Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Cracker Barrel Abandons Rebrand plus Tariff Windfall Could Slash $4 Trillion Off U.S. Debt

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Cracker Barrel Abandons Rebrand plus Tariff Windfall Could Slash $4 Trillion Off U.S. Debt · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: So there are two stories when it comes to the
0:03
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel fiasco. One is what you know about that
0:08
Speaker 1: has happened over the last I don't know, ten days.
0:11
Speaker 1: And then there's the other part of the story. I
0:15
Speaker 1: want to tell you just how stupid the CEO of
0:19
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel and their team actually is. Now, this is
0:23
Speaker 1: the story you don't know about. There was a prominent
0:27
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel investor that warned executives that they were walking
0:32
Speaker 1: into quote a text book trap.
0:36
Speaker 2: That's right.
0:37
Speaker 1: One of Cracker Barrel's largest investors literally sent up a
0:41
Speaker 1: red flag last fall regarding the board director's rebranding plan
0:47
Speaker 1: for the company, but it went unheated.
0:50
Speaker 2: Now that was last fall.
0:52
Speaker 1: In fact, it was a two page critique dated November thirteenth,
0:57
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Start Ar Glory, who owns about five percent,
1:03
Speaker 1: which is a lot of the restaurant chain's stock, wrote
1:06
Speaker 1: his fellow shareholders that the Cracker Barrell transformation was quote
1:10
Speaker 1: a mistake of misguided executives falling for quote a textbook
1:15
Speaker 1: trap of overspending on cosmetic remodeling. Here is his exact words.
1:22
Speaker 1: The day Cracker Burrough opened, it was already old. Its
1:25
Speaker 1: theme derived from the nineteen twenties. I am concerned that
1:29
Speaker 1: not only will the remodel not work, but it could
1:32
Speaker 1: actually damage the brand further. These decisions are taking us
1:37
Speaker 1: down the same path, he said. I believe as Ruby
1:40
Speaker 1: Tuesday's Red Lobster, TGI Fridays and the likes. Let me
1:45
Speaker 1: make my position clear, The shareholder said the coming seven
1:48
Speaker 1: hundred million dollar remodel plan will not work. In a
1:52
Speaker 1: private letter to shareholders on October the twenty fourth, the
1:55
Speaker 1: man called the board's transformation plan obvious folly. The investor
2:01
Speaker 1: is also a major investor in Stake and Shake Friendlies
2:05
Speaker 1: and Western Sizzelin. Shareholders ultimately sided with the Cracker Barrell CEO,
2:11
Speaker 1: who took the position with the company last year. They
2:14
Speaker 1: rejected the shareholder's bid to become a member of the
2:16
Speaker 1: board and instead elected Cracker Burrell's slate of ten recommended
2:21
Speaker 1: nominees on November the twenty first of twenty twenty four.
2:25
Speaker 1: A bunch of Yes people for a Predictable Woke CEO
2:30
Speaker 1: management tow the vote as an endorsement of the transformation
2:34
Speaker 1: as the quote right path to return Crackerbell to growth
2:37
Speaker 1: and meaningful value creation for all shareholders.
2:41
Speaker 2: The rollout of Crackerbell's.
2:42
Speaker 1: New logo did not go well, and that's the story
2:45
Speaker 1: you know about the stock falling from a close of
2:48
Speaker 1: fifty eight to eighty last Wednesday to fifty to fifty
2:51
Speaker 1: four the following day, resulting in one hundred million in
2:55
Speaker 1: market value loss, all because they didn't understand who their
2:59
Speaker 1: customers were and they were ashamed of their own brand.
3:03
Speaker 1: Now they coming has since gone into damage control and
3:06
Speaker 1: the stock rebounded to approximately fifty seven seventy by Tuesday,
3:10
Speaker 1: only because the markets were realizing they were going to
3:15
Speaker 1: stop this insane idea, which brings us to what you
3:19
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5:29
Speaker 1: think that companies would learn from the fiascos and the
5:33
Speaker 1: disasters of woke ideology. A great example of that is
5:38
Speaker 1: what happened with bud Light using a transgendered person aka
5:42
Speaker 1: a dude acting like a chick to try to promote
5:45
Speaker 1: their brand. We all know how that ended. You would
5:48
Speaker 1: also think that CEOs in twenty twenty five would understand
5:53
Speaker 1: that there's quite a few Americans out there that just
5:55
Speaker 1: want brands to be normal and not push in agenda,
6:00
Speaker 1: or if they have a core audience, don't be ashamed
6:03
Speaker 1: of them.
