Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Regime Change Isn’t a Dirty Word, a Meeting with Machado & the Soldiers Who Changed a Hemisphere Week In Review

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Regime Change Isn’t a Dirty Word, a Meeting with Machado & the Soldiers Who Changed a Hemisphere Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: In his verdict with Ted Cruz Weekend Review, Ben Ferguson
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: with you, and here are the big stories that we
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: talked about this week that you may have missed. First up,
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: regime change. There's a real possibility of it in multiple
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: countries around the world. So what role should America play?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: We explain that in a moment. Also, Senator Cruz had
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: an incredible meeting with the opposition leader of Venezuela at Machado.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: She talked about what the future looks like for that country,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: and Center Cruz brings you into the room. And finally,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: an incredible day in San Antonio, a Senator Cruz met
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: with the heroes of the Maduro Arrests mission. What do
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: they have to say and how are they doing? It's
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the weekend Review and it starts right now.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: And so you're either a Neo khn warmonger or you're
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: an isolationist like Tucker and his followers. And I actually
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: think most Americans don't fall into either category. Most Americans,
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: I think, agree with President Donald Trump and agreed with
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: President Ronald Reagan. Neither one of them were to use
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: the insults of the day Neokon warmongers. You know, in
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: eight years the biggest country Reagan ever invaded, Grenada. Yeah,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: he was not interested in invading foreign countries and sending
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: our soldiers to die abroad. But he understood peace through strength.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: He rebuilt our military, He developed SDI strategic Defense initiative
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: what was called star Wars laser missile defense from space,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: and he bankrupted the Soviet Union and won the Cold
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: War without firing a shot. Donald Trump, likewise, has had
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: incredible foreign policy victories, but he's not sending our soldiers
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: to be boots on the ground and to die for
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: years on end. And I want to take a related
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: term that on social media gets thrown around as an epithet,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: which is regime change. And you'll have people I'm not
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: for regime change.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Well, let me be clear.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: Should you be for regime change when the Soviet Union
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: fell and the Berlin Wall fell to the ground? I
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: will submit the answer is unambiguously yes. The world is
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: better off when a cruel, tyrannical communist regime falls. Should
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: you be for regime change today in communist China, I
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: think unambiguously yes. The world would be better off if
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: China were no longer a communist country. Should you be
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: for regime change in Iran? I would suggest unambiguously yes.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: The world would be a better place if Iran was
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: not governed by a theocratic, murderous religious zealot who has
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: killed hundreds, if not thousands of Americans. Now, what is
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: the consequence of saying you're for regime change? If it
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: is that you're going to send hundreds of thousands of
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: American troops to invade the country and be on the
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: ground for years on end and die in IEDs and
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: be killed, then I don't support that. That is wrong.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: And part of the reason regime change has become an
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: insult is people hear it and they immediately think the
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Iraq War. Remember I've opposed the Iraq War for decades.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: By the way, when Tucker Carlson was an interventionist cheerleader
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: with palm palms cheering on the Iraq War, which he
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: did for years with his bow tie, I've said for
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: years the Iraq War was clearly a mistake. Why because
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: it did not advance US national security interest Saddam Hussein
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: was a cruel and oppressive dictator. He was killing terrorists
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: who hated America. We came in, we toppled Saddam Hussein,
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: and the terrorists who hated America took over and began
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: killing Americans. By the way, we did the same thing
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: in Libya with Kadafi. Kadafia was cruel and oppressive, but
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: he was killing terrorists to hate Americans. We toppled Kadafi,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: and the terrorists who hate Americans took over. I believe
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: we should be America first, which means we should put
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: America's national security interest first. But just because you don't
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: want to commit boots on the ground and have hundreds
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: or things thousands of Americans die and protracted ground combat
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: does not mean that you should support every tyrannical enemy
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: of America.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: We should want.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Regime change in Iran, and are there ways to promote
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: regime change other than boots on the ground? And yes,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: And I would say one of them is what Donald J.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Trump said. I want to read his tweet again. Iran
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: is looking at freedom, perhaps like never before, the USA
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: stands ready to help President Donald J.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: Trump.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: I agree with President Trump and Tucker and everyone else
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: who is blasting that we should have nothing to do
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: with Iran. They're disagreeing with the President, and they are wrong.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: We should use our voice. That's why this podcast is
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: a message to the people of Iran.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Freedom matters.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: You're the ones in charge of fighting for your revolution,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: but know that America stands with you, and a free
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: and peaceful Iran is better for Iran, and it's better
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: for America.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: It really is.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: It's an important show. I hope the people in Iran,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: especially using Starlink, get this podcast, they're able to listen
