Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / The Republic Ain’t Over Yet

Transcript

The Republic Ain’t Over Yet · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: The republic ain't over yet. A major Republican victory in
0:06
Speaker 1: Blue Virginia this week, Glenn Junken defeats Terry McAuliffe. The
0:13
Speaker 1: race came down not so much to personalities, but to
0:16
Speaker 1: a simple question, who has the right to raise your kids,
0:21
Speaker 1: who has the right to education? What will the future
0:25
Speaker 1: of our country be? And the election victory gave Republicans
0:30
Speaker 1: something that we have not had in a very very
0:33
Speaker 1: long time. In one word, hope. This is verdict with
0:37
Speaker 1: Ted Cruz. Verdict with Ted Cruz is brought to you
0:46
Speaker 1: by stamps dot Com. If you're looking for ways to
0:49
Speaker 1: skip the trip to the post office and dodge all
0:51
Speaker 1: that hectic holiday shopping traffic, why not save time and
0:54
Speaker 1: money with stamps dot Com. Stamps dot Com lets you
0:57
Speaker 1: compare rates, print labels, and access exclusive discounts on ups
1:01
Speaker 1: and USPS services all year long. Here at Soundfront, we
1:04
Speaker 1: use stamps dot Com Send you Suite merch like that
1:07
Speaker 1: cactus hat to do business on the road and to
1:09
Speaker 1: save time and money. It just makes sense, especially if
1:12
Speaker 1: your business sends more mail and packages during the holidays.
1:16
Speaker 1: Whether you're selling online or running an office or a
1:18
Speaker 1: side hustle stamps dot Com can save you so much time, money,
1:22
Speaker 1: and stress during the holidays and get discounts on postoffice
1:26
Speaker 1: and UPS shipping services without making the trip. Discounts you
1:29
Speaker 1: can't find anywhere else, like up to forty percent off
1:31
Speaker 1: USPS rates and seventy six percent off UPS. Going to
1:36
Speaker 1: the post office instead of using stamps dot Com is
1:38
Speaker 1: kind of like taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
1:41
Speaker 1: So save time and money this holiday season with stamps
1:43
Speaker 1: dot Com. Sign up with promo code Verdict for a
1:46
Speaker 1: special offer that includes a four week trial, free postage,
1:49
Speaker 1: and a digital scale, no long term commitments or contracts.
1:52
Speaker 1: Just go to stamps dot com, click the microphone at
1:55
Speaker 1: the top of the page and enter code Verdict. You know,
1:58
Speaker 1: I was already on cloud nine. I was already feeling
2:01
Speaker 1: pretty good after that victory last night, and now I'm
2:04
Speaker 1: I'm feeling even better and equally disoriented because we've been
2:09
Speaker 1: doing this show now for two years and that is
2:11
Speaker 1: the first time that we've ever made any money on
2:14
Speaker 1: this show. That's the first time I've ever heard from
2:17
Speaker 1: a sponsor. This just coming off of our wonderful Verdict
2:20
Speaker 1: Live tour in Wisconsin and Texas and Washington, DC, where
2:24
Speaker 1: we were joined by our friend Liz Wheeler. And Liz,
2:27
Speaker 1: now you're reading ads for us, and what are you doing?
2:31
Speaker 1: Are you actually putting the show on sustainable financial footing? Yes, Michael,
2:36
Speaker 1: I like to think of myself as the breadwinner here
2:38
Speaker 1: in this situations. It's my honor and my privilege to
2:41
Speaker 1: be here. Thank you for inviting me to join you.
2:43
Speaker 1: You may notice something different about the pod, which is
2:46
Speaker 1: we just finished our campus tour. Liz was part of
2:49
Speaker 1: the tour and and was fantastic and by popular demand,
2:53
Speaker 1: people really enjoyed Liz being part of the conversation. So
2:57
Speaker 1: she's now formerly part of the podcast. And so Liz,
3:00
Speaker 1: thank you for being on the road with us with Verdict,
3:02
Speaker 1: but thank you for being part of the pod going
3:05
Speaker 1: forward as well. Oh it's my pleasure, Senator, it's actually
3:07
Speaker 1: an honor to be here having these conversations with you
3:11
Speaker 1: and with Michael. So thank you for including me, Thank
3:13
Speaker 1: you for the invite. And you know, Liz, you picked
3:15
Speaker 1: up pretty good time to join the show because this
3:17
Speaker 1: is your first sort of official episode here, you know,
3:21
Speaker 1: not as part of one of these live events, and
3:23
Speaker 1: it happens to be the greatest day for Republicans in
3:27
Speaker 1: recent memory. And Senator, I know that that you were
3:30
Speaker 1: there last night. You were at the Young and Victory party.
3:33
Speaker 1: You you called this early on. I remember you had
3:36
Speaker 1: been providing quite a bit of help to the young
3:38
Speaker 1: in campaign, very very early on when people said there's
3:41
Speaker 1: no way that the Republicans are going to take back Virginia.
3:43
Speaker 1: And then what happened last night, we all got a
3:46
Speaker 1: little bit of hope. Yeah. Look, last night was fantastic.
3:49
Speaker 1: It was a big damn deal for the country. It
3:53
Speaker 1: was a big damn deal for Virginia, but for the
3:54
Speaker 1: whole country. And Glenn Yuncan is somewhat I've known a
3:57
Speaker 1: long time. I've known a number of years. He's a
3:59
Speaker 1: friend end his wife, Suzanne's a friend. Uh. They actually
4:02
Speaker 1: have a ranch in Texas. Heidi and I have state
4:04
Speaker 1: on their ranch in Texas. And floated in the river
4:08
Speaker 1: on inner tubes with a cold beer and a hot
4:12
Speaker 1: summer summer's day. Um. And and Glenn is someone I
4:16
Speaker 1: endorsed Glenn early in this race. I endorsed him in
4:19
Speaker 1: the primary. It was a big contested primary, and went
4:22
Speaker 1: out in campaign for Glen. I spent two days on
4:24
Speaker 1: the road. In fact, the last two days of the primary,
4:27
Speaker 1: I was on the road barnstorming the state of Virginia
4:30
Speaker 1: with Glen and we did rallies all over the state. Uh.
4:33
Speaker 1: It's a little bit crazy. Uh. There were in that primary.
4:37
Speaker 1: About fifty thousand people voted in that primary. We did
4:41
Speaker 1: the math. About five thousand of those people came to
4:43
Speaker 1: our rallies those last two days, So about ten percent
4:47
Speaker 1: of the actual voters in the primaries came and saw
4:50
Speaker 1: us at our rallies in person. And he ended up
4:54
Speaker 1: winning winning the primary. Big part of the reason I
4:57
Speaker 1: backed him as is that I believed he was by
4:59
Speaker 1: far the strong candidate to win in November. We needed
5:02
Speaker 1: to win in November. Last night, Heidie and I were
5:05
Speaker 1: both at the election party. It was awesome. The room
5:07
Speaker 1: was rocking, uh, and it was fairly beautiful seeing the
5:13
Speaker 1: kind of dazed stupor and rage from the Terry mccauliffe
5:18
Speaker 1: camp as they realized that that that that the monarchy
5:22
Speaker 1: to which he wanted to resume ruling his subjects in
5:26
Speaker 1: the Commonwealth of Virginia, that that that that somehow a
5:30
Speaker 1: funny thing happened on the way to the election booth,
5:33
Speaker 1: which is the voters said no and hell no, and
5:37
Speaker 1: Virginia now has a Republican governor, which is a powerful
5:41
Speaker 1: Canarian the coal mine it. It really shows I think
5:45
Speaker 1: what's to come November of next year in twenty twenty two. Liz,
5:49
Speaker 1: I know you like me, were waiting up until after
5:52
Speaker 1: midnight last night because I don't know, I call it cynical.