6:04
Speaker 2: And who they actually are.
6:06
Speaker 1: Well, you would think that CEOs of companies would understand
6:09
Speaker 1: that insert Cracker Barrel, aiming to quote modernize under the
6:15
Speaker 1: new CEO appointed in twenty twenty three, they decided it
6:19
Speaker 1: was a good idea to trash an entire brand, but
6:22
Speaker 1: not just the brand, actually trash the customers that had
6:26
Speaker 1: propped up that brand for decades. They unveiled what they
6:31
Speaker 1: described as a minimalist text only logo and upditted the
6:35
Speaker 1: restaurant de core, dropping the iconic image of Uncle Herschel,
6:40
Speaker 1: the overalls clad man leaning on a barrel, and removing
6:44
Speaker 1: the quote old country store from all of their branding.
6:49
Speaker 2: Yes, it was a slap in the face or a middle.
6:52
Speaker 1: Finger, however you want to describe it to the customers
6:55
Speaker 1: that love Cracker Barrel oil customers and branding critics, and
7:00
Speaker 1: then slam the changes, accusing the chain of abandoning not
7:04
Speaker 1: only it's nostalgic but also it's Southern Country identity. The
7:11
Speaker 1: company's stock tumbled by more than ten percent, in fact,
7:15
Speaker 1: to seventeen percent if you look at the latest reports,
7:19
Speaker 1: and the brand lost as much as one hundred million
7:21
Speaker 1: dollars in its valuation. But apparently that wasn't enough for
7:27
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel leaders. They stuck to their plan day after
7:31
Speaker 1: day as it continued to get out of control, and
7:35
Speaker 1: then when they knew they had a road problem, they
7:37
Speaker 1: went on Good Morning America the Cracker Barrel CEO on
7:41
Speaker 1: the restaurant renovations that had made everyone start talking about
7:45
Speaker 1: the brand. Here's what she had to say when was
7:48
Speaker 1: asked about, Hey, did you guys maybe make a mistake?
7:52
Speaker 3: And I got to ask this question, I think I'd
7:53
Speaker 3: probably know the answer. What if all the customers are
7:58
Speaker 3: coming at you hard enough about the look at a
8:00
Speaker 3: restaurant and they want to go back to the old way.
8:02
Speaker 2: Would you do it?
8:03
Speaker 4: Honestly, the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive that people like what
8:07
Speaker 4: we're doing. I'll give you another SoundBite. I actually happened
8:10
Speaker 4: to be in Orlando last week with all of our managers.
8:12
Speaker 4: We bring them together and once every other year, and
8:16
Speaker 4: the number one question that I got asked Michael was
8:18
Speaker 4: how can I get a remodel? When can I get
8:20
Speaker 4: a remodel? How do I get on the list? Really so,
8:22
Speaker 4: because the feedback and the buzz is so good, not
8:25
Speaker 4: only from our customers but from our team members. They
8:27
Speaker 4: want to work in a wonderful restaurant. So we're doing
8:31
Speaker 4: everything for our guests and our team members.
8:32
Speaker 3: When Julia Messino, it's wonderful to have you here, pleasure
8:35
Speaker 3: to thank you. I answer those questions for all the
8:37
Speaker 3: Cracker Barrey fans out there's a lot of great changes.
8:41
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, a lot of great changes. Is
8:43
Speaker 1: how Good Morning America put it well? That didn't go
8:46
Speaker 1: over well. Fast forward to Monday and finally Cracker Barrow
8:50
Speaker 1: Admite a defeat and there woke CEO realizing she had
8:53
Speaker 1: a very big problem on her hands. Cracker Barrel acknowledge
8:57
Speaker 1: did it quote could have done a better job job
9:00
Speaker 1: of sharing who we are and who will always be
9:04
Speaker 1: attempting to calm the furious customer base, and had abandon
9:07
Speaker 1: the store. Their public communications team emphasized that quote beloved
9:12
Speaker 1: elements like Uncle herschel rocking chairs out front, the classic
9:17
Speaker 1: decor would in fact remain in the stores. And then
9:22
Speaker 1: there's the politics of this. Donald Trump weighed in strongly
9:26
Speaker 1: saying quote Crackerbrell should go back to the old logo
9:30
Speaker 1: and made a mistake and manage the company better than
9:33
Speaker 1: ever before. Hours later, the White House, via the pres
9:37
Speaker 1: Secretary Caroline Levitt, praise Crackerbrell's decision to revert, stating that
9:43
Speaker 1: Trump has unmatched business instincts and that the brand made
9:47
Speaker 1: a great decision to trust the president of the United
9:50
Speaker 1: States of America. By Tuesday evening, Cracker Barrel had changed
9:55
Speaker 1: her tune even more.
