1
00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:01,720
Speaker 1: Welcome.

2
00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:04,640
Speaker 2: It is verdict was Senator Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with

3
00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,360
Speaker 2: you as well. And we are going to obviously talk

4
00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,920
Speaker 2: about the most famous mugshot I think in political history

5
00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,360
Speaker 2: of Donald Trump coming out of Georgia. What this means

6
00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,560
Speaker 2: to the campaign. We're going to do that for you

7
00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:18,920
Speaker 2: in a second. But we're also going to talk about

8
00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,120
Speaker 2: the presidential debate. Now here's the cool part. We're going

9
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:23,520
Speaker 2: to talk about what it's like to be in a

10
00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:27,720
Speaker 2: presidential debate, how you prep for presidential debate, and what

11
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:29,600
Speaker 2: it's like to walk out there for the first time,

12
00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:31,920
Speaker 2: because for many of these people they had never been

13
00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:35,040
Speaker 2: in this position before. Senator you watch the debate, give

14
00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,720
Speaker 2: us your overall review of this debate, this first debate

15
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:40,920
Speaker 2: with Donald Trump not showing up. Was that smart of

16
00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000
Speaker 2: him not to show up? And how did you think

17
00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:44,159
Speaker 2: people did on that stage?

18
00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 3: Well, look, I thought everyone did a good job on

19
00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:54,640
Speaker 3: Wednesday night. That being said, I think there were clear

20
00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,960
Speaker 3: winners that came out of the night. And to my view,

21
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,160
Speaker 3: there were four winners that came out of the debate.

22
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,319
Speaker 3: Number one was Vivek Ramaswami. He had a very strong

23
00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:08,880
Speaker 3: performance that night. Many Americans had ever heard of him,

24
00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,360
Speaker 3: didn't know him, and I think he impressed a lot

25
00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,000
Speaker 3: of people. His stock went up. He's going to raise

26
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 3: a lot of money off of that. He's going to

27
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,840
Speaker 3: go up in the polls, particularly in the early primary states.

28
00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,280
Speaker 3: I think Secondly, Nikki Hayley did well.

29
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:28,720
Speaker 4: On Wednesday Night. She was crisp, she was strong.

30
00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,960
Speaker 3: She was aiming for a different slice of the electric

31
00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:36,160
Speaker 3: She was not going for the Maga America first slice.

32
00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,639
Speaker 3: She was not particularly going for conservative. She was aiming

33
00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,600
Speaker 3: much more for the establishment lane.

34
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:44,839
Speaker 4: But she was.

35
00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,800
Speaker 3: Aggressive, smart, well prepared, and I think she strengthened herself.

36
00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,480
Speaker 3: She had been out of the news for a while

37
00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,800
Speaker 3: and I think she enhanced her standing Wednesday night. The

38
00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:01,560
Speaker 3: third person who I think advanced himself somewhat is Mike Penn. Now, look,

39
00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:03,560
Speaker 3: Mike is a friend. Actually, all these guys, I know

40
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,920
Speaker 3: everyone on the stage well, but Mike is a good man.

41
00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:09,600
Speaker 3: Mike had been having a tough time. He had not

42
00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:11,920
Speaker 3: been getting a lot of traction, and I think he

43
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,040
Speaker 3: was pugnacious. He was in there fighting. I think he

44
00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:21,320
Speaker 3: made a deliberate play for evangelical voters, in particular in Iowa.

45
00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:23,799
Speaker 3: I think there were several of his answers that were

46
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,320
Speaker 3: directed very much at evangelical voters, and I think he

47
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,240
Speaker 3: probably helped himself. He reminded I mean, Mike is is

48
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,520
Speaker 3: a Christian, a strong believer, and I think he reminded

49
00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,720
Speaker 3: people what they've always liked about Mike Pence. I think

50
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,120
Speaker 3: he enhanced himself somewhat on Wednesday Night, But none of

51
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,200
Speaker 3: the three of those were the biggest winners. I think,

52
00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:48,040
Speaker 3: by far the biggest winner Wednesday night was Donald Trump,

53
00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,560
Speaker 3: and I think Trump was very happy with everything that

54
00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:55,680
Speaker 3: went down. And the reason for that is severalfold.

55
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:56,200
Speaker 4: Number one.

56
00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,320
Speaker 3: Obviously, Trump didn't show up, and by not showing up,

57
00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,080
Speaker 3: he forces a dynamic on the entire debate.

58
00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:06,880
Speaker 4: That it's very difficult to avoid.

59
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,160
Speaker 3: The analogy of you think back in twenty sixteen, when

60
00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,440
Speaker 3: there were two debate stages, the main debate stage for

61
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,280
Speaker 3: the candidates that were leading in the polls, and then

62
00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,480
Speaker 3: they had a second debate stage for the candidates that

63
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:22,000
Speaker 3: were relatively low in the polls, and almost everyone referred

64
00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,960
Speaker 3: to the second stage as the kiddie table. And I

65
00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:33,000
Speaker 3: think by Trump's absence, it had the effect of diminishing everyone.

66
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,200
Speaker 4: On that stage, and I think that's what he wanted.

67
00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:35,800
Speaker 4: I think that was his intention. He has a big

68
00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:37,640
Speaker 4: lead in the polls, but.

69
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,040
Speaker 3: I think his absence made it feel like he's on

70
00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,840
Speaker 3: a stage by himself and everyone else is on the

71
00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:49,440
Speaker 3: other stage fighting between themselves. But secondly, and this is

72
00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,760
Speaker 3: the biggest reason why I think Trump was benefited. You

73
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:54,880
Speaker 3: and I have talked about before, how I think this

74
00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:01,760
Speaker 3: primary is principally a two person race, person race between

75
00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:03,080
Speaker 3: Trump and Ron DeSantis.

76
00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:04,440
Speaker 4: Uh.

77
00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,320
Speaker 3: DeSantis did fine on Wednesday night. He didn't screw anything up,

78
00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:09,360
Speaker 3: he didn't have any gaffs.

79
00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 4: UH.

80
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,000
Speaker 3: But he did not dominate. He did not own that stage.

81
00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,719
Speaker 3: He was not clearly head and shoulders above the rest.

82
00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,599
Speaker 4: Uh. And and for the DeSantis campaign, that's a problem. Uh.

83
00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:27,839
Speaker 3: In particular, the problem for DeSantis is what I started

84
00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:35,040
Speaker 3: by saying that Vivek and Hayley, h and Pence all

85
00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,840
Speaker 3: did quite well. I think all three of them are

86
00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,000
Speaker 3: going to enhance their numbers. And if their numbers are

87
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 3: going to be enhanced, that comes out of DeSantis's hide.

88
00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 4: Ye.

89
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 3: For DeSantis to have a shot at beating Trump, it's

90
00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:51,839
Speaker 3: got to be a two man race. And so the

91
00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:54,640
Speaker 3: reason why I think Trump was the biggest winner Wednesday

92
00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,960
Speaker 3: night is that I think after the debate there were

93
00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,360
Speaker 3: more tenders gaining traction. And the more the contenders are

94
00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,360
Speaker 3: splitting support among multiple candidates, the better off Trump is.

95
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,400
Speaker 3: And and so that's why I think the Trump team

96
00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:12,760
Speaker 3: was very happy when the debate was over, because he

97
00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,560
Speaker 3: looked at the field and saw the Veke gaining a

98
00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,400
Speaker 3: few points, Haley gating a few points, Pence gaining a

99
00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:24,279
Speaker 3: few points, and if they're splintered, that makes it much

100
00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,559
Speaker 3: harder for anyone on that stage to credibly go after

101
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:28,799
Speaker 3: Trump when he's got.

102
00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,440
Speaker 4: A thirty forty point lead over the field.

103
00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:37,919
Speaker 3: And I didn't see anything Wednesday night that significantly changed

104
00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,679
Speaker 3: the dynamic of the large advantage Trump has.

