Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Rapid Fire Analysis of SOTU '26 w Michael Knowles & Sen Ted Cruz

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Rapid Fire Analysis of SOTU '26 w Michael Knowles & Sen Ted Cruz · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: It is verdict was centered Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you,
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: and it is one am in the morning Eastern time,
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: after the State of the Union. I want to be
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: very clear that I am doing this show in protest
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: right now because I was on a plane. No, no,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: let me rephrase that center true or Fosse. You and
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I hung out yesterday in your office.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: We did, and you were in DC, and I can't
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: help it that you fled Washington during the State of
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the Union and listen Karve's a and so when you
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: decided you were a little girl and you had to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: get out of town because the Democrats getting mad at
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the president were scary. Ben, what do you think of
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the damn State of the Union?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I actually think it was the best speech Donald Trump
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: has ever given. I actually thought it was one of
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: the most real and authentic responses from him to the
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Democrats and how they were acting. I love that he
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: was like, you can't even stand for that, you won't
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: even see and.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Say, you guys are crazy.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys are crazy.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: Line, And it came as the third most incredible line.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, there were a lot of them, Yeah, but.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It came on TV in an amazing way, did it?
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, I mean it was just his look, his demeanor.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: He was looking over at them. I mean, you were
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: there obviously, so it's going to feel different to you.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: But like I'm watching, I'm going that line landed and
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I think the American people probably saw it and They're like, wow,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: this is going to be really good.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: So I'm sitting there.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: It was very kind of Speaker Johnson to invite me,
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: and I'm sitting over the Democrats, so I got a
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: prime view of the Democrats. And the first line that
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: really brought down the House was when President Trump looked
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: over and it was beautifully written.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: And beautifully executed.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: He looked over, he said, Okay, I want everyone to
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: stand up. If you agree with the statement that America
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: should protect Americans.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Effect and over illegals.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Yes, and they refuse to stand political malpractice the likes
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: of which one has rarely seen. And it was a
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: brutal moment. He totally took advantage then.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: So that moment will be played in a million campaigns. Yes,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and by the way, it was the longest sustained applause
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: of Republicans. We stood and we applauded, and we applauded,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and he just looked over with amazement watching them, and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: and the ad rights itself there for illegals and not
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: for you. And they were given that choice, do you
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: stand with Americans or do you stand with illegals? And
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the entire party No, we're the party of illegal aliens
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and not the party of Americans.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: It was shocking.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: So then he doubles down on I'm skipping around a
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: little bit in time because it escalates.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Well by the way, he noticed a trend.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: He noticed, this is going to be the trend of
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: my speech, Like I don't think he planned it this whole,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Like you guys aren't going to stand for that. It
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: was the moment and then it hit and then it
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: was like, I'm gonna keep doing this tonight to show
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Americans how crazy these guys are on the left. That's
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: how it came across on TV.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: Well, he landed it on the transgender ideology kid who
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: had been transd and had destroyed his family. And then
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: the kid finally ended up in the right place, and
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: the he said, isn't that wonderful? The family's reunited and
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: everyone's flourishing, And the Dems wouldn't stand and that was
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: when he dealt the blow. He said these people are crazy,
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: and that that too lit it up now where it
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: got a little dark.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: But it was the same strategy.