9:57
Speaker 2: They announced it.
9:58
Speaker 1: Would scrap the new go entirely and revert to the
10:02
Speaker 1: original old Timer design with Uncle Herschel and the old
10:06
Speaker 1: country store naming back. The company described the change as
10:10
Speaker 1: listening quote to its customers and reaffirming the importance of tradition, hospitality,
10:18
Speaker 1: and comfort. Now Donald Trump's vocal criticism and the public
10:23
Speaker 1: urging made a massive difference and aligned with widespread customer
10:28
Speaker 1: outrage as well as the financial losses, and then Cracker
10:32
Speaker 1: Barrel had to fully admit that the rebrand was a mistake.
10:36
Speaker 1: Not only was it a mistake because they were ashamed
10:38
Speaker 1: of apparently their image, they were ashamed of their customer base.
10:43
Speaker 1: They wanted to be new, trendy and woke. Well now,
10:46
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel said, after losing one hundred million in their
10:49
Speaker 1: market cap, Okay, I guess we're just going to go
10:52
Speaker 1: back to how things were before. Remember, nothing was actually broken.
10:57
Speaker 1: And this is the bigger question that so many people
11:00
Speaker 1: should be asking, especially in the advertising, marketing and the
11:05
Speaker 1: business brand world, why on earth would you try to
11:10
Speaker 1: take an iconic brand like Cracker Barrel and change into
11:14
Speaker 1: something clearly that doesn't align with your customers. It's an
11:18
Speaker 1: amazing brand, it's a business that people love going into.
11:21
Speaker 1: The food is actually incredible and the President United States
11:25
Speaker 1: of America calling them out was a brilliant move. By
11:28
Speaker 1: the way, he was also protecting so many of the
11:31
Speaker 1: people that work there and people that invested in the business.
11:36
Speaker 2: Job.
11:36
Speaker 1: Well done to the President of the United States of
11:38
Speaker 1: America for doing this, and it'll be very interesting to see
11:42
Speaker 1: how long the leadership at Cracker Barrel will still be
11:44
Speaker 1: employed after this nightmare and disaster. Donald Trump promised you
11:51
Speaker 1: that tariffs were going to work, not only so America
11:54
Speaker 1: wouldn't be taken advantage of anymore, especially hard working Americans.
11:59
Speaker 1: He also said it was going to bring jobs back
12:01
Speaker 1: to America, and he said it was going to raise
12:04
Speaker 1: money that was not going to be.
12:06
Speaker 2: A pass through to you.
12:08
Speaker 1: Well, now we're finding out just how successful some of
12:10
Speaker 1: the US tariff could be. By the end of the year,
12:13
Speaker 1: as US tariff revenue could actually top five hundred billion
12:18
Speaker 1: dollars a year. The US Treasury Secretary Scottvissent said today
12:24
Speaker 1: the customs duty revenues from President Donald Trump's tariffs may
12:28
Speaker 1: surpass five hundred billion a year, with a substantial jump
12:32
Speaker 1: from July to August, and likely a bigger jump in September,
12:36
Speaker 1: October and November with Christmas coming into the US Estimates
12:41
Speaker 1: of a three hundred billion annual tariff collection rate was
12:44
Speaker 1: too low, he said, quote, we had a substantial jump
12:48
Speaker 1: from July to August, and I think we're going to
12:50
Speaker 1: see a bigger jump from August to September. So I
12:54
Speaker 1: think we could be on our way well over half
12:56
Speaker 1: a trillion, maybe towards a trillion dollar n this administration.
13:01
Speaker 1: Your administration has made a meaningful dent in the budget deficit.
13:05
Speaker 1: Now tariff revenue would offset the deficit. Increase is triggered
13:10
Speaker 1: by the Republican Tax cut and Spending bill passed this.