105
00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:43,000
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes there's a little bit of humor that

106
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,960
Speaker 2: you have in these moments. I'd started my podcast this

107
00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,080
Speaker 2: Morning Center by saying, well, it was an incredible vice

108
00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,360
Speaker 2: presidential I'm sorry, I mean presidential debate, but that's kind

109
00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,880
Speaker 2: of what you're saying in a sense is no one

110
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,920
Speaker 2: really moved up, and it's a significant way or solidified

111
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,400
Speaker 2: or really took away from the group overall to challenge Trump,

112
00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,560
Speaker 2: who's still probably fifty points ahead. And again, you can

113
00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:09,200
Speaker 2: lose a lot of the debate if you're the winner,

114
00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,200
Speaker 2: if you're the leader, I should say, but you can

115
00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:14,880
Speaker 2: you can lose a lot very quickly if you're the

116
00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,080
Speaker 2: If you're the leader and you don't perform really well, Trump,

117
00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,400
Speaker 2: not even having to show up his poll numbers, are

118
00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:22,760
Speaker 2: going to probably say exactly the same this next week.

119
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,479
Speaker 4: Would you agree, Yeah, I think that's right.

120
00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:28,839
Speaker 3: I think Trump will continue to have a very strong

121
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,279
Speaker 3: position in the Republican primary. Now I've also said I

122
00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:34,280
Speaker 3: don't think the primary is over. I think everyone that

123
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,479
Speaker 3: is trying to say Okay, it's it's done is looking

124
00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,960
Speaker 3: at it from an a historical lens. I think that

125
00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:45,360
Speaker 3: we still have a vigorous primary ahead of us. But look,

126
00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 3: several things could happen in primaries, in primary debates. Number one,

127
00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,880
Speaker 3: in a debate, someone can screw something up badly. Someone

128
00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,560
Speaker 3: can tank their their campaign. I don't think anyone did

129
00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,680
Speaker 3: that Wednesday night. So no one, no one had a

130
00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,640
Speaker 3: major gaff, no one had a moment that that is

131
00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:03,279
Speaker 3: likely to be fatal to their campaign.

132
00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:04,000
Speaker 4: That's important.

133
00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,640
Speaker 3: Secondly, you can have a candidate that has a breakthrough

134
00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,840
Speaker 3: moment that just energizes, raises a mountain of money, soars

135
00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,880
Speaker 3: in the polls, and that's happened a number of times.

136
00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:17,640
Speaker 4: I don't think that happened either.

137
00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,360
Speaker 3: I think the winners on that stage that I was

138
00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:26,440
Speaker 3: discussing our relative winners and marginal winners. I think the

139
00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,600
Speaker 3: three candidates I identified are likely to gain some of

140
00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:32,480
Speaker 3: the polls. They'll gain a couple of points, they'll gain

141
00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:34,720
Speaker 3: some momentum, They'll raise some money. And that's actually the

142
00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:37,280
Speaker 3: money piece is a big chunk of it. You saw

143
00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,880
Speaker 3: in their closing statements several of the candidates pitch their

144
00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:45,320
Speaker 3: websites that's a good debate, can raise you millions of dollars.

145
00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,120
Speaker 3: And for all of these candidates, most of these campaigns

146
00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,920
Speaker 3: are gasping on fumes. And so that's one component is

147
00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,560
Speaker 3: they need the funds to make it to the next debate,

148
00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:00,440
Speaker 3: to make it through. Look, there's a reason presidential candidates

149
00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,239
Speaker 3: drop out. It's almost always the same reason they go bronk.

150
00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:04,200
Speaker 1: Yeah.

151
00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's when when campaigns end is when they can

152
00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,840
Speaker 3: no longer keep the lights on, they can no longer

153
00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,240
Speaker 3: pay the staff, they can no longer travel, they can

154
00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,280
Speaker 3: no longer communicate to communicate and politics takes money, and

155
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:23,640
Speaker 3: and in my view, the fact that other candidates got

156
00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:29,240
Speaker 3: traction hurts the de Santus campaign. Now, I don't think

157
00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,160
Speaker 3: the Santus had any bad moments. I think he had

158
00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:36,160
Speaker 3: some good moments Wednesday night. I just don't think there

159
00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:42,839
Speaker 3: was a meaningful gulf between DeSantis and the other candidates

160
00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,520
Speaker 3: on the stage. And and in a campaign where you're

161
00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:48,040
Speaker 3: trying to make it a two man race between you

162
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,600
Speaker 3: and Trump, that's not ideal.

163
00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:54,560
Speaker 2: I want to tell you about amazing trip that we

164
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,080
Speaker 2: as Verdict listeners are going to be taking to the

165
00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,920
Speaker 2: Holy Land Israel. Israel is the of Judaism, Christianity and

166
00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,640
Speaker 2: many of the principles that we hold dear as Americans.

167
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,319
Speaker 2: And I want you to join me and many other

168
00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:13,920
Speaker 2: listeners as we visit sites like the Armageddon Battlefield, Nazareth, Jericho, Jerusalem, Bethlehem.

169
00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,640
Speaker 2: You're also on this trip going to set sail on

170
00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:18,720
Speaker 2: the Sea of Galilee, and you're going to float on

171
00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,439
Speaker 2: the Dead Sea. We're going to walk in the footsteps

172
00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,840
Speaker 2: of biblical figures like King David and Jesus Christ, and

173
00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,079
Speaker 2: you're going to do it all together with other listeners

174
00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,240
Speaker 2: from around the country. Now, I'm going to meet up

175
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,040
Speaker 2: with you in Jerusalem and you're going to experience the

176
00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,680
Speaker 2: city and some of the most amazing sites like the

177
00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 2: Western Wall, the Temple mount The trip is going to

178
00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:42,480
Speaker 2: deepen your understanding of the Bible and of Western civilization.

179
00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,720
Speaker 2: We're also going to have with us a spiritual advisor

180
00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,640
Speaker 2: pastor who's going to talk at each site about the

181
00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:52,719
Speaker 2: significance in the Bible. With this trip, it is going

182
00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,720
Speaker 2: to be incredible. Now you've got time to plan because

183
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:57,959
Speaker 2: the trip's going to take place May the sixth through

184
00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,040
Speaker 2: the fifteenth of twenty twenty four. Now, the good news

185
00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:04,000
Speaker 2: is this is trip is amazing and it's signing. People

186
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,360
Speaker 2: are signing up fast, so you need to find out

187
00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:08,560
Speaker 2: and book your spot now before it's too late. You

188
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:13,640
Speaker 2: can go right now to Christian Expedition dot com slash ben.

189
00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,920
Speaker 2: It's Christian Expedition dot com slash ben. You can also

190
00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,440
Speaker 2: call them and get the information got and find out

191
00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:22,880
Speaker 2: everything you need to know about this once in a

192
00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:27,040
Speaker 2: lifetime trip to Israel. Eight seven seven two three four

193
00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:31,800
Speaker 2: three zero zero two. That's eight seven seven two three

194
00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:36,359
Speaker 2: four three zero zero two or online it Christian Expedition

195
00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:41,320
Speaker 2: dot com slash Ben sentater, I wanna I want you

196
00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:43,880
Speaker 2: to pull back the curtain for everybody, because I've got

197
00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:45,920
Speaker 2: a million questions that I want to ask. And I

198
00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,840
Speaker 2: was around your campaign in twenty sixteen, but there's very

199
00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,240
Speaker 2: few that see what happen when it comes to debate prep,

200
00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,760
Speaker 2: when it comes into the days and the hours before

201
00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,240
Speaker 2: a debate, the nerves that obviously everyone on stage is

202
00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:03,880
Speaker 2: going to feel in some point, especially in your first debate.

203
00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,040
Speaker 2: Take us back to twenty sixteen. How did you prep

204
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,440
Speaker 2: for that first president of debate? Like so many were

205
00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,160
Speaker 2: having to prep for last night? And you had debated

206
00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,440
Speaker 2: in college, you had debated when you're running for senate.

