judicial
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: nominee and the Senate Judiciary Committee here, give a listen.
• 32:08
  Speaker 5: Thank you, mister chairman, and congratulations to all of you.
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: Judge on the far end, tell me what Article five
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: of the Constitution does.
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: Article five is not coming to mind.
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: At the moment. How about Article two?
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: Neither is article two?
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: Okay? Do you know what proposivism is?
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: In my twelve years as an assistant Attorney General and
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: my nine years serving as a judge, I was not
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: faced with that precise question. We are the highest trial
• 32:48
  Speaker 6: court in Washington State, so I'm frequently faced with issues
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: that I'm not familiar with, and I thoroughly review the law,
• 32:57
  Speaker 6: our research, and apply the law to the facts presented
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: to me.
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: Well, you're going to be faced with it as if
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: you're confirmed. I can assure you of that.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: He was dumbfounded at the end there, like, I can't
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: believe you don't know this.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: Well, And let me underscore how simple the first two
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: questions are that he asked. So the Constitution has seven articles.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: It's not a very long document. Article five is the
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: article through that lays out the process for amending the Constitution.
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: It's fairly basic. That was his opening question, she had
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: no idea what Article five was. Article two is even
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: more fundamental, so the first three articles the constitution. Article
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: one creates the Congress, Article two creates the President and
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: the executive branch, and Article three creates the federal Judiciary.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: To not know what Article two is is stunning to
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: give you a sense you will flunk constitutional law and
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: not graduate law school if you don't know what Article
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: two is. She was being nominate needed to be what
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: is called an Article three judge. I assumed she had
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: no idea what Article three was, and nevertheless the ABA
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: said she's qualified to be an Article three judge even
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: though she has no idea what it is. I'm very
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: glad the ABA no longer has a role in making
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: those determinations.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Sentner,
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to down
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: with my podcast and you can listen to my podcasts
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: day when you listen to Verdict afterwards, I'd love to
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: podcasts and the Senat and I will see you back
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: here for the weekend review on Saturday morning,