5:56
Speaker 1: I had this fear that around three in the morning
6:00
Speaker 1: there would be an undisclosed number of ballots that suddenly
6:03
Speaker 1: appeared in Fairfax County or something like that. But no,
6:06
Speaker 1: they called it by the end of the night, and
6:09
Speaker 1: we finally got to go to bed we did, which
6:11
Speaker 1: was amazing. But I mean, I don't know about you,
6:14
Speaker 1: but make no mistake, it seemed like the Democrats were
6:16
Speaker 1: teeing something up in Fairfax County. Glenn Yunken just pulled
6:20
Speaker 1: out such an enormous victory that they knew that they
6:22
Speaker 1: didn't stand a chance even with perhaps rescanning ballots. But
6:26
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Here's the thing. I think the biggest
6:28
Speaker 1: takeaway about this election is the strength of parents. I mean,
6:32
Speaker 1: you had Barack Obama, you had Kamala Harris, you had
6:34
Speaker 1: Stacy Abram's all campaigning for mccalliff, and yet parents in
6:38
Speaker 1: the state of Virginia still defeated him. The strength of
6:41
Speaker 1: parents is stronger than the strength of the entire Democratic Party. Well,
6:45
Speaker 1: that is a wonderful thing. And I know, I know
6:47
Speaker 1: that we're going to be hearing more from some of
6:50
Speaker 1: the Verdict Plus members a little bit later, So you're
6:54
Speaker 1: going to be fielding questions for them, and then we'll
6:57
Speaker 1: have you back on to from all the wonderful people
7:01
Speaker 1: who are who are supporting this show. Yes, I've been
7:03
Speaker 1: looking around on Verdict Plus and there are some great questions.
7:06
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to hearing both of your answers a
7:09
Speaker 1: little bit later on. Anybody who's listening to this or
7:11
Speaker 1: watching this who wants to participate in Verdict Plus, go
7:14
Speaker 1: to Verdict with Ted Cruz dot com slash plus, submit
7:17
Speaker 1: your question. We'll try to get as many answered as
7:20
Speaker 1: we can. That is Verdict with Ted Cruz dot Com
7:22
Speaker 1: slash Plus. Michael, Senator, I will see you in a
7:25
Speaker 1: few minutes. Oh Axon, we'll see you a little bit later. Senator.
7:28
Speaker 1: You bring up an aspect of this race that I
7:31
Speaker 1: know a lot of conservatives sometimes they don't really seem
7:37
Speaker 1: to understand, which is call it the Buckley rule, that
7:41
Speaker 1: you vote for the most right viable candidate. And you
7:45
Speaker 1: said you felt not only is Glen Yonkin a good guy,
7:48
Speaker 1: but that he was the kind of candidate who could
7:49
Speaker 1: win in Virginia. Yeah. Look, I mean we need candidates
7:53
Speaker 1: who can win. And you look at Glenn. The campaign
7:56
Speaker 1: they ran, and by the way, Glenn's political team was
7:59
Speaker 1: my political team. It was my senior people that were
8:02
Speaker 1: running his campaign. And Glenn is pro life, he's pro
8:08
Speaker 1: Second Amendment. He ran on secure in the Border, he
8:12
Speaker 1: ran a conservative campaign, and he ran on school choice.
8:15
Speaker 1: He leaned in aggressively on school choice. You know Ralph Northam,
8:19
Speaker 1: the Democrat who's one of the most radically pro abortion
8:23
Speaker 1: governors in the country in fact, who and we've talked
8:25
Speaker 1: about this on the pod before. You know, Ralph Northam
8:28
Speaker 1: has talked about post birth abortion, which which is horrifying
8:33
Speaker 1: at a whole different level in terms of where the
8:35
Speaker 1: left is on these issues. Yunkin ran a disciplined campaign
8:40
Speaker 1: that number one, he didn't get drawn into to personality politics.
8:44
Speaker 1: So the whole attack of the Terry mcculliffe crew was
8:47
Speaker 1: that Glenn Yunkin is Donald Trump. That that that was
8:50
Speaker 1: sort of their one card, and their other card was
8:53
Speaker 1: He's a racist because all Republicans are racist. That that
8:55
Speaker 1: was it. That's all they had to say. And and
8:58
Speaker 1: I think mcculliffe was shocked that the race was competitive.
9:02
Speaker 1: He assumed it would just be a cake walk at
9:04
Speaker 1: a coronation and no Republican could win in Virginia. And
9:10
Speaker 1: I think what mcculliffe did he really focused on issues
9:13
Speaker 1: that that mattered to people across the state and he
9:15
Speaker 1: got you know, Biden won Virginia by double digits, and
9:19
Speaker 1: that means there were a whole bunch of voters who
9:22
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty pulled the lever for Joe Biden, who
9:25
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one pulled the lever for Glen Yonkan
9:28
Speaker 1: That that's a big deal. And I think their lessons
9:31
Speaker 1: to be learned about about how Yuncan did that and
9:34
Speaker 1: he focused on issues that matter. It turns out that
9:39
Speaker 1: that suburban moms don't like it when you abolish the police.
9:44
Speaker 1: They don't like it when you endanger their families, when
9:46
Speaker 1: you endanger their kids. And it turns out that suburban
9:50
Speaker 1: moms like it even less when you treat parents as
9:55
Speaker 1: as domestic terrorists, when when you say, as as Cliff did,
10:01
Speaker 1: that that that that that parents should have no role
10:04
Speaker 1: in deciding what their kids are taught in schools, and
10:07
Speaker 1: it you know the old joke that a gaff is
10:09
Speaker 1: when a politician tells you what he actually thinks. Look,
10:12
Speaker 1: mcculliff said that in a debate, and the Juncan campaign
10:15
Speaker 1: did a great job of jumping on it and running
10:19
Speaker 1: with it. And you know, at the victory party last night,
10:22
Speaker 1: I mean it was rocking, But but there were signs
10:25
Speaker 1: all over the place. They were signs women for Trump,
10:28
Speaker 1: for women for Yunkin. There were signs Democrats for Junkin. Uh,
10:33
Speaker 1: there were signs parents for Younkins. And I think they
10:35
Speaker 1: did a very good job in particular of mobilizing moms
10:41
Speaker 1: who don't want critical race theory taught to their kids,
10:44
Speaker 1: who don't want school boards that cover up sexual assaults
10:48
Speaker 1: and rapes in the bathrooms, and and and who don't
10:51
Speaker 1: want arrogant politicians that view the moms and dads as
10:56
Speaker 1: domestic terrorists. And that that that I think decided the
11:00
Speaker 1: race and won the race last night. You know, people
11:03
Speaker 1: are going to be fighting now over what the big
11:06
Speaker 1: issue was. Some people are saying it's because Trump wasn't involved.