207
00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,040
Speaker 2: But did it feel different when you were running for

208
00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,880
Speaker 2: president and that first debate? And what was your goal

209
00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:25,280
Speaker 2: for success as a candidate when you walk up there

210
00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:26,440
Speaker 2: night one of a debate?

211
00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:32,319
Speaker 4: Yeah? Well, first of all, does it feel different? Absolutely?

212
00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:37,319
Speaker 3: And I guarantee you everyone on that stage was unbelievably nervous.

213
00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,640
Speaker 3: I'm not someone who feels a whole lot of nerves

214
00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:46,880
Speaker 3: very often, but I distinctly remember that first debate in Cleveland.

215
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,880
Speaker 3: Twenty four million people watched that first debate, and I

216
00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,160
Speaker 3: remember before the debate, you go out and you do

217
00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:55,480
Speaker 3: a walk through sort of a practice where they show

218
00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:57,360
Speaker 3: you where your podium is, and you stand on the

219
00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,800
Speaker 3: stage and you look up this couple hours for the

220
00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,480
Speaker 3: bait starts. And I remember standing there and just.

221
00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:03,520
Speaker 4: Looking up and up and up.

222
00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,800
Speaker 3: And it was a big, big auditorium in Cleveland, and

223
00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,280
Speaker 3: and it kind of takes your breath away. You're like, Okay,

224
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,800
Speaker 3: they're shooting with real bullets here tonight, right like this

225
00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:19,320
Speaker 3: this is for real. Everyone was feeling that on Wednesday night,

226
00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,920
Speaker 3: and and and that It's just it is a huge stage.

227
00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:26,600
Speaker 3: Part of the reason that the debates matter so much.

228
00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:30,199
Speaker 3: So much of a presidential debate is and so much

229
00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:34,320
Speaker 3: of a presidential campaign is driven by the media cycle

230
00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,400
Speaker 3: is driven by what the news chooses to cover. And look,

231
00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,320
Speaker 3: our corporate media is thoroughly corrupt, and so if you

232
00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:43,439
Speaker 3: have a campaign that you're trying to drive a message,

233
00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,800
Speaker 3: it can be maddeningly infuriating when the media is doing

234
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,200
Speaker 3: everything they can to frustrate your message and push the

235
00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,480
Speaker 3: message they want. And debates are one of the very

236
00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,160
Speaker 3: few instances where you can go around the media gatekeepers

237
00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:00,800
Speaker 3: and go straight to the voters and and they, in

238
00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,040
Speaker 3: the course of a presidential campaign, debates have the power

239
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,680
Speaker 3: to change the entire trajectory of a debate, either to

240
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,680
Speaker 3: take a candidate out. Look if you remember in twenty

241
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,320
Speaker 3: sixteen the New Hampshire debate where Chris Christie went after

242
00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,600
Speaker 3: Marco Rubio hard and I was standing just a few

243
00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,240
Speaker 3: feet away from from Christy and I got to tell you, look,

244
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,040
Speaker 3: it's it may be the only time in my life

245
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:30,640
Speaker 3: I've been physically present for homicide. I mean, holy cow,

246
00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:33,320
Speaker 3: Christy went after him, and I kind of just sort

247
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:34,560
Speaker 3: of stepped back.

248
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:35,520
Speaker 4: I sort of.

249
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,440
Speaker 3: Figuratively pulled out a newspaper and just kind of read

250
00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,080
Speaker 3: my newspaper, said, you know, never mind, proceed, I'm not

251
00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,439
Speaker 3: saying stop, just just leave me out of this. And

252
00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,719
Speaker 3: it was and Christy just he wouldn't give up.

253
00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:49,520
Speaker 4: I mean, he just.

254
00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:53,400
Speaker 3: Kept pounding and pounding, and you know, there were a

255
00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,360
Speaker 3: few of us thinking, all right, enough, christ you made

256
00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:56,840
Speaker 3: your point.

257
00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:57,719
Speaker 4: But it was it.

258
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,760
Speaker 3: It changed the course of that debate. In that campaign,

259
00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:07,679
Speaker 3: there are other moments where were a candidate soars and

260
00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:13,600
Speaker 3: and they can suddenly get get energy. You know, if

261
00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:17,400
Speaker 3: you remember one of the early debates where where John

262
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:23,200
Speaker 3: Harwood from CNBC was blasting every candidate and just being nasty,

263
00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:28,760
Speaker 3: was insulting every candidate, was was drippingly condescending, as I remember,

264
00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,360
Speaker 3: left wing reporter, and it came to me and I

265
00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,520
Speaker 3: just unloaded on him, and and my point was, look, dude,

266
00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,440
Speaker 3: this is not about you, this is not your chance.

267
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,920
Speaker 3: You're a friggin Marxist. You intend to vote for the Democrat.

268
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,760
Speaker 3: You want everyone on the stage to lose, and you're

269
00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,120
Speaker 3: just insulting every person here. But you know what, the

270
00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,240
Speaker 3: American people and Republican primary voters actually give a damn.

271
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:56,200
Speaker 3: And and I kind of took his head off, and

272
00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,160
Speaker 3: I got to tell you, the impact that our campaign

273
00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:02,200
Speaker 3: was astonishing. I mean we had that night, like as

274
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:06,240
Speaker 3: the debate was ongoing, suddenly our fundraising exploded. I think

275
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:08,400
Speaker 3: I think we raised over a million bucks the next day.

276
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:10,680
Speaker 3: I mean, it was Pete.

277
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:11,200
Speaker 4: It was a moment.

278
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:12,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was the moment.

279
00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,040
Speaker 2: I remember watching it and I was sitting there when

280
00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,960
Speaker 2: that happened, and I was watching it, and obviously I

281
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,080
Speaker 2: was yelling at the TV. I was there at that

282
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,760
Speaker 2: debate and we were I was back in a green

283
00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,680
Speaker 2: room getting ready to do TV afterwards, and it was

284
00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,080
Speaker 2: like that is a moment that everybody in the room

285
00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,760
Speaker 2: was writing down on their notebook because everyone referenced that

286
00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,120
Speaker 2: not on TV like this was a moment in the

287
00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:36,560
Speaker 2: debate that no one was going to forget well.

288
00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,680
Speaker 3: And the mechanics of what happens when you have a

289
00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:45,040
Speaker 3: moment that that resonates your fundraising explodes. And I remember

290
00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,360
Speaker 3: we went back out on the roads and suddenly our

291
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:52,320
Speaker 3: crowds that had been three four hundred became a thousand.

292
00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:57,080
Speaker 3: Like it it the impact was almost instantaneous that that

293
00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:59,600
Speaker 3: people are like, hey, I want to see with this

294
00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:04,200
Speaker 3: campaign is about. And so there's very little in a

295
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,880
Speaker 3: campaign that has the potential of a debate to change

296
00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:17,360
Speaker 3: the underlying dynamic powerfully. And last night, as I said,

297
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:22,080
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone had a disqualifying gaff that killed them.

298
00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,560
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone had a dominant breakout. But I

299
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:27,880
Speaker 3: do think Vivek had the best performance of the night.

300
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:30,800
Speaker 1: I and is that because we didn't know him.

301
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,800
Speaker 2: I mean, it's easier for people to go notice you

302
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,200
Speaker 2: if they haven't seen you before. Everybody else on stage

303
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,640
Speaker 2: people had kind of seen I thought it was one

304
00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:40,800
Speaker 2: of those moments where it's like, oh, I noticed you

305
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,200
Speaker 2: now in the room, and you were look like I

306
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,480
Speaker 2: think part of it was this. He looked like he

307
00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,880
Speaker 2: was genuinely having fun and happy to be there.

308
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:49,480
Speaker 4: He was having a blast.