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: It was the same tactic, I suppose is when he
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: started bringing up violence, and he obviously turns to Erica Kirk,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: this national hero, this perhaps and was sympathetic. You're in
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: the entire country certainly up there. And the Democrats didn't
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: want to stand for Charlie. They didn't want to stand
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: for Erica again.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: That itself is disgraceful. But he even gave them an out.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: He said, we're a country where we say in God
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: we trust, and we reject political violence of all kinds.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: And I was looking over some Democrats stood for that.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I'd said more than half on the political violence. I
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: looked as it was probably sixty seventy percent think about that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: But a third did not. A third did not.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: Third would not stand for we reject political violence of
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: all kinds. It was I felt a disaster of optics
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: for Democrats and a disaster of.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Morals well, and on the we don't stand for political violence.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: The reason two thirds stood is Schumer stood. By the way,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: have you ever noticed how much Chuck Schumer looks like
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the villain and the Smurfs. What's what's the name? I
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: don't even remember the name of the villain, like the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: curved over like like you know, he's hunched. He has
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: kind of a hunchback.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Maybe Penguin from Batman was what I got.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but he's sort of no.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I couldn't agree with you more.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: By the way, you guys are in there, so you
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: may not know this, So I may break news to you.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Did you guys see what Rashid Talib was chanting while
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: everyone was chanting us A U S A. At one
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: of the points in the speech, she was chanting kkk
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: kkk kkk.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Really yes, prison advertising credit credit.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: For you guys.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you can see, but let's be
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: our good friend Steve Guess put it out there. Watch
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Democrat representative to leave. She's chanting kkk while everyone else
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: is cheering us A.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Well, and the KKK was founded by Democrats. It was
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: almost exclusively populated by Democrats. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: of the clan, was a delegate a delegate to the
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: d NC National Convention eighteen sixty. He was a national
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: delegate and you look at the Klan was founded by Democrats.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Jim Crow. Laws were founded by Democrats. Segregation was enforced
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: by Democrats. They have been the party of racial bigotry
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: the entire history. And by the way, our party, I mean,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: we often refer to our party as the Party of Lincoln,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: but we were literally founded to abolished slavery, right, That's
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: why the Republican Party came together. And by the way
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: we did. The first Republican president is who signed the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Emancipation Proclamation.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, on racial animus and Rashida Talib did
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: you see. I don't know if you caught this, but
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: when President Trump said, what a wonderful thing we released
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: all the hostages. We got the hostage released, both dead
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: and alive. Yeah, we returned even their remains. And most
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: people stood up. I looked, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: were sitting down.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Yep. Yeah. And by the way, at one point they
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: heckled when there was a reference to the end of
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the war in Gaza. They heckled and screamed, Jennis, I mean,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: that's that's who their party is.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Well, and if you look at tonight, there was four
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Democrat responses like that's not good for your party when
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: you're that broken.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Four Who were the four?
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: So you had one in Spanish, you had one that
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: was a progressive radical, you had one that was like
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: at the next level monitor, and then you had the
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Virginia governor. You had four official responses.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm gonna have to disagree with you. I don't
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: even know who they were, but there are four who
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: were progressive radicals.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Well, I agree with you. Yes, I'm giving you their
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: their official statement, but they they literally had Hey, depending
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: on how crazy you are, if you're a Marxist, socialist, communist,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: or a radical lefty or like the transgender, or maybe
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: just like a normal democrat, Uh, here's your all of
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: your responses for you, and we'll have all of those
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: for you.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: So right after the State of the Union, I did Hannity,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and as I was sitting there waiting to go on,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Fox wouldn't put Hannity on air until Spamberger finished her response.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: So I said, and put my airpiece in and it's
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: just her voice screeching and loud, and I'm turned to
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Handy and I said, Sean, I haven't led nearly a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: wicked enough life to deserve to listen to this. As
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I just turned the volume off, I'm like, I can't.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: There's just a limit to how much pain I can endure.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: But you know what's very telling about span Berger is
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: you had Andy Basher come out, who is a serious
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: presidential candidate Kentucky governor, and he said span Berger is
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: the model for Democrats in the midterms, which means translation
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: will run. They will run as it means.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Live, they'll lie, they'll.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: Run as moderates, and they will immediately enact the most
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: radical leftist agenda you could maybe imagine.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I love that the President brought up that to shovel
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: snow in New York. Under my motor ID you need
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: two forms of id which I actually had been advising.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I think humor is a really powerful way to drive
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: this point. And I think that and also the fact
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: that John ossoff to get to his rally against photo
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: I D for voting.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: You had to show an idot, you had to show
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: vote I D.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this kick.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Was the key, I mean, really the reason that the
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: State of the Union succeeded. And I agree it was
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: one of Trump's best speeches. The Warsaw speech in the
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: first term was also an excellent speech, but this was
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: up there, and I think the reason it succeeded was
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: the president had to reassure voters who voted for him
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: on mass you know, he won the popular vote. He
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: had to reassure them that we are still the party
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: of normal, of safety, of flourishing, of sanity.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Of sanity.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: Where I think some voters you have this question after
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: the Minneapolis immigration enforcement Why is it that voters still
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: support mass deportations but oppose ice supporting people. You know,
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: that's kind of a contradiction. Why is it that the
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: fundamentals of the economy are looking pretty good? You know,
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: record ized stock market, pretty good, inflation, pretty good, job numbers,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: pretty good GDP could have been better if not for
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: the government shutdown that the Dems gave us. Why is
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: it that they're a little the voters are worried about
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: the economy, but the economy seems to be doing well.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: It's it's this fear that we're in a precarious moment.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: And so I think both sides went into this saying
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: we want to be the party of stability, of security,
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: of normal and flourishing. That's why Hakim Jeffries told the
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: Democrats hey, be cool and if you can't be cool,
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: don't show up.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You know, I think it's sole Green got thrown out.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Al Green couldn't resist aast.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: At least he had a big sign that he got
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: to walk around with, right he felt, he felt just.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: So, and as signs said blacks aren't apes. Yeah, And
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: I turned. I was sitting next to Todd Young and
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I said, wow, is out Green protesting Gavin Newsom?