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: to it that we're standing with you, we're supporting you,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: we're advocating for you, and we want you guys to
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: succeed in what you're doing right now. It's gonna be
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: very interesting to see because so things are changing so quickly.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: There was a video that was put out and it
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: was also just one of those moments when you're I
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: love the Internet, and it shows a Russian jet and
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: a Russian support plane from their military on the tarmac
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: on the military side at the Tehran Airport. It's interesting
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: because people were speculating that plane is sitting there ready
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: to take out the leaders that they need to.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Ben I got to say, what was there in the
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: windshield the little uber logo.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: I'm just curious.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it said it said Russian Lift. It was Russia.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's Russian Lift.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: Did they at least bring some like, you know, Domino's
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: pizza or something.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's the same plane I think that they
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: got when they grabbed a side, right, you know, it's like, oh,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: come on down, we'll let you be an eye doctor.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: It's fine, you're one of our bad.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: It's it's the Dictator extraction plane.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, it's it's those two. And who knows, Baby
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Tucker will be on it one day. You can go
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: hang out there. He's already bought a house and Qatar,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: so you never know. But you see it, and it's
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: just one of those moments where I love the Internet.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: It's like, that's how close we are to seeing genuine
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: freedom back there that they haven't seen since nineteen seventy nine.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: That is amazing and inspiring. I hope for the best,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: and I hope that very few lives or any lives
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: are lost in this world.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Let me say something also, Ben, you're right, let me
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: also acknowledge I'm not pollyannish about what comes next. So
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: if there's a revolution in Iran, if the Iotola is toppled,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: it doesn't mean that tomorrow it's suddenly utopia and peace
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: and harmony. There could be real conflict that there could
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: be warring sides. Anytime you have a revolution, there is
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: uncertainty and the outcome can be good or bad.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: I don't have a stake.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: I don't have a preferred favorite for who the next
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: leader of Irani is. I don't think that's my place.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: I'm not a voter in Iran. I'mlike Tucker, I'm not
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: buying a home in the Middle East.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: To be clear, you're not buying real estate there. Okay,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I I thought you guys were going to be neighbors.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: But okay, look, if.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: The people of Iran toppled the Iyatola and the Malas,
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: my hope is that we see free and democratic elections
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: and they elect a leader who's a good leader, who
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: treats his people well, and who wants to be friends
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: with America instead of enemies. By the way, that's the
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: exact same outcome I want in Venezuela. I want them
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: not to have a communist dictator. Now Donald Trump is
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: taking care of that by arrested him and resting him
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: and prosecuting him. But I want to see free and
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: fair elections in Venezuela where they elect somewhat I hope
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: who embraces freedom and free enterprise and wants to be
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: friends with America. The lens I look through all of
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: this is how does it impact America. It's America first,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: But I'm not diminishing. Could there be bad outcomes? Could
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: there be a civil war? Yes, that's a possibility when you.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Have revolution d a country like we saw in Iraq
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: as well. I mean, you see this where there's different
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: there's many different religious thoughts and backgrounds in different towns
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: that leave different things.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: And let me draw a distinction on this also, which
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: is there's a real difference between Saddam Hussein and Iran
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: in that Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator, but he
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: wasn't actively waging war in America. The Ayatola is actively
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: waging war on America. He's spending money to day funding
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: terrorists that are trying to kill Americans. And there's a
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: real difference. There are regimes across this country, across the
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: world rather that are cruel and oppressive, but they're not
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: trying to kill us.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: The Iyatola is.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: And so look, obviously, if the regime falls, you could
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: end up with a bad outcome, but in my view,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: there are very few outcomes that could be worse than
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: the Ayatola. At this point, they are unmitigatedly our enemies,
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: and I am hopeful. I think we should be a
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: voice of encouragement towards better leadership.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: But I want to I want to close with this story.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: So about a decade ago, I was in Jerusalem and
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: I had the opportunity to meet Natan Sharansky. And Natan
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: Sharansky is the famed Soviet dissident. He was in the
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Soviet Gulag, and he told me the story about how
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: when they were in the Gulag and Reagan was president,
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: that the prisoners would pass from cell to sell notes,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: and they would be notes saying did you hear what
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Reagan said? Reagan called the Soviet Union an evil empire.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: They passed notes. Evil empire, Evil empire, evil empire. Reagan
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: was asked, what is your strategy on the Cold War?