11:10
Speaker 1: Some people are saying it's because Trump was involved. Some
11:12
Speaker 1: people are saying it's because of critical race theories. Some
11:14
Speaker 1: people are saying it's because of the COVID lockdowns. Some
11:17
Speaker 1: people are saying it you know this, that and the
11:19
Speaker 1: other thing. People with their own interests in politics and
11:22
Speaker 1: on the right are trying to claim the victory. Do
11:24
Speaker 1: you have a sense, being so close as you were
11:26
Speaker 1: to the race, what the number one issue was really?
11:30
Speaker 1: Was it really education? Was it just a reaction against
11:33
Speaker 1: Joe Biden? Do you have any sense? So? I think
11:36
Speaker 1: it varied as the campaign moved forward, and so early on,
11:39
Speaker 1: I think the COVID lockdowns were a big issue. People
11:42
Speaker 1: didn't like the COVID lockdowns. They didn't like small businesses
11:44
Speaker 1: being shutdown, they didn't like schools being shut down, and
11:47
Speaker 1: so Glenn was campaigning on let's reopen businesses, reopen schools.
11:51
Speaker 1: That resonated. I think people didn't like Ralph Northam was
11:56
Speaker 1: dumbing down the schools, was dumbing down at danced education
12:01
Speaker 1: for students and was saying we're not going to teach
12:03
Speaker 1: it advanced education anymore in Virginia schools, and in Glen
12:06
Speaker 1: campaigned on yes, we are our kids deserved to have
12:10
Speaker 1: advanced courses and the ability to learn and achieve excellence.
12:15
Speaker 1: That was powerful Glen campaign on school choice that he
12:19
Speaker 1: did so early on. I think school choice is a
12:21
Speaker 1: winning issue for Republicans. I think it is a powerful issue.
12:25
Speaker 1: If you look at Yuncan's numbers. He went up with
12:27
Speaker 1: African Americans, he went up with Hispanics, he went up
12:30
Speaker 1: with Democrats, he went up with women. I mean he
12:33
Speaker 1: went up across the board. The media want to make
12:37
Speaker 1: it all about Trump. I think Yuncan did a good job.
12:41
Speaker 1: Trump endorsed him. Yuncan welcome the Trump endorsement, was glad
12:44
Speaker 1: to have it, but didn't want to make the entire
12:48
Speaker 1: election about the personality of Donald J. Trump. There are
12:52
Speaker 1: many people you and I included, who are supporters of
12:55
Speaker 1: the president who recognize that he did extraordinarily good things
13:00
Speaker 1: as president. But to win, Yunkin needed some voters in Virginia,
13:05
Speaker 1: in particular suburban women in Virginia who voted against Trump.
13:11
Speaker 1: Yunkin needed them to switch their votes to him, and
13:13
Speaker 1: I think he did that. You know, the campaign did
13:16
Speaker 1: a very smart job of the first several months. They
13:19
Speaker 1: focused on Glenn's story, on who he was and defining him,
13:23
Speaker 1: telling his story. You know, he grew up in Virginia,
13:25
Speaker 1: grew up in modest circumstances. He went to Rice and Andy,
13:31
Speaker 1: played basketball four years at Rice, and met his wife
13:35
Speaker 1: Suzanne as a Texan. She went to smu M and
13:39
Speaker 1: then he had a career in business and an incredibly
13:41
Speaker 1: successful career in business where he was a CEO. And
13:44
Speaker 1: I think the campaign did a good job of defining
13:46
Speaker 1: who Glenn was, so that when Terry mcculloff came in
13:49
Speaker 1: at the back end and said he's Donald Trump. He's
13:51
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, people were like, well, no, he's not, He's
13:55
Speaker 1: he's that guy. Yeah, And that was that was valuable
13:59
Speaker 1: to to to define his own life story, what he believes,
14:04
Speaker 1: and to certainly welcome and embrace the support from Trump's supporters,
14:08
Speaker 1: but not make it just a personality referendum. I think
14:12
Speaker 1: that was smart. I then think the second phase of
14:17
Speaker 1: the election really shifted hard to parents and schools, and
14:24
Speaker 1: I think Loudon County played a pivotal part in this victory.
14:28
Speaker 1: Had the horrific events that transpired in Loudon County, not happened.
14:34
Speaker 1: I think the odds are very good. Terry mcculliff would
14:36
Speaker 1: be the next governor of Virginia. That that Loudon mccuny,
14:38
Speaker 1: And we've talked about it before on the pod, we
14:41
Speaker 1: talked about it on our campus tour. But in terms
14:45
Speaker 1: of Virginia, I think a lot of parents were offended
14:49
Speaker 1: to be treated as domestic terrorists, to be dismissed, to
14:52
Speaker 1: be to be ridiculed, to have their concerns just sidelines.
14:59
Speaker 1: And and I think the arrogance of the far left
15:04
Speaker 1: what was was parents are you guys don't matter? And
15:08
Speaker 1: I think there were a lot of parents, in particular
15:10
Speaker 1: moms in Virginia that didn't appreciate it. And last night's
15:14
Speaker 1: election that played a really pivotal partner. Yeah, you know this,
15:18
Speaker 1: this actually brings up another aspect of the past few weeks.
15:23
Speaker 1: And I'd like to bring Liz in for this because
15:25
Speaker 1: I do I do want to get to our mail bag,
15:26
Speaker 1: but I would ask Senator, we're talking about law and
15:29
Speaker 1: order and the supposed moderates out there. You grilled Merrick Garland,
15:33
Speaker 1: the supposedly moderate judges, the the Attorney General. Now for
15:38
Speaker 1: Joe Biden. You grilled him, and I think we would
15:41
Speaker 1: be very remiss if we didn't talk about it. So, yeah, Michael,
15:45
Speaker 1: that's right. Last week Merritt Garland testified in front of
15:48
Speaker 1: the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I took the opportunity to
15:53
Speaker 1: question him for very gently but but but but to
15:57
Speaker 1: really hold him to account for what I think is
16:00
Speaker 1: the politicization of the Department of Justice. You know, at
16:04
Speaker 1: his confirmation here in Garland said that he would not
16:08
Speaker 1: allow dj to become wanted to become under Barack Obama,
16:11
Speaker 1: which was a political weapon used to target the enemies
16:16
Speaker 1: of the White House. And in this instance, in particular,
16:20
Speaker 1: I think that's exactly what Garland allowed it to happen.
16:24
Speaker 1: And so you know, I began with this letter from
16:27
Speaker 1: then Association of school Boards and I said, look, dude,
16:30
Speaker 1: you know, General Garland, do you know how many instances
16:33
Speaker 1: are cited in this letter? The letter was the basis
16:36
Speaker 1: of his direction to the FBI and his memo. He said, no,
16:38
Speaker 1: I don't know how many. And I said, well, I
16:40
Speaker 1: just did a quick count right here. There are twenty
16:42
Speaker 1: of them. Do you know how many of them are violent?