309
00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:51,560
Speaker 3: The two people who had the most fun on that

310
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,560
Speaker 3: stage were Vivek and Chris Christy. Yea, and listen, Christy

311
00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:57,840
Speaker 3: has the advantage he's done this before, and it's just

312
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,600
Speaker 3: different when you've done it before. He he was the

313
00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:04,200
Speaker 3: one least scared to be there, and he walked out

314
00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:06,840
Speaker 3: on that stage and his objective is to beat the

315
00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,439
Speaker 3: crap out of Donald Trump. And he's just gonna stand

316
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,960
Speaker 3: there and just pound Trump. And that's that's what he's

317
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:13,760
Speaker 3: decided to do, and he was having fun with it.

318
00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:20,840
Speaker 3: Vivek is smart and he I'm sure he was nervous,

319
00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:25,040
Speaker 3: but he seemed very relaxed. It was actually impressive to

320
00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,200
Speaker 3: be to come across as relaxed as he as he did,

321
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,240
Speaker 3: given what surely were the nerves he was feeling. Now,

322
00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:35,640
Speaker 3: you asked about the prep session, So, so everyone prepares differently.

323
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,159
Speaker 3: Often people prepare by They will sit down and do

324
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,840
Speaker 3: a moot and they will get other people to play

325
00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:43,400
Speaker 3: the other.

326
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,679
Speaker 4: Candidates, and that can be it.

327
00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,040
Speaker 3: We did a little bit of it at the beginning,

328
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:52,840
Speaker 3: but that's not actually how we did our principal preparation.

329
00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:58,040
Speaker 3: So fairly early on our debate prep, we would typically

330
00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,680
Speaker 3: spend at least a full day, in some times two

331
00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,480
Speaker 3: full days preparing for a debate, and we just block

332
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,760
Speaker 3: the time off and not be out campaigning, not doing fundraisers,

333
00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,080
Speaker 3: just just be locked at a conference room. And I

334
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:15,160
Speaker 3: treated debate prep the same way I treated Supreme Court

335
00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,240
Speaker 3: oral arguments. So I've argued nine cases in front of

336
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,399
Speaker 3: the Supreme Court, I've done a lot of oral argument preps,

337
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,760
Speaker 3: and sort of like for a Supreme Court oral argument,

338
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,960
Speaker 3: many people do moots where you stand up and have

339
00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,520
Speaker 3: people pretend to be Supreme Court justices and ask questions,

340
00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,560
Speaker 3: and I've done a lot of those. But actually, particularly

341
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,239
Speaker 3: as I did more and more arguments, I tended to

342
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:40,239
Speaker 3: favor getting really really smart people in the room and

343
00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:44,159
Speaker 3: then talking through Okay, what do we want to do,

344
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,160
Speaker 3: so let me let me address it from the Supreme

345
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,720
Speaker 3: Court perspective first and then apply it to the debate.

346
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:51,679
Speaker 3: So for a Supreme Court oral argument, I'd have a

347
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,920
Speaker 3: really smart team of lawyers, Supreme Court advocates, experienced constitutional

348
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,359
Speaker 3: lawyers sit around the table, and I'd be one question.

349
00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:01,400
Speaker 3: I would always say, ask, is all right, what are

350
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,879
Speaker 3: our must raise points? What are the points where if

351
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,000
Speaker 3: when my argument is done and I sit down, I

352
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,440
Speaker 3: have not said I'm gonna kick myself, I'm gonna be

353
00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,960
Speaker 3: like you idiot, you had to say this point. And

354
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:17,399
Speaker 3: so I would go into any oral argument with a

355
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:22,359
Speaker 3: one pager of typically three to five must raise points

356
00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,360
Speaker 3: that I thought were the most important points. They were

357
00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:27,600
Speaker 3: what I wanted the justices to hear and know, and

358
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:29,960
Speaker 3: I was going to make sure to make them. That's

359
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,679
Speaker 3: part of debate prep figuring out, Okay, what are the

360
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,439
Speaker 3: points that are most important for you to say. Another

361
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:40,960
Speaker 3: part of debate prep is what's your strategy? And they

362
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,960
Speaker 3: are different times, So I'll tell you how we would

363
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,119
Speaker 3: approach it. We would talk about whether you want to

364
00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,240
Speaker 3: how vigorously you want to engage with other candidates on

365
00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:56,639
Speaker 3: the stage, and that depends on strategically and tactically where

366
00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,800
Speaker 3: you are. There were debates where we said, okay, we're

367
00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 3: go to mix it up. We're gonna and the analogy

368
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,480
Speaker 3: we always used is we're going to scrape some paint

369
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,240
Speaker 3: off the doors. We're gonna get out in a demolition

370
00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,639
Speaker 3: derby and mix it up and take some shots and

371
00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:13,679
Speaker 3: have some shots back and forth, and that there are.

372
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,240
Speaker 4: Times when you need to do that.

373
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:20,159
Speaker 3: I think that DeSantis camp expected the other candidates to

374
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:24,200
Speaker 3: be coming at him and mixing it up a little,

375
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,240
Speaker 3: and they didn't. So much like Sherlock Holmes, some of

376
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,960
Speaker 3: what was interesting about the debate were the dogs that

377
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:35,520
Speaker 3: didn't bark. Very few of the candidates attacked Ron DeSantis,

378
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,040
Speaker 3: and so I think all of the other people on

379
00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:41,080
Speaker 3: that stage view to Santus as their principal impediment, but

380
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,280
Speaker 3: they really didn't go after him directly. What is interesting

381
00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:50,600
Speaker 3: also is very few of the candidates went after Donald Trump.

382
00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:55,600
Speaker 3: It was actually fascinating. Yeah, how little Trump's name was

383
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,400
Speaker 3: said is said in that room. Look the guy's got

384
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:02,520
Speaker 3: a thirty forty point lead in polls. And yet now,

385
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,239
Speaker 3: look you have some exceptions, Chris Christy, whatever, you know,

386
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,040
Speaker 3: you ask him what time of day it is, the

387
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:09,560
Speaker 3: time is Trump is terrible? Okay, fine, that's that's what

388
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 3: Christy's gonna say. But the other candidates, DeSantis, if if

389
00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:17,480
Speaker 3: he criticized Trump, I.

390
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:22,399
Speaker 4: Don't remember it. It wasn't much of anything Vivek. I

391
00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,680
Speaker 4: can't remember any criticism of Trump at all.

392
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:26,680
Speaker 2: No, he said he was the best president of the twenty

393
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,280
Speaker 2: first century. He was making it very clear from the beginning,

394
00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:31,439
Speaker 2: I'm not here to make Trump supporters hate me.

395
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:33,640
Speaker 4: I think that's right.

396
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:35,920
Speaker 3: And a lot of people have speculated that the role

397
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 3: Vivek is doing is is being something of a stalking

398
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,879
Speaker 3: horse for Trump. That that and and I don't know

399
00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:46,800
Speaker 3: if that's true or not, but he was certainly full

400
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,800
Speaker 3: throatedly defending Trump. Look, I remember back to twenty sixteen,

401
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 3: and there were portions of the debates early on where

402
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 3: I made a conscious decision not to go at Trump,

403
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 3: not to vigorous engaged Trump, and Trump and I early

404
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,360
Speaker 3: in the primary, had a very good relationship, a very

405
00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,879
Speaker 3: friendly relationship. It drove the media crazy because they wanted

406
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 3: me to blast him and I wasn't doing that. There

407
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,800
Speaker 3: were later stages in the debate. Look what came down

408
00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 3: to basically a two man battle between me and Trump.