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, look like it.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: By the way, Gavin Newsom, he's like the perfect Democrat
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: made in the laboratory, an idiot, open racist goes in
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: front of a crowd of African Americans and goes, I'm
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: just like you, You're stupid and I am too unbelievable.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: The Newsome thing is really frustrating because right now he
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: is the leading candidate for the Democrats, I think, without question,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: and he is bettered at the Munich Security Conference.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Newsome's still the leading candidate.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: And on the one hand, he has these social media
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: posts where he's sitting there performatively reading Beloved by Tony Morrison,
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: performatively reading all these books that.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Are by the way, are you aware that Newsom let
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: himself on fire in social media exchange about Verdict. No,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: so coming back from Munich, did we did a whole
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: show on Munich lighting up AOC and lighting up Newsom
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: and Newsom and Munich said Donald Trump is the first
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: president in history to federalize the National Guard, and so
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: on verdict. I said, Gavin Newsom is historically illiterate. Yes, uh,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: actually you talked about it. I defended your use of
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the English language properly, and so I said that, and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: then he tweeted out he said, calling someone who's dyslexic
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: illiterate is a new low, even for Cruise. And mind you,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: who knew he was dyslexic? I didn't know that.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for a guy that then also claims in a
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: white podcast so he can read a three hundred page
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: book in two hours. Don't forget that came out as well.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: So so much for being majorly dyslexic, right the sign.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: I don't know if you guys saw the memes that
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: were going around. So I lost a bet on this.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: I bet that the Democrats would not have a member
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: ejected from the speech.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: I thought they might have that went down.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Did you actually believe that?
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Though I didn't think that.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: I thought they would listen to HACKEM Jefferies and try
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: to chill, but they can't know Ey Green has no chill,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: so he opens up.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: By the way, there's a very real chance al Green
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: loses his Democrat primary a week from now. Really, yeah, really,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: he's actually in jeopardy. And so I think the antics
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: were partially. Of course, he did his antics last year,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: like waving his cane, which like to embody a grumpy
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: old man, like get off my lawn, you kids.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: It's perfect, but he made it.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: He made a real optical error, which is he unfurled
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: the sign, which from my angle in the gallery I
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: could not see. I said, what's he saying? And I
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: guess the sign said black people aren't apes. But the
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: problem was the way he was holding it, the one,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: the one that I saw. Maybe one of those said
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: that too. The one I also said black people rent apes,
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: which was like an unfortunate any way you slice it,
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: These are very unfortunate optics, And I thought, you know,
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: the Democrat leader in the House asked one thing. He said, hey, guys,
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: please don't look crazy during the speech, and as the
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: President is walking into the room, al Green unfurls this
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: sign and I thought, you have the discipline of a
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: fruit fly, Like, there is no chance they didn't make
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: it five minutes.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: They're insane, all right. I have to ask you guys
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: being there, because one of the best lines of the
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: whole speech, and that was just one of those little
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: kind of tit for tatlines and it but it worked,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: was when he was talking about insider trading and then
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: he said Nancy Pelosi's name, And it was amazing on
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: TV because if you didn't know the story.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Free one, you immediately went to every one of us
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: was there.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was too, But like if you didn't know,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: and then you saw the reaction and you heard the
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: hissing bit whatever it was in the hall. I don't
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: know exactly what they were saying. It was like they
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: were like, you can't say her name, like you know that.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Everybody went and googled insider trading, Nancy Pelosi and then
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: they learned about the story, Like they literally helped him
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: sell the story. What was the reaction from the were
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Democrats mad or what was the reaction.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: You were on the floor, Oh, look, they were mad constantly.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: So is there one I will say though, there's a
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: difference from this year and last year. So last year
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: they went through the entire State of the Union and
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: they didn't applaud. They didn't applaud when Trump walked in.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: They didn't applaud for anything. They just sat from the
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: stone faced and heckled and waved their cane in it.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: This year, before the State of the Union, I actually