16:45
Speaker 1: Or arguably violent on their face. He said, no, I
16:48
Speaker 1: don't know that either. I said, well, there's a reason
16:49
Speaker 1: you don't know that, because you didn't give a damn
16:51
Speaker 1: to check. You didn't look, your staff didn't look, No
16:53
Speaker 1: one investigated. From my quick examination of the letter, here
16:57
Speaker 1: it appears five of them, on their face may have
17:00
Speaker 1: been violent. That means fifteen of them were not. Now,
17:04
Speaker 1: fifteen of them were expressing speech, sometimes parents who were mad,
17:08
Speaker 1: who were expressing vigorous speech, but they were engaged in
17:12
Speaker 1: activity protected by the First Amendment. And I put it.
17:15
Speaker 1: I said, look, DJ, senators, we've sent letters to DJ
17:21
Speaker 1: that for months. You ignore. You don't care what we
17:23
Speaker 1: have to say. You just utterly ignore when we write
17:26
Speaker 1: the Department of Justice. And yet when these well connected
17:30
Speaker 1: democrats who were working with the White House demand that
17:33
Speaker 1: you go after parents and target them, five days later,
17:37
Speaker 1: you snap your fingers and you direct the FBI to
17:40
Speaker 1: do it. And the heat on the National Association of
17:44
Speaker 1: school Boards was so great they actually withdrew the letter.
17:48
Speaker 1: They apologized for it. They're having you know, local chapters
17:51
Speaker 1: resigned from their organization, and that they said they were
17:55
Speaker 1: embarrassed by the letter. They withdrew it, and I asked
17:58
Speaker 1: the Attorney General, well, are you embarrassed? Do you have
18:01
Speaker 1: any Do you have the same integrity, the same sense
18:05
Speaker 1: of shame that the n Association of school Boards did.
18:08
Speaker 1: And Garland's like, no, no, no, no, no, I apologize
18:12
Speaker 1: for nothing. There was nothing that intimidated parents. And it's like, really, really,
18:17
Speaker 1: you think sending the FBI to go after parents, that
18:20
Speaker 1: that's not intimidating, that doesn't chill their speech, that doesn't
18:24
Speaker 1: frustrate our democratic process. And it really was striking. I
18:30
Speaker 1: think both the arrogance that Garland conveyed, but simultaneously the
18:36
Speaker 1: cluelessness and one component of that. Look, Garland has been
18:40
Speaker 1: a judge for twenty four years. He hasn't had anybody
18:44
Speaker 1: questioned him in twenty four years. He's not faced a
18:47
Speaker 1: single difficult question. He's not had anyone scrutinize what he
18:52
Speaker 1: says or does. To be honest, he probably hasn't had
18:55
Speaker 1: anyone say an unkind word to him in twenty four years.
18:59
Speaker 1: Federal judges, particularly judges on the DC Circuit, the second
19:03
Speaker 1: highest court in the land, everybody who interacts with them
19:07
Speaker 1: kisses their behinds all day long. And I think Garland
19:12
Speaker 1: was willing to play the political hack and give the
19:15
Speaker 1: White House what they wanted, and it never even occurred
19:18
Speaker 1: to him that he would face scrutiny or oversight from
19:22
Speaker 1: anyone else. And he said, well, lawyers who would read
19:25
Speaker 1: this memo would understand the Supreme Court case law of
19:28
Speaker 1: this case. In the other case, I'm like, I'm sorry,
19:31
Speaker 1: Mom doesn't understand that parents aren't reading Supreme Court cases.
19:35
Speaker 1: You're the attorney general. You don't think sending a memo
19:39
Speaker 1: to the FBI, to the men in black, the g
19:42
Speaker 1: men to go target parents's intimidation, then you are being clueless,
19:48
Speaker 1: you're not doing your job as attorney general, and you're
19:51
Speaker 1: allowing DJ to be politicized. And I think that it
19:56
Speaker 1: was shameful, but it was also it played a real
20:01
Speaker 1: role in the victory in Virginia last night. Now with that, Liz,
20:08
Speaker 1: you're you're back. Now, do we do we have any
20:11
Speaker 1: questions from the mail bag from Verdict Plus? We do?
20:14
Speaker 1: And by the way, I think you're exactly correct on
20:15
Speaker 1: how serious uh Merrick Garland's behavior, how much of an
20:19
Speaker 1: impact it had in Virginia. It's almost inarguable that it didn't.
20:23
Speaker 1: And you played a really big role in that. So
20:25
Speaker 1: I know that our our country appreciates that, especially parents
20:28
Speaker 1: of young children who don't want their kids indoctrinated. So,
20:31
Speaker 1: anybody who's not part of Verdict plus, I invite you
20:33
Speaker 1: to join us over there at Verdict with Ted Cruise
20:35
Speaker 1: dot com slash plus, who got exclusive access to the
20:39
Speaker 1: Senator himself. A lot of your questions will be answered,
20:42
Speaker 1: just like right now, there are some great questions. While
20:44
Speaker 1: I t these up, I do want to skip the
20:46
Speaker 1: line and ask you a question myself, and that is
20:49
Speaker 1: there's a rumor in the United States Senate that you
20:51
Speaker 1: lost a wager on the floor of the Senate. Can
20:54
Speaker 1: you confirm, Senator, whether this is true or false? Oh
20:59
Speaker 1: that's painful. It is very painful. So tragically, my astros
21:05
Speaker 1: lost the World Series and we lost last night, and
21:09
Speaker 1: I will say you know so Tuesday night, I truly
21:13
Speaker 1: was bittersweet because I was at the younke In election party.
21:15
Speaker 1: We were celebrating the victory. It looked like a victory
21:18
Speaker 1: all night long, but on my phone, I was watching
21:20
Speaker 1: the live stream of Game six of the World Series
21:23
Speaker 1: and the Braves were just whipping our asses. It wasn't
21:26
Speaker 1: even close. First couple innings were pretty good. Then we
21:29
Speaker 1: were down three nothing, then we were down six nothing,
21:32
Speaker 1: then we were down seven nothing. And so I'm miserable
21:35
Speaker 1: watching it, but really happy for Virginia in the country.
21:39
Speaker 1: But it gets even worse because I had a wager
21:44
Speaker 1: with John Assaff, the new senator from Georgia, over who
21:48
Speaker 1: would win the World Series, and the stakes of the wager.
21:51
Speaker 1: Now that I've lost, sadly, I'm going to have to
21:54
Speaker 1: deliver Texas barbecue and scheinerback beer to his entire staff
22:00
Speaker 1: and so we'll we'll treat them to lunch and give
22:02
Speaker 1: him Texas barbecue and beer. Um. And it's okay because
22:05
Speaker 1: they don't really have barbecue in Georgia. I'll get some
22:07
Speaker 1: grief for that comment. Um. But even worse, I'm going
22:12
Speaker 1: to have to wear a Braves jersey, which which which
22:14
Speaker 1: it'd already burns. I can feel the pain from doing so. Um.