409
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,920
Speaker 3: Both he and I took the gloves off and began

410
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,760
Speaker 3: smacking the hell out of each other. And it changed

411
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,080
Speaker 3: based on where the race was and who the relative

412
00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 3: players are. I thought it was interesting that almost nobody

413
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:38,399
Speaker 3: was trying to prosecute a case number one, that they

414
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,480
Speaker 3: have a stronger record than Trump. So Dessatus made the

415
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 3: case that he had a great record as Florida, but

416
00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,760
Speaker 3: he had very little comparative of his record versus Trump's,

417
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,679
Speaker 3: which I expected more of that in the debate, and

418
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:56,760
Speaker 3: almost nobody other than again Christy made the case that

419
00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:01,600
Speaker 3: they had a better chance of winning than Trump. I

420
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:06,400
Speaker 3: guess Nikki Haley did too. Yeah, but Haley is running

421
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 3: for the moderate establishment lane, and so the argument she

422
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:16,840
Speaker 3: was making was not It wasn't surprising, but I found

423
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 3: it interesting how little of that we saw on Wednesday night.

424
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,920
Speaker 2: The biggest shock for me was honestly the lack of

425
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,000
Speaker 2: distinguishing one candidate from the other. And that's something that

426
00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,880
Speaker 2: you did a very good job of back in twenty sixteen,

427
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 2: was making it clear who you were as a candidate.

428
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 2: Walking away from last night, I don't feel like any

429
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 2: of these candidates really left an impression of how I

430
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 2: am very different or unique from the others on the stage.

431
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,520
Speaker 2: I mean, there was there were moments jests where it

432
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,400
Speaker 2: was like, for example, where Vivic, you know, proudly raise

433
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,600
Speaker 2: his hand and said he would support Donald Trump as

434
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 2: a nominee even if he was, you know, convicted. That

435
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 2: was one of those moments. And then you saw which

436
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 2: was into meme. It's been all over the internet over

437
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,119
Speaker 2: the last two days of the other candidates trying to

438
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:06,560
Speaker 2: figure out what they're going to do. And it was

439
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,720
Speaker 2: probably bad timing because for our bad placement for Desantans

440
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,880
Speaker 2: because right next to him, and you see DeSantis look

441
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,640
Speaker 2: to his right, look to his left, and then he's like, oh okay,

442
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:17,920
Speaker 2: everybody else raised her hand, I'll raise mine halfway too

443
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 2: as well. That didn't look good for him.

444
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 3: DeSantis hesitated, and that hesitation was not a good moment.

445
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:28,400
Speaker 3: That that is, others are going to use that against him.

446
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 4: The hesitation.

447
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 3: What I actually thought one of the most interesting moments

448
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:38,160
Speaker 3: of the debate happened right after that, where Vivet came

449
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:42,679
Speaker 3: back and said, and he said it to Pence, he said,

450
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,479
Speaker 3: if I'm elected the I will pardon Donald Trump.

451
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 4: Will you do the same.

452
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 3: And I got to tell you, I was surprised, and

453
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 3: I think it was a strategic mistake by every other

454
00:24:54,600 --> 00:25:00,399
Speaker 3: candidate on that stage not to respond hell yes, like

455
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 3: the answer should have been absolutely. I will pardon Donald

456
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 3: Trump on January twentieth, twenty twenty five.

457
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 4: Why.

458
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 3: Because this prosecution is an abusive power. This is Merrick

459
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 3: Garland and Joe Biden who don't trust the voters. They

460
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 3: are abusing the justice system. These indictments are a sham,

461
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 3: and the voters ought to decide. And so if I'm elected,

462
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 3: We're going to end this abuse of power. And even

463
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:33,880
Speaker 3: if a candidate on that stage despises Donald Trump, that

464
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:39,399
Speaker 3: was a It was a hanging curveball, and I was

465
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:45,159
Speaker 3: genuinely surprised that nobody took that opportunity because that was

466
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 3: a moment to shine and nobody jumped on it.

467
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 2: I want to tell you about our friends ever at Chalk.

468
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,479
Speaker 2: If you are a guy, you're getting a little bit older,

469
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,200
Speaker 2: and you feel like you're losing some of that strength

470
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 2: and vitality, and complacency and weakness are starting to set in.

471
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 2: Maybe you just don't feel like you have the same

472
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 2: energy you used to have. Maybe you want to go

473
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 2: work out, but you just don't feel like you have

474
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,920
Speaker 2: that energy, and you're going, what's going on?

475
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 1: Well, you're not alone.

476
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,280
Speaker 2: Did you know that tasostrum levels are off a cliff

477
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 2: historically to an all time low. Thankfully, the patriots at

478
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:22,359
Speaker 2: chalk choq dot com are here to help real American

479
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,920
Speaker 2: men just like you, get back your strength and vitality

480
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 2: and get rid of that weakness and complacency. I've been

481
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 2: taking the Chalkmail Vitality Stack now for several months.

482
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: It works.

483
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 2: You can boost your mask your masculinity by boosting your

484
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 2: sistostrum up to twenty percent over ninety days. Go to

485
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 2: chalk choq dot com Okay chalkschoq dot com and you

486
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,159
Speaker 2: can check out it's manufactured right here in the US

487
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 2: of A. Chalk is a natural herbal supplements that are

488
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 2: clinically proven to have game changing effects in your energy,

489
00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:00,400
Speaker 2: your focus, your mood. So maximize your masculinity today Chalk

490
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 2: choq dot com. Use the promo code Ben for thirty

491
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 2: five percent off any chalk subscription for life. That's chock

492
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:13,720
Speaker 2: choq dot com promo code Ben for thirty five percent off. Sinna,

493
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:15,879
Speaker 2: I want to ask you one other question about debates,

494
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:18,000
Speaker 2: because it, I mean, rarely do you get to talk

495
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,400
Speaker 2: to somebody and pull back the curtain. Who's actually done

496
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:25,680
Speaker 2: this before? If you're leaving this first debate, what changes

497
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 2: then going into the next debate? If you're if you're

498
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,199
Speaker 2: any of these candidates, now, what do they have to

499
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,199
Speaker 2: do and what could they take away from this? And

500
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 2: how much do you think the next debate will change

501
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,200
Speaker 2: because of what they weren't two nights ago?

502
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 3: Well, I think each of the candidates is going to

503
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 3: come out in a different place. For the candidates that

504
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 3: didn't gain momentum, they're going to feel a greater urgency.

505
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 3: Look than the next debate is going to have a

506
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 3: higher threshold, a higher threshold, a polling to get in

507
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 3: a higher threshold of donors. I expect the next debate

508
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 3: to have few candidates on the stage. I suspect at

509
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:05,920
Speaker 3: least two of the candidates who were there on Wednesday

510
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:11,160
Speaker 3: night will not be there at the next debate. When

511
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 3: you're not gaining traction, it impacts every part of the campaign.

512
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 3: It impacts your large dollar fundraising. Donors are following this,

513
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,359
Speaker 3: and if they think you have momentum, they're excited neger

514
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,640
Speaker 3: to write a check. And if they think you don't

515
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 3: have momentum, suddenly the money drives up the small dollar fundraising.

516
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 3: I mean it is an amazing when people are energized,

517
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 3: when you've got grassroots activists that are really exciting. Look,

518
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 3: I got to tell you, towards the end of my

519
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:44,400
Speaker 3: campaign in twenty sixteen, we had online over a million

520
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 3: bucks a day coming in and it was people were

521
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 3: just excited. They went to my website, they contributed and it.

522
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:53,840
Speaker 3: You know, we ended up raising ninety two million dollars,

523
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 3: which which is still to date the most money any

524
00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 3: Republican has ever raised in the history of presidential prime

525
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 3: We raised more than George W. Bush or Romney or

526
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 3: John McCain. When you've got momentum, it rolls aggressively, but

527
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 3: it unrolls just as vigorously. And so for the candidates

528
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 3: that didn't have a moment that energized their supporters, they're

529
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 3: going to find when they're out on the trail their

530
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,680
Speaker 3: crowds are smaller. They go to Nevan and maybe last

531
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 3: week they had fifty people and tomorrow they have twenty five.