13:13
Speaker 2: Year as well.
13:14
Speaker 1: The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would widen
13:17
Speaker 1: the deficit by three point four trillion over the next
13:20
Speaker 1: ten years. Well, Trump's tariffs drove July US customs duty
13:25
Speaker 1: collections up by nearly twenty one billion from the seven
13:29
Speaker 1: billion collected in July of twenty twenty four. And even
13:32
Speaker 1: with that, you had a twenty billion dollar increase that
13:36
Speaker 1: was registered in June. Now, this is a significant increase
13:41
Speaker 1: in tariff rates for nearly all trading partners, and that
13:44
Speaker 1: kicked in on August the seventh.
13:46
Speaker 2: What does that mean? Even more money?
13:49
Speaker 1: The US Treasury reported on Monday that is of August
13:53
Speaker 1: the twenty second, the government had collected twenty nine point
13:57
Speaker 1: six billion dollars twenty nine point six billion in combined
14:03
Speaker 1: customs and excise taxes so far during August, matching its
14:07
Speaker 1: total for the whole month of July.
14:09
Speaker 2: And yes, there are still quite a few days left
14:12
Speaker 2: in the month. Now.
14:13
Speaker 1: As of July twenty second, that combined figure stood at
14:16
Speaker 1: seven point eight billion, but customs duty collections can vary
14:21
Speaker 1: from day today now. The Treasury Secretary Pisent also noted
14:26
Speaker 1: that the Congressional Budget Offices upwardly revised estimates last week
14:31
Speaker 1: a federal revenue from Trump's tariffs, forecasting that it could
14:35
Speaker 1: quote reduce federal deficits by four trillion dollars over the
14:41
Speaker 1: next ten years, saying, quote, and I would expect that
14:45
Speaker 1: that number could go up from here. Now the latest
14:49
Speaker 1: Congressional Budget Office estimate marks an increase from June when
14:53
Speaker 1: it was forecast that revenue from new tariffs would reduce
14:57
Speaker 1: deficits by three trillion over the next ten years. Well,
15:01
Speaker 1: now that may jump to four trillion dollars. So the
15:05
Speaker 1: President United States of America not only making sure that
15:08
Speaker 1: we're protecting jobs, but also when it comes to our
15:11
Speaker 1: national security issues. Scott Pissent went on the Ingram angle
15:15
Speaker 1: talking about the risk to our economy and how dependent
15:18
Speaker 1: we've been on foreign industry.
15:21
Speaker 2: China included.
15:22
Speaker 1: Here's part of what he had to say about bringing
15:24
Speaker 1: industries back to our country and getting the mirror as
15:28
Speaker 1: quickly as we can.
15:29
Speaker 5: Rare earth in the magnets, obviously, those are the critical
15:32
Speaker 5: things we need from China. How difficult a situation are
15:37
Speaker 5: we in without an industrial policy that almost makes it
15:41
Speaker 5: an emergency for us to be independent of our strongest
15:45
Speaker 5: adversary when it comes to those critical things rare earth
15:48
Speaker 5: and magnets.
15:49
Speaker 6: Oh well, or it's rare ear, it's magnets, but it's
15:53
Speaker 6: so many other things. It's the single biggest point of
15:55
Speaker 6: failure for the US economy and for the Western economies.
15:58
Speaker 6: Ninety nine percent of high value chips are made on
16:02
Speaker 6: the island of Taiwan. So we're trying to bring semiconductor
16:06
Speaker 6: manufacturing back to the US. We're trying to bring steel
16:09
Speaker 6: production back to the US. We're bringing pharma back to
16:12
Speaker 6: the US under President Trump's leadership. There's a group of
16:16
Speaker 6: us in the Cabinet in the White House who believe
16:19
Speaker 6: if we have not de risked the US economy and
16:23
Speaker 6: brought these industries back on shore, when we walk out
16:26
Speaker 6: the door in January twenty twenty nine, we will have failed.
16:29
Speaker 6: And we are not going to fail.
16:31
Speaker 5: And your message to Congress tonight, because without Congress really
16:34
Speaker 5: taking action and spending real money for our own industrial policy,
16:37
Speaker 5: this is going to be more difficult.
16:39
Speaker 6: We've got to do this. The only good thing about
16:42
Speaker 6: COVID was it was a beta test. We could see
16:44
Speaker 6: there are plenty of unreliable suppliers. I mean, think about this.