22:18
Speaker 1: This is my third World Series wager. Two years ago
22:22
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, I had a bet with with Tim
22:24
Speaker 1: Caine over the Astros and the national Sadly I lost
22:27
Speaker 1: that one, and so I delivered to Tim the barbecue
22:30
Speaker 1: the beer, and I wore a Nats Jersey. But two
22:34
Speaker 1: years before that, in twenty seventeen, I had a wager
22:36
Speaker 1: with Kamala Harris, and Kamala delivered California wine and Sees
22:42
Speaker 1: chocolate and she live streamed it as as she was
22:45
Speaker 1: wearing Astro's gear. And so I got to say, winning
22:50
Speaker 1: the bet is a lot more fun than losing the bet.
22:52
Speaker 1: And and so I'm not looking forward to paying up
22:54
Speaker 1: to aus Off. I will do so, And I talked
22:56
Speaker 1: to him tonight about it. I said, look, I'll do so,
22:59
Speaker 1: and I'll do so cheery, but but be forewarned I'm
23:01
Speaker 1: going to be bitching about it. At the same time, Well,
23:04
Speaker 1: we look forward to seeing, you know, at least images,
23:06
Speaker 1: if not videos of this over on Verdict. Plus, I
23:09
Speaker 1: know we're sorry that you lost the wager, but we
23:12
Speaker 1: do want a little peek into this, a little peek
23:14
Speaker 1: into this tradition that you've set. And Liz, I do
23:18
Speaker 1: have to say, there is something exquisite that the World
23:22
Speaker 1: Series was between Texas and Georgia, two states that passed
23:27
Speaker 1: voter integrity laws. After Major League Baseball yanked the All
23:30
Speaker 1: Star Game out of Atlanta because Georgia passed Georgia voter
23:35
Speaker 1: integrity laws. I love the fact that the World Series
23:39
Speaker 1: Trophy that Major League Baseball had to present it in Atlanta.
23:43
Speaker 1: They have, they had to, they had to go to
23:45
Speaker 1: the commissioner, had to go to games in Houston and Atlanta,
23:48
Speaker 1: and and it is all I can say is karma
23:50
Speaker 1: is a bitch. And it really is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
23:55
Speaker 1: It is it is. I mean, that's poetic justice if
23:57
Speaker 1: I ever heard it. Okay, we have a lot of
23:58
Speaker 1: great questions tonight. I want to it's to Nancy's question first,
24:01
Speaker 1: and this I think speaks a little bit to the
24:04
Speaker 1: demographic that won the election for Glen Yonkin and Virginia.
24:07
Speaker 1: Nancy asks, please explain the difference between suburban voters and
24:11
Speaker 1: working class voters. She says, she's both. Yeah. So that's
24:15
Speaker 1: a very good question, and it goes right to the
24:18
Speaker 1: heart of two demographic trends that are playing out in
24:21
Speaker 1: the country, that have played out for the last several years.
24:25
Speaker 1: One is working class voters, the blue collar voters who
24:30
Speaker 1: have been moving right, and those are truck drivers, steel workers,
24:34
Speaker 1: construction workers, cops, firefighters, the men and women with callouses
24:41
Speaker 1: on their hands, the people that work at factories union members.
24:46
Speaker 1: They've been moving right. That's moved Midwestern states more Republican.
24:50
Speaker 1: As a consequence, simultaneously, you have suburban voters, voters who
24:55
Speaker 1: live not in the inner cities, but who live in
24:59
Speaker 1: the suburb surrounding big cities, and in particular, suburban women.
25:03
Speaker 1: You have you know, they used to be called soccer
25:05
Speaker 1: moms and and women who live in the suburbs. Historically,
25:11
Speaker 1: the suburbs have been Republican. In Texas, for example, the
25:15
Speaker 1: suburbs around our cities the way Texas has historically voted,
25:18
Speaker 1: the big cities are bright blue, the suburbs have been
25:22
Speaker 1: red donuts surrounding the big cities, and then the rural
25:25
Speaker 1: areas voted Republican as well, and that that combination kept
25:30
Speaker 1: Texas reliably Republican. Well in the last few years, the
25:34
Speaker 1: suburbs have turned purple. They're not blue, but they've turned purple.
25:38
Speaker 1: That a number of suburban voters, particularly suburban women, had
25:41
Speaker 1: begun voting Democrat, and a number of suburban women were
25:46
Speaker 1: not fans of President Trump, and it was really a
25:49
Speaker 1: personality referendum with some suburban women voters. What we saw
25:56
Speaker 1: in Virginia is the working class voters stayed with Junken,
26:01
Speaker 1: But at the same time he brought some of those
26:03
Speaker 1: suburban women who had shifted Democrat. He brought them back
26:07
Speaker 1: to the Republican tally. And if we bring both of
26:09
Speaker 1: those together, that's really a winning coalition, it is. And
26:13
Speaker 1: if only we could continue this sweet, sweet victory that
26:17
Speaker 1: we've been reveling in all day on the Republican side,
26:19
Speaker 1: I think that would be great. Okay, the next question
26:22
Speaker 1: is the user name of this individual's software nugget who asks,
26:26
Speaker 1: I was just watching some of clips of you, Senator
26:28
Speaker 1: Cruz on YouTube and wondering why you use the terms
26:31
Speaker 1: biological male and biological female, as if there are other
26:34
Speaker 1: types instead of just male and female. Yeah, looks it's
26:38
Speaker 1: a good question, and I guess I would say it
26:41
Speaker 1: is a nod towards modern discussion. That you've got the
26:45
Speaker 1: left who bizarrely insists that if I say I'm a woman,
26:50
Speaker 1: i am a woman, and just the act of declaring
26:53
Speaker 1: I am woman, hear me, roar, transforms me into being
26:57
Speaker 1: a woman. And there's so much language police today that
27:03
Speaker 1: when you refer to a male or female, given how
27:07
Speaker 1: the media covers it, given the sort of bizarre language
27:10
Speaker 1: games that we play, there is arguably some ambiguity. And
27:14
Speaker 1: so when I use the phrase a biological male, I
27:18
Speaker 1: mean someone that's got a Y chromosome and has has
27:21
Speaker 1: got the the the equipment that makes a male. A
27:25
Speaker 1: biological female. You got two X chromosomes, you have the
27:29
Speaker 1: equipment that makes you female. I'm just trying to describe
27:33
Speaker 1: the hardware and the genes. I'm not speaking necessarily about
27:38
Speaker 1: what you believe, what you want to be, what gender,
27:41
Speaker 1: whether male, female, or any of the what is it?
27:44
Speaker 1: Facebook has fifty seven different genders. I don't even understand
27:47
Speaker 1: all the different worlds of genders people say they are.
27:51
Speaker 1: I get the point, but it but for me, at least,
27:54
Speaker 1: it's the clearest way to convey in this bizarre language
28:00
Speaker 1: Orwellian world we live in, what it is I'm trying
28:03
Speaker 1: to convey. I do not use the term biological male
28:06
Speaker 1: or biological female because I do fear that it grants
28:10
Speaker 1: the premise that there are other kinds of males. You know,
28:12
Speaker 1: you're a spiritual mail or psychological mail or something like that.