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: He said, very simple, we win, they lose. Before that,
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: everyone said, oh, we're gonna have Dayton, We're just gonna
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: do nothing, and he's like, we win, they lose. That's
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: the strategy. When he talked about Marxism Leninism. He said,
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: Marxism Leninism will end up on the ash heap of history.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: And then the most significant words any leader has uttered
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: in modern times. He stood in front of the Brandenburg
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Gate in Germany and said, mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Which, by the way, I love that part of the story.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: And if you haven't looked at it, please go and
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: look at it. He was told by his staff, yes,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: speech writers, to not say it, and.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: He's the state back in a free times.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: State department had taken it out three times.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: The State Department deleted that three times. Reagan wrote it
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: back in. And by the way, the State department argued
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: at the time of his speech, he said, you cannot
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: say this. It is too aggressive, it's too bellicos and
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: here was their killer argument, it's too unrealistic. It will
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: never ever ever happen. And Reagan laughed and said, this
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: is the whole point of the speech. And it was
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: less than three years from giving that speech that the
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: Berlin Wall was torn to the ground. And by the way,
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Berlin Wall did not come down because Reagan ordered in
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: the Marines. We sent in tanks to knock down the wall.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: It was the power of the bully pulpit, of the
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: voice for freedom of the President. And one of the
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: things Ben you've seen that.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Is in my office.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: It's actually in one of the offices of my staff.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I love it is.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: My first couple of years that I was of the Senate,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: someone came to the office and gave me something, And
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: it's a silk painting of myself, which I don't generally
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: hang paintings of myself on the wall. Yeah, but the
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: reason that I kept this one is the story behind it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: This was apparently made by a dissident, a prisoner in
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: North Korea. And I've been from the very first days
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: I arrived in the Senate, I've been speaking out against
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: tyrants and communist depression, whether in China or North Korea,
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: or Venezuela or Cuba or Iran. And much like Natan Sharansky,
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: apparently the words that I had said here in the
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: United States had somehow made their way into a dark
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: prison cell in North Korea. And I don't know the
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: name of this North Korean who, I don't know his story.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: I just know that it was smuggled out and they
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: delivered it to my office, and I periodically look at
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: that and say, Okay, like there's a responsibility this podcast.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: There may be someone who is risking their life or
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: even god forbid, loses their life because they hear our
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: words are inspired to fight against tyranny. And so I
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: think we have a responsibility to speak truth, to speak
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: for justice. And that's what I hope this podcast is
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: doing every week, but especially today.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: from earlier this week.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Now onto story number two.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: You mentioned by the way that the meeting you had
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: with her after she met with the President of the
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: United States of America, Donald Trump, well with twelve different centers.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: So how does that room get made?
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: And it sounds like it was by parson You mentioned
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: a Democrat that was in that room. Does everybody get
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: an invite or only certain people? How does that work?