532
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,120
Speaker 3: And that can be a hard look. If you remember

533
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,959
Speaker 3: one hard moment in twenty sixteen, when Jeb Bush went

534
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,000
Speaker 3: his campaign towards the end, he was giving a talk

535
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 3: and he said and people were not responding and he said,

536
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 3: please clap, and it was that can be really tough.

537
00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:54,800
Speaker 3: But like, momentum is real in a campaign, and when

538
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,040
Speaker 3: it's with you, it feels great, and when it's going

539
00:29:58,120 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 3: away it sucks.

540
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 4: And and.

541
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 3: Different candidates from Wednesday night are feeling the good and

542
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,479
Speaker 3: the bad of that, and each debate it kind of

543
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 3: ratchets up another level. It's sort of like, you know,

544
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 3: it's sort of like different rounds of March madness with

545
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 3: the playoff. As it gets to the next level, the

546
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:20,920
Speaker 3: stakes keep going up and up.

547
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,080
Speaker 2: If you're Donald Trump, do you continue with this? I'm

548
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 2: not showing up for the debates based on what you

549
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 2: just saw. Would you show up for the next one

550
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:29,880
Speaker 2: or would you say hell.

551
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 4: No, Absolutely, he will skip the next debate.

552
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,520
Speaker 3: I think it's one hundred percent from his perspective, from

553
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 3: his campaign's perspective, skipping it was a complete win. What

554
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 3: could have changed it? You remember in twenty sixteen he

555
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 3: skipped the Iowa debate. Yeah, and he was mad. He

556
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,640
Speaker 3: was mad at Megan Kelly, and he skipped the Iowa debate,

557
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 3: and then the Iowa caucus happened and I beat him.

558
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 3: He didn't skip the next debate, but like like, if

559
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 3: you see an electoral result that that is not good

560
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,480
Speaker 3: for your side, that then you change your path. From

561
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 3: Trump's perspective, why would he change that? This was it

562
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 3: was a calculated gamble. If someone had had a breakout

563
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 3: moment on Wednesday, if someone had sizzled and gained a

564
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,880
Speaker 3: ton of momentum, you could see the Trump team reevaluating.

565
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,800
Speaker 3: If Ron DeSantis had clearly been in a different league

566
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,719
Speaker 3: from everyone else and made clear that he's the principal

567
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 3: alternative to Trump, and people had rallied behind DeSantis, that

568
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,720
Speaker 3: could have caused the Trump team to reevaluate. If someone

569
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,239
Speaker 3: else had had a moment that just lit every If

570
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 3: someone had had made an indictment, and I don't mean

571
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 3: an indictment in the legal sense, but a political indictment

572
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 3: of Trump had prosecuted the case that they would be

573
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:56,600
Speaker 3: a better nominee to win in November and lead the

574
00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 3: country than Trump. If someone had really lit it up,

575
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,160
Speaker 3: you could imagine the Trump teams say, Okay, you need

576
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 3: to get on that stage and fight back against so

577
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:10,120
Speaker 3: and so. I didn't see anything on Wednesday that's going

578
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 3: to cause them to reevaluate. And so I think unlessen

579
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 3: until something changes significantly. My expectation is Trump is not

580
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,240
Speaker 3: showing up at any of these debates.

581
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:22,640
Speaker 2: Well, the good news is, if you had a bad

582
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,320
Speaker 2: night in the debate stage, twenty hours later, no one

583
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 2: was talking about you. If you had a good night

584
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 2: on the debate stage, the bad news for you is

585
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 2: no one was talking about you afterwards. Because of Donald

586
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 2: Trump having to head down to Georgia. Not only do

587
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,520
Speaker 2: we have, for the first time in history, a president

588
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 2: who has an actual mugshot, which they has now become

589
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 2: probably the most iconic political picture in history. People are

590
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 2: already selling shirts with it and hats with it. It's

591
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 2: actually hysterical. But Donald Trump also came out after this happened,

592
00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,560
Speaker 2: after he turned himself in, and this is what he

593
00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 2: had to say as he was about to get on

594
00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:01,360
Speaker 2: the plane leaving Atlanta.

595
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 5: So it's a very sad day for America. This should

596
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,760
Speaker 5: never happen. If you challenge an election, you should be

597
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 5: able to challenge an election. I thought the election was

598
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 5: a rigged election. There stolen election, and I should have every.

599
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 3: Right to do that.

600
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 5: As you know, you have many people that you've been

601
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 5: watching over the years do the same thing. Whether it's

602
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:22,440
Speaker 5: Hillary Clinton or Stacy Abrams or many others. When you

603
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 5: have that great freedom to challenge, you have to be

604
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 5: able to otherwise you could have heard dis honest elections.

605
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,520
Speaker 5: What has taken place here is a travesty of justice.

606
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 5: We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong, and everybody

607
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 5: knows that I've never had such support, and that goes

608
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,480
Speaker 5: with the other ones too. What they're doing is election interference.

609
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 5: They're trying to interfere with an election. There's never been

610
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 5: anything like it in our country before. This is their

611
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,800
Speaker 5: way of campaigning. This is one instance, but you have

612
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,880
Speaker 5: three other instances. It's election interference. So I want to

613
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 5: thank you for being here. We did nothing wrong at all,

614
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 5: and we have every right angle right to challenge an election.

615
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 1: That we think is dishonest.

616
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 4: So we think it's very dishonest.

617
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 5: So thank you all very much, and I'll see you

618
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 5: very soon.

619
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for president with pretty cool, calm

620
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,440
Speaker 2: and collected is Mugshody looked like he was pretty irritated.

621
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,880
Speaker 2: I can imagine why. This to me was one of

622
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,480
Speaker 2: those moments where I'm still in shock by it, honestly,

623
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:24,680
Speaker 2: like I'm not shocked at what the left has done,

624
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 2: but when I see this happen. This when I say

625
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party is dead, they're now communists and socialists.

626
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,080
Speaker 2: This has been in a republic. Ask I still cannot

627
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 2: believe that the rest of the world, and this does

628
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 2: make me very angry, is now watching as America is

629
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,480
Speaker 2: losing its way and indicting a former president. How is

630
00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,040
Speaker 2: this not one election interference? And how big of a

631
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,000
Speaker 2: fall is this for this country in general?

632
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 3: Look at Trump is exactly right in what he said there.

633
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:57,920
Speaker 3: This is blatant election interference. This is partisan and political.

634
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:02,720
Speaker 3: The demoocrats, both at the federal level and state level,

635
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 3: hate Donald Trump. They're blinded by their rage and they're

636
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 3: using the justice system. Listening in this podcast, we've discussed

637
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 3: at great length each of the four indictments, and so

638
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:16,719
Speaker 3: you can go back and listen to earlier podcasts if

639
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:18,880
Speaker 3: you want an analysis of each of them, because we've

640
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:21,359
Speaker 3: broken them down on a level that you can't get

641
00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:25,800
Speaker 3: on CNN or CBS or ABC or NBC, and all.

642
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:27,840
Speaker 4: Of them I think are garbage.

643
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,480
Speaker 3: They are partisan and political, particularly when you put it

644
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 3: in the broader framework, which is that our country is

645
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 3: more than two centuries old. We've never previously indicted a

646
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:39,719
Speaker 3: president of the United States, a former president of the

647
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,600
Speaker 3: United States, a major candidate for president of the United States,

648
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,200
Speaker 3: and in less than a year, the Democrats have done

649
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 3: so four separate times. And you use the phrase banana republic,

650
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:54,800
Speaker 3: that's what this is. They the Democrats don't trust the voters.