28:15
Speaker 1: But I do understand the prudential reason that people are
28:19
Speaker 1: doing it. It is to draw this distinction First of all,
28:24
Speaker 1: it is to meet people where they are. It is
28:27
Speaker 1: to sometimes to avoid certain bands on big tech platforms
28:31
Speaker 1: that will forbid you from referring to a man who
28:34
Speaker 1: thinks that he's a woman as a man. I mean,
28:36
Speaker 1: there are all of these prudential and instrumental reasons to
28:40
Speaker 1: do that. But yes, I do think ultimately the way
28:43
Speaker 1: we're going to win is by watching that language very
28:46
Speaker 1: very closely and recognizing that even when we appear to
28:52
Speaker 1: be opposing the new politically correct jargons, sometimes we can
28:56
Speaker 1: inadvertently be accepting some of their premises. And so you know,
29:01
Speaker 1: they say it's it's good to be blunt and straight
29:03
Speaker 1: talking and call a spade a spade, and yes, I
29:06
Speaker 1: think we ought to call a man a man and
29:07
Speaker 1: a woman a woman. Well, there you go. And for
29:10
Speaker 1: anybody who wants to submit questions for our next episode,
29:14
Speaker 1: for the mailbag on that episode, please go over to
29:16
Speaker 1: Verdict with Ted Cruise dot com. Slash plus supporters exclusively
29:21
Speaker 1: have the option to submit questions for Michael Knowles and
29:23
Speaker 1: Senator Ted Cruise. All right, this next question is actually
29:26
Speaker 1: one of my favorite questions. I'm very excited to hear
29:28
Speaker 1: your answer this is what they ask Senor what three
29:31
Speaker 1: government agencies would you most like to abolish? Number one
29:36
Speaker 1: the IRS. I think the IRS is a tool of oppression.
29:42
Speaker 1: I think it is a tool of intrusion into privacy.
29:45
Speaker 1: You can see with the Bernie Sanders budgets the Democrats
29:48
Speaker 1: are trying to use the IRS to monitor every financial
29:52
Speaker 1: transaction any American engages in over six hundred dollars. I
29:57
Speaker 1: would shut down the IRS. I would padlock it. I
30:01
Speaker 1: think we ought to have a simple flat tax, where
30:03
Speaker 1: you fill out your taxes on a postcard. I've introduced,
30:06
Speaker 1: I've laid out the details of a flat tax and
30:09
Speaker 1: how you could operate it. That would be incredibly simple
30:12
Speaker 1: that virtually the entirety of the IRS would become irrelevant
30:15
Speaker 1: and unnecessary. So that would be number one. Very close
30:18
Speaker 1: second would be the Federal Department of Education. I think
30:21
Speaker 1: the Federal Department of Education has been used to try
30:27
Speaker 1: to impose national curriculum standards, to try to violate and
30:34
Speaker 1: trample upon the authority of local jurisdictions to run their
30:37
Speaker 1: own schools. I don't think we need a federal government
30:41
Speaker 1: trying to set local curricula. As for the third ones
30:46
Speaker 1: that there are a number of different ones you can
30:48
Speaker 1: you can point to. I'd probably point to the Department
30:50
Speaker 1: of Commerce's third. The Department of Commerce is a big
30:55
Speaker 1: grab bag of all sorts of different whether it is
30:58
Speaker 1: corporate welfare and ony ism, are all sorts of different components.
31:02
Speaker 1: There's some elements of the Department of Commerce that are necessary.
31:06
Speaker 1: For example, the Census Bureau Constitution actually requires the federal
31:09
Speaker 1: government to conduct a census every ten years. We still
31:12
Speaker 1: need a census bureau, So you could move the Census
31:14
Speaker 1: Bureau somewhere else. You don't need the whole Commerce Department
31:17
Speaker 1: to do it. There are other elements of the Commerce Department.
31:20
Speaker 1: There are some essential functions in it. You know. I
31:23
Speaker 1: gotta say, Liz, I think back to nineteen ninety five.
31:27
Speaker 1: So nineteen ninety five, I just graduated from law school
31:30
Speaker 1: and I was a law clerk in Northern Virginia, was
31:33
Speaker 1: clerking for Judge Michael Ludig, who was at the time
31:36
Speaker 1: the strongest conservative Federal Pellet judge in the country. And
31:41
Speaker 1: it was at the time of the newt Gingrich the
31:43
Speaker 1: Republican Revolution had just happened, and then you remember there
31:46
Speaker 1: was a government shutdown at the time and only essential
31:49
Speaker 1: workers federal workers were allowed to go to work. And
31:53
Speaker 1: I remember the Department of Commerce at the time put
31:54
Speaker 1: out a press release that they said, seventy percent of
31:58
Speaker 1: our workers did not come into work. Only thirty percent
32:01
Speaker 1: came in, but they said fear not all essential functions
32:05
Speaker 1: were carried out. And I remember laughing at the time
32:07
Speaker 1: and saying, great, you've just put out a press release
32:09
Speaker 1: saying you only need thirty percent of your staff. That
32:11
Speaker 1: seventy percent can be dismissed tomorrow. If all the essential
32:15
Speaker 1: functions can be done with thirty percent of your staff,
32:18
Speaker 1: we can save some real money. So that So that's
32:21
Speaker 1: that's in an initial stabs at three agencies, and listen,
32:24
Speaker 1: I'll like any answer that essentially encompasses the idea of
32:27
Speaker 1: abolishing the administrative state once and for all. And I
32:30
Speaker 1: think those answers are pretty good. All right, Michael, Now,
32:33
Speaker 1: same question to you, what three government agencies would you
32:36
Speaker 1: most like to abolish? Well, these days, I'd like to
32:40
Speaker 1: go after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. I don't
32:43
Speaker 1: really like that this sort of little known agency that
32:46
Speaker 1: is now enforcing this draconian vaccine mandate on everybody. That
32:52
Speaker 1: would be one that I think should go. The people
32:55
Speaker 1: often will say, you know, the Energy Department, and that's
32:58
Speaker 1: all well and good, but I'd like to get rid
33:00
Speaker 1: of some of these more obscure offices, you know. I'd
33:04
Speaker 1: like to get rid of the within each office. I
33:07
Speaker 1: would like to get rid of the deputy assistant, deputy
33:11
Speaker 1: director or assistant of diversity and inclusion and equity. I'd
33:14
Speaker 1: like to get into that. And then really even beyond
33:18
Speaker 1: abolishing these agencies and departments, I want to take them over. Okay,
33:23
Speaker 1: we've been talking about cutting all these agencies for a
33:26
Speaker 1: long time, but I think that assuming we're not going
33:29
Speaker 1: to be able to do that all that successfully, I
33:32
Speaker 1: want to go in, get our own guys in there,
33:35
Speaker 1: and then start wielding the government on the happy occasions
33:38
Speaker 1: that the people give us political power, two ends that
33:41
Speaker 1: are good and just and moral and right and more
33:44
Speaker 1: favorable to conservatives. Well, that that may be easier said
33:48
Speaker 1: than done, although I certainly agree with you. All right,
33:50
Speaker 1: I'm looking on Verdict plus now all of the great
33:52
Speaker 1: people over on Verdict plus. I've been submitting questions, and
33:55
Speaker 1: here's a question, Michael, for you. This is the question,
34:00
Speaker 1: is the quote unquote common good branch of conservatism, actually conservative.