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: went to several Democrats and asked them. I said, okay,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: are you guys going to applaud for the US hockey team, like,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: come on? And they all said yes. In fact, several
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: of them had an expletive They said, fys. And I said, look,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: to be clear, last year, you didn't applaud for a
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: kid with cancer. Yeah, question, okay. One of the Democrats
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: who I actually likes, I'm not going to identify it,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: but he's got a good sense of humor. I said
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: that to him and he said, yeah, we hate kids
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: with cancer, which was like, all right, Like, don't argue,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: you just kind of vote it. And I'm like, all right, well,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: well played.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Like they did it again. This year.
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: By the way, there was a little girl who couldn't
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: walk who now and it was the same thing. A
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: good chunk of Democrats would guess they were trying to
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: play the stoic card. It did not read at least
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: from my vantage. I thought it looked really callous because
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: there was no unity within the party, so there was
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: no clear messaging. You know, look that it all seemed
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: pretty disastrous. The question that I have as a as
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: a proper conservative who is always looking for the downside
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: of things just to temper my you know, jubilation. Do
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: you think I think universally the speech was viewed as
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: quite good, quite effective. Does it make a meaningful difference
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: in the midterms?
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: Look, I say it does.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Do you all right? Layout why? I'll tell you why.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: This speech was the things that irritate Republican slash moderate
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: voters about Trump, that it's all about him and he
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: doesn't know when to you know, the mean tweets and
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: the when to shut up, and the things that irritate
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: those that can stay home watching his demeanor tonight. He
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: came across in such a way of like, these guys
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: don't want this, These guys don't put you first, these
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: guys don't do this. He also was giving incredible accolades
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: and awards and the US hockey team. There was momentum there.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: It was one after another. It was one hundred year
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: old man, a veteran. It was the guy who was
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: flying the helicopter, the Chinook and telling a story. He
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: was praising what makes America great and the people that
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: make America great. I actually think that if you are
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: a moderate voter, someone maybe a Republican that traditionally stays
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: home during the terms, I actually think that this speech
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: landed with you more than any other speech of Trump
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: the way it played on TV. I think it also
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: is going to land on the economic issues of him
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: reminding the no tax on tips, the no tax on overtime,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to make life more affordable, the gas prices.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Those are things that I actually think, well, you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: they've been hammering him on all the approval rings at
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: forty this or thirty nine or thirty depending on poll.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I think he gets a bump that actually stays because
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: he landed it so well in the audience, and he
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: looked really calm, He looked really just like I'm doing
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: this because I want to fix the country, and other
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: speeches haven't come across that way.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Always.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let me agree with you in that I think
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the message tonight was the record of the last year.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: The record of the last year, I believe is objectively phenomenal. Yeah.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: And I've been in the Senate now fourteen years. We've
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: never had a year where we accomplished even a fraction
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: of what you have been accomplished in the last year.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, it is staggering. And he did a good job.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: You know, we talked about on the last pod how
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: how I spent thirty forty minutes on the phone with
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Trump last week, and one of the things we talked
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: about was messaging for the midterms, and I said, listen,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: we need to focus on results, on the very real
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: results securing the border, ninety nine percent drop in ELU crossings.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: And then I encouraged him a message that's not getting
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the attention it should is the impact on crime. Yes,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the murder rates have dropped twenty percent, drug overdose deaths
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: have dropped twenty percent. They're literally thousands of Americans who
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: were alive today because Trump was elected and Republicans won Congress.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: It's a great message and that's been lost. And I
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: was really happy, like the first twenty minutes of the
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: speak each were laying out that message and going through
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: murder rates and crime rates and d C rates and
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: like how unhappy the Democrats were that crime rates had
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: plummeted in d C and New Orleans and your hometown
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: of Memphis, Memphis. Yeah, the Democrats were furious that fewer
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: people are being murdered.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: They wouldn't stand up on mass for murder declining. You