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: So now it was a smaller subset. And and typically
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: what happens when you have heads of state come to Washington,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: they will often reach out to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: and I sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: so often we will have uh Uh, regularly we'll have
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: at like afternoon coffees or lunch lunches with heads of
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: state when they could they come to town. And and
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: in the capital there's an office where the Senate Foreign
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Relations Committee meets with there's a hearing room with this
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: big ornate table that they'll set up and they usually
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: put you have some coffee and some some pieces of
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: cheese and crackers and like a little bit of good Yeah,
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: you know it it's but but it it look it is.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: It's an opportunity to visit with with world leaders. In
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: this instance, it wasn't the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Uh,
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: it ended up being we met in the office of
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: Dick Durbin, who is the number two Democrat. He was
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: the one hosting it.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: And and initially I think RBA was making the invites.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: And then this is actually something Marina Carina Machado did
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: that I think was very wise. Also she invited a
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: number of people. So the reason I was there is
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: because she invited me.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: And look, I.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Saying, Durbin, you didn't make the cut on Durban's is
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: group chat. You're not in that group chat with them.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: So look, I suspect that there were some Democrats that
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: wanted to have at a meeting of just Democrats in
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: her Yeah, and I think that would have been really
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: unfortunate if that had happened, because I think the Democrats
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: would have wanted to use it to attack Trump. And
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: I think she realized that that would be that would
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: not further the people of Venezuela, that would not be
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: good for anyone, And so she reached out. And we
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: had four Republicans who was there were there, So I
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: was there, Rick Scott from Florida was there, Bernie Moreno
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: from Ohio was there, and and then John Curtis from
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Utah was there. And so that was the four Republicans
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: who were in the room. And then there were about
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: seven eight nine Democrats that were there, so it was
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: a larger group of Democrats and they were all posing
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: for the cameras and and and look, I think Rick
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Scott had had obvious reason to be be there. There's
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: a big, big Venezuelan population in Florida.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: Rick Scott has a lot of support from the Venezuelan
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: population in Florida, so it made sense for him to
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: be there. Bernie his family's from Colombia, and so you
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: know he you know, Bernie and I are are the
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: two two Hispanic Republicans that are in the Senate. And
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: and since he's Colombian American, I'm Cuban American. We kind
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: of talked smack at each other quite a bit, and
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Colombians and Cubans usually throw.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: Down a little bit, and and you know, when it
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: as for me.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Look, there's a significant Venezuelan population in Texas, in particularly
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: because Venezuela has the largest proven reserves of oil in
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: the world. Uh and and Houston is obviously the energy
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: capital of the world, and so there are a lot
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: of Venezuelans who are in huge Houston. A lot of
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Houston oil companies had been down in Venezuela over the years.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: For many years, there was a group called the Sitko
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: Six that were Americans who were imprisoned in Venezuela, and
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: they were Houstonians. They worked for Citgo, the oil company,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: and and Maduro had put them in prison, and I
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: was their leading advocate in the Senate. I went to
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: the Senate floor repeatedly, I spoke out for them, I
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: leaned repeatedly on the regime, and ultimately the Sitgo six
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: were released but it had been you know, I visited
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: with with Bricarinomachado previously had been engaged. I'd been engaged
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: with the opposition leaders for some time. And part of
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: that is, listen, I hate communists. It is you know,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: my family was imprisoned and tortured by communists. My dad
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: was in prison and tortured by Batista. It was not
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: a Communist, but my aunt, mike Ta Sogna, was imprisoned
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: and tortured by Castro's goons. And so when it comes
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: to communist.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: My you're talking one of the extremely low.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: I think they're in the embodiment of evil and and
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: and and one of the real missions that I've had
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: really since the day I got elected to the Senate
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: is trying to highlight dissonance. I think there's a real
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: power to dissonance. There's a real power to those that
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: stand up to tyrants, that that that show courage, and
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: that face prison and human rights abuses, because we've seen
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: tyrannies collapse because of the threats to their legitimacy. And
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: so I've tried in my time in the Senate really
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: to shine a light and amplify the message of dissonance
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: and I.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Got you and I, by the way, I've talked about
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: this this week when I was up in DC and
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: we had Bruce pearl on. By the way, if you
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: missed that show, go back and listen to it, the
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: famous UH basketball coach, Who's who is a man sitting
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: up for Israel right now?