16:48
Speaker 6: Eighty ninety percent of the precursor pharma products that we
16:53
Speaker 6: get for very basic medicines, you know, the antibiotics for
16:57
Speaker 6: children come from China or India. So we have to
17:01
Speaker 6: bring a big amount of that home.
17:03
Speaker 1: You just heard it there. We've got to bring it
17:05
Speaker 1: back home. We stress test this because of COVID. This
17:08
Speaker 1: actually maybe one of the only good things that came
17:11
Speaker 1: out of COVID was realizing just how risk we are
17:15
Speaker 1: as a country, including on the issue of pharmaceuticals.
17:19
Speaker 2: And so the present is not backing down on this.
17:22
Speaker 2: That is very clear.
17:24
Speaker 1: Now, that wasn't the only question that Scott was asked,
17:27
Speaker 1: by the way about China. In fact, he was asked
17:29
Speaker 1: a very tough question about China, and why is it
17:33
Speaker 1: that China hasn't actually had to deal with secondary tariffs
17:36
Speaker 1: for buying Russian oil. I want you to hear what
17:39
Speaker 1: the administration and the Treasury Secretary had to say about that.
17:42
Speaker 5: You know better than anyone that the Russian economy really
17:45
Speaker 5: isn't strong enough or big enough to carry on a
17:48
Speaker 5: sustained war and not certainly not indefinitely couldn't do it
17:51
Speaker 5: without the help of India buying mostly oil, could not
17:55
Speaker 5: do it without the help of China, which is providing
17:58
Speaker 5: the bulk of the support to Russia. Now India has
18:01
Speaker 5: gotten hitten with hit with secondary tariffs. I was I
18:04
Speaker 5: think it's very positive, put them back on their heels
18:06
Speaker 5: a bit. But China really is the big contributor to
18:10
Speaker 5: Russia's current economic stability. Given that, why haven't we put
18:15
Speaker 5: significant secondary tariffs on China for what they're doing to
18:20
Speaker 5: help Russia.
18:21
Speaker 6: Well, a couple of things there were. One, China had
18:25
Speaker 6: always been buying Russian oil, So in twenty twenty two,
18:28
Speaker 6: thirteen percent of their oil came from China and now
18:30
Speaker 6: it's sixteen and they want to diversified oil supply. India,
18:35
Speaker 6: on the other hand, got about one percent of their
18:38
Speaker 6: oil from China in twenty two. Now it's up to
18:41
Speaker 6: thirty seven percent. So they're doing what I call the
18:44
Speaker 6: Indian arbitrage. They're buying cheap Russian oil, selling petrochemicals back out.
18:50
Speaker 6: Much of that is going to the richest families in India.
18:54
Speaker 6: We already have very high tariffs on China, and now
18:58
Speaker 6: India is going to see what it feels like.
19:00
Speaker 5: Kind of buys an enormous amount of agg from Russia
19:02
Speaker 5: as well. And they are the biggest supporter of Russia.
19:05
Speaker 5: Without Without China, Russia couldn't be in this war.
19:07
Speaker 2: Do you not agree?
19:08
Speaker 6: I agree. They've fifteen billion minimum in dual use technologies
19:14
Speaker 6: and other support that I'm sure we don't know about.
19:17
Speaker 1: What This is truly incredible. And so I think there's
19:21
Speaker 1: two things here. If you listen to what he had
19:23
Speaker 1: to say, he said, Number one, China has always been
19:26
Speaker 1: buying Russian oil. So in twenty twenty two, thirteen percent
19:29
Speaker 1: of their oil came from China and now it's sixteen.
19:33
Speaker 1: And they also said want to diversified oil supply. Now India,
19:37
Speaker 1: he says, on the other hand, got one percent they're
19:39
Speaker 1: oil from China in twenty twenty two.
19:41
Speaker 2: That is now up to thirty seven percent.
19:44
Speaker 1: So this is another example of the present dealing with
19:48
Speaker 1: policy issues that the last administration refused to.
19:52
Speaker 2: Even think about looking at.