34:05
Speaker 1: Is it constitutional? This question comes from Nancy. Oh, yes,
34:09
Speaker 1: of course it is. By definition. You know, a republic
34:13
Speaker 1: comes from the rest res publica right, the things we
34:15
Speaker 1: have together, the things that are in common. The Constitution
34:20
Speaker 1: is pretty clear it's to provide the blessings of liberty
34:24
Speaker 1: for the American people, to provide for the general welfare.
34:27
Speaker 1: And the whole point of self government is that we
34:30
Speaker 1: are going to exercise our judgment and our prudence to
34:35
Speaker 1: have a better country for all of us. We don't
34:37
Speaker 1: just live as these individualized atoms floating in free space.
34:41
Speaker 1: We have a country together, and so we need to
34:43
Speaker 1: have things in common. And you know, this didn't used
34:47
Speaker 1: to be controversial. I mean, this was the understanding of
34:51
Speaker 1: not just the founding fathers, but of statesmen from time immemorial.
34:56
Speaker 1: And I think one thing that we've made a mistake
34:58
Speaker 1: in recent decades is we have put the cart before
35:01
Speaker 1: the horse. That phrase blessings of liberty here, I think
35:03
Speaker 1: is pretty important. Liberty is wonderful, true liberty, especially as
35:08
Speaker 1: wonderful and individual liberty and the liberty of localities is
35:11
Speaker 1: all wonderful, but it's an instrument. It's not an end
35:14
Speaker 1: unto itself. It is an instrument towards something. When the
35:18
Speaker 1: framers of the Constitution tell us that they are trying
35:20
Speaker 1: to give us the blessings of liberty, that they are
35:23
Speaker 1: acknowledging something that we all used to know, which is
35:26
Speaker 1: that our liberty is not just so that we can
35:29
Speaker 1: sit at home and say, by Golly, I'm free, but
35:31
Speaker 1: so that we can have a good country, so that
35:33
Speaker 1: we ourselves can flourish, our families can flourish, our communities
35:35
Speaker 1: can flourish, and ultimately our nation can flourish. It's it's deeply,
35:39
Speaker 1: deeply conservative, and the denial of the common good, or
35:44
Speaker 1: of the good, or this hyper focus on emancipation and
35:48
Speaker 1: liberation or whatever that really historically comes from the left
35:51
Speaker 1: much more than it comes from the right or from conservatives.
35:54
Speaker 1: This is almost part two. I think of the great
35:57
Speaker 1: conversation that we had at Catholic University that spoke to
36:02
Speaker 1: the definition of liberty and how that is inherently I
36:06
Speaker 1: guess you positive that it includes the common good. It
36:10
Speaker 1: was a great debate. Okay, So one more question that
36:14
Speaker 1: we have here is a very good question, very pertinent
36:17
Speaker 1: to the time that we are in right now, and
36:20
Speaker 1: this comes also from Verdict plus from the user name McCracklin.
36:24
Speaker 1: He says, should government leaders be making decisions about mandates
36:27
Speaker 1: that they or their family will heavily profit from, is
36:31
Speaker 1: that a legal or ethical conflict of interest? Certainly it
36:34
Speaker 1: would be if a government official stands to reap a
36:39
Speaker 1: huge sum of money because of some policy that he's
36:42
Speaker 1: foisting onto the public, that would be a major conflict
36:45
Speaker 1: of interest. And it relates to another problem we have
36:48
Speaker 1: in Washington, DC, which is people legislators in Washington DC
36:53
Speaker 1: forcing mandates on their constituents that they do not abide
36:56
Speaker 1: by themselves. And the Senator Curtis has alluded to this
37:00
Speaker 1: number of times with some of his Democrat colleagues over there,
37:03
Speaker 1: and pro mass and pro mandate Democrats throughout our politics,
37:10
Speaker 1: who demand one thing of all of us, and then
37:13
Speaker 1: when you catch them at a party, or catch them
37:15
Speaker 1: at a restaurant, or catch them out on the street,
37:17
Speaker 1: or even when they think the cameras are off, they
37:19
Speaker 1: will not be following that themselves. And so I think
37:22
Speaker 1: there needs to be a lot of accountability, a lot
37:24
Speaker 1: of the debate that we've had here on the lockdown
37:28
Speaker 1: mandates and the rest of it have focused on ideology, philosophy,
37:33
Speaker 1: the science, and all of these ideas, but there is
37:36
Speaker 1: just a basic level of corruption you've got to watch
37:39
Speaker 1: out for. Two. You do not want your politicians of
37:42
Speaker 1: any party being crooked, corrupt, and abusing the public trust
37:48
Speaker 1: for their own private game. And so it's something we
37:50
Speaker 1: absolutely need to watch out for, especially during this massive
37:53
Speaker 1: power grab of the last five hundred ninety two some
37:58
Speaker 1: odd days of fifteen days to slow this right, and
38:01
Speaker 1: I think maybe the last twenty months, since the beginning
38:03
Speaker 1: of COVID, more Americans than ever before have understood have
38:07
Speaker 1: firsthand tangible knowledge of what it means when government officials
38:10
Speaker 1: are corrupt. All right, this question is just for the Senator.
38:14
Speaker 1: Andrew John asks, after the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races,
38:19
Speaker 1: just how tense is the air among Senate Democrats from
38:22
Speaker 1: your perspective, you know, it's interesting. They ought to be
38:25
Speaker 1: freaking out. I think it varies. The hard left. Their
38:32
Speaker 1: response to the elections is doubling down. Their response, whether
38:37
Speaker 1: it's Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren or AOC. They say
38:40
Speaker 1: the reason they lost Virginia is they weren't radical enough.
38:44
Speaker 1: They needed to be even more extreme. They needed to
38:46
Speaker 1: ram through Bernie Sanders socialist budget. They needed to be
38:50
Speaker 1: more spend more money, be more radical, be more crazy.