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: know this.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: I was looking at the polls and agriate of the
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: polls from just January and February leading into.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: This, And to be fair, the pro murder community in
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: America is pretty small.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: Look, it's a constituency, but it's not the one you want.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: And so I was looking at as agrid of polls, Mayris, PBS,
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: a handful of others. And the hard fact I spoke
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: to some members of Congress about this today. The hard
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: fact is Republicans are underwater on the economy, on economic perception.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: I think you could could turn it around, but right
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: now we're a little bit underwater.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: On healthcare.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: Democrats always went on healthcare and on a defensive demand
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: ocracy or it's kind of a contrived category, but anyway,
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: they went on that. So the ones that we're winning
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: on right now quite decisively are immigration and border enforcement
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: even more so now the border is shut down, and
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: especially on crime. So the key, it seems to me,
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: is one that tells you people are concerned about safety,
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: and two, if you can tie all of that together,
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: the crime relates obviously to illegal immigration, that's why it's
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: called illegal and the housing prices even all the way
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: to the you know the fact that you have six
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: months consecutive decline on housing prices coinciding with Massy petition two.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Million people being deported, and that's just less demand, right
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you know. By the way, like a couple of weeks ago,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the Houston Chronicle had a front page story that said
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: murder rates in Houston have declined eighteen percent. Yep, And
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Heidi showed me the article because you knew. It pissed
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: me off because the article the Chronicles says nobody can
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: figure out why. It's completely inexplicable. The experts we talk
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: about have no idea why the murder rate is dropping,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: and it doesn't occur to them that arresting and deporting
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: murderers and gang bangers will reduce the murder rate. Like
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: it's not this is not rocket science. Yeah, fewer murderers
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: means fewer murders, but yet to Democrats that makes no
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: sense to them, and so that message was good. I
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: also liked on no tax on tips that he had
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the mom who is the waitress stand up and he said,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: between no tax on tips and no tax on overtime,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: she's going to take home five thousand more dollars this
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: year than last year. That was real and it's not abstract.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: And by the way, the Democrats wouldn't appoud for like
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: the mom waiting tables. They're not rooting for her, and
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: they want to take that five thousand dollars and that's
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: real money.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: You know, five thousand dollars is real money. It's not
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: some abstraction. So nuts and bolts. You know, if this
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: was a speech, obviously you're at the midterms. Do you
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: think it moves the needle?
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: I did keep message discipline of focusing on it. Yes.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: By the way, yes, yesterday morning you and I Adam talking
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: about this. I had breakfast a speaker Johnson, and you
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: talk about the reason why I think this one sticks.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: There is a very real sense that Republican leadership have
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: our act together for once that we haven't had in
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: a long time. I also think that matters. Speaker Johnson
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: understands he basically has a one person majority he does
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: not want to have, and President Trump doesn't want to
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: have the Democrats take over the House. It is insanely slim,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: and I think they're working so well together the same
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: way Center that you work so well with the President.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: There does seem to be that we're actually on the
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: same team for once. I've not experienced that many times
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: in my life in the Republican Party. Like there's always
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: the ind fighting. We always not as screw up when
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: we get power. There's different people jocking for positions. There
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: does seem to be a little bit of momentum now
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: that we're on the same team going in the midterms.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: That's the other reason I think this speech will continue
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: in the momentum because you have Johnson others advocating.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Look, I hope so to play devil's advocate. We're a
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: very divided country, and so the people who hate Trump
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: still hate him after the speech for surecause they're not
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: actually listening. I do think Ben, you focused on the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: right area, which is the people who voted for him
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: in twenty four but may be demoralized by the press
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: narrative that has been driven and to the extent this
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: focuses them on, Wow, we're winning some big, big victories.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I also really liked Look the no tax on tips emphasis.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I liked because I wrote that bill. And I really
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: liked his emphasis on the Trump accounts because, as you