19:54
Speaker 1: In the prior administration, it was obvious that they would
19:59
Speaker 1: just look other way, no matter what, they would look
20:03
Speaker 1: the other way and let this happen. And this administration saying, no,
20:08
Speaker 1: we're not gonna do that. No, we are not going
20:10
Speaker 1: to sit here and act like this isn't happening. We're
20:13
Speaker 1: not going to allow these countries to continue to act
20:17
Speaker 1: this way. That is the part about this that I
20:19
Speaker 1: think is so vitally important is that this is happening
20:24
Speaker 1: right now by a president that is not afraid to
20:28
Speaker 1: make those tough decisions. One other thing that I just
20:33
Speaker 1: want to point out on this and is the point that,
20:36
Speaker 1: by the way, has been made by several others, is
20:39
Speaker 1: that while we are getting the rest of the world
20:42
Speaker 1: in check, the US debt is getting paid down by
20:48
Speaker 1: all of these tariffs.
20:49
Speaker 2: So we're bringing jobs back to America.
20:53
Speaker 1: We are then holding these bad actors accountable for what
20:59
Speaker 1: they've been doing, and we're getting money out of them
21:03
Speaker 1: for the reasons that we just described. You put all
21:07
Speaker 1: of that together, it is unbelievable. I mean, it is
21:12
Speaker 1: truly unbelievable what is happening right now. And there's so
21:17
Speaker 1: many Americans that should be thankful for the president. The
21:20
Speaker 1: President Trump, by the way, also threatening tariffs and response
21:24
Speaker 1: to digital taxes and regulations as well. This is a
21:28
Speaker 1: new frontier for US. But President Donald Trump said this,
21:31
Speaker 1: he said, look, I've already made tariffs a key component
21:34
Speaker 1: of my president of playbook. Now he's threatened to attack
21:37
Speaker 1: significant extra tariffs on exports to America from countries with
21:42
Speaker 1: what he describes as digital taxes and regulations. Quote as
21:47
Speaker 1: the presidents it's America. I will stand up to countries
21:50
Speaker 1: that attack are incredible American tech companies, Digital taxes, digital
21:55
Speaker 1: services legislation, and digital market market regulations are all designed
22:02
Speaker 1: to harm or discriminate against American technology. They also outrageously
22:07
Speaker 1: give a complete pass to China's largest tech companies.
22:11
Speaker 2: This must end and end now.
22:14
Speaker 1: In addition to the threat of tariffs against offenders, he
22:16
Speaker 1: also threatened to impose restrictions on the export of US
22:20
Speaker 1: technology as well.
22:22
Speaker 2: And he said, We're not doing this anymore.
22:25
Speaker 1: We are going to put America first, America technology companies first,
22:30
Speaker 1: and we're not going to allow China to be able
22:31
Speaker 1: to get away with this, and we're going to hold
22:34
Speaker 1: any other country accountable. This is incredible, truly incredible for
22:39
Speaker 1: everyone involved. Nearly two dozen Republican state attorney generals have
22:46
Speaker 1: sent a letter to the EPA chief Lee Zelden, calling
22:50
Speaker 1: on him to cancel funding to a left wing environmental
22:54
Speaker 1: group accused of training and lobbying judges on climate policy.
23:00
Speaker 1: Fox News Digital has exclusively revealed this quote as Attorney General,
23:06
Speaker 1: I refuse to stand by while American tax dollars fund
23:10
Speaker 1: radical environmental training for judges across the country. Is with
23:14
Speaker 1: the Montana Attorney General told Fox News Digital of his
23:18
Speaker 1: push to encourage the EPA to end its funding of
23:22
Speaker 1: the Climate Judiciary Project quote the Environmental Law Institutes. Climate
23:27
Speaker 1: Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda under the guise
23:33
Speaker 1: of what they call neutral quote unquote education to persuade
23:38
Speaker 1: judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system.
23:45
Speaker 1: He went on to say, I commend President Trump's efforts
23:48
Speaker 1: to cut waste and abuse during the first eight months
23:51
Speaker 1: of his presidency, and I am optimistic that his administration
23:55
Speaker 1: will do the right thing and halt all funding to
23:58
Speaker 1: el Now. He spearheaded this ag the letter that was
24:04
Speaker 1: sent to Zelden, which included the signatures of twenty two
24:09
Speaker 1: other Republican state attorney generals, all of them calling for
24:14
Speaker 1: the EPA to acts their funding to the left wing
24:17
Speaker 1: environmental nonprofit. Now they lie and they say that this
24:21
Speaker 1: thing is like neutral.