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: And that was a fun podcast.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: It really was. Go back and grab it. But but
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: you and I have talked about.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: And by the way, I did did talk with someone
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: last night who said said she loved the podcast and
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: she was she cracked up the most by hearing that
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Bruce and I shared having both run around naked in
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: college streaking on campus. So if you want to hear
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: the story of that, gosten, go listen to the last podcast.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: There you go. That's an easy tease right there. You
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: and I.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I've talked about the moment that we're living in right
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: now could be one of the biggest historical moments, certainly
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: of my lifetime, and that is we have three countries
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: that without Donald Trump being president right now, if Kamala
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Harris is in the White House, we would not be
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: having this conversation. I believe that are on the verge
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: of quite possibly having free and fair elections within the
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: next twelve months, and that would be Iran, that would
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: be Venezuela, that would also be Cuba. People are standing
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: up for themseillselves and sending up to their government because
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: they're being inspired by Donald Trump and what he's also said,
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: which is we have your.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: Back well, and I want to take a moment for
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: us just to reflect on the incredible, constant quential times
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: we're living. And this is a point that I made
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: to Machado when she was in DC. I said, Look,
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: it is entirely possible that in the next few months,
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: in the next six months, we could see the regimes
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: fall in Venezuela, in Cuba and Iran. We could see
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: elections in Venezuela, in Cuba and Iran. We could see
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: leaders elected by the people who stand for freedom and
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: who want to stand with America and be friends with America.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: We could see that in Venezuela, in Cuba and Iran, Iran.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: It could happen literally in the next few hours of
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: the next few days. What is happening in Iran is
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: so consequential, What is happening in Venezuela is so consequential.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: In Cuba is not far behind, and if that happens,
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: that will be the single most significant foreign policy development
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: the world has seen since the Berlin Wall was torn
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: to the ground. It will literally remake the geopolitical map
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: and the consequences of that. Now, to be clear, there
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: are a thousand things that can go wrong. There are
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: a thousand things that could go wrong in Venezuela, in Cuba,
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: in Iran. It's not guaranteed. In fact, it is guaranteed
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: to not be smooth and without challenges at is one
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: hundred percent. It will be bumpy and there will be challenges.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: But all three regimes are in a panic, they are
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: in a free fall, and the people of all three
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: countries are energized. If you were to pick three countries
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: that for decades have been explicitly passionately anti American, the regimes,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the rulers have been responsible for terrorism, responsible for threatening
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: the lives of Americans, it would be difficult to find
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: three more dangerous than Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. And you're right,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: this is the direct console quess of strong leadership from
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: the commander in chief. And it was interesting one of
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: the Democrat senators who was in the meeting with me.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: He actually pulled me aside afterwards and said, you know, Ted,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: you made this point yesterday that this could be a
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: time as consequential as the Berlin Wall being torn to
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: the ground. And he said, I hadn't really thought about
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: it that way, but you're right, and it was an
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: interesting point. And I have to say one of the things, Look,
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: I was really impressed with Machado, how she handled her message,
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: by the way, to the Senators was that America's support
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: is really important to Venezuela and seeing some unity. Look,
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: her message, she was not in any way chastising the Democrats,
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: but she did say unity is really important, and what
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: is happening the people of Venezuela. This would not have
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: happened without President Trump. And there were some very partisan
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: Democrats in that room who were not thrilled to hear
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: that message because because their message every day is Trump bad,
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: Trump bad, Trump bad. But she didn't want to argue
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: with them on that, but she just said, listen, this
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: is a moment we've waited decades for. And and in
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: the opposition, she said, so many people in Venezuela, what
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: they said is this day would never come. This day
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: would never come, and it came, and it is here,
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: and and and seeing unity from America right now is
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: so important. Look, I think the same is true for Iran,
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: seeing unity standing with the protesters against the Ayahtola. If
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: we are six months from now with the governments and
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: the leaders of those three countries being pro American and
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: want wanting to be our friends.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: That is like Holy Cow.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: That makes the world much safer, and that makes every
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: American much safer.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: As before, If you want to hear the rest of
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear the
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: entire thing. I want to get back to the big
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: story number three of the week you may have missed.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Let's get back to this.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Just an incredible meeting, the heroes and the bravery, especially
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: the stories that we've been told going in after Maduro
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: and look, the guy who lived on a military base,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: he had these fighters that were supposed to be protecting
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: him from Cuba. Seeing that what we had compared to
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: what they had on the ground, and the way that
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: we came out without losing a single American life.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Is just unbelievable.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: There were those the soldiers, however, that were injured and shot,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: and you got to meet them as they're recovering in