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: guys know, I wrote that too, and the Democrats wouldn't
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: applaud for that.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I actually have to pa because I'm sitting
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: in the upper part of the gallery to the right.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: If you're the president.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: Pointing and you didn't get everyone was standing up at
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: certain moments. That was one where I bolted up, and
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: other people were kind of slower. I think they didn't
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: quite process what the Trump accounts meant. I'm really into
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: the Trump accounts. Like the Trump accounts I think are
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: such a white pill, you know, focusing on which is
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: an existential issue. It's so practical, and I'm going to
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: confess something. I should follow this. I'm like, professionally, I'm
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: supposed to follow this closely. I did not know that
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: you were pushing the Trump accounts. You were, I wrote
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: it unbelievable. I should have known, but I didn't know.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: In fact, do you want to hear the story of
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the origin of the Trump accounts. It's a cool story.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: I've told it on the pod, but not in a while.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: So they originated from a poker game in Vegas. So,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: as you guys know, I like poker. And so we're
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: sitting at the Bellagia three in the morning and Phil Hellmuth,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: who's one of the greatest poker players to have ever lived.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Phil would tell you he is the greatest poker player
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: to ever live, and he's got a real argument to it.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: He's got I think fifteen bracelets, so it's crazy.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: That's a lot.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: So we're sitting there playing poker and he asks me,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: he says, hey, do you know Brad Gerster And at
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the time I didn't, I'm like, yeah, who's he? And
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: he's a very successful venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: he has this idea that was called invest America And like,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: what's that? And Phil describes it for a minute and
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: I said, Hey, that sounds like something I'd be really
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: interested in. And so Phil pulls out his phone and
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: he puts together a text thread and connects me and
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Brad and says, you two should should talk. You would
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: really like each other. The next week, Brad gets on
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: a plane, flies to DC, comes to my office and
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: pitches the invest America accounts. I immediately called my policy
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: team in and said, let's start drafting this. So we
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: drafted the legislation. Now, Brad has said for months he
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: had talked to a bunch of other senators and none
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: of them did a damn thing. Huh. He talked to
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: them and they'd all kind of nod and be like, yeah, yeah,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: that's a great idea, and then no one would do anything.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: We sat down and wrote the bill. That is the
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: bill that is Trump Accounts. It was my bill, great
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: that we wrote, and it is literally the case that
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: if Phil Hellmuth does not connect me with Brad Gersner
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: April a year ago, there are no Trump accounts, and
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the American the kids of America do not have trillions
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: and investments, which is what they're going.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: To have through Trump account You know, this is Michael, Michael,
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: you know what I heard there By the way I
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: heard that. Could you imagine the bills that could have
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: been written if you, Michael and I were there at
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: that table, I know, I mean, we could have come
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: up with we could have cured cancer. Maybe at this point.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: We could have ended the ninth and tenth Wars.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: That could have added to the record State Department, the
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: ending of the Michael and Ben Warres.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I like this.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: You know, the thing that I love about the Trump
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Accounts in particular from the Republican coalitional standpoint, is there,
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: you know, the right always has all these different ideological
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: factions because we're more independent thinkers, and the left has
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: progressives and very progressives and John Fetterman, I guess, and
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: we you know, we kind of have all these divisions.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: And so one of the divisions that's come about in
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: recent years, last five or ten years, is people who
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: are focused on more the common good, you know, kind
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: of an Aristotelian view of politics, and people are more
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: focused on the libertarian view that comes from classical liberalism.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Up through Sayhayek.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: And what I love about the Trump accounts is it
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: actually marries the two. It's this beautiful It just hits
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: this sweet spot. It's good that no flattery because I
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: actually didn't even know you were behind it.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: That is really good.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: By the way, we had Brad on Verdict, you know,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: he's he's come on Verdict and talked about the whole
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: idea and Brad came up with the idea with his
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: two teenage sons and they spent years pushing it, and
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Brad was there and recognized by the President of the