24:22
Speaker 2: It's not.
24:23
Speaker 1: It is called the Environmental Law Institute. They claim they
24:28
Speaker 1: oversee the neutral importance of climate law. In reality, they
24:34
Speaker 1: oversee the Climate Judiciary Project known as the CJP.
24:39
Speaker 2: Now.
24:40
Speaker 1: The Environmental Law Institute was founded by the Climate Judiciary
24:44
Speaker 1: Project in twenty eighteen, which pitches itself as a quote
24:48
Speaker 1: first of its kind effort that provides judges nationwide with authoritative, objective,
24:56
Speaker 1: and trusted education on climate science, impacts of climate change,
25:02
Speaker 1: and the ways climate science is arising into the law.
25:07
Speaker 1: The group has actually been accused of trying to manipulate
25:11
Speaker 1: judges to make them more understanding or advocates or exciting
25:16
Speaker 1: to left wing climate litigation. The letters sent Tuesday called
25:21
Speaker 1: on the EPA to specifically end any and all grants
25:26
Speaker 1: and awards that are endowed to this group, saying this,
25:30
Speaker 1: we write to bring attention to the grants made by
25:34
Speaker 1: the EPA to the Environmental Law Institute. The letter reads,
25:38
Speaker 1: according to its twenty twenty four financial statements, ELI received
25:42
Speaker 1: approximately thirteen percent of its overall revenue in twenty twenty
25:46
Speaker 1: three and eight point four percent in twenty twenty four
25:50
Speaker 1: from EPA awards. The group also apparently still expected to
25:54
Speaker 1: receive funds from the federal government. Its financial statement warned
25:58
Speaker 1: that the collect the ability of federal grant funds is
26:02
Speaker 1: subject to significant uncertainty related to collaboration and continual funding
26:10
Speaker 1: due to the Federal grant funding freeze or other federal
26:14
Speaker 1: actions quote unquote. In other words, they knew Trump was
26:17
Speaker 1: in office, and there's a chance these funds could go
26:20
Speaker 1: away if they found out what they were actually doing
26:23
Speaker 1: with the money. Now, the Environmental Law Institute actually received
26:27
Speaker 1: six hundred and thirty seven thousand change from the EPA
26:31
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, to be clear, that's your tax dollars,
26:35
Speaker 1: and then eight hundred and sixty six thousand in twenty
26:39
Speaker 1: twenty three from the EPA, again your tax dollars. That
26:43
Speaker 1: according to the nonprofit tax documents that have been published, quote,
26:48
Speaker 1: the Climate Judiciary's Project mission is clear lobby judges in
26:54
Speaker 1: order to make climate change policy through the court systems.
26:58
Speaker 1: The twenty three state Attorney Generals said this clearly in
27:01
Speaker 1: the letter, saying quote an alumni magazine profile said the
27:05
Speaker 1: quiet part out loud, writing that the Climate Judiciary Project
27:09
Speaker 1: co founder was explaining the science of climate change to
27:13
Speaker 1: a group of people with real power to act on it, judges.
27:19
Speaker 1: The Climate Judiciary Projects tampering raises serious legal and also
27:24
Speaker 1: ethical questions. The Environmental Law Institute, in a recent comment
27:29
Speaker 1: to Fox Digital about this story, maintains that its only
27:33
Speaker 1: purpose is educational programs that they are in accordance with
27:38
Speaker 1: these standards established by the National Judicial Education Institution. Climate
27:43
Speaker 1: Judiciary Projects educational events are done quote in partnership with
27:48
Speaker 1: leading national judicial education institutions. State judicial authorities. Also, they
27:53
Speaker 1: claim in accordance with their accepted standards. That's what the
27:56
Speaker 1: spokesperson said. Well, the reality is these are radical lefties
28:01
Speaker 1: and the call for the EPA to slash any funds
28:05
Speaker 1: to the Environmental Law Institute is long overdue. It was
28:08
Speaker 1: clearly established, and it was established for one purpose, to
28:13
Speaker 1: get in front of judges and make judges go hard
28:16
Speaker 1: on anyone they believe is not you know, woke, is
28:20
Speaker 1: not saying that global warming is a fact, that is
28:23
Speaker 1: doing anything that global warming advocates or the anarchists say
28:28
Speaker 1: is somehow evil or hurting the earth. That's why they're
28:32
Speaker 1: lobbying these judges. The state attorney generals quote are right
28:36
Speaker 1: to call for the elimination of taxpayer funding for the
28:39
Speaker 1: Environmental Law Institute and its Climate Judiciary project. That is
28:43
Speaker 1: what Jason Eiscott, the CEO of American Energy Institute said, saying, quote,
28:49
Speaker 1: this is a coordinated campaign by the left to advance
28:53
Speaker 1: the Green New Deal, and this time they want to
28:56
Speaker 1: do it through the judiciary, using so called climate litigation
29:00
Speaker 1: in the courts. Its curriculum is clear. It was developed
29:04
Speaker 1: by climate alarmists and their allies of the plaintiffs and
29:09
Speaker 1: delivered two judges behind closed doors. Public funds should never
29:14
Speaker 1: be used to finance political advocacy disguised as judicial education.