651
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,680
Speaker 3: The reason they're indicting Donald Trump over and over again

652
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,839
Speaker 3: is there afraid he could win November and they want

653
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:06,759
Speaker 3: to use the legal system to hurt him. And I

654
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:11,320
Speaker 3: think it is absolutely outrageous. I will say also, look,

655
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 3: there are a lot of things that you and I

656
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,400
Speaker 3: and many people like about Donald Trump. One of the

657
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,319
Speaker 3: things I like is that he's got enormous guts, and

658
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,080
Speaker 3: he's willing to fight the media. He's willing to fight

659
00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 3: the Democrats. One of the things which I also respect

660
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,640
Speaker 3: is the guy is a marketing and branding genius. And

661
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,279
Speaker 3: I got to say, just the timing of number one,

662
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 3: you have a debate of all of its rivals, his rivals,

663
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 3: and he simultaneously does an interview with Tucker Carlson on

664
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 3: Twitter or on x whatever it's called. That was a

665
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,280
Speaker 3: very strong and effective move. Number Two. The day after

666
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:53,719
Speaker 3: the debate, he promptly goes and turns himself in and

667
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 3: has his mugshot released. That was an even stronger move.

668
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,480
Speaker 3: And then number three, he returns to Twitter and his

669
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 3: first tweet is a tweet of his mugshot, which basically

670
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 3: broke Twitter. Yeah, that combination sucks all of the energy

671
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 3: out of every other candidate. And listen, one challenge that

672
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 3: every candidate in this race not named Donald J. Trump

673
00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 3: faces is the difficulty of driving even ten seconds of

674
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:36,480
Speaker 3: discussion or narrative, because Trump, by design, seizes and dominates

675
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:39,280
Speaker 3: the discussion. And I think the last twenty four hours

676
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,800
Speaker 3: are as good an illustration of it as we've ever seen.

677
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 2: I laugh because the bab one b put up pictures

678
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,880
Speaker 2: of everybody on stage. Last I said, Republicans gathered a

679
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 2: debate who will lose to Trump in a distant second,

680
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,160
Speaker 2: And then you see what he did and how smart

681
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 2: he was with this. If you're Donald Trump, and it's

682
00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:00,719
Speaker 2: like plays two big games, wins stupid prizes for the Democrats,

683
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,520
Speaker 2: I'm referencing that, it's like, if you guys keep doing this,

684
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:07,239
Speaker 2: you seem to just be helping Donald Trump. Now there's

685
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:10,360
Speaker 2: also many Democrats go, yeah, that's exactly what we want.

686
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:14,080
Speaker 2: We want Donald Trump to get the nomination. We're not stupid.

687
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,600
Speaker 2: We know exactly what we're doing when we indict him.

688
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 2: Could this be one of the Democrats?

689
00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:25,080
Speaker 3: Yes, Look one hundred percent, the Democrats want Trump to

690
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 3: get the nomination. One hundred percent. The corporate media wants

691
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 3: Trump to get the nomination. They believe he cannot win

692
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,560
Speaker 3: in November. I don't think that's right. I think Trump

693
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,600
Speaker 3: absolutely can win in November. Now I think he can lose. Also,

694
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,239
Speaker 3: we're a very polarized country, and it's clear there are

695
00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 3: a lot of voters that love Trump and a lot

696
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:45,520
Speaker 3: of voters that hate Trump. And so I don't know

697
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 3: what happens in a general but I think in the

698
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 3: in the echosphere, the bubble, that is the left wing,

699
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:59,400
Speaker 3: that is Democrats, in the media, everyone they know thinks

700
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:01,960
Speaker 3: Donald Trump is Hitler, and so they want him to

701
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,719
Speaker 3: be the nominee. If he ends up winning in November,

702
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:10,080
Speaker 3: I have to say the meltdown we saw in twenty sixteen,

703
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,360
Speaker 3: the Rachel Maddows of the world basically having a nervous

704
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 3: breakdown on television, I think would be utterly dwarfed by

705
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 3: the reaction if Trump wins again in November. We'll see

706
00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:25,560
Speaker 3: what happens. But I got to say the media desperately

707
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:26,960
Speaker 3: want him to be the nominee.

708
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 1: I want to tell you about in Viral Quinns.

709
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 2: If you are like me, you've got asthma, maybe you

710
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,320
Speaker 2: are allergic to a lot of different things, pollen or dust.

711
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 2: My wife is just unbelieva are allergic to dust. You

712
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:43,719
Speaker 2: have got to check out in viral Quinns. You need

713
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:46,800
Speaker 2: to choose an air purifier, literally, like your life depends

714
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:51,280
Speaker 2: on it. And this is something that is incredible. Look,

715
00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:53,480
Speaker 2: no matter where you live, you're probably gonna deal with

716
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 2: bad air quality. This year alone, there's been thirty five

717
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 2: thousand wildfires that have devastated the US. Toxins and particles

718
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,640
Speaker 2: and wildfire wildfire smoke can penetrate our lungs and threatn

719
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:07,560
Speaker 2: our health. And that's why Enviralquins developed military grade air

720
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:11,480
Speaker 2: purification for your home. I have this in my bedroom

721
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:15,440
Speaker 2: and this thing is a game changer. They just announced

722
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:17,640
Speaker 2: their biggest sale of the year. You can save a

723
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 2: massive thirty percent off during their Labor Day sale, and

724
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 2: viro Clins is specifically designed to wipe out airborne chemicals

725
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:30,920
Speaker 2: and viruses known to call illness, allergies, and difficulty breathing.

726
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:35,480
Speaker 2: Even toxic gases and particles found in wildfare smoke are

727
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 2: no match for enviro Quins. That's why the US Navy

728
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 2: selected viro Clins to protect and purify the air in

729
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 2: their facilities. And vira Clints comes with a free professional

730
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 2: air quality monitor, so you know your family's breathing purified air.

731
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 2: Now is the time to save thirty percent off your

732
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,879
Speaker 2: air purification unit, get the free air quality monitor and

733
00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 2: fast free shipping. That's a two hundred and fifty dollar

734
00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:08,160
Speaker 2: savings right there. Go to ekpure dot com. That's ekpure

735
00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:12,560
Speaker 2: dot com. Use promo code verdict, that's ekpure dot com.

736
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 2: Use promo code verdict and save the biggest savings of

737
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 2: the year. Last question I got to ask you, Senator,

738
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 2: is this we're now seeing that they're rushing these prosecutors

739
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 2: and these people that are coming after Trump.

740
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,200
Speaker 1: This is fourth indictment. They're wanting to pack all this.

741
00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,839
Speaker 2: Into the presidential election cycle that we've seen this, it's

742
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 2: very clear they want to put him in court and

743
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 2: said on the campaign trail that's election interference by definition.

744
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:43,520
Speaker 2: Is there a anything Trump can do? Delay and then

745
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:47,400
Speaker 2: the other question is if he is elected, could he

746
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,200
Speaker 2: still go to jail? How would that work if they

747
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:52,759
Speaker 2: do find a jury in New York, which is not

748
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:57,960
Speaker 2: insane idea, or in Delaware or in Atlanta to actually

749
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 2: say he's guilty, how does that work?

750
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:00,440
Speaker 1: Now?

751
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 3: Knowing everything, Yeah, look, we are in uncharted territory. The

752
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 3: short answer is, nobody knows. This has never happened before.

753
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 3: I think there is a very real chance we will

754
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,319
Speaker 3: see one or more trials between now and November. And

755
00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:17,440
Speaker 3: I think there is a very real chance, particularly in

756
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:24,239
Speaker 3: in d C, in New York, or in Atlanta, I

757
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 3: think we could see convictions. We've talked about how the

758
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:32,279
Speaker 3: judges and or the juries in those respective places are

759
00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,440
Speaker 3: not favorable. I don't expect the convictions to be upheld

760
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:39,920
Speaker 3: on appeal, but the appeals could take years, and so

761
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:43,160
Speaker 3: I think there is a very real risk that we

762
00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:45,440
Speaker 3: get to November of next year and Trump will have

763
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,600
Speaker 3: endured a trial and have been convicted, and the matter

764
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:53,839
Speaker 3: will not be resolved on appeal. What happens when you're

765
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:59,520
Speaker 3: convicted of a crime, It varies. Sometimes your sentence will

766
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:03,319
Speaker 3: be stayed pending the appeal. Sometimes it won't. I would

767
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:07,759
Speaker 3: anticipate that no one would try to incarcerate or no

768
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:11,880
Speaker 3: one would succeed in incarcerating Trump before the appeal had

769
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:15,839
Speaker 3: run its course. But look these wild eyed prosecutors. Actually,

770
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,279
Speaker 3: when I said no one would try, as soon as

771
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 3: I said that, I didn't really believe that, because they're

772
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 3: brazen enough. I think they would try. I think the

773
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:27,799
Speaker 3: odds are decent. The appellate courts would say, no, we're

774
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:32,840
Speaker 3: not going to let Trump go to prison while the

775
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:36,080
Speaker 3: appeal is pending. We're going to wait to resolve the appeal.