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: the hospital in San Antonio, talk about just their story.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: What did they have to say, what was their perspective.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: So we had three of our soldiers who were wounded
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: during the raid and they're all at the hospital in
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: San Antonio. They're being treated. The good news is that
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: they're all in good condition. None are in life threatening condition. Now,
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: they were in good spirits. We had the opportunity to
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: visit with each of the three of them, with each
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: of their wives as well. They were there with their wives,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: and I will tell you that the first one we
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: met with was was was a soldier who was in
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: charge of helping plan the entire raid. He was leading
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: one of the helicopters and he had been shot in
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: the leg and he continued even in the midst of
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: being shot in the leg. Continued, He did not step
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: back from the fight, and he was critical in terms
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: of his location, making sure protecting his fellow soldiers. You know,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: I got to tell you he was he was in
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: great spirits. His wife was incredibly proud of him, and
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: and with all three of the soldiers. I took an
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: opportunity to tell them. I said, look, you were part
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: of history. You were part of history in a way
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: without exaggeration, that changed the entire Western hemisphere. What you
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: did was profoundly important. And I also told them, I
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: took the chance on behalf of texans An American just
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: to say thank you, thank you for your bravery, thank
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: you for your heroism. They went into a situation where
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: they were vastly outnumbered, and and and and the Cuban
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: military that were guarding Maduro opened fire, and and and
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: it is amazing, It is an incredible testament to the
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: precision and effectiveness of our military that not a single
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: soldier on the American side was was killed, that there
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: was a very large number of Cuban forces defending Maduro
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: who were who were killed in that firefight, and and
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: just taking the chance to thank them. And then the
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: first soldier who had been shot in the leg I
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: was there with Pete. Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, and
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: and and Pete said, uh, you know, if there's anything
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: you need, let me know, and and and he said, well,
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: actually there is something you could do and and Pete
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: said what And he said, I'd really like the bullet,
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: the bullet that went into his leg, and the hospital
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: had it, and and the medical director at the hospital
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: he said, well, we have the bullet, but we're not
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: allowed to give it over unless we get give a waiver.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: And and he, to his credit, said the waiver is granted.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: You can have the bullet. And that soldier was beaming.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: He was thrilled to have the bullet. And actually the
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: second soldier we met, he had been he had been shot,
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: but he had also been cut by a piece of shrapnel.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: He had a cut that ran the whole length of
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: his arm. Oh wow, And he had the exact same request.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: He said, I'd really like the shrapnel. So they had
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: the piece of metal that had cut his arm open.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: And again the hospital said we have it, but we're
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: not allowed to give it to him without the waiver.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: And again Pete said, we're granting the waiver.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: You can have it.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: So both of those I assume that they're going to
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: frame it or otherwise keep it as as just a
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: memento to to to the injury, the purple heart that
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: they earned fighting for their country, but also being a
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: heart of profoundly impacting history.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: You mentioned their wives were there, and I don't know
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: if you can tell us, but age range twenties thirties,
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: for like, how old are these guys.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: One of the soldiers, the first soldier who helped plan
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: the raid was.
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: Was a little bit older.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: The other two were young guys, and they were you know,
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: they were young guys, and they they were not someone
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: like if you saw them walking down the street, you
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: wouldn't do a double take.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: The first guy kind of looked a little like Captain America.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: I was a little ye.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: But the other two look, they were fit, they were
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: in good shape.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: But but.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: The skill that you know they have, the heroism, you
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: know they have if you just saw them on the street,
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: you wouldn't immediately know that. And and their wives were young,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: and and it was interesting their wives were you know,
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: they said, there were women of faith. They were praying
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: for their husbands. They were really proud to their husbands, proud,
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: proud of everything that they had been through. And I'll
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: tell you that the first soldier he said, well, you know,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: he asked he he heg Seth asked him, well how
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: are you feeling? And he said, I'm ready to go again.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: And I said, great, can you do Saturday? And he said, well,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: can we hold off till Monday? So that kind of
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: gives you a sense of the spirit they were. They
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: were really in good spirits.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: And actually.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: With with two of the soldiers, there was an additional
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: soldier there that was there in the in the hospital
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: room who said he used to be their commanding officer
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: and he had rotated off the unit about it six
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: months before the raid and he said, look, I'm really disappointed.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: I mean it, it broke his heart that he just
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: missed going on the raid. So he was there to
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: be with his guys, but he did not go on
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: the raid, and he was just cheering them.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: On as always.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Verdict, was center Ted Crue
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to deal with my
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: podcast and you can listen to my podcasts every other
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to have you
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts and
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: we will see you back here on Monday morning.