29:20
Speaker 1: Now you also look at the executive director of the
29:22
Speaker 1: Alliance for Consumers, that's a nonprofit focus on advocating on
29:27
Speaker 1: behalf of American consumers.
29:29
Speaker 2: What do they say about this quote?
29:31
Speaker 1: As we have long warned, the left has a plan
29:34
Speaker 1: to reshape American society by using lawsuits in the courts
29:39
Speaker 1: all across the country, especially in places like Hawaii and
29:44
Speaker 1: other coastal enclaves. The new wave of revelations about ELI
29:49
Speaker 1: is further concerning evidence of how committed they say the
29:53
Speaker 1: left is to imposing mandatory progressive lifestyle choices through the
29:59
Speaker 1: court room and are maneuvering to see how big they
30:02
Speaker 1: can do it and how big of a threat they
30:04
Speaker 1: can actually be to every one of our way of lives, which,
30:07
Speaker 1: by the way, is where we should just pause. And
30:10
Speaker 1: if you think what I'm saying is maybe crazy, let's
30:13
Speaker 1: just go back a few months ago when there was
30:16
Speaker 1: a guy named Joe Biden who was in theory the president.
30:20
Speaker 1: What do they try to do. Do you remember when
30:23
Speaker 1: they started trying to ban gas stoves? Yes, that was
30:27
Speaker 1: the left, And how do they start that idea the
30:30
Speaker 1: exact way that we're talking about this right now. They
30:33
Speaker 1: want to take away your rights acide what you want
30:36
Speaker 1: to do. They want to take away your rights to
30:38
Speaker 1: side what type of car you can drive. They want
30:41
Speaker 1: to make sure that you don't have the option that
30:44
Speaker 1: they tell you what the value set is and then
30:47
Speaker 1: you must abide by it, and if you don't, they'll
30:49
Speaker 1: literally arrest you or find you. And this Tuesday letter
30:54
Speaker 1: specifically argued that quote, state consumer protection laws prohibit deceptive
31:00
Speaker 1: and misleading statements to market a product. They then say
31:04
Speaker 1: Elia is representing its training as objective when reality shows
31:09
Speaker 1: that it's not. And the state attorney general is all
31:12
Speaker 1: twenty two of them are responsible to say, say for
31:15
Speaker 1: protecting consumers, and we are concerned by this activist group's statements.
31:22
Speaker 1: Now here's the big point that you need to know.
31:24
Speaker 1: The EPA has taken a hatchet to millions and millions
31:28
Speaker 1: of dollars doled out under the Biden administration to left
31:31
Speaker 1: winging radical groups and other programs deemed a waste of
31:35
Speaker 1: taxpayer funds. Lee Zelden also making it clear that he
31:40
Speaker 1: is going to look at this problem and see what
31:43
Speaker 1: he can do about it. The EPA under the Trump
31:45
Speaker 1: administration has already canceled more than twenty billion grants under
31:49
Speaker 1: the Inflation Reduction Act, which has led to ongoing court
31:53
Speaker 1: battles the same courts right now that liberals are trying
31:56
Speaker 1: to indoctrinate. And that's exactly why the United States of
32:00
Speaker 1: America picked lee Zelden. And while there's a very good
32:03
Speaker 1: chance what we just talked about is going to become
32:06
Speaker 1: even more of a reality moving forward, don't forget Share
32:10
Speaker 1: this podcast please with your family and your friends wherever
32:14
Speaker 1: they are, and I will see you back here tomorrow.