776
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 3: That's what I would expect. But this is uncharted territory.

777
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:43,279
Speaker 3: And by the way, there's nothing in the law that

778
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:50,399
Speaker 3: prevents a candidate for president being incarcerated in jail. There's

779
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:52,960
Speaker 3: nothing in the law that prevents the Republican nominee or

780
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:57,160
Speaker 3: the Democrat nominee for president being incarcerated and in prison.

781
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:00,720
Speaker 3: There's nothing in the law that prevents the sitting president

782
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 3: of the United States from being incarcerated. Now, the Secret

783
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:05,640
Speaker 3: Service would have an aneurism. I don't know how that

784
00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:10,400
Speaker 3: would actually mechanically work. If you have the sitting president

785
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:14,200
Speaker 3: of the United States and sing sing next to murderers

786
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:19,279
Speaker 3: that's part of why this is such uncharted territory. I

787
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:21,759
Speaker 3: don't think that will happen, but as I said, I

788
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 3: do think there's a real risk of a conviction, a trial,

789
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:26,480
Speaker 3: and a conviction before election day.

790
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:29,040
Speaker 4: All Right, I want to ask you something, Ben, So

791
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:31,080
Speaker 4: the mugshot.

792
00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 3: The mugshot is going to be an iconic picture, and

793
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:40,839
Speaker 3: Trump obviously has an expression of pissed off, angry, badass.

794
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:46,319
Speaker 3: It's a different approach if you remember different presidential or

795
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 3: political mug shots. If you remember Rick Perry, if you

796
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:53,800
Speaker 3: remember Tom Delay. Both of them were indicted, both of

797
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:56,320
Speaker 3: them had mugshots, and both of them took the same approach,

798
00:44:56,360 --> 00:45:02,680
Speaker 3: which is they grinned, they smiled widely like a political headshot.

799
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,640
Speaker 3: And my question to you is should should Trump have

800
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,239
Speaker 3: smiled or should he have looked as pissed off as

801
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:13,320
Speaker 3: he was? And I don't think there's an absolute clear answer.

802
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,440
Speaker 3: I have an inclination, but I'm curious what you think.

803
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:19,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that exactly how he took that picture

804
00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:21,560
Speaker 2: is exactly why he should. Because one of the things

805
00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,080
Speaker 2: that's going viral, and this actually has happened while we've

806
00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:27,480
Speaker 2: been recording, is somebody I know put that picture up

807
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:31,080
Speaker 2: underneath it all capital letters legend and it's now gone

808
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:34,319
Speaker 2: to like two hundred and eighty thousand retweets. This is

809
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:36,640
Speaker 2: going to be on I mean now there's like fifteen

810
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:39,319
Speaker 2: people since we've been doing this taping this that have

811
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:43,080
Speaker 2: put out T shirts that say rock Star Legend. You know,

812
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:46,840
Speaker 2: I stand with him. I think this was the perfect

813
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:47,960
Speaker 2: look of watch me.

814
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:48,400
Speaker 4: Now.

815
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:51,600
Speaker 2: You think it was four years of me trying to

816
00:45:51,640 --> 00:45:54,600
Speaker 2: drain the swamp. You have no idea what's coming for you, Washington.

817
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:56,799
Speaker 2: I would have played it this way. I think it's

818
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:58,440
Speaker 2: a brilliant mugshot for him.

819
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 3: Well, it's why he has the the media and marketing

820
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:07,919
Speaker 3: and branding instincts that he does. And you're right, it's

821
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:09,840
Speaker 3: going viral and it's making a heck of a statement.

822
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:12,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, Legend is the one that just made me laugh.

823
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:14,399
Speaker 2: I was like, yep, that's the one. They're gonna these

824
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,719
Speaker 2: These will be at the next Trump rally and there'll

825
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:19,439
Speaker 2: be vendors out there selling this mug shot on every

826
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,319
Speaker 2: T shirt ye everything they can get their hat on,

827
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:24,240
Speaker 2: and and and by the way, by.

828
00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:27,640
Speaker 3: The way, do you do you remember with the first

829
00:46:27,640 --> 00:46:31,440
Speaker 3: indictment the Alvin Bragg indictment, where the Trump team was

830
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:34,879
Speaker 3: saying they wanted a mug shot. I think they had

831
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,680
Speaker 3: decided that this that was And and by the way,

832
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:39,759
Speaker 3: the Alvin Brag one, which seems like a long time ago,

833
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:42,680
Speaker 3: it was the first indictment. We said on verdict at

834
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:44,759
Speaker 3: the time, Trump will go up ten points in the

835
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 3: polls in the primary. And that's exactly what happened. We

836
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:50,880
Speaker 3: predicted it when the Brag indictment came down, and and

837
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:53,640
Speaker 3: and I think the Trump campaign was disappointed they didn't

838
00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:56,840
Speaker 3: get a mug shot there, and and so ironically, I

839
00:46:56,840 --> 00:46:58,799
Speaker 3: think they're very happy to have the mug shot now.

840
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:01,400
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna ask you this question. Another prediction.

841
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:06,480
Speaker 2: Then, when the polls come out, post debate, post this indictment, mugshot,

842
00:47:06,719 --> 00:47:10,000
Speaker 2: who moves up the most, and does Trump get even

843
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:11,319
Speaker 2: higher in the poles than he is now?

844
00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,200
Speaker 3: I don't know that Trump goes materially higher, although I

845
00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:19,279
Speaker 3: mean he's he's at a pretty dominant position right now. My

846
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:23,480
Speaker 3: guess is Ramaswami up the most. Wouldn't surprise me to

847
00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:26,680
Speaker 3: see him pick up four or five points. Wouldn't surprise

848
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 3: me to see Nikki Haley pick up three points. Wouldn't

849
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:34,240
Speaker 3: surprise me to see Pence pick up one or two points,

850
00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:40,280
Speaker 3: And that probably comes mostly at the expense of DeSantis,

851
00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:44,320
Speaker 3: maybe some at the expense of Tim Scott's, and maybe

852
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:46,359
Speaker 3: a little bit at the expense of Trump. But I'm

853
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:49,480
Speaker 3: not sure. I kind of feel like the people on

854
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:52,520
Speaker 3: that stage are fishing in a different pond than Trump is.

855
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it. Don't forget.

856
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:58,640
Speaker 2: We do this show Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, so make

857
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,160
Speaker 2: sure you hit that follow or a subscribe button. And

858
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:03,439
Speaker 2: on those days when we don't publish. We've never said

859
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,160
Speaker 2: this before, and we probably should have said it more.

860
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,040
Speaker 2: I do a podcast, Ben Ferguson Podcast. Make sure you

861
00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:10,920
Speaker 2: download that wherever you get your podcasts. Is I do

862
00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:14,440
Speaker 2: a unique podcast on those days in between. So if

863
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:17,200
Speaker 2: you're looking for something to keep you updated in between

864
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:19,120
Speaker 2: our Monday, Wednesday and Friday, make sure you download the

865
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:21,600
Speaker 2: Ben Ferguson podcasts as well, and we will see you

866
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:23,120
Speaker 2: back here in a couple of days.