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: State of the Union. So Brad had put together a
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: CEO's council behind the Invest America accounts, and the chairman
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: of it was Michael Dell. And Michael's a good friend
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: of mine. He's a Texan and we spent a lot
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: of time together. And the CEOs had all committed that
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: they would contributor match to Trump accounts. So they are
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: two accelerators that are written into these Trump accounts that
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: make them even more potent. Number one is that employers
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: can contributor match. And listen, when Congress passed Section four
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: oh one K of ARISA, nobody knew how fundamentally they
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: were changing how Americans save for retirement. Today, there's more
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: than twelve trillion dollars in four to one K accounts.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Trump accounts are four to one case for kids, So
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: in very short order you're going to see trillions of
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: dollars in there. The two accelerators, one is that employers
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: can contributor match, and so all the employers on the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: CEO Council had already committed we're going to contributor match.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: This is going to become a ubiquitous as standard employee benefit,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: just like a four to one K contribution is a
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: pretty standard employee benefit. You're gonna see employers. We're already
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: seeing a bunch who will match or contribute to the
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Trump accounts of the kids of their employees. So that
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: accelerates massively. The second thing, and we deliberately wrote this
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: so that it can accept philanthropy and it can accept
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: charitable gifts. And as you know, Michael and Susan Dell
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: have given six and a quarter billion dollars and what
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: they've given is two hundred and fifty dollars for America's
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fiftyth birthday, to every child in America
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: under age ten who lives in a zip code where
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the median income is one hundred and fifty thousand or less.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: And so we wrote it so you can turn the dials.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: You can turn the dials geographically, you can turn the
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: dials age wise, you can turn the dials income wise.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: So Michael's done that. Brad Gerstner has given two hundred
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: and fifty dollars to every kid in Indiana under age
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: five in zip codes with median income of one hundred
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: and fifty thousand or less. And Ray Dalio, the Hedge
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Fund billionaire, has sponsored the kids in Connecticut. And I
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: actually have talked to a number of gazillionaires and Michael,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Dell and Brad are getting on zooms and talking to
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: people with great wealth. That's awesome, encouraging them give your resources.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: And here Michael and I have talked at length about that,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: and one of the things that he got excited about. So, look,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Michael and Susan have between one hundred billion and two
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: hundred million dollars, like it's a massive amount of money,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: and they're smart and responsible, and so they've had serious
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: conversations about how do you give away your fortune? And look,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: you look at people who have achieved great fortunes. They
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: create a foundation. The foundation gets taken over by a
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: bunch of Marxists who spend all their money undermining everything
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: the founders believe. Every time Henry Ford is rolling over
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: in his grave, John D. Rockefeller is spitting in his grave.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: And one of the problems with that much money is
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: it's hard to give it away. Most charities can't take
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: a billion dollars like it's too much money and it
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: swamps them. So Michael and Susan have given six and
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: a quarter billion dollars, but they've told me they are
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: contemplating giving much much more than that.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: One of the things that's really powerful about these Trump
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: accounts is they're infinitely scalable. They could literally absorb the
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: entirety of Michael Dell's fortune and the fortune of every
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: other gazillionaire. And what is really potent is the time
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: value of investing. Look, if someone starts saving or investing
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: when they're sixty, it's hard for it to grow and
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: accumulate enough to be really significant by the time they
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: were retiring. What makes the Trump account so incredibly potent
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: is we're starting at age zero, We're starting at baby,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: So you've got a time horizon where the kids of
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: a single mom waiting table can accumulate hundreds of thousands
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: and even millions of dollars. And so for philanthropy, the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: math is powerful. If you put another thousand dollars in
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: at the outset, it really really grows. And so that's
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: something that is going to be really significant to speed
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: these up and and the point Michael you made, which
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: which got me really excited, is we're creating a new
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: generation of capitalists that every kid will have skin in
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: the game and be an owner of the biggest employers
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: in America.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: I thought this was a really important point.
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: The President touched on well one that the Trump Accounts
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: just do that, so it gives people skin in the game.