38:53
Speaker 1: That that's why they didn't win. I've got to think
38:56
Speaker 1: there's some Democrats that realize that's crazy talk, but if
39:01
Speaker 1: they do, they're not saying it. I will say this
39:03
Speaker 1: morning in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I went round
39:07
Speaker 1: and round with Bob Menendez from New Jersey and Tim
39:10
Speaker 1: Kine from Virginia, and we were fighting on the State
39:15
Speaker 1: Department in foreign policy, and in particular, the Biden administration
39:20
Speaker 1: is withholding one hundred and thirty million dollars of military
39:23
Speaker 1: aid to Egypt in order to try to force Egypt
39:27
Speaker 1: to release sixteen prisoners who are currently incarcerated, and they
39:34
Speaker 1: won't publicly identify who those sixteen prisoners are. And so
39:38
Speaker 1: I'm trying to force the administration to name the sixteen
39:41
Speaker 1: prisoners to make it public. And I've asked them, are
39:44
Speaker 1: they affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood? Are they terrorists? Are
39:47
Speaker 1: they anti Semites? Are they are they anti American? What's
39:51
Speaker 1: their history? And the Biden administration doesn't want to because
39:54
Speaker 1: I think they can't defend the radicals that they're trying
39:58
Speaker 1: to get released, and and so we were going back
40:01
Speaker 1: and forth, and at the hearing, you know, Tim Kaine
40:04
Speaker 1: made a reference to accountability, and I laughed and said,
40:07
Speaker 1: you know, Senator from Virginia referenced accountability while I was
40:10
Speaker 1: in his state last night. And we had some accountability
40:14
Speaker 1: because the voters of Virginia elected a Republican governor. And
40:17
Speaker 1: I would note the chairman of the committee, Senator Menendez,
40:20
Speaker 1: his state right now is basically tied in the gubernatorial
40:23
Speaker 1: race and they've they've since narrowly called it for the Democrat.
40:28
Speaker 1: But that's some real accountability. It's accountability for the extreme
40:31
Speaker 1: policies of this administration. And at least and that hearing, boy,
40:36
Speaker 1: they did not like it. You could see the fury
40:39
Speaker 1: and rage. And there's nothing Democrats like less than when
40:44
Speaker 1: the voters hold them accountable. And I will be shocked
40:48
Speaker 1: if they're not some moderate Democrats right now behind closed
40:51
Speaker 1: doors just freaking out, But at least publicly, they're not
40:56
Speaker 1: expressing it all that much. Well, I think we've all
40:59
Speaker 1: seen the of Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris, while she
41:03
Speaker 1: was on the campaign trail for Terry mcculiffe saying that
41:06
Speaker 1: the state of Virginia, this gubernatorial race was going to
41:08
Speaker 1: be a bell weather, not just for twenty twenty two,
41:10
Speaker 1: but for twenty twenty four. My question to you is,
41:13
Speaker 1: do you believe that this is accurate? Is the victory
41:16
Speaker 1: for Republicans in Virginia a bell weather of what's to come?
41:20
Speaker 1: Very much? So? I think that's why Virginia matters so much.
41:23
Speaker 1: When I was barnstorming the state of Virginia, when I
41:25
Speaker 1: was campaigning with Glen Yungkan, That's something I said at
41:30
Speaker 1: every rally we did, I said, listen, Virginia is a
41:33
Speaker 1: bell weather. And I pointed out the last time we
41:35
Speaker 1: had something like this was was two thousand and nine.
41:39
Speaker 1: Barack Obama became president. He was a radical leftist. He
41:44
Speaker 1: ran through Obamacare, he ran through Dodd Frank and it
41:49
Speaker 1: was he went far to left. And the very next
41:53
Speaker 1: election that occurred was two thousand, was two thousand and ten,
41:57
Speaker 1: and it was the Virginia Gubnor two thousand and nine,
42:01
Speaker 1: the Virginia gubernatorial election. It's the off cycle year and
42:06
Speaker 1: and New Jersey, and in that year Bob McDonald won
42:09
Speaker 1: a Republican in Virginia and Chris Christi one, a Republican
42:13
Speaker 1: in New Jersey. Republicans won both of those elections, and
42:16
Speaker 1: it pressaged the two thousand and ten Republican title wave
42:22
Speaker 1: that was coming, and it really set that up. I
42:26
Speaker 1: think last night was similar that the victory in Virginia
42:30
Speaker 1: shows twenty twenty two is going to be a very
42:32
Speaker 1: very good election, and if Democrats keep doubling down on
42:36
Speaker 1: radical leftist policies, I think it also pressages twenty twenty four,
42:41
Speaker 1: which I believe is going to be a very very
42:43
Speaker 1: good election. Again. Michael, same question. Do you you know
42:46
Speaker 1: it was a great relief last night when the Republicans
42:50
Speaker 1: won this election and did very well elsewhere outside of
42:54
Speaker 1: Virginia as well, because I think so many of us
42:57
Speaker 1: were so depressed. We thought the system is just rigged,
43:00
Speaker 1: and they're going to be ballot drops at three o'clock
43:03
Speaker 1: in the morning and a water pipe is going to burst,
43:05
Speaker 1: and we're just not going to win any elections again.
43:07
Speaker 1: And this has this reinforcing effect because if you think
43:11
Speaker 1: that it's not possible for you to win elections, then
43:13
Speaker 1: you're less likely to turn out, you're less likely to register,
43:16
Speaker 1: you're less likely to do those things, and so it'll
43:18
Speaker 1: become a self fulfilling prophecy. So I do think it
43:22
Speaker 1: reminded us the Republic's not dead yet. There is still
43:24
Speaker 1: a chance Republicans can still win. It's really I totally agree.
43:29
Speaker 1: I don't think this vodes well for Democrats in twenty
43:32
Speaker 1: twenty two or twenty twenty four either. Now we've got
43:35
Speaker 1: we've got two things ahead of us. One, we've got
43:37
Speaker 1: to make sure the Republicans we just elected actually do
43:40
Speaker 1: something and have a record of accomplishment. And as Senator
43:44
Speaker 1: Cruz knows well, sometimes his squishier colleagues out there are
43:49
Speaker 1: not so good at that, and it's really the stalwarts
43:51
Speaker 1: who hold firms. So we've got to do that. We
43:53
Speaker 1: got to keep up the focus, we've got to keep
43:55
Speaker 1: up the excitement. And I think this is so strange
43:58
Speaker 1: for Concernervatives. We actually might have a whole lot to
44:02
Speaker 1: look forward to in the coming elections. Liz, it is
44:05
Speaker 1: so wonderful for you to join us, for you to
44:08
Speaker 1: join us obviously on the tour in person and digitally
44:11
Speaker 1: as well. Now we've got to leave it there, but
44:13
Speaker 1: before we go, since we so enjoyed being on the
44:16
Speaker 1: road for a Verdict Live and seeing all of you
44:18
Speaker 1: all around the country. We're doing it again. We are
44:21
Speaker 1: partnering with YAF again next semester for the Verdict Live
44:26
Speaker 1: Spring Tour. If you want us to come to your school,
44:29
Speaker 1: then apply at YAF dot org slash Verdict. You can
44:34
Speaker 1: submit an application there, whether you are at some nice,
44:37
Speaker 1: wonderful conservative Christian school or maybe you're among the Purple
44:40
Speaker 1: Hairs at UC Berkeley. Wherever you are applied today. We
44:44
Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you next time. We look forward
44:46
Speaker 1: to seeing you in person. But until then, I'm Michael Knowles.
44:50
Speaker 1: This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. This episode of Verdict
45:02
Speaker 1: with Ted Cruz is being brought to you by Jobs,
45:04
Speaker 1: Freedom and Security Pack, a political action committee dedicated to
45:08
Speaker 1: supporting conservative causes, organizations, and candidates across the country. In
45:13
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, Jobs Freedom and Security Pack plans to
45:16
Speaker 1: donate to conservative candidates running for Congress and help the
45:20
Speaker 1: Republican Party across the nation.