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: Even when the President pointed out only half of Americans
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: have access to for a one case, yeah, they said,
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: we want to we want to bring that other half of.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Them, let them opt in to the thrift Savings plan.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: That's an idea I've talked with the President in the
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: White House about. I think it's a brilliant idea. I
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: strongly support it. I'm working on legislation to do that
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: as well, to codify that right because it's look, the
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: more you can create investors, get people with equity. And
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: one of the important things about how how the administration
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: is designing the Trump Accounts app is that it is
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: not gonna simply say you've got X dollar in the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: s and P.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: Five hundred.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: It's gonna break down every constituent stock they own within it.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: So a ten year old will be able to see
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: I own one hundred bucks of Apple or Tesla or
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: Ford or McDonald's, and they'll see so so a kid
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: won't be rooting. I hate evil corporations. I want them
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: to fail. They're gonna be like, wait, I own that corporation.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: I want them to do better. That changes their whole worldview.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: It makes them capitalists. You know it.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: Even during one of the big crises of capitalism in
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: the early twentieth century, where you had real excesses of
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: industrialization that created you know, like child labor and all
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: this stuff, there was this movement among serious Christian thinkers
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: to try to resolve these tensions between capitalism and the
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: working poor, and there were all these Chesterton had a
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: version with Bellock distributism. But the whole point, and there's
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: didn't really work. But the whole point was you need
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: people to really have a steak in the society in
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: following subsidiarity. And you know, all these principles that are
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: so enshrined in the American system too, and this really
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: does that where you think, oh, I have a steak
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: in the corporations.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: I have a steak. By the way, I.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Miss geeky, cerebral academic stuff on the pod. I will
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: say the sort of tenor of verdict has shifted. I
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: don't know why. I can't imagine the cause, but I'm
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: just saying, you know, I'm having a loft of nostalgia.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: There's a little more Chesterton comes it.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, all the people that just tells the wakes back up.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: I got you back, keep going, wake up. Our audience
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: level just went like this, but we're back now. They're
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: all awake again. Make your final point.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Go ahead.
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: This this key is really important, because this is what
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: really jazzed me about it. I don't like it when
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: the right fractures into a million directions, because you know,
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: I feel for Speaker Johnson. He has the worst job
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: in all of politics. Yes, he has to hurt a
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: bunch of cats. They all have all sorts of views,
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: they have all sorts of principles, some of which conflict
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: with each other, and so it's hard to get the
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: right to do anything together.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: And he is a good and decent Man's amazing.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's one.
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: He's a wonderful guy, and he's doing a great He
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: happens to also be doing a great job. But I
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: just think what the President was speaking on, especially these
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: kinds of issues. These are the kind of things that
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: can actually rally the way together with moderate voters, frankly
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: even central right.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: So who don't want the crazy.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: Final question for each of you quickly, as we are
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: hitting about an hour here in our say the union
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: coverage over under on the midterms. Now, how much better
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: do you feel going at leaving the end of the
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: night compared to going into the beginning of the speech tonight.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: How much more optimistic are we can hold the house.
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: Hold the House. It's going to be very hard in
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: my view to hold the House. I would say, look,
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: I feel I'll just pick a number. I feel twenty
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: percent better. If the Republicans can stay on message, if
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: the Republicans cannot devolve into petty in fighting, if the
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: Republicans can be disciplined in the way they campaign.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: These are all, you know. If wishes were horses, beggars
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: would ride.
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: I still think historic headwins best of circumstances. The party
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: and power, especially with unified government, loses the House in
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: the midterms.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: However, I think that the President did every.
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: Single thing possible to put the party in an advantage
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: heading into the center.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: And look my view right now, the political environment is rough. Yes,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: if the election were today, it would not be a
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: great outcome. We are nationally in about a D plus
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: six environment. What that means it is where polling is
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: nationally is about six points more Democrat than it was
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: an election day in twenty twenty four. If we're in
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: a D plus six environment, we lose the House, and
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: then it is potentially in jeopardy. Crazy if the election
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: were today, that would be a real possibility. The good
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: news is we got eight months and the substantive record
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: is phenomenally good. It's not just a little bit good,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: it is insanely good. And so tonight was encouraging because
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Trump focused most of his time on laying out methodically
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: that substantive record and just how good it is and
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: what we have to do. I mean, I do like
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: that we have eight months. Most Americans don't know all
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: these victories we're winning exactly, and so our task is
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: communicate the victories that are making a real difference in
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: people's lives. But the good news is we have a
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: monster amount of substance to talk about. We just need
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: to talk about it. And I think if we make
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: that case, we could certainly keep the House and the
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Senate and grow our majorities in bode.
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: There you go, don't forget.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Share this podcast wherever you can with your family and
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: your friends, and see you back here tomorrow